Posts Tagged ‘2010’
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Räikkönen went off already on the second special stage in the Arctic Lapland Rally in Finland yesterday. Despite that, it was quite an impressive competitive debut in Citroen C4 WRC for the former Formula 1 driver. He set second fastest time already on the first special stage, and continued to post competitive times throughout the weekend, after getting back from the SS2 ditch with a big delay and time penalty.
Räikkönen’s experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström commented after SS9 that the difference to Sordo was 0.9 seconds per kilometer, and at the same time stated that the duo knew they were going slowed than they could – partly because the car setting still wasn’t 100% adapted to Räikkönen’s preferences. Even Kimi himself said at the that he didn’t think it would be very difficult to drive faster, since he knew that the car wasn’t really as he wanted it to be.
Personally, I think Räikkönen got a good and really impressive start. An early off was probably just good for him, since that showed him exactly were the limit was and it also took the overall placement totally off his shoulders. With nothing to fight for in the rally, Kimi could put his focus just on improving his own driving and the car while still having the possibility to compare himself to others, stage by stage.
What I doubt a little bit more is the easiness of going faster. Kimi seems perfectly comfortable by being slower as he knows it’s “the car settings’ fault”. That’s probably perfectly true, but that’s also half the challenge in rallying. You must get a good setup of the car that works from stage to stage. Of course F1 is also much about fine tuning of car settings, but the conditions there are often a little bit more stable. In rallying you’re driving for a longer time and over longer distances, and conditions may vary much or extremely much (Rally Monte Carlo is the perfect example). That’s a part of the challenge and shouldn’t be underestimated.
However, to sum it up I’m really impressed by Kimi’s performance – and it will be a big pleasure to see his developments throughout the season. Go Kimi! 
Tags: 2010, accident, arctic rally, arctic rally lapland, car, citroen c4 wrc, dani sordo, formula 1, kimi räikkönen, off road, settings
Posted in National Rallying, Rally testing | 1 Comment »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
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!
Tags: 2010, andreas mikkelsen, citroen c4wrc, marcus grönholm, patrik sandell, petter solberg, pontus tidemand, rally sweden, subaru impreza, svulla rally dahbi
Posted in National Rallying, Rally testing, WRC | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
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…!
Tags: 2010, bo holmstrand, bosse holmstrand, conditions, daniel carlsson, forecast, ice, isolate, mitsubishi lancer wrc, rally sweden, snow, studs, sub zero, weather, winter
Posted in Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Another video of Petter in Finnskogsvalsen, with a little bit more action shots, have been published. It also features a lot of nice local cars, but if you want just Petter – look at the beginning of the film for SS1 and at 1:44 for SS3.
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.
Thanks to bakkis2 for this video.
Thanks to cnygge for the video.
Tags: 2010, finnskogsvalsen, petter solberg, phil mills, rally sweden, sweden, torsby, värmland, Video
Posted in National Rallying, Rally testing, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
As most of you know, Petter Solberg tested his car in Finnskogsvalsen yesterday. Here are two video clips of it, one is an interview (in Swedish/Norweigan) at the start – and one is a clip from SS2. I’ve made a summary of the most important things said in the interview below the clips.
Driving on SS2:
The interview:
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…”
Tags: 2010, citroen c4wrc, finnskogsvalsen, france, gearbox, interview, mexico, petter solberg, privateer, pswrt, rally sweden, sebastien loeb, subaru, summary, testing, torsby
Posted in Rally testing, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 1 Comment »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
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
Tags: 2010, andreas mikkelsen, citroen c4wrc, eyvind brynhildsen, finnskogsvalsen, ford fiesta super2000, ford focus wrc05, henning solberg, ilka minor, jonas andersson, mads östberg, mountain rally, norweigan championship, petter solberg, pswrt, rally sweden, recce, s2000, skoda fabia super2000, subaru impreza, sveinung bieltvedt
Posted in National Rallying, Rally testing, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
A new spectacular video of Kris Meeke’s off in Rally Monte Carlo this week has appeared, uploaded by a spectator standing just meters from the place where Meeke went off at Pont de la Gageyre on the stage Labatie d’Andaure.
Here is the video:
I’ve previously posted a clip of the crash from Eurosports footage here.
Thanks to dbe07 for the video.
Tags: 2010, accident, crash, kris meeke, labatie d'andaure, off road, pont de la gageyre, rally monte carlo, Video
Posted in IRC, Video | No Comments »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Hirvonen’s IRC appearance in Rally Monte Carlo ended up with a win – just as one would expect if the new Ford Fiesta Super2000 delivered without problems. It obviously did, so Hirvonen showed by leading the rally from the first to the last stage that it is a difference – no matter how small or big it might be – between WRC and IRC. Also it was really a flying start for the Fiesta – and it will certainly be interesting to see if the difference Hirvonen managed to held is just because of his skills or also because of the car. A new hint will be given in Rally Sweden in a few weeks, where Andreas Mikkelsen, Martin Prokop, Bernardo Sousa and Janne Tuohino will drive the car.
Sebastien Ogier was 2nd placed going into the last loop, but on his way to the penultimate special stage his car broke down and he had to retire. This gave Juho Hänninen the 2nd place after a solid but not stunning drive throughout the weekend, where many people removed themselves from the chance of winning by making mistakes, including Meeke, Sarrazin, and others.
The standings after SS15 – and most probably the final results – are:
1. Hirvonen / Lehtinen, 4h32min 58.5s
2. Hänninen / Markula, +1min 51.4s
3. Vouilloz / Veillas, +3min 19.1s
4. Sarrazin / Renucci, +7min 25.5s
5. Kopecky / Stary, +8min 48.7s
6. Wilks / Pugh, +9min 24.5s
7. Magalhaes / Magalhaes, +9min 45.4s
8. Vigion / Prevot, +13min 33.5s
Follow the links to read more:
Results
Eurosport videos from Monte Carlo
Rally Monte Carlo 2010 on YouTube
Tags: 2010, andreas mikkelsen, bernardo sousa, bruno magalhaes, ford fiesta super2000, guy wilks, jan kopecky, janne tuohino, juho hänninen, martin prokop, mikko hirvonen, nicolas vouilloz, rally monte carlo, results, s2000, stephane sarrazin, Video, vigion, win, youtube
Posted in IRC, Video | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
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.
Tags: 2010, citroen, citroen c4 wrc, petter solberg, photo, rally sweden, sweden, test, torsby, värmland
Posted in Rally testing, WRC | No Comments »
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Here is the clip from Eurosport where Kris Meeke crashed his Peugeot out of Rally Monte Carlo 2010 on stage 5, the first stage of the second day. Kris told that he was breaking well in time for the right turn, but thought he braked a little bit too much, released the break for a while and then went into the start of the bridge before dropping off in the ditch on the left side of the road. Luckily both Meeke and co-driver Nagle escaped unharmed.
Thanks to dragracing3 for the video.
Tags: 2010, accident, bridge, kris meeke, off, off road, paul nagle, rally monte carlo, retire, retirement, Video
Posted in IRC, Video | 1 Comment »
