Thu January 27, 2011

 Michelin's winning return to rallying Tyre company Michelin used the centenary edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo last week to make its first appearance in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and signal its return to international rallying with a dominant performance on the snow-hit event....

 Elena thrilled to finish Rallye Monte Carlo Daniel Elena, who finished 52nd overall on Rallye Monte-Carlo last week, has described the ‘special feeling’ he experienced by completing the Intercontinental Rally Challenge season-opener. ...

 Loix confirms seven-event IRC programme

Sat January 22, 2011

 Skoda start season with 2nd on Monte Carlo Monte Carlo, 22 January, 2011 – Freddy Loix in a Škoda Fabia Super 2000 of Škoda Motorsport (factory team) came second in the world's most famous rally which, as is so typical of this event, was strongly affected by quickly changing weather conditions, particularly in Stag...

 Peugeot wins Centenary Monte The 1985 Rallye Monte-Carlo was won by Ari Vatanen after a memorable comeback, while the 2009 edition of the winter classic saw Sébastien Ogier claim the first international victory of his burgeoning career. This time round, it is Peugeot France's Bryan Bouffier and Xavie...

 Bouffier wins Monte Carlo centenary Peugeot ace takes maiden IRC triumph Eurosport shows 12 epic stages live ...

NEWS JUST IN

 MC update - Solberg out, Sarrazin late @ 01:15 AM - As feared after the last stage, Petter Solberg did not want to be the WRC guy to prove how good the IRC really is and decided not to come 7th! Well, his alternator broke in the last stage, as he announced at the last stage finish, and he did not reach the finish ramp with the last time control and parc fermé. Also time penalty for Sarrazin, arriving late last TC and dropping to 4th.

Fri January 21, 2011

NEWS JUST IN

 MC end - New Frenchman wins 100th Monte @ 11:52 PM - Congrats to Bouffier. His first IRC win was on the cards for some time, but it had to be the 100th anniversary Monte! Wilks just about pips Delecour. The big final question is an alternator problem could put Solberg out on the last road section! Final results (after SS13)(subject to last road section and scrutineering):
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 3m32m55s6;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +32s5;
3rd= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +51s9;
4th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m19s7;
5th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m22s4;
6th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +1m29s3;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +3m45s9;
8th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +4m47s8;
9th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +7m45s9;
10th= Basso/Dotta, Peugeot, +8m46s

 MC SS12 - Sarrazin storms ahead! @ 11:02 PM - Stunning stage win by Sarrazin moves him ahead of both Wilks & Delecour. Top4 times clear ahead of the rest. Surprisingly both leaders Bouffier & Loix some 25s off that pace. Top4 in the stage are Sarrazin-Hänninen-Vouilloz-Basso. For Basso this means past Gardemeister into top10. Results after SS12:
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 3m19m21s9;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +44s9;
3rd= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m16s7;
4th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m25s9;
5th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m28s6;
6th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +1m49s6;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +3m36s4;
8th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +5m04s8;
9th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +7m49s8;
10th= Basso/Dotta, Peugeot, +8m55s6

 MC SS11 - Gearbox problem for Sarrazin @ 07:38 PM - Giandomenico Basso is back, winning this stage! But Sarrazin loses 4th again with the gearbox stuck in 4th. Delecour says on the uphill his engine is down on power, and indeed splits show him among the fastest downhill! Strange, both Turini night stages are completely dry. Results after SS11:
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 3m02m47s5;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +47s7;
3rd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m22s2;
4th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m28s1;
5th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m42s3;
6th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +2m12s;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +3m45s2;
8th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +5m23s7;
9th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +7m57s2;
10th= Gardemeister/Tuominen, Peugeot, +9m01s8

 MC SS10 - Delecour & Wilks down one @ 06:53 PM - First time over Turini a French festival, Vouilloz wins his 1st stage, Bouffier still leads. Loix passes Delecour, Sarrazin passes Wilks. Wilks & Sarrazin think they have too soft tyres, but that is what is needed on the next stage. Results after SS10:
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 2m49m16s8;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +48s1;
3rd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +59s;
4th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m16s3;
5th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m18s1;
6th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +2m11s5;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +3m34s;
8th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +5m24s8;
9th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +7m46s2;
10th= Gardemeister/Tuominen, Peugeot, +8m33s5

 MC day3 - slow times for top2 @ 08:49 AM - Only 1 stage this morning, and Turini Night next! But it was this stage where in 2009 Hänninen and Meeke lost their potential wins. This time surprising no position changes in top10 at all, but Loix & Wilks moved much closer to the leaders Bouffier & Delecour! Results after day3 (SS9):
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 2m32m47s3;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +39s7;
3rd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +51s8;
4th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +59s9;
5th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m17s9;
6th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +2m14s9;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +3m30s2;
8th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +5m29s5;
9th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +7m40s1;
10th= Gardemeister/Tuominen, Peugeot, +8m07s5

Thu January 20, 2011

 Snow helps Peugeot frontrunners Today's snow didn't come as a surprise. However, when it did eventually blow in over the route of the 2011 Rallye Monte-Carlo, it succeeded in turning the provisional order on its head. With one leg remaining, five Peugeot 207 Super 2000s figure in the tonight's to...

 Monte dramatic snow hit day2 Bryan Bouffier will take a lead of 28.7 seconds into the final day of Rallye Monte-Carlo as snow made driving conditions treacherous and threw the battle for victory on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge counter wide open....

 PG Andersson signs more for Proton Sweden’s Per-Gunnar Andersson has signed to drive for PROTON Motorsports in this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge....

 207s in close formation after day1 The first of the centenary Rallye Monte-Carlo's three legs lived up every bit to its promise. The day was rich in drama and ended with no fewer than six 207 Super 2000s in the top 10, and Petter Solberg as the bestplaced Peugeot driver....

NEWS JUST IN

 MC leg2 - Delecour Le Nutter! @ 04:41 PM - Delecour with his crazy studded tyre choise was the only driver to be spot on! That's Monte Carlo! Solberg lost over 3min, Hänninen not much less for wrong tyre choice. Bouffier keeps the lead despite going off! Results after day2 (SS8):
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 2m14m38s8;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +28s;
3rd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +1m05s5;
4th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m20s5;
5th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m41s1;
6th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +2m35s7;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +3m49s1;
8th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +5m31s;
9th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +7m51s7;
10th= Gardemeister/Tuominen, Peugeot, +7m52s7

 MC SS7 - All change in tyre roulette @ 03:46 PM - Complete change! Hänninen & Solberg both on completely wrong tyres! And that goes for the next stage too! Delecour only driver on studded tyres, and that's the only correct tyre! Results after SS7:
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 1m52m55s;
2nd= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +3s1;
3rd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +4s2;
4th= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +16s6;
5th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +24s6;
6th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +55s1;
7th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +1m02s9;
8th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +1m14s;
9th= Vouilloz/Veillas, Skoda, +4m22s;
10th= Maurin/Ural, Ford, +4m44s4

 MC SS6 - Small off for Loix @ 01:00 PM - And Solberg is past Loix as a result. But the stage win this time goes to Bryan Bouffier. 5th, 6th & 7th place just separated by 0.6s. Results after SS6:
1st= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, 1m36m19s6;
2nd= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +51s5;
3rd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +m102s1;
4th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m04s;
5th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +1m37s;
6th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m37s4;
7th= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +1m37s6;
8th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +2m15s1;
9th= Vigion/Yvernault, Peugeot, +4m09s4;
10th= Maurin/Ural, Ford, +4m54s8

 MC SS5 - Juho & Petter show the pace @ 11:56 AM - Hänninen beats Solberg by 0.2s on this stage. But Loix has to watch that he doesn't fall behind. Kopecky passes Wilks. Results after SS5:
1st= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, 1m23m24s4;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +51s8;
3rd= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +55s5;
4th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +1m02s7;
5th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +1m32s8;
6th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m33s;
7th= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +1m42s8;
8th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +2m04s9;
9th= Vigion/Yvernault, Peugeot, +3m43s5;
10th= Maurin/Ural, Ford, +4m15s4

Wed January 19, 2011

 Proton Monte Carlo update PROTON Motorsports suffered a disappointing start to the opening day of the Monte Carlo Rally, with neither Satria Neo S2000 making it back to Valence this evening....

 Skoda ace Hänninen dominates Juho Hanninen has completed the opening day of the centenary edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo, round one of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, with a lead of 44.5 seconds....

 Honda Civic Type-R: driven for research! Frenchman Lionel Comole will spearhead an entry of no fewer than six Civics on this year's 100th anniversary Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge....

 Proton Monte Carlo Preview PROTON Motorsports’ season gets underway on tomorrow (Wednesday), on the most famous event of them – the Monte Carlo Rally....

NEWS JUST IN

 MC day1 - Hänninen far up front @ 04:02 PM - Stage win for Loix, but still massive lead for Hänninen. Solberg passes Sarrazin, but seems a bit speachless at the times of Loix & Hänninen. Results after day1 (SS4):
1st= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, 1m11m33s4;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +44s5;
3rd= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +55s3;
4th= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +55s5;
5th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m18s7;
6th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +1m26s3;
7th= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +1m36s2;
8th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m52s4;
9th= Vigion/Yvernault, Peugeot, +3m11s3;
10th= Maurin/Ural, Ford, +3m53s2

 MC SS3 - Hänninen again @ 01:55 PM - Another stage win for Hänninen, while Sarrazin falls back into 3rd place. Punctures for Gardemeister & Basso. Results after SS3:
1st= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, 58m55s5;
2nd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +45s2;
3rd= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +47s4;
4th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +50s8;
5th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +1m04s5;
6th= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +1m13s4;
7th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +1m17s9;
8th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m31s3;
9th= Magalhaes/Grave, Peugeot, +2m01s4;
10th= Vigion/Yvernault, Peugeot, +2m42s7

 MC SS2 - Stunning time from Hänninen @ 11:34 AM - Petter this time 2nd fastest, but Hänninen put in another stunning time while circuit racer Sarrazin shows the inconsistency he had the past 2 years Monte, fastest SS1, 35s down SS2. Results after SS2:
1st= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, 46m15s5;
2nd= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, +35s6;
3rd= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +41s7;
4th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +44s6;
5th= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +51s5;
6th= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +52s3;
7th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +1m04s6;
8th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m09s9;
9th= Basso/Dotta, Peugeot, +1m22s2;
10th= Magalhaes/Grave, Peugeot, +1m36s3

 MC SS1 - Sarrazin & Hänninen in lead @ 10:15 AM - It's Skoda vs Peugeot, but not the drivers you might have expected. Actually it's Sarrazin 0.3s ahead of Hänninen. Already a bit of a gap after them. Vouilloz and Mikkelsen both hit walls and collected punctures. Henning Solberg lost about 4min with puncture, Atkinson crashed out. Results after SS1:
1st= Sarrazin/Renucci, Peugeot, 23m35s6;
2nd= Hänninen/Markkula, Skoda, +0s3;
3rd= Wilks/Pugh, Peugeot, +20s3;
4th= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +20s8;
5th= Loix/Miclotte, Skoda, +24s1;
6th= Solberg/Patterson, Peugeot, +29s8;
7th= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +35s7;
8th= Kopecky/Stary, Skoda, +36s;
9th= Magalhaes/Grave, Peugeot, +38s2;
10th= Basso/Dotta, Peugeot, +41s1

Mon January 17, 2011

 SimulCam technology for live IRC Monte Following Eurosport Events’ landmark coverage of Rallye Monte-Carlo in 2009 and 2010, when it showed virtually every stage live, the promoter of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is planning another world television first when it uses SimulCam technology on the centenary editi...

Fri January 14, 2011

 Preparation is key for Wilks It was 100 years ago that the first Monte Carlo Rally took place and this year’s rally will be the first one for Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks and Phil Pugh in a Peugeot 207 S2000....

Thu January 13, 2011

 Ford 2011 WRC colour scheme revealed Ford's all-new Fiesta RS World Rally Car was revealed in its 2011-specification today when the company unveiled the colour scheme that will adorn the car in the FIA World Rally Championship. ...

Wed January 12, 2011

 Peugeot targets victory on Monte Peugeot's long-standing passion for the Rallye Monte-Carlo has produced some of the event's most memorable moments, including the incredible fight-back of Ari Vatanen who overturned an eight-minute time-penalty incurred while leading the 1985 event to clinch the win i...

 Ypres residents like rally drivers Throughout its almost 50-year long history, the Geko Ypres Rally has always been eager to offer amateur teams a warm welcome and tried to make their registration and participation as easy as possible. The organizers are well aware that one of the main hurdles for foreign amateur ...

Tue January 11, 2011

 New 2011 IRC regulations For the 2011 season, the IRC has some rule changes. It seems important you read that, to understand some new situations with the 1st round starting this week....

Mon January 10, 2011

 Rallye Monte Carlo preview The complete Rallye Monte Carlo 100th anniversary edition preview:...