In the early stages of Sebastien Loeb’s WRC career he ran a few races in a Toyota Corolla. After the break you can enjoy a short and sweet clip from 2000 showing the, then, young French starlet forging a career that would go on to become superior to all those to have gone before him.
Current Ford WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala could be driving for Volkswagen in 2013. Latvala’s manager, Timo Jouhki, confirmed meeting with Volkswagen saying: “I had a positive meeting with Kris Nissen and Carlos Sainz, who seem to have a good team with the right people and really interesting technical details on the car.”
The 27-year-old Finn has over 100 WRC starts and six wins to his name, including this year’s Rally Sweden, and his added experience would complement Sebastien Ogier well at Volkswagen you would think.
Jouhki also confirmed discussions are ongoing with Ford so there may be no movement at all. However, with Ford’s involvement in the WRC not certain beyond this year it’s probably wise for Latvala to consider all options.
[Source: World Rally Blog | Pic: Ford WRT]
With 43 race wins and three constructors’ championships Toyota knows a thing or two about WRC success. And now the creation of a new 1.6 litre turbocharged race engine by Toyota Motorsports GmbH could herald the beginning of a new WRC journey.
The recently completed engine complies with the FIA’s regulations for the WRC is expected to be fitted to a Yaris chassis.
“We’re leaning towards an S2000-style of car which would be available for customers first,” confirmed a TMG spokesperson. “This is a development project, but it’s very early days—the engine only fired up for the first time a few weeks ago—at the very earliest, a car won’t be available until next year. Obviously, this being a Global Race Engine, it could go in any car, but the Yaris seems to make sense.â€
Of course, Toyota is currently pre-occuipied with its TS030 Hybrid Le Mans and World Endurance Championship program. But a return to WRC does appear possible.
“Medium to longer-term there is a degree of logic in the WRC,†the TMG spokesperson said. “We have been there [the WRC] and this is a step back into rallying.â€
Having Toyota back in the WRC would be like getting the band back together. Subaru next?
Prior to last weekend’s Rally Portugal event Prodrive were talking up their chances of securing a top three finish. Well, things didn’t quite go to plan with exhaust problems on the opening day putting lead driver Dani Sordo out of contention.
However, the Prodrive MINIs did recover to show good pace during the rally. Dani Sordo won six stages, including the final powerstage, while teammate Patrik Sandell looked set for a fourth place finish until lat drama forced him to retire on the final day.
Dave Wilcox, Prodrive Team Principal said: “Dani’s drive on the powerstage was just excellent in those conditions. It has capped a rally that we generally have to be very pleased with, in spite of the overall finishing positions, because it has shown the world that the MINI WRC now has the pace to win on gravel as well as tarmac.
“Patrik was doing tremendously well to run as high as fourth and it was bitterly disappointing for him to have to retire on day three.”
Dani Sordo says he gained a lot of confidence in Portugal: “I am really happy to win the powerstage, it is a great way to finish the rally. I have had some really good moments on this rally and I have a lot of confidence in the car and the performance is fantastic.
“I can’t wait until we compete again as I think, with more luck on our side, we now have a real opportunity to do something very special with this car.”
Ford driver Mads Ostberg can finally step up on a makeshift podium in his lounge room and celebrate his Rally Portugal win after Citroën decided not to appeal Mikko Hirvonen’s disqualification from the event.
In post-race scrutineering officials found irregularities with the clutch and turbo in Hirvonen’s DS3 WRC. Citroën claim there were no performance benefits and that, “It was never our intention to cheat.”
A full statement from Citroën Racing can be read after the break.
Almost as soon as the e-ink had dried on our WRC article informing of Mikko Hirvonen’s win at Rally Portugal word arrived informing he had been disqualified from the event; now we know why the official results have been slow to update.
In post-race scrutineering officials found Hirvonen’s Citroën DS3 WRC had differences between the homologation sheet and the clutch and the turbocharger. A statement from Citroën can be read in full after the break.
“We had no intention whatsoever to cheat and the decision appears out of proportion,” claimed Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal.
“Given the fact that the reported differences didn’t bring us any advantage, we’ve decided to appeal.
“At the moment, most of all I feel sorry for Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who produced a superb performance on a particularly difficult rally. They really deserved their first win with us.
“All I can do, on behalf of the entire team, is offer my sincere apologies for this situation. I hope that Mikko and Jarmo will have the chance to top the podium again very soon. â€
The changes in final classification mean the win is handed to Ford Fiesta WRC driver Mads Ostberg, his first ever WRC victory. Although, with Citroën’s announcement that they will be appealing the decision, we dare say Ostberg won’t be popping any champagne corks just yet.
It’s always a shame when race wins are fought out between teams and officials well after the cars have crossed the finish line.
Finnish driver pairing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen won the 2012 Rally Portugal on the weekend. It was their 15th career win and their first since joining the Citroën World Rally Team in the off-season.
It’s unusual, it seems, not be reporting on another Sebastien Loeb victory. It’s even more unusual due to the fact the eight-time world champion crashed out early on the first day.
“We came to a crest which started with a short left-hand turn followed by a longer right-hand turn. Daniel gave me the right pace note, but I continued to turn to the left,†Loeb explained. “I tried to correct, but my DS3 WRC skidded into a big ditch and we were thrown into a roll. The damage wasn‘t that too bad… except for the roll cage, which did its job and ended up bent.â€
Hirvonen had a battle with the Ford Fiestas of Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg on day one and emerged on top with a 30 second lead. He wasn’t challenged from that point on and won the event by almost two minutes.
“I am very proud of this result, and it’s just rewards for the work done by the team in the last few months,” Hirvonen said after the rally. “This win means I now lead the Drivers’ Championship, but it also means that Citroën extends its lead in the Manufacturers’ standings.
“It was quite a strange rally, the way worked it out, because I haven’t had to push hard since Friday. We managed to control from the front pretty easily, and just kept increasing our lead.”
For some reason the official WRC championship leaderboard hasn’t updated with the Portugal results, but Hirvonen now sits atop the table with 75 points, ahead of Loeb (66) and Solberg (59). Citroën holds a comfortable 42 point lead over the Ford World Rally Team in the manufacturers’ title.
There’s more from Citroën after the break, including a brief highlights video. Rally Argentina is the next event on the WRC calendar and will take place at the end of the month.
UPDATE: Word has just come through that Hirvonen has had his win stripped due to homologation irregularities concerning the clutch and the turbocharger. Full statement to follow.
The Prodrive MINI WRC returns to action this weekend at Rally de Portugal and they have high hopes. It’ll be their first event since the BMW decided to shift their manufacturer alliance elsewhere and we rather hope Dani Sordo has a cracker of a race and sticks it up ’em, so to speak.
Pleasingly, the Prodrive cars will be displaying an increased level of support from BP. Disappointingly, there’s still no action for Kris Meeke.
In an official statement, Prodrive Team Principal, Dave Wilcox, explains the car has recently benefited from over 100 technical modifications.
“The newly homologated parts make a significant improvement to the car and should we run error free, I would certainly hope that Dani could be up there fighting for a podium.
“However, the competition does have the significant advantage of having already competed on gravel this year in Mexico, but Dani certainly knows the Portuguese event well and has achieved podium finishes here on his last three outings.â€
We wish them well.
Last weekend Chris Atkinson enjoyed his first WRC start since 2009 when he took part in Rally Mexico as part of Ken Block’s Monster World Rally Team.
“Atko”, as he’s become known, showed good pace too, running well inside the top 10 and winning the Super Special 2 stage. That was the first ever WRC stage win for the Monster WRT.
Unfortunately for Chris a brake failure contributed to him crashing out of the event on day two of the rally. But he’s still hoping to sign off on at least two more appearances this year by participating in Rally NZ and Rally Finland.
“Having been part of the Monster World Rally Team in Mexico, I’m really, really pushing to make it happen in Finland and New Zealand. I felt like I really fitted in with the team, it was great—and really cool to see how those boys push the marketing and social media side of the sport,†explained Atkinson.
“I’ve always got on really well with Ken [Block, Monster team-mate] and I reckon we make a good team. Everybody’s pushing hard to make the deal work for us to do more and those two rallies are two of my favourites.â€
Indeed Atkinson has previously finished fourth at NZ and secured a WRC podium by finishing third in the 2008 Rally Finland.
[Source: wrc.com | Pic: Monster WRT]
Sebastien Loeb has come away from Rally Mexico singing Two out of three ain’t bad after notching up his second win of the 2012 WRC season. A shade over 42 seconds behind was his new teammate Mikko Hirvonen, making this the first one-two for Citroën in the Loeb–Hirvonen era. We get the feeling it won’t be the last. Petter Solberg (Ford) was a distant 2:11.4 back in third place.
Speaking after the rally Loeb said, “This season has started in very typical fashion: a win at Monte-Carlo, an average result in Sweden and a win in Mexico. Let’s hope the rest of the season also goes the same way as in previous years.â€
It was the 69th career win for Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena. That’s astonishing really, surely they must be considered the best the sport has ever seen.
“It really has been a perfect weekend. I know this 69th win means a lot to Daniel. The rally was very difficult, I had to push really hard to shake off Mikko. Once I’d built up a bit of gap, I was able to control the race a bit more, but I stayed alert nonetheless. There is always a chance of spinning or picking up a puncture, which can ruin a race,†added Loeb.
He resumes his familiar position on top of the drivers’ leaderboard, ahead of Hirvonen and Solberg. Similarly, Citroën is leading the manufacturers’ championship form Ford.
WRC action returns to Europe in a couple of weeks at the Rally de Portugal (29 March–1 April).
Sebastien Ogier and Carlos Sainz have been busy in Spain recently continuing the development of the Polo R WRC. Volkswagen will start racing the Polo in the WRC from next year and plan to hit the ground running.
Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen explains, “Around 70 per cent of the WRC consists of gravel tracks, about 20 per cent of asphalt and roughly 10 per cent of ice and snow. The gravel test in Spain served to simulate the roughest WRC sections and to take the car to its load and stress limits. Particularly chassis components such as the hub carriers, dampers and suspension components were successfully tested in the limit range.â€
Carlos Sainz is cautiously optimistic about the hopes for Volkswagen, “I have a lot of confidence in the squad and the Polo R WRC will no doubt be a big hit. But we mustn’t forget that 2013 will be the Polo’s first year in the WRC whereas the competition will have been active there for many years.â€
More pics after the break. There’s an official video with interviews from Ogier and Sainz, too. See if you dig the 1970s Pink Floyd-inspired soundtrack.
Great news for Australia’s Chris Atkinson, with word via Speedcafe confirming he will be joining Ken Block‘s Monster World Rally Team at next month’s Rally Mexico. At this stage it’ll be a one-off drive for Chris and we’re reminded there were hopes of a Block-Atkinson two-car team back in 2009.
Atkinson’s car, a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, will be prepped by Ford’s M-Sport. He can be assured it be competitive, too, as it will be a like for like example of the car Jari-Matti Latvala just drove to victory at Rally Sweden.
M-Sport have been able to provide Atkinson with around 400km of testing over the last few days and the 32-year-old says this will be invaluable preparation for his first WRC event since 2009. “Without this, I would have struggled on the first few stages to get up to speed with everything, but now I will head to Mexico with a lot more confidence,” he said.
“I’m really appreciative of this testing opportunity and I can’t thank Malcolm [Wilson] and the M-Sport team enough. The car was amazing and I can’t wait to drive it under competitive conditions.”
[Source: Speedcafe | Pic: Monster World Rally Team]