Posts Tagged ‘citroen xsara wrc’
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
So, after the long time off, here comes a catch up of what I haven’t mentioned:
- Rally of Portugal ended quite as expected. Loeb first, Hirvonen next, the Sordo and then finally something unexpected: Petter Solberg. I’m really impressed by seeing him so high up in the standings. The car went well in Cyprus, but that’s a much slower and way different rally. I’m really impressed and I must admit I was wrong regarding Portugal, but I still think Petter shouldn’t expect very much of the Xsara later on in the faster rallies of the season. Anyway, Portugal was a real Norweigan party with Petter 4th, Henning 5th and Östberg 6th!
- Patrik Sandell made the PWRC season much more interesting when he went off the road early in Portugal, allowing for Armindo Araujo to win the group N class. This means a huge change in the standings where Araujo now leads with 23 points, before Sandell on 20 and both Brynhildsen and Prokop on 14. Now we just need a Brynhildsen and Prokop to take one step up – then the PWRC is a real nest. In fact, I consider PWRC at least as interesting this season as the WRC.
- Added to Petter’s impressive performance in Portugal, one should take into account that he was ill. On the run-up to the rally he was diagnosed with legionella, an evil disease that can be really bad. Petter is still suffering from the bacteria, but doctors have this week made sure that there will be no permanent harm to Petter’s lungs. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Petter has bronchitis and will have to take medicins for a while – medicins that interfere with the doping rules of the WRC. Petter has discussed the issue with the WRC doctors, and he will now have to stop eating the medicines before starting in Argentina next weekend.
- A lot about Petter, but it should also be added that he have tested the Abarth Grande Punto Super2000 – and Abarth immediately sent out a press release that Petter was looking to do a few IRC events in the car this year. I don’t know if that’s true, but didn’t Petter say something about a focus on the WRC? Well, I don’t know, I just know that I probably wouldn’t choose the Abarth…
- Conrad Rautenbach will go to Azores in a PH Sport backed Peugeot 207 Super2000. I guess his competitive impression will be quite weak, as usual, but it still annoys me considering the doubtful source of his money. When will somebody ask this guy where he get all his cash? Considering that he now adds an IRC drive on top of his current Citroen drive in WRC, war and crimes(?) seems to be really a good affair.
- Jari-Matti Latvala immediately got speculated to leave the team after his frightening crash in Portugal. After 20 rolls, voices were raised everywhere that he should be thrown out of the Ford team. I think that Latvala’s team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen, has proven quite the opposite. Hirvonen’s career in Subaru in 2004 was disastrous, but exactly that kind of learning period that a young drivers needs – and to stop investing in Latvala now would be totally stupid, since he has shown numerous times that he has got the speed. Just wait and see, if Latvala get’s the time he will show everyone… (and at the moment he seems to have gotten a little bit more time)
- That’s it – keep coming here, because Rally Argentina is coming up – and I’ll try to be a little bit more regular in my posting again!
Tags: abarth, armindo araujo, citroen xsara wrc, disease, grande punto, henning solberg, legionella, mads östberg, patrik sandell, petter solberg, portugal, pwrc, rally argentina, rally of portugal
Posted in IRC, Rally testing, WRC | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Petter Solberg has tested before Rally of Portugal in the southern parts of Portugal, close to the rally area. Here is a video:
Thanks to nfontas.
Tags: algarve, citroen xsara wrc, petter solberg, phil mills, portugal, test, Video
Posted in Rally testing, Video, WRC | No Comments »
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
The start list for the upcoming Cyprus Rally was released today, but didn’t show any positive surprises. No negative either, though.
The common works squad will be competing and Citroen Junior Team arrives with full crew, including Rautenbach, Novikov and Ogier – but without Atkinson. The later one of them has financial problems making him stay away from the wheel until the situation changes. Khalid Al-Qassimi is back for his second WRC start of the year in his BP Ford Abu Dhabi entered Ford Focus WRC, but most important is probably that Federico Villagra will do Munchis WRTs first WRC start of the year in a Ford Focus WRC. Munchis is registered as a manufacturer this year, following a change of rules allowing for manufacturers teams consisting of only one car. Stobart lines up Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson – making the Ford guys a solid 50% of the A8 class. I saw someone talking about a manufacturers championship where all cars of a given brand would score manufacturers points – like in the IRC. This is a perfect example of why that’s a bad idea for the WRC!
Petter Solberg’s entry, given the Xsara a second chance, is interesting. As I’ve already ruled out, I think sticking to the Xsara in Cyprus is wise by Petter. People have asked why I didn’t predict Petter higher in Norway (see my prediction here) – and that’s just because the Xsara isn’t good enough, especially not since I know Citroen would never release it with it’s full engine capacity. But Cyprus is different. It’s a really, really rough rally where consistency counts – not speed. That opens up for Petter, and since the Xsara is known to be quite consistent I guess Petter can do good. If he manages to stay on the road without major problems, I think he’ll be in the top five or maybe four – you just need to get through the rally to get quite high. But honestly, after Cyprus I’d switch no matter what – because Citroen will neeeever give out a really good spec.
Read the entrylist (PDF):
http://www.cyprusrally.com.cy/documents/entry_list.pdf
Tags: citroen, citroen xsara wrc, cyprus rally, ford focus wrc, munchis wrt, petter solberg
Posted in WRC | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
As we know Petter had some engine troubles in Rally Norway. How much of them that were caused by real errors and how much of then that were caused by Citroen’s resistance to give Petter the right material I don’t know. Anyway, here are a movie of Petter and Phil checking the engine and discussing it with the team.
Thanks to StormcastProductions.
Tags: citroen, citroen xsara wrc, engine, petter solberg, phil mills, rally norway, trouble
Posted in Video, WRC | No Comments »
Monday, February 16th, 2009
Petter Solberg's car during service in Vikingskipet. Photo: pettersolberg.com
Petter Solberg ended up sixth in Rally Norway. Many people think it’s bad, and compared to what Petter was expected to do by most people I must agree. But was those expectations realistic? No.
I predicted Petter to be in the top ten and maybe score some points, which is exactly what he did – sixth place gives him two drivers points. He couldn’t do much more, that is – and was – obvious. He has got an old car, I’m sure his engine mapping is a little bit downgraded by Citroen to not allow him to be able to beat their works drivers, etc. etc. I told it all a while ago in a post here on the blog (see this link). I also told it was the best strategy, because then he could do the showoff, blame the car, and then go on with more important stuff – like the future.
That’s exactly what happens now. After Rally Norway, Petter told that the car wasn’t fresh – rather half-tired – and publically admitted that a Ford switch were possible. However, he had a meeting with Citroen on Sunday evening. The result of the meeting was, according to Petter himself, that he will continue with the Citroen in Cyprus. Citroen has promised to basically go through the whole car and also get to grips with the engine troubles haunting Petter in Norway.
So, how smart is that? Quite smart, if you ask me. I still don’t believe that you can get top material from Citroen as a privateer if it doesn’t benefit the current needs of Citroen (like Duval in Germany 2007). But, that doesn’t matter that much in Cyprus. The Cyprus Rally is a very, very demanding event with really slow average speeds – where consistency and reliability is everything. If you keep on the road with a car in one part – you’ve came a long way. And that’s where the Xsara is best. It has always been consistent and reliable, giving the drivers a very high percentage of finishes – as long as they stay on the road.
This means, Petter could well take his time to see what Citroen gives him for Cyprus, try it out – and then make a decision. He wont lose on doing it – rather win. But then – after Cyprus – I think his best choice (if he wants to get good results) is Ford.
Tags: citroen, citroen xsara wrc, cyprus rally, ford, petter solberg, points, rally norway, slow
Posted in WRC | No Comments »
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
Even Petter has been testing this car this weekend. Not at the same place as his brother Henning, but still in Norway – on Finnskogen. In Norweigan Television Petter says that he’s pleased with the performance of the Xsara and that it performs really well. Besides that, sources tell that Petter has control of everything on the car except for the engine, where Citroen is still in control. This means that Petter’s engineers can’t switch engine mapping etc. Just remains to see how good mapping Citroen has given Petter…
Anyway, here is the video from TVNorge of Petter’s test (sorry for the scrolling):
Tags: citroen xsara wrc, finnskogen, petter solberg, rally norway, test, Video
Posted in Rally testing, Video, WRC | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
I’ve previously posted some facts about Petter’s WRC team, and now I try to go on with the car itself. The Citroen Xsara WRC that Petter Solberg used during testing in Sweden is believed to be the same car as Petter has bought from Citroen to use in Rally Norway – and potentially more rallies during the 2009 season. WRC cars are continuosly developed and parts are replaced during their lifetime – after one year of competition very few parts are the same, and Petter should be happy about that. His car has the chassi number T412 and is built already in 2001. It has already spent some time in Citroen’s museum in 2004…
Here is the full history of Petter’s car:
- Built with chassi # T412 and reg plates 32 CSP 92 in 26/3 2001
- 2001 wins Tour de Corse driven by Jesus Puras (first ever Xsara victory)
- 2001 registered as 723 CZM 78
- 2002 2nd in Rally Monte Carlo driven by Sebastien Loeb
- 2002 retired after accident in Rally Catalunya driven by Sebastien Loeb
- 2003 wins Rally Monte Carlo driven by Sebastien Loeb
- 2003 retired with engine failure from Acropolis Rally driven by Sebastien Loeb
- 2003 wins Rallye San Remo driven by Sebastien Loeb
- 2004 placed in Citroen’s museum called “Le Conservatoire”
- 2004 wins Cyprus Rally driven by Sebastien Loeb
- 2005 Tarmac test with Manfred Stohl in France
- 2005 ran by Kronos Racing registered as 322 DFQ 78
- 2005 6th in Rally Monte Carlo driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 9th in Rally New Zeeland driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 9th in Rally Italia Sardinia driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 Gravel tests with Manfred Stohl in Spain
- 2005 2nd in Cyprus Rally driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 20th in Acropolis Rally driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 8th in Rally Argentina driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 Retired with steering failure in Rally Finland driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 Retired after accident in Rallye Deutschland driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2005 5th in Wales Rally GB driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2007 ran by Kronos Racing registered as 98 DZF 78
- 2007 6th in Corona Rally Mexico driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2007 8th in Rally Argentina driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2007 12th in Rally New Zeeland driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2007 Retired with mechanical problems from Tour de Corse driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2007 6th in Rally Japan driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2007 8th in Wales Rally GB driven by Manfred Stohl
- 2008 registered as 875 EHW 78
- 2008 16th in Swedish Rally driven by Conrad Rautenbach
- 2008 driven by Felice Re in Italy registered as 14R 0101
- 2008 driven by Kris Meeke in Bettega Memorial
- 2009 driven by Conrad Rautenbach in Galway International Rally registered as 138 EQY 78
Facts source: WRCNotes.ru. Thanks to site owner Alex Sergeev!
Tags: 138eqy78, 322dfq78, 32csp92, 723czm78, 875ehw78, 98dzf78, citroen, citroen xsara wrc, conrad rautenbach, history, jesus puras, manfred stohl, petter solberg, sebastien loeb, t412
Posted in WRC | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
I’ve tried to collect what we know about Petter’s 2009. Here we go:
- He is entered and will do Rally Norway in a Citroen Xsara WRC of modified -06 spec.
- Petter has tested the Xsara just once (same chassi used by Conrad Rautenbach on Galway International Rally on Ireland a while ago), to be able to make his decision. The test took place in Torsby, Sweden last weekend. Before Rally Norway Petter will do more winter tests in Finnskogen, Norway.
- Petter’s team will not be run by PHSport or any other known Citroen satellite team – instead it will be a stand-alone team based in France.
- Chief engineer will be very experienced Francois Xavier-Demaison, who has previously worked with Petter in Subaru.
- Modifications on the car will include switch of dampers and brakes.
- Petter and his co-driver Phil Mills will use safety equipment from Italian manufacturer OMP as a result of a recently signed sponsorship deal.
- Petter’s plan is to compete all remaining 10 WRC rallies after Rally Norway. However, not necessarily with the Xsara WRC.
- Petter’s sponsors are not completely – but almost – in box. MSN/Microsoft is one of the sponsors that will be present on the car. (Petter has previously launched a rally game for mobile phones with MSN)
Feel free to add more in the comments if I’ve forgot anything or if you know something I don’t know.
Tags: 2009, citroen xsara wrc, equipment, francois xavier demaison, microsoft, msn, omp, petter solberg, phsport, rally norway, safety, test, testing, wrc team
Posted in Silly season, WRC | No Comments »
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
Petter just confirmed that he will be doing Rally Norway in a Citroen Xsara WRC of -06 spec. A lot of details regarding the start are still unknown, but still it’s obvious that it’s a disappointment. Here is why:
- The Xsara WRC is quite old. Launched in 2002 and left by the works team after 2005, it’s now been more than three years since it was a works car (even though it seemed to be semi-works ran in 2006).
- Citroen has been very greedy when it comes to parts on the private Xsara’s. Daniel Carlsson and Manfred Stohl was nothing else than swindled going into the Kronos team for 2007 in the Xsara. They got old parts and had a car that – no matter what driver – wasn’t even close to winning speed for most of the season. Petter will fit some new parts to it himself, and maybe he has also got better luck, but I can’t imagine Citroen releasing parts good enough to have a chance to beat their C4′s. He will have to do a lot himself…
- Petter has been first driver in front of Atkinson since 05 – now Atkinson sits in a C4 and Petter in a Xsara. Petter has a big ego (as a rally driver should have) and it will barely fit into the car now. He doesn’t expect to have winning speed – he just want to do a showoff to his home public. Probably he will go hard, but he will always have the excuse that it’s just a showoff. Not a good mental start…
So, why did Petter choose this quite faded car? Well, it starts in the last point up there. He wants to do a showoff. Safe sources tell that Petter tested in northern Värmland in Sweden this weekend – and both the Citroen and Ramsport (Ford, close to MSport) teams were there. Petter tested the Xsara for sure, maybe a C4 (but I don’t think so) and a Focus, probably a 07 or 08 spec. Of course the Ford is better than the Xsara – and the C4 too – if that was a choice. But… If he chose them – he would have been compared to Hirvonen, Latvala, Loeb, Sordo – and all the Citroen Juniors including Atko. For sure they would all have better parts than Petter (maybe he could have got the same as the Citroen juniors though). Also, Petter would have gone straight into the car without many km’s of testing, while Loeb, Sordo, Hirvonen and Latvala has already done seasons in their cars. Considering his struggling the last few years in Subaru, it would have been a catastrophe to his brand to fail in a car directly compareable to the best. Everyone would wonder “Now that Petter is in a good car – can he match the others?” an it would of course be unfair to him – as many WRC privateers have unfair chances in every rally they do.
The Xsara is quite the opposite… Even though it’s a disappointment to me and the rest of the rally community – Petter himself can only win. If he – in some strange manner – has managed to get good parts, he can become an underdog and strike from behind. Then it wont be “considering he’s in a good car” – instead it will be “despite he’s in a bad car”. And if he hasn’t, he will still just be bad because of the car. Not a big problem.
So, I’m quite sure the Xsara wasn’t the fastest option Petter could choose – just the best to himself. And I understand him. Probably he’ll do a good showoff, get somewhere in the top 10 and maybe even score some points. Then he can do what really matters to him – find a good, long term, solution.
Tags: 2009, citroen xsara wrc, ford focus wrc, msport, petter solberg, rally norway, ramsport
Posted in WRC | 1 Comment »
