Rally d’Italia Sardegna review

Rally d’Italia Sardegna was always going to be special.

Not only was it to be the round of this years World Rally Championship in which we saw the highly anticipated return of Mini, with Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke at the helm, but it was also the weekend that Volkswagen officially announced that they will join the WRC in 2013 – much to the delight of rally fans around the world.

But the real action was on the stages and there was only word to describe it: carnage.

Despite running first on the road for all three days of the rally, and therefore effectively cleaning the road, it was Sébastien Loeb who dominated this weekend and stamped his authority over the rest of the field; eventually finishing 11.2 seconds ahead of second placed Mikko Hirvonen. Although Loeb admitted having to push hard and take a lot of risks during day two, he still finished with very few noticeable mistakes.

Team mate Sébastien Ogier made a steady start to the rally apparently finding it difficult to get into the rhythm of the tight and twisty Italian roads. Some bizarre slowing tactics at the end of day one dropped him down to 4th overall leading into day two and throughout the rest of the rally he battled hard with Hirvonen and Solberg. However he made a mistake (and hit a rock) during SS17 and he finished the rally in 4th.

Mikko Hirvonen took second place in the overall standings after a relatively tidy rally. One small moment during SS6 and a puncture in SS7 ensured he could never realistically challenge Loeb, however a power stage win on top of his second position gave him the best points score he could hope for.

Fellow factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala was the first of the front runners to suffer misfortune. An incorrectly called pace note from co-driver Miikka Anttila led Latvala to roll his Fiesta on the opening stage. And by stage two the extensive suspension damage had taken it’s toll and Latvala was forced to retire for the day.
However upon restarting he tallied up a total of 7 stage wins and came 2nd in the Power Stage to secure him 2 much needed points.

Turbo problems and a puncture for Petter Solberg still wasn’t enough to keep him off of the podium. However his brother Henning had a somewhat more disastrous rally.

The older Solberg brother hasn’t had the easiest of runs this year and as he crossed the line to complete SS3 his Fiesta caught alight leading him and Ilka Minor to make a hasty exit from the car. SS5 delivered him a broken drive shaft while SS7 brought an end to his rally.

Fellow Stobart team mates fared no better. P.G Andersson hit a rock on the opening day and suffered a broken steering arm while Østberg and Wilson both had issues with their brakes.

Mini’s first event was full of mixed results. Kris Meeke had two very costly problems in the form of a sticking throttle leading to an off on day one. And after restarting on day two a water leak lead him to pull up in SS10. He did manage some impressive stage times – a promising prospect for the other 5 rounds in which they will contest.
Sordo also experienced throttle problems however he battled hard and brought the car home in an incredible 6th position.

The final top 10 results are as follows:

1. Loeb 3:45:40.9
2. Hirvonen +11.2
3. Solberg +23.8
4. Ogier +1:31.5
5. Østberg +2:42.6
6. Sordo +3:27.6
7. Tanäk +7:10.9
8. Hänninen +7:37.6
9. Wilson +8:00.4
10. Prokop +11:28.2

The support championships led to equally exciting racing.

In the SWRC Ott Tanäk lead the event from the first stage and continued to dominate over the rest of the field. Although Juho Hänninen pushed him hard all the way it wasn’t enough to unsteady Tanäk. The Estonian driver leads the championship by 2 points over Karl Kruuda.

Hänninen and Al-Attiyah rounded off the podium positions although both experienced a myriad of problems. Hänninen with a puncture and brake issues while Al-Attiyah spun, had a puncture and caught fire. Both cars also experienced following in the dust of another car.

Martin Prokop had started the rally looking promising however an unfortunate three fires and a penalty dropped him well down the order. Prokop did well to recover to 4th position.

Gassner, Kruuda and Turán rounded off the finishers but it was not without their issues. Gassner broke his rear differential but was able to continue unlike Kruuda (clutch failure) and Turán (broken exhaust) who both had to restart during day two. The point finishing positions somewhat making the pill less bitter to swallow.

There were three non-finishers this weekend: Sousa who suffered alternator problems in his Ford Fiesta, Brynildsen had to retire with an engine failure and Llovera who rolled his car early on in the event.

The next round of the SWRC will be in Greece.

The SWRC results are as follows:

1. Tanäk 3:52:51.8
2. Hänninen +26.7
3. Prokop +4:17.3
4. Al Attiyah +5:22.9
5. Gassner +13:31.6
6. Kruuda +29:53.8
7. Turán +42:18.8

Egon Kaur has won the second round of the WRC Academy after an incredibly action-filled event.

Amazingly only 8 crews survived to the end and for many it was one stage in particular that caught them out.
SS4 caused problems for a total of 9 crews who all unfortunately managed to run into a large rock which no-one had factored into their pace-notes. Extensive sump damage for the majority of them brought their overall rally to an end, however after quick repair work overnight three of the stricken crews were able to continue.

Ward and Niinemäe both rolled on the opening day while a broken steering arm for Černý brought his day to an early end. Upon restarting day two he eventually finished 4th.

Alistair Fisher suffered from engine problems during SS1 and Brendan Reeves had an oil cooler issue. Reeves was able to restart day two, and although he could feel his engine giving up on him as the day drew to an end ,he still finished 5th overall.

Eventual rally winner Kaur had a disastrous start to his rally when he went the wrong way at a junction and spent 4 minutes digging his car out. Although this loss was huge Kaur was definitely the benefactor of everybody else’s misfortune, once again showing that taking risks isn’t always the way to win a rally.

Day two was just as drastic for many of the crews. It was SS10 that caused problems this time for Karyakin, Taylor and Brunello – all three suffered damage to their Fiestas after heavy landings over a jump, each driver with cars beyond repair.

Rounding off the podium finishers was Baldoni and Åhlin in 2nd and 3rd respectively, both also had their problems. Baldoni hit a rock early on in the rally while Åhlin was plagued with damaged steering on the opening morning.

The WRC Academy is really living up to expectations of being a truly exciting and unmissable support championship.

The final results are as follows:

1. Kaur 3:29:39.4
2. Baldoni +1:42.1
3. Åhlin +2:42.3
4. Černý +16:42.9
5. Reeves +17:23.1
6. Crugnola +17:33.9
7. Breen +20:54.2
8. Niinemäe +32:05.2

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