Posts Tagged ‘pwrc’

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The winner takes it all in group N

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!

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Interview: Patrik Flodin has turned struggling into success and looks forward to Rally Norway

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

After calling Patrik Sandell and PG Andersson asking some questions regarding Rally Norway, the turn went on to Patrik Flodin. Just arrived to the hotel after a long day recceing out on the stages, Patrik answered some questions about his tests earlier this week in Lima, Rally Norway and the future.

First thing, he saw plenty of snow today:

- It’s a lot of snow, but not very much ice. I guess it will show up some gravel during the rally, but it looks wonderful at least. We had no problems at all during the recce, besides having a really long day after doing the drive down to Oslo to recce the arena stage there. Now we’re back in Lillehammer again, have just had some dinner and are going for an early night before going out on the recce again tomorrow, says Flodin.

Flodin drives for the Uspenskiy World Rally Team, based in Russia. A few days ago they were testing in Lima – just over the border in Sweden from Norway. The end was happy – but Patrik was really struggling during the test:

- The start wasn’t really good… The new tyres made everything really slippery and it took quite a while before we found out a setup that worked out well. As soon as you got a little bit off track or tried to cut corners just a little it got really slippery and I felt that I totally lost the car – and it wasn’t even a lot of loose snow. The old tyres had much more sideways grip. One things that’s sure is that it wont be fun at all to the first few WRC cars this weekend, and Loeb will for sure lose time the first day.

Present at the test were also Mikkelsen, who has stepped in as Patrik’s teammate for Rally Norway. I wondered if they compared times – but Patrik is so cool he didn’t even bother:

- I guess the team can compare us in the log, but who cares? Anyone can go fast on one single test road. We’ll see when the rally starts.

Coming to Norway Flodin gets into a real “nest of wasps”. Patrik Sandell has a car that proved really fast in Monte Carlo and Eyvind Brynhildsen among with Flodin’s teammate Mikkelsen must be counted as the main concurrents – but Flodin will look out even for other names:

- Both Prokop and Arai have made good times from time to time and the competition in my class will be really tough. I want to win the class, absolutely, that’s my goal going into the rally!

To us following rally closely, it has been quite obvious that Patrik have had a hard time for a while. Patrik does agree, but he’s also got a feeling things have changed and looks bright on the future:

- It has been tough for quite a while, but it has turned again. I think it started to get better last summer and after a good autumn and now three rally victories in a row I’ve got my self-confidence back. It feels good again!

So, with a drive secured for Uspenskiy for the rest of the 2009 season and a good feeling going into the car – how do Flodin look on his future? He has already stated that the Uspenskiy team is really good, but what about the dream of WRC? Is it still there, is he happy with group N – or is he looking for Super2000?

- I’m more looking at Super2000 than the WRC. This year is really important to me, to show that I can do great results for the team all the time. Then I guess you’ll have to wait and see what happens. There seems to be many teams going into Super2000, so maybe one could get a drive next year for at least a reasonable amount of money.

So, conclusion after this interview is that we hopefully will see Patrik doing good results in the PWRC – and maybe a Super2000 drive next year. Personally I think that it went to fast for him a few years ago when he outpaced the concurrence in the Swedish Championship and then went straight on into an international career and a few WRC drives. Now he have had time to gain some experience and cool down, and hopefully he can get the flow back – but now on a higher level. He is just 24, so there is no need to hurry!

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What happened to Tina Thörner?

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

A few weeks ago, I revealed that Nasser al-Attiyah negotiated with Skoda to get a Fabia Super2000 and compete a full PWRC season this year. His co-driver would be Tina Thörner, who would make a beloved comeback in the WRC after quite some years away just competing in rally raid. That was said to me by sources very close to Tina (so close that I’m almost totally sure they weren’t wrong). She also made no secret about it after the Dakar when she told the press that Nasser was looking to to the PWRC – and that she would co-drive. According to my sources, there have been problems delivering cars from Skoda but it seems like Nasser will finally get his Fabia, although nothing is clear.

The strange this is… It will not be with Tina. In today’s VF (Swedish newspaper), Tina says that she considers to end her rallying career (this is nothing new, last time was a just one or two years ago what I can remember) and that she will certainly not do the PWRC in the Skoda. More exactly, she says:

- No, I wont co-drive [Nasser in the Fabia]. I think it will be hard to win the championship without a works drive. Then there is no need to drag around when I can do other things that are fun. I’ve got so many assignments so I wouldn’t have the time anyway.

I don’t know if it’s only me – but isn’t it strange? A few weeks ago she was going, now she’s not. She blames her assignments – but have her bookings rushed so much those few weeks and hasn’t she been able to say no? Strange… Also, she blames the unability to win the championship when they’re not driving for a works team. But honestly, when she said they were going to do the PWRC… What works-team did she think about then? From what I know, there is no pure, totally factory supported works team in the championship? All are ran by private teams (URT as an example) or by local outfits (RalliArt NZ). Or have I missed out on one?

To me, Skoda seems like one of the best opportunities. She would get a strong car (if in doubt – check out the Monte results) with a factory that would probably give her and Nasser quite high priority – because of the fact that they were one of just two Skoda’s in the championship.

Conclusion is… Of course Tina’s time isn’t the problem. Maybe the lack of factory support could be the problem, yes – but that would surprise me. Weren’t she at all aware of the circumstances in WRC these days?! No, more likely is that there is some other problem that she doesn’t wanna tell us – or maybe she just changed her mind. It probably doesn’t matter very much at all – but I just wonder one thing:

Why didn’t she just say that she changed her mind?

Note: Chris Patterson is likely to be Nasser’s co-driver in the PWRC instead of Tina, according to VF.

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Al-Attiyah negotiating with Skoda – may bring Tina Thörner back into the WRC

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar, reigning FIA Baja Champion, did a decent run in this years Dakar before missing out on some waypoints because of technical problems, that later on made the organisers exclude him and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner from the rally. However, besides rally raid Al-Attiyah is also a very experienced competitor in the PWRC – and now he want’s to come back there. Currently he is negotiating with Skoda with the aim to do the full PWRC championship 2009 in a Skoda Fabia Super2000.

Nasser has previously been co-driven by different people – but this time Tina Thörner would be his choice. Tina is a unique profile and her co-driver career started already in 1990. She has gone with different drivers in both rally raid and WRC, including legendary names as Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae, Jutta Kleinschmidt and this years Dakar winner Giniel DeVilliers.

So, let’s hope that Al-Attiyah, Thörner and Skoda get their pieces together. To start in Norway is too late, but for PWRC you can exclude two events of the year – so that’s not a problem. To see them going into the PWRC could make up for a decent fight and comparison with Thörner’s countryman Patrik Sandell – who drives Skoda for the Red Bull Team. Taking into account that also Flodin competes in the PWRC with the Uspenskiy Rally Team, it would mean three Swedes able to fight in the PWRC top.

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FIA confirms PWRC and JWRC entrants

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

FIA has now officially confirmed the entrants in PWRC and JWRC. Among others, Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Sandell and Flodin have already been mentioned by me in earlier posts to do the 2009 PWRC.

Check out the lists here:

FIA Production Car WRC Entrants
FIA Junior WRC Entrants

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Mikkelsen joins Flodin and URT in the PWRC

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

After Sandell, Flodin and Brynhildsen among others, now even Andreas Mikkelsen (N) is ready to compete the production world rally championship. He’s gonna use a Subaru Impreza STi N14 and compete in the same team as Patrik Flodin, the URT (Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica) team. Earlier this year, it was announced that Mikkelsen couldn’t get the finances together to start in the WRC as he did in 2008. However, this switch to the PWRC was announced as Mikkelsen entered Rally Norway just twenty minutes before the entries closed.

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Eyvind Brynhildsen does the PWRC with RalliArt New Zealand – but does he need a PR course?

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Young Norweigan Eyvind Brynhildsen will do the full PWRC for Ralliart New Zealand. He will drive Rally Norway, Cyprus Rally, Rally de Portugal, Rally Argentina, Rally d’Italia Sardegna, Acropolis Rally, Rally Australia and Wales Rally GB. A good difference to almost all other european PWRC drivers (which seems to be most of the drivers) that almost always skip the oversea’s events.

However, there is one thing I really don’t get here. Eyvind hasn’t even put a press release regarding his drive on his own website? He’s got BrynhildsenTV there, but he hasn’t got any updated news on his new deal!? That’s quite… Strange. I thought he along with the other Norweigan guys were those supermanaged, professional young guns knowing exactly how to play their cards to get on top of the World Rally Championship – at least to know that they wont fall on anything other than pure driving skills. You need to do better, Eyvind!

After this little burst, I just wonder one more thing. Is Brynhildsen still working on the rumoured Lancer WRC05 (with ’07 upgrades) deal for the Norweigan Championship along with MML Sports? If he could manage to secure that, he seems to have done his homework quite well anyway (but why not Super2000?), allowing him to drive both group N and WRC during 2009. The Lancer is a good car and he should be able to perform good in the Norweigan Championship. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t had time to update his website…

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Posted in National Rallying, Rally promotion and media coverage, Silly season, WRC | No Comments »

Confirmed: Patrik Sandell drives Skoda Fabia Super2000 for the Red Bull team

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

As previously rumoured in this blog (link), Patrik Sandell will drive a Skoda Fabia Super2000 in the full production car world rally championship 2009 (except two rallies which he is allowed to skip, Argentina and Australia). The previous junior world rally champion has signed a deal with the Red Bull Rallye team to drive a Fabia for them in the championship. The Red Bull team boss, Raimund Baumschlager, is delighted with the deal and considers Patrik Sandell a potential World Rally Champion in the future. Sandell himself seems at least as delighted as Baumschlager – and he should be! Here is why:

  • Red Bull has proven to be one of the most loyal of all motorsport sponsors the last few years. They have spent huge amounts of money in both the WRC and the Formula 1 Championship, and if Sandell can impress here – money wont be a problem. Also, long time Red Bull protegee Andreas Aigner has left the team, and that opens for Sandell to be the star driver for Red Bull not only for one year, but for many…
  • Super2000 will be the main class in the WRC from 2010 and on. The WRC Super2000 class will be modified with turbocharger etc, but experience from Super2000 will still be a big advantage – and the Red Bull deal now means that Patrik Sandell has two years of full championship experience from two different Super2000 cars. According to Sandell himself, no other driver at all have two years of S2000 experience in a row. No matter what, no driver have driven two different Super2000 cars in competition – and Sandell has done it a lot.
  • Sandell drives the PWRC, not the IRC. Most S2000 drivers do the IRC, which is quite logical. However, to get a good start for the WRC 2010 it’s much better to have driven the car in the very same championship. That gives more experience from the rallies used in the championship (some rallies may match in IRC too, for example Monte Carlo, but not as many). Also, the WRC is more attractive to sponsors, and I consider it much more likely for Sandell to meet sponsors willing to spend their money on the WRC in the WRC than in the IRC. It’s not a big secret that the WRC as a true world championship is a lot more prestigeous for a rally driver than the IRC.
  • The Skoda Fabia S2000 is a quite new, and interesting, car. Skoda do have quite a lot of experience from the World Rally Championship with their WRC Fabia’s and Octavias, and the factory seems to have high ambitions on supporting motorsport projects. They haven’t been very successful, but they know what it takes and now, when classes are changing, costs are being reduced and everyone starts at zero they have the chance to impress. It seems like one of the best S2000 cars to be in.
  • Everyone else is going down – Sandell is going up. Just the fact that Sandell manages to challenge despite a lost contract with Peugeot Sweden and the financial crisis striking at it’s best is a proof of Sandell’s talent to open the right doors.

The PWRC 2009 starts off in Norway, which I guess will be a huge party for Sandell and his sponsors. The season then continues with Cyprus Rally, Rallye de Portugal,Rally Argentina (excluded for Sandell), Rally d’Italia-Sardegna, Acropolis Rally, Repco Rally Australia (excluded for Sandell) and last off Wales Rally GB. If Sandell can manage to get some good testing in the car the season could be really good to him allowing him to shine in the PWRC and most important create a very good platform for the WRC 2010.

Read more at Sandell’s own website, www.patriksandell.com, or Red Bull Rallye, www.redbullrally.com.

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Posted in Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »

Will Patrik Sandell do the PWRC in Skoda Fabia Super2000?

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Swedish driver Patrik Sandell is rumoured to drive the Skoda Fabia Super 2000 in all rounds of the production car world rally championship (PWRC) 2009.

Sandell has already done a year in Peugeot Sweden’s 207 S2000 during 2008, but was left without a drive in december when Peugeot Sweden decided to redraw from all motorsport activities.

It’s just a rumour, but it would really be nice to have these awesome news confirmed. Do you have more info? Leave a comment or contact…

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