Posts Tagged ‘group n’
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Magnus Samuelsson, probably the strongest man in a rally car?! Photo: Gustafssons foto
Now it’s confirmed. As I revealed earlier today, Magnus Samuelsson (World’s Strongest Man) will start Rally Sweden 2010. The team aims to start in the World Rally Championship round, but since they still don’t have a full budget a Swedish Championship start may be the case instead. Magnus is backed by Fredrik Eljas and Olof Eljas, and the later of them will be responsible for giving Magnus the training needed (not physical, huh!?!) to do the start.
The team will run a 280bhp Subaru Impreza group N of latest spec. Magnus Samuelsson himself comments the start as follows:
- This is my dream as a young boy coming true. I’ve tried “folkrace” before but the dream has always been to drive a real rally car. It will be a true adventure and just the thought of being at the start line along with Loeb and the other boys is breathtaking.
Read the article (in Swedish) at RallySweden.com
Tags: 2010, folkrace, fredrik eljas, group n, magnus samuelsson, olof eljas, rally sweden, subaru impreza, swedish championship, world's strongest man
Posted in National Rallying, Rally promotion and media coverage, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
According to Swedish local paper Corren, Magnus Samuelsson, famous for multiple medals and the world title in World’s Strongest Man, will compete in the World Rally Championship part of Rally Sweden 2010. Magnus is said to be set to compete with Jörgen Carlsson as a co-driver in a Subaru Impreza group N belonging to fellow Swede Hasse Gustavsson, part of the former Subaru Dealer Team Sweden. Magnus, who has previously driven some “folkrace” (a sport similar to rallycross, but cheaper and with less complicated cars), is also reported to have been testing the car yesterday in the forests of Dalarna, the county where parts of the Rally Sweden stages (Fredriksberg) is placed.
The question for me is how the entry will be solved? Magnus is not entered in the WRC round, nor the Swedish Championship. In the Swedish Championship part Hasse Gustafsson is entered with an Impreza – but I doubt the driver can be switched after the entries close. I think that the organiser can accept a late entry if the other competitors in the class accept it, and maybe that’s the way to choose. Or, they may blame the fax and say the entry got late because of their technical problems? A reason that may also be completetly true, of course…
Read more about Magnus Samuelsson on his own website
Tags: 2010, corren, dalarna, folkrace, group n, hasse gustafsson, jörgen carlsson, magnus samuelsson, rally sweden, subaru dealer team sweden, subaru impreza, world's strongest man
Posted in Rally testing, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
The Rally Sweden organisers have updated the entry list on their website, and now it’s starting to look like something. Henning Solberg seems to get his pieces together and is entered in a Ford Focus WRC08, Jocke Nyman completes a three man (PG Andersson, Patrik Flodin and Jocke Nyman) strong Swedish lineup that will hopefully conquer the group N class of the rally and Al-Qassimi, Kuipers x2, van Merksteijn x2, Grönholm and Therman, Jouni Arolainen, Mads Östberg, Kimi Räikkönen, Matthew Wilson among others making the WRC class a real nest will hopefully assure that the rally comes down to history as one of the best snow rallies in a long time.
Also S2000 will be interesting to follow, where home ace Patrik Sandell will be hunted by skilled drivers as Mikkelsen, Brynhildsen, Prokop and Tuohino. Also Solowow, Sousa and Hunt and heavily experienced home ace Per-Arne Sääv, running on the organizers wild card, are entered in S2000 cars.
My current most interesting list (to be updated, for sure!):
- Loeb vs. Hirvonen + Latvala
- Petter vs. Henning
- How fast can Grönholm and Räikkönen be?
- What happens to the Swede superfight in group N: Andersson + Flodin + Nyman?
- The Super2000 superfight: Sandell vs. Mikkelsen + Brynhildsen + Prokop + Tuohino
Every single one of the points above will probably be world class entertainment – and of course I’ll get back with more comments, interviews etc. related to the entries. This is just the start…!
Read the full entrylist here
Tags: andreas mikkelsen, entrylist, eyvind brynhildsen, group n, henning solberg, janne tuohino, jari-matti latvala, jocke nyman, kimi räikkönen, marcus grönholm, martin prokop, mikko hirvonen, patrik flodin, petter solberg, pg andersson, rally sweden, s2000, sebastien loeb, super2000
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
The former Ford works driver Roman Kresta (cz) is set to enter this years WRC opener Rally Sweden with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in the group N class, accompanied by his regular co-driver Petr Gross.
Tomorrow is the final day for entries to Rally Sweden, and a lot of things should conclude during today and tomorrow. One of the things expected to be announced today is the car for local driver and rally wildcard PG Andersson. As I have previously reported, he is currently considering wether to go for his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in group N or a rental Super2000 car.
Tags: 2010, car, group n, lancer evo ix, mitsubishi, petr gross, pg andersson, rally sweden, roman kresta, s2000, super2000
Posted in S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season, WRC | No Comments »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Four stages have been run this morning i Rally Norway and the top field is close. After SS5 Kongsvinger Hirvonen leads the pack 4.8s before Sebastien Loeb. Latvala is rounding off the podium positions 25.7 after Hirvonen. The fight is close – Hirvonen took the lead on SS2 but was overtaken by Loeb on SS3 before he got the lead back on SS4.
Some people have had problems this morning, including both home runners in the Adapta World Rally Team. Anders Gröndal went off the road into a ditch on SS5. He managed to get back on the road, but the car is damaged and he is reported to have gearbox problems. Remains to see if the Adapta WRT can fix the problems in the remote service. No matter what, he is now more than 12 minutes off the lead. Also Östberg had problems on SS5 when he overtook a junction and had to reverse to get back on track. He lost around one minute on the stage and is now on 13th position – but with gearbox problems reported.
In PWRC Patrik Sandell shows the potential of the Skoda Fabia S2000 and leads the field. However, Andreas Mikkelsen has beaten Sandell in two stages in a row now, showing that the classical group N cars can still challenge. Sandell will have to look out not to be overtaken by Mikkelsen who is less than 10 seconds behind. For Flodin and Brynhildsen everything seems to have went wrong on SS5. Both have lost more than 11 minutes, but the problem is unknown. Clear is that they wont be battling for the PWRC victory.
The battle in Norway will continue at 12:51 local time with the Opaker stage.
Tags: adapta, anders gröndal, andreas mikkelsen, friday, group n, mads östberg, mikko hirvonen, patrik flodin, patrik sandell, pwrc, rally norway, sebastien loeb
Posted in WRC | No Comments »
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
The group N-class in Norway is a real nest of wasps. Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Flodin, and Sandell competes (almost for the Swedes) on home soil and are all strong competitors for the class victory. The not-some-home Arai is also – and Prokop was – until he got a penalty today (I don’t know why, but speeding on recce or replacing engine may be the reason), so he’s quite out of the game. Competing in group N is a high game, and in one way I think the pressure is higher there than in the WRC.
Why?
Because in WRC you get seen – even if you’re in 5th place. Group N is downprioritized in media and in the eyes of many spectators, so there is only one way to be seen there – to win. That’s the only thing that matters. Of course all WRC competitors also wants to win, but if you’re in top eight (=points) – you’ve still made a quite good achievement and people will probably remember your name for a while.
So, Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Flodin and Sandell may all be nervous – and they should be.
The winner takes it all!
Tags: andreas mikkelsen, eyvind brynhildsen, group n, patrik flodin, patrik sandell, production car, pwrc, rally norway
Posted in WRC | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 6th, 2009
In an article in Crash.net, I can see John Easton, former team manager of RalliArt Europe trying to get some buzz out there regarding his new company MML Motorsports. MML seems to have taken over the Lancer WRCs and they’re also doing some kind of Evo X project in group N. Besides that, John speks warmly about their ability to build a brand new WRC car from scratch.
So, if they need buzz – I thought I should help. 
No, of course I’m joking. But facts are that MML is built upon the competence from RalliArt Europe, a team that I think holds a lot of competence and potential. Maybe it’s not likely – but I really hope that MML can assist one or another car brand to get into the sport with a Super2000 car…
Tags: evo x, group n, john easton, mitsubishi, mitsubishi lancer wrc, mml motorsports. mml, ralliart europe, super2000
Posted in WRC | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
Young Swedish driver Patrik Flodin will drive the full group N championship 2009 along with his co-driver Göran Bergsten in the russian Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica team. Starting off with Rally Norway, the duo will compete in a Subaru Impreza Group N of the same spec as they drove in Wales Rally GB 2008. According to Flodin’s website new parts will arrive will arrive later during the season. Flodin will also get testing and at least one rally in the Russian Rally Championship in his cooperation with the team.
At the moment, Flodin is having an unintentionally extended christmas break after getting caught speeding by the Swedish police. However, he will get his license back on the 17th of January, so no rallies of the season are in danger.
Tags: göran bergsten, group n, patrik flodin, rally norway, subaru impreza, uspenskiy rally tecnica
Posted in Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »
