Posts Tagged ‘subaru impreza’
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Petter Solberg on the start ramp of Svully Rally Dahbi today. Photo: PSWRT
The Norweigan Svully Rally Dahbi were ran today, and as expected Petter Solberg won the rally with a huge margin to second placed Marcus Grönholm. However, as the rally primarily was an interesting test for the upcoming Rally Sweden – some things were more interesting than the end results:
- Solberg, who sealed a sponsorship agreement with energy drink Mad-Croc earlier this week, were happy with the car and had adjusted settings that made him even more comfortable with the Citroen C4 WRC than last weekend in Sweden.
- Marcus Grönholm won the fight over both Mikkelsen and Sandell – all running in Subaru Impreza group N cars, were Grönholm had the oldest one of them. However, the battle between Mikkelsen and Sandell were quite close despite Mikkelsen being the one most used to his car. That is interesting since Mikkelsen is often considered more of a “raw talent” than Sandell.
- Swedish young shot Pontus Tidemand were impressive managing to keep up the speed with Patrik Sandell and finishing just 1.2 secs behind. There you can talk about a raw talent, and I’d be surprised if we don’t see Pontus in the international arena within a few years!
Tags: 2010, andreas mikkelsen, citroen c4wrc, marcus grönholm, patrik sandell, petter solberg, pontus tidemand, rally sweden, subaru impreza, svulla rally dahbi
Posted in National Rallying, Rally testing, WRC | No Comments »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Petter Solberg's car in service during Finnskogsvalsen. Photo: PSWRT
Petter Solberg were fastest through the stages in Swedish local competition Finnskogsvalsen today, as expected (I dare to say this despite the last stage is still running, since Petter is through with a normal time and his advantage on the previous stage is 3min 56 seconds). The Norweigan drove his Citroën C4WRC through a little bit more than 80 km’s of competitive stages and seemed to be really happy about the car. Since he recced and made his own notes for the rally, which is not allowed, Petter took part out of the competition and couldn’t win the rally. This, however, is probably nothing that will give Petter problems sleeping tonight – since the rally was first and foremost a test of his new car before Rally Sweden.
At the same time, a number of big names competed in the Norweigan Championship round Mountain Rally in Norway. Anders Gröndal took the victory from second placed Henning Solberg, who were haunted by mechanical problems in his competitive debut with new co-driver Ilka Minor. Mads Östberg with his Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson led the rally until he hit a snow bank, forcing him out of the competition. Third was Sveinung Bieltvedt, in a Subaru Impreza.
Of course even Henning, going with a Ford Focus WRC05, used the rally primarily as a preparation for Rally Sweden. In this, he was joined by Andreas Mikkelsen and Eyvind Brynhildsen, among others. Brynhildsen scored a fourth place in his Skoda Fabia S2000 while Mikkelsen scored fifth going with his Subaru Impreza – after being penalised with 1min 20s after having to change gearbox in service. Looking at Mikkelsens time if he wouldn’t have had the penalty, he was only a few seconds after Brynhildsen in his S2000, something that maybe indicates that Mikkelsen can be really, really fast when going into the Fiesta S2000 in Sweden!?
Photos from Finnskogsvalsen at Backmans Foto
Results from Finnskogsvalsen 2010 at Resultatdata
Results from Mountain Rally 2010
Tags: 2010, andreas mikkelsen, citroen c4wrc, eyvind brynhildsen, finnskogsvalsen, ford fiesta super2000, ford focus wrc05, henning solberg, ilka minor, jonas andersson, mads östberg, mountain rally, norweigan championship, petter solberg, pswrt, rally sweden, recce, s2000, skoda fabia super2000, subaru impreza, sveinung bieltvedt
Posted in National Rallying, Rally testing, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »
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 »
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
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:
Kimi Räikkönen, Abarth Grande Punto, WRC Rally Finland 2009, Leustu stage, onboard:
Tags: abarth grande punto, concord pond, driving style, ken block, kimi räikkönen, new england forest rally, onboard, rally finland, s2000, subaru impreza, super 2000, Video, WRC, youtube
Posted in National Rallying, Video, WRC | No Comments »
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Marcus Grönholm and the Prodrive team tested in Spain before Rally de Portugal earlier this week. Marcus told that the feeling of the driving was good, but Grönholm admitted having problems with making accurate notes and told that the problem could slow his driving. He also told that no explicit goals for his rally were set, but he would be disappointed if he didn’t found the speed he expected. I just hope he doesn’t expect too much, since he must know he’s not in the best of cars. (See my previous post)
Here is the video:
Tags: marcus grönholm, prodrive, rally de portugal, rally of portugal, s14, spain, subaru impreza, Video, WRC
Posted in Video, WRC | No Comments »
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.
Tags: andreas mikkelsen, n14, production, pwrc, subaru impreza, URT, uspenskiy rally tecnica
Posted in Silly season, 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 »
