Corsica Issue 32, October 2015
the handsome won! Plus: ERC Rally Greece and The Dutchies
spain
the game
corsica is back on the menu this year Image: Bas Romeny
latvala is on a m ission to win the final three r allies this year Image: Bas Romeny
rim rock ing actio n on the spanish g ravel! Image: Bas Romeny
this is going to
hurt our photog
Image: Bas Romeny
rapher...
Rally-eMag October 2015 / Contents
This month Who made it? Publisher: Rally-eMag Words: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal. Photography: Bas Romeny, Erik van ‘t Land
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, Red Bull Media Pool.
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 Tour de Corse
WRC Rallyracc catalunya
Feature wrc5 The game
ERC Acropolis rally
fmf for my friends
Corsica Revival?
The Handsome Won
Unleash the driver
The Big Leap
Bas’ special snaps
Page 11
Page 26
Page 38
Page 42
Page 48
Tour de Corse / Overview 11/50
Tour de corse
Based in: Corte Date: 01-04/10/15 Number of stages: 9 Shortest stage: Bisinao-Agosta Plage, 16.74 km Longest stage: Muracciola-Col de Sorba, 48.46 km Total stage distance: 333 km Surface: Asphalt Image: Bas Romeny
Tour de Corse / Review
corsica revival? A year ago we witnessed the last issue of the Rallye de France in the Alsace region. Among others things it had one of the best (if not the) best service arena of all WRC events. Though there was a bit of criticism about the stages being similar to Germany’s stages, after a few events, France became one of the more popular events in the championship. Then the regional authorities decided it was all becoming too expensive and pulled the plug. No more Rallye de France then? Of course the French sporting authority FFSA did not let that happen. Corsica was reborn. In the beginning of October the WRC community therefore landed on Napoleon’s island. Words: Harry van Veenendaal
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Images: Bas Romeny
Tour de Corse / Review
History reinstated The ‘Tour de Corse’ has always been an epic event and part of the WRC for a long time. However due to several reasons the rally fell from the WRC calendar in 2008. After a relatively large number of fatal incidents the rally already had become less popular with drivers. But also economical issues and the fact that a certain Sébastien Loeb was born in the Alsace region threw Corsica from the notorious list of 13 WRC events. But now it is back. The most special aspect of the rally this year was the format. Rather than having a central Rally HQ including the service park, it was a true round-trip again. Starting in the capital Ajaccio and then going to the north, to Corte
in the Centre followed by Porto Vecchio in the south. From this point you can almost touch the other Mediterranean WRC island Sardinia. From Porto Vecchio the drivers went back to Ajaccio. Meaning the drivers had to change hotels quite a few times. Not a popular phenomenon with the team owners as this meant they had to pay more than usual.
So all in all, it is still an exciting rally. The Corsican asphalt is one of a kind. Or perhaps we should say seven of a kind. It ranges from racetrack like tarmac to bumpy narrow roads with a surface that has been repaired (too) many times because of ‘frostbite’ that hits the roads during severe winters. Rock faces on one side and very deep drops on the other side of the road line the roads. Sometimes there is some rusted armco The schedule barriers but usually nothing prevents you from The special route also included a special time dropping a fearsome distance if you happen to schedule. Three days with three stages each, the miss a corner... No child’s stuff this rally! But it is shortest one being the PowerStage of just under sacred rallying history. 17 kilometers. There are four stages of more than 40 kilometers. So with an average stage length of 37 kilometers, it’s not a sprint rally.
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The Tour de Corse is a genuine ‘Tour’ of Corsica as it takes competitors all across the island. Beautiful scenery is guaranteed.
Tour de Corse / Review 14/50
Rain Just before the rally and also during day one, the weather was atrocious. Torrential rains swept all over the island. Sending mud streams over all the roads and sometimes flooding complete cities and this at a breathtaking speed. Ask for example Molly Taylor doing gravel crew duties for Kevin Abbring. Together with Kevin’s father she got stuck in a small town. Well actually she did not get stuck. But the car she was in, suddenly was in the middle of a fast flowing river that only minutes before was the main street of the village. Both occupants made it to drier areas unscaved but it’s clear this doesn’t make it easy on the rally organizers. This became clear the first rally day. Rain was pouring down, not only from the sky, because the rain falling down on higher altitudes formed impromptu rivers running down the slopes and on the way ruining the roads by flushing away the sand foundations under the tarmac creating holes in the road. Apart from the very slippery nature of the roadsurface this made it near impossible to drive over some of the roads. Consequently the 43-kilometer Casamozza to Ponte Leccia test had to be canceled as some parts of the stage had simply been flushed away.
Evans’ day Most drivers took a precautious approach. Still, before the first drivers had reached the finish of stage 1, the first retirement could be recorded: Thierry Neuville went a bit wide on a bridge and slammed into a wall lining the bridge. He stumbled a bit further, only to find out some meters further down the road that something had broken in his suspension, something irreparable at a lay by on the side of the stage. On the end-of-stage leaderboard we found a mix of ‘the usual suspects’ and some surprises. Tying as stage fastest were Kubica and Ogier. The first one we know is fast but it still was a surprise to us, the second of course was not, nor were Latvala, Sordo and Østberg. In sixth place we found Elfyn Evans as the first M-Sport driver. In seventh a surprise again: Kevin Abbring. “I have a good feeling with the car,” he smiled at stage end. Top: Thierry Neuville is continuing his difficult season as the first retirement of the rally. Just over a kilometer into the first stage he smashes into a bridge and rips off his right rear wheel. Bottom: Meanwhile Elfyn Evans is the star of the opening stages. The young Welshman destroys his opposition on stage three to take the lead.
Stage 2 was canceled, so we proceed directly to the final stage of the day. At the end of this stage everyone is rechecking the time sheets, the top four consisting of Evans, Abbring, Sarrazin and Bouffier. It is Evan’s first scratch and Abbring’s second place also is a premiere for the Dutchman. Both Frenchmen on three and four have a thorough knowledge of the Corsican stages so there placing doesn’t come as a big surprise. First and second place however is the talk of the day, as is Ogier’s 87th time! He encountered a slow puncture and decided to stop and change the wheel, which cost him over one and a half minute. At he end of the day he was even forced to retire after an issue with his gearbox. As a result he will have to restart tomorrow under Rally 2 regulations. But as we said the top two of this first day was no less than a miracle. Evans and Abbring! Top: Kevin Abbring joined Elfyn Evans as one of the surprises of the rally. On that very difficult third stage he too shocks the opposition to move into second overall, a feat no Dutchman has ever accomplished before. Bottom: Despite the tricky conditions and the sensational performances by Evans and Abbring, at the end of the second day, it is (of course) a Volkswagen leading the way. After Ogier’s demise, Latvala steps up to the challenge and into first.
Fight back Everyone is now used to the circumstances and the weather also had changed back to normal autumnal conditions in this part of the world. But though the roads started to dry up quite rapidly they were far away from being nice and dry tarmac, so the conditions were still tricky. The first stage of today was canceled. This was the same test that had been canceled yesterday, necessary road repairs made it impossible to run the stage. Latvala made clear he was serious about his wishes to win the last three events of the season. At the end of the two remaining stages he was leading the rally. Elfyn Evans did a good job but did not want to jeopardize his good position and ended up in second, just two seconds behind Latvala. Kevin Abbring had some bad luck. He opted for full hard compound tires. “But,” as he said. “In the beginning of the stage it was still quite wet and when the road became drier we couldn’t make full use of our tires because we had a slow puncture, so we lost some time. But it’s only our second rally on tarmac in a World Rallycar so I’m happy we are still in fifth position and we will definitely try to hang on to that.” Andreas Mikkelsen and Kris Meeke made up third and fourth at the end of the day.
Tour de Corse / Review
Evans resists For M-Sport driver Elfyn Evans, the final Sunday is all about defending his position. And although Mikkelsen and Meeke do their utmost to attack this position they don’t succeed. The gap closes to just under four seconds but still in favor of the young Britt. Kevin Abbring does not make it to the end. At the second stage of the day he slides off the road. “Last night I made a change to my notes after looking at the on-boards. Don’t ask me why,” he confides. “But I did. One corner I
changed into fast, but when I came to the corner it proved to be wrong. I went off without much damage but we could not get back on the road and had to retire. A great pity of course, but still we bring back a lot of extra knowledge after this Corsica run. I will now focus on Wales, my next outing with the team.” So Latvala won his second Rally de France in a row, although his last victory in France was in an entirely different location. Elfyn Evans was the wedge between two VW drivers. Latvala and Mikkelsen. And Ogier? He won
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In the end he didn’t get the result he was hoping for, but there was still plenty to smile about for Kevin Abbring.
the PowerStage before Kubica and Latvala. The constructor’s championship Of course the champion is Volkswagen, they have more than double the amount of points than runner up Citroën who retook the lead from Hyundai who now is one point behind again. But M-Sport is still within striking distance of second place at the end of the season. So there will be plenty of fights for this position in the last two events of the year.
On his mission to win the final three events of the season, Latvala takes a good first step, Corsica is his.
Tour de Corse / Round-up 17/50
Round-up Will Corsica be here to stay? Immediately after the finish of the Rallye de France, the discussion about it’s inclusion on the WRC calendar restarted. During the event the discussion was a bit silent as everyone agreed that the organizers had been extremely unfortunate with the weather. Not only stages had to be canceled but also the servicepark was one big mud bath. Not something you want for your valued guests. For the guests that made it to Corsica that is, as traveling to the island is not the easiest thing to do and let’s not talk about reaching the stages once you’re on the island. Corsica simply doesn’t work well from a commercial point of view that wants to bring the rallies to the people. From a sporting point of view there is not much discussion. Most drivers were happy with the challenge the French island provided. In the modern WRC however there are more things to consider. All things considered we think Corsica does not tick enough boxes. And the same goes for the other Mediterranean island rally. The one you can literally see from some of the stages in Corsica: Sardinia. Though the sporting challenge is completely different there, the geographical position for a global championship is a bit strange. A final decision has not been taken yet as the championship now includes 14 events in the proposed 2016 calendar, despite the fact that most stakeholders don’t want a 14 round championship. The teams, the promoter, the media are all opposed to 14 events, due to one very simple reason: mon-
ey. The championship in its current position simply can’t afford 14 rounds. So we seriously doubt there will be such a 14 round championship, then again, that is the calendar is at currently stands. So what now? Three rallies are still undecided: China, Corsica and Monte Carlo. As far as China is concerned there is the issue of safety. The event run there in August wasn’t flawless. Motorbikes on a live stage are not something you want in a WRC event! However the Chinese are known to be capable of achieving quite a few things in relatively short times if they feel the need to do so. And then there is the issue of the two other events. It seems the issue of a French event is again the problem. The French motorsport authority FFSA doesn’t recognize the ‘Monte’ to be a French event because even though all stages are run on French soil, the organizer has its premises in a different country. So the event is not French, they claim. Oh and the event is called Rally Monte Carlo orcourse, not Rallye de France, that probably doesn’t help either. The promoter has a problem here as France is one of the biggest car markets in Europe and according to their policies there should be an event in all of the five biggest car market countries in Europe (Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The number of (expensive and exclusive) cars per head of the population may be bigger in Monaco than in the other countries,
but the absolute number of cars sold there is no comparison to the other countries. So should we go to Corsica then? We don’t feel that way. It is not a secret that we are not the only ones that think that in general there is more appeal to Monte Carlo than to Corsica. Though Corsica has beautiful landscapes providing excellent scenery for rally video’s, in this case we prefer the history and grandeur of Monte Carlo and of course we do have the French Alps there too. Also, a rally on mainland France is far more accessible for fans from all across Europe, just look at the crowds in Germany and the Alsace.. So what is the problem? Officially it says that there is no signed agreement yet between the promoter and these two events. But it’s no secret that Monte Carlo is quite eager to have its rally in the championship. Originally the rally was invented to bring some extra people to the area, outside the traditional holiday season. This still is the case. Monte Carlo and Monaco are mythic ‘brands’ and the authorities fully understand that having a WRC event adds up to the mythic status and looking at the inauguration of this year’s season on Mont Carlo’s Casino square, the ACM will not easily drop the rally from its own calendar. This doesn’t look to good for Corsica, but we will have to wait until the end of November to be sure. In the meantime we at Rally-eMag did book a hotel in Gap to be there for the start of the 2016 season.
Tour de Corse / Round-up
Volkswagen Motorsport next day. The 10-minute penalty and the 1.5-minute gap he already had, made it impossible for him to salvage his classification. But though he did not need the bonus points he made clear who is both the reigning and this year’s champion by winning the PowerStage.
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The Volkswagen team can relax. The constructor’s championship is in the bag, and so is the driver’s championship. Second is also secure, it can be Latvala or Mikkelsen. Østberg can still reach the final step on the championship podium, but Mikkelsen has a comfortable gap to his fellow countryman. So the focus for the team is for Mikkelsen to finish as high as possible but in any case ahead of Østberg. Mission accomplished! Latvala won and strengthened his position ad Mikkelsen did the same by finishing before Østberg (6th) For Sébastien Ogier however it was not the result he wanted. First he made a rare mistake causing a tire to deflate slowly. But after the stage, going to Corte for the final service of the first day he came to a full stop when his gearbox got stuck. The team had to come to help him to come back to service. So he officially retired for the day and had to Rally 2 the
For Jari-Matti Latvala there is only one thing that can save his season and that is winning as many rallies as possible. Or, as he told us before Corsica, “I want to win all three remaining rallies.” He was helped a bit by Ogier’s problems but he ran a strong rally. He started cautiously on the first day, but on day two he passed Elfyn Evans by almost grabbing him on the first stage and finally finishing before the Welshman. He then ‘cruised to victory. The First Finn in over thirty years to win the event, the last one being Markku Alén in 1983 and 1984. Andreas Mikkelsen also can be happy with his achievement here. He is driving very solidly this year and he set a personal record by being on the podium for the seventh time in eleven rallies. Initially he opened the hunt for second place, but Evans retaliated and kept the gap open. But as we said earlier he can still grab Latvala in the championship!
M-Sport World Rally Team Malcolm Wilson was smiling all over. Before the Corsican excursion he said he hoped his drivers would be able to spring a surprise or two. At least Elfyn Evans did exactly or even more than what he had hoped for. At the end of day one his protégé was leading the event. The fact his other driver wasn’t feeling that good did not change his smile, the fact that Evan’s final result made an end of year runner up position in the constructor’s title still possible of course helped the smile a bit. For Elfyn Evans Corsica was very important. His Australia result had been far from confidence boosting. So his day one results were very welcome to the young Welshman. The rest of the rally he very strongly defended his initial result, and only Latva-
la on a charge was able to break this defence. Mikkelsen tried to, but Evans kept his pace and made clear who was the faster driver here. His second place was a career’s best so there is only one step to go for overall victory. His Corsican result certainly strengthened his position in the M-Sport team. Though Ott Tänak’s position in the team doesn’t seem to be in peril his Corsican result definitely was not a confidence booster. He never felt at ease and reducing his speed did not help. He did finish in the points but that is all that can be said about his adventure in France. “This is definitely the worst rally we’ve ever done,” was all Tanak had to say at the end of the rally.
Hyundai Shell World Rally Team It was a hectic weekend for Hyundai. It all began very early in the first stage. Neuville crashed out. But the next stage it all changed, Kevin Abbring surprised friend and foo by driving the second fastest time behind Elfyn Evans. “Kevin Abbring impresses for Hyundai Motorsport,” the team’s press release said. At the end of the rally the tone is a bit more subdued: Top-five finish after dramatic final day. This fifth place was for Hayden Paddon who was in the N team, so that did not help in the pursuit for the runner up position of the main team. Dani Sordo did grab some points but both Citroën drivers were in front of him, so, if only by one point, Citroën passed them again. For Thierry Neuville disaster seems to continue. He did not make it through stage 1 and when he restarted under Rally2 regulations there was nothing much he could do. He is professional enough to find a positive quote: “I have had a better feeling today and enjoyed the three stages we’ve run…” But later in the day he admitted it was a horrible rally. “But I’ll be back stronger in Spain,” he added. His team management is not to certain about his actual form. Not long after the rally they announce that Hayden Paddon will drive for the A team in Wales. Neuville will be joining Kevin Abbring in the N team. “This will give him the chance to drive without the pressure of having to perform well in our battle for the runner up position in the constructor’s championship,” is the official statement of the team. “However there is no discussion about his contract for next year,” they quickly add. Dani Sordo wasn’t lucky in his drive in Corsica. He was pretty fast and challenging the top drivers apart from the second stage where he broke a wheel, dropping out of the top ten. He kept on fighting and came back to seventh. Not a place he was happy with but still it earned the team some welcome points.
For Hayden Paddon, Corsica started as another step on his learning curve as he doesn’t have much tarmac experience yet. But after the finish he could be happy. “We’ve made a good improvement in our tarmac driving technique this weekend.” This improvement led to a fifth place, again the best Hyundai driver. Some time after Corsica, it became clear that Hyundai team management has a lot of confidence in their New Zealand employee as they presented him with a three-year contract with the Korean outfit. Kevin Abbring surprised everyone by being second on the leaderboard after day one in only his fourth event in World Rallycar and his second on tarmac. Last year Abbring was third (and best R5) on the island, then still a qualifying round in the ERC, so he did have some knowledge of the tricky Corsican roads. At several occasions though he explained an R5 car can hardly be compared with a fully-fledged WRC. This meant the previous experience was not crucial. But in Germany he did get some experience with the car on tarmac. “On Corsica I made good use of this experience,” the young Dutchman said. On the second day he was slowed down a bit by a slow puncture but managed to stay in contention and finished the day in fifth. On the last day he started well by outpacing Mads Østberg, then charging to overtake the Dutchman. But on the next stage things went wrong and he went off. The night before after having seen the on-boards he changed a note, but reaching that point on the stage this change proved to be wrong. “Don’t ask me why I changed the note, I don’t know, but it was clearly a mistake,” was his disappointed remark. But it is clear he made himself noticed, being fifth before going off on the last day still is a good result for a novice in WRC. Abbring recognized the importance of this when we made his last remarks about this Rallye de France. “The feeling of not finishing after such an amazing rally is tough but knowing we were able to drive for a top 5 result in a rally like ‘Tour the Corse’ is very encouraging, but there is still a lot of work to do.”
Tour de Corse / Round-up
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT For Citroën there is only one goal left for this season: finishing second in the constructor’s championship. But both Hyundai and M-Sport have the same goal and they all can reach it. So for Citroën this was a reasonable rally. They passed Hyundai again if only by one point and M-Sport is only 14 points behind Citroën! In the pursuit of second place Kris Meeke is a vital commodity. He came to the island to regain the runner up position from Hyundai. But he soon found out Corsica is a tricky event. Already on the first stage he saw Neuville against a bridge wall. But he kept his head together and made it to the finish. A solid performance brought him to fourth place, so with the help of Østberg his (and Citroën’s) primary goal had been reached. Meeke did a good job but he is never happy if he doesn’t win. He was convinced he could have been faster but he also knew the risk of that. He chose the ‘safe’ approach ‘cruised’ to the finish and cashed the points for his employer. Looking at his chances for a next year seat this is of course the sensible approach but sportsman Meeke feels it differently.
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Before the start it was still a bit uncertain if Mads Østberg could start, but eventually he was given the OK sign to start. He did not feel completely at ease though. His feeling during the stages said: “that wasn’t too bad.” The timesheet however told a different story. Small changes in the setup did not help so in the end he drove his own speed and ended up sixth. Of course these were valuable points to the constructor’s championship. But still it was a pity he lost a place to Hyundai N team driver Hayden Paddon. He doesn’t belong to the Hyundai ‘A’ team that is challenging Citroën for the runner up position but still it was a Hyundai that was faster…
The new kid on the block is Stéphane Lefebvre, who earned his Corsica drive because of his unexpected good result in Germany. Looking at the weather it was understandable he did not start into maximum attack mode. Getting experience was the main item on his menu. The very bad weather in a way was a bonus. You get the chance too often to get experience in this kind of circumstances. At the end of the rally he was heading for a 10th place when he spun in the PowerStage and dropped out of the points section to eleventh.
Tour de Corse / Round-up
Jipocar Czech National Team Corsica did not bring a birthday present for Martin Prokop. Like many others he did not come to grips with the everchanging grip situation on the French island. He finished the rally in 12th, stating this was his worst rally ever. We hope this disappointment does not lead to his withdrawal from the championship next year as shortly after the event he presented his plans to start in next year’s Dakar.
Fuckmatié World Rallyteam It seems to be the same story like many drivers in Corsica but Lorenzo Bertelli was not a happy man either. He even called his car undrivable. He tried all kinds of things but came to the conclusion that the grand total of the local circumstance, his tires and a front differential that did not work as it should, made Corsica an experience ‘like hell’ as he indicated. Things got even worse when he had an issue with the organizers about his starting position in the PowerStage. This issue meant the Italian would not be in the live TV coverage. He disagreed strongly and decided to retire before the start of the PowerStage.
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RK World Rallyteam Robert Kubica feels more comfortable on tarmac. And he was fastest in shakedown. He repeated this result on the first real stage, but like so often things did not go Kubica’s way when on Saturday he was stopped by two punctures. With only one spare he couldn’t do anything else than retire for the day. The Pole never gives up and was second on the PowerStage but his overall 22nd place was not what he had hoped for in the beginning of the rally. He now seems to be preparing his 2016 season as we saw pictures of him testing an R5 car. But here at Rally-eMag we hope he’ll stay in a World Rallycar.
Tour de Corse / Results 22/50
Overall final classification 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Latvala/Anttila VW Polo R WRC Evans/Barritt Ford Fiësta WRC Mikkelsen/Floene VW Polo R WRC Meeke/Nagle Citroën DS3 WRC Paddon/Kennard Hyundai i20 WRC Østberg/Andersson Citroën DS3 WRC Sordo/Marti Hyundai i20 WRC Bouffier/De la Haye Ford Fiësta WRC Sarrazin/Renucci Ford Fiësta WRC Tanak/Molder Ford Fiësta WRC
2:39:46.7 +43.1 +46.3 +1:33.4 +1:53.6 +1:59.8 +2:10.4 +2:12.8 +2:39.3 +3:43.0
Tour de Corse / Standings 23/50
2015 FIA WRC Drivers’ Standings 1. Sébastien Ogier 238 2. Jari-Matti Latvala 160 3. Andreas Mikkelsen 126 4. Mads Østberg 98 5. Thierry Neuville 86 6. Kris Meeke 83 7. Elfyn Evans 81 8. Hayden Paddon 66 9. Ott Tänak 63 10. Dani Sordo 62
2015 FIA WRC Manufacturers’ Standings 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 2. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT 3. Hyundai Motorsport 4. M-Sport WRT 5. Volkswagen Motorsport II 6. Hyundai Motorsport N 7. Jipocar Czech National Team 8. FWRT
369 184 183 170 91 59 45 9
Dutch WRC photographer Erik van ‘t Land releases his new calendar. The best action from the WRC from all over the world in 12 pages. You can order it now! €15 or two for €25 (excl. shipping). Email info@rallypicture.nl for more info.
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Overview 26/50
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada
Based in: Salou Date: 22-25/10/15 Number of stages: 23 Shortest stage: Salou, 2.24 km Longest stage: Terra Alta, 35.68 km Total stage distance: 331 km Surface: Mixed Image: Bas Romeny
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Review
the handsome won
A lot has been decided already in the World Rally Championship, still Spain is an interesting round. First of all it’s the only round that includes tarmac and gravel stages. So after the first day the cars have to be rebuild from gravel specs to tarmac specs. Secondly it had one of the most beautiful inaugural stages of the championship (with the possible exception of the Guanajuato street stage in Mexico) and Spain is (in)famous for rally ending crashes. This year’s Spanish WRC round proved to be no different. Words: Harry van Veenendaal
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Images: Bas Romeny
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Review
This year’s Rally RACC Catalunya Costa Daurada or Rally Spain as most people refer to it was all about second places. Volkswagen is the constructor’s champion, Sebastien Ogier is champion and he will probably win Spain (many people thought…) So everything is concentrated on earning points for the constructor’s championship, where Citroën, Hyundai and M-Sport can still clinch second place and the runner–up position in the driver’s championship with Jari Matti Latvala, Andreas Mikkelsen en Mads Østberg still in contention. On the entry list there were not so many surprises. Al Qassimi and Lefebvre joined the ranks of Citroën again making the grand total of World Rallycar entries 15. At Hyundai they had the same line up as in most cases this year with Neuville and local hero Sordo in the main team. In the ‘N’ team just one driver this time: Hayden Paddon, the team’s rising star. Just before the start of the
rally he had some good news: he got a three- Let the games begin year contract with the team. Shakedown was ‘won’ by Hayden Paddon. He was marginally faster than Ogier, Kubica and The route Tänak. After shakedown all teams travelled to Spain has a well-known concept now. It starts the Catalonian capital Barcelona where they had with a full day of (mainly) gravel stages and then to tackle the stage around the Montjuich hill. In continues with the super smooth asphalt stages 1992 the Spanish Olympics took place here so Catalunya has always been famous for. However you could appropriately say: Let the games beover half the stage mileage is on different roads gin! than in the past. So the recce is again hard work for the teams. The Barcelona stage again is the Ogier was fastest of course, but second place opening stage. It’s not only tricky because of was a bit of a surprise as Neuville who postedit’s tight bends and unforgivable Armco barriers second best time did not have the proper use but it’s got the extra challenge of driving it in full of his handbrake. Mikkelsen, Meeke and Kubigravel specs, that the cars need the next day. ca made it through the tight bends as well and For the mechanics Spain always has the extra together made up the top five. Sebastien Ogibonus of rebuilding a gravel car into a tarmac er proved that apart from being the best driver car overnight. But by now the modern rally cars around he is also a clairvoyant, though no one can be changed into other specs quite easily. realised it when he said: “I was leading in Corsica as well, and that didn’t end well, so let’s see about this rally after the final stage!”
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Paddon came to Spain on a high having just signed a new 3-year deal.
Ogier topped the shakedown times, but remained cautious about his chances.
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Review 29/50
Proper beginnings The Friday in Spain means gravel. This also means Ogier, being first on the road will lose time. And he does, but at the end of the first loop he is back on top again. Robert Kubica has been leading the rally on stage 3 and 4, but loses time when he first has to change a flat tyre and a bit further has another puncture. Østberg, second on that moment, also hits trouble. He has a slow puncture making it hard for him to drive consistently. Lorenzo Bertelli is already out as he rolled in stage 2. Ogier is fastest before the midday service. He leads Latvala by 0.8 seconds. In the afternoon a cat and mouse play develops between team brethren Ogier and Latvala. Latvala took the lead on stage six and was challenged by Tänak who realised three scratches. On stage nine (the last stage of the day and with just under 36 kilometres the longest in the rally), Ogier did what he does best: tyre preservation. Six kilometres were on tarmac. And unlike others he used his tyres in such a way that there was grip on both surfaces. By the end of the stage he was leading the rally
again, so that makes Latvala second, Tanak third and Sordo fourth. Robert Kubica had another puncture this afternoon and was almost completely stopped when his gearbox refused to shift from first to any other gear. Bad luck does not seem to leave Kubica’s side. Ogier vs Latvala vs Mikkelsen Before Corsica Latvala ‘promised’ he would win the three remaining events of the 2015 season, so everybody expected a battle between him and Ogier. Technical issues decided differently. During the two first stages of the first ‘asphalt’ day the Finn suffered from ‘spongy’ brakes. “I know how to solve the problem,” Latvala says. “But there is no time.” And indeed bleeding the brakes takes some time and the brakes do work, only there is no nice feeling in the pedal and of course brakes you cannot completely trust do not help your confidence. After two stages Latvala could use his brakes again and got going again. Unfortunately he cut a corner a bit too eager. In a way you could say he was lucky to get away with ‘just’ a flat tyre but it cost him dearly.
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Review
Ogier could relax a bit and enjoyed himself on the, as he said, ‘great stages. ‘Cruising’ on the somewhat dirty parts of the stages and pushing on the clean ones he drove to the finish thus creating a 54 seconds gap to Latvala. Once Latvala was properly driving again he did drive some scratches, but Ogier was always on his tail. Another threat came from behind as Mikkelsen stealthily came closer. His third place made it a Volkswagen 1, 2, 3 again. But the battle was not over yet as Mikkelsen had made himself a promise to pass Latvala. Ogier was on course for another win, but as he told us at the end of the day: “We still have to run 80 kilometres tomorrow...”
30/50
Thrilling finale As we said earlier the battle between the team colleagues really broke lose during the last day. Well Ogier relaxed but Mikkelsen (4 stage wins) and Latvala (2 wins) went down to the wire. After the penultimate stage the difference between the two was down to 1.4 seconds (in favour of the Norwegian), so all was down to the PowerStage. WRC promoter Oliver Ciesla wanted PowerStages to be thrilling. Last year he conceived all kinds of intricate schemes to make them more attractive. These schemes were rejected but in Spain we
could see what he meant by the thrills of a decisive PowerStage. Almost every next driver beat his predecessor and the stage times grew faster every run. Near the end of the stage tension grew. As we said earlier Spain was all about second places, so here too everyone was looking at the great battle between Mikkelsen and Ogier. When the Finn had finished the PowerStage he was faster then everyone else before him. Fastest behind him was Meeke and he crushed Meeke’s time by no less than 3.5 seconds. Obviously the Finn was happy but he kept watching the large screen at the stage end. His smile more or less froze when the Mikkelsen’s splits were displayed. These were no good news to Latvala. Mikkelsen found the last piece of extra speed and improved Latvala’s time by 1.7 seconds. Mikkelsen was quite happy to have done the job. He had beaten his rival. Still in his car on the finish line the news came through. Ogier is off! Everyone started to tell the Norwegian. He wouldn’t and couldn’t believe it. Then after a brief moment with an utterly surprised face he turned to Ola Fløene next to him in the car: “We won!” Then the tears came. Tears of joy for the first time they won a WRC rally.
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Round-up 31/50
Round-up Volkswagen World Rallyteam Every now and then your top driver doesn’t deliver. At Volkswagen this happened twice in a row. Both in Corsica and in Spain Ogier, being the team’s (and the sport’s) absolute top driver, did not deliver. In Corsica he at least showed being the best by winning the PowerStage, but in Spain it all went wrong on the PowerStage. Ogier went off trying to win another double (Rally + PowerStage) but came back empty handed. Is that a disaster? Perhaps it is for Ogier’s ego. But his current status is not affected. It merely shows he is human and actually can make a rare mistake. For Jost Capito it was no problem either especially as his other two drivers put some salt and pepper in the action so that Spain was an interesting rally.
M-Sport World Rally Team A good thing for Capito also was the fact that his youngest driver is capable of beating his other drivers and of winning rallies. Latvala may not be so happy but he was in contention and can therefore now say he threw away the asphalt jinx that seemed to bother him for a long time. At several occasions he now has proven he can be fast on the black stuff. For Mikkelsen it was a very good rally. It would have been if Ogier hadn’t ran off. On the last part of the rally he outpaced his team rival. But beating Ogier in the process was just the icing on the cake for his Spanish achievement. He now really belongs to the big boys, an asset to any team.
After the very good result in Corsica, Spain was quite another story. Initially Tänak went well and was in third place at the end of day one. But from then on things went wrong. The Estonian lost a wheel and not much later we saw Evans balancing on a small wall at the edge of ravine after having gone off the road. Malcolm Wilson was quite clear when he commented: “Well if they wanted to impress me here, they haven’t done a good job.” And this is now his problem. Both his drivers are OK drivers
but they seem to lack the extra little bit needed to consistently make I to the top. But his financial possibilities are not big enough to hire a new driver that has this ability. Tanak acknowledges this fact. “Well this is what I can do, nothing more, nothing less. If this is not going to bring me a permanent seat next year, well that’s the way it is. Hopes of being second in the constructor’s championship are rapidly fading, but there is always Wales Rally GB perhaps there the drivers can deliver.
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Round-up 32/50
Hyundai Shell World Rally Team
For Hyundai it was a difficult rally. They had wanted to regain second position in the constructor’s championship and they did not do that. Dani Sordo was the best driver and reached the podium in his home event, but Thierry Neuville did not follow. It seems true he has a problem. Let’s hope he will get over it in Wales where there is no pressure on him. In Spain he never found the confidence and a spin in Sunday morning did not help. Still he was on course to deliver some good points when he went into a ditch. It was due to a gearbox problem, but it does add up to his not so positive season.
Spanish stages and was faster than teammate Thierry Neuville. At the end he was fully prepared to let his colleague pass in order to gain some more valuable constructor’s points. When, after the penultimate stage Paddon was told Neuville had gone off, he wasn’t happy, to put it very mildly. He would have preferred for the Hyundai team to be equal in points before the start of the last rally. This would have been the case if Neuville had kept his position and Paddon would have let him past. As it did not happen Paddon now feels a stronger tension on his shoulders to deliver in Wales. On the positive side, he knows he has a contract for next Hayden Paddon is not an asphalt year, so he doesn’t have to worry specialist, still he is learning fast about that. and had an OK run through the
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT In Spain Citroën only aimed at one thing: keeping the runner up position. As they did that we could say: Mission accomplished.
team is also important, so Meeke never forgot that and delivered, perhaps improving a bit his chances of getting another full WRC drive next year. However Mads Østberg would agree with we will have to wait until after the this statement. He knew he had season’s end to be sure of anyto win some time on the first day’s thing. gravel stages. Unfortunately he lost some time suffering from a For Stéphane Lefebvre Spain slow puncture on the long Terra was to be a learning experience, Alta stage. But his smile did not especially on the first day, as his disappear from his face and his experience in a World Rallycar fourth place was a good reward on gravel is limited. As expected for all his positive action on the he did lose some time on the soft Spanish stages. He thought it surface. On Saturday he did not was his best asphalt rally ever. come very far as a braking issue It earned him some good points side-lined him before he even for his employer’s goal and in the started the stages. On the final end he was faster than his team- day he performed just outside mate, if only by just under 2 sec- the top ten, where we would have onds. expected him to be, but losing a whole day rallying on this level Kris Meeke is a winner, so if he doesn’t help to build your experidoesn’t win he is not happy. But ence. winning valuable points for your
Jipocar Czech National Team The best way to describe Martin Prokop’s performance in Spain is: All is well that ends well. He had his share of ‘issues’ ranging form an intercom that did not work, some punctures and an overshoot. But generally he had a good rally and he seemed to enjoy himself, which cannot be said about all rallies this year. The good ending we revered to earlier was a seventh position.
RK World Rallyteam Though a lot of rumours, partly imitated by himself, are told about Robert Kubica, it is still unclear what will happen next year. The fact is the Pole is really considering other options. Although he still loves rallying he says he cannot go on like this in future. However he started really well in Spain. He even led the rally for some time. But then the ‘usual things’ started to happen: punctures, some technical issues and a slight off, making Spain another disappointing rally for him.
Fuckmatié World Rallyteam If Corsica was an experience of hell we wonder how Lorenzo Bertelli would rate his Spanish result. During his whole rally he made it through one stop finish. On Friday he first spinned and then after just under 3 kilometres he rolled. On Saturday he lasted a bit longer because it took him no less than 4.8 kilometres to end up in a barrier and to damage his Fiesta in such a way that it was game over after just over 10 kilometres of competition that surely must rate as another experience of hell….
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Results 34/50
Overall final classification 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Mikkelsen/Floene VW Polo R WRC Latvala/Antilla VW Polo R WRC Sordo/Marti Hyundai i20 WRC Østberg/Andersson Citroën DS 3 WRC Meeke/Nagle Citroën DS 3 WRC Paddon/Kennard Hyundai i20 WRC Prokop/Tomanek Ford Fiesta RS WRC Neuville/Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC Tidemand/Axelsson Skoda Fabia R5 Kopecky-Dresler Skoda Fabia R5
3:21:04.8 +3.1 +21.2 +1:06.3 +1:08.2 +1:23.3 +4:14.2 +8:01.9 + 08:56.8 + 09:07.5
RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada / Standings
2015 FIA WRC Drivers’ Standings 1. Sébastien Ogier 238 (Champion) 2. Jari-Matti Latvala 180 3. Andreas Mikkelsen 154 4. Mads Østberg 110 5. Kris Meeke 94 6. Thierry Neuville 90 7. Elfyn Evans 81 8. Dani Sordo 77 9. Hayden Paddon 74 10. Ott Tänak 63
37/50
2015 FIA WRC Manufacturers’ Standings 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 2. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT 3. Hyundai Motorsport 4. M-Sport WRT 5. Volkswagen Motorsport II 6. Hyundai Motorsport N 7. Jipocar Czech National Team 8. FWRT
387 206 202 173 116 67 51 9
(Champions)
Rally-eMag / The Dutchies
the dutchies
As we are based in The Netherlands, we’ve got to show some love for our Dutch compatriots tackling the WRC!
Words: Harry van Veenendaal; Images:Bas Romeny
In Spain the last rounds of the Drive DMack Fiesta Trophy were run. Two Dutch teams were in Spain to show their best.
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Mats van den Brand showed his speed in the first stage through the streets of Barcelona. He was second fastest behind Brendan Reeves, but as Reeves did not compete in all the rallies, he wasn’t eligible to score points, so van den Brand got the bonus point for a scratch on stage one. The next day van den Brand parked his car upside down beside the road damaging his car in such a way that he could not restart. His trophy challenge was over.
The second driver from the Netherlands was Kevin van Deijne. On day one he finished fifth scoring some points for the trophy and at the second scoring point on Sunday he did even better and finished in fourth. He had expected more of his DDFT campaign: “The competition has been tough this year and more like survival for me. I didn’t expect it to be like this and wanted the season to be more smooth and consistent. But on the most part it’s been lots of fun and a really great way for me to get more experience and that’s the main thing I think.” In the final classification of th trophy he was fifth, just behind Ghislain de Mevius and jist before his fellow Dutchman Mats van den Brand. The final standings of the trophy saw Marius Aasen as the winner of both the rally and the trophy.
Rally-eMag
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Feature / WRC5 The Game
WRC 5: the game WRC5 The Game Official videogame of the WRC Platforms PS3, PS4, PS Vita, XBox 360, XBox One, PC Words: Steven van Veenendaal Images: PR
Rather than updating and polishing the previous version of the game, Kylotonn Games started from scratch with the development of the game.
After a two-year wait since the latest installment of the official WRC games, Big Ben teamed up with Kylotonn Games to develop a completely new version for the fifth installment of the rally simulator. The new developer started from scratch to build a brand new game and the guys at Big Ben were kind enough to send us a copy so we could try the game ourselves. Start over Rather than updating and polishing the previous version of the game, Kylotonn Games started from scratch with the development of the game. This enabled them to build the game from the ground up, and focus on the areas they felt were the most important for a good rally game. The first things on the list, as they should be, were the car the physics and handling. Game director Alain Jarniou often points this out as the main ‘feature’ of the game. Unlike circuit racing, rallying takes the drivers to various different surfaces that all have unique characteristics. For any rally game to be successful, the cars have to feel like they are actually on that surface. To make sure the game provides the proper rally feeling, 2013 WRC 3 champion Sebastien Chardonnet provided technical advice to the development team.
38/50
Previous gen versus current gen The game is available for both the current gen consoles (PS4, Xbox One and PC) and previous
gen consoles (PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita), which provided an additional challenge for the developers. Obviously the current gen machines are far more powerful than their predecessors and can provide a richer gaming experience, but with a very large install base, the older machines are still a must to reach all fans. However it does mean that to make the game playable on the older consoles, some sacrifices had to be made. From out point of view the developers took the right decision by focusing on the gameplay first. The feel of the cars will be exactly the same on the previous gen as it is on the current gen, with the latter providing far better graphics. So far so good With a strong focus on gameplay, the developers seem to be heading in the right direction to deliver a great rally game. So the question is, did they succeed?
Feature / WRC5 The Game 39/50
First steps We are not a gaming magazine so we don’t have all the latest consoles lying around the office, but luckily one of our reporters did have a PS3 on which we could try the game for ourselves. Full of confidence we fired up the game and selected Sebastien Ogier’s VW Polo WRC for our first special stage. In order to get the most realistic experience, we turned off all driving aids and put the pedal to the metal. Halfway through the stage, the car was a wreck, just like our egos, this wasn’t as easy as any arcade racer you might come across. For the casual the hang of it and feel like you can really start to push. For us this was gamer the fast cars are a serious handful at first. Luckily the game allows when the game really opened up. It only took a couple of hours but we went from trying to just keep the car on the road to pushing hard to fight you to ease into it through the career mode. for victory. Once you reach this point the fact that the graphics are not great on the PS3 version didn’t bother us in the slightest. All you look at Career mode In this mode you start of as young driver in the WRC3 championship is the road in front of you and the corner coming up. It shows that gameand try to move up the ranks on your way to WRC glory. After our Polo play is far more important for an immersive experience than graphics. WRC fiasco, the DS3 R3’s of the WRC3 championship provided a sigh of relieve, this car we could actually control. As you progress from rally to rally, you are often advised to visit the rally school to learn techniques that will help improve your driving skills and result in faster stage times (and less damage…) Although some of the lessons are tricky to pass, they do really help you improve. After a couple of rallies you start to get
Other modes Once you complete the career mode by winning the WRC crown, the real fun starts. You are now fully capable of controlling the WRC cars and can start spending hour after hour to improve on your stage times, or take on your friends in the multiplayer modes.
Feature / WRC5 The Game
It’s all good Or is it? Even though we thoroughly enjoyed the game, there are some aspects that require improvement. As we all know, rallying is a team sport with a team made up of a driver, co-driver and mechanics. The mechanics are around in the game, but the setup options of the car are rather limited. For most people that’s probably a good thing as it allows you to go out and rally rather than tinkering with setup details. Some more ‘hardcore rally fans’ might consider this a missed opportunity though.
too often for a professional co-driver. Sometimes he just cuts out and refuses to read out any notes for two or three corners. When one of those corners is a blind hairpin, things tend to escalate rather quickly. Also the timing of the notes could be improved, even though we set the timing to very early, there were still a couple of moments were we had to slam the breaks and come to a halt just in front of a tree to then hear the co-driver state “Brake! Hairpin right”. Once you start to get to know the stages a bit better, this becomes less of an issue, but it can be frustrating at times.
What we found far more annoying was the teamwork between the driver and the co-driver, or actually the co-driver himself. The voice is rather monotonous and never gives you the feeling that there is actually somebody with you in the car. Worse is that he seems to slip up far
Another point of frustration can be the ‘invisible walls’ surrounding the stages. They will either respawn you back in the stage or give you a 30 second time penalty. Neither of these work well for the immersion of the game. We found ourselves misjudging a corner and heading for a
40/50
steep drop at a 100mph, only to instantly respawn back on the road, without touching any of the trees that loomed ahead. In rallying, when you mess up, the trees should serve to provide an adequate level of punishment while here they never really got the chance. The penalties are ok, but sometimes a bit too strict. After cutting a hairpin maybe a meter too tight, you are slammed with a 30 second penalty. Perhaps it’s justifiable, but for any casual gamer it’s mostly just annoying.
Feature / WRC5 The Game
With a little bit of practice, WRC5 The Game enables you to take control of your favorite WRC car and run all official events of the 2015 WRC calendar.
Full license WRC 5 The Game takes full advantage of its official license by including all factory teams in the game, along with many privateers. It’s great to be able to drive Lorenzo Bertelli’s dark green Fiesta or Eamonn Boland’s Subaru. In total over 60 teams can be selected with all cars from the WRC, WRC2 and WRC3 categories available. A very nice little feature is that in career mode, not all drivers take part in each rally, they actually follow the schedule of the current WRC season. It might be a bit nerdy, bit we found this a very nice touch, although when we decided to join the Skoda team after winning the WRC3 category it was a bit of a surprise when we learned that Portugal would be our first rally of the season!
41/50
All thirteen rounds of the WRC are included in the game as well, taking you from Monte Carlo to Wales, with stops around the world in between. The sensation when you load Ouninpohja for the first time is real. However we also feel they could have done a bit
better with the layout of the stages. Of course it is impossible to fully include and realistically model all stages, but it would have been nice if some actual locations were included. On Ouninpohja you want to fly past the yellow house and on the Fafe stage you want to fling your car around the iconic hairpin junction before flying over the big jump. None of these events occur, making you feel like you are driving just any other stage rather than one of the sport’s classics. Verdict There are flaws, but then nearly all games have flaws and some of them like the respawning and co-driver look fixable with a patch or two. For us, the flaws never got the upper hand and instead we had a really good time driving around the stages and just for a moment feeling like we were actually out there giving Mr. Ogier a run for his money.
Seajets Acropolis Rally / Overview 42/50
seajets acropolis rally
Based in: Loutraki Date: 10-11/10/15 Number of stages: 9 Shortest stage: Athikia, 17.93 km Longest stage: Kineta-Loutraki, 43.19 km Total stage distance: 203 km Surface: Gravel Image: FIA ERC
Seajets Acropolis Rally / Review
wet and wild The heavy thunderstorm that tormented the Rallye de France on Corsica a week before had drifted down the Mediterranean. Mainland Greece was hit by heavy downpours resulting in the cancellation of part of the rally. One man probably wasn’t too bothered by it all, Kajto Kajetanowicz snatched his first ERC title in Greece.
Words: Steven van Veenendaal
43/50
Images: FIA ERC
Seajets Acropolis Rally / Review
Loutraki Miracle Prior to the rally there was still a two-way fight for the European crown between Kajetanowicz and Craig Breen. The latter of the two got his season of to a great start with three consecutive wins in Latvia, Ireland and the Acores. However in the second half of the year his results took a hit and his title aspirations started to decline. During the latest four rallies the Irishman only managed to score a meager 19 points, quite different from the 95 that Kajetanowicz racked up. Quite frankly, Breen needed a ‘Loutraki Miracle’ to stand any chance of catching his Polish rival. Although the heavy rain made this year’s Acropolis a very special one, the Loutraki Miracle never materialized.
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Athanassouls is the surprise leader after the opening day.
Surprise in the night We didn’t have to wait too long for the first dramatic plot twist. The opening stage of the rally was run twice on Saturday with the second running (a shortened version of the 43 km mammoth opener) under the cover of night. Kajetanowicz drew first blood by winning the opening stage, but that wasn’t biggest shock of the first day. On his way to the second stage Breen’s Peugeot started to malfunction. The team remained rather vague about what sort of issue was bothering the car but it was sever enough for Breen to attempt emergency roadside repairs. Mind you, those gravel roads had turned into mud rivers and as a result Breen and co-driver Scott Martin had to start the stage drenched in the brown
stuff. At the stage end it turns out they only lost half a minute, not too bad considering the difficulties they had. Kajetanowicz isn’t a big fan of rallying in the dark and when he finds out Breen has hit trouble, he immediately eases of the throttle. As a result, surprisingly enough, Kajetanowicz loses time to Breen, despite his troubles. After all the excitement the surprise leader at the end of the opening day is local ace Lambros Athanassoulas in his Skoda Fabia R5.
Despite technical issues, Breen follows suit in second.
Seajets Acropolis Rally / Review
More bad luck On Sunday morning Kajetanowicz is again the first to jump out of the gate. On the next two stages though, Breen fights right back. His times on stages four and five are outright impressive. In a span of just two stages he takes nearly a minute out of Kajetanowicz. At that point the two had already passed Athanassoulas again and Breens seems to be heading for victory. But as has been the case so often this season, it wasn’t to be for Breen. On stage six Breen’s bonnet suddenly pops open mid-stage and smashes into the windscreen. Despite barely seeing the road, Breen and Martin push on although they can only watch as Kajetanowicz retakes the lead. His lead is just ten seconds and with three more stages remaining, Breen isn’t too worried. After all, he has been the fastest driver throughout the event. Dark clouds It’s not just Kajetanowicz he has
to contend with though. Dark clouds are forming over the service park in Loutraki and Breen starting to worry, just like the event organizers. Fear becomes reality when the clouds break and far more water falls from the skies. At this point, the organizers find themselves in a difficult situation and conclude the rally can continue no further. Champion! The decision immediately hands victory to Kajetanowicz and as over 69% of the rallyroute has been run, full championship points are awarded. The full points are enough for Kajetanowicz to also clinch the European title. He remains courteous by stating “Of course I feel bad for Craig Breen who drove a very strong rally, this is not how you want to win the rally and the championship” before adding “But I am very happy to take the European crown, it might be the best day of my life!”
45/50
Top to bottom: Kajetanowicz and Breen battled the entire rally, but it was the Pole who got the last laugh.
Seajets Acropolis Rally / Results 46/50
Overall final classification 1. Kajetanowicz – Baran Ford 2. Breen – Martin 3. Athanassoulas – Zakhaeos 4. Tarabus – Trunkat 5. Botka – Szeles 6. Jeets – Toom 7. Butvilas – Heller 8. Tlustak – Kucera 9. Panteli – Constantinou 10. Serderidis – Miclotte
Fiesta R5 1:32.11,1 Peugeot 208 T16 +10,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +15,3 Skoda Fabia S2000 +3.12,5 Mitsubishi Lancer +3.54,5 Ford Fiesta R5 +4.30,9 Subaru Impreza +4.40,6 Skoda Fabia S2000 +8.48,2 Mitsubishi Lancer +11.44,0 Citroën DS3 R5 +11.45,8
Seajets Acropolis Rally / Results 47/50
2015 FIA ERC Drivers Standings 1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz 2. Craig Breen 3. Alexey Lukyanuk 4. Robert Consani 5. Jaromir Tarabus 6. Bruno Magalhães 7. Dominykas Butvilas 8. Siim Plangi 9. Jan Kopecky 10. Freddy Loix
Ford Fiesta R5 230 pts Peugeot 208 T16 158 pts Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 120 pts Citroën DS3 R5 79 pts Skoda Fabia S2000 75 pts Peugeot 208 T16 68 pts Subaru Impreza WRX STi 45 pts Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 43 pts Skoda Fabia R5 36 pts Skoda Fabia R5 35 pts
Rally-eMag / For My Friends
for my friends When travelling the world to snap the WRC, our photographer Bas Romeny comes across many interesting scenes, both rally related and not-so rally related. Here are his finds from Spain.
Two days before the rally. Friday action, faster and more people!
They still sell this!
48/50
Wooden shoes --> That’s a Dutchie!
Followed by a truck
Nice shadows
In Salou, dreaming at a pace car
Sordo had a tire pressure issue here
It was a colourful Norwegian party Weren’t we all young...
see you next time...