Fri November 30, 2007

 Safari day6 - Black Cotton and Rivers

 Lindholm will restart on leg 2 Suzuki will return to the Rally Great Britain on leg two of the event, after the SX4 WRC's gravel debut was interrupted by a stone that damaged a brake pipe. Sebastian Lindholm, Suzuki's test driver, started the event with the intention of accumulating as many kilometres as...

 Solberg & Latvala fall victim

 Petter a solid 4th after day one

 Stohl fights for the final point

 Hirvonen stars on leg one

 Loeb on target

NEWS JUST IN

 GB leg1 - Misty Mess @ 07:02 PM - If the RAC would go into Yorkshire and Scottish borderland, as it used to, the headline would be "Focking Fog" - sorry! Fog, mist and rain combined with rally cars with failing wipers and misted windscreen caused havoc in SS6. No retirements - except Jari-Matti Latvala, who lost 16min for poor visibility and found out if he retired he would be 6min faster - strange souprally system! But also for other drivers the gaps in SS6 were counted in minutes, not seconds! Even clear stage winner Mikko Hirvonen was 45s slower than first time on this same stage as SS3. Unofficial provisional positions after leg1: 1 - Hirvonen/Lehtinen, Ford, 1h17m21s3; 2 - Grönholm/Rautiainen, Ford, +39s6; 3 - Loeb/Elena, Citroen, +57s9; 4 - Solberg/Mills, Subaru, +1m34s; 5 - Sordo/Marti, Citroen, +2m37s9; 6 - Wilson/Orr, Ford, +5m01s3; 7 - Atkinson/Prevot, Subaru, +5m02s3; 8 - Stohl/Minor, Citroen, +5m37s9; 9 - Pons/Amigo, Subaru, +5m57s5; 10 - Mikkelsen/Floene, Ford, +6m41s8

 GB SS3 - MG beats Suzuki! @ 01:53 PM - At the front business as usual. However the new car: The MG S2000 seems to be doing fine. The Suzuki SX4 WRC reports brake problems on the first stage and is there 31st, the MG 30th! In SS2 the Suzuki posts 18th time but in SS3 he has retired for the day, MG is 32nd now. Unofficial provisional positions after SS3: 1 - Hirvonen/Lehtinen, Ford, 38m01s5; 2 - Grönholm/Rautiainen, Ford, +21s4; 3 - Loeb/Elena, Citroen, +22s4; 4 - Latvala/Anttila, Ford, +29s4; 5 - Solberg/Mills, Subaru, +54s4; 6 - Sordo/Marti, Citroen, +59s9; 7 - Atkinson/Prevot, Subaru, +1m17s2; 8 - Wilson/Orr, Ford, +1m37s3; 9 - Stohl/Minor, Ford, +1m43s3; 10 - Pons/Amigo, Subaru, 1m55s2

 GB SS1 - Surprise strategy by Grönholm @ 11:06 AM - Instead of going for the win for his title chances, Grönholm cruises to make sure of a finish, probably not taking risks until Loeb hits problems. Grönholm is only 20s faster than Wilson, or in other words 12s slower than his own team mate. Unofficial provisional positions after SS1: 1 - Hirvonen/Lehtinen, Ford, 9m15s2; 2 - Loeb/Elena, Citroen, +6s5; 3 - Grönholm/Rautiainen, Ford, +12s; 4 - Latvala/Anttila, Ford, +14s7; 5 - Atkinson/Prevot, Subaru, +19s; 6 - Solberg/Mills, Subaru, 19s3; 7 - Sordo/Marti, Citroen, +26s3; 8 - Pons/Amigo, Subaru, +27s1; 9 - Ostberg/Unnerud, Subaru, +31s4; 10 - Wilson/Orr, Ford, 32s9

 GB SS2 - title contenders careful @ 00:23 AM - Unofficial provisional positions after SS2: 1 - Hirvonen/Lehtinen, Ford, 22m05s8; 2 - Loeb/Elena, Citroen, +15s4; 3 - Grönholm/Rautiainen, Ford, +16s8; 4 - Latvala/Anttila, Ford, +27s6; 5 - Solberg/Mills, Subaru, +39s2; 6 - Sordo/Marti, Citroen, +42s5; 7 - Atkinson/Prevot, Subaru, +55s8; 8 - Stohl/Minor, Citroen, +1m11s4; 9 - Wilson/Orr, Ford, +1m16s24; 10 - Pons/Amigo, Subaru, 1m22s8

Thu November 29, 2007

 Watch out for Evgeny Novikov

 Putting things in context

 Safari rest day - byebye to 3 V8 Fords

NEWS JUST IN

 Duncan retired from Safari @ 08:35 PM - Ian Duncan has announced he won't continue with the Safari Rally tomorrow. On the last stage before the rest day Ian Duncan's massive, rumbling Ford Mustang stopped with a broken gearbox. From 7th overall and being leading local driver he dropped to 17th, over 2hrs behind the leader. On grounds of cost, saving his car for later events and little hope on a top result, he sadly withdrew from the event now. Meanwhile Paul Darrouzet announced his retirement was for safety reasons following the steering ball joints failing several times.

Wed November 28, 2007

 Safari leg4 - Legends 1-2 at halfway The rally now has left the Rift Valley behind. The first section of the day was a reverse version of the first section of day2, leading back from Naivasha to Nairobi. The other two sections were in the Masai Mara game reservoir. One of these stages a mindblowing 131km long. This ...

 Safari leg3 - God's Bridge mystery Another day with twists in most picturesque area. The stages had sections of natural roads and scenery in layouts it was totally mystique and can’t be found anywhere else on the globe. This is how rallying should be advertised, this is what makes rallying stand out from any other...

 GB a new challenge for Munchis drivers Wales Rally GB will be another brand new challenge for both Munchi's Ford World Rally Team drivers when they tackle the final round of the FIA World Rally Championship in a few days....

 SX4 ready for gravel debut Having successfully completed the all-asphalt Tour de Corse-Rallye de France in October, the Suzuki World Rally Team now faces a brand new challenge with Rally Great Britain, held entirely on gravel....

 Stohl aiming to round year off on a high The Wales Rally GB from November 29 to December 2 will be the last run to the FIA Rally World Championship this season for the OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team. Following a rather up-and-down year what is left is to take care of a conciliatory WRC-finish on the British isle. A...

Tue November 27, 2007

 Safari leg2 - leader falls off planet

NEWS JUST IN

 Safari mid-day3 after God's Bridge @ 01:57 PM - Day3 turns out really turbulent. On the 1st section today Stefano Rocca rolled his Datsun 240Z out of the rally and promoted the Ford Mustang of Ian Duncan to the best local crew. Also on the 1st stage Björn Waldegaard's Ford Escort had such a heavy landing that his co-driving son needed medical attention. The father and son team still took the lead on the rally when on the next stage, the famous God's Bridge section, former leader Gerard Marcy in a Porsche hit problems and lost 10 minutes!

Mon November 26, 2007

 Honda Civic R3 gravel WRC debut The all-new Honda Civic Type R R3 will make its gravel debut on the Wales Rally Great Britain, the final round of this year's World Rally Championship from November 30-December 2....

 Stobart hungry for success in GB The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team are just one event away from capturing a podium position in the FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers as they head to Swansea for Wales Rally GB; the final round of the 2007 WRC season....

 Safari leg1 - Legends in Taita Hills The classic East African Safari Rally started off where it finished on its last edition in 2005. Literally. The Blue Triangle Kibini Quarry was the scene of the penultimate day of the rally in 2005 with a big final day through the Taita Hills. Safari Rally 2007 leg1 was kind of t...

Sun November 25, 2007

 The real Safari - full preview The “real” East African Safari is on the agenda for this coming week again. And as in its previous editions 2003 & 2005, we are covering the event again. As you see it turns out to be a bi-annual adventure. Here I incorporate some of our 2005 introduction to explain where this ra...

 Sainz and Moya take Skoda win! Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya celebrated a successful comeback to driving a World Rally Car this weekend as they took a Skoda Fabia WRC to victory at the Rally Shalymar in Spain....

Fri November 23, 2007

 Loeb 4 points from the title In keeping with a longstanding tradition that was briefly interrupted for two seasons, Great Britain's round of the World Rally Championship will bring the curtain down on the 2007 campaign....

 Subaru counting on strong GB record Two weeks after Rally Ireland, the last asphalt round of the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship, the Subaru World Rally team will head to Wales for the final rally of the season, and the team’s second ‘home’ event....

 Gronholm aims for title win on swansong Newly-crowned world rally champion BP-Ford aims to add the drivers' title to its second- consecutive manufacturers' success in the FIA World Rally Championship in Wales next week. Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen have their sights set on celebrating their 150th WRC star...

Wed November 21, 2007

 Markko Martin guests in WRC Impreza Ex Subaru World Rally Team driver Markko Martin will make a sensational one-off competitive appearance in a works-prepared Impreza World Rally Car at next month’s Bettega Memorial Rallysprint. The 32-year-old Estonian, who drove for the Subaru World Rally Team in 2001, will dr...

Tue November 20, 2007

 Short preview on season final A short preview to Wales Rally GB and the championship situation. Ford of course have their manufacturer title confirmed. Loeb win and Grönholm retirement in Rally Ireland means that Sébastien Loeb has taken the championship lead from Marcus Grönholm for the first time since roun...

Mon November 19, 2007

 Provisional 2008 IRC calendar revealed The 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge provisional calendar has been revealed, featuring 10 events on three continents. The 2008 series will start with the Safari Rally in March and it will end with the China Rally in November, comprising six events on asphalt and four on grav...

 SWRT launch 1st sat nav guide to RallyGB Subaru World Rally Team has partnered with satellite navigation website www.pocketgpsworld.com to launch, for the first time ever, a free downloadable Global Positioning System (GPS) guide to Wales Rally GB....

 Latvala's podium moves Stobart up The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team have moved up to occupy third place in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers thanks to Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila’s magnificent third place at this weekend’s penultimate championship round, Rally Ireland. This result ...