WRC Academy: Rally Portugal

While Rally de Portugal has given the rallying world the opportunity to watch the Ford Fiesta and the Citroen DS3 World Rally cars go head to head properly without the extreme circumstances of snow and high altitude to deal with, it has also marked the inaugural round of the WRC Academy.

Featuring 18 young drivers (so far, others may join before the next rally), including 6 Pirelli Star Drivers, the Academy is a one mark series held over 6 WRC events this year; Portugal, Sardinia, Finland, Germany, France and Great Britain.

The chosen car for the series is the M-Sport prepared Ford Fiesta R2 and it is forbidden to make any modifications to the car. Although good news for the drivers in the sense that they all have a level playing field in which to prove themselves.

Differing from other championships running this weekend the Academy lasted only two days and awarded points not only for the top 10 finishers but also one point for every stage win. The driver with the most points come the end of the season wins a 500,000 Euro prize scholarship to use towards launching their 2012 career within the WRC.

To ensure that every driver gets as much experience from the Academy a variety of workshops and driver briefings will be held throughout the year. These aim to cover everything from health and fitness to dealing with the media. Guests will also be invited to talk to the drivers – the honour in Portugal went to Ken Block who gave some words of wisdom to the drivers before he made his way home after a nasty accident in shakedown.

While the Academy is a great way to encourage young drivers to the sport there is another aspect that has made this weekend different from most. As part of a brand FIA incentive to encourage more women to get into motorsport (in all areas) one girl from each country the Academy visits get the chance to work alongside the support championship’s communications officer Katie Traxton. This weekend aspiring rally driver Daniela Rodrigues has been in the service park learning all about the championship and blogging about her experiences – they can be read here on the official WRC website. http://www.wrc.com/fanzone/blogs/

I have a vested interest in this Women & Motorsport Commission incentive because, as an aspiring communications officer myself, I have luckily been chosen as the girl to head along to Rally GB – needless to say I have been reading Ni’s blogs and Facebook updates with great interest.

The Academy started on Thursday night with a quick dash through the streets of Lisbon, almost 300km’s away from the Algarve base, with the huge crowds lining the way – 10 people deep in places, a sign of just how popular rallying is in Portugal. Spaniard Jaray Lemes clinched the first point up for grabs and led by 0.6 seconds going into the Friday’s stages.

As Friday morning got underway Irishman Craig Breen set the pace with 4 consecutive stage wins leaving him with an overall lead of 48.4 seconds going into the final day. Egon Kaur and Alastair Fisher picked up wins in the final two stages of the day. Overnight they sat 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Brendan Reeves had the unenviable experience of being the first of the Academy drivers to suffer a set back. As has plagued many a driver in the other championships running this weekend, a puncture in SS3 left him 4 minutes off the place. However after setting some strong times throughout the day he managed to claw his way back up to 11th.

Thankfully all 18 cars returned to mid-day service however the afternoon loop was a lot more destructive for the crews. Calle Ward suffered engine problems during SS5 and stopped on the stage and both Lemes and Andrea Crugnola were affected by driveshaft problems in SS6 – all three retired for the day. As did Argentinean Matteo Baldoni whose car was sidelined with broken suspension.

Molly Taylor was a late casualty as she rolled her Fiesta R2 on the final stage of the day, luckily she was able to continue and was lying 13th overnight – unfortunately for Jose Suarez after his roll in this stage, he could not continue.

Heading into the final day and Craig Breen had a huge lead to defend. A fastest time on SS9 meant he extended his lead to 56 seconds however bad luck was to hit him after a consistent day one – his car left the road during SS10. The crew were reported to the OK however the car was stuck and unable to be recovered for him to continue. The only saving grace being the 5 points he picked up earlier for his fastest stage times, so all was not lost. He’ll be hoping the next round fares better for him.

Fisher inherited the lead and took a stage win amidst Breen’s problems. However similar circumstances struck him in SS12 when he rolled apparently due to ‘spectators having caused him to take his eyes off the road.’ The young Brit was able to complete the stage but lost over 5 minutes in the process.

Other casualties in the morning’s loop were Jan Cerny (broken driveshaft), Suarez and Lemes(rear suspension failure) who were all unable to continue. The day had begun with 17 of the 18 Fiesta’s taking to the stages (Ward was unable to SupeRally) however by mid-day only 13 remained.

After Fisher’s misfortune Egon Kaur inherited the rally lead and put in two fastest stages times on SS11 and SS12 missing out on the hatrick as solid second place runner Victor Henriksson set the bench mark for SS13. A steady rally from Christian Riedemann put him on the final podium position.

Frederik Ahlin had been lying in 4th position before his retirement on SS12 and both Sergey Karyakin and, the youngest driver in the championship, Miko-Ove Niinemae also retired on the last stage of the rally.

18 drivers started in Portugal and only 10 finished. All drivers will use Sunday for extensive debriefing and analysis.

The final standings were:

1. E.KAUR 3:30:13.8 25 points
2. V. HENRIKSSON 3:30:30.2 18 points
3. C. REIDEMANN 3:33:45.0 15 points
4. B. REEVES 3:34:57.2 12 points
5. A. FISHER 3:36:09.4 10 points
6. M. BALDONI 3:36:55.2 8 points
7. A. CRUGNOLA 3:42:39.8 6 points
8. M. TAYLOR 3:43:05.7 4 points
9. M. BRUNELLO 3:51:43.2 2 points
10. T. VAN DR MAREL 4:11:05.6 1 points

Stages winners points:

Y. Lemes 1 point
G. Breen 5 points
A. Fisher 2 points
E. Kaur 3 points
F. Ahlin 1 points
V. Henriksson 1 point

Academy standings:

1. E. Kaur 28
2. V. Henriksson 19
3. C. Reidemann 15
4. B. Reeves 12
5. A. Fisher 12
6. M. Baldoni 8
7. A. Crugnola 6
8. C. Breen 5
9. M. Taylor 4
10. M. Brunello 2
11. T. Van dr Marel 1
12. Y. Lemes 1
13. F. Ahlin 1