Sun August 13, 2006

 CRT Skoda delighted with points finish The superb game of catch-up played by the crew of the Czech Rally Team Škoda-Kopecký over the legs on Saturday and Sunday resulted in two much-coveted points in the drivers standings in the World Rally Championship. Jan Kopecký coped with Saturday's leg fantastically, winning ...

 Loeb wins and equals Sainz! The two Kronos Total Citroen WRT Xsaras got through the four stages of the final day without the slightest problem. Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena won the Rallye Deutschland for the fifth consecutive time, becoming the first crew ever to achieve such a feat on the full World Champio...

 4 points for Stohl

 Atkinson makes the points

 Best result of the year for RB Skoda

 Sixth 2006 podium for Gronholm

 Kopecky proves Fabia's speed

NEWS JUST IN

 Loeb takes record win @ 00:03 AM - Hirvonen "retires" after the last stage so will get a 5 minute penalty and drops to 9th. Final results: 1. Loeb, 2. Sordo +33.8s, 3. Gronholm +2m19.2s, 4. Gardemeister +2m33.8s, 5. Stohl +4m25.9s, 6. Aigner +5m42.6s, 7. Kopecky 5m45.8s, 8. Atkinson +7m25.0s

Sat August 12, 2006

 Positive day for Stobart Ford The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team vaulted up the order in the second day of OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland with a dry day's running in the challenging military ranges enabling Matthew Wilson to jump up the leaderboard by 17 places through the course of the event's second ...

 Loeb and Sordo hold solid lead At the end of leg two, run largely through the Baumholder military ranges, Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Marti have a firm grip on first and second places. Xevi Pons/Carlos Del Barrio were forced to retire after SS12 with a hydraulic problem. They will restart ...

 Stohl still within points range Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor are pleased with the second day of the OMV ADAC Rallye. For a short time even in fifth place the OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team was then overtaken by Mikko Hirvonen. 6th place remains the best intermediate place at the OMV ADAC Rallye nevertheles...

 Sarrazin and Atkinson battle on At the end of the second Leg of competition in Germany, Subaru’s Stephane Sarrazin holds eighth place overall and leads the Subaru World Rally Team’s challenge. The Frenchman moved up two places on the leaderboard during the day and set the third-fastest time on the Leg’s final s...

 Dry weather aids Gronholm's climb BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen won two speed tests as they climbed to third during the second leg of Rallye Deutschland today. Their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car excelled on the mainly dry asphalt roads of south-west Germany as the Finns ch...

 Aigner holds 7th after day two The second day of the OMV ADAC Rally in Germany was a rough ordeal for drivers and cars. The Baumholder stages including the ‘Panzerplatte’ attracted multitudes of spectators, who were enthralled by the performances of rallying’s best....

 Citroen in control After the drama packed leg1 today's Panzerplatte stages should have been even more dramatic and unpredictable. However one major difference was, that leg2 stayed largely dry. There has been a clear winner and a clear loser of the day. Winner: Jan Kopecky in his CRT Skoda Fabia...

NEWS JUST IN

 D leg2 - Citroen easing off @ 04:58 PM - Citroen took the last loop of 3 stages rather easy because from now they can only lose a certain win. Kopecky managed his 2nd stage win in SS14 Bosenberg, the same stage he won in the morning! Unofficial, provisional results after leg2: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 2h47m53s5
2. Sordo, Citroen, +34s3
3. Grönholm, Ford, +2m14s1
4. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m39s8
5. Hirvonen, Ford, +2m56s4
6. Stohl, Peugeot, +3m20s
7. Aigner, Skoda, +4m42s1
8. Sarrazin, Subaru, 4m54s7
9. Kopecky, Skoda, 5m11s7
10. Atkinson, Subaru, 5m23s1

 D SS13 - Citroen trying tyre gamble @ 03:28 PM - The last of the Panzerplatte stages went clearly to Ford. Both Loeb and Sordo dropped around 20s using a rain tyre in dry, grippy conditions on the assumption SS14 Bosenberg should be very wet. Kopecky passed Atkinson. Unofficial, provisional results after SS13: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 2h32m00s5
2. Sordo, Citroen, +26s2
3. Grönholm, Ford, +2m13s6
4. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m31s4
5. Hirvonen, Ford, +2m50s
6. Stohl, Peugeot, +3m12s7
7. Aigner, Skoda, +4m26s
8. Sarrazin, Subaru, 4m49s9
9. Kopecky, Skoda, 5m10s7
10. Atkinson, Subaru, 5m14s7

 Citroens in their own league @ 10:04 AM - Sordo keeps eating into Loeb's lead. A clutch problem for Stohl means Hirvonen is getting close. Subarus of Sarrazin and Atkinson have swapped position. Pons dropped outside the top10 with a big spin. That was a drama free Panzerplatte stage! Unofficial, provisional results after SS10: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 1h52m03s4
2. Sordo, Citroen, +27s4
3. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m18s
4. Grönholm, Ford, +2m38s2
5. Stohl, Peugeot, +2m56s1
6. Hirvonen, Ford, +2m57s9
7. Aigner, Skoda, +3m34s
8. Sarrazin, Subaru, 4m06s1
9. Atkinson, Subaru, 4m11s1
10. Kopecky, Skoda, 4m55s3

 Solberg out at start day2 @ 08:30 AM - The engine that was fit new to Solberg's Subaru the night after shakedown failed in this stage. Grönholm had a spin and stall. Surprise first stage win not to go to a Citroen goes to Skoda's Jan Kopecky, who is currently 11th overall! Panzerplatte next. Unofficial, provisional results after SS9: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 1h33m47s1
2. Sordo, Citroen, +34s2
3. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m07s4
4. Grönholm, Ford, +2m25s6
5. Stohl, Peugeot, +2m38s4
6. Hirvonen, Ford, +2m50s7
7. Aigner, Skoda, +3m09s1
8. Atkinson, Subaru, 3m41s7
9. Sarrazin, Subaru, 3m44s5
10. Pons, Citroen, 4m06s4

 Amazing Panzerplatte2 @ 00:35 AM - Over 30km of the most abbrassive surface of the championship and the top3 guys are seperated by exactly 1s! Grönholm beats Sordo by 0.1s and Loeb by 1.0s. Grönholm moves into 3rd. Stohl still on full wets on a dry stage, and it starts bucketing down the moment the stage ends! Unofficial, provisional results after SS12: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 2h21m00s8
2. Sordo, Citroen, +24s2
3. Grönholm, Ford, +2m30s9
4. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m31s7
5. Hirvonen, Ford, +3m04s7
6. Stohl, Peugeot, +3m21s
7. Aigner, Skoda, +4m29s1
8. Sarrazin, Subaru, 4m52s3
9. Atkinson, Subaru, 5m11s8
10. Kopecky, Skoda, 5m20s7

 Ford catching up @ 00:13 AM - Ford takes a 1-2 in a dry and grippy concrete Erzweiler stage. Grönholm comes very close to Gardemeister and Hirvonen passes Stohl as a result. Stohl on soft wets has made a fatal tyre choice, though. Unofficial, provisional results after SS11: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 2h02m56s3
2. Sordo, Citroen, +25s1
3. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m23s4
4. Grönholm, Ford, +2m31s9
5. Hirvonen, Ford, +2m51s
6. Stohl, Peugeot, +3m04s
7. Aigner, Skoda, +3m46s8
8. Sarrazin, Subaru, 4m26s3
9. Atkinson, Subaru, 4m37s2
10. Kopecky, Skoda, 5m05s2

Fri August 11, 2006

 Tough first day for Stobart Ford The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team endured a trying first day to OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland with treacherous wet weather conditions making the Mosel vineyard stages a virtual ice rink at times and tyre choice all the more crucial....

 Stohl in the points after day one Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor have delivered their masterpiece on the first day of the OMV ADAC Rallye. While, in previous years, they had scarce chances for a top rank after the first stages of the event, the fifth edition of the OMV ADAC Rallye has turned the tables. After eight...

 Petter leads Subaru challenge Petter Solberg leads the Subaru challenge after today’s first Leg of Rally Germany. The Norwegian lies fifth overall thanks largely to the team’s technicians who worked through the night to repair his car after he crashed at the pre-event shakedown test. The Norwegian left servic...

 Loeb and Sordo lead the way At the end of leg one through the vineyards of the Mosel, Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Marti return to Trier at the head of the field. The two Kronos Total Citroen WRT Xsaras are on fighting form for tomorrow’s battle through the Baumholder military ranges. X...

 Gronholm slides through in 4th BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen ended the opening leg of Rallye Deutschland in fourth after a day dominated by tyre choice in the inconsistent weather. Their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car lies just 5.4sec from a top three placing with two day...

 A positive day for Red Bull Skoda In the morning of the first day, a strong upward trend for Red Bull Skoda was already beginning to show compared to the past rallies. After four stages, Andreas Aigner was seventh and Mattias Ekstrom fifteenth....

 Good&Rich Deutschland day1 Rallye Deutschland has seen an amazingly drama packed leg1. The first drama already happened before the start, when Petter Solberg made a mess of his Subaru during shakedown and left the Prodrive mechanics work on his car till 3am. SS1 then was a gamble, because we had patchy rai...

 Kopecky ready after good shakedown The Czech Rally Team Škoda-Kopecký crew of Jan Kopecký and Filip Schovánek is ready for Friday's start of the Rallye Deutschland. During Thursday's official shakedown, the crew made sure their Škoda Fabia WRC was in working order and made the final changes to the vehicle to...

NEWS JUST IN

 Citroen in the dry in Deutschland @ 04:43 PM - In a day with dark clouds, petchy but partly very heavy rain the sun seems to be shining on Citroen. Citroen were favourites anyway, but it must be said they were very lucky with tyre choices. Duval the latest of the unlucky ones with retirement before SS8. See further "just ins". Unofficial, provisional results after day1: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 1h20m35s
2. Sordo, Citroen, +42s7
3. Gardemeister, Citroen, +2m06s
4. Grönholm, Citroen, +2m11s4
5. Sohlberg, Subaru +2m23s1
6. Stohl, Peugeot, +2m29s4
7. Hirvonen, Ford, +2m48s6
8. Aigner, Skoda, 2m55s5
9. Atkinson, Subaru, 3m10s7
10. Sarrazin, Subaru, 3m43s6

 Lottery day at Rallye Deutschland @ 02:59 PM - Dramatic start. In SS1 Sordo, Grönholm, Hirvonen and Latvala all went off the road, Latvala terminally. In SS5 we have reports of heavy rain with the stage being bone dry only 2km further on. While we get news of Grönholm losing 30s with mechanical problems in SS6, here the unofficial, provisional results after SS5: 1. Loeb, Citroen, 59m16s7
2. Sordo, Citroen, +23s8
3. Grönholm, Ford, +49s9
4. Solberg, Subaru, +58s
5. Stohl, Peugeot +1m09s7
6. Gardemeister, Citroen, +1m10s3
7. Duval, Skoda, +1m11s9
8. Aigner, Skoda, 1m13s8
9. Hirvonen, Ford, 1m31s9
10. Atkinson, Subaru, 1m45s1

 Marcus pulls 13s lead after 4 stages @ 09:00 AM - Unconfirmed! 1 GRÖNHOLM 41:23.7, 2 SOLBERG +13.9, 3 LOEB +21.8, 4 HIRVONEN +40.4, 5 DUVAL +42.2, 6 GARDEMEISTER +53.8, 6 ATKINSON +53.8, 7 VÄLIMÄKI +01:00.9, 7 MAC HALE +01:00.9, 8 PONS +01:01.0, 8 SORDO +01:01.0 And its raining heavily.

 Citroen wins tyre gamble @ - SS7 and in this loop only Loeb and Sordo are on hand cut, very soft slicks, everybody else on hard wets. This is a huge gamble considering the distance between services. But in partly heavy rain it pays off. Everybody is now over 2mins off Loeb and Sordo. To add to damage, Gardemeister on hard wets moved into 3rd, making it a Citroen 1-2-3 after SS7!

Thu August 10, 2006

 Solberg’s shakedown cut short Petter Solberg’s Rally Germany shakedown was cut short this morning after an accident on his fifth pass though the 3.38km test stage. Solberg was approaching the finish line when his Impreza left the road and hit two trees, sustaining front and rear bodywork damage. Both Solbe...

 Trouble free shakedown for Red Bull The shakedown was held this morning on a 3.18 kilometre stage, two kilometres north of the service park at Lake Bostal. Weather conditions for this final performance check prior to the rally start on Friday were excellent, with temperatures around 20 degrees centigrade....