The start list for the upcoming Cyprus Rally was released today, but didn’t show any positive surprises. No negative either, though.
The common works squad will be competing and Citroen Junior Team arrives with full crew, including Rautenbach, Novikov and Ogier – but without Atkinson. The later one of them has financial problems making him stay away from the wheel until the situation changes. Khalid Al-Qassimi is back for his second WRC start of the year in his BP Ford Abu Dhabi entered Ford Focus WRC, but most important is probably that Federico Villagra will do Munchis WRTs first WRC start of the year in a Ford Focus WRC. Munchis is registered as a manufacturer this year, following a change of rules allowing for manufacturers teams consisting of only one car. Stobart lines up Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson – making the Ford guys a solid 50% of the A8 class. I saw someone talking about a manufacturers championship where all cars of a given brand would score manufacturers points – like in the IRC. This is a perfect example of why that’s a bad idea for the WRC!
Petter Solberg’s entry, given the Xsara a second chance, is interesting. As I’ve already ruled out, I think sticking to the Xsara in Cyprus is wise by Petter. People have asked why I didn’t predict Petter higher in Norway (see my prediction here) – and that’s just because the Xsara isn’t good enough, especially not since I know Citroen would never release it with it’s full engine capacity. But Cyprus is different. It’s a really, really rough rally where consistency counts – not speed. That opens up for Petter, and since the Xsara is known to be quite consistent I guess Petter can do good. If he manages to stay on the road without major problems, I think he’ll be in the top five or maybe four – you just need to get through the rally to get quite high. But honestly, after Cyprus I’d switch no matter what – because Citroen will neeeever give out a really good spec.
Read the entrylist (PDF):
http://www.cyprusrally.com.cy/documents/entry_list.pdf
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Tags: citroen, citroen xsara wrc, cyprus rally, ford focus wrc, munchis wrt, petter solberg
Other solid 50% in A8 class goes to Citroën – why didn’t you mention that?
Because it’s a private entry there too. Of course it’s a thin hairline of difference, but it’s a little bit less rediculous when Petter has made his own entry with an older and probably less fitted car.
But you’re basically right, I should have mentioned it! Sorry
I miss your daily comments!!!
where u at?
Sorry, a little bit short of time, but trying to get back ASAP.