Rally-eMag 051 Q1 2019

Rally-emag

The digital rally magazine Issue 51, March 2019

wrc from the monte to argentina ARA Sno*drift

plus cross country in the middle east

ERC Azores

GRC Saarland

DRC Zuiderzee & Visual art

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul hyundai motorsport hyundai i20 WRC Rallye Monte carlo

O-C Veiby / Jonas Andersson Ole Christian Veiby Volkswagen Polo R5 Tour de COrse

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Elfyn Evans / scott martin M-Sport WOrld Rally Team ford fiesta WRC Rally Guanajuato Mexico

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WRC

Report

Monte Carlo WORDS: harry van veenendaal / Images: Erik van 't Land

After a most exciting season everyone was waiting for the new season. A lot of changes had been implemented. So plenty of questions hung in the air. We take you back to the first three events of the season. We try to answer the mostly asked question: can and will 2019 be in the 2018-league of excitement? Our first attempt to answer this would be yes.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

OGIER Images: Erik van 't Land

of course, Sebastien Ogier, the As always the season started in first two having a slight advanMonte Carlo, or rather in Gap, as tage over Ogier. Would the C3 the competitors did no reach the be up to the job? principality until Saturday evening. Not present in Gap were Film of the rally Haydon Paddon, Mads Østberg It all began with Kris Meeke, he and Craig Breen. None of these was fastest in the shakedown, ‘usual suspects’ had been able to but on Thursday evening the secure a factory seat. Late r on it rally really started. Unlike other events, the Monte doesn’t know show stage especially for the Not present in Gap aspectators.

So after the ceremowere [ haydon nial start in Gap the competitors went straight into the night and Paddon, Mads into the impressive mountains. ostberg and The just over 20 kilometers long La Bréole – Selonnet serving Craig Breen ] as stage one this year, had nevnone of these ‘usu- er been run this way. An extra al suspects’ had difficulty was that the stage was been able to secure relatively dry but on the middle a factory seat. sections there were some treacherous patches of snow and ice. became clear Østberg would be present in the rest of the season but only for a limited number of Tires Like always tires choice is the outings in WRC 2 PRO. biggest problem in this event.

Luckily we could celebrate the “Do I take studs that will lead return of Kris Meeke for a full me safely through the patches of factory drive with Toyota. An- snow and ice,” all competitors other returnee was Sebastien have to ask themselves. “ Or do Loeb. He did not want a whole I dare to choose the faster opseason but Hyundai persuaded tion with some super soft tires him to help them win the all-im- risking to lose grip in the wetter portant manufacturers’ title. He sections”. became the teammate of Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen Not unexpectedly, it was Ott as well as Dani Sordo with whom Tänak who propelled himself into the lead. Like most drivers he would be sharing a car. he had taken the safer option Before the games began the by using four studded tires. three most important contend- The only one daring a gamble ers were Neuville, Tänak and, was Thierry Neuville with two studded and two supersofts. On

Who's there?

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

this first stage this eventually proved to be the wrong choice.

Meeke and Ogier were second and third, not very far from the Estonian. Neuville lost some 26 seconds! But then the following Avançon - Notre Dame Du Laus test, proved to be almost entirely dry so the Belgian gained back 11 seconds. But the arithmetic show the studded option was the better one for the two stages. After these first battles it was advantage Tänak, followed by Ogier at 9 seconds and Neuville another 5 seconds further down. The three alleged main 2019 contenders already opened a gap between them and the followers, the first one being Esapekka Lappi who is already 45 seconds behind the leader.

Behind the new Citroen driver, Latvala, Evans, Meeke Loeb and Mikkelsen are not far behind, though the gap that separates the Norwegian from Tänak is almost a minute.

Teemu Suninen and Kalle Rovanperä did not make it to the finish of the first night. They both were caught out by some slippery stretches and could not continue for now.

Not unexpectedly, it was Ott Tänak who propelled himself into the lead.

WRC

Friday complaints

The first stage of Friday was cancelled due to an excess amount of spectators in wrong places. There was a lot of criticism as this stage had a lot of snow and ice and consequently most drivers had studded tires. The next stage was almost completely dry and for that kind of surface a super soft tire would have been better.

So on the first competitive stage of the day (Roussieux – Laborel) it was Loeb who was fastest. He was the only topdriver who had chosen the ‘tricky option’ (four super-softs) that now proved to be the best one. However he only won 0.5 seconds. Neuville took the overall lead, closely followed by Tänak and Ogier.

Battle of the season?

The battle that developed during the rest of the day could very well be the battle that will continue through the whole season. Neuville was leading but Ogier just kept on following at a (very) close range. On the second running of Roussieux - Laborel it is Ogier who takes the lead. On the last stage of the day Curbans - Piegut Neuville stages an ultimate attack but though Ogier loses just over 2 seconds, he is still the overnight leader with a tiny two-second margin. Ott Tanak dropped down to seventh due to a puncture. Mikkelsen inherits Tänak’s position and is now in fourth be it at a considerable margin of just under one and a half minute. Latvala, Loeb and Evans are chasing Tänak. Esapekka Lappi is not among the top drivers, as he had to retire after an off causing some suspension damage.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Pontus Tidemand - Ola Floene Ford Fiesta WRC M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Rally Monte Carlo Image by: Erik van 't Land

WRC And then there were…

Saturday started badly for some drivers, the first one being Mikkelsen. He had a flat right in his notes that proved to be a bit optimistic under the circumstances.

The cameras of WRC+ All Live show his Hyundai running wide, and touching a bank. It is not until the stop finish a short distance away that we can see the damage.

His left wheel is missing and so is a good part of the rear left suspension still lying some meters back at the place of impact. That is game over for him as on Sundays there will be no more Rally 2. The next victim that morning is Esapekka Lappi he has to stop his car with some kind of engine damage. Not much later it is Elfyn Evans who finds out that Monte-Carlo can bite quite severely.

A piece of black ice in a shadowy corner catches him out. He runs wide, off the road unable to get back onto the road: Another game over. Meanwhile Ogier and Neuville continue their epic battle. At the beginning of the day, Ogier lead by 5.6 second, at the end of the day the margin grew just over a second smaller but the reigning champion was still leading. At just

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sebastien OGIER

Thierry NEUVILLE Ott TANAK Sebastien LOEB Jari Matti LATVALA Kris MEEKE Gus GREENSMITH Yoann BONATO Stephane SARRAZIN Adrien FOURMAUX

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

under two minutes Loeb and Latvala fight their own battle for the last step on the podium, with only two seconds between them their fight will definitely continue in the Sea Alps on Sunday.

Meeke again

A four second gap between number one and number two and a two second gap between number three and four, what more could you wish for a final day? Not much more it showed on Sunday morning. Ogier dropped back in a ferocious battle with Neuville. At the penultimate stage Neuville came uncomfortably close to Ogier who saw his lead being smashed to 0,4 seconds. Ogier said he had an ‘issue with the throttle’ before the start of the all decisive PowerStage. The throttle issue evaporated and in an all or nothing fight Ogier was a tiny bit faster than Neuville and increased his winning margin to 2.2 seconds.

He did not however win the PowerStage. That was Kris Meeke who after his shakedown ‘win’ at the very beginning now at the end of the rally earned some bonus points by winning his first PowerStage for Toyota.

And what happened to the ‘other

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

3:21:15,9 +2,2 +2.15,2 +2.28,2 +2.29,9 +5.36,2 +13.04,6 +13.56,5 +14.06,8 +16.03,4

contender’ Ott Tanak? Obviously he was thrown back quite a bit after his puncture, but he is surely a leading contender. On Saturday and Sunday he won seven stages in a row climbing back to third.

This result showed that the battle will be fierce and as things are now this battle will probably be fought between Ogier, Neuville and Tanak. Loeb will not be competing in all events so he will not be able to win the championship but his fourth place showed he is still a force to be reckoned with.

Though he must have been a bit tired after having his Dakar fight he grew accustomed to his new car very fast and ended in fourth in a straight fight with Latvala.

100 victories

No we are not talking about Ogier’s victories because after this seventh Monte win, there are ‘only’ 45 of them. But Citroen celebrating it’s 100th anniversary as a manufacturer won its 100th WRC victory in Monte Carlo.

What an appropriate win and what a good start of the season in which they aim to come back to their winning days of some season’s ago.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Report

Sweden WORDS: harry van veenendaal / Images: Erik van 't Land

After the pretty mild temperatures of Southern France, we did not have to get used to the Swedish midwinter temperatures. The thermometers showed us rather strange temps. The condition of the (abundant amounts of) snow was quite poor. Rather than a hard packed snowy road the competitors had to cope with slushy mud on the roads and snow banks that were not half as solid as the drivers wished for, because leaning against a snow wall usually meant getting sucked in instead of being held and bounced back onto the road again.

These conditions caused many victims, some of them with big names.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

TAN

Images: Erik

NAK

k van 't Land

Big names There was no shortage of big names in Sweden this year. Apart from our usual WRC contenders (including two World Champions: Ogier and Loeb) we had two other former champions. Celebrating his 51st birthday was Marcus Grönholm.

He had wanted to compete last year but then there was no proper car available for him. But this year

Sebastien Ogier

The combination of tanak and toyota seems very strong Tommi Mäkinen found him a real Toyota Yaris WRC, so Grönholm could really compare his skills with the current breed of drivers. In the historic rally we saw Petter Solberg and his wife Pernilla, who came saw and conquered in their Ford Escort Mk2.

Before the rally starts Marcus Grönholm is all smiles. But right from the word GO, he is back into rally mode again. In his case this means he is really committed. Early on in the rally he spins. “How much did we lose?” he frantically asks his faithful co-driver Timo Rautiainen.

“One and a half minute.” It is not the answer he wanted to hear. But from that moment on he decided to enjoy his rally. Judging from his smiling face he did so thoroughly. His 38th place at the finish was

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

not important anymore. Sebastien Loeb had other intentions. He is now part of the Hyundai team and his task is to gain points for the manufacturers’ championship.

His seventh place was not enough as Neuville and Mikkelsen already earned higher points, but he is still one of the big names.

Tanak attack In Monte Carlo he already showed his remarkable speed. A puncture threw him out of contention but he managed to claw back to end on the podium. So it was of no surprise the Estonian was in maximum attack mode when he started in Sweden. Thierry Neuville was fastest on the opening ceremonial SuperSpecialStage in Karlstadt. But from then on Tänak took the lead.

It did not go without fight however. After Tänak took the lead on the first Friday test, the Hof Finskog stage in Norway, he kept that lead until the end of the morning. But on the first stage after midday service (the second running of the Hof Finskog stage) Elfyn Evans was fastest, closely followed by Latvala and Suninen. Tänak lost the lead but new leader Jari-Matti Latvala came from the same (Toyota) family. Suninen was now second and Tänak third. Mikkelsen, Meeke, Neuville and Ogier already are looking at 20 to 30 second gaps.

Teemu Suninen is the next leader.

Keeping this lead for the rest of the day, gives him his first ever-overnight lead. Tänak is back in second again two seconds behind the leader. Mikkelsen, Evans, Lappi and Loeb follow.

Not everyone makes it to the end.

On the Svullrya stage halfway the afternoon it is Sebastien Ogier who makes a rare mistake. Coming out of a fast corner a bit to fast he runs wide into a snowbank. This time the bank is solid enough and Ogier’s Citroen bounces back into another bank on the other side of the road. This one proves to be a bit softer and the Citroen was sucked into the soft white stuff. No way he could get out without some unavailable outside help. No Friday finish for Ogier. In a very similar way Jari-Matti Latvala slides off the road and out of the rally for the day.

Tanak comes back On the very first stage of the day, Ott Tänak bridges the two-seconds to Teemu Suninen and takes back the lead in the rally. At the end of the day he widened the gap to just under one minute. Second man is Esapekka Lappi who replaces teammate Ogier in the top of the classification. Joined second is Andreas Mikkelsen. Thierry Neuville is next in line a further two seconds behind. Both Latvala and Ogier are trailing behind due to their misfortunes of yesterday. Ogier admits finding it hard to get the motivation, still he wins three stages and Latvala also wins one. But it is not his rally this year. Years ago it was his first WRC victory but this year it doesn’t seem to fit. “I tried to go somewhat faster,” explaining his Saturday off. “Apparently that did not work,” he smiles.

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

L. Bertelli S. Scattolin Ford Fiesta WRC 20th Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC WRC 2019

Round 2: Sweden

F Historic Rally and safety During Rally Sweden there was a lot of discussion about the running of the Historic Rally. The bad condition of the stages, caused by the mild temperatures became even worse due to the running of the Historic Sweden Rally. Among the spectators it is a very popular event, especially if drivers like Petter Solberg are competing, but the cars, using the same roads as the ‘normal’ rally, deteriorate the roads even more. Three historic stages had been cancelled to preserve the competitive roads, but still there was a lot of argument, coming from the drivers and from the FIA who in the person of safety delegate Michelle Mouton asked for a rethink on this subject, but rally Sweden principal Glen Olsson Olsson denied and said in 2020 there would still be a historic event. It will be run between the first and second pass of the WRC cars. “In this way we try to keep the spectators along the stages so that they are not traveling around the countryside causing traffic jams.

or Teemu Suninen Saturday in Sweden was an unlucky day. Starting the day in first place he loses top position to Tänak, on Hagfors, the second Saturday stage. As so many he slides of the road. This time he can continue but not after losing some 1.5 minutes. At the end of the day it goes wrong again in Vargåsen. He slides off the road into a bank, pirouetting his car into a tree. The roll cage seems bent, but as the cage is manufactured in house at M-Sport, the mechanics can mend it and he can continue the next day.

Tänak rules

T

he winner was fairly certain already. Tänak would not give away his advantage, but behind him was a severe fight for PowerStage points as well for a good final classification in the rally, earning valuable championship points. Neuville was the only one to gain a place and in doing so strengthened his championship position. He landed on the podium and earned some extra points by being second fastest on the PowerStage. Elfyn Evans was third fastest on the PowerStage and fifth in the rally. A more than happy second was Esapekka Lappi.

He provided his new employer Citroën with a good measure of manufacturer’s points with his first podium position in the new car.

But best of all was Ott Tänak. He showed his self-confidence not only by safeguarding his victory but also by doing that with a PowerStage win. That meant maximum points and the lead in the championship.

Neuville is now second. Ogier who did not get more than 2 points form his PowerStage result (4th) dropped down to third place.

Winner: Ott Tanak

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ott TÄNAK Esapekka LAPPI Thierry NEUVILLE Andreas MIKKELSEN Elfyn EVANS Kris MEEKE Sebastien LOEB Pontus TIDEMAND Ole-Christian VEIBY Janne TUOHINO

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Toyota Yaris WRC 2:47:30,0 +53,7 Citroen C3 WRC +56,7 Hyundai i20 WRC Hyundai i20 WRC +1.05,4 Ford Fiesta WRC +1.08,2 Toyota Yaris WRC +1.38,8 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.49,7 Ford Fiesta WRC +3.37,7 VW Polo R5 +6.34,0 Ford Fiesta WRC +8.21,4

Championship leader: Ott Tanak

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Report

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

At least the weather was as expected, after two spring-like winter events, Mexico delivered with soaring heat and generally blue skies. This always makes this rally a happy place with lots of laughter and gaiety. This year was no exception although this particular event will be remembered by two controversies, let’s calls them ‘the ramp’ and ‘Lappi’s off’. The real rally however was also exciting so we’ll tell you all about that too.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

OGIER Images: Erik van 't Land

Stage one was not really a success as can be read in the boxed text.

So let’s forget about that one and continue into the next morning.

The first item on the menu was the stage with the very sweet name of El Chocolate. Running it however is far from sweet. With it’s very bumpy roads over more than 30 kilometres. Andreas Mikkelsen was fastest and took the lead; just

Sebastien Ogier

I'm not

unhappy with the result less than three seconds clear from Sebastien Ogier. Eventually it was Ogier who was fastest on this first day being reasonably happy. “This day for sure has not been an easy one but I’m not unhappy with the result.” Elfyn Evans did better than last year when he violently went off the road here. He was second, some 15 seconds behind Ogier.

Meeke, Tanak, Lappi and Neuville were following.

TR

he ramp ally Mexico always starts with a spectacular street stage in the narrow streets of UNESCO heritage town Guanajuato. The city built against a rock has many winding streets, quite a few of them going through tunnels. That in itself is already quite a sight to see. But the organizers thought they needed to spice up things a bit, by putting some local jalapeño into the recipe. If you’ve ever been there you know you have to be careful with jalapeño. The amount of the chilli pepper the local organizers used might be called a bit too spicy. In an attempt to make the stage a bit more exciting they built a ramp, in a place where a lot of spectators could see it. So right before the finish the cars flew into the air, to land on the finish line. Loud cheers would be guaranteed. However when hiring the ramp builder they found a contractor apparently without any knowledge of building ramps for WRC cars. When Andreas Mikkelsen almost lost his car after a spectacular jump over the ramp the organizers decided to stop the stage. The ramp was to steep, to short and not solid enough. The cars flew much higher than expected and due tot the unbalance in the structure the cars landed awkwardly. Bringing them to close to the spectators. A lot of drivers complained about the situation and we don’t expect the ramp to come back next year

LO

appi’s off n the Guanajuatito test on Saturday morning Esapekka Lappi slid of the road and got stuck in a ditch.

The nose of his C3 was halfway blocking the road. Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans had to slow down to pass the stricken Citroën. But then the organizers decided to red flag he stage. At that moment Ogier had already slowed down a lot because of a puncture. But now he had to stop because of the red flag. After the stage he was awarded a notional time 22.4 seconds slower than Meeke as a compensation for the fact Ogier was running on a flat tire. That caused some disturbance. The red flag situation allegedly gave him a better time than he would have had after struggling down the long stage with a puncture. Kris Meeke was not happy and in the heat of the moment said Citroën had forced the red flag situation to help Ogier. It became clear Citroën had no part in the red flag situation. The clerk of the course later said it was his decision and that no team whatsoever had had any role in that. So Meeke later apologized publicly to the Citroën team. “I sincerely want to apologize,” he stated in a video on his own social media channels. “I shouldn’t have said the things I said”

TT

ransport problems wo teams had a hard time just before the rally started. At Citroën they had the biggest problem. A boat with all kinds of equipment on board was kept in a port on the way to Mexico. I could not sail again because of some technical problem. Eventually Citroën had to decide to airlift some special equipment from France to Mexico.

Otherwise they would not have been able to start in Mexico. M-Sport had similar issues, and their containers arrived in the service park uncomfortably close to the start of the event. However a night of extra work for the dedicated people of M-Sport was enough to be completely ready before the start of proceedings.

Indicating it was quite a difficult day was the fact that there were quite a few casualties already. Early leader Andreas Mikkelsen was sidelined with a suspension issue. Dani Sordo was suffering from an electric glitch and Jari-Matti Latvala did not He went off and smashed his Fiësta car, so his rally was over before it make it either with technical woes. into something solid. The damage really started.

Much earlier in the day we already proved to be too much to repair the lost Teemu Suninen.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

A. Mikkelsen A. Jaeger Hyundai i20 WRC Retired Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC WRC 2019

21

OS

STAGES

gier continues aturday was a day where a lot of things happened but nothing much changed. It all started with the ‘Lappi incident’ (see boxed text) Meeke took over first place from Ogier on stage 10, but lost it again on the next test because of a puncture costing him a lot of time. Both Tänak and Neuville were not their usual self. Both could not find their rhythm. The Belgian was not feeling very well, which obviously did not help. At the end of the day it was Ogier who was in front again. He increased his lead to Evans to about half a minute. Ott Tänak was coming closer again and will certainly be trying to grab Evans, only two seconds before him. Neuville seemed to be too far back to be able to eventually land on the podium

OI

gier takes all t was blisteringly hot when the drivers had to tackle the last few stages. Before the PowerStage Ogier had a comfortable lead of 24 seconds. Elfyn Evans had been handed a 10 second penalty for arriving late at the time control just before the PowerStage so it was no surprise Ott Tänak reacted by clinching second place in the rally, 30 seconds adrift of Ogier. Elfyn Evans was third and Neuville fourth.

The PowerStage points went to Ogier who was fastest just 0.1 second faster than Kris Meeke. Neuville was next grabbing three extra points but it was Ogier who fared best. He won and got 25 points for that and he also won the PowerStage that earned him another 5 points. After the arithmetic this means je is now coming closer again to Ott Tanak who is still the leader in the championship standings.

Winner: Sebastien Ogier

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sébastien OGIER Ott TÄNAK Elfyn EVANS Thierry NEUVILLE Kris MEEKE Benito GUERRA Marco BULACIA WILKINSON

Jari Matti LATVALA Dani SORDO Ricardo TRIVINO

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Citroen C3 WRC Toyota Yaris WRC Ford Fiesta WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Toyota Yaris WRC Skoda Fabia R5 Skoda Fabia R5 Citroen DS3 WRC Hyundai i20 WRC Skoda Fabia R5

Round 3: Mexico

3:37:08,8 +30,2 +49,9 +1.27,0 +6.06,2 +15.35,5 +18.51,5 +18.55,9 +22.44,1 +26.21,7

Championship leader: Ott Tanak

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Report

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

It’s no surprise that the Tour de Corse is always full of surprises. The 2019 edition was no exception to this rule. In this case we are not talking about the 10.000 bends this rally allegedly has. No we will be talking about other surprises and we won’t forget the major twist in this year’s event. It was at the far end of the tail and it was a cruel one for one driver and a lucky one for another one. Let’s take you through the events happening in this 67th running of the famous rally.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

NEUV

Images: Erik

VILLE

k van 't Land

W

hen arriving on the isle of beauty, as the tourist folders tend to call the island, the competitors got he first surprise. When they started recceing they found snow in the higher altitude stages. Whereas we had a more or less a lack of snow in the previous European events, we now had snow when we did not expect it. The weather later had another (nasty) surprise for us in store as part of the service park was blown away by a very strong storm. Then later on the weather came to its senses and changed to normal springtime kind of weather. It stayed that way for the rest of the event.

Apart from the weather there was another surprise and that was the itinerary. No less than 80% of the stage mileage was different from earlier years. The rally starts in Porto Vecchio in the south of the island. Here the ceremonial start takes place on Thursday. The Friday stages will all be in the south of the island not too far from Porto Vecchio. There will be no midday service on Friday, just a tyre fitting zone where crews can change tyres or do minor repairs or set up changes, executed without the help of the usual service personnel.

On Saturday the drivers go north for two loops of three stages each. Service will now be available on this longest day of the rally, at the airport of Bastia. With a total distance of just over 47 kilometres Castagniccia is the longest stage of the rally. It is the last stage of each of the two loops. On the last day of the rally there are only two stages including the Calvi PowerStage, with it’s just less than 20 kilometres not exactly a walk in the Sunday Park.

On the drivers’ front the biggest surprise was the absence of Andreas Mikkelsen in their serious quest to finally win the manufacturers’ title Hyundai chose to enter their best tarmac drivers. So Sebastien Loeb replaces Mikkelsen. For the rest all usual factory drivers were there. The total number of entrants was close to a hundred teams (96).

On Friday morning the rally really

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

starts. But before the rally is completely warmed up the first casualties can be reported. The first one having a problem is Sebastien Ogier. He is the second driver on the road and he spins in a hairpin. No harm done and he can continue but he obviously loses time, lucky for him it’s only 10 seconds. Not much later Kris Meeke picks up a puncture losing almost a minute. The last casualty of the first stage is Sebastien Loeb. He runs wide in a corner and hits a rock, breaking his suspension. The two-minute time loss will not bring the result his team boss hoped for.

the tail of Meeke swerving around to get his attention. Finally Meeke sees his opponent and goes to the right to make way. But at stage end Evans has dropped to third place. “I know Kris,” Evans pretty calmly says. “This is not something he would do intentionally.” Not much later Meeke stops at the finish saying: “Sorry, sorry. I did not know he was there. I hope this will be dealt with in the proper way! This is very frustrating for Elfyn and it is not what I intended.” The marshals of the rally agree and give Evans, the same time as stage winner Ott Tänak.

So Evans is back in the lead.

Slowly it becomes clear that the teams to be reckoned with in Corsica are now Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans obviously tarmac specialist Dani Sordo is not far behind, nor is championship leader Ott Tänak. He is leading the rally at the end of the morning if only by a minimal advantage of just over 1 second. Evans is in second and some 3 seconds behind Evans it is Thierry Neuville in third.

With fresh tires and a new plan, Evans wins two stages and passes Tänak again. At the penultimate stage of the day Evans’ advantage grew to almost five seconds. Then on the last stage he gets stuck behind the ailing Toyota of Kris Meeke. Kris and co-driver Seb Marshall are just discussing the gap to Evans behind them. They hope that the people at the start of the stage have given Evans a three minutes interval. Well as a matter of fact, they have not and Evans is already at

Back north

The rally is long from over because another 174 kilometres are waiting for the remaining competitors on Saturday. Tänak is really charging and by the end of the morning the Estonian passes the Welshman. Just like yesterday Evans stays in touch and when Tänak gets a puncture, Evans takes the lead again. Behind him is Thierry Neuville with an 11.5 second gap. But then there is a repeat run of ‘the long one’. On the earlier run Evans had been 4.5 seconds faster than Neuville.

In the second run the M-Sport driver was 8 seconds faster than his first run, but an absolutely flying Neuville wins the stage 16 seconds faster than Evans. Ogier, Tänak and Meeke have also been faster than Evans, so what happened? “I don’t know,” Evans admits. “It felt like an OK run, but the time is not fast enough. We’ll have to do better tomorrow!”

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

E. Evans S. Martin Ford Fiesta WRC 3rd Overall Pic: Erik van't Land

WRC

WRC 2019

Round 4: Corsica

TT

he cruellest of fates… here was a lot of tension in the M-Sport ranks. Like always everything was checked at the overnight service, especially at Elfyn’s car. Than everything was double checked, every part that could possibly break was changed and everything that was not absolutely essential was taken from the car to bring it as near as possible to the minimum weight. The crew could be certain they had handed the best possible car to Elfyn. The only thing he had to do was to crush Neuville. And he did. At the end of the first of the two remaining stages, Evans was 16 seconds faster than Neuville. So with a gap of 11.5 seconds he just had to cover the PowerStage. It was going all right and Thierry Neuville at the stop finish admitted Elfyn had simply been to fast for him. Then messages started to be dropped via social media. ‘Elfyn having a problem?’ Then WRC+ All Live showed the evidence to everyone waiting at the stop line. Evans was definitely not going fast. Then it became clear a delaminated tyre was flapping at the right front of the car. Not much later an extremely disappointed Evans told us what happened. “There was something in the middle of the road, a piece of rock or perhaps a hole in the road surface.

We knew immediately even before the puncture hazard light started blinking.

Scott told me we had another 6 k’s to go so we decided not to stop and change the tyre because that would take to long. As cautiously as possible we continued hoping we would reach the finish. And we did”. But third place is only a very small consolation for the team. They had victory in their hands.

Everyone agreed. But still this is something that can happen in rallying. Andrea

Winner: Thierry Neuville

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thierry NEUVILLE Sébastien OGIER Elfyn EVANS Dani SORDO Teemu SUNINEN Ott TÄNAK Esapekka LAPPI Sebastien LOEB Kris MEEKE Jari-Matti LATVALA

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Adamo voiced it clearly and honestly. “I’m very disappointed for Elfyn, but we all have come to the sport to win, so while feeling a bastard I am very happy we won here. It brings us first place in both championships and that is why I am happy. Thierry Neuville agreed with his boss and was very happy. It was his first win this year and it brings him where he wants to be for the rest of the year but most of all in Australia. He wants to be the champ. He wants to take over from Sebastien Ogier and victories like these help, no matter that you feel sorry for the guy who was robbed of the victory. But rallying stays rallying when everyone was on the podium we saw Thierry’s arm around Elfyn’s shoulders, consoling his opponent.

WI

hat did Corsica bring us? t was an interesting rally with exciting fights. Tires are of crucial importance not only because of their adherence to the ever-changing kinds of tarmac but also because as a driver, you have to nurse them. Every cut can work as a sharp knife cutting your tyre. A loose rock thrown onto the tarmac in your driving line can have the same effect and though the tarmac sometimes is very smooth there can always be holes in the surface caused by last winter’s frost. Tänak, Meeke and Latvala, to mention just a few, can tell you all about it. But that is part of the Corsican challenge. For a very long time Evans was the best but he too was caught in the end.

Championship leader: Thierry Neuville

Hyundai i20 WRC 3:22:59,0 +40,3 Citroen C3 WRC Ford Fiesta WRC +1.06,6 Hyundai i20 WRC +1.18,4 Ford Fiesta WRC +1.24,6 Toyota Yaris WRC +1.40,0 Citroen C3 WRC +2.09,1 Hyundai i20 WRC +3.39,2 Toyota Yaris WRC +5.06,3 Toyota Yaris WRC +6.44,6

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

argentina

- short

two in a row for neuville I

n this short report we get the chance to inform you about the highlights of the first event in the South American campaign of the WRC. In our next issue we will fill you in on the details. [words: Harry van Veenendaal; image: Red Bull]

rally beginning with Ott Tanak who led the first two stages. Then Meeke took over and headed the leaderboard until stage 6. Tänak overtook him in stage 7. But in stage 8 Neuville took over and so at the end of the first full day it was the Belgian who took over being the proud leader of the event. He did not allow anyone passing him anymore so at the end of the rally he was still leading. Unlike his last victory in Corsica he was now the undisputed winner. He did not win because someone else’s bad luck but simply because he was fastest. Second man Mikkelsen was 48 seconds behind him and Ogier in third just over a minute. Though Neuville more or In the top of the field there was less ‘relaxed’ in the PowerStage, quite a fierce battle, though Thi- he still managed to secure a third erry Neuville, feeling strong after place and the associating 3 extra his Corsican victory clearly showed championship points. Winner of his intentions. But it all began with the PowerStage was Ogier; he beat Tänak and Meeke; they each led the Latvala by 0.1 second. But as said Muddy waters Again a round of the WRC showed unfamiliar weather conditions. The lunar landscape of Argentina had been hampered a lot by loads of water, changing the dusty roads into muddy tracks and providing a completely different surface. But this of course was the same for all 25 crews that entered the event. Only four of them did not make it to the end. WRC contenders Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi were the most notorious retirements and in the R5 class Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Marco Bulacia Wilkinson also had incidents preventing them from making it to the finish.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Thierry Neuville fully earned to be the winner of the event. He scored 25 points for the rally victory and another 3 for the PowerStage. A grand total of 28 points, where Ogier ‘only’ gathered 20! The distance between the two is now 10 points.

Though Argentina clearly was not his event Tänak managed to grab a few points and is now in third of the WRC leaderboard, 18 points behind Ogier.

Apart from Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul, the happiest man at the finish of the rally was Hyundai boss Andrea Adamo. Of course his number one driver won the event but Andreas Mikkelsen was second. So the Korean team took home a maximum score in the Manufacturer’s championship, extending their lead to 38 points on their direct challenger Toyota.

WRC

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Sno*Drift

Kicks ofF the ARA National Rally Championship Season Words & images: Tara Hurlin

The Sno*Drift Rally, named “Rally of the Year” in 2012, has traditionally been the U.S. rally season’s kickoff competition. For 2019, the American Rally Association (ARA) National Rally Championship presented by AMSOIL proudly took the benchmark event under their wing after Rally America directed their focus from organizing rallies to being a media source, an important factor in keeping fan interest in the sport high.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

ERC

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

FETELA Image: TARA HURLIN

Can you say cold?

This year’s Sno*Drift lived up to its reputation as one of the most challenging rallies in the series. It is held in woodland towns Atlanta and Lewiston, Michigan, accumulative population 1,815, at a time when the winter season is the most unpredictable. Competitors need to equip themselves for conditions ranging from fluffy lake effect snow to slush-covered or snow-dusted ice sheets, sometimes with gravel mixed in-between. This year brought three feet of snow and frigid temperatures that posed extra challenges to competitors, volunteers, and spectators alike.

Fan favorites

Twenty-four out of 35 teams raced all 122-stage miles and made it to the finish despite record-low temperatures dipping below -20 degrees. Snow banks swallowed any car that slid into a corner too wide.

Some teams managed to dig themselves out, while fellow rally fans pushed others out. Good sportsmanship reigns supreme in stage rallies: Competitors are willing to risk their place in the ranks by stopping to pull another car out of a dangerous spot.

Ultimately, only the driver with the best car control and the toughest vehicle would come out on top.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Dead batteries and frozen fuel lines weren't uncommon, and fans were forced to wear several layers of clothing and invest in heat packs to avoid freezing appendages. Competitors with limited heat in their cars had to breathe with care as to not fog their vision. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, the usual disallowance of studded tires upped the difficulty.

Fresh snow provided some traction but was quickly compacted and smoothed into glistening ice with every passing car. Fortunately, the stages were recently plowed, and snow banks were present to ward off possible impact with the surrounding trees.

A couple of new fan favorites came out to play, such as this blast from the past, David Higgins’ old rally car, a 2000 Subaru Prodrive Impreza STI. The proof is in Higgins’ signature across the hood scoop. Considering the car’s rounds at the Dirtfish Rally School after its career with Higgins, the likenew condition was jaw-dropping. When first-time rally competitors Ele Bardha (driver) and Corrina Roshea (co-driver) were invited to step onto the podium to claim 3rd place in class, Bardha took hold of the microphone and enthusiastically reassured the audience: “Not a scratch! I promise you, not a scratch!” to which the fans cheered.

ERC

Ultimately

Only the driver with the best car control and

the toughest vehicle

would come out on top

Mike Purzycki revealed his bright, cheerful green Jeep Cherokee for the first time, which contrasted with the slew of Subarus. Whispers through fandom confirmed that the build's uniqueness would inspire others to step outside (or inside?) the box. A stick puncturing the Jeep’s radiator on the first day put Purzycki out of the ranks, but it didn’t prevent him from pushing through every stage on the second and final race day.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

J. Kramer J. Smith Subaru Impreza 5th Overall Pic: Tara Hurlin

National Class and Overall Winners This year was the Fetela Rally Team’s first ARA competition, but not the first Sno*Drift experience.

Barry McKenna and Leon Jordan were leading the stages until a transmission issue with their Ford Fiesta R5 on Stage 8 forced the team to park on the sidelines. Piotr Fetela and Dominik Jozwiak went on to conquer the remaining half of the courses to claim the overall win in their Open 4WD class 2017 Ford Fiesta Proto. On the podium, Jozwiak reminisced to the freezing but still lively fans in his thick Polish accent, “Only one snow bank hated us, and I prayed, ‘Piotr, please don’t stall. Get us out!’ I did not have to shovel or push, and I am so thankful for it. Piotr did good!”

Cameron Steely and Preston Osborn of O.D.D. Racing took 2nd Place overall and 1st Place in class, an impressive feat considering this was the team’s first winter event in a Limited 4WD (L4) car. Fetela was only 4-minutes faster than Steely and Osborn in their 2007 Subaru STI. An 8-minute gap separated 3rd Place winners Travis Nease and Matt James, also in the L4 class. DirtFish drivers Nease and James may have placed higher if their Subaru WRX STI hadn’t lost front drive. The damage was irreparable during the scheduled service, so the pair finished as a rear-wheel-drive car.

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

On an average day, Atlanta, Mich., locals Shawn MacDonald and Jonathan Cannis could navigate the town’s back roads while blindfolded. The team proved their experience when they won all but one of Friday's six stages, then pressed on to win eight of Saturday's ten stages with "The Punisher," a 1996 Honda Civic Ex. Their determination placed the pair in 4th Place overall and 1st Place in Open 2WD. The Heavy Metal Motorsports team overcame a broken gearbox and a 30-minute off into a snow bank with their 1993 Subaru Impreza, yet Jon Kramer and Jason Smith fought back and earned their rank as Fifth overall and First in the Naturally Aspirated 4WD class. “I was not surprised that we got stuck... but was genuinely shocked that we were able to fight our way back onto the top step and spray champagne for the NA4wd class win,” Kramer expressed.

Driver Robert Sanders and Co-driver Mike Mettetal piloted their fresh build to 1st Place in Limited 2WD. The 2016 Ford Fiesta ST was built by Thompson Racing Fabrication (TRF), a long-time rally supporter and the master of building safe, rugged rally cars and custom roll cages.

1 Piotr FETELA 2 Cameron STEELY 3 Travis NEASE 4 Shawn McDONALD 5 Jon KRAMER 6 Michael ENGLE 7 Brad MORRIS 8 Ele BARDHA 9 Zachary WHITEBREAD 10 Jordan LOCHER

Ford Fiesta Proto Subaru Impreza Subaru Impreza Hond Civic Subaru Impreza Subaru Impreza Mitsubishi Lancer Subaru Impreza Subaru Impreza Subaru Impreza

2:20:04,5 +3.57,0 +11.47,4 +21.13,4 +23.50,1 +25.28,6 +25.48,0 +33.47,3 +36.01,2 +40.37,2

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

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AL-ATTIYAH Image: FIA

B. ten Brinke T. Colsoul Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5th Overall Pic: FIA

WCFCCR

QUICK FACTS Date / 17-22 APRIL / Based in / LOSAIL / Surface / SAND / Nr. of legs / 5 /

1 Nasser AL-ATTIYAH 2 Yazeed AL-RAHJI 3 Vladimir VASILYEV 4 Yasir SEAIDAN 5 Bernhard TEN BRINKE 6 Reinaldo VARELA 7 Fedor FOROBYEV 8 Camelia LIPAROTI 9 Eugenio AMOS 10 Miroslav ZAPLETAL Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Entries / 19 / Finishers / 18 / Winner / NASSER AL-ATTIYAH / Car / TOYOTA HILUX /

Toyota Hilux 13:18:44 Toyota Hilux Overdrive +11:10 BMW X3CC +55:48 XRaid Mini +1:33:58 Toyota Hilux Overdrive +2:57:34 Can Am Maverick X3 +5:55:24 Can Am Maverick X3 +8:28:36 Yamaha Yzx100R +9:46:42 Ford 2wd Buggy +97:50:54 F150 Evo +98:36:12

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PETERHANSEL Image: Sven kollus

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

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 30 MARCH-04 APRIL/ Based in / ABU DHABI / Surface / SAND / Nr. of legs / 5 /

Entries / 34 / Finishers / 24 / Winner / STEPHANE PETERHANSEL / Car / MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS RALLY /

1 Stephane PETERHANSEL MINI John Cooper Works Rallly Khalid AL-QASSIMI Peugeot 3008 DKR 2 Aron DOMZALA Toyota Hilux Overdrive 3 Casie CURRIE Can Am Maverick X3 4 Reinaldo VARELA Can Am Maverick X3 5 Vladimir VASILYEV BMW X3Cc 6 Martin PROKOP Ford Raptor RS Cross Country 7 Cyril DESPRES MINI John Cooper Works Buggy 8 Thomas BELL Nissan Navara 9 Khalid AL-JAFLA Chevrolet Silverado 10 Rally-emag / Q1 2019

18:03:45 +8:48 +46:16 +1:39:33 +1.40:45 +1:42:59 +1:52:20 +4:08:34 +6:42:14 +6:42:23

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Azores Images: Sven kollus

HABAJ Image: Sven kollus

C. Ingram R. Whittock Skoda Fabia R5 3rd Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

ERC

QUICK FACTS Date / 21-23 MARCH / Based in / PONTA DELGADA / Surface / GRAVEL / Nr. of stages / 15 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Lukasz HABAJ Ricardo MOURA Chris INGRAM Bruno MAGALHAES Ricardo TEODOSIO Marijan GRIEBEL Alexandros TSOULOFTAS

Bernardo SOUSA Vojtech STAJF Paulo NOBRE

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

Entries / 57 / Finishers / 36 / Winner / LUKASZ HABAJ / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

Skoda Fabia R5 2:50:55,4 +8,4 Skoda Fabia R5 +42,2 Skoda Fabia R5 Hyundai i20 R5 +1.29,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +1.46,1 VW Polo GTI R5 +2.12,5 Skoda Fabia R5 +4.34,7 Citroen C3 R5 +6.44,0 Skoda Fabia R5 +10.10,7 Skoda Fabia R5 +11.40,9

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KREIM Image: Sven kollus

G. Munster C. Munster Opel Adam Cup 14th Overall Pic: Sven Kollus

GRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 08-09 MARCH / Based in / ST WENDEL / Surface / TARMAC / Nr. of stages / 12 /

Entries / 40 / Finishers / 31 / Winner / FABIAN KREIM / Car / SKODA FABIA R5 /

1 Fabian KREIM Skoda Fabia R5 2 Marijan GRIEBEL Skoda Fabia R5 3 Hermann GASSNER JR Hyundai i20 R5 4 Philip GEIPEL Skoda Fabia R5 5 Neill SIMPSON Skoda Fabia R5 6 Benoit VAILLANT Citroen C3 R5 7 Ron SCHUMANN Skoda Fabia R5 8 Patrick DINKEL Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 9 Carsten MOHE Renault Maxi Megane 10 Michael BIEG Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Rally-emag / Q1 2019

1:22:31,6 +26,8 +1.51,5 +3.39,6 +4.15,6 +5.44,4 +6.33,9 +8.15,6 +9.33,4 +10.19,1

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WEIJS Image: Steven van Veenendaal

J. Petersen J. Kvick VW Polo S2000 Retired

Pic: Steven van Veenendaal

DRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 15-16 MARCH / Based in / EMMELOORD / Surface / TARMAC / Nr. of stages / 18 /

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Entries / 40 / Finishers / 28 / Winner / HANS WEIJS / Car / FORD FIESTA R5 /

Hans WEIJS Ford Fiesta R5 Bob DE JONG Hyundai i20 R5 Kevin VAN DEIJNE Skoda Fabia R5 Kristian POULSEN Skoda Fabia R5 Lambert PARREN Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Jesper BISTED Ford Fiesta S2000 Duco HOEKSTRA Volvo 240 Turbo Henk VOSSEN Ford Fiesta R5 Gerben BROUWER Audi S2 Coupe Pierre BROUWER Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

Rally-emag / Q1 2019

1:15:15,2 +38,8 +1.14,9 +5.38,7 +5.52,7 +6.29,1 +7.32,6 +7.47,1 +8.55,6 +9.03,0

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H. Bakkenes C. Verbaeten Mitsubishi Lancer 6th Overall

Pic: Steven van Veenendaal

DRC

QUICK FACTS Date / 13 APRIL / Based in / BARNEVELD / Surface / MIXED / Nr. of stages / 9 /

Entries / 50 / Finishers / 32 / Winner / BOB DE JONG / Car / HYUNDAI i20 R5 /

1 Bob DE JONG Hyundai i20 R5 1:07:50,5 2 Melissa DEBACKERE +12,7 Skoda Fabia R5 3 Kevin VAN DEIJNE +24,5 Skoda Fabia R5 4 Jim VAN DEN HEUVEL Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +2.27,5 5 Lambert PARREN Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +3.35,9 6 Henk BAKKENES Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +3.44,1 7 Henk VOSSEN Ford Fiesta R5 +3.52,3 8 Ad SMITS Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +4.50,7 9 Jan DE WINKEL Renault Clio R3 +5.14,4 10 Roel VAN DER ZANDEN Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +5.42,7 Rally-emag / Q1 2019