Sat March 7, 2009

 Carnival in Curitiba Kris Meeke already showed on leg1 that he is the star of the rally. But somehow the typical fate in the battle Abarth vs Peugeot was proven too. To catch up, as our leg1 report did not consider the last two stages of the day, Kris Meeke made it a perfect clean sweep, winning all ...

 Meeke takes his first win in Brazil Peugeot UK driver Kris Meeke has won the all-gravel Curitiba Rally in Brazil, round two of the IRC series. The Irishman claimed all seven stages on the opening day of the rally and then controlled his advantage on the second day to end up with a 26.2 second margin over Peugeot Be...

NEWS JUST IN

 BR end - Meeke wins dramatic finale @ 05:12 PM - Meele and Vouilloz tie for last stage win, while Basso drops 20sec to hand a 1-2 to Peugeot. Final positions (SS13)(subject to last road section and final scrutineering): 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 2h08m05s7; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +26s2; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +47s9; 4th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +2m32s1; 5th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +5m20s; 6th= Rauly Martinez/Montero, Subaru, +8m09s4; 7th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +9m57s2; 8th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +10m17s5; 9th= Tulio/Valandro, Peugeot, +19m04s; 10th= Tedesco/Furtado, Fiat, +20m53s5

 BR SS12 - Vouilloz late attack @ 04:25 PM - One stage left and Vouilloz pulls slightly clear of Basso and threatens Meeke. Cancio lost a minute. Positions after SS12: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 1h53m06s4; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +26s2; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +31s5; 4th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m55s5; 5th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +4m15s6; 6th= Rauly Martinez/Montero, Subaru, +7m23s6; 7th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +8m38s1; 8th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +9m01s8; 9th= Tulio/Valandro, Peugeot, +16m57s5 10th= Tedesco/Furtado, Fiat, +18m42s5

 BR SS11 - Vouilloz passes Basso! @ 03:51 PM - 2 stages left, 3 drivers can still win! Meeke fights back, but last stage he is road sweeper again. Meanwhile Vouilloz overtakes Basso by just 2sec! Positions after SS11: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 1h41m33s3; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +33s; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +35s3; 4th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m49s1; 5th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +2m40s2; 6th= Rauly Martinez/Montero, Subaru, +6m48s7; 7th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +7m57s8; 8th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +8m18s1; 9th= Tulio/Valandro, Peugeot, +15m30s8 10th= Tedesco/Furtado, Fiat, +17m19s9

 BR SS10 - Top3 come closer @ 02:09 PM - Brazilian champion Oswaldo Scheer seems to have retired from 9th. Positions after SS10: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 1h31m37s; 2nd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +22s7; 3rd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +28s4; 4th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m33s3; 5th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +2m06s8; 6th= Rauly Martinez/Montero, Subaru, +6m15s5; 7th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +7m12s2; 8th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +7m36s8; 9th= Tulio/Valandro, Peugeot, +13m51s8 10th= Tedesco/Furtado, Fiat, +15m46s9

 BR SS9 - Loix overtakes Cancio @ 00:29 AM - And Anton Alen crashed out for good. Positions after SS9: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 1h19m43s3; 2nd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +31s7; 3rd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +39s8; 4th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m39s8; 5th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +1m46s9; 6th= Rauly Martinez/Montero, Subaru, +5m32s; 7th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +6m36s8; 8th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +6m52s1; 9th= Scheer/Rocha, Mitsubishi, +7m07s8; 10th= Tulio/Valandro, Peugeot, +12m34s1

 BR SS8 - Basso & Abarth speed up @ 00:06 AM - Meeke struggles road sweeping, but Basso beats Vouilloz as well as Meeke quite clearly on this stage. It was the longest stage of the rally, but this could turn Basso & Abarth favourites for victory here! Tombola retired from 6th. Positions after SS8: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 1h09m28s6; 2nd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +37s3; 3rd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +43s6; 4th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +1m24s6; 5th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m32s; 6th= Rauly Martinez/Montero, Subaru, +5m06s8; 7th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +5m56s; 8th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +6m10s9; 9th= Scheer/Rocha, Mitsubishi, +6m37s9; 10th= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +9m37s9

Fri March 6, 2009

 Brazil: News & Quotes from day one Peugeot UK driver Kris Meeke has claimed the lead after the opening day of the Curitiba Rally in Brazil, making a perfect start by winning all seven of the gravel special stages that were run as leg one. Meeke did not put a foot wrong from the very beginning, and he returns to pa...

 Meeke stars in Brazil leg1 The Rally Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil proved a truly unique event so far. The stages are sandy in mixed weather conditions and mostly go through tropical forests. The forests are not quite rain forests, but clearly tropical, green and dense. It is nice to have Brazil back...

 WTCChamp takes to rallying! The reigning IRC champion, Nicolas Vouilloz, got the Rally Internacional de Curitiba off to an unusual beginning when he took the reigning FIA World Touring Car Champion, Yvan Muller, for a ride in his Peugeot 207 S2000 on the shakedown stage prior to the start of the event....

 Alen aims to make history in Brazil Abarth’s Anton Alen is aiming to make history on the Rally Internacional de Curitiba by repeating his famous father Markku’s Brazilian victory of exactly 30 years ago. The very first Rally do Brasil was held in 1979, with Fiat entering two cars for Markku Alen and Walter Rohrl....

 Meeke fastest on Brazil shakedown British driver Kris Meeke (pictured) set the fastest time on the Rally de Curitiba shakedown stage this morning, in Campina Grande do Sul just outside the Brazilian city. The Peugeot UK driver set a time of 2m24.30 on the short gravel stage, beating the factory Abarth Grande Punt...

NEWS JUST IN

 BR leg1 - Basso overtakes Vouilloz @ 11:27 PM - Meeke wins every stage, but Basso avoids Peugeot 1-2 just. Positions after leg1 (SS7): 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 47m47s; 2nd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +48s6; 3rd= Nicolas/Klinger, Peugeot, +48s9; 4th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +1m03s6; 5th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m22s5; 6th= Tomboly/Fabiani, Mitsubishi, +2m31s6; 7th= Raul Rauly/Montero, Subaru, +3m59s; 8th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +4m40s9; 9th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +5m03s; 10th= Scheer/Rocha, Mitsubishi, +5m36s6

 BR SS5 - Ligato out @ 06:39 PM - Because of a server crash at our colleagues in Brazil, we can only give times for first 5 crews that started. Marcos Ligato retired before service with a holed radiator. Positions after SS5: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 36m35s3; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +35s3; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +38s8; 4th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +s; 5th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m09s; 6th= Tomboly/Fabiani, Mitsubishi, +1m51s; 7th= Raul Rauly/Montero, Subaru, +ms; 8th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +ms; 9th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +ms; 10th= Scheer/Rocha, Mitsubishi, +ms

 BR SS4 - Drama for Alen & Ligato @ 02:55 PM - Whatever caused Alen's previous stage time loss seems to have led to another 7min time loss this stage. Ligato also lost a minute. At least now is a service. Positions after SS4: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 30m47s1; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +27s8; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +33s4; 4th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +44s2; 5th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +1m04s; 6th= Tomboly/Fabiani, Mitsubishi, +1m35s1; 7th= Ligato/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +2m13s5; 8th= Raul Rauly/Montero, Subaru, +2m36s1; 9th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +2m57s2; 10th= Abramian/Mussano, Subaru, +3m19s3

 BR SS3 - And Alen drops @ 02:19 PM - Anton Alen had a spin or a puncture, losing 50s and strong 2nd place. Positions after SS3: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 20m22s3; 2nd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +23s3; 3rd= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +28s6; 4th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +34s8; 5th= Ligato/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +35s4; 6th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +50s7; 7th= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +58s8; 8th= Tomboly/Fabiani, Mitsubishi, +1m05s8; 9th= Saba/Galindo, Subaru, +1m50s6; 10th= Raul Rauly/Montero, Subaru, +1m52s6

 BR SS2 - Meeke vs Alen @ 01:44 PM - A clear battle is developing. 2nd stage win in a row for Meeke, but only 0.1s ahead of Alen! Positions after SS2: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 14m30s3; 2nd= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +9s6; 3rd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +14s; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +20s2; 5th= Ligato/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +22s4; 6th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +24s6; 7th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +31s4; 8th= Tomboly/Fabiani, Mitsubishi, +48s2; 9th= Fuchs/Cilloniz, Subaru, +52s3; 10th= Scheer/Rocha, Mitsubishi, +1m01s3

 BR SS1 - Convincing start for Meeke! @ 00:30 AM - Strong stage time for Meeke! Positions after SS1: 1st= Meeke/Nagle, Peugeot, 10m30s8; 2nd= Alen/Alanne, Fiat Abarth, +9s5; 3rd= Vouilloz/Klinger, Peugeot, +13s2; 4th= Basso/Dotta, Fiat Abarth, +17s3; 5th= Ligato/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +19s8; 6th= Cancio/Garcia, Mitsubishi, +23s2; 7th= Loix/Smets, Peugeot, +25s8; 8th= Tomboli/Fabiani, Mitsubishi, +39s1; 9th= Fuchs/Cilloniz, Subaru, +45s9; 10th= Scheer/Rocha, Mitsubishi, +50s1

Thu March 5, 2009

 Rallye Internacional Curitiba - Preview The Intercontinental Rally Challenge will embrace a new concept with the Rally Internacional de Curitiba, which gets underway in Brazil on Friday. This event will be held at the same venue as the opening round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship - which is also promoted by ...

Mon March 2, 2009

 Foreign crews could end local dominance The seven-year run of victories by Brazilian drivers on the Rally de Curitiba could come to an end when the event hosts the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for the first time this week....

Thu February 26, 2009

 Abarth encouraged by gravel tests The factory Abarth team has been testing the Grande Punto S2000 in preparation for the forthcoming gravel rounds of the IRC. All three works drivers - Giandomenico Basso, Anton Alen, and Luca Rossetti - spent time behind the wheel of the latest-specification Grande Punto on some ...

Tue February 24, 2009

 Crews look forward to Brazillian stages Crews competing on the Rally de Curitiba in Brazil on March 5-7 have been given a sneak preview of the stages that will make up the second round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge....

Mon February 23, 2009

 Ligato targets points for Mitsubishi Mitsubishi's chances of claiming a strong haul of manufacturers' points on the Rally de Curitiba have improved after rapid Argentine Marcos Ligato entered the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier next month....

Sun February 22, 2009

 Loix to take steady approach in Brazil Freddy Loix has admitted he won't drive flat-out to win the Rally de Curitiba in Brazil next month....

Fri February 20, 2009

 Kopecky tips Vouilloz for Brazil win Jan Kopecky has tipped defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion, Nicolas Vouilloz, to win the next round of the series in Brazil on March 5-7....

Sun February 8, 2009

 Crews can expect a fast ride in Brazil Crews contesting the Curitiba International Rally next month are being told to expect plenty of high-speed action. The event marks Brazil's first appearance on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge calendar and will form the second round of the series from March 5-7....

Sat February 7, 2009

 Gardemeister aims for Brazil Toni Gardemeister believes fans attending rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge this season will be treated to an 'exciting' spectacle. Gardemeister made his debut in the series on the Monte Carlo Rally last month, the tenth time he had tackled the legendary event....