Russian finance man and Spyker investor Vladimir Antonov with co-driver Denis Giraudet driving a SAAB 99 in Midnattssolsrallyt earlier this summer. Foto: Mikael Hjerpe

According to Autosport.com, the loose rumours about SAAB thinking about a comeback into the WRC has now went on to real talks with the WRC organisers and the TV promotor North One.

The car models tipped to be used by the Swedish brand is 9-1 or 9-2 and the engine would probably come from BMW, that has already developed the 1.6L engine for the new MINI team entering the championship from 2011.

The rumours about a comeback into the WRC first started when Spyker was introduced as a potential buyer of SAAB from General Motors – probably much based on Spykers sporty profile and the fact that the brand had a big and expensive, but not very successful, team in Formula 1 just a few years ago. Also, SAAB MD Jan Åke Jonsson and Spyker MD Viktor Mueller recently took park in the classical Mille Miglia rally in one Saab 93 each. The Russian finance man and Spyker investor Vladimir Antonov wasn’t late to follow them and entered the classical Swedish competition Midnattssolsrallyt in a SAAB 99 in July (see photo above). Considering SAAB’s heritage in the rallying circus, one could at least hope for a better success in the World Rally Championship than in Formula 1, despite the economical troubles that is still very much a reality to the company.

Autosport’s sources claims that Spyker representatives has already been speaking to the WRC organisers and North One Sport, and will continue the talks in connection to Rallye de France in October. However, North One MD Simon Long refuses to comment on any specific brands but admits that MINI’s decision “has given people a lot of confidence in the sport”.

On the bright side of the rally, Petter Solberg holds the lead after the first day with around 15 seconds over Citroen Junior driver Sebastien Ogier. Will we see Petter winning a rally for the first time in many years? That would be amazing!

Here is Kimi’s off:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to motorstvfrance for the video.

Now, even Rally NZ seems to have understood the truth. Chris Carr, chairman of the rally, says that “it’s always fire behind the smoke you see”. Interesting enough, Neil Allport, former NZ Rally Champion, says that lack of money is behind the decision and that the government should put the adequate money in. Strange, since NZ from what I know always have been backed by nothing else than a loooot of government money… However, I can understand they’re disappointed – and I am too. NZ is a traditional rally with wonderful views and an exotic kind of environment… The thing is probably that their market is too small.

The big fail in this discussion may be Rally Norway. They’ve made two good rallies – but they’ve also done mistakes. They have overestimated themselves big time (and that’s their biggest mistake if you ask me). I remember their plans for 2007 that I once got presented – and it was utopia. They had got quite a lot of government money, but they also calculated huge incomes from spectators, sponsoring, etc.The figures was almost 10 times the corresponding numbers of Rally Sweden. Norway did all kinds of extravagancies that year, and of course they blew it totally from a financial point of view – no matter any government money. From what I know, they lowered their calculations drastically for their next event, but obviously not enough. There was less delight of the news from the public in Norway in 2009, and the reports I got from competitors in the rally was that there was really few spectators.

No matter the economics, you can’t take from the Norweigans that they have arranged two really good events – with the media coverage in the 2007 event being my favourite point. Their problem now is unstable economy, the fact that they’re not a traditional event and the fact that they’re running on snow. But maybe even management!? They have always been so overconfident. Now it seems like their managers expected Norway to be first reserve for 2011 – but according to the latest news Poland (that has been completely silent so far!) is the first reserve. Erik Veiby, chairman of the Rally Norway board, says this is just speculations and of course it is, but honestly… I agree that nothing is decided and that things can for sure change – but it’s obvious to everyone that Rally Norway is now in deep shit. I bet that (no matter what Erik Veiby says!) they are now working hard with lobbying on all kind of levels and trying to get to know why they’re out of the calendar and how they can change it.

The approach from organisers struggling to find the grip needed to stay in the calendar is starting to look like an interesting game. The silly thing is that all this started a few years ago with the FIA letting people “buy” candidate events to the left and right by just paying a big fee to them (read more in my post on the rotation system from last year). After the organisers have paid those fees, they of course expected to get an event for it! So, FIA made this stupid rotating calendar and everyone got their events. Now, they have realized the obvious – that it doesn’t work. And many of the payers (and some others) stand there without their events again like they never had one… It’s stupid multiplied by a thousand.

No matter what, I’m looking forward to see how this game continues – and I hope (but doubt – Abu Dhabi on special built roads, come on!?!) it ends up with the best events!

According to my sources Mads and his father (also team boss of the Adapta team) had a meeting with MINI representatives during Rally Sweden together with their friends at Prodrive. I have no clue what was said in the meeting (if it really did happen) but I would really like to know

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to tamayofotos1 for the videos.

PG Andersson on the Friday's super special stage. Nobody in the class had a chance to really challenge PG during the rally. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

So, I went to Rally Sweden. Actually it was the first WRC rally I have visited without working in one way or another since Rally Sweden 2005. And it was amazing!!!

Here are a few reflections from the rally:

• Petter Solberg was mentally stuck in his pre-rally business. He surprised with a silly mistake already on the super special stage and he continued to do them throughout the weekend. You could virtually hear where it all was going when Petter talked to the Swedish Radio early on Friday and started to talk about his mistake without even being asked. That’s not really the mental approach you need… I had high hopes on Petter for this season – and I hope he can be better prepared and repair the impression in Mexico.
• PG Andersson – give that man a works seat, now! He punished well-established drivers in better cars last year in the Fabia WRC and this year he totally undressed his competitors in the S-WRC class. Unfortunately, not results and neither Star of the Rally-awards can be used to pay bills. PG knows that for sure, and I’m afraid his Swedish fans will have to learn it if they don’t already know. However, I hope PG is lucky and that this opens up some eyes for the rest of the season and 2011!
• Patrik Sandell failed to stand the competition of PG Andersson when given the same car. I’m afraid I can’t say this surprised me – but it’s disappointing to see considering that Sandell has one year experience with the car and two years experience of S2000 compared to PG that sat in the car first time just days before the rally. Sandell’s comments during the rally started to sound very much like excuses – and what else could he say? However, afterwards he has paid his respect to PG’s impressive driving and that’s the kind of sportsmanship I like!
• Patrik Flodin did what he was supposed to do and just delivered – but got totally placed in the shadows by the new S2000 class and PG’s drive. He would have needed a real PR boost – but at least it looks like the winds are warmer back in Russia at the Uspenskiy team. Maybe Flodin can get a few drives or perhaps even the whole PWRC championship this year?

• Kimi Räikkönen and media… Ok – the guy isn’t really a media whore, but honestly… It’s Kimi Räikkönen, what did you expect? And at the same time it’s his personality. Isn’t a little bit about the media interest in Kimi also the interest in the shy, airy Kimi that you can hardly get to speak at all?! I think so, and I think that even a quiet Kimi is a huge boost for the WRC. Just let the guy be and suddenly he will talk…
• Kimi Räikkönen and rally driving… I don’t understand how people can be so disappointed!? After just a few rallies in his career and the second ever WRC rally – what results can you expect? I’m impressed that Kimi reached the finish, considering that he attacked quite OK. Posting multiple stage times withing the top 8 must be considered good for a newbie, no matter how talented he is. I have high hopes for Kimi’s driving!

• Mikko Hirvonen showed that he wants to challenge for the win this year. I hope and actually I also think that he will be up for the challenge this year and able to match Loeb in the charge for the title. He was really close last year and I don’t know if he will make it this year – but I think it will be close. And honestly… How fun wouldn’t it be with a new champion? Mikko has grown from silly mistakes in Subaru in 2004 to a mature driver. He really proved it by taking his own, gambling decisions regarding the setup of the car during the rally. Go Mikko!

• The surface discussion was just ridiculous. Paid drivers complaining about some frozen gravel and even saying it’s not winter conditions?!?! Nothing can be more stupid. This winter has been the coldest since 1986 or more in Sweden and we’ve had snow and sub-zero temperatures since early December in the rally area. Drivers complain because they want easy driving, but as spectators we want difficult driving! What should the WRC really be about if not difficulties?? The team managers understand it, at least, since they say Rally Sweden must stay in the calendar. It was pure winter conditions this year and the drivers just have to accept that winter isn’t synonymous with ice. On top of that the conditions were just perfect for spectators and TV – that in numbers represent the number of competitors multiplied by thousands…

• The media coverage sucked – as we’re used to with North One Sport. The WRC season opener are oceans away from the live coverage of the IRC season opener. Of course it’s difficult – but guys, you need to try at least! Why wasn’t all the super specials and sprints live covered on the web, as well as the Värmullsåsen stage (that was live in Swedish TV)? That should be a piece of cake, at least compared to airing a whole rally live. When will North One start to deliver???
• The Abu Dhabi people indicated that they may need to get better both in understanding rally and in writing press releases. To talk about PG Andersson’s performance as a result of local knowledge and home support sounds more like an insult than an award to me considering his earlier performances on the international arena?! His two J-WRC titles and his performance in the lousy Suzuki SX4WRC in 2008 is good proof that this isn’t about being some kind of snow expert. PG Andersson is one of the world’s best drivers, and to not give him that recognition cannot be called an award.
• The Rally Sweden organisers have had a really hard time almost totally out of money. They had some luck with the weather, but they also managed to do a really good rally despite the resources that has been a lot more limited than ever before (in “modern time”). World class!

The junction where a LOT of people went off (a bit into the movie):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hirvonen and Loeb challenging on Colin’s Crest (Vargåsen):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen crashing on Sågen:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stunning onboard with Mikko Hirvonen on Vargåsen:

Click here to view the embedded video.

First day video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Second day video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Third day video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to eslake123, MadCowYuuko, TwitChii, Sdimm, nedbis and milkowsky for the videos.

All photos are taken by Rasmus Bjerén and protected by copyright. If you wanna share them, please link to this post and do not copy the image or link directly to it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Mikael Hjerpe for this!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Petter himself and mijn400 for the videos.

The Ford team’s service area:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ford’s Super2000 service area:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ford under the bonnet:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ford’s Stobart service:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to mijn400 for the videos.

• Patrik Flodin with co-driver Göran Bergsten met a car on the recce today and had to push their car off road. They stood off road for an hour before being able to continue.
• Co-driver Göran Bergsten told that the roads today were a looot better than the cars they drove yesterday. Even Anders Gröndal seems to be of the same opinion, looking at his blog…
• The drivers doing the shakedown gets four extra tyres.

Rally Sweden scrutineering in Karlstad. Photo: Mikael Hjerpe

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gröndal’s reaction is interesting. Some drivers seems to be complaining about the conditions – and I understand if they have problems driving on snow. It’s complicated – for sure – and it should be! I’m sure I would be quite concerned if I were to drive a rally on it. However, Gröndal’s quote must be some other kind of problem, possibly some kind of overheating in his brain?! He has been driving a full day in the forests with around half a meter of snow all around him – and he can still claim that it’s not a winter rally? Come on, no matter if you reach the gravel – it’s still very much winter and wintry conditions, dear Gröndal. I’ll explain why…

So, here comes a short tutorial about the difference between snow, ice and water – dedicated to Anders Gröndal:

• Snow is a type of precipation consisting of crystalline water ice (Full definition is on Wikipedia). In it’s fully frozen state snow feels really dry.
• When snow melts, it results in fluid water. Quite logically, since it’s small ice crystals. This means, that when it rains on snow or when temperatures raise above zero – the snow on the road (since we’re talking rally here) gets softer and melts to water from the top.
• If the temperature goes down below zero again, the partially melted snow layer will freeze again. The parts of the snow that is fully or partially melted will form a layer of solid ice on the road. This is the ice Gröndal is talking about – and missing.
• If you’ve read all those three points, I guess you don’t find it very difficult. It’s like the very, very basics of winter weather and surfaces. And therefore it’s hard to understand that Gröndal doesn’t understand it. However, to call the current conditions (that for sure will include gravel after the loose snow is swept away) something else than proper winter conditions is just pure bullshit – and now you know why: The ice layer Gröndal is talking about is nice, for sure. But it doesn’t come from winter conditions – it comes from the _lack_ of winter conditions sometimes earlier in time…

So, for everyone of you coming to Sweden. Be cool. Gröndal will have to struggle if he isn’t good enough to drive on proper winter conditions (!) – but you will have a wonderful time with a lot of loose, cold snow out in the forests. It has just never melted since the winter started in early December – but to me that’s more a good sign than a bad!?!

Enjoy!

By the way, to Anders Gröndal: You don’t need to thank me for this guide. Be my guest! And if you still don’t understand – go to some local gas station here in Sweden and buy yourself a “glass” (icecream). Bring it into your cottage or hotel room and see what happens after a while. When it’s half frozen… Go out again and see what happens. Tada! It’s like magic!

Click here to view the embedded video.

More of Sandell including the car livery:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anders Gröndal performed tests with his Subaru Impreza on Sunday in Norway, and even he got caught by the cameras:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Andreas Mikkelsen's test place in Kall, Sweden a few days ago when Marcus Grönholm was testing the car. Today, Monday, it's Andreas' turn to do the testing. Photo: andreasmikkelsen.no

It seems like Andreas Mikkelsen has decided that he will use the Ford Fiesta Super2000 for this years campaign (source: Verdens Gang) in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Earlier, I have reported that Mikkelsen was still in the choice between the Fiesta and the Skoda Fabia Super2000 – a decisiong that now has been made.

First off and as we already know, Andreas will do Sweden in the Fiesta. Then he will follow up with a seven round programme in the IRC with the hope to go back to the World Rally Championship in 2011.

Mikkelsen’s manager, Erik Veiby, says:

- We have been working purposefully to get Andreas and Ola in a competitive car, and a team that can win the IRC series this year.

We’ll see if that’s correct…

Petter Solberg's car during service while testing in Sweden on Sunday. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg, who has previously done both tests and a few test rallys (Svully Rally Dahbi in Norway and Finnskogsvalsen in Sweden) during the recent weeks, tested his Citroën C4WRC in Sweden once again yesterday. In a short post on his blog Petter said that driving the car was good fun and that it’s really fast. Today Petter is probably checking in for the rally and tomorrow starts the recce that will take place during Tuesday and Wednesday.

Karlstad Super Special Stage this afternoon. Photo: Mikael Hjerpe

A friend of mine in Karlstad just gave me a report of the conditions at the Karlstad Super Special Stage, where Rally Sweden is set to kick off on Thursday . The stage will also be run a second time on Friday evening.

The conditions are perfect with ice, snow and a temperature of +2 in the sun and -4 in the shadows. This is perfect since it allows for the upper surface to melt just a little to then freeze once again. The organiser also monitors the surface a long time before the rally and makes sure to build up a thick level of ice on the track.

Just watch the beautiful picture!?!

Come on, how should one react? “Oh, poor Sebastien.” Can’t you drive on real snow? Hehe… I think this underlines quite well that it doesn’t matter how the conditions are – people will still complain. Probably it’s just a smart way of not having to speak about your performance just before the rally – and save that until after. I respect that it happens, but one shouldn’t take too much notice of it…

Source: VF

Looking at yr.no, the Thursday to Saturday (this is as far as their forecast goes) will have -7 to -10 degrees, and mostly sunny weather. Perfect conditions, considering it has been snowy and cold for the last two months! During the last few days it has snowed in the area, actually so much that roofs has been breaking etc. because of the amount of snow on them.

So, everything looks really, really good for a snowy rally…

The car spec’s are the following:

• Restricted motor from C4 WRC
• Sadev differentials and gearbox
• BOS dampers

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen, day 1:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen, day 2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen, on-board showing Kimi’s C4WRC after his accident on SS2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Ludtati for all the videos.

Petter Solberg on the start ramp of Svully Rally Dahbi today. Photo: PSWRT

The Norweigan Svully Rally Dahbi were ran today, and as expected Petter Solberg won the rally with a huge margin to second placed Marcus Grönholm. However, as the rally primarily was an interesting test for the upcoming Rally Sweden – some things were more interesting than the end results:

• Solberg, who sealed a sponsorship agreement with energy drink Mad-Croc earlier this week, were happy with the car and had adjusted settings that made him even more comfortable with the Citroen C4 WRC than last weekend in Sweden.
• Marcus Grönholm won the fight over both Mikkelsen and Sandell – all running in Subaru Impreza group N cars, were Grönholm had the oldest one of them. However, the battle between Mikkelsen and Sandell were quite close despite Mikkelsen being the one most used to his car. That is interesting since Mikkelsen is often considered more of a “raw talent” than Sandell.
• Swedish young shot Pontus Tidemand were impressive managing to keep up the speed with Patrik Sandell and finishing just 1.2 secs behind. There you can talk about a raw talent, and I’d be surprised if we don’t see Pontus in the international arena within a few years!

A strange thing though is that PG Andersson has been named as an entrant in many places, including on http://www.svullyrallydahbi.no, that seems like the rally’s official website. However, PG has told Swedish media that he will be a zero car driver in Swedish Bergslagsrallyt the very same day, that he will not start in Norway and that he has never entered the event (and don’t know why he has been named as an entrant). Strange?!?!

It will be nice to see how the event will be when it’s run. And while we’re waiting for that to happen, I’ll keep on wondering about the owners of the rally. Dahbi makes me think of Abu Dhabi, a name that has been appearing often in the World Rally Championship since a few years. And through a few questions on Google, you can find out that there is a British company registered in London called “Svully Rally Dahbi Limited”. And, if I don’t get it totally wrong (which I may do…) – this British company owns 100% of the stocks in a Norweigan company, led by Even Wiger (m.d. of Rally Norway), with the very same name. It’s not a big thing, but I just wonder why there is a company registered in the UK at all, if the owners would be just Norweigans?! Since I love to speculate, I now guess that some other guys are involved in this as owners, potentially some rich men from Abu Dhabi… However, if so – one question remains. Why can’t they spell Dahbi correct? That seems quite embarassing…

End of speculation. Over and out!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Besides that, there are now quite a few clips flourishing of his tests with Citroen. His first test in France is available on the website, or in this YouTube video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are also some new stuff from Kimi’s tests in Finland this week:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Iceman Media, KimiF1st and MadCowYuuko for the clips. I guess more will follow, but the best way if you wanna keep track of everything is to do a YouTube search yourself…

Daniel Carlsson with co-driver Bosse Holmstrand enjoying perfect snow conditions of solid ice covered with a thin layer of loose snow in Uddeholm Swedish Rally 2006. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

With more than two weeks left before the rally kicks off it’s too early to judge how the weather situation for Rally Sweden will be, but considering the discussions that has always been before the rally in recent years, I can’t avoid thinking about how promising it looks. It has been cold weather since early December in the rally region (and in almost whole Sweden) and currently reports are talking about ca 40 cm’s of snow in the area. That may of course vary locally, but there is snow – no doubt. And then, looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, it shows more snow the next few days and cold weather for the whole period.

The only thing that could improve is the icyness. The snow came immeditely as the temperature had gone sub-zero – and since the snow isolates the ground, that means that the ground isn’t frozen as much as it would preferably be. Without a layer of ice and/or frozen ground, the car will fast blow away the snow and reach the ground that gets muddy and teared up. If it came a short, very short, melting period followed by cold weather again – the snow surface on the roads would get packed, partially melted and then freezed back to ice. That, with a thin or thick layer of fresh snow on top of it would make up the perfect conditions for a winter rally with snow spraying behind the cars, studs staying in the tires and a great winter atmosphere.

However, I think the current conditions are certainly good enough – and better than most times – for a fantastic winter rally. So, let’s not worry and just hope the fantastic conditions stay for the next few weeks, and everything will be just amazing! I have a feeling that Rally Sweden 2010 will be remembered as the best for quite a few years…!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to amjayes for the video.

If more movies of Petter in Finnskogsvalsen appear later, they’ll be added to this post – so check back for latest.

NEW! Video with service and some action shots.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to bakkis2 for this video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to cnygge for the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to ludtati for the video.

Driving on SS2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The interview:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Quotes from Petter’s interview:

• “This is most a way to test on many stages and get back to the feeling again”
• “I have one goal this year, and that is to beat Sebastien Loeb. I’m a privateer now and that’s tough, many people probably regard it impossible, but I will try my best and I have a 2009 spec car that should be at least almost the same as the one Loeb will drive. I will do my workouts,eat good and try to get more testing than Sebastien. He will do 15 test days this year, so I have planned 26.”
• Asked on the differences between Petter’s car and the 2010 Citroen works car, Petter says: “Sebastiens gearbox is 4 kg lighter than mine. I could get it, but it would cost me 8M NOK (ca €912.000) more, so I thought I’ll have to lose 4 kg’s myself instead.”
• Talking on when Petter left Subaru, he says: “I had a good time with Subaru and we had many good years, but it came a time without that right philosophy, and then you’ll have to do something. They’ll probably come back some time – but when you don’t fight to win anymore you can’t do anything else [than leaving]. Now it’s Citroen and times have changed, but that’s life. It changes and you can just look forward.”
• “The Citroen and the Ford is very similar cars, but I have a feeling the Citroen is better. Especially since this year’s WRC has many asphalt rallies, where the Citroen is clearly better.”
• “I have one team in Torsby and one in France. The French team is currently preparing my other car for Mexico, and it will be loaded on the containers on Monday. At the same time, Pernilla is working on clothes and other things. Everyone in this team is working all around the day now, very hard.”
• “This is the life of my family and also my wife Pernilla’s family. We all want to win and we’ll try to do it…”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to TorsteinEr90 for the video.

Petter Solberg's car in service during Finnskogsvalsen. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg were fastest through the stages in Swedish local competition Finnskogsvalsen today, as expected (I dare to say this despite the last stage is still running, since Petter is through with a normal time and his advantage on the previous stage is 3min 56 seconds). The Norweigan drove his Citroën C4WRC through a little bit more than 80 km’s of competitive stages and seemed to be really happy about the car. Since he recced and made his own notes for the rally, which is not allowed, Petter took part out of the competition and couldn’t win the rally. This, however, is probably nothing that will give Petter problems sleeping tonight – since the rally was first and foremost a test of his new car before Rally Sweden.

At the same time, a number of big names competed in the Norweigan Championship round Mountain Rally in Norway. Anders Gröndal took the victory from second placed Henning Solberg, who were haunted by mechanical problems in his competitive debut with new co-driver Ilka Minor. Mads Östberg with his Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson led the rally until he hit a snow bank, forcing him out of the competition. Third was Sveinung Bieltvedt, in a Subaru Impreza.

Of course even Henning, going with a Ford Focus WRC05, used the rally primarily as a preparation for Rally Sweden. In this, he was joined by Andreas Mikkelsen and Eyvind Brynhildsen, among others. Brynhildsen scored a fourth place in his Skoda Fabia S2000 while Mikkelsen scored fifth going with his Subaru Impreza – after being penalised with 1min 20s after having to change gearbox in service. Looking at Mikkelsens time if he wouldn’t have had the penalty, he was only a few seconds after Brynhildsen in his S2000, something that maybe indicates that Mikkelsen can be really, really fast when going into the Fiesta S2000 in Sweden!?

Photos from Finnskogsvalsen at Backmans Foto
Results from Finnskogsvalsen 2010 at Resultatdata
Results from Mountain Rally 2010

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Hedlund80 for the videos.

Petter Solberg testing outside Torsby in Sweden today. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg tested his Citroën C4WRC today outside Torsby – and had really fun according to himself. From the reports I’ve heard, Petter is satisfied with the car, but of course there are things left to tweak. Good then that Petter has hired Francois “Fx” Demaison full time this year as an engineer, so they can sort things out…

Tomorrow Petter will start the local rally Finnskogsvalsen as an extended test – around 90 km’s of competitive stages on old Rally Sweden roads. It will be really interesting to hear Petters impressions after that test!

Petter Solberg is testing his Citroen C4WRC near Torsby in Värmland today. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg just updated his blog with the following quote:

- Just did the first run, and this car is just unbelieveable! It’s totally different from the car I had last year. I mean, the balance is so good and the grip is amazing. Just one thing to say now; Rally Sweden – here I come!

It’s interesting to see that Petter is so happy immediately, since it means that he maybe really have managed to get the right stuff out of the Citroën factory – something that almost no privateer has previously managed to do. Citroën have always been very keen of protecting their works drivers from concurrence by providing engine mappings and parts that has obviously been not as good as the works stuff. Ask Petter about last year, Manfred Stohl, Daniel Carlsson and many other people…

If Petter has the right stuff – he can finally become a contender again and maybe be one of the guys on top in the championship. That would be an amazing boost to the WRC. However, still that’s just dreams, but let’s hope for more good reports from Petter.

Download the list here

At the same time, more info has came about Chris Atkinson – who was rumoured to be included in a 2 car Monster World Rally Team before the announcement came. Paul Turner, manager of Atkinson, confirms that discussions with the Monster team have been held for a long time, but he also says that it’s unlikely for Atko to show up as a driver in the team before 2011. However, he and Atkinson seems to be working hard to get Atko in the ultimate position for next year by placing Atkinson as an advisor and gravel notes crewmember this year. If that is just their hopes or a completed deal is not known though.

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…

I guess this means that we will soon see both more photos and videos of the car during the next few days. Lovely!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Zagatio for the video.

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.

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

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

Here is an extract from the entry list in the rally:

Click here for the full entry list for Finnskogsvalsen

Kimi Räikkönen, Citroen C4WRC, Photo: Citroen

Kimi Räikkönen did his first Citroen C4 WRC tests yesterday in Citroens test track outside their factory in Satory, France. The test covered around 50km’s and was successful. Afterwards, Räikkönen talked to Autosport and told that he enjoyed meeting the team. He also stated he wants to get back in the car soon:

- It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now I’m really keen to get back behind the wheel of the C4 again, Räikkönen said.

The good thing for Räikkönen then is that his competitive debut, as known, will be already in the Arctic Rally in Finland later this month – as a preparation for Rally Sweden. I also guess that more tests are planned before that rally.

Kimi Räikkönen in the Citroen C4 WRC, Photo: Citroen

I must say the car looks really nice, and since Citroen don’t use to make bad cars – I guess it may be a real blast next year. Now, let’s hope the rest of the manufacturers are up to the challenge!

Go to the AutoHebdo article (three spreads forward)

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!

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

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.

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

- 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!

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)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to femtyfem for the video.

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.

- 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.

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.

First off, the safe names are Federico Villagra in Munchis WRT, Ken Block in Monster WRT, Petter Solberg in Solberg PSWRT – and the almost safe (?) Matthew Wilson in Stobart WRT. So far no problem. But then comes Henning Solberg as expected in Stobart – and that’s a little bit more uncertain. I know that Henning targets a seat in the WRC again, but I also know that this very much depends on a renewed contract with Expert for 2010. The second questionmark is Gigi Galli and PG Andersson – where one of them or even both are said to be joining the PSWRT. I know nothing about Galli, but when it comes to PG I know he was in discussions regarding the PSWRT early this autumn – but then he has announced that he probably can’t collect the money needed. I’ll get back with a small post on PG’s future later today.

So, it would be really intersting to know what facts are behind the article. If Evans get three right out of three on the uncertain things, it would be like heaven to any rally addict. I guess the future will show…

Click here to view the embedded video.

The world is upside-down for Henning? Cato Menkerud splits with the Norweigan driver and no deal is still signed for the WRC 2010. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud splits their co-operation after many years together. According to Norweigan media, the decision was taken this week – and the older brother Solberg now has to find a new codriver for his WRC challenge. If there will be one, this is – nothing is still known about Henning’s plans and rumours have placed him in rallycross instead of WRC this season.

According to Norweigan newspaper VG, Henning and Cato has been dissentient for a long time regarding what the next step should be in their World Championship plan. Cato Menkerud claims that the two are still good friends, but says:

- We’ve worked together for many years, but the cooperations hasn’t been as inspiring lately.

Henning, who has been driving with Menkerud since 2002, says:

- We’ve been keeping on for many years, and there’s nothing wrong.

According to VG, Solbergs plans for the season are still to be decided – and there is no deal signed. Menkerud is looking for a new driver to co-drive, and two different drivers should be more interesting than others.

Compare the driving styles yourself!

Ken Block, Subaru Impreza, New England Forest Rally 2008, Concord Pond stage, onboard:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen, Abarth Grande Punto, WRC Rally Finland 2009, Leustu stage, onboard:

Click here to view the embedded video.

No matter the results, the addition of Ken Block and the Monster WRT is a huge boost for the championship. Ken is a superstar in America, which is a very important market for car manufacturers as well as for most global brands. Rallying has always been seen as a European sport over there (Block also says that himself to USA Today), and with a boosted interest there – doors may open up for wider US TV-coverage, new investors in the sport and a better reputation of the championship world-wide. Also, if Block stays in the championship and if maybe even Pastrana joins, I would be surprised if we didn’t get a US round of the championship within five years.

Besides that, I’m quite sure that the Monster WRT will uppen the level of the marketing and PR connected to the World Rally Championship. I’m not a big fan of many US motorsports, with Nascar as a good example, but the skills in PR and marketing is better in the US than anywhere else. Already today with the launch you can notice that everything is prepared; presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (with a launch clip!), branded clothes and connections to all important sponsors. To underline the difference, just read the main goal of the Monster WRT:

“To become the most visible team in the sport, both through our efforts in racing and creative marketing”

Some people may consider this goal bad as it puts the sports performance a little bit to the side, but hey? Anyone that has been involved in rallying on a higher level knows that the money in the sport (which is necessary for the championship to exist) comes from sponsors that aren’t in the sport just for fun – they wanna make business out of it. So in fact nothing has changed, it’s just a more straightforward way of seeing it.

As a conclusion, I’m really excited to see Block and Räikkönen in the World Rally Championship. Core rally drivers like Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Grönholm and the other guys must exist and will always exist – but to broaden the view and get superstars from other disciplines and championships into the sport will just improve the championship and also create better potential for the core guys to become big stars. With a huge boost in star quality and a new formula (WRC1.6T) coming up for 2011, I  can’t wait to see the future of the World Rally Championship seen over a few years. If you as me, I think it’s brighter than ever!

The charge by Block, who is the first American ever to do a larger assault for the championship, seems to be on a long term, since he says that he’ll not promise any podiums the first year:

- Racing in the WRC has always been a dream of mine, but, I’m not going to promise podiums in my first year. I’ll be going up against the best drivers in the world. My main objective for 2010 is to develop into a competitive driver for 2011, and beyond, says Block.

Sad enough, Block – who is co-founder of DC Shoes and a former snowboarding, skateboarding and motocross star – is set to skip Rally Sweden and start of his WRC challenge with Rally Mexico in March. No matter what, the WRC will really be boosted this year with two superstars in Raikkonen and Block joining the championship.

I’ll get back later on with more info and some reflections on Ken Block and his chances in the championship.

Monster World Rally Team launch video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More info at: http://monsterworldrallyteam.com/

Find the list online here: http://www.rallysweden.com/wrc/en/?page_id=63

Flodin admits that times are tough, but still shows a glimpse of optimism:

- Currently I’ve got nothing to announce. For a full WRC or IRC campaign it looks dark, but I’m trying to get together a start in Rally Sweden and then we’ll see. Nothing is decided about the car, but I’m looking at renting a Subaru or Mitsubishi grp N. I’ve got some local sponsors onboard but nothing is finalised with the big ones.

Even though a larger programme looks dark to the Swede, he underlines that things may happen later in the season. Many drivers are switching for IRC, but Flodin is still looking primarily for the World Championship:

- I’d like to do the World Rally Championship, and the dream would be a Super2000 car… The new class [S-WRC / WRCCup] would be perfect for me.

So, I guess we just have to wish Patrik good luck and hope we’ll see him in Rally Sweden and more rallies during the year.

Soon, Maximum Attack has existed for one year, and even since the last half of the year hasn’t been very active until recently – it’s been a good one. Now, let’s hope for an even better 2010. IRC are full of interesting competitors, and the WRC Cup/S-WRC along with Kimi Räikkönen’s comeback makes up for some interesting stuff in the WRC too.

Until Rally Sweden starts – better than ever – in the beginning of February, why not stick with this video of Henning Solberg? I was standing in exactly that turn, really close to the camera that took this pictures – and even though accidents are never fun – it was a fabulous example of the thrill you can get to see in a WRC event.

Click here to view the embedded video.

By the way… Here is my own (still) footage of the event:

Check the maps out here: http://planetemarcus.free.fr/googleearthmap.htm (link to iPhone app to the left on the page)

Check out some action from the old Harju stage here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Isn’t it lovely? I love the idea of bringing such things back!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I know that Mads Östberg tested with Gröndal earlier this week, but still there seems to be no dedicated video available from that test.

Gröndals test didn’t went very good. He had damper problems from the beginning – and something happened during the test that forced the team to cancel, and that also jeopardizes Gröndal’s scheduled local event Romhjulsrallyt, a few days after christmas.

According to Bertil Klarin, m.d. of Rally Sweden, it means that both the Swedish Championship and the WRC event will get a lot of coverage.

Exact details regarding the coverage of Rally Sweden is not know, but the plan is TV broadcasts for four days during the rally, including live coverage of the Karlstad Super Special Stage in the start of the rally and also the finish at the new, spectacular Värmullsåsen stage in Hagfors.

(Source, in Swedish: SR)

Another interesting note from Norway is that Petter Solberg loses one of his main sponsors, the John Lunde Marine group. The company made a loss of 90.3M NOK last year, so why they had to pull the plug to their sponsorship seems quite obvious. However, I hope and I think that Petter has a good plan.

I’m not sure if a long stage like Baumholder is stunning news, but there’s an interesting principle in it because it’s fun, and most important; it’s allowed. In the last years we’ve seen some comebacks of stuff associated with ralling in the past, that brings diversity to the WRC. Previously, the FIA and rights holders have seemed to pack everything together to one streamlined package by stipulating some stupid rules, making each and every rally as similar to the other ones as possible. Now they’re slowly switching to another way, that organisers should be free to bring more personality to events. One thing is the possibility to run night stages, one thing is the new thing that an event can be run over 2,3 or 4 days and another one is that the total distance of special stages now can be between 300 and 500 km’s with no upper limit on a special stage’s length – more than that it can’t be more than 80 km’s of competitive stages between services.

All those things opens up for a better WRC, where Monte Carlo for example can run their classic night stages, where Germany can have the Baumholder stage and where organisers can profile themselves with a short, intensive 2 day rally – or a marathon rally with 4 days. To bring back old stuff doesn’t at all mean you take a step back, I think this is a perfect step forward where modern stuff like super special stages, stages run twice and other things can be combined with the old classic’s thats deeply rooted in the minds of many fans. Thumbs up to FIA for finally taking some actions to improve the championship!

You can reach the calendar in the following formats:

World Rally 2010 – XML format

World Rally 2010 – iCal format

World Rally 2010 – HTML format

If you don’t know how to use the formats listed above, don’t worry. Your calendar software help can probably help you, or if you use Google Calendar, try this link: Subscribe to public calendars – Google Calendar Help.

Nicolas Vouilloz, Skoda Fabia Super2000 test for Monte Carlo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mikko Hirvonen testing the brand new Ford Fiesta Super2000 that will do it’s competitive debut in Monte Carlo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I guess a lot more will come during December-January…

Besides good tendencies on the coverage, the competition has really seen a boost this year. Of course I’m much thinking of the superb performance of Mikko Hirvonen, who managed to maintain really thrilling competition until the very last round of the WRC. It was quite a few years since we saw that – and no matter what happens in 2010, we know that 2011 will be a hell of a year when all the current drivers will need to adapt to new cars – the WRC1.6T spec.

Also, Petter’s new team has been a great success. He hasn’t been on the top of the podium, but honestly noone expected that – especially not in the Xsara (I’ve written a lot about this, for example: Xsara WRC – Petter’s smart disappointment). But what does that matter? In the media and on the TV coverage, Petter has been a regular and his new team has been a good injection to the championship. I’m the first one to admit I’m impressed by what he has put together!

So, that’s just a few of the highlights in 2009, but to sum it up everybody expected a middle-year – and in many aspects it was. But it was also a starting point where the championship reached it’s bottom somewhere in the shift 2008-2009, and then a lot of good things started to happen.

For 2010 I’m looking forward to having Kimi Räikkönen in rallying. Of course he will struggle a bit before he starts to set really decent results, but his star-quality is exactly what the WRC needs. We must admit that even if Loeb may be the best driver in the world to us, a Formula 1 driver attracts 10 times the coverage. Let’s hope that Kimi succeeds to such an amount that he decides to stay in rallying. Actually, I’d be surprised if we wouldn’t see him back in 2011…

In 2010, we will also see the comeback of Marcus Grönholm for a one time outing in Sweden – that will rock. Added to that, FIA has started the S-WRC championship for Super2000 cars. I guess this isn’t ground-breaking, but it’s a good thing to help some drivers keep their names up until 2011 – when they can compete (with money and skills) about a WRC1.6T seat. At the same time, IRC will probably go for a new all time high this year, as I’m sure many drivers will take the chance to do the same thing there.

Well, that’s a few good points looking back at 2009 and forward to 2010. I’ve left a lot out, I know that, so feel free to add your highlights and thoughts in the comments. As always, it’s much about money. We need to get even the good drivers into the WRC1.6T in 2011, not just the rich ones. All kinds of coverage must get better, and let’s hope that we get to see effects such as the Meeke-effect in GB after his superb IRC performance in more countries.  In total, I think a lot of steps has been taken this year to allow for that. 2010 may be the second year-in-between and a start of the climb up, so let’s use it to start even more good things to make the sport better. I think the future of rallying is bright, and it will start for real in 2011…

My opinion is that getting PG into a good team in the WRC and with a mentor such as Petter would be really great and that is of course big news. However, one should remember that the amount of money still missing  is huge, and from what I know it forms around half of the budget of a Super2000 season. This means that the news is still just half a seat and there is a long way to go.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that PG and Petter get everything well together!

I guess that Rally Finland in the end of July/beginning of August will be very, very important for both Ford and Citroen. If Loeb can win on Hirvonen’s (and Latvala’s) home soil, Citroen will have a really good position considering that Rally Catalunya is one of the three remaining rallies after that. Loeb will of course be a huge favourite on the Spanish tarmac surface!

But if Loeb and Citroen doesn’t play their cards right in Finland, Hirvonen will extend his lead in the championship, boosting him and putting quite some pressure on Loeb. Then Loeb will have some pressure to make the odds even again by winning in Catalunya – which would leave the championship totally open again. Besides Finland and Catalunya there are Rally Australia and the season closer Wales Rally GB left on the calendar – two rallies where I don’t feel that either Loeb or Hirvonen have a real advantage. It will for sure be an interesting battle – and for the sake of thrill… Let’s hope that Hirvonen (or Latvala?) is fastest in Finland!

Just import the ICS link into your preferred viewer and you’ve got it all there. Here are the links (right click and choose copy link):

ICAL/ICS

HTML

XML

Don’t know how to use this? Check the help of your calendar software – or if you use Google Calendar, try this link: Subscribe to public calendars – Google Calendar Help

Sandell himself says it was the worst day in his career, and I can’t stop thinking that he haven’t been through so much then. I know a lot of drivers that would consider it more of a summer breeze. Anyway, at the same time as I think it sounds a little bit silly, it also underlines Patrik’s dedication. Of course you’re allowed to have some kind of breakdown after such a thing, and it’s now the interesting things start. We’ll get to see his real strength, if he can come back re-motivated and do good results during the rest of the season. Time will show…

Read more (Swedish) in Aftonbladet:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/motor/svenkkollen/article5388257.ab

If Petter doesn’t get fresh parts of the Xsara the car isn’t good enough for him to be happy, and if he does get fresh parts the car+driver mix is way too good for Citroen’s taste.

As soon as Petter got his new gear in Sardinia, Loeb was forced behind Solberg in fourth place. For sure Loeb had some bad luck, but without Petter he would get six points instead of five… I’m sure the Citroen bosses are worried that Petter will steal more points from Loeb and more important from the manufacturer team later this year.

As I see it, there are two main scenarios that are really simple:

• Scenario one, Citroën accepts Petter’s speed and the fact that he may take a few points away of Loeb, Sordo and the junior team (the effect on the junior team is small, as they normally aren’t good enough to pass Petter even with his old gear) during the rest of the year. They let him have the 2006 parts, a good engine mapping and the passive differentials – that all allow him to be fast. (The parts are already given to him, and it will be hard to take them away – but Citroen are still able to give him a weaker engine mapping to make him go slower…)
• Scenario two, Citroen think they cannot afford Petter to be fast with his Xsara, and they reduce his chances of a win by not giving him any further upgrades and by making changes to his engine mapping. However, I’m sure Petter wouldn’t accept that (PSWRT and cheif engineer Fx Demaison are probably staring like eagles on the performance of the engine after the turns with Citroen), and I’m quite sure they he want to see continous progress on the car – otherwise they’ll leave Citroen for Ford or possibly even the Peugeot 307 (read more here and here).

I think the decision for scenario one or two will be done partly by Petter’s feeling in Sardinia, if he’s happy enough or not – but also by Loeb’s and Sordo’s pace in the next few rallies. If the Citroen management see Ford getting closer in the race for the manufacturers title, I’m quite sure they won’t allow Petter to continue taking points away from them. However, if Loeb remains unthreatened for the drivers title and if Citroen can keep their distance in the manufacturers championship, maybe it’s OK. Citroen have probably already got used to the fact that their juniors aren’t able to beat Petter more than on random occasions…

The future will tell…

UPDATE:
Read more (in Norweigan) about Petter’s performance in Sardinia on the following (external) links:

http://www.dagsavisen.no/sport/article417284.ece
http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/05/24/sport/motorsport/rally/rally-vm/petter_solberg/6374198/ 
http://www.vg.no/sport/motor/artikkel.php?artid=547805

Something that seems to be exciting all the time this year is the production car WRC. In Sardinia, the rally ended with Nasser al-Attiyah leading the field, taking the lead from Patrik Sandell with just 1.5 seconds on the very last stage. Annoying for Sandell, who took over the lead from his countryman Patrik Flodin on Saturday, when Flodin was hit by trouble. This means Al-Attiyah leads the championship with 31pts ahead of Araujo on 29pts and Sandell on 28pts. PWRC will be a tough battle until the end, it seems!

Other interesting things in this rally:

• Loeb is under investigation for a wheel change made on Saturday. Probably the subject of investigation is if the car was moving at any time when Loeb or Elena wasn’t seated. If so – this would be against the rules and should be punished, as with Duval in Japan a few years ago. This means, Loeb may lose his position…
• Petter Solberg caught the third place, ahead of Sordo (who retired after turbo problems) and Loeb who took the fourth place. Loeb was really happy with his new car spec after shakedown, and seemed to settle well with it during the weekend after some overheating problems on stage one. Now, the big question is what Citroen will do… I’ll make a separate post about that since it’s really an interesting question.
• Despite having ran Cyprus a few months ago, Sardinia seems to be the most car-breaking even of the season so far… (Henning, Rautenbach, Sordo, Ogier, Loeb’s puncture, Petter’s  [and all the others'] overheating)

Anyway, it will be fun to see what they can achieve. From what I’ve heard, Engan is a good co-driver.

Link: Read more on WRC.com

Also, I want to post a short excuse on the lack of posts here the last few weeks. A lot of things to do at work, including some travel, is why. Actually I’m currently writing from my hotel room in Las Vegas, where I’m staying until tuesday. From Thursday on I’m back home so stay tuned!

One day I’ll take the time to write that story to you guys reading this blog. It isn’t really the time yet, I guess, but it’s certainly coming closer. Until then I’m just really happy about the comeback and the strength Daniel is showing. His mistake was unacceptable, he can’t blame anyone – and he let everyone down. But… He let himself down more than anyone else – and he has been knowing that every day since then. Now he’s back – and just the fact that he makes the comeback is just amazing. Hope the rally makes it even better!

The scene of the comeback will be South Swedish Rally (part of the Swedish Championship) on May 15-16 2009. The car, a Ford Focus WRC05, will be engineered by AP Däckservice Engineering Team in cooperation with the guys at Tätab and Dom Buckley Motorsport.

Read more (in Swedish) at www.danielcarlsson.com
If you don’t speak Swedish and still wonders something, feel free to ask me questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer them!

Rally Poland runs the 26-28th of June this year, and is quite similar to the Neste Oil Rally Finland – Grönholm’s home rally that he has previously said he hopes to drive.

Last weeks rumour comes from the Estonian newspaper Postimees, and is written by a guy called Peep Pahv. Pahv called Urmo asking questions about the matter, and Urmo told he had no comments. Pahv chose to interpret that as if he was right in whatever information/ideas he had about a Suzuki comeback – and wrote the article. So, basically Urmo said nothing but Pahv still rendered a big article on the Suzuki comeback.

Quite opposite to the comeback rumours – Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima has brought Suzuki to court after a conflict starting with Tajima’s retirement from the Suzuki WRT top position last year and the retirement of the team. My contact, who has very good insight into the WRC scene, believes that Suzuki is very tired of rallying after all problems related to the WRC assault, and that a comeback to rallying is really far away.

So, I guess the conclusion is that we shall forget about the Suzuki rumours and go back into the position we were two weeks ago, when a Suzuki comeback was still quite far away. Not very good news to the WRC, I’m afraid.