Rally-eMag 048 H1 2018

Rally-emag

The digital rally magazine Issue 48

wrc Portugal Sardinia Finland Germany ERC Canarias greece cyprus roma

WRX Mettet - Belgium

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Jari huttunen / antti linnaketo hyundai motorsport hyundai i20 r5 Rallye de portugal

elfyn evans / dan barritt m-sport ford world rally team ford fiesta wrc Rallye d'italia sardegna

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

sven kollus / flat out media

norbert herczig / ramon ferencz mol racing team skoda fabia r5 cyprus rally

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This month H1 2018 18

Flash/Back

38

Finland

48

Germany

58

Flash/Back

82

Roma di Capitale

92

Flash/Back

wrc wrc wrc erc erc

wrx

18

38

Portugal and Sardinia

Time to fly

48

58

82 20

92

Rock the vine

Canarias, Acropolis & Cyprus

Imperial Lukyanuk

Belgian WRX

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Flash/Back

Portugal Images: Erik van 't Land

NEUVILLE Images: Erik van 't Land

A. Mikkelsen A. Jaeger Hyundai i20 WRC 16th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

M. Ostberg T. Eriksen Citroen C3 WRC 6th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 17-20 MAY / Based in / MATOSINHOS / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 20 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thierry NEUVILLE Elfyn EVANS Teemu SUNINEN Dani SORDO Esapekka LAPPI Mads OSTBERG Craig BREEN Pontus TIDEMAND Lukasz PIENIAZEK Stephane LEFEBVRE

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Entries / 85 / Finishers / 45 / Winner / THIERRY NEUVILLE / Car / HYUNDAI i20 COUPE WRC /

Hyundai i20 WRC 3:49:46,6 +40,0 Ford Fiesta WRC +47,3 Ford Fiesta WRC Hyundai i20 WRC +1.00,9 Toyota Yaris WRC +1.04,7 Citroen C3 WRC +3.33,5 Citroen C3 WRC +5.23,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +14.10,8 Skoda Fabia R5 +16.17,3 Citroen C3 R5 +17.21,3

Flash/Back

Sardinia Images: Erik van 't Land

NEUVILLE Images: Erik van 't Land

T. Suninen M. Markkula Ford Fiesta WRC 10th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

E. Evans D. Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC 14th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 07-10 JUNE / Based in / ALGHERO / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 20 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thierry NEUVILLE Sébastien OGIER Esapekka LAPPI Hayden PADDON Mads OSTBERG Craig BREEN Jari-Matti LATVALA Jan KOPECKY Ott TÄNAK Teemu SUNINEN

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Entries / 45 / Finishers / 34 / Winner / THIERRY NEUVILLE / Car / HYUNDAI i20 COUPE WRC /

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

3:29:18,7 +0,7 +1.56,3 +2.55,2 +3.10,9 +4.31,7 +11.22,1 +13.14,6 +13.18,2 +15.30,4

WRC

Report

Finland WORDS: Steven van veenendaal / Images: Erik van 't Land

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Rally-emag / H1 2018

TANAK Images: Erik van 't Land

WRC

Flashback

Last year Rally Finland was a pivotal event. Although Thierry Neuville only managed to finish sixth, it was enough to catch his championship rival, Sebastien Ogier. The M-Sport driver had been under serious pressure from Neuville all season long and his non-score dropped him

Would this be the event he

[ N E U V I L L E ]

dealt the

decisive

blow?

out of the championship lead for the first time since… seemingly forever. We all know how it ended, Neuville succumbed to the pressure in the following events, or his car did, and Ogier managed to hang on and bring home title number five.

Man to beat

Still, the turn of events in Finland showed that there really was a chance to defeat the seemingly invincible Frenchman. Actually, the general consensus after Finland was that Neuville had finally truly surpassed his rival and would be the man beat going forward.

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Decisive blow?

Ahead of this year’s event, Neuville held a solid lead over Ogier in the championship standings.

Would this be the event he dealt the decisive blow? Granted, Finland has not been kind on Neuville and Hyundai in the past, but it hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Ogier either, having only won there once and lwith ast year’s disastrous event still fresh in his memory.

Little has changed

On stage five things went from bad to worse for Neuville when he went off and lost around thirty seconds. Just briging home some points at all would be good result at this point. He did so, but ninth overall and just fourth on the Powerstage meant his tally would cap out at four. Ogier meanwhile had the fortune of having team mates in front of him. Both Evans and Suninen let Ogier past to allow him to move Sweep sweep up to fifth and take the ten assoAs expected, both Neuville and ciated points.

Ogier struggled to match the front runners early on. Their Tanak in charge road positions clearly causing Up front, there was no match for them trouble, Ogier was strug- Ott Tanak. Being in the form of gling to get near the top five, his life, Tanak is currently the while Neuville had an even hard- hottest driver in the championer time and was barely setting ship and looks like he is going to top ten times. Third seeded Ott at least fight for victory on all of Tanakn wasn’t bothered by his the remaining events. Now fully road position too much. The in command of his new Toyota Estionian was locked into bat- now, Tanak might even still set tle with the surprisingly quick himself up for a late title push.It Mads Ostberg. The latter had a looked unlikely but with his curfar better road position though rent form, noone would be really and looked likely to drop off on surprised to win all remaining the second and third day. events, now would they?

Back in time

Behind Tanak the battle for second felt like a trip down memory lane. Mads Ostberg and Jari Matti Latvala went head to toe over the blistering fast Finnish roads to decide who would finish second.

When was it that we last saw these two fighting over a podium position? It was certainly good to see these two experienced drivers be back in contention again after difficult periods for both of them. The best part of it probably, there smiles al through the weekend. Relieved of the stress of not performing to expecations and enjoying their craft again and the thrill of fighting over seconds for an actual meaningful position.

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Sebastien Ogier - Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Rally Finland Image by: Erik van 't Land

WRC

17

STAGES

WRC 2018

Round 8: Finland

T

oyota have made their mark already on the series since their return last year. The Finnish based outfit is clearly enjoying their home event as they have won it both times since returning to the WRC. Maybe it's to be expected as the cars are developed on these roads, with their head quarters located in the Finnish forests. Still, Finland is one of the most difficult rallies to win. The car has to be powerful and possess speed levels border on insanity yet at the same time instill enough confidence in its driver to allow him to push from start to finish. It's a great accomplishment by Tommi Makinen that he managed to find that intricate balance of performance and handling so quickly with the new car.

Many pundits raised eyebrows when the decision was made to base the team in Finland and earned the nickname of 'Toyota Team Finland' for its heavy reliance on Finnish drivers and staff. Then again, what better place to base a team than in the spiritual home of the sport? So far, it's working out pretty well.

Winner: Ott Tanak

Championship leader: Thierry Neuville

Back to Back With their second win in succession in Finland Toyota has won both their outings in their 'second home' rally since their return to the WRC.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ott TĂ„NAK

Mads OSTBERG Jari Matti LATVALA Hayden PADDON SĂŠbastien OGIER Teemu SUNINEN Elfyn EVANS Craig BREEN Thierry NEUVILLE Andreas MIKKELSEN

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Toyota Yaris WRC 2:35:18,1 +32,7 Citroen C3 WRC +35,5 Toyota Yaris WRC Hyundai i20 WRC +1.35,6 Ford Fiesta WRC +2.15,0 Ford Fiesta WRC +2.19,2 Ford Fiesta WRC +2.29,5 Citroen C3 WRC +3.08,4 Ford Fiesta WRC +3.51,8 Hyundai i20 WRC +8.37,4 Rally-emag / H1 2018

Report

Germany WORDS: Steven van veenendaal / Images: Erik van 't Land

After Ott Tanak’s victory in Finland he made the championship battle more and more of a threeway fight between Neuville, Ogier and himself. The Belgian looked the strongest for a long time, but Tanak is on the rise, a rise that continued in Germany.

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Rally-emag / H1 2018

TANAK Images: Erik van 't Land

WRC very fastest, just as Neuville has been this year, but they weren’t, they knew that podium finishes go a long way as well towards winning championships. Neuville knows this as well by know. The Belgian has finished in the runner up spot on multiple occasions, the speed has been there, but consistency has been his one weakness. He seems to have learned. He gave a very mature response at the end of the Sebastien Ogier day and seemed confident that even without forcing the issue, good things will come to those who wait “We were basically on or near the limit the whole day. The times just weren’t there. We’ll see tomorrow, it’s a completely different day, you can’t judge it too much on what has happened so far.” It tells us that Neuville will not up his pace in an ultimate attempt to catch Tanak somewhat flabbergasted Ogier. and Ogier. He’ll just bide his time, stick to his own comfortable top After the opening day Neuville is speed and see where that takes him. clearly the least of the three top That’s what champions do. guys. It could turn out as yet another key moment in this year’s cham- Day two pionship. In previous years Neu- The second day is Panzerplatte ville may have started forcing the day. Sure there are some country issue. He may have started pushing road stages but the main event is beyond his own or the car’s limits the 38 kilometer mammoth that is in an attempt to make up the lost the Panzerplatte. It’s mainly run time. It might have all ended in on abrasive concrete plates, lined disaster with another knocked off with ‘hinkelsteinen’ , the blocks wheel (let’s leave it in the middle designed to hold back tanks. Those if that was due to Neuville’s driv- things ten times heavier and stroning or a weak spot of the car last ger than a WRC car. Those things year). Yet he has a championship you don’t want to hit. Although it is lead, and true champions know that Tanak’s first time out on the Panzeyou can’t win them all, sometimes platte in the Toyota, he demonit is better to just settle for a solid strates why he is currently the hotpoints finish rather than gamble test item in the championship. He on an all out attack. Just ask those settles in to the surface on the short Sebastiens. They were usually the ‘Arena’ version of the stage and Opening frenzy Ogier gets the first vineyard victory on the second stage of the rally, but it’s Tanak who sets the pace the rest of the day. Even the quintuple championship has to admit Tanak is in a class of his own “Our new car works very well here and I have a good feeling with the chassis.

But the combination of Tanak and Toyota seems very strong…” said a

The combination of tanak and toyota seems very strong

Rally-emag / H1 2018

then blasts through the long one to beat rival Ogier.

Neuville is sticking to his own pace and must be feeling the jitters coming up. His pace is not on par with his opposition and he drops down to fifth. Time to panic? Nah, not for 2018-Thierry Neuville. “I had a good run so we should be able to compete, but the times are not good Let’s see.” Still no panic, just

Thierry Neuville

I had a good run so we should be able to compete, but the times are not good.

Let's see...

confidence that eventually things will be alright. And rightfully so because events would take an unexpected turn rather quickly.

The decision On the second running of the long Panzerplatte stage Ogier hits trouble. He suffers a puncture 8 kilometers into the stage and is forced to stop and change the tire. It costs him a minute forty five and any chance of victory. “I took the normal line, of course with all these rocks this is something that can happen here. But for my championship it is not really a good move.”

Rally-emag / H1 2018

T. Suninen M. Markkula Ford Fiesta WRC 5th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC

19

STAGES

WRC 2018

Round 9: Germany

N

euville’s patience is finally rewarded on the final day of the rally.

So far Neuville has struggled and his performance was mediocre at best. His fourth position going into the final testament of that. Yet miraculously in one stage Neuville is bumped up to second due to the consecutive exits of Latvala and Sordo. The Finn suffers gearbox failure in a road section and despite starting the first stage of the day, he can’t finish it. Dani Sordro was locked in battle with Latvala and vowed to put in a ‘Maximum attack’ performance. Oblivious to his rival’s dismay Sordo keeps word and goes all out. It results in a crash. After a trip through (literally) the vineyards, his i20 is damaged beyond repair and Sordo is out of the rally. Without doing much in terms of taking extra risk, it promotes Neuville to second and a very solid points haul. What did we say again? That’s what champions do.

Winner: Ott Tanak

Championship leader: Thierry Neuville

Back-to-Back

Again! After clinching back-to-back wins in Finland, it's another back-to-back for Toyota and Tanak. By winning in Germany they claim their second consecutive WRC win.

Championships are starting to look more and more realistic

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ott TÄNAK Thierry NEUVILLE Esapekka LAPPI Sébastien OGIER Teemu SUNINEN Andreas MIKKELSEN Craig BREEN Marijan GRIEBEL Jan KOPECKY Kalle ROVANPERA

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Toyota Yaris WRC 3:03:36,9 +39,2 Hyundai i20 WRC Toyota Yaris WRC +1.00,9 Ford Fiesta WRC +1.34,5 Ford Fiesta WRC +2.02,9 Hyundai i20 WRC +2.13,8 Citroen C3 WRC +2.39,1 Citroen DS3 WRC +10.41,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +13.12,8 Skoda Fabia R5 +13.6,6 Rally-emag / H1 2018

Flash/Back

Canarias Images: Sven kollus

LUKYANUK Image: Sven kollus

C. Ingram R. Whittock Skoda Fabia R5 Withdrawn Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 03-05 MAY / Based in / LAS PALMAS / Surface / TARMAC / Nr. of stages / 14 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Alexey LUKYANUK Nikolay GRYAZIN Fabian KREIM Jose Antonio SUAREZ Laurent PELLIER Grzegorz GRZYB Bruno MAGALHAES Ivan ARES Miguel FUSTER Eyvind BRYNILDSEN

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Entries / 89 / Finishers / 65 / Winner / ALEXEY LUKYANUK / Car / FORD FIESTA R5 /

Ford Fiesta R5 2:06:23,6 +51,4 Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.29,5 Hyundai i20 R5 +1.48,4 Peugeot 208 T16 +1.49,9 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.04,5 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.21,1 Hyundai i20 R5 +2.23,1 Ford Fiesta R5 +2.24,3 Ford Fiesta R5 +2.25,9

Flash/Back

Acropolis Images: Sven kollus

MAGALHAES Image: Sven kollus

A. von Thurn und Taxis

C. Frank Skoda Fabia R5 14th Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 31 MAY -3 JUNE / Based in / LAMIA / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 12 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Entries / 65 / Finishers / 46 / Winner / BRUNO MAGALHAES / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

Bruno MAGALHAES Skoda Fabia R5 3:02:09,4 Norbert HERCZIG Skoda Fabia R5 +29,1 Hubert PTASEK Skoda Fabia R5 +1.37,2 Eyvind BRYNILDSEN Ford Fiesta R5 +2.35,2 Simos GALATRIOTIS Skoda Fabia R5 +3.23,3 Grzegorz GRZYB Skoda Fabia R5 +5.20,6 Jourdain SERDIRIDIS Skoda Fabia R5 +5.55,5 Orhan AVCIOGLU Skoda Fabia R5 +6.39,3 Paulo NOBRE Skoda Fabia R5 +6.55,3 Tibor ERDI Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +9.07,8

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Flash/Back

Cyprus Images: Sven kollus

GALATRIOTIS Image: Sven kollus

N. Al Attiyah M. Baumel Ford Fiesta R5 4th Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 15-17 JUNE / Based in / LARNACA / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 13 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Entries / 59 / Finishers / 46 / Winner / SIMOS GALATRIOTIS / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

Smios GALATRIOTIS Skoda Fabia R5 3:29:18,7 Bruno MAGALHAES Skoda Fabia R5 +0,7 Norbert HERCZIG Skoda Fabia R5 +1.56,3 Nasser AL-ATTIYAH Ford Fiesta R5 +2.55,2 Orhan AVICOGLU Skoda Fabia R5 +3.10,9 Vojtech STAF Skoda Fabia R5 +4.31,7 David BOTKA Skoda Fabia R5 +11.22,1 Albert VON TURM & TAXIS Skoda Fabia R5 +13.14,6 Christos DEMOSTHENOUS Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +13.18,2 Petros PANTELI Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +15.30,4

Rally-emag / H1 2018

ERC

Rally di Roma Capitale Words: Steven van Veenendaal Images: Sven Kollus

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Rally-emag / H1 2018

LUKYANUK Image: Sven kollus

S. Campedelli T. Canton Ford Fiesta R5 30th Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC In-form Lukyanuk

ship. However his points total barely increased during the following rounds. Meanwhie the steady Bruno Magalhaes racked up a first and second. Suddenly his Portuguese rival was in the lead of the championship.

With victory in the rally with probably the prettiest name of the entire calendar, the Rally di Roma Capitale, Alexey Lukyanuk has regained the lead in the European Rally Championship. The Russian managed to keep local hero Giandomenico Basso at bay and was able to add 37 championship points to his Trouble ahead The rally was really decided already on the opening tally. day. From the first serious test Lukyanuk took hold As in years past, Lukyanuk’s current season is of the event and then witnessed his rivals faltering marked by ups and downs. After the winning the one by one. Nikolay Gryazin remained closest unopening two rounds he seemed to have buried his til a faulty power steering cost him three minutes. demons and looked set for a dominant champion- The opening day didn’t go much better for Bruno Magalhaes.

Lukyanuk’s foremost competition did not come from the ERC regulars. Luckily, the

Italians enough

stars

have local

to make for a great event, even when the big names hit trouble, and give the ‘Russian rocket’ a run for his money.

Rally-emag / H1 2018

The engine of his Fabia repeatedly switched off, requiring a master reset to fire back up. A frustrated Magalhaes ended the day in sixth.

So Lukyanuk’s foremost competition did not come from the ERC regulars. Luckily, the Italians have enough local stars to make for a great event, even when the big names hit trouble, and give the ‘Russian rocket’ a run for his money. Simone Campedelli remains close to Lukyanuk until he is slapped with two punctures.

With just one spare in the boot, he had no other option but to retire. Two-time Euroean Rally Champion

Rally-emag / H1 2018

ERC 2018

Round 5: Roma di Capitale

Giandomenico Basso moved up to second when Campedellig dropped down the order. It’s only Basso’s second rally in the Fabia R5 though, so it can’t really be expected of him yet to push flat out and put pressure on Lukyanuk.

Had he not suffered a puncture on the opening day, a top five might have been in the cards as well. He wasn’t too bothered by it though, the most important aspect of the weekend was that he was back in action and able to compete again in the sport that he loves.

Chris Ingram made his return to the series. The talented Britt had to withdraw from the second event of the season, the Rally Islas Canarias, due to illness. The symptoms remained and Ingram was forced to miss Greece and Cyprus as well. A little bit rusty, and let’s also not forget that this is actually only his second ERC rally in an R5 car, Ingram finished the rally in a solid sixth position.

The final Sunday was largely a formality. Paolo Andreucci retired which allowed Magalhaes to move up a spot.

Up front Basso is getting quicker and quicker and closes in on Lukyanuk to bring the gap down to a mere 5 seconds. The Russian has a little extra left in the tank though and parries Basso’s attack. Eventually he wins the rally with a 7.5 second margin.

Winner: Alexey Lukyanuk

1 Alexey LUKYANUK 2 Giandomenico BASSO 3 Grzegorz GRZYB 4 Fabian KREIM 5 Bruno MAGALHAES 6 Chris INGRAM 7 Juuso NORDGREN 8 Giacomo SCATOLON 9 Antonio RUSCE 10 Fredrik AHLIN

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Championship leader: Alexey Lukyanuk

Ford Fiesta R5 1:48:03,5 +7,5 Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.04,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.16,5 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.41,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.32,2 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.34,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +2.56,8 Ford Fiesta R5 +3.08,4 Skoda Fabia R5 +3.17,0

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Flash/Back

Mettet Images: Sven kollus

LOEB Image: Sven kollus

Hansen Loeb Hansen Kristofferson Solberg Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 11-13 MAY / Based in / METTET / Surface / MIXED /

Winner / SEBASTIEN LOEB / Car / PEUGEOT 208 /

FINAL RACE RESULTS 1 2 3 4 5 6

Sebasiten LOEB Petter SOLBERG Timme HANSEN Mattoas EKSTROM

Johan KRISTOFFERSON Andreas BAKKERUD

Rally-emag / H1 2018

Peugeot 208 VW Polo R Peugeot 208 Audi S1 VW Polo R Audi S1

4:05.108 4:05.555 4:06.910 4:07.068 4:07.203 4:08.139