Rally-eMag 049 FY 2018

Rally-emag

The digital rally magazine Issue 49 FY 2018

2018's Final chapters

WRC & ERC

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger hyundai motorsport hyundai i20 WRC Wales Rally GB

Jari Matti Latvala / Miika Antiila Toyota gazoo racing wrc toyota yaris wrc Wales rally gb

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

thierry neuville / nicolas gilsoul hyundai motorsport hyundai i20 WRC Wales Rally GB

Sven kollus/flat out media

jan kopecky / pavel dresler skoda motorsport skoda fabia r5 Barum czech rally zlin

fabian kreim / frank christian skoda auto deutschland skoda fabia r5 pzm rajd polski

sven kollus/flat out media

sven kollus/flat out media

chris ingram / ross whittock toksport wrt skoda fabia r5 rally liepaja

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This month FY 2018 28

Wales

38

Spain

48

Australia

56

Barum

64

Poland

72

Liepaja

80

Valais

88

Niedersachsen

wrc wrc wrc erc erc

wrx ter

drm

Rally-emag / FY 2018

28

Ogier on top

The Return of the King

56

Title Decider Down Under

Czech Party

Fast, faster, fastest

Grande Finale

The Swiss Alps

Germany

72 20

38

8

48

64

80

88

Rally-emag / FY 2018

CLASH

Neuville 177

OF T

Tan 16

23 Points separate the top three drivers going into the final three rounds. Neuville has been the strongest m Ogier, the five time champion is always in the mix though this year might proof his toughest challenge yet.

THE

nak 64

TITANS

Ogier 154

most of the year but Tanak took three consecutive wins to storm back into contention. And then there's . Words: Harry van veenendaal - Images: Erik van 't Land

The Best Season ever?

When summer was over things looked quite well for Thierry Neuville. After Turkey he has been leading the championship. The gap between him and Sebastien Ogier (in third) had risen to 23 points. But another candidate presented himself. After three consecutive victories Ott Tanak was in a very strong form and climbed the championship ladder, passing Ogier and ending up in second, 13 points adrift from Neuville. Before the start of Great Britain the face of the reigning World Champion started to show some concern. “It might be difficult to grab my sixth title,� he admitted.

T. Neuville N. Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC Wales Rally GB 5th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

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Ogier Images: Erik van 't Land

Dayinsure Wales Rally GB (Round 11 of 13; 4-7/10/2018) Almost a month earlier than last year Wales Rally GB took place. Onth very short show stage of Tir Prince, Lappi and Latvala were fastest re affirming the current form of the Toyota’s. But the real proceedings did not start earlier than the next morning on Clocaenog. It was no surprise to see the main contenders sharing the top three places. Just 1.3 seconds separated Tänak, Ogier and Neuville. Due to a lot of rain in the previous days the road sweeping effect is a lot less than normally on the Welsh forest stages. Initially Ogier and Tänak were in for a good fight, Neuville dropping behind a bit. Then Ogier is somewhat delayed, an unwilling gearbox throwing him back to eighth place. Meanwhile Neuville finds some rhythm and climbs to a runner up position behind the Tänak who again is in a league of his own. By now Neuville has matured and is not chasing Tänak. For the time being he settles for a good point scoring second place. Though his gearbox starts to make more and more funny noises and first and second gears refuse to het engaged Ogier makes it to the end of the day. But in the end the day it was still Tänak day. He won all stages but two, Neuville winning the other two. So Tänak was leading the way. “He is driving on another planet,” several co

PowerStage trouble

competitors reacted. On Saturday however things change drastically, the main culprit being the Sweet Lamb rallying complex. First Neuville goes wide and ends up on a bank. He can continue but it costs him some 45 seconds. Somewhat later the next victim of the treacherous Sweet Lamb roads is Tänak. He approaches the water splash a bit too fast and his sump guard gets stuck in the mud. Somehow damaging his radiator. To prevent engine damage he switches off his Yaris and is devastated. Meanwhile Ogier storms to the lead on his way to a very welcome victory, Jari-Matti Latvala however thinks differently and starts to chase Ogier ending his charge on Saturday evening 4.4 seconds behind Ogier. He continues the next morning and decrease the gap to 1.7. Not much later the Finn passes Ogier and leads the way with an advantage of 0.2 seconds. But Ogier retaliates and finishes the rally 10.6 seconds ahead of Latvala. Neuville is 5th and therefore loses quite some points. The Frenchman scores 28 points for his wins in the rally and his 3rd place in the PowerStage. The Belgian only takes home 12. So the Belgian’s advantage in the championship standing diminished from 23 to 7 points.

Getting the rally on the calendar was a bit of a challenge because of the PowerStage. The organizers had a deal with the Llandudno council to have the last stage on the famous Great Orme stage, though it is a very scenic and iconic stage it hardly reflects the nature of Rally Wales GB. The rally is a gravel event and the rule about PowerStages is that they have to represent the real character of the event. Great Orme being an all-tarmac stage did not fit. After some debate it was decided Great Orme could still be the last stage but not the PowerStage. This honour was given to the first running of Gwydir, early on Sunday morning. The usual podium procedures would be held after the second running of Great Orme at stage end in the centre of Llandudno.

Pic: Erik van't Land

M. Ostberg T. Eriksen Citroen C3 WRC 8th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 4-7 OCTOBER / Based in / DEESIDE / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 23 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sebastien OGIER Jari Matti LATVALA Esapekka LAPPI Craig BREEN Thierry NEUVILLE Andreas MIKKELSEN Hayden PADDON Mads OSTBERG Kalle ROVANPERA Pontus TIDEMAND

Rally-emag / FY 2018

Entries / 57 / Finishers / 48 / Winner / SEBASTIEN OGIER / Car / FORD FIESTA WRC /

Ford Fiesta WRC 3:06:12,5 +10,6 Toyota Yaris WRC +35,1 Toyota Yaris WRC Citroen C3 WRC +1.10,4 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.14,4 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.15,9 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.18,4 Citroen C3 WRC +1.21,6 Skoda Fabia R5 +10.48,9 Skoda Fabia R5 +11.28,3

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LOEB Images: Erik van 't Land

RallyRACC Catalunya Rally de España (Round12of13;25-28/10/2018) Three weeks later a star-studded entry came to Spain (see boxed text). These drivers of course draw a lot of attention but still most attention is attracted by the main event: the title fight for WRC honours.

Again it is Ott Tanak who starts the rally in front. Tough Ogier wins the initiating Barcelona street stage it is the Estonian who takes the lead from stage 2 onwards. He seems to fly over the first day of gravel stages. Several people try to catch him, including Dani Sordo who is very keen on a home win. Latvala and Evans also stay (relatively) near, but they can’t pass him. Sordo, Evans, Loeb Latvala, Mikkelsen and Ogier are fighting quite close but at the end of the gravel day, everyone is about half a minute or more behind the sovereign leader Tanak. The asphalt stages start well again for the Estonian. The first stage is cancelled due to spectator problems but at the next stage Tanak starts where he stopped yesterday: by winning stages. On the long El Montmell stage (the third one of the day) however bad luck strikes again (or is Tanak feeling some pressure from his new status

of championship challenger?) A puncture throws back the leader handing it to Dani Sordo, but only for a short while as Latvala closes in and takes over the lead. Meanwhile Ogier is runner up with one Sebastien Loeb coming close. Saturday night some rain has fallen and some more has been predicted for Sunday morning. “I’ve got nothing to lose,” says nine-time world champion Loeb. “So I took a bit of a gamble and took the harder tyre.” Ogier Tanak and Neuville are not that daring they take a softer tyre. “If you’re fighting for the championship,” says Ogier “It is an unacceptable risk to take the harder tyre.” But in the end Loeb was right he created a gap the others couldn’t bridge anymore and eventually wins the rally. Sebastien Ogier however stays close and finishes just under 3 seconds behind Loeb. Third man is Elfyn Evans stealing some costly points from Ogier’s title rival Thierry Neuville in fourth.

Once again Evans proves to be an important helper in Ogier’s championship fight. Ogier leads the championships charts again if only by three points.

Image: Erik van't Land

Star studded line up Since the beginning of the year we already knew Sebastien Loeb would be coming to Spain. In the following months however it became clear other notorious drivers would be coming to. In a full 2018 spec FiĂŤsta we see Ken Block.

Apart from his gymkhana duties he has been busy in all kinds of other motorsports disciplines. But we have not seen him in WRC for a considerable time. Furthermore Volkswagen Motorsport decided to showcase its Polo R5.

The first car was to be driven by Eric Camilli, the second

Images: Sven Kollus

one by no one less than Petter Solberg. It became a bit of a family reunion as Petter's brother Henning also made a popular apearance. In the rally Ken Block did not make it into the end of day one as he parked his car in the undergrowth. Eric Camilli had to retire his Volkswagen at the end of day two. Petter Solberg fared a lot better and ended his brand new Polo in third place of the R5 class, with Henning taking sixth in his Fabia. And what about Sebastien Loeb? Well, let's just say that greats will be great.

don't call it a comeback This will be the only factory appearance, the Polo R5 is intended for privateer use.

VW Return vw polo r5

WRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 25-28 OCTOBER / Based in / SALOU / Surface / MIXED / Nr. of stages / 18 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sébastien LOEB Sébastien OGIER Elfyn EVANS Thierry NEUVILLE Dani SORDO Ott TÄNAK Esapekka LAPPI Jari-Matti LATVALA Craig BREEN Andreas MIKKELSEN

Entries / 70 / Finishers / 53 / Winner / SEBASTIEN LOEB / Car / CITROEN C3 WRC /

Citroen C3 WRC 3:12:08,0 +2,9 Ford Fiesta WRC +16,5 Ford Fiesta WRC +17,0 Hyundai i20 WRC +18,6 Hyundai i20 WRC Toyota Yaris WRC +1.03,9 Toyota Yaris WRC +1.16,6 Toyota Yaris WRC +1.26,4 Citroen C3 WRC +2.07,0 Hyundai i20 WRC +2.48,2 Images: Erik van 't Land

Rally-emag / FY 2018

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MAKINEN

Kennards Hire Rally Australia (Round 13 of 13; 15-18/11/2018) In Australia Ogier and Neuville are separated by just 3 points so anything can happen. Tanak is a bit further behind but still has a chance. The Estonian sees that clearly and has a rocket start again. Lappi and Latvala follow him closely. But then Mads Østberg passes everyone and takes the lead. He keeps it until the next day when on the third stage of the day he has to let Latvala and Tanak go. But what about the other title contenders? They mainly look at each other and stay very close until Neuville hits trouble.

After some jumps the left rear tyre collapses, he gets distracted and collides with a chicane losing some bodywork in the process. It costs him dearly he loses about a minute and ends the day being tenth overall. Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen play the teamcard (again): they let Ogier pass them, providing a better starting position for their teammate. But neither Neuville nor Tanak wants to make live easy on Ogier.

Especially Tanak is on his own planet again and storms into the lead. Behind him is Latvala and the Estonian can be sure the Finn being

his teammate, will not pass him. Ogier is sixth, enough for the title but only just. And the longly anticipated rain comes, changing the roads into treacherous puddles with no grip as well as other areas with a lot f grip. Ogier is his usual self and stays out trouble. Tanak and Neuville however found out that if you’re on the limit (as the Belgian said) ‘things can happen’. They both went off handing Ogier his sixth championship, two stages before the end. The Frenchman was delighted and wanted to finish his last rally for his beloved M-Sport team on a high. So he went into maximum attack mode and won the PowerStage. With his fifth place and the five extra PowerStage points he had more then enough points to secure his 6th title. In the rally Paddon was second and Østberg third. These were very valuable results for both drivers, as they don’t have a drive for next year yet. Another very happy man was Jari Matti Latvala. He secured his first win of the year. A very important victory for him as it shows he still belongs to the top.

Toyota's manufacturers title Apart from Latvala Tommi Mäkinen was extremely happy. His Toyota Gazoo team won the manufacturers title in only their second season. He did not only have a good team with Lappi, Latvala and Tanak. He also has a very good car that is not only fast but also becoming more and more reliable.

WRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 15-18 NOVEMBER / Based in / COFFS HARBOUR / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 24 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jari-Matti LATVALA Hayden PADDON Mads OSTBERG Esapekka LAPPI Sébastien OGIER Elfyn EVANS Craig BREEN Alberto HELLER Steve GLENNEY Jourdan SERDIRIDIS

Rally-emag / FY 2018

Entries / 25 / Finishers / 15 / Winner / JARI MATTI LATVALA / Car / TOYOTA YARIS WRC /

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

2:59:52,0 +32,5 +52,2 +1.02,3 +2.30,8 +3.05,1 +8.59,0 +22.28,5 +27.01,8 +35.14,1

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KOPECKY Image: Sven kollus

C. Ingram R. Whittock Skoda Fabia R5 8th Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 24-26 AUGUST / Based in / ZLIN / Surface / TARMAC / Nr. of stages / 15 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jan KOPECKY Alexey LUKYANUK Dani SORDO Miroslav JAKES Nikolay GRYAZIN Fabian KREIM Jaromir TARABUS Chris INGRAM Bruno MAGALHAES Laurent PELLIRE

Rally-emag / FY 2018

Entries / 124 / Finishers / 76 / Winner / JAN KOPECKY / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

Skoda Fabia R5 2:07:42,7 +7,5 Ford Fiesta R5 +53,6 Hyundai i20 R5 +53,9 Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.13,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.58,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.14,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.27,8 Skoda Fabia R5 +5.25,8 Peugeot 208 T16 +7.03,1

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Poland Images: Sven kollus

GRYAZIN Image: Sven kollus

J. Huttunen A. Linnaketo Hyundai i20 R5 2nd Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 21-23 SEPTEMBER / Based in / MIKOLAJKI / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 15 /

1 Nikolay GRYAZIN 2 Jari HUTTUNEN 3 Chris INGRAM 4 Fabian KREIM 5 Mikolaj MARCZYK 6 Lukasz HABAJ 7 Grzegorz GRZYB 8 Filip MARES 9 Tomasz KASPERCZYK 10 Norbert HERCZIG Rally-emag / FY 2018

Entries / 52 / Finishers / 34 / Winner / NIKOLAY GRYAZIN / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

Skoda Fabia R5 1:53:43,5 +8,3 Hyundai i20 R5 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.25,9 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.43,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +3.27,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +3.33,6 Skoda Fabia R5 +3.38,4 Skoda Fabia R5 +5.33,7 Ford Fiesta R5 +5.50,6 Skoda Fabia R5 +6.10,2

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GRYA

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E. Brynildsen I. Minor Ford Fiesta R5 Retired Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 12-14 OCTOBER / Based in / LIEPAJA / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 12 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Nikolay GRYAZIN Chris INGRAM Fredrik AHLIN Fabian KREIM Lukasz HABAJ Filip MARES Rhys YATES Orhan AVICIOGLU Tom KRISTENSSON Martins SESKS

Rally-emag / FY 2018

Entries / 29 / Finishers / 21 / Winner / NIKOLAY GRYAZIN / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

Skoda Fabia R5 1:40:14,5 +43,3 Skoda Fabia R5 +48,8 Skoda Fabia R5 +57,0 Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.56,1 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.25,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +3.42,8 Skoda Fabia R5 +7.29,0 Opel Adam R2 +8.38,4 Opel Adam R2 +8.59,1

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J. Wagemans F. Geerlandt Peugeot 208 T16 8th Overall Pic: Erik van 't Land

TER

QUICK FACTS Date / 18 - 20 OCTOBER / Based in / SION / Surface / ASPHALT / Nr. of stages / 18 /

Entries / 76 / Finishers / 46 / Winner / GIANDOMENCI BASSO / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

1 Giandomenico BASSO Skoda Fabia R5 2:28:40,7 2 Olivier BURRI +36,7 Skoda Fabia R5 3 Michael BURRI Skoda Fabia R5 +2.41,0 4 Mike COPPENS Skoda Fabia R5 +3.35,6 5 Ivan BALINARI Skoda Fabia R5 +4.27,6 6 Federico DELLA CASA Skoda Fabia R5 +4.38,5 7 Cedric ALTHASU Ford Fiesta R5 +5.14,0 8 Joachim WAGEMANS Peugeot 208 T16 +6.28,7 9 Raphael ASTIER Abarth 124 Rally GT +7.49,1 10 Ismael VUISTINIER Renault Clio RS R3T +12.01,8 Rally-emag / FY 2018

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Niedersachsen Images: Sven kollus

GRIE

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R. Zeltner P. Zeltner Porsche 996 GT3 4th Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

DRM

QUICK FACTS Date / 7- 8 SEPTEMBER / Based in / OSTERODE / Surface / ASPHALT / Nr. of stages / 13 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Entries / 43 / Finishers / 28 / Winner / MARIJAN GRIEBEL / Car / PEUGEOT 208 T16 /

Marijan GRIEBEL Peugeot 208 T16 Dominik DINKEL Skoda Fabia R5 Roman SCHWEDT Peugeot 207 S2000 Ruben ZELTNER Porsche 996 GT3 Stephan WILD BMW M3 E36 Michael BIEG Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Constantin KEIL Citroen DS3 R3T Max Dennis ROSTEK Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Chris GROPENGIESER Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Sebastien WOLF Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

Rally-emag / FY 2018

1:11:22,7 +1.09,0 +3.09,4 +4.01,8 +4.55,2 +5.52,4 +6.03,7 +6.39,1 +7.03,2 +7.21,4