Wed July 31, 2013

 Ford confirms 2014 Dakar start Team Ford Racing has confirmed it will enter two South African-built Ford Rangers in the gruelling 2014 Dakar, taking place from 05 – 18 January 2014 in South America. ...

 Bessenyey strengthens 2WD lead Zoltan Bessenyey and co-driver Yulianna Nyirfas can be pretty happy with their very first experience of the Sibiu Rally, the 7th round of the European Rally Championship; three victories out of the thirteen special stages, sixth place overall and a total of 12 points all helped t...

 VW starts from prime positions in FIN

Mon July 29, 2013

 Kopecky seals Sibiu victory Jan Kopecký and co-driver Pavel Dresler have begun the second half of the FIA European Rally Championship season in style with victory number four of their campaign on the Sibiu Rally in Romania’s stunning Transylvania region. ...

 Kopecky drives superbly to 4th ERC win Jan Kopecký und Pavel Dresler (CZ/CZ) put in a superb performance to take their fourth victory of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) season at the Sibiu Rally in Romania. This latest success has extended the ŠKODA pairing’s lead at the top of the overall standings and give...

 Volkswagen: F1 in the forest Kilometre after kilometre of full throttle and huge jumps that seem to brush the trees lining the route: Volkswagen lines up at the FIA World Rally Championship's (WRC) own 'Formula 1 in the Forest' - the Rally Finland - full of confidence. From 01 to 03 August, the t...

NEWS JUST IN

 RO end - Anti-climax finale @ 01:51 PM - Waiting 3hrs to finish the rally with a 2km superspecial - who expected anything to happen in the results? End results - subject to last road section and scrutineering (after SS14):
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 2h18m07s8;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +3m02s8;
3rd= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +6m03s6;
4th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +7m33s1;
5th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +7m48s3;
6th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +8m39s8;
7th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +9m15s6;
8th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +9m59s4;
9th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +11m39s1;
10th= Barbu/Baltador, Citroen, +18m33s

 RO SS13 - Cancelled, too rough @ 01:47 PM - Stage cancelled for safety reasons - the surface is too rough, only off roaders could take that. So the rally ends with quite an anti-climax. Only stage left now is a superspecial. I will never get how waiting for 3 hours for a 2km superspecial is supposed to give us an exciting finale!

 RO SS12 - Keleti out from 4th @ 01:32 PM - That's basically the rally sorted. Keleti retired with a technical problem. When Delecour saw him parked, Delecour himself took speed out to make sure of a finish. Porcisteanu on a flyer. Results after SS12:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 2h14m50s3;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +2m56s7;
3rd= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +5m55s5;
4th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +7m23s5;
5th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +7m42s1;
6th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +8m31s4;
7th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +9m01s9;
8th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +9m39s5;
9th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +11m25s3;
10th= Filip/Iancu, Renault, +18m15s1

 RO SS11 - Fast stage @ 01:28 PM - No changes. Interesting layout. This is a short but near stupidly fast stage, average speeds around 120km/h. But next two stage make together 50km of distance and both very technical with an average of 85km/h. Results after SS11:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 1h53m10s8;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m20s1;
3rd= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +5m26s1;
4th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +5m38s1;
5th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +6m29s;
6th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +7m09s9;
7th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +8m26s1;
8th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +8m26s2;
9th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +8m43s3;
10th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +10m08s5

 RO SS10 - Puncture for Delecour @ 01:22 PM - Now easy game for Kopecky as Delecour drops another half a minute with a puncture. Arai passes Keleti for 3rd. Results after SS10:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 1h48m54s3;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1m16s7;
3rd= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +5m19s8;
4th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +5m27s1;
5th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +6m17s2;
6th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +7m06s5;
7th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +8m15s9;
8th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +8m18s2;
9th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +8m25s6;
10th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +9m54s1

 RO SS9 - Girtofan retires from 4th @ 01:10 PM - Longest stage of the event. Dan Girtofan has a technical problem and retires. Delecour gets a jump start penalty of 10s. Results after SS9:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 1h34m42s5;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +49s8;
3rd= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +4m46s8;
4th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +4m49s3;
5th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +5m40s9;
6th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +6m29s4;
7th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +7m24s2;
8th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +7m36s9;
9th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +7m59s4;
10th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +9m03s7

 RO SS8 - Kopecky pulls away again @ 01:01 PM - Kopecky wins stage. Unusually for ERC/IRC no changes in top10 at all. Results after SS8:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 1h13m03s;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +23s9;
3rd= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +3m49s1;
4th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +3m51s6;
5th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +4m02s3;
6th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +4m31s1;
7th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +5m23s5;
8th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +6m11s;
9th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +6m25s1;
10th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +7m36s8

Sun July 28, 2013

 Qatar M-Sport yump to it in Finland Following a month-long hiatus, the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) is back in style with arguably the most anticipated event of the year, the blisteringly quick stages of Neste Oil Rally Finland. Revitalised following the mid-season break and an extensive six-day test with the...

 Cleared for take off in Mikkoland After a break over the last few weeks, the World Rally Championship returns to action in Finland. At their home rally, flying Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen will be aiming to claim another victory. The Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT will also be looking to Dani Sordo and Ca...

 Citroen Top Driver to Finland At the height of summer, the Citroën Top Driver series stops off in the country of a thousand lakes for a truly eye-catching event. With its faultless organisation and exceptional course, Rally Finland is also one of the season's most popular races. Alongside Citroën Racing&#...

 Doctors give green light for Ingrassia Good news for the Volkswagen Motorsport team: Julien Ingrassia (F) has been given the all clear to start the Rally Finland (taking part from 01 to 03 August), the eighth race of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season....

 Volkswagen drivers prepare for Finland Volkswagen's works drivers Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN), Sébastien Ogier (F) and Andreas Mikkelsen (N) have completed successful test runs in preparation for the Rally Finland. Looking ahead to the fastest rally of the season, the team tested the 315-horsepower Polo R WRC's s...

Fri July 26, 2013

 First video of Citroen C-Elysee WTCC Since the strory on Citroen's choice of car for the 2014 WTCC seems quite famous, here a link to an independent video of the first on track shakedown of the new car. Driver in this test is Sébastien Loeb. ...

 Poland welcomes Eurosport live coverage Andrzej Witkowski, the President of the Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, has welcomed the news that Eurosport will broadcast live four stages of the country’s FIA European Rally Championship round. ...

 Kopecky to start first in Sibiu Jan Kopecký is not only the leader of the FIA European Rally Championship, he’ll also lead the near-capacity entry over the first seven stages of the Sibiu Rally in Romania on Friday. ...

 Chris Atkinson in Hyundai test team Hyundai Motorsport has added a third name to its test driver line-up with confirmation today that Australian WRC driver Chris Atkinson will be part of the team’s testing programme for 2013. Thirty-three year old Atkinson will be behind the wheel of the i20 WRC for the first ti...

 Fisher, Campedelli take off in Finland The Citroën Top Driver series heads for Finland, one of the high points of the World Rally Championship season. For this, the third round of the championship, Saintéloc Racing once again enters two Citroën DS3 R3s for Alastair Fisher and Simone Campedelli. Short on luck in Portug...

NEWS JUST IN

 Saturday stage by stage @ 09:12 PM - Please note that on Saturday stage by stage results in this section cannot be shown until Sunday because of a date clash with another important rally. Sorry about this, this will be the only event this will happen for this year!

 RO leg1 - When Delecour is angry @ 08:33 PM - Delecour at his best. We have seen already situations in Jänner and Latvia. This time, Kopecky 1st on road. Delecour big dust, like driving in fog, didn't see anything, he is really really angry. Time: 11s faster than Kopecky! Results after day1 (SS7):
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 1h08m50s6;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +15s4;
3rd= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +3m31s8;
4th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +3m37s8;
5th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +3m49s8;
6th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +4m10s3;
7th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +5m16s1;
8th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +5m53s8;
9th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +6m09s;
10th= Tlustak/Vyoral, Skoda, +7m16s7

 RO SS6 - fantastic night loop @ 08:29 PM - This stage is completely asphalt, next stage completely gravel and crosses this one over a bridge towards the end! Kopecky wins stage. Results after SS6:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 57m39s1;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +26s;
3rd= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +2m59s1;
4th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +2m59s3;
5th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +3m11s6;
6th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +3m18s2;
7th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +4m36s4;
8th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +4m37s7;
9th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +5m10s1;
10th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +5m29s7

 RO SS5 - superspecial dramatic too @ 06:57 PM - Unusual to have a dramatic superspecial. But Arai dropped 3 places with his gearbox problem and Porcisteanu retired with a broken achsle. Szabo and Simone Tempestini (Subaru) already retired at end of SS4. Results after SS5:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 51m44s5;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +23s7;
3rd= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +2m45s6;
4th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +2m45s7;
5th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +2m56s3;
6th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +3m01s8;
7th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +4m17s5;
8th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +4m32s3;
9th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +4m54s7;
10th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +5m27s3

 RO SS4 - Bouffier out, much drama @ 05:14 PM - Seems rough. Bouffier out, suspected accident. Delecour has engine problems. Arai is only left with 4th gear. Porcisteanu has a broken suspension. Pushkar puncture. Orsak oil leak. Kopecky moves from 3rd to 1st. Results after SS4:
1st= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, 48m22s3;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +23s3;
3rd= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +2m38s7;
4th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +2m41s3;
5th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +2m42s2;
6th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +2m52s3;
7th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +3m54s2;
8th= Puskadi/Godor, Skoda, +4m08s6;
9th= Botka/Mihalik, Mitsubishi, +4m25s6;
10th= Orsak/Kostka, Mitsubishi, +4m47s5

 RO SS3 - 3rd stage 3rd winner @ 05:09 PM - This time stage win for Kopecky, but thanks to his earlier problem and this being a short stage there are no major changes. Results after SS3:
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 28m33s9;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +1s8;
3rd= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, +10s;
4th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +52s4;
5th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +1m10s6;
6th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +1m14s9;
7th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +1m30s6;
8th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +1m37s4;
9th= Smiderle/Marchiori, Subaru, +1m47s;
10th= S.Tempestini/Pulpea, Subaru, +2m01s7

 RO SS2 - Bouufier pushes to the front @ 05:01 PM - Bouffier wins stage and takes lead, narrowly from Delecour. Kopecky loses a few seconds with a power steering problem. Results after SS2:
1st= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, 24m17s7;
2nd= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, +0s1;
3rd= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, +10s9;
4th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Mitsubishi, +42s4;
5th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +1m02s;
6th= Arai/McLaughlin, Subaru, +1m02s4;
7th= Smiderle/Machiori, Subaru, +1m16s1;
8th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +1m18s;
9th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +1m25s2;
10th= S.Tempestini/Pulpea, Subaru, +1m44s3

 RO SS1 - Delecour leads the rally! @ 04:52 PM - Delecour wins stage, though short stage and tiny margin. Results after SS1:
1st= Delecour/Savignoni, Peugeot, 4m23s7;
2nd= Kopecky/Dresler, Skoda, +0s2;
3rd= Bouffier/Panseri, Peugeot, +3s;
4th= Keleti/Csomortani, Mitsubishi, +5s;
5th= Pushkar/Myshin, Mitsubishi, +5s7;
6th= Porcisteanu/Dobre, Ford, +8s;
7th= Tempestini/Baggio, Skoda, +11s9;
8th= Marisca/Itu, Mitsubishi, +12s2;
9th= Szabo/Borbely, Mitsubishi, +12s3;
10th= Girtofan/Berghea, Skoda, +13s5

Wed July 24, 2013

 Citroen C-Elysee to take on WTCC A month after confirming that it would be entering the World Touring Car Championship in 2014, Citroën can now reveal the model that will be driven on the circuits by Sébastien Loeb. The Citroën C-Elysée WTCC will be the very first vehicle to be designed in accordance with the ne...

Mon July 22, 2013

 Ford sweeps GRC podium again Toomas Heikkinen scored his third consecutive victory at the fifth round of the Global Rallycross Championship as the Ford Fiesta ST captured its third podium sweep of the season. Victory for Heikkinen at Bristol Motor Speedway in the United States ensured the Bluebeam Olsberg...

 Kopecky back on title hunt for Skoda The Czech racing duo of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler will recommence ŠKODA’s challenge for the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) title in Romania. The Sibiu Rally, which will be taking place from the 25 to 27 July, kicks off the critical phase of this prestigious competition...

Sun July 21, 2013

 Latvala tries Audi Quattro At Rally Estonia Latvala lives out childhood dream - looking ahead to the Rally Finland ...