Rally-eMag 043 March 2017

Rally-emag

The digital rally magazine Issue 43, March 2017

Four For Four

Plus erc: azores / brc: border counties rally brc: spa rally / DRC: Zuiderzeerally

W

wrc mexico corsica

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Teething troubles After blistering performances in Monte Carlo and Sweden Toyota were on a roll like they had never been gone. Then came Mexico. The new car was bugged by small issues but JML’s solid drive did secure some vital championship points.

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

2017 Has been a rollercoaster ride for Hayden Paddon. The latest turn came when his long time trusted co-driver John Kennard announced his retirement.

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Two podiums on the first two rounds of the championship looked promising enough for Ott Tanak. Since then, it hasn’t gone so well for the Estonian.

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Editor’s note Four out of four Do you think that prior to the season, managing director of WRC Promoter Oliver Ciesla had dreams about how the upcoming season would develop? If so, can you imagine them being any different that what we are currently witnessing?

From the outset of his tenure as WRC promoter Ciesla has been hammering on the need for close competition, heroes and bringing the action to the fans (ergo: big cities). We’ve seen them all this year, admittedly some better than others. The trip to Mexico City was a fun idea, but immediately brought back memories of the Buenos Aires fiasco at the 2007 Rally Argentina when the air convoy couldn’t fly the cars back in time and the full first day of action had to be cancelled. The Mexico City trip wasn’t quite as bad, but heavy traffic on the road back Guanajuato did result in the cars returning hours later than expected and the first loop of stages being cancelled.

That being said, on all other fronts the WRC is delivering.

The new regulations (and VW’s departure) have reshuflled the status quo and it looks like ev-

By Steven van Veenendaal

eryone, or at least every team can now win rallies. And it doesn’t just look like it, it’s actually happening. Ogier proved he can win without a VW too in Monte Carlo, before Latvala stunned the rallying world by giving Toyota their first win on only their second event in Sweden. This month we’ve seen two new winners emerge with Meeke’s dramatic antics on the final stage in Mexico leading to the most breathtaking win in recent memory.

Do you think that prior to the season, managing director of WRC Promoter Oliver Ciesla had dreams of how the upcoming season would develop? If so, can you imagine them being any different that what we are currently witnessing?

Finally Neuville broke Hyundai’s duck last weekend in Corsica and added them to the list of winners as well. So four rallies into the season we have four different winning manufacturers and there is absolutely no predicting who will win the next four. That’s a scenario we have been missing in the sport for far too long.

With the various winners also comes stardom and the emergence of ‘fan-heroes’. Ogier is a no-brainer but the Thierry Neuville fan club is also growing bigger by the day and drew a lot of Belgians to Corisca to witness their hero win. Kris Meeke meanwhile took the hearts of casual fans from all over the world when he dashed across a parking lot 500 meters before the finish of Rally Mexico. Only in WRC! The rallymad Japanese are also happy to see one of their brands back in the championship and there is no better ambassador than the ever-likeable, and mind blowingly quick, Jari Mati Latvala. The tall Finn is quickly becoming ‘Big in Japan’ and we can already envision Initial D comic remakes...

Rally-eMag is brought to you by:

Rally-emag / March 2017

Words:

Harry van Veenendaal Steven van Veenendaal Tara Hurlin Sven Kollus

Images:

Erik van ‘t Land Tara Hurlin Sven Kollus

Publisher: Issuu.com

Join us via social media!

Facebook: facebook.com/emagrally/ Twitter: @emagrally

This month March 2017 10

Editor’s note

22

Mexico

38

Corsica

52

Azores

58

Belgium

66

Great Britain

72

The Netherlands

78

The World

all

wrc wrc erc

brc brc drc

eee

38

Four out of four

Meeke’s Mexican Miracle

Four for Four

52 72 Battle of Attrition

Spa Rally

Border Counties Rally

Zuiderzeerally

Erik’s Epic Encounters in Mexico

Rally-emag / March 2017

58

22

66

Rally-emag / March 2017

Sven kollus/flat out media agency

Sete Cidades. Perhaps the most scenic stage in the world. The Azores Airlines Rally brings the crews to some breathtaking places.

Sven kollus/flat out media agency

The Azores Airlines Rally may be pretty, but it’s also very tough. Carlos Vieira finds out the hard way, smashing his DS3 in one of the watersplashes.

WRC

Rally-emag / March 2017

Meeke’s Mexican Miracle Words: Harry van Veenendaal, Images: Erik van ‘t Land

B

oth Toyota and to a somewhat lesser extent Ford, surprised us in the fist two events of the 2017 WRC season. As they divided the available podium places, they left fan’s favourites Hyundai and Citroën in the dark. Hyundai proved it does have the pace; having led both events, but Citroën seemed to have problems. So a good Mexico result was very important for both brands. As we now know Meeke performed a miracle. Not because he dominated the competition, but because he almost did not make it. But though he hardly believed it himself, he won the rally!

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC

Top: Kris Meeke jumped into an ealry lead on Friday.

Middle: The locals love their WRC rally.

Bottom: Neuville was struggling with an ailing car that obviously had some difficulties dealing with the high altitude of Rally Mexico.

Rally-emag / March 2017

Delayed action After the Mexico City adventure (see boxed text) the rally really started on Friday afternoon with the first runs of El Chocolate and Las Minas. Just under 75 kilometres of stage length had been lost.

In hindsight this might have had a favourable effect on the outcome of the day. All drivers complained about the heat not in the atmosphere but in their cars. Their dashboards looked like Christmas trees, so many lights were blinking, most of them orange or even red. High engine oil, water and gearbox warning lights were ablaze in all cars.

So high altitude and more than moderate ambient temperatures took their toll. One team seemed to be suffering less: Citroën. Helped by his favourable starting position and this apparent lack of this overheating problem it’s Kris Meek who takes the lead from overnight leader Juho Hänninen who was cumulative fastest in Mexico City. But it’s not an easy task for Meeke as Neuville is determined to show he has the faster car. Though the Belgian slowed down because of the the overheating problems in the first test of the day and lose half a minute to Meeke but on the second stage he claws back some eight seconds by winning it.

Meanwhile Ogier simply ignores the ominously blinking lights on his dashboard and for the time being, settles for second best. Other drivers are not that confident. They slow down. Lorenzo Bertelli debuting his Ford Fiesta WRC 2017, even completely stops He must have thought ‘better safe than sorry’ and waits till temperatures have dropped. After the two long stages the following three short stages all have another winner: Neuville wins the famous Guanajuato street stage, Meeke and Evans each win a run of the Autodromo de Léon stage. But in the top three Sordo dropped down the leaderboard. On the first passage of the stage he stops because of a seriously misfiring engine. Consequently he is not allowed to start for the second run. Later on he can do the second run. His Hyundai however is still not working properly and he drops from third to 15th.

Neuville’s car is suffering from the same problem as Sordo’s car the Belgian manages to end the day in third. At service the service crew examines all three Hyundai’s and they soon find out a blocked fuel filter has been causing all the problems.

the longest day Saturday starts with two loops of three longer stages and finishes with three shorter ones. As temperatures are a bit cooler and because engine mapping has been changed to a somewhat more suitable way, there were no more overheating problems today. It’s perfectly clear the Hyundai engineers found the misfiring problem as Sordo wins the first two stages and Neuville the third. After the service break, Ogier is wide awake and scores his second scratch, after his first scratch during the second run of the Mexico City stage. Kris Meeke however gradually builds on the gap between him and Ogi-

er. At the end of Saturday the grand total is 30.9 seconds. Exactly 10 seconds more than at the end of Friday. Lorenzo Bertelli rolled his car but could continue be it with a considerable loss of time.

Stéphane Lefebvre was not so lucky. Some three kilometres before the end of stage 10 he slid off the road onto a slope. There was little damage but as there were not enough spectators to help his C3 back on the road again he had to retire there for the day. “That’s pretty rough for us, given just how many fans there are next to the roads here!

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC Plaza de la Constitución Imagine you’re the race director of a major event and you get a phone call from a city official representing the mayor of the capital of the country, stating that the mayor would love to have a stage in his town. Would what would you do? Well something similar happened to Patrick Suberville, race director of Rally Mexico. He got a phone call from (or on behalf of) Miguel Ángel Mancera, mayor of one of the biggest cities in the world, Mexico City. We haven’t been presented at this conversation but we could imagine a delighted grin on the face of Mr Subervlle. Then things start to get on the way. There is very limited time between now and the actual start of the rally. But Jaime del Palacio, Clerk of the Course since 2007, liked the idea. So they started working on it. First of all, what will be the venue?

From the talks with local authorities it became clear there was not much discussion: it would be the Plaza de la Constitución, the square that since the James Bond movie Spectre we know as Plaza de la Constitución square. The city officials all were

pretty helpful and so the 1.57 kilometre s quickly. Ehhh there is this little thing, Rally base Léon and the country’s capi It’s usually not a good thing if there are o rally, certainly not if only 24 cars actuall that was a slight advantage. A caravan o porters would bring the competition car back. The crews and personnel would b the city. Then Suberville thought it wou and for live television if the stage could b available time frame, it proved to be poss running of the stage was born. The seco could stage one, as the whole time schem ready finished by then. The first running called stage 0. The stages were a succes watching the cars roar through the streets helicopter fight between James Bond and

Never again?

But on the way back it went wrong. When the drivers were already in Léon, they heard about an accident between several cars on the main highway from Mexico City to Léon. In the enormous traffic jam four truck containing some twenty rally cars got stuck with no hope of an escape route. It took over four hours to clear the accident site and when the first stage was due to start the trucks were still a considerable distance from Léon. So the first loop of two stages, including the mammoth El Chocolate stage had to be cancelled. A pity we should say. “A bloody shame,” some, more outspoken, folk said. “Haven’t we learned from Argentina 2007?” they would add. But let’s face it: WRC is a sports that needs every bit of extra interest it can get. The combination, James Bond, Zócalo Square, Mexico City was sure to generate this extra bit of interest. To be honest, though we definitely prefer the stages in the lunar landscape that is the background of Mexico, we also liked the stage in Mexico City. Not because of it’s comRally-emag / March 2017

petitive value, but it made us feel good who would never go into El Chocolate, sports. We know that we can see muc gravel stages but why should we not giv of this wonderful sport. Perhaps they wi row. However, are we prepared to sacrifi Chocolate and one running of Las Mina next time we plan something like this, giv time. Start the whole exodus on Wedn shakedown. Start the stages during the m return journey in the beginning of the af you quite a bit of extra time. Or better sti petitive section of the rally in the weeken You can do it during daytime giving a m television and your rally schedule will n the Mexico City fans who have been in rus can even contemplate going to El

special stage was born the distance between ital is 383 kilometres. only 29 entries to your ly will start. Well here of 4 double car transrs to Mexico City and be flown in and out of uld be nice for the fans be run twice. Given the sible and so the second ond running would be me of the rally was alg of the stage would be ss lots of people were s that formerly staged a d one of his opponents.

that so many people, could experience our ch nicer fights on the ve other people a taste ill even be fans tomorfice one running of El as? No we are not, so ve yourself some extra nesday afternoon after morning and start the fternoon. Which gives ill, do it as a non-comnd preceding the start. much nicer picture for not be disrupted. And nfected by the rally viChocolate after all‌ Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC

“jesus christ kris!”

Just over half a minute, that would surely be enough, wouldn’t it? Meeke was quite confident and even increased the gap to his rival on the first Sunday stage. But it ain’t over till it’s over… Everyone had settled for his classification and at the PowerStage finish everyone was relaxing after an eventful rally. Neuville, then fastest on the PowerStage, desperately wanted to grab some extra championship points and was eagerly watching Meeke’s progress on the giant TV screen.

Then suddenly his eyes went wide open, and

Rally-emag / March 2017

from a distance we could read his lips: “He is off!” He put his hands on his head and was watching intently. Ogier was not watching the screen turned around asking, “what’s going on?” Everyone was watching the screen now, Meeke had gone wide dropped off the road into a car park and was desperately looking for the exit. A parked car prevented him from rolling and he as back on the road with just 750 metres to go. He did not believe it himself but he reached the finish with only 13 seconds to spare. Never mind that though, he won!

Rally mexico

Key stats from the most colourful round of the WRC Itinerary

Event data

DAY 1 - 9.03.2017 SS0

CDMX Street Stage 1

1.57

SS1

CDMX Street Stage 2

1.57

Based in

Léon

Surface

Gravel

Date

08/12-3-17

Stage distance

340 km

Number of stages

20

Total distance

898 km

DAY 2 - 10.03.2017 SS2

El Chocolate 1

cancelled

54.90

SS3

Las Minas 1

SS4

El Chocolate 2

cancelled Longest stage

19.68

SS5

Las Minas 2

SS6

Street Stage Guanajuato

SS7

SSS Autodromo De Leon 1

2.30

SS8

SSS Autodromo De Leon 2

2.30

Shortest stage

1.09

Media Luna 1

27.42

SS10

Lajas de Oro 1

38.31

SS11

El Brinco 1

10.09

SS12

Media Luna 2

27.42

SS13

Lajas de Oro 2

38.31

SS14

El Brinco 2

10.09

SS15

SSS Autodromo De Leon 3

2.30

SS16

SSS Autodromo De Leon 4

2.30

SS17

Street Stage Feria de Leon

1.33

DAY 4 - 12.03.2017 SS19

Derramadero 2

32.96

Powerstage

21.19

MOST STAGE WINS kris meeke

5

(28%)

Event leaders: Hänninen (SS 0 - SS3; SS2-3 cancelled), Meeke (SS 4-SS19) notable retirements Miguel Medina

3rd

19.68

SS9

La Calera

2nd

54.90

DAY 3 - 11.03.2017

SS18

1st

Ford Fiesta R5

-

meeke

ogier

neuville

Final results 1.

Meeke-Nagle

Citroën C3 WRC

3:22:04.6

2.

Ogier-Ingrassia

Ford Fiesta WRC

+13.8

3.

Neuville-Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 WRC

+59.7

4.

Tanak-Järveoja

Ford Fiesta WRC

+2:18.3

5.

Paddon-Kennard

Hyundai i20 WRC

+3:32.9

6.

Latvala-Anttila

Toyota Yaris WRC

+4:40.3

7.

Hänninen-Lindström

Toyota Yaris WRC

+5:06.2

8.

Sordo-Marti

Skoda Fabia R5

+5:22.7

9.

Evans-Barritt

Skoda Fabia R5

+8:41.8

10.

Tidemand-Andersson Skoda Fabia R5

+10:51.9

drivers Standings 1.

Sébastien Ogier

M-Sport World Rally Team

66

2.

Jari-Matti Latvala

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

58

3.

Ott Tanak

M-Sport World Rally Team

48

4.

Dani Sordo

Hyundai Motorsport

30

5.

Thierry Neuville

Hyundai Motorsport

28

6.

Kris Meeke

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

27

7.

Craig Breen

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

20

8.

Elfyn Evans

M-Sport World Rally Team

20

9.

Hayden Paddon

Hyundai Motorsport

17

10.

Stéphane Lefebvre

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

10

Manufacturer Standings 1.

M-Sport World Rally Team

103

2.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

67

3.

Hyundai Motorsport

65

4.

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT

55

Rally-emag / March 2017

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Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

It’s Mexican tradition that the winners receive a pair of boots. Kris seems to enjoy his, while Paul’s attention seems to be drawn elsewhere...

WRC It was an eventful weekend for M-Sport. The stings were not only in the tail but also in the very beginning. After shakedown Elfyn Evans experienced a problem with his engine and before going to Mexico City it had to be changed for a fresh one, consequently the Welshman collected a five-minute penalty, making a top classification impossible. During the event he showed good pace and his ninth place would have been a sixth without the 5-minute penalty… Ott Tänak scored another good result being fourth and together with Ogier’s second place Malcolm Wilson could only be pleased, now leading both the driver’s and manufacturer’s championships. But after the finish it took the scrutineers unusually long to release Ogier’s Ford.

There seemed to be something wrong with the gearbox.

The rally result was finalised pending a proper research of the issue. Ogier’s gearbox and Tänak’s spare unit were sealed and sent to France for further examination in FIA’s technical centre. It took the tech people quite some time to examine the gearboxes but the verdict was a relieve to the M-Sport team as both boxes had been found to be equal to the original gearbox showed upon homologation of the car.

Image: Erik van ‘t Land

M-Sport world rally team

An unusual low win tally so far for Ogier, but three events into the season, the French superstar is back where he’s most comfortable, leading the championship.

Image: Erik van ‘t Land

Hyundai motorsport

Rally-emag / March 2017

Hyundai is still looking for their first win. So probably Thierry Neuville had a certain margin of error built into his driving here. Taken that into consideration he did a good job, especially looking at the mysterious problem all Hyundai drivers suffered from. Of course Dani Sordo was hampered most by the issue of a strangely coughing Hyundai engine. He even came to a complete standstill in the stage, causing him a ten-minute penalty. But both Paddon and Neuville encountered similar problems causing them some time loss. But Neuville kept his cool, with good times and even four scratches, including the Powerstage providing an extra 5 championship points. But it was more important that he achieved his first 2017 podium. Sordo had his share of bad luck but a bright spot was that his ten-minute penalty was removed. He also scored two scratches on the first two Saturday stages. But a bit later that day enroute to stage 12, he had to change a puncture. Apparently this was done a bit hurriedly as into the next stage his car’s boot opened.

Hayden Paddon ended in 5th. In the Manufacturer’s championship this brings the Korean’s within two points of Toyota.

Live has not been friendly on the French team during the first two outings in the 2017 season. Before the season starts everyone thought Citroën would be the team to beat, having had the best preparation for the new season. In Mexico it finally went right for the French. They proved their car is really fine. All the other brands suffered overheating problems in all mechanical components and loss of power due to the high altitude was also an issue. Not for Citroën however. Kris Meeke (most of the times) was taking things cautiously but at the same kept a good pace. Though Ogier tried very hard he couldn’t match the speed of Meeke in the C3. Had it not been for Meeke’s excursion in the car park, it would have been a very clear win. Luckily for the Northern Irishman the gap was large enough and we have to admit the final was very exciting. After the C3’s covered 1863 kilometres of competitive distance they showed their true value.

Stéphane Lefebvre unfortunately had an off that did not cause much damage (except for his ego), but he had to retire for the day and eventually ended in 15th place.

Image: Erik van ‘t Land

Citroen total abu dhabi wrt

Maybe all that talk about the C3 WRC being too tail happy was a bit premature? In Mexico Meek proved that the car has what it takes to win.

Image: Erik van ‘t Land

toyota gazoo racing wrc

“Until you experience these things, you never know” - Tommi Makinen on the heat that plagued the Toyotas in Mexico.

Team principal Tommi Mäkinen was reasonably confident going into Mexico. “The majority of our testing has been on gravel, so we know the surface. But we did not do any high altitude testing so driving here is a bit of a question mark; will our engine mapping really work in the actual circumstances? Will high ambient temperatures be an issue? In Spain temperatures were about 40 degrees, but as Mäkinen stipulated: “Until you experience these things together, you never know.” During shakedown they therefore tested a lot of different mappings.

Juho Hänninen won the first test and was overnight leader. But then things started for real. Latvala was of course hampered by his early starting position but the heat was a bigger problem. “I had to change to road mode several times,” said Latvala. “Until the engine had cooled down, then switch back to stage mode, and back”.

In the end Latvala was sixth and Hänninen seventh. For Hänninen this was a remarkable performance, as he had felt quite sick all during the event. Finally Latvala put a positive note to the results: “All signs of progress are there, and we gathered a lot of information over the past four days.”

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC

Four for Four Words: Harry van Veenendaal, Images: PR

Rally-emag / March 2017

I

t was only half a year ago that everyone was on the island of Corsica, but because the calendar had Before Corsica three manufacturers won an event. Hyundai, though very fast, did not win any event yet. In their pre rally press release they indicated that their teams target tarmac glory. But of course so did others. All teams were quite confident so we could expect an exciting rally. When the rally was over we could only admit it really had been an exciting event with drivers and teams fighting an equal battle. And in the end it was a new driver and a new team we saw on the top spot of the podium.

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC Meeke keeps on it

O

ver 80 competitors entered the 4th WRC round: the Che Guevara Energy Drink Tour De Corse. Among them of course the three or for major contenders: Kris Meeke, wanting to keep the flow from winning in Mexico, Sebastien Ogier seeking to keep, or preferably increase his lead in the driver’s championship and Thierry Neuville on the road to find his first victory in 2017, both for himself as for his team.

Jari-Matti Latvala’s result in Mexico was a bit disappointing but he too was certainly in a good fighting spirit.

The rally started with shakedown on the 5.4k Sorbo Ocagnano test, near Bastia service park.

Each driver could use four extra tyres, for the three shakedown passes, so there was no need to hold back. Ogier was fastest, but Hayden Paddon, Jari Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville

Rally-emag / March 2017

were within 1.1 second.

The proper start Immediately after the start a three-way battle developed between Meeke, Ogier and Neuville. Meeke was fastest winning three of the four stages on Friday. Ogier won one stage and was second, ten seconds behind the Citroen driver.

Neuville was following at 25 seconds from the lead. Nice to see that these three drivers each had a different car, showing that the 2017 season doesn’t know any dominance yet. Kris Meeke was pleased with the day’s work. “I really enjoyed driving the Citroën C3 WRC on these roads and I feel good but I only have a very narrow lead, so we have to be alert tomorrow.” His main contender Ogier was not unhappy either: “This was definitely not a bad day being second.

Gradually things are improving and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Left top: After finally getting on the board with a spectacular win in Mexico, Kris Meeke maintained his stunning form and immediately charged into the lead in Corsica.

Left bottom: Despite leading the championship again Sebastien Ogier is not completely comfortable yet in his new machinery. The car touched the ground too much on the bumpy Corsican roads, draining the Frenchman’s confidence. Another podium finish in sight was enough reason to smile though.

Right bottom: Mind-blowing pace in Monte Carlo and Sweden resulted in nothing point wise.

A more sensible approach in Mexico landed him a podium and in Corsica?

Neuville is steadily upping the pace again...

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC

Rally-emag / March 2017

casualties Not everybody was as happy though. Juho Hänninen went wide after coming out of corner too fast. The back of his Toyota touched a brick wall on a bridge. At first he continued but soon a small fire stopped him.

After extinguishing it and consequently losing quite some time, he started again only to retire for the day a bit further. Elfyn Evans is not driving a lucky season. If he drives, he goes fast. Unfortunately Corsica had another technical glitch for him in store. A hydraulics malfunction caused the loss of al kinds of critical function like the paddle shift, the central diff, to mention just a view. Though there was no proper service between the stages today, he kept on going doing the arithmetic. Tie loss for retiring and restarting tomorrow would be bigger then just continue and lose time on the stages. Mathematically he proved to be right as he ‘only’ lost 6.5 minutes. But driving has been no fun to him. The lucky star for Ford had an off day as also Ott Tänak had problems. He went off the road and landed in the field. There was no damage but he simply could not come back on the road. And there were no people around to help him so he had to retire for the day.

Saturday’s push Saturday was Neuville day in Corsica. The Belgian really choose to attack and won three of the four Saturday stages. After winning the two initial morning stages he passed Kris Meeke. The Northern Irishman however had big problems with black clouds of smoke coming out of his exhaust. He reached the finish of stage 6 and was still leading the rally with a small margin of 1.5 seconds to Neuville, who after having won both stages had also passed Ogier. On the road to the next stage Meeke had to retire. His engine had given up. So Neuville was leading.. Ogier in the meantime did not look so happy anymore. “It’s not fast enough. I would like to know why.” But things are not totally bad as on the next test, the 48 kilometre from La Porta to Valle di Rostin he realised a scratch winning back six seconds from Neuville and diminishing the gap to just over 2.2 seconds. “It’s a bit better now,” Ogier smiled.

Everyone was looking forward to a big battle on Sunday. But on the last Saturday stage, Ogier passed the finish line with steam coming out of his ears. “At the end of SS7 we lost hydraulic pressure. So no diff; no gear shifting just a rearwheel-drive car that is behaving quite strangely!”

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC Hayden Paddon changes co-driver In the beginning of March we heard the first ‘official rumours’ about Hayden Paddon. After many years of competing together the New Zealand driver would switch co drivers. As from Rally Germany his new co driver will be Seb Marshall. Halfway March Paddon confirmed that after twelve years his partnership with John Kennard would be coming to an end. “This is a moment we knew would come at some point. We had a very good time together and we made the decision looking towards the future. We will now build towards 2018 and incorporated a transition period to get used to my new co-driver. But I’m very excited that Seb Marshall will be sitting next to me in the coming seasons.

I can’t say more yet.” Much later he confirmed that initial talks about the deal had started around November 2016. “John Kennard had made clear he wanted to take a step down and Hayden asked me if I wanted to take his place. This was a good chance for me to be driving a full season next year so I agreed. A lot of details had to be worked out so it took some months before we could announce it. That was a difficult period as I could never give straight answers.” Marshall has a lot of experience with the car as he has been testing all Hyundai’s sitting next to Kevin Abbring. Also he did some tests with Paddon to see whether they could work together. Apparently that worked and shortly after the announcement the two of them entered Rally Seb Marshall San Remo Rally in an i20 R5, the car in which MarIt was clear this was not an overnight decision. In shall won the Rally du Var last year, reading the Monte Carlo we talked to Marshall, and asked him notes to Abbring. In San Remo Paddon the pair finwhy he was not competing with his usual driver ished second behind local hero Paolo Andreucci.

Kevin Abbring. “Well it was a pretty late decision that Kevin would compete here and since a Deutschland long time I agreed to make snow notes for Hayden The ADAC Rallye Deutschland will be the first here.” Will you be driving with Kevin later in the event the two will drive together. John Kennards year? “Hmm that is extremely unlikely.” But you last rally with Hayden Paddon will be Rally Finland. will be doing something for the team then? An- An appropriate rally to finish as this was also his first other evasive answer came from the Britt’s mouth. WRC event. That was way back in 1985 when he fin“Ill be working for the team in some capacity, but ished 44th with Brent Rawstron in a Toyota Starlet.

Top: One of the last times that Hayden and John will take the ramp of a WRC event together...

Bottom: Paddon and Marshall are already working on their chemistry. As they competed on their first competitive event together at the illustrious San Remo rally, they immediately bagged a solid second place finish.

Rally-emag / March 2017

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC final sunday On the final Sunday Neuville holds a 38 second lead so the fight with an unhappy Ogier is over. At the overnight service break Ogier was still tight lipped about his problem. The route for Sunday though only two stages was not easy and could provide plenty of excitement. The drivers first tackle the Antisanti - Poggio di Nazza test with it’s 53.78 km the longest stage of the rally. The final PowerStage is in the south near Porto Vecchio.

Thierry Neuville was in survival mode but still fast enough to win the first test, just 0.1 second faster than team mate Dani Sordo. For the Spaniard it was more important he passed Sebastien Ogier. Before the Sunday start, Sordo was just under 19 seconds behind Ogier. After this morning’s stage he was leading the Frenchman by 2.5 seconds. Ogier lost more than 20 seconds on this stage. At stage end he looks furious, but he is not prepared to tell anything about his woes.

Everyone proceeds to the PowerStage now. It’s clear Neuville will be ‘cruising’, not prepared to risk anything. Though the battle for first seems to have been decided, there is still the battle for

Rally-emag / March 2017

second (Sordo vs Ogier) and the battle for fourth between Breen and Latvala. The first driver in this foursome is Jari Matti Latvala. By that time Lefebvre, Evans and Tänak had been leading the PowerStage each after each other. Latvala then scored a blistering time and took over the PowerStage lead.

So Craig Breen knew what he had to do to keep his fourth place. He went fast but not fast enough.

Driving a bit more neatly than the Finn probably cost him his fourth place. He was third fastest in the stage but 2.1 seconds slower than Latvala. After stage 9 he held a 2.0 second lead so he missed out on fourth by a difference of 0.1 second. We can tell a very similar story about Sordo and Ogier. The Spaniard was leading the Frenchman by 2.5 seconds before the PowerStage. But you can never trust Ogier to give up easily. He too had a high speed and posted a second time 3.8 seconds faster than Sordo. So in the end Ogier was still second, earned 4 bonus points and is still leading the championship for drivers. Sordo has to settle for third but Neuville finally won and the double podium for Hyundai was quite welcome.

che guevara energy drink tour de corse Key stats from the rally of 10,000 corners Itinerary

Event data

DAY 1 - 7.04.2017 SS 1

Pietrosella - Albitreccia 1

31.20

SS 2

Plage du Liamone - Sarrola-Carcopino 1

29.12

SS 3

Pietrosella - Albitreccia 2

31.20

SS 4

Plage du Liamone - Sarrola-Carcopino 2

29.12

Based in

Bastia

Surface

Tarmac

Date

06/09-4-2017

Stage distance

317 km

Number of stages

10

Total distance

1082 km

1st

2nd

3rd

DAY 2 - 08.04.2017 SS 5

La Porta - Valle di Rostino 1

48.71

SS 6

Novella 1

17.25

SS 7

La Porta - Valle di Rostino 2

48.71

SS 8

Novella 2

17.25

Longest stage

Shortest stage

DAY 3 - 09.04.2017 SS 9

Antisanti - Poggio di Nazza

32.96

SS 10

Porto-Vecchio - Palombaggia

21.94

Powerstage

MOST STAGE WINS thierry neuville

4

Neuville

ogier

Sordo

Final results 1.

Neuville-Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

3:22:53.4

2.

Ogier-Ingrassia

Ford Fiësta WRC

+54,7

3.

Sordo-Martí

Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

+56.0

4.

Latvala-Anttila

Toyota Yaris WRC

+1.09,6

5.

Breen-Martin

Citroën C3 WRC

+1.09,7

6.

Paddon-Kennard

Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

+2:16.3

7.

Mikkelsen-Jaeger

Škoda Fabia R5

+8.10,7

8.

Suninen-Markkula

Ford Fiësta R5

+9.17,0

9.

Sarrazin-Renucci

Škoda Fabia R5

+9.23,6

10.

Rossel-Fulcrand

Citroën DS3 R5

+12.57,1

(40%)

Event leaders: Meeke (SS 1 - SS6), Neuville (SS 6-SS10) notable retirements Kris Meeke

Citroën C3 WRC

Mechanical

Juho Hänninen

Toyota Yaris WRC

Mechanical

Bryan Bouffier

Ford Fiësta R5

Mechanical

drivers Standings 1.

Sébastien Ogier

M-Sport World Rally Team

88

2.

Jari-Matti Latvala

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

75

3.

Thierry Neuville

Hyundai Motorsport

54

4.

Ott Tanak

M-Sport World Rally Team

48

5.

Dani Sordo

Hyundai Motorsport

47

6.

Craig Breen

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

33

7.

Kris Meeke

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

27

8.

Hayden Paddon

Hyundai Motorsport

25

9.

Elfyn Evans

M-Sport World Rally Team

20

10.

Andreas Mikkelsen

Škoda Motorsport

12

Manufacturer Standings 1.

M-Sport World Rally Team

129

2.

Hyundai Motorsport

105

3.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

79

4.

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT

71

Rally-emag / March 2017

WRC

M-Sport world rally team The biggest team as far as running cars goes is M-Sport, but here we touch the first problem. Mads Østberg, nor Martin Prokop of the Adapta Jipocar team are present in Corsica because the parts to build a full asphalt spec car are not available. Malcolm Wilson can achieve more than the average man, but he is not a magician. He cannot wave his magic wand and whoops here you have the parts.

Everything must be build in Cockersmouth. At the same time like in any team some technical issues arise. These should be addressed. But hey after Corsica they are leading both the manufacturer’s as the driver’s charts.

So who is complaining? Well Sebastien Ogier was a bit.

During the rally he did not say much but after the adrenaline rush had evaporated he still seemed confident. “On tarmac we have a good car, on gravel there are one or two things we could improve to make me feel more comfortable. But I’m confident about that, however we now first have to focus and look into the reliability. But I’m sure the team will fix them. Evans and Tänak also showed the car is good but had technical issues and a bit of bad luck.

“We now first have to focus on and look into the reliability. But I’m sure the team will fix it”

- A somewhat disgruntled Ogier after Corsica where several small issues on his Fiesta kept him from really challenging Neuville for the win.

Hyundai motorsport

Neuville’s win in Corsica gives Hyundai their first win of the season and the WRC it’s fourth winning manufacturer of the season.

Rally-emag / March 2017

Before the rally they announced they were aiming for victory and Thierry Neuville made it happen, so they got what they came for. Ogier tricked them out of a one two result but Dani Sordo could also climb the podium so at least they could headline their post event press release with “Double podium for Hyundai”. That the i20 is fast we already know. Neuville has been in front at all events. Still their strength did not materialise in a win.

That must have been frustrating but now they have it.

The season is still young and a third place in the driver’s standings and a runner up position in the manufacturer’s championship is nothing to be ashamed of. Their current driver line up also seems to be one of the best in the field. Neuville is not only fast but he also can win rallies, as he showed in Corsica. Sordo is a very valuable member of the team. Perhaps a bit slower than third man Paddon, but he is so reliable. In Corsica Sordo did not feel completely at ease but still he delivered good points. After the rally Paddon was philosophic: “There’s still plenty to learn but we’re making progress”.

Citroen total abu dhabi wrt For the first time this year Citroen brought three 2017 cars to the start. So all drivers now had a C3. In Mexico the team was the absolute winner, in Corsica that was different. Meeke was performing well and challenging all other drivers. But after stage 6 a blown engine stopped his progress. If this is a sign of a weak spot in the engine is far too early to tell.

This should not happen but these cars are driven to the limit so something can happen all the time.

Hopefully the engineers by now found the solution in some minor thing. Meeke still is one of the men to watch carefully, if you want to become the champion this year. Stéphane Lefebvre was a bit unlucky when he had to retire after he hit a wall and broke some suspension parts. On the last day he scored his usual results again. Craig Breen had to save the honour of the team and did so in a good way. In a direct battle with Latvala he was third on the PowerStage but just missed fourth place by 0.1 seconds. So he seems to develop as a perfect wingman for Meeke.

Craig Breen is developing into the perfect wingman for Kris Meeke. So far, Breen has been the most consistent Citroen finisher.

toyota gazoo racing wrc

Four rallies into the season, pressure is already mounting on Juho Hanninen. VW refugee Andreas Mikkelsen is winning every WRC2 event and has his eyes on the second Toyota seat.

The team is now third in the manufacturer’s ranking and they are leading Citroën. Looking at the driver’s, charts we see Jari Matti Latvala in second. Though we know the Finn to be fast we wouldn’t have predicted him to be there. Nor did he himself for that matter.

So Tommi Mäkinen must be doing something right.

At the start of the rally the drivers were pretty happy with the set up and during the event the team has been able to improve that, making it possible for Latvala to shine and present himself in the front of the classification. The cherry on the pie was Latvala’s PowerStage win. It brought him the PowerStage bonus points as well two extra points because he passed Breen in the final result of the rally. There is a lot of promise in that. However Latvala needs an equal partner in the team. At this moment Juho Hänninen cannot play that part. Again he went off and lost the possibility to shine. It is therefore no surprise that more and more the name of Mikkelsen is associated with the team. We don’t think this will happen soon, but that means Hänninen’s results have to improve.

Rally-emag / March 2017

Sven kollus/flat out media agency

Kajetan Kajetanowicz is back for more ERC action. He had a difficult start, but did manage to outscore his main rival Alexey Lukyanuk.

ERC

azores Airl

battle of

Whoever thought the European Rally Championship was done and dusted couldn’t have been more wrong.

Although the championship is not drawing great interest from Western Europe, the interest from the East is increasing year by year. As a result no fewer than 27 R5 cars took to the start of the opening round at the Azores Rally. They’re accompanied by 10 U27 entrants (the junior championship) in R2 machinery, the ERC is very much alive and kicking. words: Steven van veenendaal Images: sven kollus Flat out media agency

lines rallye

attrition

ERC

Reigning double ERC champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz again headlines the ERC season and will once again do battle with his nemesis Alexey Lukyanuk. Last year’s Latvian youngster sensation Ralfs Sirmacis has a full program in an R5 Skoda this year and should be able to challenge the ruling order up front. He is accompanied by fellow countryman Nikolay Gryazin in a twocar team. From Spain another two-car delegation is enrolled with Peugeot 208 T16’s for Lopez and Suarez and further entries from Germany, Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland, Hungary and Ireland make for an impressive entry list. What do you mean lack of interest in the ERC? The Rally Although the Azores Rally is one of the events on the ERC calendar that is the hardest to reach (the archipelago is basically located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, nearly halfway between Portugal and the US) it is also one of the classic ERC events. It’s location in the middle of the ocean make the weather conditions very changeable on the islands with circumstances never lasting much more than a couple of hours. Sun and fog can replace each other in an instance. Furthermore the rally hosts one of the most scenic stages in the championship, if not the world: Sete Cidades. It takes the Rally-emag / March 2017

competitors up to and along the caldera of a dormant volcano and provides some of the most epic images of any rally.

Due to the changeable conditions and bumpy, narrow roads, the rally is also renowned as a car breaker. This year would prove to be no exception. It wasn’t just a tough event for the cars this year, the tires maybe had an even harder time. Nearly all of the front-runners punctured at least once although Nykolay Gryazin was the undisputed king of the puncture this weekend. After his third puncture desperation got the better of him “I didn’t hit ANYTHING!’ he shouted at the finish of the stage.

The fight for victory (or for survival) With Gryazin immediately out of contention, it were the usual suspects that were in control of the event up front. The first leg of the rally took place over two days with four short stages on Thursday starting proceedings. Kajetanowicz showed why is the current ERC champion by ending the first day in the lead. His advantacge over second placed Lukyanuk was very slim though at a mere couple of seconds. Things picked up right were they left of last season with a battle royal between the Pole and Russian in their Fiestas.

Friday morning and Kajetanowicz immedaitely mounts a charge in an attempt to extend his lead. Not the wisest decisions as it turns out. In a bumpy follow through on the first stage he loses control and slides wide into on of the many banks lining the stages. Considerable front-end damage forces him to retire for the day. He will return to challenge for the day points on Saturday but any chance of a win are gone.

Kajetanowicz’ exit frees the way for Lukyanuk.

Throughout the day the Russian steadily extends his advantage over the two Portugese in hot pursuit and quickly finds himself with a very comfortable lead of nearly one minute. Then the puncture gremlin strikes Lukyanuk too. He struggles through the stage and still holds a lead of about half a minute. No worries for the Russian, but he has definitely been warned that a win is nowhere near guaranteed on the treaturous Azorean stages.

Behind him two locals (although Moura is the only one that actually hails from the island) are fighting for silver. Although Lukyanuk is clearly a bit too fast for the Portugese, they are having a good fight between them and are rapidly running away from any of the other ERC contenders.

Rally-emag / March 2017

ERC Alexey just has to bring it home...

Saturdaymorning, Alexey Lukyanuk finds himself in a situation he has been in many times before. After a solid drive he has a comfortable lead over his nearest rival and ‘only’ his to bring his car home save and sound to take the win. In the past Lukyanuk tended to struggle in these circumstances and, had he been more consistent, might have already claimed his first ERC title, so often has it gone wrong in the past. Too often he takes the all or nothing approach, ending in tears.

Surely he must have learned from those past experiences and keep his cool this time around? Wrong. On the first stage of the final loop he cuts a corner too much and hits something on the inside that damages his front suspension. The Russian screams out of frustration,

Ingram takes U27 honors The junior battle was decided on the final stage after a rally-long battle between factory Opel drivers Chris Ingram and Jari Huttunen. The young Finnish sensation gave his more experienced teammate a real run for his money throughout the event. The two were never seperated by more than 7 seconds. although Ingram was in control throughout most of the event, Huttunen snatched the lead on the penultimate stage of the rally.

Disaster struck on the final stage for the Finn when, just 200 meters from the finish, his Opel Adam took in water in a watersplash and cme to a halt.

Rally-emag / March 2017

once again he throws away what looked like a certain victory. To his defense, from the on-board cameras it didn’t look like he actually made a mistake but was rather unfortunate. Still, another could-be victory goes to wast.

It hands the lead to Bruno Magalhaes who brings his Fabia home to take the gold for the third in the Azores after victories back in ‘08 and ‘10. Ricardo Moura was in second but he too makes a mistake and crashes off on the penultimate stage of the rally. As a result of Moura’s and Lukyanuk’s demise the podium is completely turned on it’s head right before the end of the rally.

Marijan Griebel moves up to second and a delighted Josh Moffett clinches the final podium spot.

azores airlines Rallye

Results of the ERC opener drivers Standings

Final results

1

B. Magalhaes

Skoda Fabia R5

38

2

M. Griebel

Skoda Fabia R5

26

+ 4:50.9

3

J. Moffett

Ford Fiesta R5

20

Peugeot 208 T16 R5

+ 6:05.9

4

J.M. Lopez

Peugeot 208 T16 R5

16

Skoda Fabia R5

+ 6:10.9

5

N. Gryazin

Skoda Fabia R5

14

Meireles - Castro

Skoda Fabia R5

+ 7:29.7

6

P. Meireles

Skoda Fabia R5

9

7

Sirmacis - Simins

Skoda Fabia R5

+ 7:33.8

7

R. Sirmacis

Skoda Fabia R5

8

8

Barros - Henriques

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 9:06.8

8

A. Lukyanuk

Ford Fiesta R5

7

9

Vieira - Carvalho

Citroen DS3 R5

+ 9:18.7

9

K. Kajetanowicz

Ford Fiesta R5

6

10

Rego - Silva

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 10:17:7

10

J. Barros

Ford Fiesta R5

4

1

Magalhaes - Magalhaes

Skoda Fabia R5

2:37:04,3

2

Griebel - Kopczyk

Skoda Fabia R5

+ 1:34.4

3

Moffett - Fulton

Ford Fiesta R5

4

Lopez - Rozada

5

Gryazin - Fedorov

6

Rally-emag / March 2017

BRC

The Spa Rally is one of the most challenging events of the Belgian calendar. It boasts some very technical roads and the tricky weather conditions make tire choices an ongoing gamble. All the ingredients for a great rally, unfortunately the event would also suffer from hefty discussions regarding tires and as a result, the actual winner of the event wouldn’t be declared until well after the battle on the stages was over. words: Steven van veenendaal Images: BRC MEDIA

BRC

spmahcrocnarF-apS You read that right. The Spa Rally’s Friday night consists of two stages that are both run twice. The first of the two bears a well known motorsports names ‘Eau Rouge’. For years this infamous section of corners at the beginning of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit has been separating the men from the boys in Formula 1 and other circuit racing classes. Of course for any rally driver there is no challenge great enough, so the organizers decided to take this great section and spice things up a bit. Kevin Abbring looks ahead to the exciting stage “It’s not often that you get to drive through Eau Rouge in competition... in the opposite direction!”

Not only does the rally take the drivers over one the most difficult sections in circuit racing, it does so in reverse direction. Just in case that still wasn’t enough, the

second running of the stage takes place at nine-thrity in the evening, when darkness has set in.

Abbring dominates On Friday evening there is no holding back Kevin Abbring. The Dutchmen blasts off into the event and after just two stages already holds a commanding 23 second lead. He is helped by the fact that one of his main rivals, Vincent Verschueren forgot how to count and does an extra lap around the circuit stage, losing three minutes in the process.

“Not often do you get to drive through Eau Rouge in competition... in the opposite direction!”

Kevin Abbring

Rally-emag / March 2017

Kris Princen manages to challenge the Dutchman on stage three, but Abbring retaliates immediately on the final stage of the day to reach the overnight service halt with 30 seconds in hand.

difficult conditions, chaos ensues Surprising third after the opening night’s stages is Chewon Lim. Abbring’s team mate at Hyundai (Abbring drives for Peugeot Belux in the Belgian Championship but is still contracted as a test driver for the Hyundai Motorsport team). Lim uses his circuit experience to set some impressive times in only his second ever rally in an R5 car.

Princen turns up the heat After a frustrating Friday evening, Princen blasts into the Saturday stages with only one thing on his mind, reeeling in Kevin Abbring. He mounts a charge and is immediately succesful. He strips 18 seconds of Abbring’s lead on the opening stage. Abbring made a small mistake and spun his car, it’s clear to the Dutchman that this battle is for from over and with the slippery conditions anything can Commotion happen. Abbring mans up and wins the following two It’s not just Abbring’s sensational driving that is turning stages to grow his lead again. This time it’s Princen who heads on Friday night. On one of the stages Kris Princen makes a mistake and the gap grows back to 45 seconds. is shown a yellow flag, to which he gallantly adheres. To his surprise there is no indication of an actual dangerous Abbring falters situation so Princen continues slowly for a good stretch On stage eight, the infamous Clementine stage, Abbring of stage. At the end of the stage he loses two minutes but again loses a chunk of time to Princen. He sees his rival there are already rumors going about that the yellow flag slice his lead in half when he drops 23 seconds. After the shouldn’t have been shown at all. Princen challenges his ensuing service break Abbring sets out to re-establish his time loss which the clerk of the course accedes. The time lead, but then it all goes wrong. In a sharp lefthander Abloss of two minutes is discarded, but Princen is still a frus- bring drifts wide and hits something with his right rear. trated man, already quite some way behind his Dutch rival He continues to struggle through the stage but it is aland unable to challenge him. ready apparant that his rally is over.

Rally-emag / March 2017

BRC Princen in control After Abbring’s exit Princen is in full control of the rally with a 45 second lead over Cedric Cherain and looks certain to rack up his second consecutive win of the season and deal a devistating blow to his rivals. Princen clearly takes a step back as it’s Cherain who notches up stage win after stage win. Princen though remains in control. He eases off but never let’s Cherain gain too much time. With just the final running of the Clementine stage remaining his advantage is still up to twenty seconds.

La Clementine It’s one of the stages in the Belgian championship. One of the most difficult but also certainly one of the most beautiful and definitely one to claim victims. This year it was Princen’s turn to succumb to the might that is the Clementine.

For inexplicable reasons Princen pushes too hard through the stage and suffers a serious off. He crashes off the road so severely that he and co-driver Peter Kaspers have to be tken to hospital for precautionary checks. With just a couple of

Rally-emag / March 2017

broken bones they still escape relatively easy but the crash does of course end their rally and hands the victory to Cedric Cherain who proved that the old adagio ‘to finish first, you first have to finsh, stil holds true.

Or does it?

At the post-rally scrutineering the tires of Cherain were taken for further research and eventually deemed to be illegal. Cherain ran on rain tires that were homologated by the FIA for the WRC but that aren’t allowed in the Belgian Rally Championship. Consequently Cherain was excluded from the final result and Benoit Allart was declared the winner, ahead of Vincent Verschueren who valiantly fought his way back up to the podium. It’s not the way a rally should be decided and the decision has once again sparked a discussion in the championship. However at the end of the day, rules are rules and rallies are to be run in legal cars, with legal tires, making the decision of the technical delegates an understandable one.

Spa rally

Round two of the BRC

Final results

drivers Standings

1.

Allart-Fernandez

Skoda Fabia R5

2.01.23,4

1.

Vincent Verschueren

Skoda Fabia R5

32

2.

Verschueren-Hostens

Skoda Fabia R5

+1.05,1

2.

Bastien Rouard

Citroen DS3 R3T

24

3.

Bouvy-Hottelet

Porsche 997 GT3

+2.43,6

3.

Kris Princen

Skoda Fabia R5

20

4.

Claerhout-Vandeputte

Porsche 997 GT3

+6.31,6

5.

Rouar-Delhaye

Citroen DS3 R3T

+8.30,5

4.

Benoit Allart

Skoda Fabia R5

20

6.

Delhez-Bollet

Opel Adam R2

+8.54,7

5.

Frederic Bouvy

Porsche 997 GT3

16

7.

Duez-Leyh

Porsche 997 GT3

+10.26,8

6.

Jochen Claerhout

Porsche 997 GT3

13

8.

Delhaye-Gully

VW Golf III Kit Car

+12.48,1

7.

Romain Delhez

Opel Adam R2

13

9.

Prinzie-Vermeulen

Opel Ascona 400

+12.51,6

8.

Kevin Abbring

Peugeot 208 T16 R5

12

10.

Goblet-Monjoie

Ford Fiesta R2T

+13.43,5

9.

Franky Boulat

BMW M3 E36

12

VW Golf III Kit Car

11

10. Aurelie Dehaye

Rally-emag / March 2017

BRC

Border Counties Rally After cost concerns forced the cancellation of the Mid Wales Stages rally, the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship organizers had to improvise and quickly find a replacement event. They found it in the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally and despite the soaking weather conditions, the event proved to be a fine addition to the calendar. words: Steven van veenendaal Images: PR Prestone MSA BRC

Reigning German rally champion Fabian Kreim wins the first round of the German Rally Championship at Saarland-Pfalz Rallye.

Fabian Kreim showed some impressive nerve strength in the closing loop of the Saarland-Pfalz Rallye. It was beginning to rain in the last loop. On the penultimate stage of the rally he lost 20 seconds to his rivals, but on the Power Stage he was faultless and did not only win the stage but also the whole rally. words & Images: sven kollus Flat out media agency

BRC Big star bail bounce back Last season the BRC returned to the scene with a fully revamped series. New media outlets, new regulations and a competitve line-up made the series a great succes. Of course, it also helped to have WRC stud Elfyn Evans join the championship to provide some extra glitz and glamour. With Evans returning to the world scene this year, the question was wether the championship would be able to retain its glory without its leading star.

The season got of to a false start when the planned opener, the Mid Wales Stages rally, was cancelled due to funding issues. In all haste a replacement rally was found in the Border Counties Rally and in mid March the new season finally got underway.

It quickly became apparent that Evans’ star power will nit be missed too much this year. Of course it’s great to have a big name attract spectators and the accompanying media attention, but what you get in return when the clear cut favorite leaves, is competition, loads and

Rally-emag / March 2017

loads of competition. With Evans gone there is no telling who will an event, and an even lesser chance of picking the champion at this stage. There were five different stage winners in Southern Scotland, game on!

To replace Evans M-Sport signed triple BRC champion Keith Cronin to compete in an officiel M-Sport Fiesta this season. Recieving factory backing, the quick and experienced Cronin is immediately propelled into the role of the favorite, but as we said, it’s not so easy to predict this year. After giving Evans a run for his money early in the season last year, Fredrik Ahlin struggled with a string of no scores that put him out of title contention. He proved his pace though and this year the Swede is back to take another shot at the title. Other contenders include the Fiesta powered Osian Pryce and Tom Cave while David Bogie, Desi Henry and Jonathan Greer will at least prove to be tough competitors to beat on various. After a few seasons in the S2000 version of the Skoda Fabia, Martin McCormack steps up to R5 machinery this year, once he gets to grips with he new car he too will be one to watch out for.

stage winners galore There was going to be no ‘easing into’ the BRC this year. After the fireworks at the ceremonial start the crews headed out into the night for two runs through the Craik forest stage under the cover of darkness. Feeling right at home is his native Scotland, David Bogie set the pace on the opening stage, with Keith Croning going fastest on the second pass. But it was Tom Cave who ended the short opening day on top of the pack. Two second fastest times gave him the lead, albeit a tightly contested one as the first four drivers were seperated by a mere five seconds.

Stage winners galore The second day of the event was marked by the plethora of drivers taking stage wins. Ahlin, Cave, McCormack, Cronin and Pryce all got on the board with a stage, mind you there were only seven stages. The five different winners showed just how tightly contested this year’s BRC is. It was Ahlin who started proceedings by winning the opening stage and immediately leapfrogging Tom Cave to take the lead.

In the wet and slippery conditions Cave quickly bounced back to win the next stage and retake the lead.

That’s when Ahline really started taking charge. Over the next five stages he continously outpaced Cave to take command of the lead and never relinquish it again.

Cave gave it his all but once David Bogie retired, Cave had to start first on the was left with the duty of sweeping the road for those behind him. Rather than risk everything in an all or nothing attempt to fight for the gold Cave opted for the smarter approach and forgot about Ahlin up front and bring in a solid haul of championship points for second.

During much of the day Osian Pryce and Keith Cronin had been battling each other for third until near the end the Welshman dealt a decisive blow to the Irishman and landed the final podium spot. Cronin can be happy though with a solid fourth in his M-Sport debut. Bogie and McCormack both were quick but unfortunate when on stage six a single rock took them both out.

Rally-emag / March 2017

BRC Familiar name takes junior spoils A familiar name topped the Junior tables at the first round of the BRC. Oscar Solberg, son of ex WRC star Henning Solberg and nephew of WRC and WRX world champion Petter Solberg was the fastest after a fierce fight with Dean Rafterty. After sporadic outings throughout the last few years Rafterty made his return to rallying and having shaken of some rust on the first few stages was on pace to challenge Solberg. He won a a stage and closed in on the young Norwegian to narrowed the gap to under seven seconds until he hit trouble near the end and had to settle for second.

top three finishes followed to eventually land him the final podium spot.

But at the finish all spotlights were on Solberg. Despite his young age Solberg already has a lot of rallies, including WRC events under his belt and his experience showed. The youngster put that experience to use and kept a professional attitude on the daunting stages. By staying out of trouble and keeping a consistent pace he eventually finished with a dominant lead. “It’s really good to have finished our first BRC rally, and if I am honest I am totally surprised we got William Creighton was the sensation of the rally. the win. I got into a good rhythm really quickly which With very limited gravel experience Creighton was helped us, as the roads were incredibly difficult with expected to struggle on this event but proved every- so many stones and big rocks, meaning not getting a one wrong by winning the opening stage. A flurry of puncture is very important.”

Rally-emag / March 2017

border counties rally

Results of the BRC opener drivers Standings

Final results

1

F. Ahlin

Skoda Fabia R5

25

2

T. Cave

Ford Fiesta R5

22

+ 0:44.2

3

O. Pryce

Ford Fiesta R5

15

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 0:45.3

4

K. Cronin

Ford Fiesta R5

12

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 0:46.9

5

R. Yates

Ford Fiesta R5

10

Edwards - Garrod

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 2:49.0

6

M. Edwards

Ford Fiesta R5

8

7

Anderson - Whittock

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 2:49.5

7

J. Anderson

Ford Fiesta R5

6

8

Greer - Riddick

Citroen DS3 R5

+ 4:50.8

8

J. Greer

Citroen DS3 R5

4

9

Thorburn - Beaton

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 4:51.3

9

E. Thorburn

Ford Fiesta R5

2

10

Solberg - Barth

Ford Fiesta R2T

+ 5:16.6

10

O. Solberg

Ford Fiesta R2T

1

1

Ahlin - Eriksen

Skoda Fabia R5

1:17:35.9

2

Cave - Morgen

Ford Fiesta R5

+ 0:15.7

3

Pryce - Furniss

Ford Fiesta R5

4

Cronin - Calvin

5

Yates - Williamson

6

Rally-emag / March 2017

DRC

zuiderzeeRally words & Images: Steven van veenendaal

DRC

For a long time it looked like Jasper van den Heuvel would take the opening win of the Dutch season at the Zuiderzeerally. The Mitsubishi pilot dominated the event and based on outright speed and stage times he would have won the event. Rallying however, is about more than just speed on the stages. It’s also about being punctual at all the time controls and a small error there can have big consequences.

At the regroup before the the final loop of two stages van den Heuvel entered the time control section two minutes prior to the allocated timeslot.

Co-driver Martine van den Heuvel quickly recognized the mistake and waited until the right time to actually hand over the time control card, but the rules state the car can only enter the section one minute prior to the check-in time.

Van den Heuvel pressed on regardless of the incident and went on to win the event and was honored as the winner on the finish podium.

him first to third. A bitter pill to swallow for van den Heuvel, but rules are rules and even the fastests drivers have to obide to them.

It promoted Hermen Kobus to first place although he wasn’t too happy about it all “This is not how you want to win an event” was his short conclusion after being informed that he had won the rally.

Dominance Up to the unfortunate incident van den Heuvel had been dominant. In his R4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X he showed the R5 boys that the ‘Mitsu’ stil is a formidable weapon on the fast and technicl dyke stages. Apart from a small error in the morning van den Heuvel drove a perfect rally and went on to win ten out of a total of thirteen stages.

R5 Battle Behind van den Heuvel the battle for second was intense between Kobus, Riedemann and de Jong.

Although the latter’s rally was abruptly cut short after just six stages. What seemed to be an issue The sporting commissioners however were in- with his DS3’s handbrake turned out to be a far formed of the ingringement and after a short de- more serious issue when it bevame clear that one liberation after the finish decided to hand van den of the diffs had broken, with no way to fix the issue Heuvel a one minute time penalty that dropped during the rally, it was game over for de Jong.

Rally-emag / March 2017

Exciting battle De Jong’s retirement didn’t mean the battle for second came to an end. Kobus and Riedemann gave each other a run for their money with Jasper’s younger brother Jim van den Heuvel just behind, ready to pounce should anyone up front make a mistake. Swede Joakim Grahn took some time to get to grips to the Dutch tarmac stages but once he got the hang of it was also able post some quick times.

caping at the front, the two traded positions throughout the event until Kobus finally opened a ten second lead two stages before the end. “I am here to test and was playing around with the tires, this was the wrong choice” was Riedemann’s comment at the end of the stage. Kobus wasn’t happy about his tire choices during the day either but it was good enough to go second fastest and eventually be promoted to winner. It kicks off his return to Duth rallying in the perfect way. After two years of rallying in Belgium and the ERC, Kobus The most thrilling fight though, was that between returned to his home country for the full champiKobus and Riedemann. With van den Heuvel es- onship and started it with the perfect result.

Rally-emag / March 2017

DRC FIA Benelux rally trophy The Zuiderzeerally not only acted as the opening round of the Dutch championship, it also launched the brand new FIA Benelux Rally Trophy. Replacing the Scandinavian Rally Trophy this year, the Benelux Trophy is one of the various regional officially FIA sanctioned events. The winners of all trophies meet up a (to be determined) rally at the end of the season to determine who may call him or herself the European Rally Tro-

Rally-emag / March 2017

phy winner 2017. The trophy consists of five rounds in The Netherlands (Zuiderzeerally and the GTC Rally), Belgium (Ypres Rally), Germany (ADAC Rallye um die Sullinger Barenklaue) and finally in Denmark at the Danboring Denmark Rally. All drivers with an international FIA license are eligble to score points, without having to formally register for the championship. As a result, Kobus is also the first leader of the trophy.

zuiderzeerally

Results of the ONRK opener drivers Standings

Final results

1

H. Kobus

Skoda Fabia R5

23

2

C. Riedemann

Peugeot 208 T16 R5

21

+ 0:44.2

3

H. Bakkenes

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

16

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+ 0:45.3

4

G. J. Kobus

Ford Fiesta R2

13

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+ 0:46.9

5

C. Jensen

Renaul Clio R3T

11

v Iersel - vd Einde

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+ 2:49.0

6

J. Grahn

Ford Fiesta R5

10

7

Brouwer - Kroeze

Audi Coupe S2

+ 2:49.5

7

B. de Jong

Citroen DS3 R5

0

8

Vink - van Goor

Subaru Impreza 555

+ 4:50.8

9

Bakkenes - Kvick

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+ 4:51.3

10

Schapers - Stolk

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+ 5:16.6

1

Kobus - de Wild

Skoda Fabia R5

1:17:35.9

2

Riedemann - Wenzel

Peugeot 208 T16 R5

+ 0:15.7

3

vd Heuvel - vd Heuvel

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

4

vd Heuvel - Docx

5

Andersen - Petersen

6

Rally-emag / March 2017

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