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Stopping Quartararo: the contenders get ready for Jerez
The Frenchman is on a charge and his rivals will be delighted to look back at his domination at the venue last season. But this is 2021, and nothing is guaranteed…
Jerez, 26 April 2021: Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is a man on a mission. After not even starting the season with a podium, the Frenchman regrouped and refocused for round two, taking a resounding victory in the Doha GP before in Portimão we saw more of the same. And the same was not simply the fastest man on Sunday, but also a tactical masterclass in when and where to attack, and whom, before deciding where to pull that final pin. His two wins rocket El Diablo to the top of the standings and very much make him the man to beat. The next track on the calendar is one at which he dominated twice last year too, and although it was in the heat of July, that makes good reading for him. So who’s going to stop Quartararo’s roll?
The closest to doing so in Portugal was Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), and the Italian did it from the fourth row of the grid. Had he not fallen foul of Yellow Flags in qualifying, where an electrifying new lap record got scrubbed off, could he have challenged? It’s a tall order but Pecco has taken a big step forward so far this season. Jerez, however, hasn’t been the kindest to Ducati of late… although that means another podium or challenge at the front would be an even bigger statement. His fellow Borgo Panigale machines of teammate Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) will also want a lot from Andalucia, as both look to bounce back quickly from crashes, for Zarco one that saw him lose the Championship lead.
Bouncing back is also the mission for Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). After a masterclass in the season opener, Viñales just lost out in Doha and then a difficult qualifying – with two laps scrubbed for the most infinitesimal track limit infractions – in Portugal put him on the back foot. Despite a bad start and getting swallowed by the pack, however, he stays third overall with 11th place doing enough to keep Zarco at bay. Back on home turf, reset and reloaded, can Viñales unleash the pace he showed in round one and take the fight back to his teammate? And what about Petronas Yamaha SRT?
It’s fair to say the first two rounds of the season weren’t what the grid’s newest Independent Team had been expecting, with both Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi seeming out of position for team and rider. Morbidelli put that to rights in Portugal as he was top Independent Team rider and only just off the podium in fourth, so can he keep that rolling in Jerez? And can the ‘Doctor’, back on familiar turf and with more track time, bounce back from a tough few first races of the season?
Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), meanwhile, was back on the podium last time out. And last year, that sparked his run for the crown. However, the reigning Champion said the venues so far and a few more aren’t their ideal circuits for starting to go on a similar run just yet, so will it be ‘just’ a podium challenge again? Or more? Teammate Alex Rins will be eager to right wrongs from last time out too after a stunner in Portimão was cut short by a crash out of second, so could he stay in with Quartararo this time around?
Jerez is also good news for a few others on the grid, and one must be Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Last year as a rookie the results didn’t come, but some of the South African’s FP4 pace was an eyebrow raiser… and that was first time out. Now, his sophomore season started at a tough track for KTM and a venue he’d never raced – the MotoGP™ class didn’t compete in Qatar last year – and then Portimão, where he took an impressive and hard-fought fifth that raised the eyebrows of the podium finishers. Jerez is somewhere he has more experience and a few good memories to boot, having won in Moto3™ from the very back of the grid. Teammate Miguel Oliveira, after a tougher home race this time round, will also be focused on taking the Austrian factory back to the front as the pendulum he’d had since round one starts to swing back towards the other side of the garage.
There is, of course, an elephant in the room in the shape of eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). His return in Portugal was a successful one as he took seventh, and he was understandably emotional after completing his first race since Valencia 2019. More time has passed since lights out on the Algarve for Marquez to continue his recovery, and now it’s Jerez he’s facing down. Scene of his crash, but also scene of previous glory as well as much more familiar turf. What can he do? And can Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) take a step forward as he fends off Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in the Honda battle? There’s also test rider Stefan Bradl back on track doing a wildcard for HRC in Jerez, so he’ll be an interesting benchmark as ever.
Speaking of benchmarks, Portugal saw Aprilia continue to home in on a good few. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) put in another impressive ride to equal the Noale factory’s best result in MotoGP™ in sixth, and he’ll want to continue his roll to underline the steps forward made by the nearly all-new package. After a certain Andrea Dovizioso took the RS-GP for a spin recently at the very same Jerez too, was there any feedback from Dovi to Noale, or was it a taster for rider more than a data-gathering exercise?
In the battle of the Moto2™ graduate rookies, meanwhile, Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) is now back ahead of Doha podium man Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) as the latter crashed on Saturday in Portugal and is now sidelined until at least Mugello. He’ll be replaced by Tito Rabat, and Bastianini will be looking to gain a little more ground on Luca Marini (Sky VR46 Avintia) too. The Beast has been consistent, but Marini did seriously impress in Free Practice in Portugal so it’s starting to come together.
And so we arrive in Jerez, with one man on a roll and a host of contenders looking to stop him in his tracks. The Gran Premio Red Bull de España is always a classic and 2021 will be no different, with so many storylines already emerging there’s almost too much to take in. But try your best, with lights out for the MotoGP™ class set for 14:00 (GMT +2) on Sunday the 2nd of May!MotoGP Championship top five:
1 Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha – 61
2 Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team – Ducati – 46
3 Maverick Viñales – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha – 41
4 Johann Zarco* – Pramac Racing – Ducati – 40
5 Joan Mir – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki – 38
*Independent Team rider -
Campdelli-Rappa take podium for MRF Tyres: Italian Gravel Rally
26 April 2021: Team MRF Tyres has finished on the podium at Rally Adriatico with Simone Campedelli and Gianfrancesco Rappa taking the third spot in the opening round of the Italian Rally Championship – Gravel.
The Campionato Italiano Rally Terra (CIRT) which is the Italian Rally Championship – Gravel started its season at Rally Adriatico and it was the first round of the season for Team MRF Tyres for Campedelli/Rappa, Paolo Andreucci/Francesco Pinelli and Tamara Molinaro/Piercarlo Capalongo.
For Campedelli/Rappa, it was a great start to the season. They started the nine-stage, 64.71km event with a solid run to sixth on the first stage.
They were consistent on MRF Tyres throughout the event and were able to climb their way up the order. By the end of SS4, they had taken fourth place and on SS5, they were able to climb up to third.
They would hold their podium position for the rest of the rally, managing the gap to second and to fourth in the Volkswagen Polo R5.
By the end of the rally, they finished the rally with an average pace of 89.9km/h, showing a great full-season debut for MRF Tyres in the Championship.
Unfortunately for Andreucci/Pinelli, their rally would end on SS1 with a crash putting damaging their Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo. Fortunately, the crew was not injured but their competitive action will have to wait until the second round.
Molinaro/Capalongo showed good pace through the rally to take second in the Under 25 age category, first in the female category and 11th overall.
Their fight would be intense throughout the rally and would climb through the field to reach the top 10 throughout the day in the CIRT. The competition was tough with tight gaps throughout the field. After a tough fight, they would finish 11th and, importantly achieve their goals of taking top spots in the Under 24 and Female categories.
This result helps prove the development process for Team MRF Tyres and the intense program that has been undertaken over the past year and that will happen throughout 2021.
The team is committed to the CIRT and the FIA European Rally Championship (FIAERC). The FIAERC is due to get underway with Rally Poland in July, with the start of the series being delayed due to Covid.
The second round of the CIRT will take place on the island of Sargenda and will coincide with the World Rally Championship round from 3-4 June.
Quotes:
Simone Campedelli: 3rd. Volkswagen Polo R5
“We tried everything. We know where we have to work now. We know where we are really competitive and where we need to do work.”“We have started two rallies with Team MRF Tyres and now have two podiums. It is a great start.”
“I am looking forward to the next one! Thanks to the team at MRF Tyres for their hard work in getting us to this great result.”
Tamara Molinaro: 11th. Citroën C3 R5
“It was an amazing weekend at Rally Adriatico, I really enjoyed it! We finished P11 and we missed out P9 for 3.5 seconds as on the second stage of the loop we kept losing time, and we need to analyse the reasons behind it.”“The tyres did a mega job this weekend, I felt super confident in pushing and thanks to this we were able to close the gap with the top boys so now it’s time to work even harder and maybe one day fight for a podium!! Glad Simone and Gianfranco managed to get a podium showing the potential of MRF Tyres.”
“We bring home a P6 in CIRT Championship, we lead U25 and female categories.”
Paolo Andreucci, DNF. Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo
“I regret going off the road. I’m sorry for MRF Tires, for the H Sport team and for all our partners.“Unfortunately, immediately after a bump I lost the car and ended up in the embankment.”
“Over the course of the Shakedown we had had good times and also in the first stage, according to our splits. It is too bad because our championship starts with a DNF. Now we will have to work hard to recover the gap to our rivals
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Ogier, Ingrassia win Rally Croatia: WRC Round 3
Zagreb (Croatia), 25 April 2021: Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia made history this afternoon by winning the first Rally Croatia to count for the FIA World Rally Championship.
In a dramatic finish to the Wolf Power Stage, the Toyota duo beat their team-mates Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin by 0.6s with Hyundai-powered Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe just 8.1s behind the winners after three days of spectacular action on stunning countryside roads close to the Croatian capital Zagreb.
Despite nursing damage to the right side of their Yaris WRC following a road traffic accident on the liaison section heading to SS17, overnight leaders Ogier/Ingrassia remained in contention for victory starting the Wolf Power Stage, which they began 3.9s behind Evans/Martin.
Although the French pair made a minor error, they went quickest through the run to lay down the gauntlet for Evans/Martin. The Britons appeared to have done just enough until they slid wide on a right-hander within sight of the charge to the finish. Starved of vital traction as they mounted an earth bank, the seconds lost meant they completed the stage 4.5s slower than Ogier/Ingrassia to lose the rally by 0.6s.
“It looks like it really went close to the last metres,” said Ogier, who moves to the top of the WRC standings by eight points. “Maybe the last mistake from Elfyn hand us the win but over the weekend the whole team has done an amazing job. Of course, the emotion for us now is super-strong. It’s been a crazy rollercoaster for us this weekend between the puncture and the issue this morning obviously. I was glad to still be in the race honestly. Now, just to catch this is, I guess, why we do this sport: for this emotion. I said ‘sorry’ to Elfyn because he’s done an amazing job as well. He was very close to do the same this weekend. But I’m very happy for the whole team; Toyota and the car have been amazing this weekend. That’s for you guys: a lot of points. Congrats to all of you.”
Evans said: “That last corner, I just got onto the loose and completely missed the next corner so for sure, it wasn’t all lost there. But I say one second was gone. That’s a shame but it was a big fight all weekend and hats off to Seb for that last stage. Next time.”
After completing the Croatia Rally podium in third following his fightback through Saturday afternoon, Neuville said: “I pushed very hard but I overshoot a junction in the stage so I lost easily three seconds. But we have tried, we have tried our best. I was absolutely on the limit of the car all the time, trying to enjoy, which we obviously did. Martijn did a good job, it wasn’t easy for the co-drivers. But we are happy to be here.”
Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja finished fourth for Hyundai, one place ahead of Adrien Fourmaux/Renaud Jamoul in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC.
It was a remarkable result for Frenchman Fourmaux, who was competing in a World Rally Car in the WRC for the first time in only his fourth season of rallying. “I’m really, really happy about our weekend, just a bit disappointed for one thing that the rally is finished now,” said Fourmaux. “It was just perfect, I can only say thank you M-Sport and Red Bull for all the opportunity and also the FFSA. They still believe in me after four years. It was an incredible weekend for us. I think we had an amazing pace in some stages… What a weekend. I don’t know [when we will be back in the car]. You will have to ask M-Sport for that.”
Takamoto Katsuta/Daniel Barritt, who won two stages on Saturday, took sixth place for the third round of the WRC running followed by Gus Greensmith/Chris Patterson, who were slowed by a hydraulic system issue and a brake problem during the morning runs.
Craig Breen/Paul Nagle, who finished eighth, made up for a frustrating event by going second fastest on the Wolf Power Stage. “Yesterday morning was such a disappointment, 100 metres into the day and already it was game over,” said Breen. “It was difficult to really go at 150 per cent on those tricky stages but, okay, I enjoyed it and I learned a lot. Hopefully we have a lot of food for thought. Hopefully it will not be too long [that I am back in a World Rally Car].”
Østberg/Eriksen begin WRC2 title defence with victory
Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen overcame brake issues in their Citroën C3 Rally2 to claim the FIA WRC2 win ahead of Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula in ninth overall. Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov were in the podium fight but crashed into retirement on SS19.
“It was one of the worst days I’ve had in a rally car,” said Østberg. “To do a day like today with no brakes. I can’t believe I’m at the end. So many times I couldn’t stop the car and I just had to roll and be really careful. I have no idea why we have this issue, but we forget about that now. We have won the first rally this year and of course we are very happy with that.”
Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jon Armstrong took FIA WRC3 and Junior WRC honours respectively.
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“It has been a real rollercoaster of emotions this weekend. The most important thing is that everyone is safe after what happened this morning on the road section; this was my main concern when it happened. I also thought my rally could be over, but the car was not too badly damaged and we could carry on. I’m not sure I believed it was possible to still win after everything that happened, but I think everybody knows that I never give up and I tried to keep fighting until the end. I feel for Elfyn who did a good job this weekend and was especially strong this morning. But we had good pace this weekend and just had some issues that slowed us down at times. It’s nice to share the podium in another one-two for the team.”Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“To come second is never the way you want to finish when you go into the last stage with the lead. Obviously, Seb had a very, very strong last stage and unfortunately for us we made an error on what was basically the last proper corner. It’s frustrating but at the same time it’s a solid result, and a very good result for the team. They have done a great job to give both Seb and I a fantastic car this weekend. We fought tooth and nail all the way through and it was good fun.”FINAL CLASSIFICATION, CROATIA RALLY
1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2h51m22.9s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota Yaris WRC) +0.6s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +8.1s
4 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m25.1s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Renaud Jamoul (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3m09.7s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Dan Barritt (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3m31.8s
7 Gus Greensmith/Chris Patterson (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3m58.8s
8 Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +4m28.2s
9 Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen (Citroën C3 Rally2) +10m00.8s
10 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +10m29.3s
Retired Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota Yaris WRC) -
Durgovich tops 1st session; Jehan puts in 78 laps: Formula 2 Test
Barcelona, 25 April 2021: UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich was the only driver to break the 1m 28s barrier in the second Formula 2 test of the season at Barcelona, setting the time in the morning to cap off a fine three-day stint in Spain for the Brazilian.
The 20-year-old finished 0.190s ahead of Round 1 winner Oscar Piastri with PREMA Racing, while ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard ran third.
MORNING
The final morning in Barcelona wasn’t quite as bright as the second day, with dark clouds hanging over the circuit, and even a spot of rain towards the end of the first session.
The field all headed out at the earliest opportunity and got a feel for the tarmac, before switching to their final set of medium Pirellis around the hour mark.
There was a brief stoppage as HWA RACELAB’s Alessio Deledda spun at the first turn and brought out a red flag, but action soon resumed, with Drugovich taking control. The Virtuosi racer broke the 1m 28s barrier for the first time in Barcelona, lapping at 1:27.945 once he had made the switch to mediums.
Lundgaard and MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendeli were the next to follow suit, undertaking a qualifying simulation of their own, but neither could quite nail all three sectors. Lundgaard lost out in the first and Zendeli in the third, putting them P2 and P4.
PREMA sent Piastri out on fresh mediums and the Australian driver delivered the second fastest time of the morning to push Lundgaard down to P3, lapping just 0.190s off Drugovich. Hitech also sent their Red Bull junior pairing, Liam Lawson and Jüri Vips, out there on the same tyres, with the duo nestling into fourth and fifth.
Lundgaard’s ART teammate Théo Pourchaire impressed with the sixth quickest tour of the morning, only five tenths off the leading pace. Robert Shwartzman took seventh in the second PREMA, ahead of Bent Viscaal and Zendeli, who had fallen to P9.
The second Virtuosi completed the top 10, with Guanyu Zhou running ninth, 0.810s off his teammate. There was a slightly premature end to the session, as Carlin Racing’s Jehan Daruvala came to a halt at Turn 11 in the final minute.
AFTERNOON
The sun returned for the final afternoon of the Barcelona test, just in time for a series of long-runs, with HWA RACELAB duo Matteo Nannini and Deledda setting the benchmark times, leading the charts with 1:30.346 and 1:32.183.
There was a brief stoppage in the opening hour as Lawson tagged the wall at Turn 5. The Kiwi did manage to get back out there, but then came to a halt between Turns 8 and 9 with 15 minutes to go. Despite the stoppages, the Hitech racer still managed to set the ninth fastest time of the final stint.
There was also a third Red Flag of the afternoon for Verschoor, who stopped at the start of Turn 7.
When action resumed, Trident pairing Viscaal and Marino Sato started to climb the leaderboard, firing into third and fourth, before improving to second and third, pushing Deledda down to P4.
Viscaal continued to improve and leapfrogged Nannini in the final hour, with a tour of 1:30.280.
DAMS duo Marcus Armstrong and Roy Nissany slid into fifth and seventh, either side of Zendeli. Shwartzman was behind them in eighth, with the Russian’s PREMA teammate, Piastri, two places further back in 10th.
Drugovich will aim to carry his form over into the second round of the season at Monaco, which takes place in just under a month, 20-22 May.
2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA TEST, DAY 3, MORNING SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:27.945 21 2 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:28.105 23 3 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:28.285 43 4 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:28.422 39 5 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:28.433 25 6 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:28.484 44 7 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:28.491 31 8 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:28.736 38 9 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:28.737 35 10 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:28.755 24 11 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:28.906 33 12 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:28.972 35 13 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:28.973 29 14 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:28.992 21 15 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:28.993 36 16 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:29.032 35 17 Marino Sato Trident 1:29.182 51 18 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:29.678 31 19 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:29.744 38 20 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:30.166 36 21 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:32.096 37 22 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB – – 6 2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA TEST, DAY 3, AFTERNOON SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:30.280 30 2 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:30.346 59 3 Marino Sato Trident 1:30.943 22 4 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:32.183 55 5 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:33.199 44 6 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:33.271 47 7 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:33.529 55 8 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:33.572 50 9 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:33.782 24 10 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:33.816 57 11 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:34.308 49 12 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:34.502 57 13 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:34.515 43 14 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:34.540 37 15 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:34.693 43 16 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:34.709 45 17 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:34.883 45 18 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:35.075 44 19 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:35.088 54 20 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:35.106 50 21 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:35.120 44 22 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:35.310 60 -
Nyck de Vries clinches his 2nd victory: Formula E
Valencia, 25 April 2021: Nyck de Vries (Mercedes-EQ) survived a tough Valencia E-Prix on Saturday (24 April) to clinch the second victory of his ABB FIA Formula E World Championship career, with the result vaulting him back to the top of the title chase – as many drivers ran out of energy in the final minutes.
De Vries started the race down in seventh position due to a five-place grid drop following an accident in Rome, but the Dutchman benefitted from an early contretemps between André Lotterer (TAG Heuer Porsche), Norman Nato (ROKiT Venturi Racing) and Sébastien Buemi (Nissan e.dams) that removed the Swiss driver from contention and earned the German a drive-through penalty.
That elevated de Vries to fourth and prompted the safety car intervention. At the re-start, the 26-year-old wasted no time at all in scything his way artfully past Alex Lynn (Mahindra Racing) and Maximilian Günther (BMW i Andretti Motorsport) to move into second behind leader António Félix da Costa (DS TECHEETAH).
The Mercedes man continued to shadow the defending champion from that point on, but whilst further neutralisations would repeatedly cancel out da Costa’s advantage, still the Portuguese ace appeared to have proceedings under control as he zeroed in on his first win of the 2020/21 campaign.
Unfortunately, da Costa and many others ran out of energy in the final minutes. Having carefully conserved his own energy, de Vries had no such concerns, and he gratefully inherited the lead to cement his second success of the season.
Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Nico Müller started the E-Prix all the way back in 22nd position, then had an eventful race but by dint of saving sufficient energy, he held on to the chequered flag in second place – the first podium finish of his Formula E career.
Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-EQ) was the man to beat in qualifying, but a tyre rule infringement subsequently saw him demoted from the front to the rear of the grid. He had risen as high as 12th prior to incurring a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Müller, but like his Dragon rival, he benefitted from a strong energy management to pick up a podium.
Nick Cassidy wound up fourth in the final reckoning to secure the strongest result of his Formula E career. Both Envision Virgin Racing cars looked particularly racy in the closing stages as they battled forward in tandem, with stablemate Robin Frijns being classified sixth from a lowly 15th on the grid, keeping the Dutchman’s championship challenge very much alive.
René Rast (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) split the two Virgin drivers in fifth, with former champion Lucas Di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler), Jake Dennis (BMW i Andretti Motorsport) and Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) completing the points-scorers.
With five rounds of the campaign now in the books, a Jaguar one-two has been replaced by a Mercedes one-two at the summit of the standings, with de Vries leading Vandoorne by nine points. The second leg of the Valencia E-Prix will get underway at 14:00 CET tomorrow (Sunday, 25 April).
Nyck de Vries, Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team
“What a race! To be honest, I’m even happier today than when I won my first race in Diriyah, especially with this victory coming as such a surprise. After the really tough race weekend in Rome and the five-place grid penalty for this race, I definitely wasn’t expecting it. But it’s a fantastic way for me to bounce back. Many thanks to the whole team, who executed the strategy perfectly today, and of course to Stoffel, who fought his way from the back of the field to the front. Today has turned to be a simply fabulous day for our team.”
Nico Müller, DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT
“‘I was at the back of the grid when the restart began and I couldn’t believe the numbers. I tried to reassure myself and checked all data with my engineers. I was happier and happier as I kept climbing one position after the other. I couldn’t think of a better way to reward the team from their hard work. The result is definitely a positive surprise. Qualifying wasn’t great for us, but we managed to turn it around during the race. This is what makes Formula E so unique, its unpredictability!”
Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team
“I’m really surprised to have finished the race on the podium. The race was incredibly intense, and so much happened today. First, I was on pole, then all my qualifying times were cancelled and I had to start from last on the grid. In the race itself, I had contact, went through the gravel and had to conserve energy towards the end. Our pace was good, and our strategy proved to be the right one. The laps after the final safety car restart were crazy. I was overtaking cars left and right that had run out of energy. But that’s what is so special about Formula E – one moment you’re down, the next you’re on the podium. You should never give up. Congratulations to Nyck on his win and the whole team on this double podium. We have been strong in the last few races, and that’s the way we have to carry on.”
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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
