Rally-eMag 004 December 2012

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana Craig Breen 2013: Teams take shape Issue 4, December 2012

Image: Citroen Racing

Rally-eMag December 2012 / Colofon 2/18

2012 Comes to a close The 2012 WRC season is over. Although there was no cracking fight until the final stage of the final rally, 2012 still brought us plenty of excitement. As usual Loeb was unbeatable and took his ninth consecutive crown to bid farewell to the sport in style. He is not bowing out completely yet, we will see him again on selected rounds of the 2013 season, but he is definitely out of championship contention.

We have also witnessed the last WRC rally of crowd favorite Petter Solberg. A few weeks after the final round, Solberg announced his retirement. The Norwegian was out of a seat after Ford withdrew from the sport as a title sponsor. After well over thirty years of continuous WRC support, the brand is taking a step back. The financial crisis is taking its toll on (especially) European car sales forcing Ford to close down European factories and withdraw from the WRC. The Fiesta will not disappear from the stages though as M-Sport signed a deal with Qatar to provide sponsorship for a three car team. Nasser Al-Attiyah will do seven events while young gun Mads Ostberg will drive on all thirteen rounds. In 2012 Ostberg showed some true maturity along with outright speed. There is no word yet on the third driver for the Qatar Ford team but an announcement is expected before the year’s end. Ford wasn’t the only team to withdraw as Mini backed out as well. Only active in the WRC since 2011, the withdrawal has a scent of missed opportunity around it. When running, the Mini showed some true potential. Especially on tarmac where Dani Sordo was at times challenging for wins. A lack of funding hampered the team in developing the car properly and eventually a full season with two cars never happened. Sordo was able to do some rounds in 2012 and did enough to impress Citroen team boss Yves Matton. Sordo has been signed by Citroen for the 2013 campaign for at least 11 rounds. Enough good stuff is coming up to keep us entertained next year. Enjoy reading!

Steven van Veenendaal Editor

In this month’s issue...

Craig Breen Rally de Espana Page 4

Page 12

2013 Teams take shape Page 14

Image: Michelin Media Event

Who made it?

Publisher: Rally-eMag Words: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal.

Photography: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal.

Who helped?

Who we thank!

How to reach us?

Logo design: Minse Blom

PR Photography from: Ford NL, M-Sport, Citroen Racing, Michelin Racing, Mini Team Motorsport Italia, Hyundai Pers, Craig Breen Motorsport.

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RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Overview

RallyRACC-Rally de Espana

3/18

Based in: Salou Date: 09-11/11/2012 Number of stages: 18 Shortest stage: Salou – 2.00 km Longest stage: El Priorat – 45.97 km Total stage distance: 404 km Surface: Mixed Image: Citroen Racing

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Rally review 4/18

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana S

pain promised to be a nice and relaxed rally. The championship had been decided and so everyone could relax and show his talents. The only real challenge was for third place in the WRC for drivers. Mads Ostberg held this place and desperately wanted to keep it that way. Jari Matti Latvala however was keen to finish on the championship podium if only to thank Ford, who gave him the chance to come this far. In SWRC Craig Breen was equally keen to finish this very difficult season for him in a good spot.

The weather At the time when Spain was announced to be the final rally in the championship, a lot of people argued that this was not the proper end to the season. It should have been Wales with the challenging kind of weather this country usually offers in November. Well when the first pictures of the Spanish WRC qualifier started appearing you might have guessed this was Wales after all. As we know Spain’s a first leg consists mainly of gravel stages. This time however the gravel had transformed into pure mud. This made it very hard for the competitors to find the right line in the incredible amount of mud. When the stages had been run for the first time, the right line could easily be recognised. The deep tracks

had transformed into small rivers where aquaplaning was one hazard but getting stuck was even a bigger problem. During the other days the weather improved but still rain was an ever present threat. Biggest problem were the weather forecasts.

They promised improvement but microclimates in the mountain areas decided otherwise.

Ostberg best in mudwrestling The conditions were really atrocious and this translated itself into the demise of eleven out of the first twenty competitors. The most famous driver was Petter Solberg. On the second stage he slid of the road slightly and hit a hidden concrete block. (No I did NOT copy paste this line from last year’s report. Petter simply did it again!) Mads Ostberg was mudking.

A mix of clever driving and his starting position brought him to the first step of the podium. Sebastien Loeb was impressed by the Norwegian’s achievement: “We’re just lucky Ostberg had the wrong tyres, otherwise he would have been unbeatable after the first day.” And that was a fact.

The best tyres for the day would have been soft and Ostberg chose hard ones because (as nearly everybody else) he thought the weather would clear towards the evening. At the end of the day Loeb and Latvala follow him in second and third position.

Ostberg took advantage of the wet opening day to take an early lead.

Image: M-Sport

In the mud Loeb could not stay with Ostberg, despite pushing hard.

Image: Michelin Media Event

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Rally review 5/18

Latvala picked up the gauntlet on the asphalt stages.

Image: Ford Motorsport

Latvala challenges Loeb on asphalt!

Latvala wants to make a point: “I have improved a lot on sealed surfaces!” And he does so by winning the first stage of the day. During the day he climbs a position on the leaderboard, proving that on asphalt too he gets more grip. Still Loeb builds up a 27 seconds lead over Latvala. But on the last day the gap between the two disappears more and more. At the end of the day only seven seconds remain. ‘The rally was one stage too short’ he laughs at the finish.

Power stage Latvala wanted to say a proper goodbye to Ford and was determined to do something. So when at the end of Rally Catalunya he saw that it was getting very hard to beat Sebastien Loeb, he put all his money on the power stage and seemed to fly over the more than 26 kilometres long stage 17, Santa Marina 2 to grab 2,5 seconds from second place driver Dani Sordo and over 10 seconds from Loeb. It was not enough but still very satisfying for both drivers involved. And last but not least it gave Ford’s goodbye a silver lining.

Support Championships WRC Academy The WRC Academy had already been decided before Spain. Elfyn Evans was simply too fast for all the other youngsters. The small Fiestas were bothered a lot by the heavy rains and quite a few got stuck in the mud, had punctures or other ails. Local hero Suarez proved to be the best in his own rally. Pontus Tideman suffered from a puncture that cost him some three minutes. He won quite a few stages but Jose Suarez maintained his lead by driving fast but reliable.

At the finish Suarez’s co driver Candido Carrera wins the co-driver’s title in the WRC Academy. He dedicates his championship to Craig Breen’s co-driver Gareth Roberts. Roberts was crowned champion co driver in 2011. As we all know he tragically died in an accident in Sicily.

On the finish ramp Carrera says: “Of course I’m very happy and my driver was very fast. But this championship is even more important to me as it’s in memory of my friend Gareth Roberts.”

But eventually Loeb was once again king of the black stuff.

Image: Citroen Racing

S-WRC On the podium of the S-WRC we see comparable pictures. Here it is Craig Breen himself who is thinking of his co driver and friend Gareth Roberts. You can read more abou it in the Hot or Not section. Initially Breen had to fight with P.G. Andersson, but when the last one suffered from a broken drive shaft, paralyzing his Proton, Breen ‘just’ had to consolidate and he did. In a nerve wrecking last part of the event he managed to keep his lead without making any mistakes and deservedly won the title. Andersson’s co-driver Emil Axelsson won the title in the co driver’s category, as Paul Nagle only did four rallies next to Craig Breen. Axelsson was already a world champion because six years ago he won the title when Patrik Sandell won the Junior world title.

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Rally review

Juniors return When Evans took the Academy crown, this was the second and last crown in the WRC Academy. During one of the recent meetings, the World Motorsport Counsel decided that the Academy would go back to it’s original name again. So in 2013 we will welcome back the Junior WRC Championship. Again it is going to be a one make championship for junior drivers. And just like the last two years the car will be the M-sport prepared Ford Fiesta R2 again. M-sport was again assigned as promoter of the series. The cars will be prepared in the Polish M-sport facility in Krakow.

Image: Michelin Media Event

Did you know...?

Both Loeb (left) and Sordo started their careers on the global stage by winning the JWRC....

Loeb was the inaugural champion in 2001 while Sordo took the crown in 2005....

Both did it for Citroen, Loeb in a Saxo VTS, Sordo in a C2 S1600....

6/18

Another title favorite in 2013, Sebastien Ogier also took the JWRC crown. He did it in 2008, also driving a Citroen C2 S1600....

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Final results 8/18

Final result 1.

Loeb-Elena Citroen DS3 WRC 4.14.29,1 2.

Latvala-Anttila Ford Fiesta WRC +7,0 3. Hirvonen-Lehtinen Citroen DS3 WRC +1.46,8 4. Ostberg-Andersson Ford Fiesta WRC +1.56,4 5. Nikara-Kalliolepo Mini John Cooper Works +16.07,9 6. Breen-Nagle Ford Fiesta S2000 +18.10,4 7. Atkinson-MacNeall Mini John Cooper Works +19.14,7 8. Andersson-Axelsson Proton Satria Neo S2000 +20.16,1 9. Sordo-Del Barrio Mini John Cooper Works +25.40,6 10.

Novikov-Minor Ford Fiesta WRC +25.46,6 Image: Ford Motorsport

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Standings

Image: Citroen Racing

9/18

Final Championship standings 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Sebastien Loeb Mikko Hirvonen Jari-Matti Latvala Mads Ostberg Petter Solberg Evgeny Novikov Thierry Neuville Ott Tanak Martin Prokop Sebastien Ogier

Citroën DS3 Citroën DS3 Ford Fiesta Ford Fiesta Ford Fiesta Ford Fiesta Citroën DS3 Ford Fiesta Ford Fiesta Skoda Fabia

Manufacturer standings WRC WRC WRC WRC WRC WRC WRC WRC WRC S2000

270 points 213 points 154 points 149 points 124 points 88 points 53 points 52 points 46 points 41 points

1. Citroën Total World Rally Team 453 points 2. Ford World Rally Team 309 points 3. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 170 points 4. Adapta World Rally Team 83 points 5. Citroën Junior World Rally Team 72 points 6. Qatar World Rally Team 71 points 7. Brazil World Rally Team 28 points 8.

MINI WRC Team 26 points

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Special Stage 10/18

Special Stage El Priorat - 45.97 km El Priorat, it’s just one of those names that rings a bell for any rally fan in the world. Starting near Gratallops and running all the way past La Palma d’Ebre, the stage measures a healthy 45,97 kilometers and curves around the Parc Natural de la Serra del Monsant. On top, the stage is home to perhaps the most famous hairpin in the world at El Molar.

Image: CItroen Racing

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Special Stage 11/18

The Monsant (Holy Mountain in Catalan), which gives the park its name, overlooks the stage providing a stunning backdrop. Wildlife can be found in abundance throughout the national park and as the vipers snake through the massif, so do the roads on which the stage takes place.

The stage in itself is not as demanding as you might expect from a forty K + mammoth. The opening section is tight and twisty which can be quite tricky. After this opener the crews face wel over thirty kilometers of beautiful wide fast roads.

These roads are so typical for the Spanish round of the championship. Throughout the years we have witnessed the roads used for the rally being improved all the time. Every year a new section of road was treated to a nice fresh layer of asphalt and bright road-paint.

This treatment gives the rally its circuit-like character. It is as close as rallying will get to circuit racing with only one catch. It is NOT a circuit.

Road conditions do change due to the fact that opponents running prior on the stage cut the corners throwing dirt onto the stage. This can make for a tricky experience as grip levels can be treacherous as a result. The Catalan government found a solution for this as well though and is now placing armco-barriers along large parts of the route. So on one hand the inclusion of the gravel stages of the opening day are a move away from the circuit style racing while on the other hand the asphalt roads are starting to look like circuits more and more.

As the rally hit asphalt on Saturday the drivers were in for a rude awakening as the second stage of the day was the big one straight away. In damp conditions tyre choice was as crucial as it was difficult, which Mads Ostberg found out quick enough. After sensationally taking the lead on the opening day the young Norwegian was gearing up for a tough fight to fend of Sebastien Loeb on his favorite surface. His weather crew predicted the stage would be about fifty percent dry prompting Ostberg to select hard tires, a decision he would soon regret. The stage turned out to be far more damp than he expected and just before the famous About ten kilometers into the stage lays the hairhairpin he went of the road losing about fourty pin at El Molar. At this point the cars approach the seconds in the process. Adding injury to insult wide hairpin from a narrow road onto a wider road a frustrated Ostberg went of again near the end for a long straight section. The hairpin is one of hitting the armco and damaging his car. As undethe absolute crowd favorites and draws thousands manding as we said it might have been at the start of fans. Both the hairpin itself and the kilometer of this story, the stage was in fact crucial in decidstretch after are completely packed with locals ing the outcome of the rally as Ostberg’s problems and foreigners alike cheering each and every car as placed Loeb firmly in the driver’s seat to ‘cruise’ they come through. home to yet another victory.

Local hero Dani Sordo pleased the crowds by setting a string of fastest times once the rally hit the black stuff.

Image: Michelin Media Event

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Who’s hot?

Who’s hot?

Craig Breen Ford Fiesta S2000

The last twelve months have been a rollercoaster of good and bad things for the Irishman. Some twelve months ago he won Wales Rally GB and together with his long time co driver and friend Gareth Roberts he secured the FIA WRC Academy Cup. During the Spanish WRC round, about twelve months later, he claimed the S-WRC title. These were the highs. But the middle part of the season was very difficult to the youngster from a personal point of view. While running stage 8 on the IRC qualifier Targa Florio his Peugeot 207 S2000 went off the road. At the impact his co driver Gareth Roberts tragically lost his live. Breen’s live seemed to collapse. But the true sportsman he is made him come back.

In August he was back behind the wheel of a rallycar. This time it was in Finland for his S-WRC campaign. While leading he again went off in a big way. The infamous Ouninpohja claimed another victim. Luckily both he and co driver Paul Nagle came out of the accident without a scratch.

A lot of people wondered whether this would end his 2012 campaign. But again Breen came back. He continued his fierce fight with two-time junior champion P. G. Andersson and won the last three qualifying events in the S-WRC. In Spain he survived the first gravel day and led the S-WRC leader board by some four minutes.

The last two days must have been quite difficult. He needed to adopt a safe speed to end the rally, but he had to go fast enough to defeat Andersson. Andersson tried everything but Breen reciprocated at every attack. Finally he reached the finish. Winning the rally and the championship.

12/18

Once he parked his Fiesta S2000 on the finish ramp, tears came to his eyes. Tears of joy but definitely also of sadness. “This one is for Gareth.” he said. “It was our common dream. We wanted to be here.

So after the accident I decided to continue. I had a lot of help from everybody and this strengthened me. And finally I could secure the championship and thus our common dream!”

Images: Craig Breen Media

RallyRacc-Rally de Espana / Who’s not?

13/18

Who’s not?

The Weather

really qualified for the not title during the season finale. All drivNobody ers and teams performed the way we might expect them and bad results

were mainly due to bad luck rather than bad driving. The one thing that was wrong with the rally though, was the weather on the opening day. Usually Spain provides us with the last bit of good weather before winter sets in.

On the opening day however, the rain was torrential, causing problems of all kinds for the competitors, crowds and media alike. It did provide some pretty images though, as Hans Weijs demonstrates below.

Image: Citroen Racing

Rally-eMag December 2012 / News 14/18

2013 Teams take shape: Citroen Sordo returns The first major announcement from the Citroen camp came shortly after the Rally de Espana when the team presented its second driver for 2013. As we had already expected, the experienced Dani Sordo was their driver of choice. It is a return to the team with which Sordo made his first strides in the WRC. Between 2005 and 2010 Sordo competed for the French marquee as well proving to be a very solid performer. Winning the Junior WRC title in 2005 he was quickly promoted to the WRC team. After driving Xevi Pons out of the team Sordo was promoted to second driver behind Sebastien Loeb. In both the ’08 and ’09 seasons he finished third overall in the WRC and scored a total of 29 podiums for the team in the progress. During his final years he had to cope with the rise of the other Sebastien, Ogier.

Although Ogier was not quite as reliable as Sordo, he did manage to score some overall victories which eventually caused Sordo his place in the team. On several occasions Sordo had been in position to challenge Loeb for outright victory but was never quite able (or allowed) to score that first elusive win, a feat he will surely be very eager to accomplish this season.

So who drives where?

Interestingly enough, Sordo is so far confirmed for only eleven of the thirteen rounds. As of yet it is not completely clear how the exact lineup of the team will be for the forthcoming rallies. Mikko Hirvonen will contest all rounds as the lead driver and at the moment it seems that Loeb will do four rounds. The champion will start the season in Monte Carlo and do Sweden as well, a rally which he claimed “will be great to do in normal circumstances for once!” After that Loeb will contest Rally de France and probably Argentina although that has not been confirmed. Third driver Sheik Khaled Al-Qassimi will have his focus mainly on the Middle Eastern Rally Championship but will also contest eight rounds of the WRC. He will start in Sweden with the rest of his program unconfirmed as of yet. A quick calculation tells us that there will be rallies where we will see four factory Citroens at the start, although it is not yet clear which rallies that will be.

From left to right Sheik Khalid Al-Qassimi, Yves Matton, Scott Martin and Mikko Hirvonen look on as the new livery emerges from behind the balloons. Image: Citroen Racing

Abu Dhabi signs up Finally, but perhaps most significant of all came the presentation of the new Abu Dhabi livery sealing the partnership between Citroen and the emirate. The team will henceforth be known as the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Team. Both parties have committed to a five year strategic partnership which will see the Abu Dhabi ‘brand’ featured on all official rally cars and the Citroen Racing trophy. Additionally a young driver development program has been started in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Racing. The Arabs are striving to put Abu Dhabi on the map as a popular tourist destination and their commitment to the WRC and Citroen in particular is another piece in the puzzle to gaining global prominence.

Rally-eMag December 2012 / News

2013 Teams take shape: Ford A big scare came from Ford this fall. Ford withdrew from the WRC. Malcolm Wilson was not slow in telling us he would continue. And if he says so we trust him. So it did not surprise us he came back some weeks later with the good news.

Qatar jumped in to be the main sponsor. No official presentations in fancy beach resorts but a simple press release stating there was a partnership with Qatar.

Wilson and Nasser Al Attiyah prepared the deal. It includes a 13 rally programme for two Ford Fiësta WRC’s and an additional programme of seven rally’s for Al Attiyah. With the Qatari government M-sport gets a strong partner that can hopefully help the Cumbrian outfit back into a strong position to challenge for a world title.

Mads Ostberg-Jonas Andersson.

Quite a few names were mentioned for the Ford seat. In the end two names emerged: Dani Sordo and Mads Ostberg. When Dani chose to go to Citroën it was cleer Ostberg would be the first driver.

And indeed at the end of November the new Qatar M-sport World Rallyteam announced that the Norwegian was going to be their first driver. The young talent proved this year he was improving quickly and that he is ready to play with the big boys. Ostberg and Andersson will start in all 13 rounds of the championship.

The name of the team The official name of the team is Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team. This however is subject to confirmation, because officially a manufacturer’s team should have the brand name in the official team name. Malcolm Wilson is now talking to the FIA about the question if M-sport could be considered to be the manufacturer.

15/18

The drivers After Jari-Matti Latvala left Ford and consequently also M-sport a new driver line up was necessary.

A lot of people presented themselves to M-sport boss Malcolm Wilson and about a week after Qatar was announced to be the official partner of the team, the lead driver was presented.

Mads Ostberg (r) and Jonas Andersson will represent Ford in 2013.

Image: M-Sport

Nasser Al Attiyah- Giovanni Bernacchini Being one of the architects of the Qatar/M-sport deal it was clear Al Attiyah would drive for the team. He will not start in Monte Carlo because he is then competing in the Dakar Rally, but in Sweden he will be present for a seven-rally programme in the WRC. He will compete in the Middle Eastern championship (MERC) too, driving a Fiesta RRC. Petter Solberg Shortly after the announcement of Ostberg being the first driver came the press release of Petter Solberg. Earlier he had said he was prepared to drive for the team without being paid. But he probably had to pay for his drive and he already said at several occasions he would not be prepared to do so.

So after many years we won’t see Petter Solberg in the WRC anymore, at least not on a regular basis.

The other driver Malcolm keeps his lips solidly sealed about the other driver. Lots of speculations but no certainties. One of the names very often heard is Thierry Neuville. Al Attiyah and Neuville are good friends and the Qatari obviously has some influence in the team. Another name that is often mentioned is Evgeny Novikov. The Russian is learning fast and also has a budget available. For Monte Carlo and Sweden Juha Hanninen secured himself a Msport Fiesta drive, but nothing has been decided yet. “I’m going to take as much time as I can,” says Wilson. Officially he should present his team before the 14th of December. But having a lead driver who is nominated for all 13 WRC rounds for 2013 might buy him some time.

Rally-eMag December 2012 / News

2013 Teams take shape: Volkswagen Just before this issue of Rally-eMag was finalised, the whole rally world came to Monte Carlo to follow the presentation of the new WRC team of Volkswagen. The lucky ones were invited to come to the Sporting d’Hiver venue at the Place du Casino in downtown Monte Carlo. Others could watch it all via a live stream over the Internet.

Not much news was expected, but Volkswagen is known for its well prepared parties around the launch of their WRC plans. The first one was in 2011 on the Italian island of Sardinia. The Monte Carlo event was done in the same format but then bigger. In the fully packed Sporting d’Hiver, where in former times the press centre of the Rallye Monte Carlo resided, there was the usual mix of high-ranking VW officials, former and present rally legends, distinguished guests and of course the media. These people listened to Stefan Moser head of Volkswagen Motorsport Communications. The most important news seemed to be the presentation of the Polo R WRC streetcar of which 2500 cars would be built. This of course was not what the people came for.

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Driver’s line up Ogier-Ingrassia After the introduction of the Polo R streetcar it was the drivers’ turn to present themselves. No surprises here, Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have already been members of the Volkswagen team since early this year. They divided their duties between testing the Polo and driving the WRC in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

Ogier had a difficult year because one of his strong points is (according to Ingrassia) his ambition to win. And winning in an S2000 in a WRC field even for Ogier, is impossible. He had to settle for some excellent results in his class. But in Monte Carlo his face was all smiling, indicating he is well prepared for the new season.

Images: Volkswagen Motorsport

Rally-eMag December 2012 / News 17/18

Latvala-Antilla There is no number one driver in the team. But the second driver that came to the team was Jari Matti Latvala. Since a very long time he is partnered by Miika Anttila. Together they are a very fast couple, but Latvala sometimes is going a bit too fast giving the impression he is not entirely in control. The long year Ford driver is maturing however and during his last asphalt outings he could almost challenge master of all surfaces Sebastien Loeb. He is very eager to continue his development by being even faster on asphalt. He did have some bad luck in his very early days of his VW employment. Some weeks ago he spend some tme in Mexico with the team to test the new car in gravel specs in high temperatures. On a closed test track he came across a private motorist who had simply ignored the ‘road closed’ signs.

They had a head on collision. Jari Matti and Miikka could get out of the car unscathed but the other driver had to be taken to hospital. Since then the Finnish team has been busy familiarizing with the car and the team. Jari Matti even did a crash course in German. “It is an international team of course, but it is always good to know something of the ‘home language’ of the team,” was his comment.

Image: Volkswagen Motorsport

Mikkelsen-Markkula Both Ogier and Latvala will drive all thirteen events of the championship. A third driver was also presented in Monte Carlo. Andreas Mikkelsen from Norway has been with the team during the whole season and shared his Skoda S2000 with Dutchman Kevin Abbring. The Norwegian proved to be very quick and will start his Volkswagen career starting in Portugal. He will be codriven by Mikko Markkula who was not on the podium in Monte Carlo however as he had missed his plane… He must have felt miserable because being a co-driver it is his main task in live to be in time.

The Polo R WRC And finally the car that has to do it all: the Polo R WRC. It was not on the podium in Sporting d’Hiver. Instead everyone was asked to come outside to the Casino Square. With a historic backdrop of the Monte Carlo Casino and the famous Hotel de Paris, the crowd watched the original Rallye Monte Carlo start ramp where Ogier landed the Polo with a genuine WRC roar. Around this article you’ll see some of the images that show these happenings.

Big question remains will it be as fast as it looks in its new Red Bull livery. We’ll tell you all about it in some weeks as Rally-eMag will of course be present at the start of a very interesting season.

Next issue early January covering: The 2013 Preview

Words: Steven van Veenendaal; Harry van Veenendaal Images: Steven van Veenendaal; Harry van Veenendaal& PR (credited where used) Copyright: Rally-eMag; Please drop your comments at info@rally-emag.com!

Image: Volkswagen Motorsport