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Author: David Bodapati
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Armstrong leads after Juniors deliver more excitement: Junior WRC
Zagreb, 24 April 2021: Saturday took off from where Friday finished with two Juniors departing the classification early, on the first stage of the day.
Romanian Raul Baidu, after two stage wins on Friday, ended his Saturday prematurely by damaging a wheel, forcing him to retire for the day.
Robert Virves joined Badiu, after finding some pace in his Fiesta Rally4 a series of mistakes followed, resulting in the young Estonian depositing a wheel on the stage. He returned his three-wheeled car to service to be repaired for Sunday’s action.
Lauri Joona came close to joining the pair of retirees on stage nine too but held it together after turning in too early on a hairpin, pitching his car and almost rolling. The Finn was able to regroup and became a strong contender in the fight for the lead later that day.
Martin Koci took the SS9 stage win by the narrowest of margins, beating Martins Sesks by just 1.4s, extending his lead over Joona.
Northern Irishman Jon Armstrong responded on the following stage to take his maiden Junior WRC stage win, narrowly denying Koci of top stage honours by three-tenths of a second.
Armstrong and Joona began fighting over the runner up position in the Junior WRC classification from SS11 but also began to gradually chip away at Koci’s lead while Sami Pajari bagged a pair of stage wins following a brake issue to conclude the morning loop.
Stage 13 saw another stage point for Pajari, but Koci came away with the biggest loss as both Joona and Armstrong had slashed their deficit down by 10 seconds with Joona swapping places with Armstrong to take second.
Stage 14 saw a monumental shift in the focus on the fight for victory as Koci hit a rock, damaging his wheel, losing a costly 2 and a half minutes. Joona delivered a sub-par stage time while Armstrong capitalised, taking the stage win while seizing the lead.
Martins Sesks improved pace throughout the day, eventually fighting for stage wins towards the conclusion of Saturday’s stages, with the Latvian finding himself third by the time he returned to service in Zagreb.
At the end of Saturday Armstrong lead the Junior field by 22.5 seconds over Lauri Joona, with Sesks third, Koci fourth and William Creighton Fifth.
Pajari has stormed ahead leading the wolf stage win points with eight to his name so far, Badiu, Koci, and Armstrong are all tied for second with two and Joona fifth with one.
Maciek Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager: “Another exciting and unpredictable day in Junior WRC, what more can I say? Days like today, with such competitive stage action in identical machinery is what makes this Championship so exciting and unique. It’s unfortunate that Martin had a puncture as I believe we were set for a close battle between the top three tomorrow. I’m really interested and excited to see what Jon and Lauri do tomorrow. Jon hasn’t been in this position for a long time and Lauri is out of his comfort zone on asphalt so let’s see how it plays out tomorrow!”
Jon Armstrong, FIA Junior WRC Rally Leader: “Pretty good day for us in the morning the first stage was tricky, we had overheating brake issues but the second stage in the morning and the afternoon seemed really good for us. We had a big gap on the afternoon pass of that stage which propelled us into a really good position overall. We had no major issues apart from brake fade, we had a good day just doing our own thing getting faster and faster. We’re not too far away from anyone on every stage so we just need to keep doing what we’re doing and hope everything will go well.” -
Verschoor sets fastest time: F2 testing Day 2
Barcelona, 24 April 2021: MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor continued his impressive start to life in Formula 2, setting the fastest time of testing so far with a lap of 1:28.280, to put himself at the top of the leaderboard on Day 2 in Barcelona.
The Dutchman was one of the surprise packages of Round 1 with MP, finishing fifth in the second Sprint Race and fourth in the Feature, and has continued in the same vein in the second test of the year, following up yesterday’s top 10 finish with P1.
Ralph Boschung went second fastest with Campos Racing, 0.194s off the leading pace, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich.
MORNING
Starting the day under the sizzling Spanish sun, the morning of Day 2 felt like an opportune time for Qualifying simulations. Sticking on fresh hard tyres, the field initially headed out to get a feel of the circuit, with MP’s Lirim Zendeli setting the early pace at 1:29.440, before being bumped down the order by Boschung, lapping just over two tenths quicker.
The majority of the field switched to medium tyres at around 10.30am, but their runs were briefly halted by a Red Flag after Roy Nissany spun at Turn 3 and found himself stuck in the gravel. Despite the spin, the DAMS still managed the sixth fastest time of the morning.
When the session resumed, Drugovich went top with the first sub 1m 29s time of the test. DAMS’ Marcus Armstrong dove into second shortly after and was backed up ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire. As more qualifying runs came in, the duo slid down the order and finished fourth and seventh.
Wearing fresh mediums, the second MP of Verschoor jumped to first, beating Drugovich’s time by 0.246s with a lap of 1:28.280. Before the session was up, Boschung nipped between the two to steal second, 0.194s off the leading time.
Bent Viscaal is bidding to earn a second round with Trident in Monaco and did his chances no harm with the fifth fastest time. Zendeli finished the morning in eighth, ahead of Day 1’s quickest driver, Christian Lundgaard. Liam Lawson completed the top 10 with Hitech Grand Prix.
AFTERNOON
Gianluca Petecof got things back underway in the afternoon, taking Campos to the top of the timesheet with a tour of 1:30.684 in the early stages.
After a qualifying simulation in the morning, the afternoon was much more focused on longer runs and data gathering, with Drugovich heading into second, 0.153s behind Petecof, with HWA RACELAB’s Matteo Nannini in third.
There were three disruptions in the second session the day, with Alessio Deledda spinning at Turns 12 and 1, while Robert Shwartzman stopped at Turn 3. The Russian was able to get back out there with PREMA, finishing 10th.
Charouz Racing System pairing David Beckmann and Guilherme Samaia went first and second when things got restarted, with times of 1:29.384 and 1:29.510.
Zendeli followed up a positive morning’s work with another strong showing in the afternoon, diving into sixth between Drugovich and Nannini. Lundgaard was eighth fastest in the afternoon with ART Grand Prix, ahead of Boschung.
The final day of testing will commence on Sunday at 9am local time.
2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA TEST, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:28.280 51 2 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:28.474 32 3 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:28.544 45 4 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:28.670 35 5 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:28.675 39 6 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:28.698 36 7 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:28.766 48 8 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:28.801 41 9 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:28.805 49 10 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:28.810 40 11 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:28.872 53 12 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:28.880 50 13 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:28.884 32 14 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:28.929 37 15 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:29.012 34 16 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:29.059 25 17 Marino Sato Trident 1:29.175 32 18 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:29.260 24 19 Guliherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:30.125 49 20 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:30.194 44 21 Matteo Nannini HWA Racelab 1:30.855 27 22 Alessio Deledda HWA Racelab 1:32.721 26 2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA TEST, DAY 2, AFTERNOON SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:29.384 37 2 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:29.510 36 3 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:29.951 35 4 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:30.684 45 5 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:30.837 59 6 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:30.928 33 7 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:31.033 40 8 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:33.557 61 9 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:34.356 41 10 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:34.363 44 11 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:34.497 59 12 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:34.658 49 13 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:34.668 51 14 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:34.711 43 15 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:34.806 59 16 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:34.907 41 17 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:35.052 55 18 Marino Sato Trident 1:35.196 45 19 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:35.270 50 20 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:35.278 39 21 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:35.607 39 22 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:36.174 43 -
Sebastian Ogier leads Rally Croatia set for a dramatic climax: WRC Ro3
The outcome of the first Rally Croatia to count for the FIA World Rally Championship is tightly poised with four stages remaining on Sunday, April 25 and 10.4s separating the fastest three crews.
Defending World Champions Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia hold top spot in their Toyota Yaris WRC, 6.9s ahead of their team-mates Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, who began Saturday’s leg with a 7.7s advantage, are 3.5s down on Evans/Martin and 10.4s adrift of Ogier/Ingrassia after they experienced a morning of frustration on the spectacular Croatian stages.
Under bright blue skies and in ambient temperatures approaching 20 degrees centigrade, Croatia has delivered a thrilling WRC spectacle.
Four drivers have taken their turn to record a fastest stage time while Ogier/Ingrassia and Neuville/Wydaeghe have both been hit by issues. For the flying French pair, a slow puncture on SS13 cost vital time, while a broken brake disc on SS12 made for a “really tricky” run for their Belgian rivals.
They lost their overnight lead on SS9 after the decision was taken to select a combination of hard and soft-compound Pirelli tyres on their Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for the morning loop, when the all-hard option favoured by the rival Toyota squad proved much better suited to the dry conditions and rising temperatures.
It left Neuville/Wydaeghe trailing Ogier/Ingrassia by 19.6s at the Zagreb Fair midday service, although Ogier/Ingrassia’s delay on SS13 gave Neuville/Wydaeghe hope, which increased when they went quickest on the stage and also matched Ogier/Ingrassia for time on SS15.
By winning SS11 and shadowing Ogier on the day-closing SS16, Evans is firmly in the fight for his first victory of 2021.Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja hold fourth overnight with Adrien Fourmaux/Renaud Jamoul fifth and Gus Greensmith/Chris Patterson in sixth. Greensmith/Patterson began SS14 in seventh but climbed one position when Pierre-Louis Loubet/Vincent Landais crashed into a ditch, albeit without injury to either driver or co-driver.
After claiming two outright stage wins during an impressive comeback from their Friday delays, Takamoto Katsuta/Daniel Barritt are in seventh place after 16 stages in their Toyota Yaris WRC.
Craig Breen/Paul Nagle headed into Saturday’s leg in a strong fifth place but a puncture within the first 100 metres of SS9 wrecked their hopes. They are eighth overnight and more than one minute behind Katsuta/Barritt. “I think it’s quite clear I’m far away from where I should be,” a frustrated Breen said at the end of SS16.Adrien Fourmaux has spent leg two making the most of the opportunity handed to him by the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team to step up to the WRC’s top class for the first time. The Frenchman, who gave up a medical career to become a rally driver four years ago, set a brace of top-two stage times alongside Belgian co-driver Renaud Jamoul.
Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen are on course to begin the defence of their FIA WRC2 title with a class win aboard their TRT-run Citroën C3 Rally2. With four stages remaining, the Norwegians are more than one minute clear of Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula after Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov – who took the lead on SS11 – dropped back with a powersteering issue on SS13.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz leads FIA WRC3 after long-term leader Yohan Rossel rolled but continued on SS11. Jon Armstrong, a former esports champion, tops the FIA Junior WRC division ahead of scholarship winner Lauri Joona.
Rally Croatia concludes on Sunday with four more spectacular sealed-surface stages. Up first, at 07:20 local time, is the 25.20-kilometre Bliznec – Pila stage. The event-deciding Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec test, the points-paying Wolf Power Stage, is due to get underway at 13:18.
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ART GP’s Lundgaard tops Day 1 of F2 Testing
Barcelona, 23 April 2021: ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard topped both sessions on Day 1 of testing in Spain, proving peerless around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The quickest time of the two came in the morning session, as the Alpine junior beat out UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich by 0.178s.
India’s Jehan Daruvala of Carlin put in a useful 31 laps in the morning and did 47 more in the afternoon session.
Hitech Grand Prix pairing Jüri Vips and Liam Lawson also managed spots in the top five on the opening day, ahead of MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendeli.
MORNING
Greeted by a hefty layer of fog upon arrival, the teams only sent their drivers out for an initial install lap when the lights went green. Thankfully, the fog quickly cleared and was replaced by bright blue skies, allowing Campos Racing to shoot out and get a feel for the circuit.
MP Motorsport followed suit, but without setting a competitive time, before Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala stopped at Turn 1 and brought out an early Red Flag.
There was a second inside of the opening hour, as PREMA Racing’s Oscar Piastri pulled up at Turn 3, although the Australian did still manage to finish ninth.
With the two cars safely back in their garages, Lundgaard headed out for a tour of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and posted the quickest time of the morning, setting the standard at 1:29.606, ahead of Vips, who notched 1:29.988.
There was then a third stoppage at the midway point when Gianluca Petecof spun his Campos between turns two and three, coming to a halt on the gravel.
In the final hour, Drugovich managed to give the order a bit of a shake-up, barging into second place, 0.178s off Lundgaard, while Lawson leapt up to fourth, ahead of Zendeli.
Guanyu Zhou just missed out on a spot in the top five with UNI-Virtuosi, finishing 0.005s off Zendeli. Marcus Armstrong was seventh with DAMS, ahead of Campos’s Ralph Boschung.
Running the most laps of the morning session, MP’s Richard Verschoor posted 40 overall, whilst also completing the 10th fastest time.
AFTERNOON
MP were the first team to return to the track in the afternoon session, with their duo getting a fast run out of the way early doors. Verschoor charged to the top of the table on his fifth lap, with a tour of 1:30.165, and was backed up by his teammate, Zendeli.
The pair would end up finishing in second and seventh, with Verschoor’s attention switching to longer runs, before Zendeli lost control of his MP and tagged the barrier.
There was another red flag shortly after as Roy Nissany lost control at Turn 9 and touched the wall himself.
It was the familiar name of Lundgaard who bumped Verschoor down to P2, with the Alpine junior heading out for a single push lap, which returned him to P1 with a time of 1:29.827, before shooting back into the garage.
Lawson was briefly behind them, before getting overtaken in the order by 2020 Formula 3 rival Théo Pourchaire, who lunged into third, three tenths off his ART teammate’s quickest time.
Armstrong dove into fourth to drop Lawson to fifth, ahead of Boschung. David Beckmann emerged in eighth with Charouz Racing System, but was almost a second off the leading pace, ahead of Vips and Drugovich.
Lundgaard will aim to kick off Day 2 in similarly strong form, when action gets underway at 9am local time.
2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:29.594 34 2 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:29.772 26 3 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.988 26 4 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.006 26 5 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:30.078 39 6 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:30.083 27 7 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:30.158 26 8 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:30.259 31 9 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:30.425 21 10 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:30.519 40 11 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:30.598 34 12 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:30.674 31 13 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:30.723 26 14 Marino Sato Trident 1:30.727 19 15 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:30.727 33 16 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:30.738 33 17 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:30.882 30 18 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:30.953 30 19 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:30.973 32 20 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:31.305 31 21 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:31.435 27 22 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:37.100 7 2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:29.827 45 2 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:30.165 45 3 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:30.167 42 4 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:30.617 46 5 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.739 41 6 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:30.755 41 7 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:30.767 6 8 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:30.824 31 9 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.956 39 10 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:31.075 43 11 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:31.198 36 12 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:31.350 24 13 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:31.440 23 14 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:31.532 40 15 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:31.575 31 16 Marino Sato Trident 1:34.503 40 17 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:34.629 7 18 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:34.783 51 19 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:35.511 47 20 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:35.787 35 21 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:35.865 46 22 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:36.166 14 -
Thierry Neuville leads Rally Croatia after first 4 Stages: WRC
Zagreb (Croatia), 23 April 2021: Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe lead Rally Croatia following the first four stages after they made a near-perfect start to round three of the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship this morning.
Powered by a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, the Belgians were fastest on stages one, two and four to return to Zagreb Fair for the midday service with an advantage of 7.3 seconds over Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin, last year’s world championship runners-up, in a Toyota Yaris WRC.
Defending World Champions Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia are third, 5.0s behind their team-mates Evans/Martin with Hyundai crews Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja and Craig Breen/Paul Nagle fourth and fifth respectively.
In rising ambient temperatures under clear blue skies, the stunning Croatian landscape provided a spectacular backdrop as the country’s first WRC event began in earnest following Thursday’s shakedown and Ceremonial Start. And there was drama within a handful of kilometeres of the opening stage when points leaders Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen crashed down a bank. The Finns were uninjured, but their Toyota Yaris WRC suffered extensive damage, although it is hoped it can be repaired for Saturday’s second leg.
Ogier/Ingrassia completed the 6.94-kilometre Rude – Plešivica stage down in fifth place and with the left-rear tyre off the rim following a close call at the same right-hander where Rovanperä/Halttunen hit trouble.
After going fastest on SS1 by 2.1s, Neuville/Wydaeghe were quickest again on SS2, this time by a margin of 4.9s. Toyota team-mates Ogier/Ingrassia and Evans/Martin set the identical fastest time on SS3 before Neuville/Wydaeghe restored status quo with the quickest run through SS4.
The top three all selected a combination of Pirelli’s soft and hard-compound tyres for the morning loop, while Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja opted for hard compound tyres only with just one spare on board their Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. The Estonians are fourth overall, 17.8s off the lead.
Co-driven by Renaud Jamoul, Adrien Fourmaux is taking full advantage of his first outing on a WRC event in a World Rally Car. The Frenchman is sixth overall for the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team followed by team-mates Gus Greensmith/Chris Patterson.
Pierre-Louis Loubet/Vincent Landais are in eighth place with Takamoto Katsuta/Daniel Barrritt slipping to ninth after the slid wide on a right-hand turn on SS4 and nudged a bank. The Japanese Toyota driver complete the stage with the left-rear tyre off the rim.
Defending champions Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen (Citroën C3 Rally2) took the lead of WRC2 on SS3 after erstwhile pacesetters Nikolay Gryazin/Konstanin Aleksandrov (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) were delayed after a heavy landing knocked the front-left tyre off the rim.
Gryazin/Aleksandrov lost further time when they nearly went off into a ditch nearing the finish off SS4. But they regained second in class when Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula slid off the road at the same corner and lost more than 30s in their Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene, who were third in WRC2 after the opening stage, stopped on SS2 with a damaged right-rear suspension arm on their Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3 Rally2) leads WRC3 by 9.5s over Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Martin Koči heads the Junior WRC order in a Ford Fiesta Rally4.
This afternoon’s loop begins with a repeat of the 6.94-kilometre Rude – Plešivica stage from 15:01 local time with crews due to return to the Zagreb Fair service park for the end-of-day service at 18:20.
Photo credit: Uros Modlic & Marijan Radovic / Rally Croatia
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MRF Tyres to launch into Italian Gravel with three cars
Cingoli (Italy), 23 April 2021: The first round of the Campionato Italiano Rally Terra (CIRT) or the Italian Rally Championship – Gravel gets underway this weekend with the Rally Adriatico and Team MRF Tyres will be well represented with three cars at the starting line.
Rally Adriatico will be run over nine stages and 64.71km of competitive rally action on Saturday April 24. The rally is staged around Cingoli, in the Macerata region, on Italy’s mid-eastern coastline.
Italian legend, Paolo Andreucci with Francesco Pinelli will lead the charge for Team MRF Tyres in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. The pair had a one-off drive in the opening round of the Italian tarmac championship and moving to gravel will prove to be an exciting prospect.
Simone Campedelli and Gianfrancesco Maria Rappa are also rallying the full CIRT for Team MRF Tyres in a Volkswagen Polo R5. Campedelli and Rappa are starting their full season in the CIRT on the back of a podium in the regional, Rally Della Val d’Orcia which was held in March.
The third car on MRF Tyres is for Tamara Molinaro and Piercarlo Capolongo who will rally a Citroën C3 R5.
Molinaro rallied on MRF Tyres for the first time in 2020, taking the class victory in the Female division and second in the Under 25s.
The trio represents a mixture of youth and experience as Team MRF Tyres gets its 2021 CIRT campaign underway. The Italian Championship is ultra-competitive and will allow MRF Tyres to compete against some of the world’s best drivers while maintaining its aggressive development program.
The crews have undertaken pre-event tests in preparation for the Adriatico Rally.
The rally sees nine stages broken up into three legs of three repeated stages.
Colognola is the first stage of the loop, providing a 5.40km blast. The second stage is Panicali at 5.24km meaning that the crews will have no room for error and must be immediately on the pace. The third stage of the loop is Dei Laghi and is the longest of the three at 10.93km.
Over 90 cars are competing in the Adriatico Rally, with 39 leading Rally2 (R5) cars entered.
The rally will get underway at 7:57 local time or 11:27 if you are in India. It will run throughout the day on Saturday, with the final stage due to commence at 17:35 in Italy or 21:15 in India.
Stay up to date with the rally on Team MRF Tyres Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.u
QuotesPaolo Andreucci, Driver, Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
“We have completed the test in the lead-up to the first round of the CIRT and the Adriatico Rally. We tested the adaptation of the tyres for the compact ground on these beautiful special stages.”
“The stages are very fast and we must be precise with our pace notes and tyre choice. We have several choices for this weekend with MRF Tyres and everyone will have to be careful with their tyre choice.”
Simone Campedelli, Driver, Volkswagen Polo R5
“We will be back in the Italian Gravel Championship this year, a championship I won at the beginning of my career in 2007. I have decided to go back to the Championship as I believe that we can have strong results with MRF Tyres.”
“The Adriatico Rally is one that I have had success with over the years with a lot of podiums. We are ready and we will have done a test before the rally.”
“There are a lot of cars in R5 and it will be difficult. I am looking forward to bring the best result possible for myself and for MRF Tyres.”
Tamara Molinaro, Driver, Citroën C3 R5
“I am very proud to be a part of the MRF Tyres family this year. We worked really well together last year and I am looking forward to this weekend. I will be trying my best to develop my own driving and look to the Ladies Championship.”
“I really can’t wait to get back in the car, the last rally I did was the Tuscan Rally in 2020 (where she finished 1st in Female and 2nd in Under 25 categories) and it has been quite a long wait.”
“I am aiming to close the gap to the top drivers as I continue my own development. This weekend, I am aiming for the best result possible for myself and Team MRF Tyres.”
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FIA WRC Junior championship to kick off in Croatia
The battle to seek out the next shining star of the WRC is just days away as the 2021 FIA Junior WRC Championship is set to kick off on the inaugural WRC Croatia Rally.
- 2021 crews fighting for a career boosting prize package in identical M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally4 cars.
- Junior WRC looking at one of its most competitive seasons in the championship’s 20-year history.
- Crews earn one point for every stage in addition to their classification points.
- Best four rounds out of five count towards the championship with double points available on the final round for crews that have entered at least three events previously.
The 2021 FIA Junior WRC Championship will see eight crews going head-to-head in a fierce fight on some of WRC’s most iconic gravel and asphalt roads. Croatia Rally, despite being an all-asphalt affair, is expected to test drivers of all abilities and experience thanks to an abundance of surface and elevation changes found on the 300 competitive kilometres offer.
This year’s Junior WRC drivers come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and experience. Crucially, they have all proved themselves as winners in Rally4 categories around the world on a variety of surfaces with many having already seen success in the Junior WRC. The 20th year of Junior WRC sees a true melting pot of young talents coming together to persuade the WRC service park that they have what it takes to follow in the footsteps of drivers such as Sebastien Loeb, Sebastien Ogier, Dani Sordo and Elfyn Evans.
Every crew will compete in identical M-Sport Poland-built Fiesta Rally4 machinery, using bespoke Wolf Lubricants, placing an emphasis on driver talent over set-up ability. The Ford Fiesta Rally4 is a proven Rally4 thoroughbred that has over 50 and 150 Rally4 category victories and podiums respectively – all coming in less than a year since its competitive debut in June 2020.
Crews are sure to be kept on their toes too when selecting their Pirelli tyres to equip their Ecoboost-powered Fiesta Rally4 cars with. There is a maximum allowance of 22 tyres (including shakedown) for the Junior WRC crews who can choose from an allocation of 18 Pirelli RA5 (hard), ten Pirelli RA7+ (soft) and eight Pirelli RWB (full wet). The tyre selection will be largely weather dependent but, even in dry conditions, tree-lined or elevated stage conditions could be vastly different to other stages within the same loop providing an exciting storyline to keep track of.
The stages on Croatia Rally should provide some fast-paced and close times with plenty of wide fourth and fifth gear corners balanced with narrow and tricky turns that are the equivalent of a rally driver’s tightrope walk, mis-step and it’s a long way back to service for an early bath.
Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager, said: “We are starting a very special year for the FIA Junior WRC Championship with a hotly contested lineup, there really is no clear favourite for Croatia Rally or even the championship overall. Six out of eight of our starting lineup have previously scored points in Junior WRC with five of those drivers also having stage wins to their names too. Those that haven’t scored points in Junior WRC shouldn’t be ruled out by any means either. All the drivers coming into the championship this year have proved themselves successful in various international and national Rally4 championships. Looking more specifically at Croatia Rally, I actually wish I was behind the wheel for some of these stages. They look properly challenging and I think we’re going to see some really tight battles and close moments on more than one of them with our highly motivated and competitive drivers! I’d like to give a final mention and appreciation to WRC Promoter, FIA and Croatia Rally organisers for putting the event on, I know a lot of hard work has gone on and is going on to make sure Croatia Rally happens.”
45. Martins Sesks / Renars Francis
“The main aim is to enjoy every single second in the car because these kinds of moments are very difficult to find for young drivers. Even if we are able to compete in the rally, we should enjoy every moment. We want to show we are some of the fastest guys in Juniors and a big goal is to be able to progress to WRC2 and WRC in the future. I think a new rally like Croatia equalises the competition so it will be interesting to see what happens.”
46. Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen
“I think we did a really good job in the pre-event test, we found a really good setup for the car and I felt very comfortable. Our pace notes were working very well, and I am really looking forward to the season. We did well in some places last year, so we need to look forward and try to improve this year. I am aiming to push myself to the limits and we will see what happens.”
47. Raul Badiu / Rares Fetean
“If you look back at the calendar, I am in my third year but when you look at the events I have only done seven WRC rounds. It’s my last my year to be eligible for Junior WRC so I think it’s the right time to put my experience into the stages and start collecting results, not only experience. It’s very tough competition, the calendar isn’t looking so bad for us this year though. We are fighting a lot of Scandinavian and Baltic drivers who are very fast on their own territory and have previously had more rounds that they were favourites on. This year we have three asphalt rallies and I think I am more experienced on asphalt than gravel.”
48. Martin Koci / Petr Tesisnky
“To be in the WRC is the dream and the target, I’m not the youngest, but Junior WRC is the best way to get into the WRC and start the ladder. I am super happy to be here, I know my mission, the competition is high but I’m happy about that and coming in with a lot of respect for everybody. Normally I don’t like saying I am coming to win, but of course, we want to do as well as possible while enjoying and learning from mistakes in previous years.”
49. Jon Armstrong / Phil Hall
“It’s great to be back here, it feels like yesterday that we were in Sweden in 2020 having the same training day. I’m really looking forward to getting into recce, they look like great stages here in Croatia and I think recce is going to be crucial to having a good result in the rally. I can’t wait to get back in a rally car either as I haven’t had too much testing with the Fiesta Rally4 which is something I will need to get used to.”
50. William Creighton / Liam Regan
“It’s been a really good experience so far, I’m trying to take in as much as I can. This year is going to be about learning so soaking up as much as I can about what it’s like to be in a WRC Rally. I haven’t set myself any expectations in terms of specific events because I think as soon as you do that, and you don’t reach them you’ve got a problem.”
51. Lauri Joona / Ari Koponen
“I expect a good season and my experience of Rally Sweden is not enough to give me an idea on how the rest of the year will go. I think it’s good for that there are three asphalt rallies which is very difficult, but it helps with my learning. Nobody has experience of this rally, which is good for all, for asphalt need to make sure I’m sensible though. I know how the team works which helps, I need to get more details for sure which will help me be more competitive on asphalt.”
52. Robert Virves / Sander Pruul
“It’s nice to be here and nobody is here this year to get second place, I am here looking to win. The experience on asphalt for me isn’t high, we did two asphalt rallies in Italy as preparation which is all of my asphalt experience. Croatia doesn’t look like an easy -
South India Rally postponed to June 23-25: INRC Round 1
Chennai, 19 April 2021: The South India Rally, a round of the 2021 Indian National Rally Championship, scheduled for April 23-25, has been postponed in the wake of fresh government restrictions due to rising number of Covid-19 virus cases, organisers Madras Motor Sports Club announced here today.
The tentative fresh dates for the event, promoted by Champions Yacht Club, and which doubled up as a round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, are June 25 to 27. The South India Rally had attracted a record 70 entries of which 21 were women crews.
Chairman of the event and MMSC Vice-President Vicky Chandhok said: “Much as the sport is always our priority, we are very concerned about the huge spike in Covid-19 cases in the recent days. With an all-time record of 70 entries of which 21 are women competitors the enthusiasm for the sport has also spiked and is at its peak! But after discussions with promoter Vamcy Merla who had put in massive efforts, we decided to postpone the South India Rally keeping in mind the safety and health of those involved in the event.”
Promoter Vamcy Merla said: “Unfortunately, in the last couple of days, a lot of restrictions have been imposed in many States due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country. I am in total agreement with the decision to postpone, giving due consideration to the safety and health of participants and organizers.
“We have had extensive discussions with everyone concerned or associated with the event, and then decided to postpone the event to June 25-27 in the hope that the situation would have improved by then.”
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Mixed bag of results for AGS Event Duo Akhil Rabindra
Bengaluru, 19 April 2021:The AGS Events Duo comprising Akhil Rabindra, the only Asian participating at the European GT4 Championship this year, and Hugo Conde faced tough tests at Monza, Italy in the European GT4 Championship on Sunday evening (April 18, 2021). The duo finished thirteenth in Silver category in race two at the circuit after having retired in Race 1.
The Indo-french duo driving the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 for AGS Events Racing Team had to retire in Race. Akhil had to take to the steering for race twoto avoid action because of an incident where two cars crashed and stopped in front of him. This happened in front of him and thus resulted in him being pushed back in his position.However given the pace of the car (Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4)which resulted in his team finishing P11 at the qualifying, Akhil still managed to finish 20 laps in 50:34:074hrsthereby finishing 13th in the Silver Category.
“We are not content with Sunday’s result, especially after what we could have achieved on Saturday.Its fortunate that we could not convert our P11 position in the qualifying to better results, but we are confident that we will have better outcomes in the races ahead,” Rabindra stated.He further added, ” Saturday’s crash was quite a big one, and all credit to our team that our car was ready just in time for race two. Though the car was not like Saturday and we didn’t have the same pace for race two but we are confident of us having a great machine that will help us achieve favorable results.”
The European GT4 Series now moves to Circuit Paul Ricard, France for Round 2 of the Championship from April 26 – 28, 2021. Akhil earlier in the European GT4 Series had finished 5th overall and would look forward to better results in the upcoming weekend. The race can be watched LIVE on the YouTube Page of European GT4 Series.
About European GT4 Championship:
The GT4 European Series is a sports car championship created and organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It is a pro/am championship which followed a formula similar to the FIA GT3 European Championship, which was itself derived from the FIA GT Championship which utilized the GT1 and GT2 classes.
GT4 class cars are mostly what can be referred to as track day cars, which are factory-built race cars available to the public. However, custom-built cars based on production models can also be built by teams. All cars are test driven by the FIA and then modified so that they all have near identical performance levels. Once a car has been approved by the FIA, it cannot be modified by the teams, eliminating continual development costs for constructors. All cars run on regulated Pirelli tires to further equalize performance.
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Hamilton charges through to 2nd after a mistake as Verstappen takes facile win
Max Verstappen took an excellent victory in a drama filled Emilia Romagna Grand Prix held at the iconic Imola circuit as Lewis Hamilton recovered to P2 after making a mistake and Lando Norris’s superb drive earned him 3rd position.
London, 19 April 2021: Max Verstappen took his 11th career victory as Lewis Hamilton charged through the field and recovered to P2 and got the fastest lap of the race with Lando Norris completing the podium at Imola. Home favorites Ferrari finished in P4 and P5, Charles Leclerc finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz. McLaren’s new recruit Daniel Ricciardo finished in P6, who admitted he could not match the pace of his younger teammate Norris. Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly finished P7, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll as he received a 5-second post-race penalty for overtaking Gasly illegally. Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10, earning Alpine their first points of the season.
Red Bull’s other driver Sergio Perez had a dismal race as he finished P11, ahead of Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda. Kimi Raikkonen received a 30-second post-race penalty for start infringement which demoted him to P13, ahead of Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi. Sebastian Vettel was classified in P15 but retired two laps from the end due to gearbox issue. Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished in P16 and P17 respectively. Valtteri Bottas and George Russell were involved in big crash as they DNF’d, as did Nicholas Latifi on lap 1.
The heavens opened up 30 min before the race start as it poured down on the track. This meant it would be a wet start. 16 of the 20 drivers chose to start on intermediate tyres whereas, the Haas drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly chose full wet tyres. Verstappen got an excellent start in 2nd gear and jumped Hamilton, who started from pole. Hamilton and Verstappen made slight contact and the Mercedes driver went over high kerbs in turn 2 damaging his front wing endplate. Behind Perez lost P3 to Leclerc as well. On lap 2 the safety car was called out as Latifi and Mazepin came together, taking Latifi out of the race.
At the race restart, Hamilton tried to pull a move around Verstappen but to no avail had to back out and settle in P2. Meanwhile Perez was handed a 10-second time penalty for overtaking under the safety car. Gasly being on the wet tyres was much slower and therefore held up a train of cars. Eventually Norris, Ricciardo, Sainz, Stroll and Bottas made their way through. Gasly got rid of the wet tyres for intermediates on lap 14, emerging 17th in the race.
Team orders were at play at McLaren as Norris was allowed to pass Ricciardo due to the Britain having much stronger pace.Sainz caught up to the struggling McLaren of Ricciardo after making multiple mistakes and going off track.
The track had started to dry up with Vettel being the first one to pit for dry tyres on lap 20. At the front, Red Bull called in Verstappen for dry tyres on lap 27, meanwhile, Hamilton stayed out hoping to overcut the leader. Hamilton had a fast in lap, but due to a slower pitstop than usual he emerged 5-seconds behind the leader. As he tried hunting down Verstappen, in getting past a lapped car, he went onto a wet part at turn 7, slid off track and into the barrier thus, damaging his front wing. He slowly reversed and recovered his car onto the track.
Behind a huge crash happened as Russell in an attempt to overtake Bottas went onto the wet grass and lost control of the car. He collected Bottas and both went into the barrier taking them out of the race. The race was red flagged. This was a blessing for Hamilton as he had pitted and emerged a lap down, with red flag he would be on the lead lap again, in P9.
A Pirelli Graphic The race resumed in the form of rolling start, as Verstappen half spun but maintained the lead before green flag was waived. Both Norris and Ricciardo had changed to soft tyres in a bid to overtake the Ferrari’s early on. That is exactly what happened as Norris got past Leclerc in P2. Meanwhile, Verstappen had started to check out in the lead. Behind, a fast-charging Hamilton was making up positions. By lap 43 he overtook Ricciardo for P5, by lap 50 he was past Sainz for P4, lap 55 he overtook Leclerc for P3 and on lap 60 Hamilton was able to get past Norris for P2, in the process setting the fastest lap of the race and recovering to where he was before his off-track mistake.
Verstappen finished 22 seconds in the lead as he had a near perfect race. It means he is now just one point behind championship leader Hamilton. This was another close race with the honours going to Red Bull this time.
Red Bull did not have the dominant pace like they showed in Bahrain as Mercedes were much closer. But a near perfect execution of the race enabled them to take victory. Perez had a disappointing race as he spun and dropped out of the points. Red Bull will be hoping to have the support of the second car next time around. Mercedes showed improvement compared to Bahrain with drivers having much more confidence in the W12. It is evident from Hamilton’s pole position on Saturday. Mercedes has also worked on the drivability of the engine which has helped in better torque distribution and a more stable rear end.
McLaren had the pace to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull in one lap pace as evident from Norris’s lap in Q3 (which was deleted due to track limits violation). Race pace wise they are still behind the top 2 but look like the class of the midfield, ahead of rivals Ferrari. Ferrari has considerably improved compared to 2020 with Leclerc qualifying and fighting for podium on merit rather than being a one-off chance. AlphaTauri again impressed in qualifying but failed to capitalise in the race due to wrong strategy. They have showed good pace but remains to be seen if they can consistently challenge McLaren and Ferrari over the whole season.
Aston Martin have struggled to adapt to the new regulations as they argue that the low rake cars were hit harder than the high rake cars. They have taken the subject matter over to the FIA. On pace terms they seem slower than AlphaTauri or Ferrari but have managed points through Stroll in both the races. Alpine too, seem to be struggling as they were on the fringes of points. Their car has been unable to challenge the upper midfield teams so far even though they introduced an extensive aerodynamic package at Imola. It remains to be seen if produces the expected performance.
Both Alfa Romeo and Williams had positive race weekend as they had pace to run in the top 10. Raikkonen finished in the points but the post-race time penalty meant he scored nil. For Williams it was a positive weekend in that both cars had the pace to finish in the points. The negative was that either of them failed to finish the race. Haas had another dismal weekend, but it is to be expected a both the rookie drivers are getting up to speed and their car is underdeveloped compared to the rest of the field.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P7: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P8: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P11: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P12: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P13: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P14: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P15: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P16: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P18: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) Note – Tsunoda failed to set a qualifying time within the Q1 107% requirement, so races at stewards’ discretion. Penalised five places for an unscheduled gearbox change and required to start from the back of the grid for use of additional power unit elements.
