Archive for the ‘Silly season’ Category
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
After a disastrous season in 2009, the Norweigan Adapta World Rally Team looks set to leave the Subaru brand behind. Mads Östberg has said that he has never liked the Subaru Impreza WRC S14 – and for Rally Sweden it looks like he’ll be back in the team’s older Impreza S12B. However, after that – Adapta may have done their last rally with Subaru.
The new target for 2010 is likely to be S-WRC and the Super2000 class. The team reckons that they won’t be able to get a Ford or Citroen car, and I guess they consider S2000 a good warm-up for the 2011 WRC1.6T regulations. The team hopes to have a Super2000 alternative ready for Rally Jordan in the beginning of April.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we got another Fiesta in the S-WRC from Rally Jordan on…
Tags: 1.6t, 2010, 2011, adapta world rally team, ford fiesta super2000, mads östberg, ostberg, rally jordan, s-wrc, s12b, s14, s2000, subaru impreza wrc, super2000, wrc1.6t
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, WRC | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
PG did the right thing and changed his mind: He goes for the Skoda Fabia Super 2000 in Rally Sweden. Already when the entries for the rally closed, PG told that he was still talking to Skoda via e-mail – but he still insisted that he was almost certain to drive the Mitsubishi in his home round. However, now he has changed his mind and comes to start in a brand new Skoda Fabia Super2000 – and then becomes an immediate favourite to win the Super2000 race and the N4 class.
PG himself, who makes his debut in the class, says:
- It will really be fun to test this class – and especially on my home soil.
Now, we have an even more interesting fight to look forward to in group N with Andersson, Sandell, Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Prokop among others. My guess is that this will be the closest and most intense fight in the rally, with a lot of young guys wanting to win like nobody else.
PG Andersson’s group N wildcard has been given to Jocke Nyman – and PG will get a new wildcard from the organisers for the S-WRC instead. His car will be managed by Czech company JM Racing.
Tags: jm racing, pg andersson, rally sweden, s-wrc, s2000, skoda fabia super2000, swrc
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, WRC | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Magnus Samuelsson, probably the strongest man in a rally car?! Photo: Gustafssons foto
Now it’s confirmed. As I revealed earlier today, Magnus Samuelsson (World’s Strongest Man) will start Rally Sweden 2010. The team aims to start in the World Rally Championship round, but since they still don’t have a full budget a Swedish Championship start may be the case instead. Magnus is backed by Fredrik Eljas and Olof Eljas, and the later of them will be responsible for giving Magnus the training needed (not physical, huh!?!) to do the start.
The team will run a 280bhp Subaru Impreza group N of latest spec. Magnus Samuelsson himself comments the start as follows:
- This is my dream as a young boy coming true. I’ve tried “folkrace” before but the dream has always been to drive a real rally car. It will be a true adventure and just the thought of being at the start line along with Loeb and the other boys is breathtaking.
Read the article (in Swedish) at RallySweden.com
Tags: 2010, folkrace, fredrik eljas, group n, magnus samuelsson, olof eljas, rally sweden, subaru impreza, swedish championship, world's strongest man
Posted in National Rallying, Rally promotion and media coverage, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
According to Swedish local paper Corren, Magnus Samuelsson, famous for multiple medals and the world title in World’s Strongest Man, will compete in the World Rally Championship part of Rally Sweden 2010. Magnus is said to be set to compete with Jörgen Carlsson as a co-driver in a Subaru Impreza group N belonging to fellow Swede Hasse Gustavsson, part of the former Subaru Dealer Team Sweden. Magnus, who has previously driven some “folkrace” (a sport similar to rallycross, but cheaper and with less complicated cars), is also reported to have been testing the car yesterday in the forests of Dalarna, the county where parts of the Rally Sweden stages (Fredriksberg) is placed.
The question for me is how the entry will be solved? Magnus is not entered in the WRC round, nor the Swedish Championship. In the Swedish Championship part Hasse Gustafsson is entered with an Impreza – but I doubt the driver can be switched after the entries close. I think that the organiser can accept a late entry if the other competitors in the class accept it, and maybe that’s the way to choose. Or, they may blame the fax and say the entry got late because of their technical problems? A reason that may also be completetly true, of course…
Read more about Magnus Samuelsson on his own website
Tags: 2010, corren, dalarna, folkrace, group n, hasse gustafsson, jörgen carlsson, magnus samuelsson, rally sweden, subaru dealer team sweden, subaru impreza, world's strongest man
Posted in Rally testing, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Cato Menkerud, former co-driver of Henning Solberg, joins Eyvind Brynhildsen in his S-WRC assault this year. Until now, Brynhildsen has been co-driven by the experienced French co-driver Denis Giraudet, who seems to have been set aside when Menkerud got free. Menkerud will join the young Norweigan starting with a test already next week, and then in the next Norweigan Championship round, Mountain Rally, on the 23rd of January – and will then continue during he S-WRC season.
Obviously the recruitment will be a major boost for Brynhildsen. He has already had an experienced co-driver in Giraudet, but he will now have a fellow countryman, speaking his own language and with heavy experience alongside himself. Also on the marketing side, I think Cato will be good with contacts and his familiar face to media. The only negative aspect I think is the important contacts that Denis Giraudet has, especially since he’s a frenchman – and it’s widely known that the French guys in rallying appreciate to work with their countrymen. This means that Brynhildsen (this is on a very inofficial basis) loses some contacts and goodwill among the French actors in rallying, that Cato maybe cannot weight up.
No matter what, it will be really interesting to see what the Norweigan duo can do. Both are real talents and under the right circumstances I think they really can surprise!
Tags: 2010, cato menkerud, denis giraudet, eyvind brynhildsen, france, french, henning solberg, mountain rally, norway, rally sweden, s-wrc
Posted in National Rallying, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, WRC | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
The Rally Sweden organisers have updated the entry list on their website, and now it’s starting to look like something. Henning Solberg seems to get his pieces together and is entered in a Ford Focus WRC08, Jocke Nyman completes a three man (PG Andersson, Patrik Flodin and Jocke Nyman) strong Swedish lineup that will hopefully conquer the group N class of the rally and Al-Qassimi, Kuipers x2, van Merksteijn x2, Grönholm and Therman, Jouni Arolainen, Mads Östberg, Kimi Räikkönen, Matthew Wilson among others making the WRC class a real nest will hopefully assure that the rally comes down to history as one of the best snow rallies in a long time.
Also S2000 will be interesting to follow, where home ace Patrik Sandell will be hunted by skilled drivers as Mikkelsen, Brynhildsen, Prokop and Tuohino. Also Solowow, Sousa and Hunt and heavily experienced home ace Per-Arne Sääv, running on the organizers wild card, are entered in S2000 cars.
My current most interesting list (to be updated, for sure!):
- Loeb vs. Hirvonen + Latvala
- Petter vs. Henning
- How fast can Grönholm and Räikkönen be?
- What happens to the Swede superfight in group N: Andersson + Flodin + Nyman?
- The Super2000 superfight: Sandell vs. Mikkelsen + Brynhildsen + Prokop + Tuohino
Every single one of the points above will probably be world class entertainment – and of course I’ll get back with more comments, interviews etc. related to the entries. This is just the start…!
Read the full entrylist here
Tags: andreas mikkelsen, entrylist, eyvind brynhildsen, group n, henning solberg, janne tuohino, jari-matti latvala, jocke nyman, kimi räikkönen, marcus grönholm, martin prokop, mikko hirvonen, patrik flodin, petter solberg, pg andersson, rally sweden, s2000, sebastien loeb, super2000
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Petter has today announced that he has bought two Citroen C4 WRCs from Citroen Sport. Petter says the buy is a result of tough discussions between him and the manufacturer. The big question here is to which extent Petter has control over the cars when it comes to engine mappings, configurations and so on. The more control, the more likely Petter will be to be able to challenge for wins – and at least according to himself, Petter says he’ll be able to challenge for top placings.
Solberg expects to have his budget complete in the end of next week, and announce his team and sponsors after that. Until then, read todays announcement here.
Tags: 2010, budget, citroen c4 wrc, citroen sport, engine, petter solberg, WRC
Posted in Silly season, WRC | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
There has been big doubts about Henning Solberg’s plans the last few weeks, but in an interview at Motorsport.no, Solberg’s manager Leif Nilsen indicates that a solution is close. According to Nilsen, Henning will focus fully on rally – which means he will probably solve his rallycross car and buy a rally car for tests and events instead. Nilsen claims that a deal is 70% done and that multiple sponsors are currently in meetings – so a solution may be really close. Regarding the entry to Rally Sweden – that officially closed at 15PM today local time – the team says they have the situation “under control”. And of course they have… The organisers would be stupid if they didn’t accept a slightly late entry from a star like Henning, so that wont be a problem. Henning’s budget will be slightly higher than last year. Now the question is – what car will Henning drive?
Tags: 2010, budget, car, entry, henning solberg, leif nilsen, rally sweden, rallycross
Posted in Silly season, WRC | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
I revealed a few weeks ago that Patrik Flodin were trying to get a group N entry for Rally Sweden together, and now it’s done! He is now set to start the rally in a group N Mitsubishi with Göran Bergsten as co-driver. The Swedish ace was set aside after last season as the Uspenskiy team got financial troubles – but will now drive Aki Teiskonen’s Mitsubishi Lancer in his home rally. This means we’ll hopefully get a decent fight between home aces PG Andersson and Patrik Flodin in the production class – which will be a boost to all locals during the event.
Patrik Flodin himself, that is now the first ever non-Russian Russian Champion (nice scentence, huh?), says:
- It will be incredibly fun to drive on home soil again. I’m really looking forward to the rally!
Read my interview with Patrik from the 4th of January here
Tags: 2010, aki teiskonen, göran bergsten, lancer evo, mitsubishi lancer, patrik flodin, rally sweden
Posted in Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
With only a few hours left until the Rally Sweden entries close, I called PG Andersson for a chat. A now he has decided – he’ll go for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in WRC season opener Rally Sweden. PG says:
- I will do the rally in my own Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. I’ve been testing and discussing with them all, Skoda, Ford, Peugeot… Everyone. But in the end, price the made the decision… There still is a small chance that it will be another Evo IX, a brand new one. But it’s not very likely…
Price has been a big factor to PG when deciding – and that’s no big surprise. Talking on the prices of a Super2000 car, PG says that the price level has now reached where WRC was five years ago, which means around €100 000 per rally. A start in his own car makes PG save half the money for later…
Andersson will do the rally with co-driver Anders Fredriksson, who also sat alongside him in this weekend’s Sigdalsrally in Norway. The duo will probably perform a test the weekend before the rally – and the next few weeks PG will spend on rebuilding the car to get it in good shape. Talking on his chances in the rally, Andersson doesn’t say much:
- I don’t know what my chances are. I hope to be able to keep up to speed with some of the Super2000 guys, but it will be hard to go as fast as someone like Mikkelsen, for example. We’ll see…
Even if rallying nowadays is very much about money, a crucial thing for a driver like PG – a clear talent that is without a contract – is to be seen and get PR. Going into the season it seems like S-WRC will take a role of “mini WRC” as it’s the upcoming big class for next year (and despite the until now weak entry list for the S-WRC championship), and that it will therefore render some extra interest from media. The production car championship will therefore probably be even more in the shadows than before. Asking PG about what he thinks about that, he says:
- It’s all about scoring results – as always – but yes, it seems like the PWRC wont get much attention. However, hasn’t it been like that for the last few years? It’s compareable to the JWRC that rendered some interest during the first years when I drove, but it has then fallen and become more and more hidden…
Regarding the rest of the season, PG confirms that he is looking at Sardinia and that it now looks a bit better for the rest of the season than it did earlier. He also says that he has the budget neccessary to do both events, but it’s still not at all certain that he will enter the Italian IRC round. So, for us fans we’ll just need to have patience, hope for a good result for PG in Rally Sweden and then we’ll see!
Tags: anders fredriksson, IRC, mitsubishi lancer evo ix, pg andersson, rally italia sardinia, rally sweden 2010, s-wrc, sardinia, sigdallsrally, super2000
Posted in IRC, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »
