Category: WRC

Categories
Citroen WRC

Sebastien Loeb wins 2012 Rallye Deutschland

Sebastien Loeb, 2012 Rally Germany

We normally get our Citroën World Rally Team news fed to us from a couple of sources, but since Sebastien Loeb racked up his ninth win at Rallye Deutschland on the weekend we’ve not heard a peep. So we apologise for the lateness of this update.

Of course, it’s no surprise to see Loeb out front, his win in Germany was his fifth on end and his seventh from nine rallies this year. Remarkable and a little boring at the same time.

At least there was some change on the second step of the podium with Jari-Matti Latvala managing to sneak his Ford Fiesta WRC in ahead of Citroën’s Mikko Hirvonen.

With four races to go Loeb’s championship lead is 54 points. So it’s still mathematically possible for second placed Hirvonen could overtake the French legend, but we all know it’s not going to happen.

With no pics for you from this rally we bring you a brief highlights video from Citroën, which comes with the following note:

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena bettered their own impressive record for the most wins at a single event in securing a ninth victory in Germany. The entire team was moved in remembering Philippe Bugalski, who died accidentally a few days ago. In 2001, ‘Bug’ had won the Germany Rally—just before it became part of the WRC calenda—in a Xsara T4. Jean-Paul Chiaroni, his then co-driver and now weather and reconnaissance coordinator for Citroën Racing, stepped onto the podium to receive the cup awarded to the winning manufacturer of the rally.

UPDATE: Citroën’s official team statement has come through and can be read after the break.

Continue reading “Sebastien Loeb wins 2012 Rallye Deutschland”
Categories
MINI WRC

Chris Atkinson finishes fifth in Germany

Chris Atkinson, WRC Team MINI Portugal, 2012 Rally Deutschland

A quick shout out to Australia’s Chris Atkinson and his Belgian co-driver Stephane Prévot who have finished fifth at the 2012 Rally Deutschland. It’s their first event with the WRC Team MINI Portugal and it’s also Atkinson’s best result on the German tarmac.

Rounding out a weekend of bests, fifth place is the best ever WRC finish for Team MINI Portugal as well. Not a bad way for the Atkinson/Prévot combination to start with their new employers and let’s hope there’s more to come in the remaining four races of the year.

Via Facebook ‘Atko’ shares the following message:

Yeah boiiiii! 5th overall for Rally Germany after four years since my last asphalt rally! Absolutely stoked! Thanks everyone for the support this week!!

Oh, of course, the seemingly unstoppable Sebastien Loeb won the rally. We’ll have more for you on that tomorrow.

[Pic: wrc.com]

Categories
MINI WRC

‘Atko’ ready for Rally Deutschland

Chris Atkinson, WRC Team MINI Portugal

Chris Atkinson makes his debut with the factory-backed WRC Team MINI Portugal at this weekend’s Rallye Deustchland. Via his instagram account he’s shared a photo of his car, which is now proudly displaying his ‘Atko’ logo.

From AUSmotive and all Australian motorsport fans we wish Chris all the best for this weekend and beyond. Go Aussie!

[Source: Instagram]

Categories
MINI WRC

Chris Atkinson secures factory MINI WRC drive

Chris Atkinson, WRC Team MINI Portugal

Well, we were expecting Chris Atkinson to drive a MINI in Rallye Deutschland, but we weren’t expecting this! In exchange for posing like a prat in the above pic Atko will be the lead driver for WRC Team MINI Portugal for the remaining five races of the 2012 season.

It’s been a roller coaster year for Team MINI Portugal, run by Motorsport Italia, who were surprisingly given factory backing after BMW cut Prodrive’s factory status back in February.

Since then Motorsport Italia’s lead driver Armindo Araujo has failed to meet expectations. According to an official team statement the decision to release Araujo was made after the Rally Finland debrief. “There’s always a point where you have to admit that something isn’t quite right and I hope that we’ve accepted that point at just the right time,” said Team Manager, Bruno de Pianto.

“The decision was not taken lightly and was made on purely sporting grounds. It was not a personal decision and everyone in the team wishes Armindo all the best for the future.”

Confirming Atkinson’s position de Pianto added, “Atko’s a really top guy all the way from Australia, fast and experienced and he’s going to take over as the team’s No. 1 driver, flanked by the oh-so-experienced Belgian Stéphane Prévot for the rest of the season.

“It’ll be his first time in a MINI on the test this weekend, but we’re confident that Chris can handle any car he lays his hands on and his MINI will love him within minutes. We’re all very much looking forward to working with him and Stéphane and seeing what surprises Rallye Deutschland has to offer!”

Atkinson will make his race debut with WRC Team MINI Portugal in Germany over the weekend of 24–26 August.

You can hear what Chris has to say by watching a short video below, which has been sourced from Atkinson’s YouTube account.

Continue reading “Chris Atkinson secures factory MINI WRC drive”
Categories
MINI WRC

Atkinson to continue WRC journey with MINI?

Citroen DS3 WRC, 2012 Rally Finland

Chris Atkinson’s wandering 2012 season could continue with a third team if the latest rumours of one-race deal with MINI prove correct. Having already driven for Ford and Citroën this year, ‘Atko’ hopes to make it a trifecta with MINI at Rally Deutschland (24–26 August).

At this stage the rumours are light on detail and if it comes off we’d expect the Aussie to be at the wheel of a Prodrive MINI WRC. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear more.

[Source: irallylive]

Categories
WRC

Red Bull to give WRC some much needed wings

Sebastien Loeb, 2012 Rally New Zealand

Reports from Europe say Red Bull Media House has been awarded the contract to take on the role of official promoter for the World Rally Championship. It’s been reported the FIA selected Red Bull ahead of bids from Eurosport and a South African consortium.

After the collapse of former promoter North One Sport and the withdrawal of Nokia’s sponsorship the WRC has been in search of some good news.

It was previously hoped the FIA would announce the new promoter in mid-June, but WRC stakeholders were told about the new deal at Rally Finland.

Yves Matton from Citroën World Rally Team says the deal will be separate from his team’s sponsorship.

“I think [Red Bull] Media House promoting the championship would be a good thing, but it would be different from Red Bull, which is the team sponsor,” said Matton.

“When they do something, they do it properly and they don’t just want to make a good name with the promotion. If they choose to invest in the World Rally Championship then it’s because they want to make a proper job, otherwise they would not even attempt to do it.”

[Source: Yahoo Eurosport UK]

Categories
Citroen WRC

Sebastien Loeb wins 2012 Rally Finland

Citroen DS3 WRC, 2012 Rally Finland

Another WRC event, another one-two result for Citroën. This time it was Rally Finland and for the fourth race in succession we saw Sebastien Loeb finish first, with teammate Mikko Hirvonen close behind in second place.

After the rally Loeb said he was very happy to secure his third Rally Finland trophy. “I am really pleased to have clinched this third win here against a competitor as tenacious as Mikko,” said Sébastien Loeb. “It’s especially pleasing to have led the rally from start to finish. We pushed a lot, sometimes driving close to the limit. To drive like that, you need to have a car which you have total faith. The upgrades made this weekend to the DS3 WRC, especially on the shock absorbers, enabled us to move up another notch in terms of performance and how easy the car was to drive.”

Loeb, now on 171 points, extends his lead in the drivers’ championship to 43 points over Hirvonen (128). Petter Solberg (104) is third, a further 24 points behind. Unsurprisingly, Citroën is miles ahead in the constructors’ title—109 points ahead of Ford—and can probably start celebrating another win.

Citroën Australia provides the Rally Finland recap for you after the break, and includes updates on Australians Chris Atkinson, driving for the Qatar World Rally Team, and Molly Taylor, United Business/BP Rally Team. Both showed moments of promise before succumbing to accident and mechanical damage respectively.

Next up on the WRC calendar is Rallye Deutschland (24–26 August).

Continue reading “Sebastien Loeb wins 2012 Rally Finland”
Categories
MINI WRC

Dani Sordo gets ready for Rallye Deutschland

Dani Sordo, MINI John Cooper Works WRC

The Prodrive twitter account brings us this video of Dani Sordo testing his MINI John Cooper Works WRC at Prodrive’s makeshift test track in Banbury. It’s a bit like a low-rent Ken Block video without the tyre smoke. The roof mounted camera gives you a great sense of speed as well.

Sordo is in preparation for Rally Germany which takes place on the tarmac roads around the Mosel wine region in late August.

Continue reading “Dani Sordo gets ready for Rallye Deutschland”
Categories
Formula 1 Motorsports Video WRC

VIDEO: Racing in slow motion IV

Racing in slow motion IV

If you’ve spent any time trawling YouTube watching motorsport videos from around the globe there’s a fair chance you’ll have come across the work of Mattzel89. If you haven’t, or even if you have, here is 16 minutes of superb editing and motor racing highlights.

There’s something for fans of all top line motorsports. The selection of music is perfectly matched and the sequences have a really nice rhythm, right down to the poignant ending.

If nothing else it’s a great way to start your weekend.

Continue reading “VIDEO: Racing in slow motion IV”
Categories
Volkswagen WRC

Polo R WRC preparing for Rally d’Italia debut

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

In not unexpected news Volkswagen has struck a deal with the FIA that will see its Polo R WRC take part in the second last event of the year on the gravel roads of Rally d’Italia (18–21 October).

The finer details of the agreement are still being finalised and at this stage it appears Sebastien Ogier will participate in the rally but he will not be included in the official timing.

Volkswagen’s marketing head, Stefan Moser, explains they were originally hoping to run the Polo R WRC as the zero car.

“We can’t run as zero car,” said Moser, “but it looks like we will take a test run in Sardinia. We will not run competitively; they [the FIA] allow us to start the race, but we will not take times. We get the answer from the FIA on this subject this week.”

Assuming this all goes ahead as reported, Volkswagen will no doubt have an army of statisticians on hand conducting their own timing. Like many, we’ll be waiting for the results with great anticipation.

[Source: Autosport]

Categories
WRC

VIDEO: 10 years of great times in the WRC

Stage 1 Technology celebrates 10 years in WRC

For the past 10 years Stage One Technology has been handled the important task of timing for the WRC. No more so were their abilities highlighted than in Rally Jordan last year, when Sebastien Ogier won the race by just 0.2 seconds.

To celebrate Stage One has compiled three minutes of WRC highlights. You’ll see some amazing jumps, some happy teams and faces of total desperation. Just make sure you keep an eye out for the zebra horse crossing.

Continue reading “VIDEO: 10 years of great times in the WRC”
Categories
Citroen WRC

Atkinson secures Citroën drive for Rally Finland

Chris Atkinson, Qatar World Rally Team

Chris Atkinson has secured a temporary drive with the Qatar World Rally Team for Rally Finland (2–4 August). Regular driver Nasser Al Attiyah will be competing for Qatar at the London Olympics and, rather than let the Citroën DS3 WRC sit idle, the former Subaru works driver and his co-driver, Stéphane Prévot, have been thrown the keys.

Benoit Nogier, Head of Citroën Racing Technologies, explains they have maintained contact with Atkinson for the last few years: “Ever since Chris Atkinson took part in the 2009 Rally Ireland in a C4 WRC, we have kept in touch and maintained good relations with him.

“As Nasser’s Citroën DS3 WRC was available for this rally, we offered Chris the chance to lease the car and compete for the Qatar World Rally Team. We are therefore very pleased to have him back with us in one of our Customer Racing teams for one of the championship’s flagship events.”

As you’d expect Chris is raring to go and hopes to make the most of his opportunity: “We are really looking forward to racing with the Qatar World Rally Team. Competing in the best rally in the Championship in the best WRC is a superb opportunity and I can’t wait to test the car to share my feeling for it with the team and give them my initial feedback.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we have got everything it takes to go after a good result here.”

With any luck Chris and Stéphane will enjoy a trouble free run; we wish him all the best.

[Source: Citroën]