Rally-eMag 047 Q1 2018

Rally-emag

The digital rally magazine Issue 48, Q2018 1 W

wrc From the Monte To Corsica ERC Azores

From Eu rope to the U SA

Q1 Spec

ial Ice and snow tu rns to dust, sun and heat

Plus Rally america, Germany and holland

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC Rallye Monte Carlo

Craig Breen / Scott Martin Total abu dhabi citroen wrt citroen c3 wrc Rallye Monte Carlo

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Craig Breen / Scott Martin Total abu dhabi citroen wrt citroen c3 wrc Rallye sweden

Erik van 't land / Rallypicture

steven van veenendaal / rally-emag

kevin van deijne / hein verschuren private entry ford fiesta r5 circuit short rally

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Editor’s note What has Q1 tought us?

By Steven van Veenendaal

Dear readers, The first quarter of 2018 is in the books, time to look back on what happened.

In the WRC we've had for rounds so far and Ogier won three of them. That is one more than he won last year for the whole season. Yet still the gap between first placed Ogier and second placed Neuville is smaller now than it was at this point last year.

Strangely though, it seems less likely that Neuville will be able to finally dethrone Ogier. Last year Neuville clearly outpaced Ogier early on but made small mistakes and suffered from a fragile car. This year the car looks more reliable, but it also looks like the pace is not quite there anymore. Sure, Neuville is still winning stages and leading events (he is the only to have beaten Ogier so far this year in Sweden), but we're not seeing the uber-confident Neuville that feels like he is going to win every rally. Instead we see a Neuville that doesn't seem to understand why he is not getting the performance from the car that he got last year.

Is Neuville still Ogier's biggest this year? Probably not. With a year of experience under their belt Toyota will be the team to watch this year. Esapekka Lappi is without doubt the fastest learner ever. He will learn abot the events (reminder, he has never done the full championship in a WRC!) and how to win them this year, how to challenge for the title next year and he will be champion in 2020. A bit of boldness for you there. In the mean time, Ott Tanak will be the one to watch. Tanak was the main transfer of the off season and quickly found a home at Toyota. This time he is the one that's setting the pace, outperforming Ogier stage by stage, but of course, the champ is still the one that knows that you don't need win every stage. Tanak is often faster than Ogier, but Ogier strikes when it counts. He blitzes the deciding stages and consolidates the rest of the event (much, much, much easier said than done). That's what champions do.

Tanak will be right up there this year, just as Neuville was last year, but in the end... Champagne is still a French wine right?

Steven van Veenendaal Editor / Rally-eMag Rally-eMag is brought to you by:

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

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 Q1 2018 14

Editor’s note

20

Monte to Corsica

48

Sno*Drift

54

Azores

62

Saarland-Pfalz

66

Circuit and Zuiderzee

all

wrc usa erc

ger hol

What has Q1 tought us?

The first four rounds of the WRC

62

Rallying in the US

The long awaited ERC season opener

A Monte vibe in Germany

Beat the cold for the Dutch action

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

20

54

48

66

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

n o t M e e C y a l r l l a o R

After a long winter break Rallye Monte Carlo again acted as the traditional season opener. With a full year of experience of the new generation WRC machines we more or less know what to expect, but the great thing about rallying, and Monte Carlo in particular, is that one never really quite knows what to expect. The winding French mountain roads are usually either bone dry or covered with snow, ice, or black ice, making it nearly impossible to select the proper tyres. Although this year’s event was relatively dry, there was still enough snow and ice around to make life difficult for the crews.

Words: Steven van Veenendaal Images: Erik van't Land Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Nightly adventures

After the ceremonial start from the Casino Square in Monte Carlo on Thursday evening the crews set about for the long road back north to Gap. On their way up the mountains of the Maritime Alps lay two stages, including the infamous Sisteron – Thoard test. They provided some

the reason that outright speed doesn’t win you this rally. Experience does. If there’s one man with experience of the Monte, it is of course the local hero, Sebastien Ogier. The reigning champion hails from Gap, the heart of the rally for the last couple of years, and knows the stages and their conditions like no other. Being a five-time winner in Monte Carlo and five-time World Champion, he also knows winning like no other.

With the experience under his belt of really chal- Battle royale lenging for of the event the main stothe title for Ahead was the rivalry between Sebasa full year, ry tien Ogier and Thierry Neuville.

Neuville

though. As defending champion Ogier was first on the road and made it through the stage unscaved despite a scare and a half spin on a low speed section on the ice. Neuville was up next and halfway through the opening stage his challenge for victory was already over. In an innocuous corner he slid wide into a ditch. Although there was only little damage to the car, it was stuck and with few spectators around it took four minutes to get back on the road. Ogier’s run meanwhile, looked magical.

Andreas Mikkelsen was down 7.7 seconds but the next one up, Esapekka Lappi, was already nearly twenty seconds behind.

More of the same on the next stage, as Ogier won again and increased his overnight lead to over 17 seconds.

In 2017 Neuville had looked the faster of the two, but a lack of consictency (of himself and the car) meant that Ogier landed the crown for a fifth consecutive time. With the experience under his belt of really challenging for Ogier slips up the title for a full year, Neuville On the second day Sebastien looks set to step up his game, Ogier made a rare mistake and classic Monte Carlo action. learn from his mistakes and rise spun on an icy patch. Although crowds were quick to respond, Under the cover of darkness the to the height of champions.

Ogier loses around thirty nearly 37km Sisteron – Thoard stage held the ominous prospect The icy roads between Sister- seconds, giving hope to the of beginning and ending on dry on and Thoard had other ideas charging Ott Tanak. asphalt, but containing a 4km of snow and ice in the middle of the stage. As the second stage, Bayons – Breziers, was completely The main ‘transfer news’ of the off-season was Ott Tanak’s move from M-Sport Ford to Toyota. The dry, the crews had to run on dry Estonian learned the trade at M-Sport. After several seasons in Estonia he got his big break in in weather tyres, knowing that they 2012 when Malcolm Wilson offered him a seat in the official M-Sport Fiesta WRC. Tanak went back would have get through the icy and forth in and out of the team over the following years until he firmly established himself as one section with little to no grip at of the top talents in 2016. The following year saw him nab his first win in the WRC in Italia, followed by his second in Germany. Tanak was now considered of the elite drivers in the sport and it was no all.

looks set to step up his game, learn from his mistake and rise to the height of champions.

Getting to grips

Of course, this is what makes Monte Carlo so special. It’s

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

surprise when Toyota signed him to a multi-year deal. The question was how quickly Tanak would adapt to a new car and a new team. The answer came in Monte Carlo: very quickly. On the first full day he notched up two fastest stage times and finished the day second behind only Ogier.

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

ESAPEKKA LAPPI - JANNE FERM TOYOTA YARIS WRC TOYOTA GAZOO RACING WRT RALLYE MONTE CARLO Image by: ERIK VAN 'T LAND

WRC

17

STAGES

WRC 2018

Round 1: Monte Carlo

O

n Saturday finally the much anticipated snow started to fall. And once it did, it did in bunches. It was when Ogier showed he is the true Monte master, the one who handles the changeable conditions the best. He slammed Tanak in the snow and took over a minute out of him. Although Tanak was faster on many of the day's stages, Ogier hit when it counted. During the remainder of the day Tanak did manage to bring the gap back down to 33 seconds although Ogier didn't seem too worried "I wanted to have a 30 second lead at the end of the day.

We have 33 so it's good." Confident words from the reigning champ who felt he had enough margin to get through the remaining 4 stages of the final day. That final day traditionally boasted the classic pass through the Col de Turini, starting on dry conditions but getting more and more snowy and icy as the stage winds up the road. It was here that Ogier dealt the final blow to Tanak by extending his lead to 45 seconds, a gap that proved too much for Tanak to make up anymore.

Winner: Sebastien Ogier

Championship leader: Sebastien Ogier

5 in a row The local hero, Seb Ogier, has been on a tear on the Monte lately, racking up five consecutive wins in the principality (6 in total)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

SĂŠbastien OGIER Ott TĂ„NAK Jari-Matti LATVALA Kris MEEKE Thierry NEUVILLE Elfyn EVANS Esapekka LAPPI Bryan BOUFFIER Craig BREEN Jan KOPECKY

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Ford Fiesta WRC 4:18:55,5 Toyota Yaris WRC +58,3 Toyota Yaris WRC +1.52,0 Citroen C3 WRC +4.43,1 Hyundai i20 WRC +4.53,8 Ford Fiesta WRC +4.54,8 Toyota Yaris WRC +4.57,5 Ford Fiesta WRC +7.39,5 Citroen C3 WRC +9.06,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +16.43,0

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Sweden Where the white stuff ruled

For quite some years now, Rally Sweden has been under attack.

Temperatures were not low enough and there wasn’t enough snow.

In 2016 several stages had to be cancelled due to the lack of snow and ice and in 2017 there was ice but definitely not enough snow.

Jarmo Mahonen then still ting FIA Rally director even warned the organizers to go find ‘snow sure stages’, other wise the WRC status of the event could not be guaranteed. This year the weather gods have been really helpful: upon the arrival of the competitors, Sweden could best be described as winter wonderland.

Words: Harry van Veenendaal Images: Erik van't Land

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Snow!

When everyone was there no one doubted this was a proper winter rally. Temperatures were way below zero and the white stuff was abundantly present. There was even so much snow, it really influenced the running of the event. Especially on the Norwegian stages the situation was quite bad as the first drivers were confronted with layers of almost untouched freshly fallen snow. Sebastien Ogier was the first to plough through the stages and obviously suffered the most. By the end of the day he was twelfth and just under 3 minutes behind leader Thierry Neuville. “This is how it is right here,” Ogier said. Meanwhile at the top of the leaderboard the battle was between Neuville Mikkelsen and Paddon. Neuville started from fifth, Mikkelsen from eighth and Paddon from 11th. The top four from Monte Carlo, Ogier, Latvala, Tänak and Meeke were way back on the first day’s leaderboard. Latvala was in 8th, Tanak in 9th and Meeke was 10th. Suffering most, as we said was Ogier in 12th with an already insurmountable gap to Neuville of 2:48.

After Saturday the situation was not much different. Latvala, Tanak and Ogier ploughed on in 7th, 9th and 10th. Meeke lost a lot of time when he smashed into a snow bank, blocking his radiator from getting any fresh air. He first had to clear the snow before carrying on. Then Tanak tried to pass him on a very narrow piece of track, the two cars touched each other and Tanak went off into a ditch, which lost him some precious time. So Neuville was leading, but his lead could have been

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Was Ogier right?

There’s a lot of discussion about Ogier’s deliberately ‘mistake’ of being late at the start of the final stage. However nowhere in the regulations does it say you’re not allowed to do so. You just get a penalty for being late.

So technically there was nothing wrong with Ogier’s use of the regulations.

Looking at the highly competitive nature of the championship we feel it can only be seen as a smart move. A move we would expect from a team fighting, for the championship. But we also feel it is a flaw in the regulations, a flaw that should be amended. considerably better had he not had an issue with his paddle shift mechanism. In an attempt to make up for lost time het then found himself in a spin, but lucky enough for the Belgian Andreas Mikkelsen also spun in the same corner. So the ‘main event’ was still the battle between Craig Breen for whom a glimmer of hope arose for winning his first WRC rally. Until stage 12 this was not a simple illusion as by winning that stage Breen was stiil within striking distance. The gap between the two had never been larger than just over 5 seconds. But then Neu-

Sebastien Ogier was the first to plough through the stages and obviously suffered the most.

By the end of the day he was twelfth

and just under 3 minutes behind leader Thierry Neuville.

ville thought it enough. He did not just win the next stage but he doubled his lead. In Vargasen he again doubled his lead though he almost lost it with an awkward jump over the infamous Colin’s Crest. By the end of the day the Belgian increased his lead to 22 seconds leaving not much hope for Breen to catch him in the final Sunday stages.

Let's do the math

At M-Sport they started calculating.

Ogier was tenth at the penultimate s stage. The gap to number 2 (Elfyn Evans) was 40.1 seconds; his next opponent (Katsuta Takamoto) was about 4:16. So he could lose 4:16 minutes. The calculation showed he had to check in 25 minutes late, giving him a 4:10 minute penalty. Because, as the 2018 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations state it: in case of late arrival the difference between the actual check-in time and the target check-in shall be penalised with 10 seconds per minute. However if he would do that Elfyn Evans could pass him. So Evans simply checked in 26 minutes late so that Ogier’s 10th place, earning him 1 point in the championship, was secured.

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

HENNING SOLBERG - CATO MENKERUD FORD FIESTA WRC PRIVATE ENTRY SWEDEN Image by: ERIK VAN 'T LAND

WRC

19

STAGES

WRC 2018

Round 2: Sweden

R

oad conditions had changed dramatically during the course of the PowerStage as between the first and second running, the classic rally also competed the stage. The narrower track of these cars caused a completely different set of ‘rails’ for the wider WRC cars. So it was beneficial to start lower on the PowerStage startinglist. Finally it resulted in a second place on the PowerStage, with only Tänak being faster. This finally earned him Ogier four extra championship points.

I

t did not make much difference for Neuville. He simply clung to the gathered lead and only lost a few seconds and won the rally. After Loeb and Ogier he was only the third non Scandinavian to do that. Breen was a proud second and Mikkelsen completed the podium making it a double Hyundai podium.

Winner: Thierry Neuville

Championship leader: Thierry Neuville

TAKA POWER

Takamota Katsuta scored a mighty impressive win in WRC2. The Japanese youngster isenrolled in the Toyota talent program and is learning very fsat, beating out the locals on one of the most specialized surfaces. The only question now, is when will see him in a Yaris WRC?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thierry NEUVILLE Craig BREEN Andreas MIKKELSEN Esapekka LAPPI Haydon PADDON Mads OSTBERG Jari-Matti LATVALA Teemu SUNINEN Ott TÄNAK Sébastien OGIER

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Hyundai i20 WRC 2:52:13,1 Citroen C3 WRC +19,8 Hyundai i20 WRC +28,3 Toyota Yaris WRC +45,8 Hyundai i20 WRC +54,4 Citroen C3 WRC +1.15,3 Toyota Yaris WRC +2.04,9 Ford Fiesta WRC +2.52,2 Toyota Yaris WRC +3.44,4 Ford Fiesta WRC +8.45,4

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Guanajuato Rally Mexico After the extremely wintry conditions of Sweden it was quite the change for the WRC Wto come to Mexico. The sun was shining brightly and temperatures were around 30 degrees! And though every one was still talking about PowerStage trick things were a lot more relaxed. Traditionally the WRC family had shrunk quite a bit and 29 teams made it onto the entry list. It could have been 30 if local hero Benito Guerra would have made it to the list however he did not as in a pre event test on Monday his Skoda caught fire.

Words: Harry van Veenendaal Images: Erik van't Land

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Leading the championship

dakar mode

A lot of attention was focussed Loeb had a very good rally. However he blames himself for changing a on Thierry Neuville. Leading the puncture in the second pass of Juanajuatito, a stage he won in the mornchampionship he would have to ing. “We were still in Dakar mode. We felt the puncture and immediately open the road. “I’m happy to be jumped out of the car to change the tyre. Something you always do in in this position,” he said during Dakar. But here it would have been better if we had just continued. We then the team’s happy hour before the would have lost less time.” rally. “Because it means we are some time of being away form stage Dani Sordo is leading the leading the championship and the WRC he was back. He is whole day. Meeke is seriously still the most famous rally driver challenging him but at the end of of the decade. Nine WRC titles the day he is ‘only’ fourth. Pre"I'm happy to be in this are not easy to forget. So every- ceding him are Tanak in third position be- one with a media, VIP or other and Loeb (!) in second. We saw kind of official badge was pres- a broad smile on Loeb’s face all cause it means we are ent. At least it made one thing day. Just like he wants to, he is leading the very clear: the sport needs a driving a top rally car and chalchampionship hero. Loeb definitely falls into lenging the new generation of this category. Though not pres- drivers. Sordo meanwhile sees and that is exactly what ent, Oliver Ciesla would have the car of his former team capbeen happy to see this scene as tain growing bigger and bigger we want." it so blatantly proved his point. in his rear-view mirrors. The The subject of all this attention nine times world champion obThierry looked extremely relaxed. He viously still knows how to do it neuville on opening the was smiling and repeating all the and sets a fastest time on stage road in mexico time that he was curious to see 7. Opening the road Ogier of where he would be after his ab- course loses time but still he is in fifth some half a minute behind. sence. that is exactly what we want.”

Championship leader Neuville Later on he admits it is going to Sordo charging didn’t see things come his way. be difficult. “I know we will lose Right from the start the drivers First a fuel pressure problem some time opening the road. But lower down the startlist used and later a faulty power steering we will fight to keep the gap as their favourable starting posi- dropped him to seventh over 2 small as possible.” tion much to their advantage. minutes behind leader Sordo.

Apart from this morning’s first

Loeb Mania

While talking to Neuville we had already seen Loeb Mania. Lots of people were crowding the Citroën tents. This time it had nothing to do with the notoriously good food Citroën always provides. This time it was just one man that everyone wanted to talk to: Sebastien Loeb. After

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

ogier's penalty As was said in our Sweden report Ogier won four extra points by a clever use of the regulations. The same number of points has been taken away from him by a decision of the stewards. During the running of the PowerStage Ogier brushed some elements of a chicane. The stewards investigated the issue and according to them the Frenchman ‘had not taken the route as described in the road book’. Consequently he was given a ten second penalty. This dropped him from second to seventh place in the PowerStage results. So zero PowerStage points instead of four.

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

SEBASTIEN LOEB - DANIEL ELENA CITROEN C3 WRC CITROEN TOTAL ABU DHABI WRT GUANAJUATO RALLYE MEXICO Image by: ERIK VAN 'T LAND

Loeb’s charge Guanajuatito was the first Saturday test and Loeb was fastest, passing Sordo on the leaderboard. But later that day, Loeb gets a puncture, and loses the lead, handing it to… Ogier! Sordo is preserving his tyres and loses second in favour of Meeke who is now only 3.8 seconds away from a charging Ogier. But Ogier keeps charging and wins the next few stages and increases the gap with Meeke to 35.9 seconds.

The battle for second place was decided on the first Sunday test

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sébastien OGIER Dani SORDO Kris MEEKE Andreas MIKKELSEN Sebastien LOEB Thierry NEUVILLE Pontus TIDEMAND Jari-Matti LATVALA Gus GREENSMITH Pedro HELLER

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Ford Fiesta WRC 3:54:08,0 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.03,6 Citroen C3 WRC +1.19,2 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.38,4 Citroen C3 WRC +2.24,6 Hyundai i20 WRC +9.03,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +10.24,7 Toyota Yaris WRC +15.37,1 Ford Fiesta R5 +17.09,3 Ford Fiesta R5 +24.18,1

as Meeke slips off the road on some cobbles and lands his car on the side. Spectators luckily get him on the road again. But he loses much time and drops to third. The end of the rally was a bit similar to Sweden as both Neuville and Tanak are late at the start of the PowerStage. Both are successful, Tanak winning the stage and Neuville bagging a third place on the stage. That is after Ogier got a penalty for touching a chicane. The final results are still pending as M-Sport lodged a complaint to be judged by the FIA. Still Ogier won, Sordo was second and Meeke still managed to land a podium finish.

---7--STAGES 22

Number of streetstages/super specials.

Rally Mexcio brings the sport to the fans Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Tour de Corse It's back to the black stuff for the fourth round of the WRC. After the excursion to Mexico, the teams make their way back to Europe for the first true tarmac rally of the year, the Tour de Corse.

The match-up that everyone came to watch was the 'Battle of the Sebs'. After strong but unfortunate outing in Mexico, Seb Loeb returned to his beloved asphalt to his younger namesake, reigning champion Seb Ogier.

Words: Steven van Veenendaal Images: PR

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Over before it really began The fight between the two arch rivals would not last very long though. On the opening mammoth stage, the 49km La Porta - Valle di Rostino stage, Ogier showed his remarkable skill.

Ogier opened the road and as the times of his rivals came in, it was clear Ogier was in a class of his own. Neuville was over 20 seconds down, Tanak come closest at 18 second but no one came close to finishing within single digits from the champ. No one, until the maestro himself, Sebastien Loeb, came through. Loeb was 'just' 9,7 seconds off of Ogier's pace and although that's already quite a margin to lose on a single stage, we all know that Loeb is usually a relatively slow starter who picks up his pace as the event progresses.

Factor in that the Frenchman has very little rally rhythm and is doing his first tarmac event in the new WRC, it was a promising start.

We wouldn't find out if the battle royale could have been though. On the second stage of the rally Loeb went off.

He came too fast through a righthander and in the following left hand corner slid off. It didn't seem too bad but as he reversed to get back on the road, he inadvertently ended up in a ditch, from which there was no escaping.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sebastien OGIER Ott TANAK Thierry NEUVILLE Dani SORDO Elfyn EVANS Esapekka LAPPI Andreas MIKKELSEN Jan KOPECKY Kris MEEKE Yoann BONATO

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Ogier dominates Had Loeb been able to continue unscaved it seems unlikely he would have been able to really press Ogier for the win. After needing some time to adjust to the Fiesta last year, Ogier is starting to get back to being his invincible self. Let's not forget the amazing job M-Sport has done with the car. Sure, Ford is now officialy back to support the team, but M-Sport is still a semi-factory team, battling all the full fledged factory teams and seemingly building a car that is a step ahead of all it's better-funded rivals. In the hands of Ogier at least, the car is the one to beat and Hyundai, Toyota and Citroen all have their work cut out for them to even match the current pace of the Blue Oval.

Ogier took full advantage on Friday's four stages by winning the opening three before finally giving up a couple of seconds on the final stage of the day.

After the master class of the opening stage Ogier quietly went about his business to extend his lead to a comfortable margin. Once he breached the 30 second barrier, he was in his comfort zone, out front and managing all his rivals while the minimum amount of risk to retain his advantage. It is so precise and so confident, it's beautiful to behold.

Ford Fiesta WRC Toyota Yaris WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Ford Fiesta WRC Toyota Yaris WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Skoda Fabia R5 Citroen C3 WRC Citroen C3 R5

3:26:52,7 +36,1 +1.07,5 +2.02,6 +2.06,1 +2.33,5 +2.43,4 +10.34,8 +10.40,5 +12.26,0

Struggles Behind Ogier the others were struggling. Latvala was the happiest on the stage where he crashed out of the event because he finally felt comfortable enough with the car to push. Imagine how bad it must have been before.

Neuville was struggling with a mishandling Hyundai all weekend long and the uber confidence of last year seems long gone. The Belgian is not beating Ogier anymore as he was consistently doing last year and is looking for answers. Rather than just looking ahead, he should also keep an eye on his mirror as the Toyota brigade is coming up. Ott Tanak isn't consistently fast, yet. The Estonian is quickly learning his new car and set some blistering stage times, unfortunately for him, the master up front knew exactly when and where to push to keep the charging Tanak at bay. He did manage to reel in Neuville though to take second overall. Team mate Esapekka Lappi is also improving rapidly.

In his Corsican WRC debut, the young Finn racked up a couple of stage wins and was in the hunt for the podium untill a puncture on the penultimate stage ended his charge and he had to settle for sixth, although, settle? Lappi ended the rally in style by clinching the Powerstage win and the bonus points with it.

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

USA

SNO*DRIFT gets slippery during the american rally championship

Words and images: Tara Hurli n

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

T

he Rally America Championship Series slid into action with Sno*Drift, the first of eight rallies for the 2018 season. The 45°F weather was unusually warm compared to the bone-numbing single-digit late-January temps typically felt in Atlanta, Michigan. Remnants from massive snowfalls melted across the seldom-maintained back roads and sheets of ice for miles. The spectators may have been more comfortable wearing less layers, but this year’s Sno*Drift race proved to be the most challenging compared to the last five years. Even as a spectator, my slow off-roadprepped Jeep was sliding every which-way while I navigated between stages, and here’s the kicker: teams are forbidden to run with studded tires in the United States.

Stay on the road and finish

The conditions put each team’s determination and skills to the ultimate test. The top two goals were to finish the race, and avoid crashing. Only 22 out of 30 teams made it to the finish of the 16-stage rally. Several competitors threw in the towel on the first day. Driver Nathan Usher with the Sneak Attack Rally team reached white-knuckle speeds of 90-mph, which challenged (and beat) pro-driver Piotr Fetela’s time by 3.6 and 4.9-seconds, respectively, on the first two stages. Usher’s winning streak took a turn when his Rally Blue Subaru wagon lost traction at a corner and rolled. Regardless,

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

there were no injuries and Usher remained in good spirits. He later announced that the damage will be easily repaired, so he can race again in no time.

Factory backing

The Fetela Rally Team, being one of the few factory-sponsored competitors, piloted a 2017 Ford Fiesta FRT Prototype. Due to a rough brush against snow bank on the 5th stage, which caused extensive suspension damage, the team was forced to retire.

They will return for the next rally, the 100-Acre Wood in Salem, Missouri. this year’s Sno*Drift rally proved to be

the most challenging

compared to the last five years.

Even as a spectator, my slow offroad-prepped Jeep was sliding every which-way while I navigated between stages, and here’s the kicker: teams are forbidden to run with studded tires in the United States.

Andrew Goss, founder of Flat Out Racing and the owner and driver of a stately black Subaru Impreza RS, was another who felt the full impact of the icy conditions. After sliding against a bank and getting caught high-centered, then popping a

tire further into the race, an oil fire ultimately ended the team’s day on the 6th stage. Hired team Understeer R&D helped to get Goss back into the competition for day two, however the ice only seemed to slicken overnight and the second day ended early. The car hit a long ice patch, took an unexpected turn on a straightway, and forcefully kissed a tree, which resulted in severe frame and engine damage.

Rallying is a team sport

Fervor Rally Sport battled their entire way through the rally, and admirably so. Slick roads flung them off course, and the ’97 Subaru Impreza wagon suffered a bent left rear strut. Soon after, lack of traction led them into a dirt bank, which jammed the front right tire under the fender well. Driver Steven Stewart and co-driver Derek VandenBroek managed to coax the car to the finish. Team mechanics Jacob Bryant and Jonah Rosselot thrashed overnight to repair the suspension, but it remained on jack stands the following morning. Three friends drove 7 hours to take a strut and knuckle from another car, and they delivered the parts just 30 minutes before the team was scheduled to race.

While the mechanics expelled their last bursts of energy to bolt the car together, Stewart and VandenBroek strapped themselves into the car for a successful day. The team finished 15th overall and 6th in class, even despite all the challenges they faced.

USA Who needs AWD?

If you think pure ice is challenging with AWD, you haven’t seen the 2WD class compete. Adam VanDamme and Jacob Carlson took first place in 2WD with a quick little 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit while 2nd place winners Mike Erickson and Jacob Good chased him in a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer. Keanna Erickson-Chang and Preston Osborn nipped at their heels, which earned 3rd place on the podium.

Keanna Erickson-Chang and Preston Osborn celebrated 1st

place on the Spec B National podium with a 2016 Ford Fiesta.

Meanwhile, Colin Robinson and Alex Schum flexed into 2nd with a 2015 Honda Fit, and Doug Gekiere and Matthew Hoffman piloted their 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, collected all the coins, and landed in 3rd.

Subaru dominated the naturally-aspirated Open Light class.

Dave and Michael Brown slid their 2001 Impreza 2.5 RS into 1st, followed by Chris Barribeau and Scott Rhudy in a 2001 Impreza, and Jimmy Pelizzari and Kate Stevens of Blind Deer Ral-

lysport took 3rd in their expertly unmarred 2000 Impreza. The Super Production class winners were Timothy Rooney and Rachelle Kaltak driving their 2015 PMR Motorsports SR009, and Zachary Whitebread and Allen Piper finished in 2nd in a 2003 Subaru WRX. Dave and Mike Brown drove hard and won the overall competition by one-minute 42.3-seconds. Chris Baribeau and Scott Rhudy snuck in at 2nd place overall, and Timothy Rooney and Rachelle Kaltak kept the pedal down to earn 3rd place.

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

USA

1 BROWN-BROWN '01 Subaru Impreza 2 BARRIBEAU-RHUDY '01 Subaru Impreza 3 ROONEY-KALTAK '15 PMR SR009 4 PELIZZARI-STEVENS '00 Subaru Impreza 5 KRAMER-KIMMETT '93 Subaru Impreza 6 BIALOBRZESKI-MANTOPOULOS '06 Subaru Impreza 7 VANDAMME-CARLSON '81 VW Rabbit 8 ERICKSON-GOOD '02 Mitsubishi Lancer 9 ERICKSON-CHANG-OSBORN '16 Ford Fiesta 10 OELRICH-GRISHIN '00 Subaru Impreza

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

2:11:22,9 +1.42,3 +3.17,4 +6.35,0 +6.51,7 +7.01,3 +12.54,0 +13.21,5 +13.58,9 +14.16,8

---1--The Sno*Drift Rally was the first of eight rounds of the Rally America National Championship

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Azores Rally

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

ERC

Reigning triple champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz decided not to pursue a forth ERC crown but instead focus his attention on a WRC2 programme. With the Pole out of the mix it is certain that we will see a new champion this year, but who will it be?

The Russian Rocket Alexey Lukyanuk has been Kajetanowicz' closest rival the last few years but although we all know his sensational speed, it's also no secret that Lukyanuk is a bit errr-prone and has written off many Fiesta's during his exploits on the ERC. New rivals come in the form of Bruno Magalhaes, who last year made his first serious attempt at the ERC and ran at the front of pack for most of the season.

Then there's the pack of young hungry wolves stepping up to a new series or new machinery.

Last years U27 and U28 champions are both back with new cars. Marijan Griebel joined

forces with the semi factory team of Peugeot Romo and Chris Ingram is making his R5 debut in the 11 Degrees Skoda Fabia R5.

After succesful outings in the German and Asia Pacific championships Fabian Kreim is joing the ERC in 2018 and will be another force to be reckoned with.

It will also be interesting to see what the French legion can do with Pierre-Louis Loubet (Hyundai i20 R5) and new Peugeot Rally Academy recuit Laurent Pellier.

UK Based Rhys Yates and Fredrik Ahlin provide additional star power to make for a truly European championship.

With the influx of new talent the start list of the opening round of the championship was absolutely packed. No fewer than 34 R5 cars made their way to the Azores to do battle on this classic event.

Words: Steven van Veenendaal Images: Sven Kollus Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Short start

outright victory in 2016. This year he was on the The rally kicked off with three stages on Thursday pace again. Despite not taking any stage wins on the afternoon. Two were short, spectator friendly blasts short opening day, he was right up there a mere 2.7 but on the 17 km Villa Franca - Sao Bras Alexey seconds behind Lukyanuk.

Lukyanuk made his first claim to fame of the event.

The Russian set the fastest time and moved into the Somewhat of a surpris was third placed Martin Koci.

The Slovakian U28 driver was just 3.8 seconds belead, lead he would not surrender anymore. hind Lukyanuk but opened up an 11 second lead His closest competition came from local hero Ricar- over U 28 rival Chris Ingram. The Englishman was do Moura. Hailing from the islands Moura knows in a solid sixth behind Magalhaes and Sousa. In turn the roads like the back of his hands and despite not Fredk Ahlin acompleted the U28 top 3 in seventh competing in the full ERC, has been a threat to the just over a second behind Ingram illustrating just ERC regulars throughout the years, even claiming how competetive the ERC and its sub-divisions are.

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

ERC

With the influx of new tal- Puncture woes Friday morning and Ricardo Moura is immediately in ent the start list of the attack mode. He clocks in just over a second faster opening round of the cham- than Lukyanuk to half his deficit. We are gearing up for a fight, untill disaster strikes on the day's second pionship was absolutely packed. No

fewer than 34 R5 cars made their

way to the Azores to do battle on this classic event.

stage. Moura punctures and around fifteen seconds.

By no means is this an insurmountable gap but it gives Lukyanuk the confidence he needs to get into a steady yet quick rhythm. The Russian wins the next two stages and eases of a little to avoid major risks, smart thinking when you're rallying on the edge of a volcano but steadily increases his lead over Moura.

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

RHYS YATES - ELLIOTT EDMONDSON SKODA FABIA R5 PRIVATE ENTRY AZORES Image by: SVEN KOLLUS

ERC 2018

15

STAGES

After a troublesome mourning Magalhaes was also making headway up the leaderboard and found himself in third by the end of the second day. Despite his efforts a broken rear differential on the final dy meant his rise would not continue any further, still a third place means good points for the championship on this treacherous event.

Behind the leading trio the battle for the U28 win was even more exciting. Chris Ingram and Martin Koci traded the lead throughout the event. On the final day Ingram opened up a slight advantage but a puncture dropped him right back within Koci's reach. When Ingram then optoed to spare his tyres Koci seized the opportunity and retook the lead. Only to lose it to Ingram again on the next stage!

With just the final stage remaining Ingram clung to a very fragile 4.7 second lead. In an all-out effort Koci tried snatch the win from Ingram's grasp but pushed just a little too hard. He went off the line and ripped a wheel of his Skoda Fabia, ending his efforts with the finish in sight. Ahlin inherited his second place on only his second ERC rally.

Winner: Alexey Lukyanuk

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Alexey LUKYANUK Ricardo MOURA Bruno MAGALHAES Chris INGRAM Fredrik AHLIN Norbert HERCZIG Lukasz HABAJ Rhys YATES Ricardo TEODOSIO Jose Pedro FONTES

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Ford Fiesta R5 2:33:51,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +16,4 Skoda Fabia R5 +25,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.24,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.33,1 Skoda Fabia R5 +4.02,9 Ford Fiesta R5 +4.12,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +4.15,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +4.43,0 Citroen DS3 R5 +5.01,2

Round 1: Azores

Championship leader: Alexey Lukyanuk

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Saarland-Pfalz Rallye

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Simone Tempestini wins the ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rallye, the first round of the German Rally Championship. Estonian Karl-Martin Volver makes impressive debut and wins the ADAC Opel Rallye Cup. All participants had to tackle very demanding conditions with snowy and icy roads during the season opener of the German Rally Championship 2018. Romanian duo Simone Tempestini and Sergiu Itu won the ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rallye in a Wurmbrand Racing run Citroen DS3 R5, which was at the same time the debut with an R5 car for the Austrian squad. Last year’s

runner-up in the championship Dominik Dinkel / Christina Kohl in a BRR prepared Skoda Fabia R5 finished second with a gap of 19.1 seconds to the winners. Ron Schumann / Nanett Centner in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo were completing the podium on the third place.

Last year’s ADAC Opel Rallye Cup winners Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog from Sweden secured the win in the 2WD category at their first test run with the Opel works squad.

They will continue their season in the Junior U27 European Rally Championship throughout the year.

Words and images: Sven Kollus

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Consistency was the key There was a Rallye Monte Carlo feeling at the season opener of the German Rally Championship with snow and ice covered roads, but differently to Monte Carlo there are no studs allowed in Germany. Simone Tempestini, who was testing for his appearances in the Romanian Rally Championship, had no issues to adapt to the conditions and showed his skills right from the beginning. He was leading the event from start to finish and was smashing his rivals right at the start of the rally with a supreme drive on the fresh falling snow leading after just two stages (18 kilometers) with almost 1:30 minutes. "For our new team and my new co-driver it was a great test. I really enjoyed the rally and consider coming back here", Tempestini explained in the finish.

Behind the Romanian duo, there was a duel for second place for quite a while between Dominik Dinkel and Björn Satorius (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) which ended for Satorius off the road on stage seven. Dinkel was consistently fast and secured four stage wins during the weekend. "I am very happy to be at the finish. We collected important points for the championship with our second place and four additional points in the power stage", reported Dinkel at

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Simone TEMPESTINI Dominik DINKEL Ron SCHUMANN Karl Martin VOLVER Andreas BROCKER Oliver BLISS Walter GROMÖLLER Dennis ROSTEK Elias LUNDBERG Tom KRISTENSSON

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

the finish. Ron Schumann, who finished third, was also in the best mood: "I am happy that we managed the event without taking the last bit of risk. We just had some moments and are in the finish now on the podium. It can continue like this for the rest of the year." There was a disaster for the Peugeot Team during the weekend. Marijan Griebel / Alexander Rath had to stop their Peugeot 208 T16 directly after the start with technical problems. Fastest in the 2-WD-Ranking was Tom Kristensson, who grabbed a lot of experience at his first start with the works Opel: "The conditions here were really really tought, but good to get any sort of information about the setup and the tires. We are happy about out class win and would like to continue like that in this year’s European Rally Championship."

Difficult conditions especially for debutants Roman Schwedt / Christoph Gerlich were shining with seven Top-3-Times on the stages. The pair driving a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 for the first time in the German championship had a good race to catch up after a technical failure broke down their car on Friday night.

After re-starting on the second day, they ended up on a fine 14th place overall.

Citroen DS3 R5 Skoda Fabia R5 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Opel Adam Cup Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Opel Ascona 400 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Opel Adam Cup Opel Adam R2

1:32:45,6 +19,1 +4.04,9 +6.53,7 +7.18,9 +7.56,7 +8.09,9 +8.13,3 +8.17,6 +8.30,0

"It was a lot of fun to be here with the 4WD Peugeot. Especially during these hard conditions, we learned a lot about the car. Now we are looking forward to the next round in Sulingen and will attack once more", the nineteen-year-old explained. Also quite satisfied was Uwe Gropp who debuted in his Citroen DS3 R5 and finished 16 overall.

Season start for the ADAC Opel Rallye Cup The teams of the ADAC Opel Rallye Cup defied the conditions and showed a lot of potential. Estonians Karl-Martin Volver / Marten Madissoo won after a good fight with Swedens Elias Lundberg / David Arhusiander, who were leading the cup comfortably after the snowy Friday stages. Grégoire Munster and his co-driver Johan Jalet finished for the first time on the podium in the Cup with a fine third place, closely followed by Felix Griebel (Marijan’s brother) and co Sascha Altekrüger who were the best German pairing on the fourth place.

Remarkable: Volver finished the rally as best placed 2WD car fourth overall in the middle of 4WD cars who mostly have almost double the power than Volver’s little Cup Adam.

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Circuit Short Rally After being away for a year the RallyPro Circuit Short Rally returned to form the opener of the Dutch rally season.

The event provides the ideal opportunity for crews to set their cars up for the season find their rhythm after a long winter break.

Words and images: Steven van Veenendaal Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Cold One of the aspects that make the RallyPro Circuit Short Rally such a great season opener is that the rally is run entirely on the Zandvoort racing circuit.

This means there is little more room for error that during rallies. After all, the run-off areas next to the track should allow you to continue without incurring too much damage of you find yourself off the road. That's quite a relieve after the winter break, although....

Bob de Jong was targetted as one of the contenders for victory on the event but it all went wrong immediately on the first stage. De Jong slid off the track and to his surprise the gravel run-off areas did not help him come to a halt.

It appeared as though the gravel was frozen solid (yes, despite the sunshine, theNorth Sea wind made it very chilly in Zandvoort) and instead of getting stuck in the gravel, de Jong bounced over it towards the armco barrier. Fortunately a tyre stack absorbed most of the impact to prevent inuries or excessive damage.

His Hyundai i20 R5 did suffer sufficient damage for de Jong to call it quits and park the car in the service box, not to return to action again.

6X R5

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Hermen KOBUS Erik VAN LOON Kevin VAN DEIJNE Lambert PARREN Steen ANDERSSEN Ad SMITS Antoine BIESHEUVEL Roel VD ZANDE Mark BRANDS Piet Hein VD HEIJDEN

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

With de Jong's retirement, the event lost one of its six R5 cars. Not everyone is a fan of the class (and the way it is being pushed by the FIA) but the fact of the matter is that a competitive field of the new cars is now also starting to emerge in The Netherlands with front-runners battling it out in similar mterial. This is something we haven't seen in a long time in The Netherlands and we should cherish the moment. To see the ultimate rally cars (WRC's) you still have to go abroad, but the cars one step below are now also well represented in The Netherlands.

The start list was adorned with two Skoda Fabia's (Kobus and van Loon), two Hyundai i20's (de Jong and van Iersel) and two Ford Fiesta's (van Deijne and Weijs). At least three of these drivers will do the full Open Dutch Rally Championship (Kobus, de Jong and van Deijne) and Erik van Loon hinted to as much by stating that the car wasnit in the right colour scheme yet. Note the final word, implying that we will see more of van Loon this year.

Push or test?

When we enter Kobus' service area we find him staring at a laptop in full concentration. It shows on-board footage

Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 Ford Fiesta R5 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Nissan 350Z Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Opel Kadett GT/E Peugeot 208 R2

27:47,4 +19,4 +50,0 +1.17,1 +1.20,1 +1.20,9 +2.23,0 +2.38,4 +2.41,2 +2.56,3

of his previous stage which included multiple laps around tha track. Kobus found himself stuck behind van Iersel and ended up in a true circuit-batlle, something that's not supposed to happen during a rally. Of course rally drivers aren't used to overtaking (and being overtaken) and it cost Kobus quite some time to get past van Iersel.

"Look! He suddenly comes all the way back inside there, I think he just didn't see me." Thankfully Kobus can find the humour in it. "It doesn't really matter of course, we are here to have fun and regain our rhythm before the season really starts." The sportsman deep inside does emerge though. "Although of course it is a shame that we lose some time there."

Kevin van Deijne isn't here to fight all out for victory. "The car was rebuilt completely this winter and upgraded to Evo 2 spec. We are here to our first few miles under our belts."

Kobus dominates Although plenty of R5's will take to the start at the Dutch rallies this year, they will be hard pressed to beat Hermen Kobus. The champion showed why claimed the title last year and won all stages and the rally outright.

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Zuiderzeerally The opening round of the Dutch Open Rally Championship was graced with a strong entry. The nation's top drivers all took to the start with no less than 7 R5 cars. After twelve stages though, there was one who was clearly faster than the rest, Hans Weijs.

Words: Steven van Veenendaal Images: Johan Vis (JV) / Steven van Veenendaal (SvV)

SvV Rally-emag / Q1 2018

Winter has come In the build up to the event wintery conditions were predicted. Although the crews were spared from snow, temperatures quickly dropped below freezing level. The low temperatures combined with strong winds made for a very tough event indeed, although it were probably the fans and the marshalls who suffered the most. While the crews were shielded from the wind in their cars, those who had to stand outside had no option but to wait it out warm their hearts by the rally action.

For the drivers, the cold didn't really have an impact, as Hans Weijs explained "We're in the car, so we can manage! But jokes aside, it's dry so there is no ice forming or anything like that. The tyres start out pretty cold but if you attack the first few corners with enough commitment they heat up quick enough.

Hermen Kobus had to reluctantly accept that Weijs was the faster one this weekend. "Of course Weijs doesn't do the full championship, so we don't have to beat him to score good points for our championship. On the other hand, whenever we drive, we want to win. As

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Hermen KOBUS Erik VAN LOON Kevin VAN DEIJNE Lambert PARREN Steen ANDERSSEN Ad SMITS Antoine BIESHEUVEL Roel VD ZANDE Mark BRANDS Piet Hein VD HEIJDEN

Rally-emag / Q1 2018

the rally progressed it became apparent that a win wasn't in the books for Kobus this weekend. "My right foot can push a little bit harderd, but it doesn't look like that will happen today. It's a pity but Hans is just the faster driver this weekend.

Step up to R5 Jim van den Heuvel stepped up to R5 machinery this weekend. Although the van den Heuvel family is practically grown into their Mitsubishi's, they too have to face the reality that the FIA is pushing the R5 cars as the top cars for the local markets. They clung on to their believes that the Lancers provide similar performanceto R5's at a fraction of the costs but find that the time is now to actually make the step to the R5's as well. They haven't decided on which cars they will drive going forward and are looking at various options. This weekend Jim will try out the Skoda Fabia. After a succesful outing in the Tour European Rally last year, Jim will be taking a step back this year. The youngster is in the final year of his collegiate carreer and will put the emphasis on graduation this year.

At the Zuiderzeerally though, Jim is

Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 Ford Fiesta R5 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Nissan 350Z Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Opel Kadett GT/E Peugeot 208 R2

27:47,4 +19,4 +50,0 +1.17,1 +1.20,1 +1.20,9 +2.23,0 +2.38,4 +2.41,2 +2.56,3

there to give the Fabia a taste and the others a run for their money. The switch from the Lancer to the Fabia took some getting used to as co-driver Jouri Dcx explained: "We are still getting used to the car, trying to find its limits. Those are beyond those of the Evo and also beyond where we originally though, but how far exactly?"

The two youngster found a great rival in Erik van Loon and Harmen Scholtalbers. "Together we are already passed a 100 years old so it's great to see we can still fight with the young boys!" van Loon said, clearly enjoying the battle.

In the end the battle was decided by a technicality. Van den Heuvel had inadvertently switched off his fire extinguisher, costing him a one minute penalty, handig van Loon third place.

Bob de Jong meanwhile had trouble finding his rhythm. "It's not going so great. Twente (ed. first rally with the new Hyundai) is already some time ago and of course we didn't drive much in Zandvoort. So we really are still getting used to the car. If we finish third I'm very happy given the strong entry. That wasn't to be though as de Jong had to settle for fifth.

JV

SvV

JV

SvV

SvV

SvV Rally-emag / Q1 2018