Archive for the ‘Silly season’ Category
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
PG Andersson, who should have decided on what car to drive in the upcoming Rally Sweden yesterday, still haven’t decided what car to drive in his home round of the WRC. However, it’s very much looking like PG will drive a Mitsubishi in group N. It may be his own Mitsubishi – but it may also be a newer Mitsu from England. Besides the group N plans, local paper VF claims that Peugeot Sweden has offered PG a drive in their Peugeot 207 Super2000 – the one that Sandell drove two years ago. PG is currently thinking about that bid.
Tags: mitsubishi, peugeot 207 super2000, peugeot sweden, pg andersson, s2000
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
In the updated entry list for Rally Sweden, Petter Solberg is entered with a Citroen C4 WRC. This may be the end of the speculations on wether the Norweigan would go for Ford or Citroen in the 2010 season. He has previously announced that nothing was certain, but that C4 would probably be his first choice.
Besides Petter’s entry, the list contains no big surprises. However, Polish driver Michal Solowow is entered in a Peugeot 207 S2000 – something that has been rumoured but as far as I know not confirmed until now. A lot of names should still come in the entry list – the time expires tomorrow at 15PM local time for WRC entries.
Read the current entry list here (external link)
Tags: citroen c4 wrc, entries, entry list, entrylist, michal solowow, petter solberg, petter solberg world rally team, peugeot 207 super2000, pswrt, rally sweden, s2000
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
I’ve already reported twice about the fact that Guy Wilks along with co-driver Phil Pugh will enter the IRC along with Skoda UK in 2010, driving a Skoda Fabia Super2000 as a satellite team for the Skoda Motorsport team. However, now it’s finally confirmed. I wont repeat what I’ve already written once again, so refer to my previous posts or to Wilks’ own website.
Go to my previous post about Guy Wilks
Read more on Guy Wilks website
Tags: 2010, guy wilks, intercontinental rally challenge, IRC, phil pugh, rally monte carlo, s2000, skoda, skoda fabia super2000, skoda uk, skoda uk motorsport
Posted in IRC, Silly season | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
PG Andersson will decide what car to use in Rally Sweden during the day. However, in this weekend’s Sigdalsrally in Norway, PG competed in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX – one of the alternatives he is considering for Sweden. Here is a video from his drive this weekend:
Thanks to femtyfem for the video.
Tags: 2010, mitsubishi lancer evo ix, norway, pg andersson, rally sweden, sigdalsrally, sigdalsrallyt, Video
Posted in National Rallying, Silly season, Video, WRC | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
The former Ford works driver Roman Kresta (cz) is set to enter this years WRC opener Rally Sweden with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in the group N class, accompanied by his regular co-driver Petr Gross.
Tomorrow is the final day for entries to Rally Sweden, and a lot of things should conclude during today and tomorrow. One of the things expected to be announced today is the car for local driver and rally wildcard PG Andersson. As I have previously reported, he is currently considering wether to go for his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in group N or a rental Super2000 car.
Tags: 2010, car, group n, lancer evo ix, mitsubishi, petr gross, pg andersson, rally sweden, roman kresta, s2000, super2000
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, WRC | No Comments »
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
Flying finn Toni Gardemeister has confirmed that he will start in the first IRC event of the year, the Rally Monte Carlo later this month. Gardemeister will do the rally in an Astra Racing team run Abarth Grande Punto with co-driver Tomi Tuominen in the right seat.
Gardemeister himself plays down his chances in the rally, and even though I think Gardemeister has potential to do a really good race – I have to agree he’s unlikely to win the event. Only half a day of testing and the fact that the Punto is a weaker car than the Peugeot and the Skoda (and possibly even the brand new Ford) wont favour him, but Monte is Monte and under the right (or wrong?) circumstances anything can happen.
Tags: 2010, abarth grande punto, astra racing, finn, monte, peugeot, rally monte carlo, skoda, tomi tuominen, toni gardemeister
Posted in IRC, Rally testing, Silly season | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
Just a few days ago, Ford announced their registration as a manufacturer in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Now Renault looks set to join the championship, becoming the 9th manufacturer in the series, even though no official announcement has been made.
The news comes short after the confirmation that Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica will drive the Rallye Monte Carlo in a Renault Clio R3 later this month. The Monte Carlo Rally is part of the Clio R3 European Trophy, consisting of three events, and the manufacturers registration for the IRC makes sure that the trophy drivers will be able to score points for Renault in the IRC events.
Posted in IRC, Silly season | No Comments »
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
The Portugese PWRC winner of 2009, Armindo Araujo, looks set to do the PWRC in 2010 – probably in his Mitubishi Lancer from last year. His participation was unclear for a long time because of financial troubles. Armindo is believed to do six rounds, namely Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Germany, France and GB – and potentially even Portugal in a S2000 car if he can manage to get the extra money needed for his home round.
Tags: 2010, armindo araujo, jordan rally, portugal, pwrc, rally de portugal, rally deutschland, rally france, rally mexico, rally of portugal, rally sweden, wales rally gb, WRC
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, WRC | No Comments »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Speaking with WRC.com about his split with co-driver Cato Menkerud, Henning Solberg claims that a girl may partner him in the right seat this season:
- If things work out then I will have a girl in the car with me this year. It will be good for me, and for the sport too – at the moment there are no females competing at this level.
Thinking logically there are not much girls to choose from, as Henning is completely right in that no females are competing at the very highest level in the world. I can only think of two girls that are close enough to Henning to be potential, and they are Veronica Engan and Maria Andersson.
However, Veronica Engan is very less likely than Maria Andersson. Maria just quit her cooperation with Anders Gröndal – and the replacement is noone else than Veronica Engan. It seems unlikely that Veronica would quit after just one rally. But more important, I consider Swede Maria Andersson by far more expecienced. She has been doing a lot of drives in the Production World Rally Championship with Patrik Flodin, one or another WRC drive with Flodin, a season with Gröndal in a WRC car and also one or another WRC drive with George Tracey a few years ago. Besides that, she has partnered Mikkelsen in WRC and Brynhildsen in group N occasionally.
Engan has mostly been doing a group N drives with Brynhildsen, and even though I don’t have her complete record I think that the experience of Andersson makes the choice quite easy. In the end of the day, I can’t imagine that Henning talks of anyone else than Maria Andersson for his WRC challenge 2010 – given that it’s a girl.
Tags: 2010, anders gröndal, cato menkerud, co-driver, codriver, eyvind brynhildsen, girl, henning solberg, maria andersson, patrik flodin, veronica engan, WRC
Posted in National Rallying, Silly season, WRC | 3 Comments »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Not much have been heard about PG Andersson lately, but in today’s NWT PG says that his drive in the Norweigan Championship round Sigdalsrallyt this weekend (PG made a late entry) will be used to decide if he’s gonna do Rally Sweden in a Super2000 rental car or in his own Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. PG will drive the Mitsubishi in Norway along with co-driver Anders Fredriksson, since his regular co-driver Jonas Andersson is busy at the side of Mads Östberg.
The whole competition will be a test where PG tries wether he can keep the speed up with Eyvind Brynhildsen in his Skoda Fabia Super2000. PG says that renting a Super2000 car costs twice as much as doing the home rally in his own Mitsubishi – and if he can, he will save the money for later:
- I’ve got the money it takes, but if I can do two rallies instead of one for them I would prefer that, says PG.
Besides the start in Rally Sweden, which now seems to be totally confirmed, PG is looking at entering the IRC round Rally Italia Sardinia in June. For that rally he would rent a Super2000 car. However, the first thing after Sigdalsrallyt for PG is to do ice notes for Guy Wilks in Rally Monte Carlo later this month. As I revealed yesterday, Wilks is expected to confirm his agreement with Skoda UK today announcing a drive in the 2010 IRC.
Tags: anders fredriksson, eyvind brynhildsen, gravel notes, guy wilks, ice notes, IRC, jonas andersson, mads östberg, mitsubishi lancer, norweigan championship, pg andersson, rally, rally italia sardinia, rally monte carlo, rally sweden, sigdalsrallyt, skdoa fabia super2000, super2000
Posted in IRC, National Rallying, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 1 Comment »
