Rally-eMag 034 January 2016

Issue 34, January 2016

R e i g Go

Monte Carlo

Tommi Makinen

Road to China

The New and improved BRC / Rally America’s Sno*Drift Rally / Loudon’s 16 reasons to love WRC 2016

dani sordo push ed the new generation i20 to the max Image: B as Rome ny

he even seemed to be flying in the night

Image: B

as Rome

ny

meeke’s maximum attack led to a great fight with ogier

Image: Bas Romeny

they almost loo k like toys... most of them p robably are Image: B as Rome ny

Rally-eMag January 2016 / Contents

This month Who made it?

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

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 rallye monte carlo

interview tommi makinen

Feature maxrally

Feature the road to china

rally america sno*drift rally

Another season, another VW win

On building a WRC team

Loudon’s 16 reasons to love WRC 2016

Oliver Ciesla’s view

Rally racing turns to snow for Sno*Drift 2016

Page 13

Page 28

Page 32

Page 36

Page 40

Rally-eMag / Headlines 8/44

Headlines Unusual warm weather conditions mean that the opening round of the ERC, Rally Liepaja has had to be postponed. The rally normally features fast snow covered forest tracks, but rain and above freezing level temperatures caused the existing snow to melt away, with no fresh frozen goodness to replenish the stock. Jean-Baptiste Ley, the ERC Co-ordinator, said: “Safety is always the number one concern and with safety very much in mind the organisers were left with no alternative other than to postpone Rally Liepāja until later in the year.” The ERC will now start with the Rally Islas Canarias from 10-12 March.

With high hopes of succes, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari will return to the WRC2, starting his campaign in Mexico. Having previously driven a Ford Fiesta, Al-Kuwari will switch to a Sokda Fabia R5 for 2016. Although the new car will take some getting used to, AlKuwari is full of confidence: “We have been one of the most consistent WRC2 participants in the past two years, I almost finished every rally and took important victories and podiums.This year it will be more difficult thanks to a lot more factory drivers entering the championship. Regardless, we will aim for victories and the title.”

Chris Ingram joins Opel Motorsport in bid for ERC Junior glory After an up and down 2015 season, with an ERC Junior class win at Rallye Acores but retirements on the final three rounds of the championship, Chris Ingram makes the switch from Peugeot UK to Opel Motorsport.

The Germans were in top form last year when Emil Bergkvist claimed the ERC title for them while Marijan Griebel snatched third. Bergkvist is leaving the team this year and Ingram picks up the challenge to replace the talented Swede. His strong performances early last season give every reason to believe he will do just that.

Ingram will be partnered by a new co-driver, Katrin Becker. The 34-year old is an experienced co-driver who guided Michael Böhm to two Austrian titles. Image: PR

Debut test for Hyundai New Generation i20 R5 Last week Hyundai test and development driver Kevin Abbring went to southern France to test the new R5 version of the New Gen i20. Responsible for the development and the testing of the new car is the freshly appointed Hyundai Motorsport Customer Project Manager Andrea Adamo. “The first tests”, he said. “are focussed on reliability, so that we can produce a problem free car for our future customers.” Image: PR

Headlines Prokop back in WRC Just after Monte Carlo we read a tweet from the Check organization iSport indicating Martin Prokop will return in the WRC. The Check rally pilot said he could not imagine not being in the WRC. He will start his season in Mexico and continue in Argentina.

“I will then return to Europe, but I don’t know yet what my programme will be. I have to find a balance between my rally ambitions and the success of our family business Jipocar.

Hirvonen test driver for Toyota Tommi Mäkinnen already hinted at a role in the development of the new Toyota WRC for Hirvonen would be possible and now it was officially announced that the Finnish former WRC driver will be the test driver for the new car that will be ready for testing this spring.

We wonder who will be his co-pilot during the test sessions as his former co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen has recently been appointed Sporting Director of the Toyota GAZOO Racing Team.

Rally-eMag / Headlines

Headlines After a one-year absence the British Rally Championship returns in 2016 and it is looking to be one of the most exciting and competitive series around this year. Here is the key info to get you up to speed before it all kicks off with the Mid Wales Stages rally on March 5th.

Selected entries: Elfyn Evans - Ford Fiesta R5 Max Vatanen - Ford Fiesta R5 Tom Cave - Ford Fiesta R5 Fredrik Ahlin - Ford Fiesta R5 Marty McCormack - Skoda Fabia S2000 James Slaughter - Ford Fiesta R5 Jamie Anderson - Ford Fiesta R5 Euan Thorburn - Peugeot 208 T16 Ollie Mellors - Proton Satria Neo S2000 Neil Simpson - Skoda Fabia R5 Rhys Yates - Ford Fiesta R5 Sam Moffett - Ford Fiesta R5 Josh Moffett - Ford Fiesta R5 Damian Cole – Ford Fiesta S2000 Desi Henry – Skoda Fabia R5 Hugh Hunter – Ford Fiesta R5 Tomas Davies – Ford Fiesta R5

Mid Wales Stages March 5 -6, Newtown

BRC 1 FIA R5, S2000, RRC, Group R4 (VR4)

Circuit of Ireland April 8-9, Belfast

BRC 2 FIA Grp N and for ASN homologation extended Grp N cars over 2000cc

Pirelli Carlisle Rally

BRC 3 FIA R3 cars

April 30 May 1, Carlisle

RSAC Scottish Rally

Mins on Chanel 4 per event

60 Mins on BT Sport per event

BRC 5 FIA R1 Cars

Nicky Grist Stages

BRC RGT FIA RGT Cars

Ulster Rally

August 19-20, Derry/Londonderry

Rally Isle of Man

September 15-17, Douglas 10/44

BRC 4 FIA R2 Cars for drivers that aren’t eligible for the Junior BRC

June 25, Dumfries

July 9-10, Builth Wells

30

Eligible classes

Junior BRC FIA R2 Cars for drivers under the age of 26 National Rally Cup All cars with a current MSA Rally Car Log Book. The same events as the BRC, but no recce on gravel events.

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.

Rally-eMag

Your monthly dose of WRC reports, news and of course the best images of the most exciting sport on the planet.

We strive to bring you the best possible emag about the WRC. To be able to do so we need your support!

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Interested in advertising? Mail us at info@rally-emag.com to discuss the various possibilities.

Rallye Monte Carlo / Overview 13/44

Rallye monte carlo

Based in: Gap/Monte Carlo Date: 19-24/01/16 Number of stages: 16

Shortest stage: Col de l’Orme – Saint Laurent , 12.07 km Longest stage: Larder et Valenca – Faye 51.55 km Total stage distance: 378 km Surface: Asphalt Image: Bas Romeny

Rallye Monte Carlo / Review

Another season, another VW win‌ The traditional WRC opener, Rallye Monte Carlo, kicked off the 2016 season in style. The outcome of this first rally is not a big surprise, Volkswagen dominated, CitroÍn fast but unlucky. Both M-Sport and Hyundai still had teething problems with respectively the new driver line-up and a completely new car. Still it was an interesting event with everything you expect from this iconic rally.

Words: Harry van Veenendaal

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Images: Bas Romeny

We start again A beautiful blue sky, nice sunshine and moderate temperatures welcomed all participants to the opening event on the Casino square. Like last year the WRC Promoter had organized an event to celebrate the beginning of the new season. In the famous ‘Salle Empire’ inside the Hôtel de Paris we found a variety of people from the world of rallying and other sports and some celebrities who would be baptized in the art of rallying by experiencing a co-drive in one of the real World Rally Cars parked on the Casino Square. A very useful event where in a relaxed atmosphere you can meet quite a few interesting people that mostly are quite willing tot talk to you, as you will see from quite a few interviews in this and following issues of Rally-eMag. But of course we did not come to Monte Carlo just for this. We wanted

to see some action and experience who will be 44 seconds by sliding onto a rock. on top this year and if that could be anyone else than Sebastien Ogier.

Day two: the battle continues...

Day two starts with a bright blue sky again. The Ogier’s league roads seem dry but temperatures in the early This year’s reigning champion made it very clear: morning are still quite close to, or under zero. On there is a special league ‘the Ogier league’ and the very first stage of today this already results ‘a league for the others’. However ‘the other in offs for Robert Kubica and Hayden Paddon. league’ led by Kris Meeke made live quite dif- They both misjudge a shadowy stretch of road ficult for Ogier. It was Kris Meeke who drew first where grip levels suddenly drop drastically. blood. By blitzing the second stage of the Monte Meters from each other they end up beside the Carlo rally and outpacing early leader Sebastien road. Paddon can restart tomorrow, but for KuOgier by 11 seconds, Kris Meeke and Paul Na- bica it is game over as his Fiesta is too heavily gle took a seven second overnight lead on the damaged. To add to his bad luck, Elfyn Evans, inauguration event of the 2016 season. Andreas who went wide on the same ice spot as Kubica, Mikkelsen quickly adjusts to new co-driver An- crashes into the rear of his stricken Fiesta and ders Jaeger and finishes on the last virtual po- pushes the car just over the rim into the tree that dium step. By then Jari-Matti Latvala already lost kept the car for form dropping further.

Sunshine and the glitter and glamour of Monte Carlo provided a stark contrast to the gruelling conditions the crews would face in the Alps.

Kris Meeke gave Sebastien Ogier a run for his money and snatched the lead after the opening night.

Rallye Monte Carlo / Review 16/44

The R5 can continue without much damage or time loss. Meanwhile in the top a fierce battle is being fought. Meeke and Ogier both retake the lead several times. At the penultimate stage Meeke holds a slender 0.7-second lead. But then Ogier really steps on it and regains the lead. But the margin for the Saturday is not huge, just under ten seconds.

The next battle was between teammates Latvala and Mikkelsen. The Norwegian seemed to be faster but had a spin at the end of the day, which caused him swapping places with Jari-Matti Latvala.

Though Neuville was not feeling completely confident with the set up of his New Generation i20, he still was running quite well and was in fifth, followed by Østberg who had to come to grips with the both his new car and the new Norwegian pacenotes brought to him by Ola Fløene. ‘Basically the car is about the same, but in two years time a lot has changed, so I need some time adjusting, but the car does feel good.’ Next on the leader board was Dani Sordo. He too was complaining about set up issues in his Hyundai. Apparently the completely new car still needs some fine-tuning.

Tyre gambles ‘We’re in Monte Carlo,’ Mikkelsen must have thought. ‘So I will do some gambling’. He did not mean the famous Casino in his home town’s Casino Square where he started the rally earlier this week. He meant tyre choice. So he chose different tyres then his colleagues. On the first stage of the day the marathon stage from Ladier-et-Valença to Faye it his cost him almost forty seconds.

Top: Ever so slowly Robert Kubica went on the ice, still it proved too fast. He slid off on stage three and to add insult to injury, Elfyn Evans slid wide in the same corner and pushed Kubica even further down the ditch into the trees. It’s been another disappointing event for the quick Pole who is still scrambling to find budget for the remainder of the season.

Sweden is definitely off, the rest of the year still a big questionmark.

Middle: As a true Monagask would, Mikkelsen took a couple of gambles with his tyre choices.

Bottom: Kris Meeke is crowd favourite number one. He is committed on every corner, sometimes event a bit too much...

But his mixture of studded and super soft compound tyres paid diffident on the next stage, from St. Leger Les Mélèzes to La Batie Neuve. It begins on a road next to a skiing slope where small kids learn the noble art of skiing. The road changing form treacherously dry to completely snowcovered even crossing the ski slopes of Ancelles. Here Mikkelsen grabs just over forty seconds. This loop is done twice and then the drivers set off for Monaco again but first they had to tackle the famous Sisteron – Thoard stage. But on the trip to Monaco we don’t find Latvala nor do we find Kris Meeke. Latvala slides off the road going through a ditch and after hitting a spectator (see box on this page) finds his route again only to find there is too much damage to continue.

Kris Meeke hits a rock somewhere of his path. It destroys his sump guard and breaks his gearbox. No luck for

the fast Citroën driver who flavoured the rally up till now. Happy faces at Hyundai though, Neuville, Paddon and Sordo were fastest on the ski slope stage and Neuville and Sordo repeated that on the Sisteron stage. It promoted Neuville to third place and Sordo to seventh.

Volkswagen finale On the last day Volkswagen won all the stages. Ogier won both runs of the Col de L’Orme - St Laurent stage, the second run being the PowerStage, Mikkelsen won the stage in from La Bollène Vesubie to Peira Cava. This is a partly new stage that crossed the Col de Turini but leaving the col in a different way than other years. So the end is clear Volkswagen wins. Ogier leads the driver’s championship and the team leads the manufacturers championship. However they have to share first spot with Hyundai!

Evans shows his skills, Fiesta R5 Evo up to speed It must have been hard to swallow for is no bad driver himself). Oh and he Elfyn Evans when M-Sport manager finished eighth overall...

Malcolm Wilson told him he would be demoted from M-Sport’s WRC squad Maybe it was successful amateur to a program in the WRC-2 and BRC. psychology by Malcolm Wilson, Rather than pout about it, Evans acmaybe it’s to early to tell, but either cepted the challenge and showed way Elfyn showed his skill. Wilson had everyone what he is capable of in every reason to smile; not only did Monte Carlo. On the opening stage he his young driver bounce back from lost 30 seconds with a puncture, but disappointment with a very strong from then on it was utter dominance. performance, the new evolution of the He won just about every stage he Fiesta proved very capable of beating tried, and in the end he held a 2-min- its Czech and French rivals. ute lead over Esapekka Lappi (who

Latvala on the line Jari Matti Latvala was the focal point of the Monte’s stewards’ meeting Saturday night after the Finn hit a spectator during an off on stage 11. WRC TV Reporter Julian Porter stated that at the finish line Latvala asked him ‘When we went off, we hit a spectator, we did not him hard, but can you pleas check if he is ok?”

As is usual in such cases, the stewards summoned the driver and team principal (in this case Latvala, Jost Capito and team manager Sven Smeets) for a hearing on the matter. Latvala started his statement by giving his apologies for the incident, before proceeding on the events as he had experienced them. During the off he hit a water channel and the water boosting up obstructed his view. It was only when the visibility came back that he saw people jumping to the side and at the same time he saw the possibility where he could get back onto the road. He added that he never thought having hit someone. He then added that he was informed that he had hit a spectator, although he remained vague about who had informed him. When presented with the statement given by Julian Porter, Latvala stated that those were not his words and that he had instead asked Porter

“Can you go and confirm with the marshals that I haven’t hit anybody.” The reason was that after having cooled down after the stage, he felt that he might have hit someone.

After reviewing video evidence of the event the stewards ruled that it was hard to believe that neither driver nor co-driver had realized that they had hit a spectator as at the moment of impact the visibility wasn’t that bad and the body could clearly be seen on the bonnet of the car. Latvala replied that during such an impact there is a lot of up and down movement of the head, preventing the crew from looking at of the window in a straight line.

Concluding on all above the stewards deem it implausible that the crew did not even consider that they had hit a spectator. At such an occasion it would have been the obligation of the crew to stop and check if any spectators were affected by the incident. As Latvala and Anttila did not do so, they were penalized with a € 5000 fine and a conditional suspension of one WRC event that will come into effect immediately if Latvala commits a similar infringement of the rules during the 2016 WRC season.

Rallye Monte Carlo / Round-up 20/44

Round-up Volkswagen Motorsport What do you do if you have the best car, the best drivers and the best team? You stick with it. So that’s what Volkswagen did, they’re a winning team, so no need for big changes. Still there were some changes.

Some minor technical things to the car to start with. But very shortly before the start of the season news surfaced about the co-driver change with Andreas Mikkelsen and about the job swap of Jost Capito. Capito will go to Formula 1, but as promised he was present in Monte Carlo. As he said he will first look for a new team principal and until then he will be present at rallies. And looking at Capito during the Monte weekend we have the feeling he is still quite happy. But then again that is one of his major assets. He can create a relaxed atmosphere and at the same make clear who is the boss. It’s a formula that obviously seems to work.

Under his tenure VW has been the dominant party in the WRC So they’ll be looking long and hard to find someone to fill those impressive shoes.

pect their first baby, apart from that it was all business as usual. Ogier wants to win everything but certainly the Monte is one of the events he hates to NOT win. He was born only minutes away from the service park and rally HQ and so he considers this to be his home event. To add some flavour to his fight this year Kris Meeke did not surrender but really put up a fight. But Ogier showed how you could help lady luck a little. You have to go (very) fast when it is possible and to slow down when necessary. Telemetry in the WRC+ video’s showed Ogier sometimes slowed down to 30 or less kilometres per hour when the tricky conditions demanded it. He tiptoed through the snow-covered roads of Ancelle where others kept the gas down. The numbers of cars we saw slip and slide through these conditions were numerous, but not the Volkswagen proudly bearing number 1. You can’t blame him for trying but Kris Meeke was just a bit unlucky and handed victory to Ogier. Giving Ogier the opportunity to tell the world he was happy both with his The biggest news in the Ogier camp was the fact he and his wife ex- victory here but also by the fact that his wife Andrea is pregnant.

We don’t hope it is a sign for things to come but this simply was not a Latvala event. At first he stayed behind when he saw Ogier and Meeke battling it out. His aim for this rally was different from that of Meeke’s. He wanted to lay a firm foundation for a real challenge for the championship.

He also knew this was not the rally to attack his biggest contender Ogier.

So he just stayed put, apart from a small incident in stage 2 where he slid off the road. He managed to shake off Mikkelsen and settled for second. But on the second pass of ‘the long one’, Lardier et Valenca - Faye things went drastically wrong. He went off and damaged his car beyond immediate repair. As we showed in the box in our rally report, it was an expensive off. But apart from the € 5000 fine his ego got a serious blow too. He did not make it to the finish so he did not earn a single championship point but, as far as we can judge, it is very unlike ‘nice guy Latvala’ to leave the site of an accident where spectators are concerned. We feel he was more affected by the fact this happened to him, then by the conviction of the rally authorities.

For Andreas Mikkelsen this was an exciting rally. Of course he had always wanted to compete with Anders Jaeger at his side. But team management had also wanted Jaeger to mature somewhere else until the 2017 season. Now Mikkelsen and Jaeger had to show they were ready for it. The atmosphere in the car seemed to be good. With Mikkelsen teasing his friend: “Hey Anders, since you left Ole Christian (Veiby, his former driver, now co-driven by Jonas Andersson, who used to be in Østberg hot seat; ed.) he won all stages”. Jaeger did not say very much but the next stage they drove a scratch, making Jaeger the youngest co-driver from the competitors now driving to win a special stage. But this win was perhaps more due to a risky gamble on Mikkelsen’s side. He had used Michelin studs and on the snow covered ski slopes of stage 10 this gave him so much grip that Ogier lost just under 44 seconds on a 17K stage!

It was not enough to really challenge the master but at least he tried and overall second in your first drive with a new co-driver on this level shows what he is capable of. Can he really beat Latvala this season?

Rallye Monte Carlo / Round-up

Hyundai Motorsport

All eyes were on Hyundai this weekend as they were the ones who had a completely new car.

Second reason being Thierry Neuville who before the rally said he was back on track. Initially Neuville and Sordo both were complaining of the poor set up. Team management confided by saying their pre event tests were in completely different circumstances with more snow. During the nearly completely dry rally the setup therefore was not optimal. But in the end the New Generation i20 performed well. The shared leader position in the constructor’s championship was an added bonus. But it was achieved by cumulating the results of both Neuville and Sordo whereas Ogier collected 28 points on his own.

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We’re glad to see Thierry Neuville seems to be, as he said himself, back on track. Of course the poor set up hampered him too, but once that had been settled the Belgian seemed to do well. This resulted in a third step on the podium. “This is a very nice achievement for the team, he said. But we feel that it was at least as good for the driver himself. We hope he found his own self again and see him perform again as in his Ford season.

There was a great burden on the shoulders of Dani Sordo. The team nominated him as number one driver and the Spaniard felt that especially in Monte Carlo he had to deliver. So during the first one and a half day we saw a sombre Sordo complaining about his car and the lack of balance in it. It was clear he was not a happy man.

But once the set up issues had been dealt with he really started to perform. He was third quickest on stage 12 and completed the rally with two runner up positions on stage 13 and on the PowerStage giving him two bonus points. We hope this is an indication of the potential of both driver and car!

Hayden Paddon still had the ‘old’ i20, as there was not a new chassis ready for him. Still he jumped from the starting line as if this was not his first Monte. On Thursday night he came to Gap in fifth spot.

But on the next day it was all over when he skidded on a tricky patch of ice. New regulations make it very difficult to get a real result if you leave the rally in such an early stage of the day. But he did come back and enjoyed a few days of high speed testing even resulting in a runner up time on the snow covered stage over the Ancelle skislope.

M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson can be happy with his achievements in Monte Carlo. He did quite a gamble by completely changing his team. But it mostly paid out, though he had perhaps wanted a somewhat longer stint for new recruit Camilli.

talking about his new role. His smiles clearly indicated he was quite happy with this swap. In the end it paid dividend as the paring in their first outing for the team ended in fourth. Would this be the perfect match Østberg-Fløene-Fiesta WRC?

Before the rally it did not seem to be an easy rally for Mads Østberg.

Though he had driven a Fiesta before he did not remember much of it anymore. ‘Basically it is of course the same car,’ he confided to us during the season’s opening in Monte Carlo. “But a lot has changed and I have to get used to the different driving you need with this car.” At the same event we spoke to his new co-driver Ola Fløene. “When they first called me I had to think it over, but rallying is my life and I knew very well that my VW contract was to expire in 2017. That had always been clear so no hard feelings but Mads offered me to be in a rally car for five more years. So added to the fact I know the family very well (I have even driven with Mads’s father) I did not have to think very much longer so I agreed to be his co-driver. Right from the start they made me feel at home and I really feel part of the family”. Though PR obligations needed him somewhere else he could hardly stop

Malcolm was clear about Eric Camilli: “He made a schoolboy error, but he won’t make the same mistake again, so that’s good”.

The Frenchman started with some gearbox issues. But when they were solved he did well even scoring a fifth time on the second stage of day two. But then he made his schoolboy mistake. The patch of ice that tricked out Kubica, Paddon and Evans during the first run also tricked the Frenchman but this was during the second run, so there must have been an exclamation mark somewhere in his notes but apparently he missed it. He could contemplate his mistake during the rest of the rally as the impact affected his roll cage in such a way, he couldn’t restart anymore As we already said in our rally report Wilson will be quite happy with Elfyn Evan’s performance, so in the end the scale should certainly be positive for M-Sport.

M-Sport World Rally Team

Rallye Monte Carlo / Round-up

Abu Dhabi World Rally Team No doubt the price for most disappointed team of the weekend goes to this team. Deprived from the official Citroën status they just wanted to drive solidly. But Kris Meeke had another idea. He was in a very good form and was challenging Ogier on his own turf. That is quite an achievement, as not only did he take the lead but also, once Ogier had fought back, Meeke again took the lead. Ogier seemed to like it and really put up a fight until Meeke’s misery. A hidden rock took his sump guard and broke his gearbox. Game over!

Stéphane Lefebvre added a more positive note to this year’s Monte for Citroën. He proved why he is on the wanted list for Citroën’s future challenge in WRC. He started quietly, getting used to his new co-driver Gabin Moreau. On the last day he seemed to have found his rhythm. On the ‘new’ Turini stage he was third quickest. And he really got the taste of it almost repeating this result on the PowerStage but Mikkelsen was just a tiny bit faster. But fifth place was a good achievement for the young Frenchman.

RK World Rallyteam Robert Kubica’s programme for this year is still very uncertain but for Monte Carlo he did find the necessary funds. On the initial two stages of the rally he scored relatively well by classifying his Ford Fiesta both times in eighth place. However it did not come very much further. Your Rally-eMag crew saw him pass in the bright sunshine of Friday’s first stage. But only a few minutes later it went wrong. A patch of black ice tricked him just like Paddon, Camilli and Bertelli on the same spot. He smashed into a tree with his booth still on the road. But when Elfyn Evans passed he too got caught by the patch Fuckmatié WRT Lorenzo Bertelli now is part of the M-Sport family. He still has his own of ice and leaned the rear of his Fiesta R5 heavily on Kubica’s Fiesta. team but technically his car is an M-Sport car. This however did no The R5 proceeded without problems but Kubica’s WRC got stuck bebring the desired situation. Halfway Friday he slides off the road and tween the side of the road and the tree that already had caught him.

A week after the rally Kubica tweeted: “I regret to have to tell you I will that was the first rally of his slightly limited 2016 programme. not be in Sweden.” We hope the nice Pole will get another chance in WRC. It would be sad if this were the end of his career in WRC.

24/44

Drive DMack World Rallyteam The Drive DMack World Rallyteam is a new team with a not completely new driver, Tänak always having been a DMack protégé. But the Monte is not his favourite rally. Still he did not do too badly until he rolled his car. But he brought it back and ended up in seventh place.

So he not only gathered some points for himself, but also for his team. All is well that ends well and we are definitely looking forward to the more Tanak friendly rally’s in the rest of the season.

Overall final classification 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Ogier / Ingrassia Volkswagen Polo R WRC 3:49:53.1 Mikkelsen / Jæger Volkswagen Polo R WRC +1:54.5 Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC +3:17.9 Østberg / Fløene Ford Fiesta RS WRC +4:47.7 Lefebvre / Moreau Citroën DS3 WRC +7:35.6 Sordo / Martí Hyundai i20 WRC +10:35.5 Tanak / Mölder Ford Fiesta RS WRC +11:39.9 Evans / Parry Ford Fiesta R5 +18:30.8 Lappi / Ferm Škoda Fabia R5 +20:41.0 Kremer / Winklhofer Škoda Fabia R5 +20:43.9

Rallye Monte Carlo / Standings 26/44

2016 FIA WRC Drivers’ Standings 1.

Sebastien Ogier 28 2.

Andreas Mikkelsen 19 3.

Thierry Neuville 15 4.

Mads Østberg 12 5.

Stéphane Lefebvre 10 6.

Dani Sordo 10 7.

Ott Tanak 6 8.

Elfyn Evans 4 9.

Esapakki Lappi 2 10. Armin Kremer 1

2016 FIA WRC Manufacturers’ Standings 1.

Volkswagen Motorsport 25 2.

Hyundai Motorsport 25 3.

Volkswagen Motorsport II 18 4.

M-Sport World Rally Team 12 5.

DMACK World Rally Team 8 6.

Hyundai Motorsport N 6

Tommi M채kinen

On building a WRC team Words: Steven van Veenendaal; Images: PR

Interview / Tommi Mäkinen

Tommi Mäkinen

29/44

Team principal Toyota Gazoo Racing’s WRC team

At the WRC launch session in the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, we ran into Tommi Makinen. The four time World Rally Champion is now in charge of the preparations for Toyota’s 2017 return to the WRC. Of course we nabbed him away for an interview about the team’s progress so far.

You and your company are spearheading the team, but Toyota itself and Toyota Motorsport are also involved. It seems like there is some overlap between those parties as Toyota Motorsport was also quite a way in with the development of a Yaris WRC. Can you explain how all those parties fit together in the project?

“Progress is going very, very well. We are actually a bit ahead of our schedule at the moment. It is great to see such a positive atmosphere around the project. So first I would like to thank Toyota as it is such a positive feeling working with them and this has also allowed us to attract good people to the project who have put in a great effort.”

“The overall project responsibility is completely with us and of course we are cooperating and discussing with Japan a lot to make decisions together. The overall operation is with us, the design team and engineers are employed by us, while the marketing is done by Toyota itself.”

Interview / Tommi Mäkinen

And then there is Toyota Motorsport, who were also developing a WRC “Yes, we split the departments and have different people responsible for and were already testing quite a bit. Are they involved with specific parts different areas. We have started to build the team infrastructure. It takes like the engine? quite a lot of time to build up everything, all equipment for all areas but that is already well underway. The suppliers for building all necessary equip“We cooperate with TMG and they are the main partner for us in develop- ment are up to speed and know their timetables. Marketing of course is ing the new engine. It had to be completely redesigned for the new 2017 also a very important aspect that we are discussing with TMC (Toyota Moregulations. Those new regulations mean that the tests you mention with tor Corporation) and TME (Toyota Motor Europe). “ the 2016 spec Yaris don’t really help us a lot anymore because the 2017 regulations are completely different. The transmission will be different, Do you already have the buildings to operate from? the aerodynamics, suspensions parts, wheel track, engine performance, “Yes, of course, we cannot do it without, that would be difficult!” (laughs… there are so many things. I would say that every teams needs to build a and keeps lauging for quite some time… The Mack is back and clearly completely new car for 2017.” enjoying himself.)

You are not just building a new car, you are also building a new team to develop it now, and run it from 2017 on.

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Tommi praised to positive attitude held by all involved in the project. It shows here, from left to right: Toshio Sato, Tommi Makinen, Akio Toyoda and Koei Saga

The wraps came off the new Yaris WRC at the Toyota GAZOO Racing press conference to reveal its new livery.

I mean that you might need to build specific buildings for this project, not operating out of your current offices.

“At the moment we are operating from our existing offices because we have quite a good facility for the prototype- and test projects as well as for building the cars for 2017. My target is to keep our current place as the HQ and R&D facility.

We are still thinking about what the best place would be for our base when we start the operation phase. Now we are building prototypes, testing and building more cars towards 2017, but operation means that we are not building any cars. We are operating each driver with two cars and we need a place out of which we can do the service for them, do quality controls, make spare parts, stock etc. We have a pretty clear plan for the facility and still have good time this year to find the proper location.”

developing the car and showing the potential in order to wake driver’s interest for 2018. In my opinion 2018 would be the first moment when we could have a possibility to employ the best drivers and also possibly start looking at some real results. “

With regard to the personnel, do you have all the key people in place, the drivers for example?

Does that mean that for 2017 you will be looking at different drivers for different events, to employ surface specialists to “We have, our total number of people is around 50 at the show the potential of the car in the best way? moment and at the beginning of March there will be a lot more because that’s when we’ll start testing. As for the driv- “Yes, that is quite possible. I am still looking around but ers, I am mainly discussing with test drivers at the moment. nothing has been decided yet.”

We need quite a lot of test drivers as our target is to operate three different test cars. (At least one of them will be piloted Will we see you back behind the wheel at some point?

by Mikko Hirvonen ed.). But of course I am also looking at the driver possibilities for the team in 2017. We need to be “Yes because I have quite a lot of experience too (there’s realistic in that area with whom we could have and unfor- that typical Tommi laugh again). I will do some tests for tunately it seems that most of the top drivers are occupied sure, at least the first test I will do to see what it is that we’ve until the end of 2017. That means that, I would say very built!” realistically that we would have to concentrate on learning,

MAXRALLY / Loudon’s 16 reasons

Loudon’s 16 reasons to love WRC 2016

The new World Rally Championship season is finally upon us (even though we only left Wales 65 days ago). And, as the WRC winds itself up in the mountains, leading Scottish co-driver Stuart Loudon has listed his top 16 reasons to look forward to 2016.

Republished with permission of MAXRALLY.com

1 Fourteen’s better than 13. If it was up to MAXRALLY.com A website that takes a slightly different (and we hope interesting) look at the world of rallying.

see the pace coming from Hayden last year and it’ll be fascinating to see how he goes you and me, we’d rarely have a week with- in his first full year in the World Rally Chamout a World Rally Championship round – so pionship in 2016. an extra one from last season’s fine by me.

Talking of Hyundai, another reason to be 2 China. I competed in the Chinese Rally 6 cheerful is the work my mate Seb Marshall

Championship with Alister McRae last sea- will be doing with Kevin Abbring in testing son and, trust me, it’s an experience you and developing Hyundai’s third new World won’t forget in a hurry. It’s a fantastic – and Rally Car in as many years! crazy – place.

Talking of mates, we can’t go any further 3 Even closer competition. The champion- 7without mentioning Craig Breen and Scott

Warmer in Wales. It’s statistically less likely to rain in October than it is in November. And statistics are always, always right.

#binthebrolley

ship leader running first on the road on Fri- Martin. I can’t think of two more deserving day and Saturday, regardless of who’s re- fellas to get a go at the top of the World Raltired and returning under Rally 2 regulations ly Championship tree. means this year’s events will be closer than ever.

4 Warmer in Wales. It’s statistically less

from around these parts, let’s not forget Kris Meeke, Paul Nagle, Elfyn Evans and Craig likely to rain in October than it is in Novem- Parry; they’re sure to light the World Rally ber. And statistics are always, always right. Championship up every time they tighten #binthebrolly their belts this season. >>

5 A full Hyundai season for Hayden Pad-

don. Like everybody, I was really excited to 32/44

8 While we’re on the subject of heroes

MAXRALLY / Loudon’s 16 reasons

12 No more false starts. Bravo to the FIA for

handing a time of 10 minutes to any driver jumping the start at shakedown. This, we’re told, was becoming increasingly common as some crews tried to get an early upper hand over their rivals. The little tinkers. #illegallyeagerbeavers

13 Fifty miles in Mexico. How cool is that

new Guanajuato stage on the final day of Rally Mexico. It’s going to be epic.

14 DMACK and Ott Tanak. For the first time,

DMACK will contest the entire World Rally Championship with a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. And the car will be driven by the super-talented Tanak.

15 Better telly than ever in Britain. Channel 9 Mads Ostberg back at M-Sport. Mads always looked more at home in

a Ford Fiesta RS WRC than he did in a DS 3. Potential winner this year?

You bet.

10 M-Sport on top of the podium again. See above.

11 Toyota. Not long now until the world’s biggest carmaker comes back 33/44

to the World Rally Championship. #welcomehome

5, BT Sport and S4C will combine to show stacks of coverage of this year’s series. It’ll be wall-to-wall WRC. #forgetDownton

16 Finally, my 16th reason for looking forward to this year is the op-

portunity the World Rally Championship affords the world’s fastest rally drivers and most dedicated co-drivers. If, by the way, anybody’s looking for a dedicated co-driver with WRC experience, a working knowledge of Chinese food and a plentiful supply of Caramel Wafers… you know where I am.

the road to china pt1 Words and mages: Harry van Veenendaal

Feature / The Road to China

Oliver Ciesla Director at WRC Promoter GmbH

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As we all know the WRC will return to China this September. The last time the WRC was in China, was in 1999, so we can almost speak of a completely new event. As a build up to the event we have been looking for stories that tell something about the unique character of the event. Our first story is that of Oliver Ciesla, one of the two managing directors of WRC promoter GmbH. In future issues of Rally-eMag we will talk to more stakeholders involved, like the Chinese promoter, someone who was in China during the 1999 event and many others. So stay tuned for the full ‘Road to China’.

We kick things off with Oliver Ciesla’s story, the man in charge of putting together the WRC calendar and presenting it to the WRC Commission for formal approval. We have been talking to him about the subject on several occasions but the story below is the situation as it is today, or rather as it was during the start of the WRC season in Monte Carlo this year. But first a few things about the recent past: Since he became one of the bosses of WRC Promoter, Ciesla has been working on introducing China to the WRC Calendar. This had several reasons. For a World Championship the geographical spread of the events had too much focus on Europe. So apart from bringing in overseas events he wanted to (re-) introduce an Asian event. This proved to be anything but

an easy task. The focus quickly came to China.

Mainly because China has the biggest car market in the world, so manufacturers were eager to present themselves in this country. But the manufacturers also wanted a moderate budget. So it was clear the number of events should stay at thirteen. When the 2016 calendar was presented there were fourteen events. So our first question to Ciesla was why there are now fourteen events on the calendar.

Ciesla: Well, it’s true that from a promoter’s point of view, and also from what we understood from the part of the manufacturer teams, the budget situation dictated to maintain the level on thirteen events. This meant no one needed to invest money for an additional event. >>

Feature / The Road to China 38/44

So no extra budget needed for having to travel and all the logistic costs and the likes. To all parties it was clear that adding China, as a new Asian event on the calendar was not a question. That was a move that was absolutely wanted and supported.

Apparently the consequence to the FIA was to replace a European event with a new event or to add this new event. In the end the procedure is that we as promoter propose the calendar. This calendar proposal can be approved by the various commissions from the governing body or can be sent back. In this case we could not find an agreement what rally to replace on the current calendar and the consequence of this disagreement was that we ended up with a fourteen events calendar.

tradictory to support having China on the calendar and then not going. On the other hand if in a particular year you have a particular budget situation you have to respect that as it is. But then we are all optimistic that in 2017 we are all on top-level again.

ReM: So China will go on this year?

Ciesla: Yes there is no question about it. China will start this year. It has as a three-year agreement so the WRC will definitely be in Beijing in 2016, 17 and 18. So everyone can make plans to come. It’s easy to fly to Beijing no connecting flights in China, the distance from the airport to the servicepark ReM: Have the manufacturers, been included in is approximately 60 kilometres north of Beijing, so the decision-making? we made it all easy for you to accommodate yourselves without too many logistic requirements. It Ciesla: On the first level, it is the WRC Commis- used to be a bit more complicated in the past but sion that has a vote and in the WRC Commission now you can organize everything at the airport. we find representatives of the FIA and ourselves as well as representatives from the manufacturer ReM: Does the Chinese government support the teams, a private team representative and numer- event? ous representatives of the local event promoters and respective motor sports federations.

Ciesla: I cannot answer that today and I’m also the wrong person to ask. But in our talks with the ReM: How many teams do you expect to be in Chi- Chinese Motorsport federation, we asked for the na, apart form the manufacturer teams that have support to the extent that they can deliver it. And to be there? the Chinese Motorsport Federation is a 100 % government entity, so I expect they will support Ciesla: It is too early for me to say, of course we our request. But I’ve seen the organizers are setare pushing all teams to come and most of the ting up a team now. A big part is already working, teams wanted to have China on the calendar for commercial people are working, organizational commercial reasons, for bringing their brand to people are working and sooner or later all the inthe country that is selling most cars and buying frastructure will be in place and all our questions most cars in the world today; so it would be con- will be answered. So see you in China!

China rally basics

The rally will be held on 8- 11 September 2016. Rally HQ is in a venue constructed for the APEC summit conference in 2014. It is near Yanqi Lake located in the scenic Yanqi Township, in the Huairou District. It is about 50 kilometers and about a 45 minutes’ drive from the downtown area. From Beijing Capital International Airport it is about a 30 minutes’ drive. The stages will be at a reasonable distance from Rally HQ the surface being mostly tarmac.

Rally America / Sno*Drift Rally

Rally Racing Turns to Ice for Sno* Drift 2016 Words & images: Tara Hurlin

On January 29-31, 2016, forty-two hoonigans and their dedicated America, it has been the annual season opening event in the Naco-drivers gathered in Atlanta, Michigan to plow through one of the tional Championship Series since 1973. most difficult rallies of the year: Sno* Drift. Proudly staged by Rally It’s an extremely challenging event and the conditions are unpredictable at best. No matter what the weather calls for — billowing fluffy snow, white-out conditions, or slush and ice — studded tires are not allowed, even in the worst of weather conditions. The 130-mile course demands full concentration from every driver and co-driver, no matter how experienced they may be, and sliding into a snowbank is almost guaranteed.

Fortunately, 2016 gave way to sunny weather conditions, but after a few passes on each course, ice began to form under the packed-down snow. Hundreds of spectators bundled up in multiple layers to brave the cold for hours on end just to see their favorite teams whip around a corner into view. Roars of cheers and the ringing of cow bells erupted as each vehicle raced by, earning extra applause with every backfire. The smell of race gas billowing through the crisp winter air made standing in the cold worthwhile — and then some. As each of 17 stages were completed, fans ran — rather clumsily with their thick snow pants and oversized boots — from their current post to get into their car and drive to the next best viewing spot, ending at the grand finale where the crowds really go wild: Bonfire Alley.

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Meanwhile, the pit crews, perhaps the most dedicated participants out of any, stand by to assist their team with any repairs needed in-between stages. Fingers are always crossed hoping that nothing breaks, but with the rough terrains in rally driving, breaks seem inevitable. Pit crews are seen rolling around in the snowy slush underneath vehicles making the quickest repairs possible as to not lose time.

Top: Who said you don’t rally a wagon? All Subarus are born to rally!

Bottom: Snow and darkness always provide some of the best action for the crowds.

Buckey Lasek recently entered the world of rally racing, and this was his first year at Sno* Drift. His best time was during the first day on Stage 2 with a time of 16-minutes, 49.6-seconds, coming in second to Lauchlin O’Sullivan. Alas, Lasek’s 2008 Subaru WRX STI suffered a broken control arm on the second and final day, which took him out of the race, but he will be back for more. “The highs and the lows are so gnarly, but it’s what keeps me wanting more,” he said. He spent the remainder of the day spectating with fans.

Osborn, who won first in the two-wheel-drive class with a 2012 Ford Fiesta R1, earning an inspiring overall time of 2:50:33.7.

After an impressive performance, driver Peter Fetela with co-driver Dominik Jozwiak won the Sno* Drift event with an overall time of 2:27:58.9 in their 1998 Subaru Impreza STi, only sixth-tenths of a second ahead of Troy Miller — possibly the closest race in Sno* Drift’s history. Even better yet, Fetela was unable to complete his new build in time for the rally, so he opted to bring his older car just so he could enter. Another impressive time is held by driver Cameron Steely and co-driver Preston

The cold, wet fans drove home with smiles on their faces after a weekend of hiking in the snow, their voices hoarse from cheering: It will be an event to reminisce about for years to come. The teams headed home to immediately start prepping their cars in time for their next rally of the 2016 season, and all those who spent their weekend engulfed in the rally winter wonderland will struggle to focus as Monday approaches with the distant echo of rally cars racing through their minds.

Big snowbanks, made to hang your tail in.

Driver Dylan Helferich with the Relentless Rally Team reflects on the adrenaline-driven event: “It was a great weekend of competing. The courses were real slippery and the stage conditions were a challenge, which allowed for lots of opposite lock steering. We were supported by a great crew, family, friends and fans.”

Peter Fetela and Dominik Jozwiak brought their Impreza home first.

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 Monte Carlo.

Contrast of old and new..

Jost is betting on another horse. ( bronze as well..)

Waiting for the first nightstage. What else could I do?

Qassimi’s rally car and his shopping car?

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On our way to Gap. Interesting car. Nice licence plate.

It seems to be slippery, both for cars and spectators

‘I just made it to end up at podium huh?’ Neuville after powestage finish.

I honour of Ogier, who lived in Gap.

Ciao Bas If I see his eyes, this spectator had enough to drink.

I like ‘nature’ artists.

see you next time...