Russian finance man and Spyker investor Vladimir Antonov with co-driver Denis Giraudet driving a SAAB 99 in Midnattssolsrallyt earlier this summer. Foto: Mikael Hjerpe

According to Autosport.com, the loose rumours about SAAB thinking about a comeback into the WRC has now went on to real talks with the WRC organisers and the TV promotor North One.

The car models tipped to be used by the Swedish brand is 9-1 or 9-2 and the engine would probably come from BMW, that has already developed the 1.6L engine for the new MINI team entering the championship from 2011.

The rumours about a comeback into the WRC first started when Spyker was introduced as a potential buyer of SAAB from General Motors – probably much based on Spykers sporty profile and the fact that the brand had a big and expensive, but not very successful, team in Formula 1 just a few years ago. Also, SAAB MD Jan Åke Jonsson and Spyker MD Viktor Mueller recently took park in the classical Mille Miglia rally in one Saab 93 each. The Russian finance man and Spyker investor Vladimir Antonov wasn’t late to follow them and entered the classical Swedish competition Midnattssolsrallyt in a SAAB 99 in July (see photo above). Considering SAAB’s heritage in the rallying circus, one could at least hope for a better success in the World Rally Championship than in Formula 1, despite the economical troubles that is still very much a reality to the company.

Autosport’s sources claims that Spyker representatives has already been speaking to the WRC organisers and North One Sport, and will continue the talks in connection to Rallye de France in October. However, North One MD Simon Long refuses to comment on any specific brands but admits that MINI’s decision “has given people a lot of confidence in the sport”.

Now, even Rally NZ seems to have understood the truth. Chris Carr, chairman of the rally, says that “it’s always fire behind the smoke you see”. Interesting enough, Neil Allport, former NZ Rally Champion, says that lack of money is behind the decision and that the government should put the adequate money in. Strange, since NZ from what I know always have been backed by nothing else than a loooot of government money… However, I can understand they’re disappointed – and I am too. NZ is a traditional rally with wonderful views and an exotic kind of environment… The thing is probably that their market is too small.

The big fail in this discussion may be Rally Norway. They’ve made two good rallies – but they’ve also done mistakes. They have overestimated themselves big time (and that’s their biggest mistake if you ask me). I remember their plans for 2007 that I once got presented – and it was utopia. They had got quite a lot of government money, but they also calculated huge incomes from spectators, sponsoring, etc.The figures was almost 10 times the corresponding numbers of Rally Sweden. Norway did all kinds of extravagancies that year, and of course they blew it totally from a financial point of view – no matter any government money. From what I know, they lowered their calculations drastically for their next event, but obviously not enough. There was less delight of the news from the public in Norway in 2009, and the reports I got from competitors in the rally was that there was really few spectators.

No matter the economics, you can’t take from the Norweigans that they have arranged two really good events – with the media coverage in the 2007 event being my favourite point. Their problem now is unstable economy, the fact that they’re not a traditional event and the fact that they’re running on snow. But maybe even management!? They have always been so overconfident. Now it seems like their managers expected Norway to be first reserve for 2011 – but according to the latest news Poland (that has been completely silent so far!) is the first reserve. Erik Veiby, chairman of the Rally Norway board, says this is just speculations and of course it is, but honestly… I agree that nothing is decided and that things can for sure change – but it’s obvious to everyone that Rally Norway is now in deep shit. I bet that (no matter what Erik Veiby says!) they are now working hard with lobbying on all kind of levels and trying to get to know why they’re out of the calendar and how they can change it.

The approach from organisers struggling to find the grip needed to stay in the calendar is starting to look like an interesting game. The silly thing is that all this started a few years ago with the FIA letting people “buy” candidate events to the left and right by just paying a big fee to them (read more in my post on the rotation system from last year). After the organisers have paid those fees, they of course expected to get an event for it! So, FIA made this stupid rotating calendar and everyone got their events. Now, they have realized the obvious – that it doesn’t work. And many of the payers (and some others) stand there without their events again like they never had one… It’s stupid multiplied by a thousand.

No matter what, I’m looking forward to see how this game continues – and I hope (but doubt – Abu Dhabi on special built roads, come on!?!) it ends up with the best events!

All photos are taken by Rasmus Bjerén and protected by copyright. If you wanna share them, please link to this post and do not copy the image or link directly to it!

Kimi Räikkönen, day 1:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen, day 2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kimi Räikkönen, on-board showing Kimi’s C4WRC after his accident on SS2:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Ludtati for all the videos.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to amjayes for the video.

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Last year, Rally Monte Carlo and the IRC organisers brought the definitions of rally coverage one step forward by including their superb live coverage on Eurosport. This year, they’ll do it even better (as it seems) and cover almost the whole rally live. Just one stage (SS10) will be a little bit delayed. Here are the ways of following the rally…

Television
You can follow the rally live on Eurosport. If you don’t have it in your channels, try out the excellent Eurosport Player – it’s cheap and worth it! Eurosport will cover all stages as follows (times are in CET):

Wednesday 20th of January

11:45-14:00, SS1 Burzet-Lachamp Raphael (27.50 km) + SS2 St Pierreville-Antraigues (46.00 km), Eurosport 2
14:45-16:00, SS3 Burzet-Lachamp Raphael (27.50 km), Eurosport 2
16:00-17:00, SS4 St Pierreville-Antraigues (46.00 km) Eurosport

Thursday 21st of January

10:00-11:45, SS5 Labatie D’Andaure-St Pierre sur Doux (25.30 km) + SS6 St Bonnet-St Bonnet (25.67 km), Eurosport 2
12:15-13:15, SS7 Lamastre-Gilhoc-Alboussière (21.92 km), Eurosport 2
15:15-16:00, SS8 Labatie D’Andaure-St Pierre sur Doux (25.30 km), Eurosport 2
16:00-17:00, SS8 End + SS9 St Bonnet-St Bonnet (25.67 km), Eurosport
19:30-20:00, SS10 Lamastre-Gilhoc-Alboussière (21.92 km), DELAYED,  Eurosport 2
23:45-00:15, SS10 Lamastre-Gilhoc-Alboussière (21.92 km), REPEAT,  Eurosport

Friday 22nd of January

19:00-20:45, SS12 Peira Cava-La Bollène Vésubie (18.30 km) + SS13 Lantosque-Lucéram (19.13 km), Eurosport
23:00-00:45, SS14 Peira Cava-La Bollène Vésubie (18.30 km) + SS15 Lantosque-Lucéram (19.13 km), Eurosport

Tuesday 26th of January

23:00-23:30, Review: Rally Monte Carlo, Eurosport

Rally radio

Will be present at www.rally-irc.com during the event.

Online

www.rally-irc.com – Official IRC series website
http://www.acm.mc – ACM / The organisers website
http://www.irc-results.com – The IRC results service provided by AutoSport.cz – this seems really nice!
http://www.rallybuzz.com – Good coverage of most things related to IRC and WRC.
This blog – You’re here, so you should know what it is

Phone

The IRC organisers have developed a nice iPhone application.
Download it here [ link will launch iTunes ]

Thanks to RallyTheBest for the video.

Kimi Räikkönen, Citroen C4WRC, Photo: Citroen

Kimi Räikkönen did his first Citroen C4 WRC tests yesterday in Citroens test track outside their factory in Satory, France. The test covered around 50km’s and was successful. Afterwards, Räikkönen talked to Autosport and told that he enjoyed meeting the team. He also stated he wants to get back in the car soon:

- It was good to try out a few different things; I was very interested to see how the car reacted when you changed some of the settings. Now I’m really keen to get back behind the wheel of the C4 again, Räikkönen said.

The good thing for Räikkönen then is that his competitive debut, as known, will be already in the Arctic Rally in Finland later this month – as a preparation for Rally Sweden. I also guess that more tests are planned before that rally.

Kimi Räikkönen in the Citroen C4 WRC, Photo: Citroen

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to GrP2 and CechStyler for the videos.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Stephdu07 for the video.

The whole competition will be a test where PG tries wether he can keep the speed up with Eyvind Brynhildsen in his Skoda Fabia Super2000. PG says that renting a Super2000 car costs twice as much as doing the home rally in his own Mitsubishi – and if he can, he will save the money for later:

- I’ve got the money it takes, but if I can do two rallies instead of one for them I would prefer that, says PG.

Besides the start in Rally Sweden, which now seems to be totally confirmed, PG is looking at entering the IRC round Rally Italia Sardinia in June. For that rally he would rent a Super2000 car. However, the first thing after Sigdalsrallyt for PG is to do ice notes for Guy Wilks in Rally Monte Carlo later this month. As I revealed yesterday, Wilks is expected to confirm his agreement with Skoda UK today announcing a drive in the 2010 IRC.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The charge by Block, who is the first American ever to do a larger assault for the championship, seems to be on a long term, since he says that he’ll not promise any podiums the first year:

- Racing in the WRC has always been a dream of mine, but, I’m not going to promise podiums in my first year. I’ll be going up against the best drivers in the world. My main objective for 2010 is to develop into a competitive driver for 2011, and beyond, says Block.

Sad enough, Block – who is co-founder of DC Shoes and a former snowboarding, skateboarding and motocross star – is set to skip Rally Sweden and start of his WRC challenge with Rally Mexico in March. No matter what, the WRC will really be boosted this year with two superstars in Raikkonen and Block joining the championship.

I’ll get back later on with more info and some reflections on Ken Block and his chances in the championship.

Monster World Rally Team launch video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More info at: http://monsterworldrallyteam.com/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Rigipepa and RallyZone.cz for the video.

Check the maps out here: http://planetemarcus.free.fr/googleearthmap.htm (link to iPhone app to the left on the page)

Click here to view the embedded video.

I know that Mads Östberg tested with Gröndal earlier this week, but still there seems to be no dedicated video available from that test.

Gröndals test didn’t went very good. He had damper problems from the beginning – and something happened during the test that forced the team to cancel, and that also jeopardizes Gröndal’s scheduled local event Romhjulsrallyt, a few days after christmas.

Another interesting note from Norway is that Petter Solberg loses one of his main sponsors, the John Lunde Marine group. The company made a loss of 90.3M NOK last year, so why they had to pull the plug to their sponsorship seems quite obvious. However, I hope and I think that Petter has a good plan.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to rallyelange for the video.

Sandell himself says it was the worst day in his career, and I can’t stop thinking that he haven’t been through so much then. I know a lot of drivers that would consider it more of a summer breeze. Anyway, at the same time as I think it sounds a little bit silly, it also underlines Patrik’s dedication. Of course you’re allowed to have some kind of breakdown after such a thing, and it’s now the interesting things start. We’ll get to see his real strength, if he can come back re-motivated and do good results during the rest of the season. Time will show…

Read more (Swedish) in Aftonbladet:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/motor/svenkkollen/article5388257.ab

One day I’ll take the time to write that story to you guys reading this blog. It isn’t really the time yet, I guess, but it’s certainly coming closer. Until then I’m just really happy about the comeback and the strength Daniel is showing. His mistake was unacceptable, he can’t blame anyone – and he let everyone down. But… He let himself down more than anyone else – and he has been knowing that every day since then. Now he’s back – and just the fact that he makes the comeback is just amazing. Hope the rally makes it even better!

The scene of the comeback will be South Swedish Rally (part of the Swedish Championship) on May 15-16 2009. The car, a Ford Focus WRC05, will be engineered by AP Däckservice Engineering Team in cooperation with the guys at Tätab and Dom Buckley Motorsport.

Read more (in Swedish) at www.danielcarlsson.com
If you don’t speak Swedish and still wonders something, feel free to ask me questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer them!

The scene of today's accident - just seconds before it happened

The rally sport is in chock after a tragic accident today in Czech republic, where three people spectating the Valašska rally where killed. The driver of the car, the 21 year old Lapdavský from Slovakia was seriously injured and chocked. I don’t know what happened and why – and I don’t really want to speculate in it. What I do know is that the turn  should for sure be a forbidden zone and that signs or barriers should point out that to the spectators.

Generally talking, I think that the safety in the rally sport is very well maintained. Organisers put safety highest on the agenda and spectators are most often very well informed about forbidden zones, there are marshals placed in dangerous places and safety cars and sometimes helicopters secures the stage just before it gets started so noone is standing in dangerous positions. Considering driver/co-driver safety, cars are improving continually, and much of the safety evolvement in road cars is also driven by data and tests made in rally cars. One should remember that most rally cars are built on the same chassi as road cars and driven on common roads – closed for traffic. This means that comparisons against road traffic is made quite easy – much easier than in track racing where big zones around the track is used to make off-road excursions less dangerous.

So, whats the main problem with rally safety? With all respect to the ones involved in this certain accident of today, I must say that it is spectators not willing to follow the instructions given by organisers, marshals and other spectators.

Everyone going to a rally wants spectacular experiences, high speeds and some of them also wants to see cars go off. Going off the road is a part of rallying, and doesn’t at all mean that people want anyone to get hurt. But it is a problem that some people doesn’t follow marshals (or other spectators) instructions and therefore stand in dangerous places. I don’t know anything about the instructions in the Valasska rally, but looking at the photo just for one second tells me that there is a clear and present danger to the life of anyone standing in that zone during a rally – no doubt about it. This is also confirmed by the movie (see below) where anyone can see how extremely fast the accident happens. I can hardly believe that they hadn’t been warned by marshals or other spectators at the scene.

Many people have too high expectations on their ability to get out of a spot if a driver lose control. Speeds often doesn’t look so fast, but when something happens – you most often haven’t even reacted before the car is way off the road. I’ve seen quite some accidents myself – luckily without any serious injuries involved – and your best chance is that the driver can avoid you and at least choose exactly the spot where he goes off. However, since an accident is by it’s nature never intended, that may not be the case. So, to anyone out there – make sure to always use your brain, follow instructions, keep some extra safety margin and instruct your fellow spectators to do the same! That’s the smallest thing we can do to show our respect to those ones involved in todays accident.

Watch a video of the accident here:

Read more here (news articles):

http://www.dn.se/sport/otack-rallyolycka-i-tjeckien-1.832640 (in Swedish)

Spectator safety is a of highest priority to every organiser, but this problem is common. I’ve seen it myself many times. As soon as a car goes off the road, people not only go to help – they go crazy. Everyone should remember that the stage is running and that new cars may arrive at any time. The most dangerous thing often seems to be that people expect it to be 2 (or 1, depending on class) minutes between every car – not thinking about the fact that one car may have overtaken one other etc.

I’ve seen people getting really surprised many times, and I’m afraid it may cause a serious accident one day. Today, it just destroyed Brynhildsens rally…

UPDATE 21:43: Now even VG writes about this problem. Marshals mean they warned Brynhildsen, while Brynhildsen himself and spectators say he wasn’t warned in time. On Saturday it will be decided if Brynhildsen gets an ideal time as a compensation for the mess-up. Read more (Norweigan): http://www.vg.no/sport/motor/artikkel.php?artid=558349