Rally-eMag 023 November 2014

wrc: spain Issue 23, November 2014

wrc: wales

ogier

2

Plus: Tech Talk and Oliver Ciesla on regulations

erc: finale

Dani sordo will d o at least ten r ounds for hyundai in 2015 after a solid sea son Image: Bas Romeny

the original hoo nigan, ken block , made a one-of f in spain Image: Bas Romeny

ott tanak secur

ed his spot at m

-sport for 201 5 Image: Timo Anis

while kubica ha

s options but is

yet to decide o

n his future

Image: Timo Anis

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Rally-eMag November 2014 / Contents

This month Who made it?

Publisher: Rally-eMag Words: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal.

Photography: Bas Romeny, Timo Anis, Andy Crayford

Who helped?

Logo design: Minse Blom Backcover artwork: Dam Charles Distribution: Issuu.com

Who we thank!

PR Photography from: Peugeot Sport, Hyundai Motorsport, Citroen Racing, FIA ERC, Volkswagen Motorsport, M-Sport.

How to reach us?

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Email: info@rally-emag.com Web: www.rally-emag.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ emagrally Twitter: @emagrally Issuu: www.issuu.com/rally-emag

WRC Rally Spain

WRC Wales Rally Gb

Spain was when!

Hirvonen’s goodbye

Page 11

Page 21

Tech talk Introduction to our new tech section Page 31

ERc Rallye du Valais

ERC Tour de corse

Rally Mountaineers

10,000 Corners Page 51

Page 43

Rally-eMag November 2014 / News

This month’s wrap up

Both Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg return to Citroën in 2015.

Images: Bas Romeny

Regulation update

More regulation updates emerged from the latest meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Doha earlier this month. The most eye-catching of these changes is the banning of split times for the crews. Up till now teams were allowed to inform their crews in the stages about the times their competitors were setting, or if there had been any noteworthy retirements.

The idea behind banning this information from reaching the cars is that it will make the events less predictable and allow for pure rather than controlled driving. Teams will still be allowed to inform the crews about potentially dangerous situations, but any other info may bring about hefty penalties, with exclusion from the championship as the ultimate consequence.

A second amendment to the regulations is that crews that fail to start a stage within twenty seconds will be considered retirees for the leg.

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Citroën confirms Meeke & Ostberg

Citroën has confirmed its driver lineup for 2015. No changes will occur as Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg both return for the 2015 season. Meeke had been the foremost challenger of VW’s this season while Ostberg showed consistency and improved pace near the end of the season.

Loeb gets set for one-off return Sebastien Loeb will return to the WRC for event, but the competition at the Monte a one-off showing at the season opener in will of course be a lot stronger.

Monte Carlo.

The 83rd edition of the event will take Loeb will drive his trusted Citroën DS3 place between January 22nd and 25th. A WRC and will partner up with team mates new route takes the drivers from Monte Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg. It has not Carlo up to Gap. The second and third day yet been confirmed if Loeb will be nomi- action takes place around Gap itself benated to score manufacturer points. Loeb fore the crews head back towards Monte returned to rally action in late November Carlo for the final stages, including a midat the Rallye du Var for his annual out- day run around the iconic Col de Turini. ing with wife Severine. They duly won the

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Overview 11/58

rallyracc-rally de espana

Based in: Salou Date: 23-25/10/14 Number of stages: 15 Shortest stage: Salou, 2.24 km Longest stage: Escaladei, 50.00 km Total stage distance: 372.00 km Surface: Mixed

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Revieww

spain was when!

For a long time we have been saying it’s not a question if Sebastien Ogier will be champion this year, it’s more a question of when? In France it didn’t happen for him and in the present form of his teammate Latvala Spain wasn’t certain either, but the Finn couldn’t get to grips with the Spanish gravel and had already lost the rally on the first day. He came back the next days but not close enough so Ogier answered our question: When was Spain!

Words: Harry van Veenendaal

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Images: Bas Romeny

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Review

Spain is always special on the WRC calendar, being the only event with a mixed surface. The first day is mainly gravel. The 35 kilometres long Terra Alta stage is the exception to the rule. It has several stretches of asphalt. The drivers have to cope with no less than five changes of surface during this stage, so it will be quite hard to find the right if any, rhythm. The start of the event is in the Cataluña capital Barcelona. The last two days the drivers come back to the ‘normal’ surface for the Spanish WRC qualifier: very smooth tarmac. So after the first day the asphalt settings of the car have to be changed to almost full racing settings with the very low cars almost scraping the tarmac, with that characteristic ‘racy’ look and feel.

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Ken Block No surprises on the driver’s front.

Hayden Paddon was in the third Hyundai next to Neuville and Sordo but for the rest everyone was in his usual place. At M-Sport, however there were a few drivers we don’t see every rally. At Citroën the semi regular Khalid Al Qassimi was present and with M-Sport we saw Henning Solberg, Yuriy Protasov and, last but not least Ken Block. The flamboyant American

also was in Spain for his only WRC outing this year. “I haven’t been n the car for over a year now, so I must be realistic about my goals, but I’m looking forward to competing on this level and hope to enjoy the beautiful Spanish stages.”

Let’s rally At shakedown it was Neuville who got himself on the podium but Ogier was following at a short distance. Sordo, Kubica and Protasov all followed in less than one second on the mixed surface Salou stage. Several hours later the drivers were in Barcelona for the ceremonial start and a spectacular street stage not far from the centre of town. All cars were on gravel settings as the next day would be the ‘gravel day’ in this mixed surface event. Of course this mad it more difficult for the drivers but also more spectacular for the spectators. Mikkelsen was fastest navigating his Polo through the tight hairpin and avoiding the many barriers in front of many enthusiastic spectators. His teammate Ogier was second just before Neuville.

Local hero Dani Sordo was in fifth.

It was just as the promoter wanted it. Close to the action in a big city. Well you can’t get much closer than this.

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Review

Dust But of course the real competitive action did not start until the next day. And although the drivers almost begged the organizers to widen the gap between two drivers, they kept to their original plan of a two-minute interval. Ogier commented before the start that he would have preferred to start as the last of the top drivers as road sweeping would be a very important factor. At the end of the first loop he had to reconsider.

Thierry Neuville then took the lead but at the last stage of the loop Ogier simply blew away everyone by winning the 35 kilometre stage with a time, 8.5 second faster, than his nearest rival Neuville and taking the rally lead by a miniscule 0.1 second.

Jari Matti Latvala at the same time was not a happy man. After hitting a rock he hadn’t seen due to the hanging dust he explained: “I could not get my rhythm the car is not feeling right and the dust also doesn’t help.” At midday service he already lost Kris Meeke won the first stage of the day but on the 24 seconds to Ogier and was in seventh. “This next stage he had a puncture and had to change will make the championship race very difficult,” he a wheel. Unfortunately not much further down the said. same stage he had another one. He made it to the end of the stage but with no more spare tyres he Drama for everyone but Ogier could not continue and had to retire for the day. Ogier had a ‘smooth ride’ and was happy to finish

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Dust is always an issue on the gravel stages in Spain. Uniquely on gravel, this makes it an advantage to run first on the road here.

the day in a solid first position. Latvala had fought back to second but faced a 36 seconds gap. He led Østberg, Mikkelsen and Hirvonen. Who were all within 5 seconds of him. Mads Østberg got stuck behind teammate Kris Meeke after he got two punctures when he went into a ditch. So Meeke was out of contention. Neuville did a good job until he got distracted by the dust and went into a ditch, causing him a puncture he head to change.

Dani Sordo was thrown back thirty seconds when co driver Marc Martí miscalculated the starting time. But the unluckiest person was Elfyn Evans.

He went off three times and had to retire after the third one because of a broken radiator. Hayden Paddon got his first scratch but could not enjoy it for very long as he spinned on the next stage and lost some 6 minutes changing two punctures.

Thierry Neuville got of to a strong start and led after stage two.

Rallye de France / Rally Revieww 15/58

Conversion When the drivers got back to the final service of day one, the work for the mechanics really started. They had to convert the cars from the gravel set u to full tarmac specs. Quite a job but they all managed to build an almost new car for the drivers to start with the next day.

Latvala charging A revived Latvala dominated the first three asphalt stages of Saturday morning and took back some 8 seconds of his biggest rival. “All I can do is to push,” said the Finn. “Why should I push,” said Ogier. “I still have a 30 seconds lead, I start to push when the difference is zero!” At the second passing of the 50 kilometre Escaldei stage he was troubled a bit by a delaminated tyre and he had to admit he was pushed a bit by the fast times Latvala was producing.

Ogier wins rally and second title Latvala was unleashed the last day of Spain and won all stages, including the PowerStage, but it was to no avail. He stopped at an eleven seconds distance from Ogier. So the fight for the championship is over. The Frenchman clinched his second consecutive title and made it another Volkswagen double. Behind the Volkswagen duo was a surprise third place for Mikko Hirvonen. He had outpaced Mads Østberg and earned his second podium this year.

Latvala made massive strides this year, especially on tarmac, but still has a way to go to really challenge Ogier for the title.

Victory in Spain meant back-to-back titles for Ogier and Ingrassia.

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Round-up 16/58

Round-up Volkswagen World Rallyteam What can you say about a team that just clinched their second double title?

Everything worked according to plan and Ogier was the best driver again.

Starting first on grave stages doesn’t bother him, although in Spain that seemed to be a favourable position because of the low winter sun and the dry stages that produced a lot of dust again.

Ogier’s biggest challenger.

Mikkelsen never reached his normal form and was thrown back by the dust on day one. A spin and a following puncture cost him dearly and finally Ola Fløene made a mistake causing them to lose their hard-fought sixth place.

For Fløene this later proved to be an expensive mistake because his driver had made a bet with Neuville that he Second man in the team Latvala was would the Norwegian would beat the hampered a lot by the dust and lost the Belgian. The Hyundai star took the bet rally on the first day. However his perand won by Fløenes mistake, because formance on the last two days show a this mistake handed sixth place to Neupromising maturity in the Finnish driver. ville. So it was Ola who had to pay for Latvala has been and will be again dinner, as this was the stake of the bet.

M-Sport World Rallyteam The biggest surprise in Spain was Mikko Hirvonen.

During the course of the season he seemed to have lost the touch. But in Spain we saw a new Hirvonen.

He seemed to like rallying again and was helped by the new Michelin tire that adapted very well to his driving style. He managed to fence off Østberg and was genuinely happy with his podium spot. This really promises something for Great Britain, one of his favorite rallies.

For Elfyn Evans this was one to forget. Already in the beginning it went wrong whe he went off three times and had to retire because of a broken radiator. But on Saturday he did not seem to be able to find his trust and he just struggled to the end with stage times in the second half of the top ten. He doesn’t have to fear for his spot in the M-Sport outfit for next year because he prove to be maturing every rally, but Spain simply wasn’t his rally this year.

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Round-up 17/58

Hyundai Shell World Rallyeam At the beginning of the rally the drivers were told to push flat out to see where the i20 was in relation to the other cars. Neuville did just that and was leading the rally for a short period, Paddon also delivered by the first scratch for a New Zealand driver since a very long time, but both had issues with the dust and were thrown back. Eventually the Belgian finished sixth and Paddon in ninth. Best driver of the team was Dani Sordo he was in fifth but also had his share of problems and couldn’t satisfy his local fans completely.

RK M-Sport World Wally Team Team principal Malcolm Wilson was happy with Robert Kubica’s performance on the first day and stated it was his best performance on gravel ever. But several issues during the following days threw back the Pole and on the second day he had to retire with a broken wheel He came back on Sunday but his 17th place was nothing to write home about.

Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Mads Østberg’s main concern is defending his place in the team for next year. N one can tell if his fourth place in Spain will be enough. He was good on gravel the first day but he couldn’t find the confidence to rally push on the next asphalt days. And could only sit and watch how Mikko Hirvonen beat him. Still being fourth is definitely not a bad result.

For Kris Meeke Spain also did not bring what he wanted.

He is by now familiar to be the Volkswagen challenger in the field. In the beginning f Spain he did just that but already quite soon he ended in a ditch. This happened to

a lot of people, especially on the Friday gravel stages that made people say “I did not see the road and did not know where I was going.

Meeke however was unlucky to get a double puncture. The gamble to just take one spare wheel then backfired. He had to retire for the day. Of course that did not do his chances for a high score very good, but especially on Sunday he impressed again with three second places behind Latvala unleashed. He still is one of the fastest guys around and we hope to see him back next year.

Jipocar Czech National Team Martin Prokop was happy with his result here.

“On Saturday I drove most of the afternoon stages with a lot of problems with driveshaft and differentials so I’ve been driving these stages with rearwheel drive only. In the end I finished in eighth so that is not too bad,” Monster World Rallyteam Ken Block was glad to be back after his last WRC outing in Mexico in 2013.

“I knew these guys were fast and you need to have experience to get that kind of speed. Still I really liked being back on a stage rally again as this is what I really like to do. I have a lot of other commitments but as much as possible I try to fit in WRC events for next year. One rally I particularly want to compete again is Finland. So if I ever get the chance I’ll be back there.

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Results 18/58

Final Result 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Ogier-Ingrassia Volkswagen Polo R WRC Latvala-Anttila Volkswagen Polo R WRC Hirvonen-Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ostberg-Andersson CitroĂŤn DS3 WRC Sordo-Marti Hyundai i20 WRC

3:46:44.6 +11.3 +1:42.2 +2:13.3 +2:2.2

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Neuville-Gilsoul Mikkelsen-Floene Prokop-Tomanek Paddon-Kennard Al-Attiyah-Bernacchini

Hyundai i20 WRC Volkswagen Polo R WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Ford Fiesta RRC

+4:01.0 +4:02.9 +8:06.8 +9:12.4 +12:39.8

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Standings

Championship standings (Drivers) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Ogier 242 points Latvala 211 Mikkelsen 150 Hirvonen 108 Ă˜stberg 92 Neuville 91 Meeke 82 Evans 71 Prokop 42 Sordo 40

Manufacturer standings

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1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Volkswagen Motorsport CitroĂŤn Total Abu Dhabi WRT M-Sport WRT Hyundai Motorsport Volkswagen Motorsport II Jipocar Czech National Team Hyundai Motorsport N RK M-Sport WRT

414 points 187 180 175 133 45 26 25

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Wales Rally GB / Overeview 21/58

wales rally gb

Based in: Deeside Date: 13-16/11/14 Number of stages: 23 Shortest stage: Chirk Castle, 2.06 km Longest stage: Hafren Sweet Lamb, 23.55 km Total stage distance: 309.86 km Surface: Gravel

Hirvonen’s Good Bye All championships being settled, Wales was threatened to be a show parade in the 2014 WRC season. But, just before the start, Mikko Hirvonen announced his retirement. His current good form, combined with this announcement made this a completely different event. Ogier obviously wanted to show he was the proper champion, Latvala was keen to win, to proof he is someone to be reckoned with and Kris Meeke’s 2015 seat had not yet been confirmed. So all ingredients for an interesting battle were present.

Words: Harry van Veenendaal Images: Timo Anis

Wales Rally GB / Rally Revieww 23/58

How the action developed After some difficult years, Wales seems to be crawling back. Last year they got some good reviews and this year it even got better. Some changes had been made, but all for the better. We personally think it is a pity the epic Great Orme stage is not in the itinerary anymore but from an organizational point of view this can be easily understood. And the ‘real Welsh forest stages’ obviously need to get the centre of attention. Chirk Castle on the other hand, brings back memories from earlier rallies from the RAC days. I remember being glued to the (partly black and white) television to see the cars plough through beautifully landscaped gardens of famous stately homes.

on the Gartheiniog stage (try pronouncing that if you’re not from Wales!).

At Volkswagen they must have had the best hotel, as all drivers were fully awake at the start, Ogier, Mikkelsen and Latvala (in that order) topped the charts of this stage. Mikkelsen slipped off the road on the next stage, but 2014 World Champion Ogier and runner up Latvala evenly divided stage wins on this first day. Ogier was fastest but gained just a few seconds on his teammate. Latvala was still in fighting spirit: “It’s just a few seconds, so I just have to be quicker tomorrow!”

Best of the rest part one.

We’ve seen it coming during the last few rallies: Hirvonen was in a good mood and in Wales he showed it again. In a straight battle with Mads Day one Østberg he succeeded to be third. The Norwegian was not happy with his The first day was a killer day. It took the cars southwest of the service car’s set-up and even lost fourth spot to his teammate Meeke. Although park. At the very early hour of 05:00 the drivers had to be present for Meeke was given a 10 second penalty and failed to negotiate the same the start. Then a 100 + kilometre ride (with a driving time of more than 2 hairpin in both runs he still held a 0.7 seconds lead over Østberg. hours) before they got to the start of their first 14 competitive kilometres

Wales Rally GB / Rally Revieww

Latvala will not win!

Clocaenog East is not a popular name anymore for the Finn. On Saturday morning he slides out of corner, he went in a bit too fast. His engine stalls and he slides into a ditch. Spectators pull him out but in the process he looses his rear spoiler. Not a good thing for high-speed action. The incident costs him any chance of winning he might have had. “For me it’s a new rally now,” admits Ogier, released from a heavy burden. “I couldn’t do anything else than push, push, push,” said a disappointed Latvala. “Then these things can happen, especially if you have these tricky conditions.”

Ogier (over 1 minute) but he is in second position. His aim was a podium position. “It doesn’t matter very much which step,” he smiled before the rally. But it is in the beginning of the second day, so there are still quite a few stages to go. “I feel good so I’ll try my best to stay here.”

But Meeke is just under 5 seconds behind the Finn on his farewell tour and Østberg just a little over 6 seconds. Thierry Neuville follows another 10 seconds later. It’s clear the race is not over yet. Already on the next stage Meeke overtakes Hirvonen, but Hirvonen’s confidence did not get a blow because one stage later he is leading Meeke again after some small mistakes by the man from Northern Ireland. Østberg had Hirvonen’s chance some intercom problems and while attending to This is his chance n. He is too far behind to catch these problems he allegedly clocked in late and

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Latvala battled hard and lot his rear spoiler in the process, not something you want on the high speed Welsh stages.

Images: Andy Crayford - Crayfordmedia.com

was handed a ten second penalty. He claims to have been in time but to no avail. At the end of the day Hirvonen was still leading holding a 3.4 second lead over Meeke. Østberg was at a ‘safe distance’ of over half a minute as was Neuville, having a few seconds more.

Final day It was the final day of the rally, the final day of the season and last but not least it was the final day of Mikko Hirvonen’s WRC career. No one begrudged him this result, but Kris Meeke of course was not giving away any presents and approached Hirvonen every stage until he was only 1.6 seconds from second place, then he made a mistake and went into a ditch.

Pushing the limits, Kris Meeke was entangled in an intense battle with Mikko Hirvonen for second place.

Wales Rally GB / Rally Revieww

When he finally came out he had two punctures and only one spare. So he had to nurse the car home with a slowly deflating tyre. “I had to think of Citroën’s runner up position in the manufacturers’ championship, so I backed off a bit.”

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Mikko’s final battle Mikko Hirvonen’s finlal battle was not a battle for victory but for a well-deserved second, and as we said it was not a classification that was handed to him on a silver platter. No, he fought for it during the whole weekend.

When he was overtaken, he reclaimed his spot and in the end he seduced his main rival into making a mistake.

Though a lot of people said he had lost ‘it’, he defied those critics by scoring a top position so a very good spot to end his career.

A great rally gave Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen a well deserved escond place in their farewell event.

Wales Rally GB / Round-up

Round-up

In Wales, Mikko Hirvonen was the center of the universe. That of course helped him keep the form we already saw in Spain. And it was as if we saw another Mikko again. The one who, we have to be honest, we missed a bit the last few years. But in Wales we noticed his smile again. He was actually enjoying the fight again and he proved that his driving could still match today’s elite! This result will certainly rehabilitate him a bit from the sometimes not so mild critics. In this form he could have gone on a bit longer, but hey he’s been there for a fairly long time and we can understand his motivation for leaving the sport and we’re happy for him with this result.

Though the spotlights were all aimed at his teammate, Elfyn Evans still had quite a responsibility on his shoulders being the son of Gwyndaf, who in 2001 was the last Welshman to start in Wales in a full spec rally car.

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M-Sport World Rallyteam (ctd)

M-Sport World Rallyteam

But having had a very good season already, he could relax a bit and enjoy his home event and at the same time get experience for next year. He only just lost the battle with the other, a bit more experienced, youngster Thierry Neuville and finished the rally in fifth.

Volkswagen World Rallyteam Nothing to win here but honor and if you have at least two of the best drivers in the championship in your team you can expect a fight within your own team. And much to the delight of the spectators that was exactly what was happening. ‘Of course’ Ogier set the early pace. Mikkelsen was the first victim. He wanted to fight for a third place in the co-driver’s championship for his co-driver Ola Fløene who came to his rescue when Mikkelsen parted company with Mikko Markkula after Argentina this year. It did not work however. When chasing Ogier, Mikkelsen slid off the road

on stage 2 and broke his suspension. He came back next day set some good times and fell victim to a nasty corner that Ogier only just survived. Ogier had to push the throttle quite heavily to fend off Latvala.

At the end of the day Ogier led but with a small margin of only six seconds. On day two however he slid into a ditch and lost the rally when he dropped to tenth place.

By now Latvala has found an emotional stability that has not always been there.

He kept on fighting, winning amongst others the PowerStage. This is certainly the man Ogier will have to closely watch next year!

We did not see Ott Tänäk in a real World Rally Car since Portugal but in Wales he was there again and going fast. He drove a Ford Fiesta RS built by his future employer M-Sport.

He admitted being a bit rusty but he drove a good rally and ended in seventh, just two places behind his new teammate for next year Elfyn Evans.

Wales Rally GB / Round-up

Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT The one and only result that would count for Citroën, was the one that would gain them so many points that they could claim the runner up position in de constructor’s championship. This gave a special responsibility to both drivers. Kris Meeke however enjoyed himself in the fight for the runner up position with Mikko Hirvonen. But when he got stuck in a ditch he saw this would jeopardize the points Citroën needed then he finally backed off. Sixth was all he could get out of his struggle.

Mads Østberg was rewarded with a podium spot after a hard battle with Meeke, and Neuville. He had some misfortune in the form of a ten second penalty for starting too late, and a delaminating tire. If this will be enough to convince Yves Matton for a Citroën seat in 2015 is a question that will be answered soon.

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All in all Østberg’s third place and Meeke’s result were enough for Citroen to reach their goal in the rally. They were the runners up.

RK M-Sport World Wally Team

Hyundai Shell World Rallyeam This was the final rally of the first season of the Korean team. So Wales was another rally they hadn’t experienced yet and again they could gain ‘valuable data’ as team manager Michel Nandan frequently said this year.

Thierry Neuville fought hard in the battle for third but in the real Welsh conditions he found some set up issues that made it difficult for him to fight for victory. But all is well that ends well can be said about the fourth place in the final classification and second spot on the PowerStage.

The other two drivers didn’t compete as well as their team captain. Juho Hänninen went off in stage three and had to wait till the next

day for his return in the rally.

Hayden Paddon did not do much better, having problems with his car’s behavior in the Welsh mud. At the end of the day he finished in tenth place.

Jipocar Czech National Team

Wales marked the end of Robert Kubica’s first full WRC season. It was here in Wales he had his first outing behind the wheel of a World Rally Car. We know what happened after Wales 2013. He was fast, but also provided quite a bit of work to body workers.

We lost count of all the exits he had during the season. He did come back every time and was sometimes quite fast.

But Wales 2014 was a bit different he was quite consistent and seemed to prefer a good finish to another DNF. He finished in eleventh place. Towards the end of the rally he confessed he didn’t know yet whether he would be coming back next year. “It’s fifty, fifty,” he said. “If I continue rallying or go circuit racing.” We hope to see him back in WRC next year. He is quite the character and massively popular both in his native Poland and many other countries around the world.

In Marin Prokop’s camp there was a happy atmosphere. “I‘m extremely happy with my ninth place here,” he explained. “At the end of the rally he only lost 0.7 sec. per kilometre,” addded manager Quirin Muller. “That is very good for a private team.

In 2013 it was twice as much!”

Image: Andy Crayford - Crayfordmedia.com

Wales Rally GB / Results 28/58

Final Result 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Ogier-Ingrassia Volkswagen Polo R WRC Hirvonen-Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC Østberg-Andersson Citroën DS3 WRC Neuville-Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC Evans-Barritt Ford Fiesta RS WRC

3:03:08.2 +37.6 +1:03.6 +1:14.9 1:24.3

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Meeke-Nagle Tanak-Molder Latvala-Anttila Prokop-Tomanek Paddon-Kennard

Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Volkswagen Polo R WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Hyundai i20 WRC

+2:03.0 +3:02.5 +2:47.5 +3:43.3 +6:07.5

Wales Rally GB / Standings

Manufacturer standings

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Championship standings (Drivers) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Sébastien Ogier (World Champion) Jari-Matti Latvala Andreas Mikkelsen Mikko Hirvonen Mads Østberg

267 218 150 126 108

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Thierry Neuville Kris Meeke Elfyn Evans Martin Prokop Dani Sordo

105 92 81 42 40

1.

Volkswagen Motorsport 447

(World Champion) 2.

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT 210 3.

M-Sport WRT 208 4.

Hyundai Shell WRT 187 5.

Volkswagen Motorsport II 133 6.

Jipocar Czech National Team 49 7.

Hyundai Motorsport N 28 8.

RK M-Sport WRT 26

Rally-eMag / Tech Talk

Tech Talk

Jon Scoltock

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Is: A structures engineer in the automotive and motorsport sectors as well as a freelance journalist. Jon will join the team to provide you with a monthly update on all things technical in the world of rallying.

Images: Andy Crayford - Crayfordmedia.com

Whilst a modern world rally car may share a visual resemblance with its road-going cousin, it is a very different machine indeed. Not only must the car be modified to use 4WD, it must also survive the rigours of the toughest stages in the world, with large suspension travel, and significant modifications to the chassis in order to keep the crew safe. It must be light, responsive, forgiving and easy to maintain. A rally car is probably one of the toughest compromises of any racing car in the world, and over the coming issues, we’ll show you just what goes into turning a run-of-the-mill hatchback into a world rally car.

er had to base their rally car around an existing 4WD model, and could take a basic 2WD car and convert it into a World Rally Car, with 4WD and a turbocharged engine.

Of course, converting a 2WD car to 4WD meant that much more work was required, and the World Rally Car regulations allowed more freedom, meaning the engine could be slightly relocated, and that the suspension could also be modified more heavily. The roll cage is a significant part of the build process and, as well as acting as a safety cell to protect the crew, it also connects all of the suspension mounting positions, and even the engine mountings in order to make the car Durability and Safety as rigid and strong as possible. The The most important part of any rally modifications have become so excar (or any other type of race car for treme that a modern World Rally that matter) is the chassis. Unlike Car is effectively a purpose built a purpose-built racer, such as an chassis centred round the roll cage F1 or LMP car, a rally car is based and suspension mountings, with the around a production car, meaning exterior panels fitted over the top it takes a lot of modification to get it to give the look of the donor car. to competition standards. The tradi- These panels are heavily modified tional approach was to take a body to allow additional wheel clearance, shell from the production line, fit a as well as to create useful downroll cage, add additional bracing to force to help traction and stability, increase stiffness, and then bolt on whilst giving enough ground clearall the parts to create a finished car. ance to clear rocks and ruts.

From 1997, manufacturers no long-

Rally-eMag / Tech Talk 32/58

Suspension Whilst a production car is designed to be driven on tarmac roads, a rally car must be able to drive across mud, gravel, snow and even the occasional rock at speeds approaching 200kph. At the lower end of the scale, a car such as the R2 Fiesta will actually be closely related to the road-going Fiesta. The dampers are replaced with adjustable items, and the hubs borrowed from a Ford Focus for extra strength, but the majority of parts remain standard.

Once you move up to an R5 or WRC car, things become very different indeed, with all of the suspension components custom built, to allow ultimate adjustability and strength, giving increased suspension travel, helping the car to perform on rough roads.

For tarmac rallies, the dampers will be changed so that suspension travel is reduced, and stiffer springs fitted. The car will run much closer to the ground, as there is no need for the extra ground clearance required for gravel events, meaning that aerodynamic performance can also be increased.

rallyday

Stopping Power Brakes are another component that is changed between tarmac and gravel rallies, especially at the front of the car. On gravel rallies, a WRC car will use 310mm disks, whilst for a tarmac rally these will be swapped for larger items, of up to 370mm diameter. The brakes callipers themselves will also be changed to suit the larger disks, and manufacturers have used callipers with four, six or even eight pistons, compared to the single piston callipers fitted to the majority of road cars.

Elsewhere, all of the other brake components are changed from a road car, with the brake pipes routed inside the car for protection, the pedals mounted on the floor to lower the centre of gravity, and the brake servo deleted. This makes braking much harder work for the driver, but makes the brakes more progressive, helping with feel and control on the limit, as well as helping to reduce weight.

The balance between the front and rear brakes can be altered by the driver, whilst the handbrake is hydraulically operated, and is used by the driver to help get the car round the tightest corners.

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Image: Timo Anis

Power and Versatility The engine has been an area in rallying that has seen a significant change in recent years. For around 25 years, the sport was dominated by 2.0 turbocharged engines until, in 2011, the change was made to 1.6 litre turbocharged units in order to reduce costs.

Rally engines are unique in motorsport, requiring not only outright power, but also significant mid-range grunt to help pull the car out of corners. Due to the unpredictable nature of the conditions, unlike on race circuits, it may not be possible to keep the car within the narrow power band found in most race engines. This means that a rally engine must be versatile; able to get the crew out of trouble and quickly back up to speed if they over-shoot a junction or lose momentum. One of the big influencing factors is the turbo restrictor; a device that restricts the amount of air that the turbo can draw. This limits outright power, meaning that the 1.6 litre engines only produce around 300bhp, but teams can tune the engine to utilise the air it can draw to the maximum, producing high torque figures, particularly at low engine speeds, helping that allimportant response.

Speedy Shifts The gearbox is another area where a World Rally Car is far removed from its production cousin. As well as the obvious 4WD conversion, the chief difference is the sequential shift. This is common across the majority of classes in world rallying, with R2, 3, 4 and 5 cars all using sequential boxes, as well as World Rally Cars themselves.

This means that the gear lever simply has to be pulled towards you to shift up, and pushed away from you to shift down. This obviously makes changing gear a lot quicker, as well as eliminating the risk of missing a gear. The second major difference is in the gears themselves, which are of “straight cut� design, meaning that the teeth run straight across the surface of the gear, rather than in the curved manner found in a normal road car. This makes them stronger and, with the use of dog engagement, shifts can be completed without the need to use the clutch, again saving vital fractions of a second. The by-product is increased noise from the gears meshing, giving the characteristic whine as the car moves along. The 2011 regulations outlawed the electronic paddle shift systems that had become commonplace, requiring a mechanical system, but Volkswagen have been testing a new paddle-shift system that meets the current regulations.

Rally-eMag / Tech Talk

Electronics The electronics are also far removed from your road car. Obviously many of the electrical systems found in a production car are no longer needed and, rather than chopping up the original wiring loom, a new one is built specifically for the car from scratch. The production wiring loom is not ideally suited, as all

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Rally cars take a serious beating, but they have to keep going no matter how alien the conditions may get.

of the original electronic components, such as the ECU and instruments are replaced with motorsport-spec parts. Even the wires themselves are specialised, using lightweight wiring, along with connectors that you’d usually find on an aeroplane. These are much more reliable than the standard parts, ensuring a good connection at all times.

Next month...

In the next issue, we’ll look at the chassis in more detail, outlining just what it takes to turn a production car in to a world rally winner.

Rally-eMag / Interview

Sooner or later we will take advantage of the proposals!

Last month we spoke to Oliver Ciesla about the launch of th WRC Plus platform and how the sport should go forward. Since that talk important decisions were made at the World Motor Sport Coun-

Oliver Ciesla Is: Managing Director of WRC Promoter GmbH

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Words: Harry van Veenendaal Images: Bas Romeny, Timo Anis, PR

cil. They were not exactly what Ciesla would have hoped for, so we called him up to get his views on these latest developments and how they will affect the sport.

A few weeks ago there was a WMSC meeting in many things that have to be considered from fairBeijing, What happened there? ness, from sporting aspects to what the heritage of the rally is. But also we must consider, what I was in Australia by that time so what shall I tell the future of the rally is. And it is not a secret that you? Unfortunately I was far away, I enjoyed a the commercial reality for the event organizers great rally in Australia, really a great rally there! and for the promoters that had the job before I was here was not always flourishing al the time The discussion on the format is first of all, what so there is a need for change, there is a need I personally think a fresh food for progress for for looking into the future and not only looking in the WRC and all people involved. As we already the past and protecting a DNA. What is that DNA discussed last time it was a long way to coming anyhow? And this proposal that was submitted to this proposal that has been submitted to the was, in all of these regards very balanced and WMSC in September in Beijing. It included a lot this is not what I say, who has been of part of this of work, brain experience from many people form game for a reasonably short time. This is what various areas, manufacturers, organizers drivers, today people say that have experience of many former drivers and marketing people that gave many years being drivers, co-drivers team princitheir input, which made it I believe, quite a ma- pals and so on. ture proposal we understand that there are many

There is a need for looking into the future and not only looking in the past, protecting a DNA

Rally-eMag / Interview

In Beijing the World Motorsport Council did not formally reject this proposal but it was given back to the WRC Committee.

They will have a session on the 16th of October to revise, rediscuss, and reconsider it. And that is exactly where we are now. I personally still believe in that proposal and I would still argue in favour of it. At the same time we are carefully listening to those that have a lot of experience on he sport, that also have a deep understanding and also have a fair guess of what impact a change could bring. No one wants to do a mistake, but at the same time managing a situation requires taking decisions and no one gets a guarantee that the business that you are running will get you a return on investment.

Zero relevance We are prepared to invest and when we talk about WRC+, which is a great technical platform, when we talk about WRC live, which is a great format it

only lives if we fill it with the practical content and what content do we have? We have three elements of content: First we have the young guys that are hopefully heroes in their country that attract people to follow them doing their sport.

Then we have people that just want to see quick cars. They want to see the sport as it is with attractive cars, good body shapes, powerful, drifting and so on. The third element is the new and attractive competition format. What is the sense of watching a football match, if at the moment it is kicked of you start with a four zero: it is of zero relevance. And this is what we have today with the live stage.

The only way to reach more people is the live format. There is no other format that allows us to tell the story of a three-day, three hundred-kilometre event in the forest. We already have he highlights show but with that we cannot grow. It’s not about me giving it all away to all the TV channels.

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The only way to reach more people is the live format.

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Rallying is simply difficult to explain.

An established one-hour programme As I mentioned before, I need to find a demand for it. So the growth with the existing format is limited. The real growth chance that we have is an established one-hour show at the same time slot including an attractive live format. We are prepared to invest in this and we are doing that already. We make ourselves independent with our own channel. We want an attractive format now. It would be nice to have a German hero, a British hero and so on.That would be making it easier to access the broadcasters there but we cannot sit here and wait for that to happen and at the same and nothing.

Parallel to this we should work on a strategy for the competition format.

So where is the problem today? On average the difference between the first and second, once we start the PowerStage is a 55 second gap. It is very unlikely that we manage to have an attractive show when on a fifteen-kilometre stage 55 seconds have to be overcome. And this would be the same between second and third and so on. So at the moment this last hour has, from a sporting point of view, has zero relevance. And this is what we want to change and this is what our proposal foresees and this is up for discussion.

The proposal needs to be tried Look at yourselves, you are rally fans and you will watch because you are interested already. But I hear from your colleagues that they start to get bored watching the PowerStage live. And if the people that

are inside the job, inside the rally, living the rally tell me that, how can we expect that a fourteen year old in the US at maybe four o’clock in the morning or a seventeen year old in China watching us for the first time gets interested and becomes a live long rally fan. No way!

The existing highlight show is simply not enough. We need some extra excitement. Rallying is simply difficult to explain. OK you can watch nice cars driving in a crazy manner. That is what the guys are doing. But at this last stage very little drama is involved. And the exciting finale in Finland this year is not enough to grow.

Not enough for us to invest more and in all fairness also not enough for Hyundai, Citroen, Ford and Volkswagen investing millions in awareness, because their return of investment is awareness. And the present tools don’t give that so we need to do something.

I’m still convinced it is not only necessary to have the courage to decide in favour of a change, I also believe that the proposals that are now on the table need to be tried. People who know much more about rallying than I do agree with me.

Image: Timo Anis

Why doesn’t it happen then?

I don’t want to comment on the decisionmaking process of the World Motorsport Council, who am I tot do that? We know that the WRC commission, which is the selected group of experts within the FIA for WRC includes 18 people who could vote on the proposals; fifteen were in favour and three did not vote. No one was against it. You could say this is quite a representative, positive, you could say a supportive result. For you as a journalist it is a fair question to ask what is the value of the WRC Commission if the World Motorsport Council ignores the proposal of its own entity. This is a fair question but it’s not a question to be addressed to me.

But this is basically where we stand: to

see if by mutual exchange of arguments the one or the other can be convinced.

And for me together with the fifteen colleagues of the WRC commission, we still think it is worthwhile fighting for because we are so much convinced of it. And then at the next meeting of the WMSC we shall see if the climate is mature for a change or not, but I still want to believe that it is possible.

Could the proposal be changed in such a way that it can be agreed upon?

The whole proposal is the result of a lot of discussions making it a little better every time. It is now quite a solid piece of work. It’s a complete concept; it’s not bits and pieces. So if you change something now, that has an impact on another element, so I think there is little chance for improving it and I’m convinced that it is better to adopt it like t is than to play around with the regulations. I’m very much reluctant to change the regulations because the have been changed to often in the past. It gets confusing. So I really believe that changes are only allowed if they feed into one of our important objectives. This means I prefer to leave it as it is, have a break of a year reconsider and then implement it. So all or nothing would be my management advice and not half a way just for the sake of doing something. But it is not our intention to ignore other people’s opinions and to go with our head through the wall but I feel it’s also fair to fight for one’s convictions with arguments.

All or nothing would be my management advice…

Rally-eMag / Interview

What about the proposals for the changes of the technical regu- much later a press release of WRC Promoter GmbH told us lations? Are they part of your proposal? that after a meeting of the WRC commission a proposal would be sent to the WMSC indicating several changes in the running It’s a parallel process, which is processed at the same time. of WRC events, taking effect next year. The most significant As I mentioned before, there is content and there are platforms change was the starting order (championship order on day 1 (WRC.COM, WRC+ the new app, the new video game and so and 2, reverse rally classification for the last day). There was on) and the WRC live format. That includes the drivers and no mention however of the most typical subject of the Shoot out the car and competition format. As far as the drivers are con- PowerStage. We asked Oliver Ciesla for a reaction. cerned, you know it is very much up to the manufacturers and the FIA to grow talents, find talents, to provide the right structure to make them mature and confident enough to make them What do you think of the proposal for the WMSC? eligible for WRC. But let’s park this part because it is farthest We were hoping for a bit more positive reception of our creative away from the area that I can influence. The procedures for the proposals. We have been working on it for a year with all stakecompetition format and the car are both in progress. We would holders, manufacturers, event organizers, teams and drivers like to implement the first in January at the competition start at but apparently it was not good enough. We have been trying to the earliest. For the cars there are now working groups to see develop the idea of minimizing the time gap for the last day, but what is the objective, what are the possibilities to getting there, people saw it as a devaluation of the existing system, whereas what is in the interest of the fans of the manufacturers. As said we have been emphasizing the fact that the proposed system this is also in process for implementation in 2017. However it is made it absolutely obligatory to fight for every second on all the a parallel discussion it is not part of the format discussion and stages as the system was based on dividing the time gap by a it is not linked factor of ten. That means every second on the stages of the first two days counts for one tenth on the last stage. We have been Conclusion emphasizing that in this way it is still possible to change someThere is one thing I would like to emphasize again: the process thing on the last stage, but it is not so that you start from scratch in which we find ourselves with the teams, with many of the on that last stage. In our view this is definitely not a devaluation event organizers, with the FIA was very enjoyable and there of the rally history, but our opponents saw it differently. was an outcome, an outcome that many people considered to be a good outcome There is a result with a lot of work and ex- So what happens now? pertise on the table now It would be a pity not to use it making It would be a pity to throw away what we have now. We have the best out of it It’s not yet lost. It’s there and sooner or later we had very good discussions and the proposals need fine-tuning. will take advantage of it.

And that is what we are working on. We have on-going talks with all stakeholders This interview took place during the Rallye de France. Not

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It would be a pity to throw away what we have now.

Rally-eMag / Interview

But nothing can be implemented for the new season?

No it is very unlikely as the time is too short. We just have to be more patient. We are now aiming for a new proposal taking effect in the 2016 season.

What did the other committee members think?

We were all in the same boat, so you could say we were jointly disappointed. But as I said we are still working on it and we are still talking and that includes discussions we have with Mr. Jean Todt of the FIA. What do you think of the starting order rules?

We have mixed feelings; it was an element of our proposals. We think the impact of the new rules will not be dramatically high.

In some rallies there is some impact for the leader in the championship, especially on snow and ice and on gravel but in other cases it can be an advantage for the leader. So the actual change will be little.

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Are you still in contact with Toyota and will these new rules influence their final decision?

We are always talking to manufacturers wishing to come to WRC, so also to Toyota, but I don’t think this situation will influence their final decision.

Despite all the efforts by the WRC commission, we are still at the start of reforming the sport.

It was all smiles in the Ogier camp this year, but how will they fare next year when the championship leader will be forced to run ahead of the pack for the first two days of each event?

Images: Bas Romeny

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Overview 43/58

Rallye international du valais

Based in: Sion and Martigny Date: 23-25/10/2014 Number of stages: 19 Shortest stage: Caserne 6.18 km Longest stage: Les Cols – 32.13 km Total stage distance: 258.00 km Surface: Mainly asphalt

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Review

rally mountaineers Switzerland’s main motorsport event, the Rallye International du Valais played host the penultimate round of the 2014 European Rally Championship. With the stunning Alps providing the backdrop the drivers will duke it out for victory while four or those still have a shot at clinching the outright ERC title. Skoda has two guys in the mix with current championship leader Esapekka Lappi and the consistent Sepp Wiegand. The Polish challenger is Kajetan Kajetanowicz in his private Fiesta R5 and despite an up and down opening season for the new Peugeot 208 T16, Craig Breen hasn’t lost sight of the champagne yet either.

Words: Steven van Veenendaal

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Images FIA ERC

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Review

Multi rally winner Olivier Burri was in trouble before the rally even started when he suffered driveshaft failure on the qualifying stage.

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The Rally 19 Stages form the 55th running of the Rallye International du Valais and take the drivers through the Swiss Alps from Sion to Martigny. The winding mountain stages provide a serious challenge and the weather can add to the difficulty as temperatures drop in the mountains resulting is slippery and sometimes icy conditions, during the recce weather conditions varied from sun with 25 degrees celcius to snowfall! 76 Crews took to the start with most of the ERC regulars ready to do battle. Local hero Olivier Burri also enrolled in search of his ninth outright victory of the event.

Given the competition at hand he would be up to quite a challenge.

Although he won the qualifying stage, Craig Breen opted not to start first on the road, letting someone else play the guinnea pig. It would prove a wise choice.

Qualifying Craig Breen wasted no time to show his intentions and went fastest over the Qualifying Stage granting him the right the chose his starting position first. Perhaps not as big an advantage as on gravel rounds, it still helps to select your starting position yourself. Unlike on gravel, it helps to start up front on asphalt, as there is no dirt thrown on the track yet. Breen though opted to start second “I wanted somebody to be the guinea pig”, a ‘fortune’ that fell to Bruno Magelhaes. Early trouble loomed for Kajetanowicz and Burri. The first suffered from an electric issue that forced his car to stop for some ten seconds in the stage while the latter suffered a driveshaft failure. Both were able to complete the run but it will not do their confidence a lot of good going into the rally.

Dancing on Ice Once the action got underway Bruno Magelhaes immediately experienced the difficulty of running first on the road in the Valais. Icy patches on the road made conditions extremely treacherous and Magelhaes didn’t even last a kilometer. Less than one K into the stage he misjudged a slippery section, got caught out by the ice and slammed his Peugeot into the mountain edge lining the stage.

Game over. The stage was immediately paused, as the road was narrow enough to be completely blocked by a single car. Moreover the rest of the crews were warned, this one was going to be a tricky one.

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Review

Caution to the wind Kevin Abbring apparently didn’t get the memo and threw caution to the wind as he blasted though the 8,25km opener to set the fastest time. In this German-speaking part of the country. Sepp Wiegand obviously felt right at home.

He set the second fastest time overall, somewhat to his own surprise “The water in the stage feels like ice, so I was driving quite slowly. But now that I see the time I’m happy.” His ERC crown rivals were less excited about the conditions. Kajetanowicz managed fifth fastest but Lappi was down in seventh “I have to say I don’t like the driving at the moment with the conditions changing so much.” Now stage-opener Craig Breen fared even worse and backed off significantly, clocking in 11th fastest. “The snow has melted so there is water running down the road and you cannot commit, it’s incredibly tricky.”

What’s going on?

As ever in the ERC the opening day of action was full of drama and highlights. Stage two was shortened to just four kilometers due the dangerous icy conditions and after a subpar performance on the opening stage Craig Breen picked up the gauntlet to set the fastest time. His luck would change very quickly though. On the next stage he punctured and dropped over a minute.

More misfortune also followed his teammate Kevin Abbring. The Dutchman had to relinquish his lead when brake problem caused his brakes to lock up and halted the Peugeot near the stage end. Sepp Wiegand take full advantage of the misfortunes of those ahead of him to snatch the overnight lead.

Day two Despite dropping down the leaderboard with his puncture Craig Breen set a relentless pace on Friday morning to clinch stage wins on the

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Sepp Wiegand showed his consistency on the tricky opening day. He skillfully navigated through the icy patches to become the overnight leader.

opening two stages. Before the second had started, his Peugeot once again disappointed Kevin Abbring. After yesterday’s brake issues, this time the clutch hampered his progress and halted the Peugeot to a stop before the first stage of the day.

At the same time overnight leader Wiegand lost some of his spark from the night before and saw championship rivals Lappi and Kajetanowicz closing in fast. On stage five Lappi passed Wiegand to take the lead of the rally and two stages later Kajetanowicz overtook Wiegand as well. The Pole was happy enough and despite the tricky conditions brimming with confidence after his solid performance “It’s an amazing stage like everyone today. We have so much fun. We have some surprises because there is some ice. It’s very slippery in a few places. We have good pacenotes and I believe in that. We have the second fastest time so it feels really good. We should be fastest on the next lap.”

A sight all too familiar, Kevin Abbring standing next to a stricken Peugeot. The Dutchman was out of luck again in Switzerland despite again showing his pace.

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Review

More broken rubber Wiegand’s day went from bad to worse. First his lack of stage knowledge dropped him behind Lappi and Kajetanowicz and then to add injury to insult he suffered a puncture too.

This meant Lappi and Kajetanowicz were able to jet in front and set up a two way battle royal for the final day’s 135 kilometers of action. 23 Seconds separated the two up front in Lappi’s favor. Kajetanwoicz was full of fighting spirit though after his strong performance and was looking forward to the final day battle, which would include the longest stage of the entire ERC, the 32.13 kilometer monster of Les Cols.

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Grande Finale Despite all of Kajetanowicz’ good intentions, it was Lappi who opened the final day in charge, powering through the first stage five seconds quicker than the Pole. Lappi was happy, albeit somewhat surprised “ I told Janne it wasn’t a good stage for us, but apparently the others found it difficult too!”

Kajetanowicz fought back on the next stage but then the third stage came, including a gravel section. As a Finn should, Lappi felt right at home and dealt a strong blow to Kajetanowicz by increasing the lead to 39 seconds.

As he lost time, he also suddenly felt Craig Breen breathing down his neck.

Despite some spins, Breen was flying and closed the gap to Kajetanowicz to two seconds.

He’s on fire That fight ended rather abruptly though. On stage 16 Kajetanowicz’ Fiesta caught fire, ending his rally.

His retirement meant that Wiegand could reclaim his podium spot, deservedly so after his stunning pace on the opening day. Up front, Lappi made no mistake and could cruise to victory with Breen behind him happy to settle for second after a strong fight back. Breen’s comeback run earned him the Colin McRae Flat Out Trophy but it wasn’t enough to keep Lappi at bay. The Finn’s win also jolted him out in front of the ERC overall stadings, with only Wiegand remaining to challenge him for championship honors.

Kevin Abbring restarted the rally on the final day after all his trouble earlier on and showed he has the pace to run right up there with the big boys by setting a string of fastest stage times, although he knows all too well that it’s the final results that really count.

Esapekka Lappi snatched the lead on the second day and never looked back. His victory set him up nicely with just one round to go in the ERC. Kajetanowicz had a strong rally that ended when his car caught fire on the final day, shattering his dreams of a podium finish.

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Results 48/58

Final results

1. Lappi-Ferm 2. Breen-Martin 3. Wiegand-Christian 4. Hirschi-Landais 5. Burri-Ferrero 6. Consani-Vilmot 7. Althaus-Ioset 8. Perroud-Marchand 9. Gonon-Horgnies 10. Radoux-Gregoire

Skoda Fabia S2000 Peugeot 208 T16 Skoda Fabia S2000 Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta R5 Peugeot 207 S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Subaru Impreza R4 Ford Fiesta R5

2:46:22.4 +42,0 +3.04,1 +4.10,2 +4.17,8 +4.24,8 +5.56,9 +6.22,9 +7.08,9 +9.53,5

ERC: Rallye du Valais / Standings 49/58

Championship standings 1. Esapekka Lappi 2. Sepp Wiegand 3. Craig Breen 4. Kajetan Kajetanowicz 5. Vaclav Pech 6. Vasily Gryazin 7. Robert Consani 8. Bruno Magalhaes 9. Ott Tanak 10. Robert Kubica

Skoda Fabia S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta RRC MINI JWC S2000 Ford Fiesta RRC Peugeot 207 S2000 Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta R5 Ford Fiesta R5

162 128 104 100 63 53 50 44 41 39

ERC: Tour de Corse / Overview 51/58

tour de corse

Based in: Ajaccio Date: 07-08/11/2014 Number of stages: 11 Shortest stage: Palavese-Le Barrage de L’Ospedale 14.93 km Longest stage: Acque Doria-Bellevalle – 28.26 km Total stage distance: 241.06 km Surface: Tarmac

ERC: Tour de Corse / Review

10,000 Corners This is it. The final round, the championship decider, the grand finale. After the penultimate round in Switzerland, Skoda Motorsport drivers Esapekka Lappi and Sepp Wiegand are still in the hunt for the championship. Lappi takes a 34 point lead to the island of Corsica, but with 39 points up for grabs Wiegand isn’t out of it just yet. With the “Rally of ten thousand corners” coming up, all is still to play for.

Words: Steven van Veenendaal

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Images FIA ERC

ERC: Tour de Corse / Review 53/58

Anti-climax And then just like that, the news came in that one of the two matadors would not be taking part in the event at all. Sepp Wiegand was forced to withdraw from Tour de Corse after a small accident with major consequences during a pre-event test. In a left hander Wiegand went of the road in a way that didn’t seem that catastrophic at first. However the car ended up on a patch of dry grass that caught fire due to the car’s heat. Flames quickly took hold of the car to set it ablaze and turn it into a crisp. With just a couple of days until the actual event there

was no way the team would be able to repair the car in time. It was a bitter disappointment for the young German and the team as a whole.

“I’m very disappointed. I’m really sorry that the slip-up had such drastic consequences – I’m also sorry for the whole team.“ The new Flying Finn One man’s loss is another man’s gain. That must have gone through Esapekka Lappi’s mind in the lead up to the Tour de Corse. Drama on one end of the team meant glory for the other. Due to Wiegand’s misfortune Lappi was

crowned ERC champion before the rally started. Nobody wants to win due to other’s troubles but Lappi must have sighed a bit of relief. His lead in the championship was good, but you never know on Corsica, as one of those ten thousand corners can easily take you out and shatter your dreams. But no risk for such drama for Lappi who became the fourth Flying Finn to clinch the ERC title after the mythical Rauno Aaltonen and Pauli Toivonen had done before in the sixties and more recently Juho Hänninen in 2012. For the third consecutive time the winning driver piloted a Skoda Fabia to glory.

ERC: Tour de Corse / Review

Now what?

So before the rally got underway the championship was decided and thus the main story had already been told. That didn’t stop all the other front-runners from putting up a show though.

The top crews were out in force on Corsica. Both Peugeots of Breen and Abbring took to the start as did Kajetan Kajetanowicz. The local support went to two French stars, Bryan Bouffier (looking for back to back wins on Corsica) and Stephane Sarrazin and of course to the local boy, Corsican native Jean Matieu Leandri who got his first taste of R5 machinery. Another notable entry was that of Romain Dumas who can usually be found on race tracks. He came to Corsica with the new Porsche RGT 997, a car that he believes rallying needs “I think when you are a fan like me and not a future professional in rallying it’s very important to be in this kind of car,” said Dumas. “It’s the

best kind of car for the show – they need noise, three of the event. cars that are sliding.”

Mooooh An enthralling battle between Sarrazin and BouffJet lag? ier quickly developed during the opening day.

Both Stephane Sarrazin and Romain Dumas are The two were clearly a step ahead of the rest of busy men and didn’t arrive on Corsica until Mon- the pack as they steadily increased their advanday. Mind you, they came flying in from Shanghai tage throughout the day. Both encountered chalafter doing the Shanghai Six Hours endurance lenges throughout the day as Sarrazin had to hit event. A bit of a jet lag then for the both of them his brakes hard in order not to hit a cow that had but didn’t seem to bother them too much though, wandered onto stage two. Two stages later Bouffonce the action got underway with the qualify- ier was in trouble when he punctured and lost ing stage. Sarrazin was on the pace immediately nearly twenty seconds. He fought back on the setting second fastest time while Dumas slotted days final two stages to get within two seconds of in seventh in the mighty Porsche. Once the ac- Sarrazin before heading to the overnight halt in tual rally started, the two went even better with Ajaccio. Behind them Kevin Abbring is following Sarrazin setting the pace as the early leader and in third after Lappi crashed out of the event on Dumas powering the Porsche to fourth. Between the final stage of the day, lucky for him that the them Bouffier and Abbring formed the first top championship was already decided.

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Romain Dumas showed the potential of the Porsche 997 RGT , setting excellent stage times en route to a top five finish.

Just back from a six hour endurance race in Shanghai, Stephane Sarrazin had a bit of a jetlag to shake of. Which he very much did!

ERC: Tour de Corse / Review 55/58

Final showdown All to play for on the final day of the Tour de Corse as Sarrazin leads Bouffier by just 1.7 seconds. Bouffier vowed to push for the lead “It’s always difficult to be confident when you are behind Steph but the gap is 1.7s and that is nothing so we have to push and we will see.” It was Sarrazin though who set the early pace by winning the opening stages of the day. The circuit pressed on to increase the gap until Bouffier finally faltered. A spin on the penultimate stage of the rally dropped him nearly half a minute behind Sarrazin, making it nearly impossible to catch his compatriot. The gap indeed proved sufficient for Sarrazin to claim his first victory on Corsica, a special moment for any rally driver, let alone a French one. “I did two rallies this season, the ones I like most and to win them both is just so amazing. I had a good battle all weekend with Bryan and to win Corsica is more than a dream.”

Best of the rest Kevin Abbring sealed his second ever visit to Corsica with a fine third place.

The last time the Dutchman competed here was in 2008 and the route was almost entirely new to him. The difficult Corsican roads require an extremely steep learning curve if you are to be successful and Abbring provided. Constantly learning to judge the grip levels and maintain his tyres, Abbring faced a challenging weekend but was duly rewarded with third.

The surprise of the rally was young Frenchman Eric Camilli who made his ERC debut in the somewhat aging Peugeot 207 S2000. He finished a very credible fourth overall. Romain Dumas completed the top five in his Porsche after Julien Maurin retired on the final day. So a great day for the circuit racers as Sarrazin won and Dumas brought home fifth.

Despite the jetlag Stephane Sarrazin was the king of Corsica.

Behind Sarrazin the podium was completed by Bouffier and Abbring.

ERC: Tour de Corse / Result 56/58

Final results

1. Sarrazin - Renucci 2. Bouffier - Panseri 3. Abbring - Marshall 4. Camilli - Veillas

5. Dumas - Giraudet 6. Magalhaes - Magalhaes 7. Leandri - Gordon

8. Tarabus - Trunkart 9. Guglielmi - Vesperini 10. Reuche - Derias

Ford Fiesta RRC Ford Fiesta RRC Peugeot 208 T16 Peugeot 207 S2000 Porsche 997 GT3 Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta R5

Skoda Fabia S2000 Renault Clio RS Renault Clio RS

2.36.48.4 + 18.9 + 1.38.2 + 2.24.1 + 5.41.9 + 6.29.9 + 7.33.5 + 7.51.3 + 10.19.0 + 13.21.0

ERC: Tour de Corse / Standings 57/58

Championship standings 1. Esapekka Lappi 2. Sepp Wiegand 3. Craig Breen 4. Kajetan Kajetanowicz 5. Vaclav Pech 6. Kevin Abbring 7. Bryan Bouffier 8. Bruno Magalhaes 9. Vasily Gryazin 10. Robert Consani

Skoda Fabia S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta RRC MINI JWC S2000 Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta RRC Peugeot 208 T16 Ford Fiesta RRC Peugeot 207 S2000

162 128 104 100 63 63 61 54 53 50

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