MAXIMUM ATTACK » rally finland

Video: Mini WRT testing for Finland

Rasmus — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:15:33 +0000

Mini has been testing in Korpilahti the last few days for the upcoming Rally Finland. The tests were held on fast gravel roads with a lot of jumps – typical settings for the Finnish terrain. Both Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo have been driving – but Meeke’s testing have been a bit affected by an accident wounding the car and making the team return it to the team base in England for a checkup. This also means that Meeke wont start as planned in Rally Estonia this weekend, which was a part of the teams’ preparations for Finland.

Here are a few videos of the Mini tests:

Dani Sordo test day two

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dani Sordo on Finnish television

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Watch Kris Meeke testing on YouTube

Video: Sebastien Ogier pre-Finland test roll

Rasmus — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:14:12 +0000

Sebastien Ogier rolled his Citroën DS3 WRC today while testing for Rally Finland in the end of this month. Perfect footage below!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Volkswagen: Citroëns nightmare?

Rasmus — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:10:42 +0000

Volkswagen Polo WRC - a Citroën DS3 killer?

It’s been rumoured for a long time and confirmed for a few months that Volkswagen will enter the WRC with a new Polo WRC in 2013. However, the team plan to make their competitive debut already in Rally Finland in the end of this month – and then compete all remaining rallies this year except for Australia. Already from day one, Volkswagen have sent the signals that this is a serious challenge (nothing else could be expected) and in my opinion this can only be seen as another sign of that, maybe the strongest so far. Considering the price of competing one and a half year in the WRC (I guess that Volkswagen will continue to run even the next season), it shows with clarity that Volkswagen is willing to invest money not only to compete but even to win the WRC.

Of course, winning is not only about the car – but also a lot about the team in terms of personnel, drivers and co-drivers. Petter Solberg is rumoured to be close to signing for the team, but so far Volkswagen seems to be using the excellent strategy of signing young, talented and local drivers – at least if judging from the Rally Finland entry. Andreas Mikkelsen of Norway will be driving one car, and I guess he will be their first driver for the rest of the season and local ace Joonas Lindroos will drive the other car. By signing Mikkelsen they get someone that can act as a young and promising second driver in the works team later on while still being experienced enough to work as a good test driver. In Lindroos they get a local driver in Finland that can contribute with unique knowledge about the local conditions.

It’s quite obvious that Volkswagen will be competing at the highest level of WRC and I expect them to enter the series on a much higher level than any other debutant teams have done in recent years. For Citroën this means a team that can really challenge them for both the drivers and the manufacturers title. It will be interesting to see their next step. Will they fight back and how? (Especially with the possibility/speculations of Loeb ending his career or moving on quite soon…)

PG trying to get four more rallies in the Skoda Fabia S2000

Rasmus — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:39:44 +0000

PG Andersson in his JM Racing Skoda Fabia S2000 on the Karlstad Super Special Stage earlier this month. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

According to today’s NWT, PG Andersson is hoping for four more appearances in the Skoda Fabia Super2000 this year with the Czech JM Racing team following his superb win in the S2000 class in Sweden. The team is planning to enter six WRC events, and PG is aiming to drive four of them. The other two will probably go to other drivers, where one driver is already planned for Rally Japan.

The rallies PG is planning to enter is Rally Portugal followed by Rally Finland, Rally of France and Wales Rally GB. However, according to NWT, Andersson is still lacking around €200000 of his budget and if he doesn’t manage to get all the money he may skip France or GB.

The previous talks about Rally Sardinia is currently put on ice in favour of the mentioned four events.

Video: Compare Ken Block vs. Kimi Räikkönen driving style – onboard videos

Rasmus — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:51:39 +0000

With two new stars coming into the championship, I thought it would be a fun thing to compare their driving styles – so I found one onboard video of each driver. Ken Block on the Concord Pond stage in the New England Forest Rally 2008 in America driving a Subaru Impreza and Kimi Räikkönen driving the Abarth Grande Punto in WRC Rally Finland 2009 on the Leustu stage.

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.

Video: Rally Finland to start with a city super special stage in Jyväskylä

Rasmus — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:48:02 +0000

Autosport of today reveals that next years Rally Finland will start on thursday evening with a city-based super-special stage. No further details seem to be know yet, but it immediately reminds me of the old Jyväskylä classic “Harju”, which was a town special.

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!

High hopes for an interesting WRC during the later part of the season

Rasmus — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:18:07 +0000

What happens? After Loeb/Citroen’s fail in Poland last weekend the WRC seems to become a little bit more interesting this year. After a spring where Loeb seemed to be more unbeatable than ever, winning five events in a row, Hirvonen has suddenly turned the championship to his favor and now leads by one point before Loeb. In the manufacturers championship, Ford is still quite behind Citroen (17pts), but even there it’s everything but over. Sordo isn’t as stable as Loeb, there are plenty of races to go and the season so far has really shown how fast things change.

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!