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Tag: Ole Christian Veiby
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Neuville snatches dramatic win over Ogier to extend WRC title lead
Thierry Neuville reacts after scoring a sensational win over Sebastien Ogier in the Rally Italia Sardegna. Photo: WRC Alghero, 10 June 2018: Thierry Neuville snatched a thrilling Rally Italia Sardegna victory on Sunday afternoon after edging WRC title rival Sebastien Ogier in an electrifying shootout in the final speed test. He trailed Ogier by 0.8sec ahead of the 6.96 kms test, but delivered a daredevil drive in his Hyundai i20 to overhaul the Frenchman and claim his third win of the season by 0.7sec. Neuville extended his championship lead over Ogier to 27 points.
Esapekka Lappi finished third in a Toyota Yaris, a further 1min 51.3sec behind. The results remain provisional after a bizarre incident at the finish of the penultimate stage when Ogier hurriedly departed in his Ford Fiesta without collecting his time card. It was later delivered to him by Ott Tänak. It was a breach of regulations which prohibit the crew receiving items from a third party.After investigating the issue, stewards removed the 22 points Ogier and Ingrassia gained from the rally and the 18 earned by their M-Sport Ford team. The penalty was suspended, meaning it will only be applied if the pair repeat the offence before the end of the season. They were also fined 10,000 Euros. The decision means Ogier remains 27 points adrift of Neuville with six rounds remaining.
Ingrassia admitted his mistake at the hearing. He said they left the stage finish without checking the time card had been returned by marshals and when he realised the error, it was too late to return to the finish line by car or on foot. Stewards accepted it was a genuine mistake which had no effect on the performance of their Ford Fiesta.Neuville won the final live TV Power Stage to claim five bonus points. Ogier took four points for second with Ott Tänak scoring three in third in a Yaris. Andreas Mikkelsen and Elfyn Evans took two and one point respectively.
It was the third smallest winning margin in the WRC’s 45-year history, matching Neuville’s dramatic success in Argentina last year when he performed a similar snatch and grab on Elfyn Evans.
The Belgian started the sun-kissed short final leg along Sardinia’s north-west coast 3.9sec adrift of Ogier. He won the opening three tests before both drivers threw caution to the wind in the finale. Both made mistakes on the dusty, rocky tracks but Neuville emerged on top.
“I gave it everything, it was a really great fight and such a small difference at the end,” he said. “We needed to make a decision at the start of the last stage and our decision was to go for the win. We believed strongly and pushed hard.”
Ogier was far from downhearted. “We lost one battle but definitely not the war. It’s not the time to panic. I tried everything I could today but I was always losing a few tenths here and there,” he said.
Kopecky takes third WRC 2 win of the season
Jan Kopecky on a high after enjoying a comfortable win in WRC 2, his third of the season. Photo: WRC A clean run through the final day of the rally enabled Jan Kopecky to seal his third WRC 2 win of the year by more than three minutes. After Stéphane Lefebvre’s retirement on Saturday, the Skoda Motorsport driver knew all he had to do was clear Sunday’s four stages cleanly to claim victory, and that is exactly what he did. He kept his Fabia R5 out of trouble on the rocky and rutted roads to win by 3m 02.6sec.
Twenty-five points for victory keeps Kopecky second in the drivers’ standings, behind team-mate Pontus Tidemand. But with the Swede not participating in Italy, the gap between them slims to 18 points.
“The feeling is really nice because the Czech fans are everywhere here,” Kopecký explained. “The rally didn’t start completely perfect, but we’ve been fast the rest of the weekend and there were no mistakes.”
Ole Christian Veiby…..brilliant run. Photo: WRC Ole Christian Veiby secured runner-up spot in the second Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5. The Norwegian claimed a hat-trick of stage wins to add to his six from Saturday as he overhauled Hyundai i20 driver Nicolas Ciamin on the rally’s penultimate stage.
Ciamin claimed the final podium spot, deciding to focus on bringing the car home in one piece as the gravel tracks got rougher on the second run and rocks were pulled onto the racing line.
Pierre-Louis Loubet was one of the drivers caught out by the rough conditions in his i20 R5, he lost more than two minutes on the second run of the 14.06km Cala Flumini stage. That dropped him from fourth to sixth as Fabio Andolfi and Lukasz Pieniazek both squeezed their Skodas into the top five, despite a stall for the latter on the same stage.
Loubet’s woes were compounded when he was forced to retire at final control. That promoted Benito Guerra to sixth after his retirement yesterday. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Lefebvre rounded out the finishers – the Frenchman showing strong pace in his Citroën C3 R5 by claiming fastest WRC 2 time in the Sassari-Argentiera Live TV Power Stage.
Toyota development driver Takamoto Katsuta retired on SS17 with a broken driveshaft in his Ford Fiesta R5, while Simone Tempestini was unable to restart after mechanical issues with his Citroën on Saturday.
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Tidemand eyeing repeat win in Argentina and take WRC 2 championship lead
Pontus Tidemand seeking a repeat win in Argentina. Photo: SKODA AUTO Mladá Boleslav, 24 April 2018: With a repetition of their last year’s win at the upcoming Rally Argentina (26 – 29 April), reigning WRC 2 Champions Pontus Tidemand and Jonas Andersson (SWE/SWE) could move into the championship lead again ahead of their SKODA Motorsport team-mates Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler (CZE/CZE) who won two of the four rounds so far.
Kalle Rovanperä, the 17-year old ŠKODA junior from Finland, is the youngest driver in the Rally Argentina entry list and together with co-driver Jonne Halttunen (FIN) proved his speed on the gravel tracks of the recent Rally Mexico. Norwegians Ole Christian Veiby and Stig Rune Skjaermœn, another duo of ŠKODA juniors, will contest Rally Argentina without being registered for WRC 2 championship points.
Rally Argentina, fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, will see ŠKODA Motorsport competing with Tidemand and Rovanperä. One year ago, Tidemand achieved a dominant win in Argentina for the Czech brand in the WRC 2 category.
Kalle Rovanpera. Photo: SKODA AUTO On the other hand, Rovanperä and Veiby are newcomers to Rally Argentina. Veiby finished fourth at the recent Tour de Corse. In Argentina, he is not registered to score points for the WRC 2 championship.
ŠKODA Motorsport boss Michal Hrabánek says: “So far, the 2018 Motorsport season is running very well for ŠKODA. After winning in Monte Carlo, Mexico and Corsica we have a double lead in the WRC 2 championship standings. And the development program for our young drivers runs perfect as well. Kalle and OC have shown great performances on World Championship level.
“Juuso Nordgren made a good impression finishing on the podium with an excellent third place at the last round of the Czech Championship. We will see him during the 2018 season on selected events including some of WRC 2.”
A strong pillar of the ŠKODA motorsport programme is the activity with customer teams. The ŠKODA FABIA R5 is currently the most successful car in its category and will do its best to keep its position after getting a recent engine upgrade.
“We’re proud, that with no fewer than seven ŠKODA FABIA R5 in Argentina. We’re the strongest brand in WRC 2 and RC 2 category there. It absolutely proves that our strategy is working. With the presence of our works team we demonstrate the attractiveness and competitiveness of our rally car,” says Hrabánek.
In Argentina, around 360 Kms over 18 special stages, ranging from the Argentine prairie to altitudes of more than 2,000 metres, sandy tracks across flatlands and rutted mule trails high in the mountains, are waiting for the crews. Demanding tracks in the foothills of the Andes near Cordoba are quite similar to those of Rally Mexico.
The two ŠKODA FABIA R5, the one that carried Tidemand to victory in Mexico and Rovanperä’s car, were transported directly from Mexico to Cordoba. To a certain extent, they are already “acclimatised” to the Argentine environment.
The Rally Argentina starts on the evening of Thursday, 26 April, with a spectacular show stage close to the service park in Villa Carlos Paz. The winner is expected on the podium at the shores of Lake San Roque on Sunday, 29 April.
SKODA AUTO Press Release
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Gill unleashes fireworks and the crowd erupts into a thunderous applause: Coffee Day India Rally
Gaurav Gill weaves his magic to thrill the crowd at the Amber Valley School on Friday. Image by Anand Philar Chikkamagaluru, 24 November 2017: With a deep penchant for raw speed, Gaurav Gill has proved beyond doubt that he is the Master of the Game. Considered as the best rally driver India has ever produced, Gaurav Gill, the defending champion and the current leader of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, set the tone for the sixth and final round at the Amber Valley School here on Friday.
He shook the earth and raised the dust, literally, and the 10,000-odd joyous crowd (approximate estimates) loved every second and every inch of it, and erupted into a thunderous applause. The man-made dirt track sprang to life and the crowd stood up in awe. Be it the speed or the drifting moves, the corners and the hand-brake manoeuvres, the daring and passionate champion provided seat-edged thrills in the Super Special Stage which is fashioned to provide the die-hard fan a real close-up treat. And Mr Gaurav Gill did not disappoint them today!
It lasted just, 2 minutes and 17.7 seconds, but with the start order being in reverse direction, the 38 INRC cars had to go through their laps before the faster APRC cars, six of them, arrived. But the crowd which gathered much before the scheduled 1.30pm had their fill. And the hours of wait, for over three hours, was worth the while, as Gill’s teammate Ole Christian Veiby clocked a blistering 2:17.9 and the crowd cheered him all the way. And it was, as if he is laying a red-carpet for his teammate, to take over the job of entertaining the fans. And then came the king of Indian motorsports, who unleashed his magic and the fireworks in ample measure. Then the ground was covered in thick, brown dust, and when it settled down, it was all over.
But those two minutes showcased THE MAN, THE SPEED, THE SKILL… It was just two minutes of an experience but those are the moments that we carry in our memories, for many years, maybe for life time. Thank you, Gill!
A difference of just 0.2 seconds, many thought was a minimal difference. But Gill beat OC (as the Norwegian is fondly called) by a substantial margin, as explained by a veteran motorsports journalist. For a SSS distance of 2.12 km, a difference of 0.2 seconds means, the gap would have been 2 seconds for 10 km and the first day’s stage distance is 143.42. So for a day, that margin of 0.2 seconds may not be 28-second gap in real terms but it gives a fair idea and puts in right perspective the difference between the Young Turk, who is well on his way to greater speeds, and the veteran warrior who loves to exhibit his passion and brute speed, and the inborn talent, on a larger stage, a la WRC2 or even an Euro Championship, where his teammate is currently on. And that’s the only logical conclusion onc can provide, for all his hard work, dedication and commitment for over a decade.
Is MRF listening? Only time will tell!
Super Special Stage report:
Gill (co-driver Stephane Prevot), the defending champion, clocked a blistering 02 minutes, 17.7 seconds over the 2.1 Kms circuit while APRC debutant Veiby (Stig Rune Skjarmoen) returned 02:17.9, both giving a thrilling exhibition of controlled aggression in their respective Race Torque-prepared Skoda Fabia R5 cars much to the delight of thousands of spectators.
Finishing a distant third behind the leading duo was PG Abhilash (Srikant Gowda) of Team R3A PGA Motorsports in a Subaru Impreza WRX Sti who timed 02:30.5, but ahead of New Zealand’s Mike Young (Malcolm Read), Sumit Panjabi (Nitin Jacob) and Sri Lanka’s Shafraz Junaid (Akhry Ameer).
Gill, who leads Veiby by six points in the winner-takes-all APRC title stakes, was last on the track and rode on the wave of popular support with a drive that would be long remembered after the 21-year old Norwegian, a regular in the WRC-2, posted a seemingly quickest time.
With so little separating them, Gill and Veiby are thus set for a battle royale over the next two days as the APRC caravan heads out to the estates of title sponsors Coffee Day Global for the Special Stages.
Earlier in the day, Veiby was the quickest in the shakedown clocking 01:23.3 as against Gill’s 01:25.0 as the pair had the first feel of the Skoda R5 this week, but the true test
“The stages are lot more open and wider than last year. So, the average speeds will be much higher. However, given the twisty route, I feel there will be a lot of stress on the car,” said Gill soon after the shakedown and during the pre-event FIA press conference when asked about his thoughts on the Stages following Thursday’s reconnaissance run.
Veiby said: “This event is nicknamed as “Rally of 1000 corners”, but it looks more like a million corners. The Stages are quite fast and I have never driven on such terrain. So, it is all about having a good feel of the car.”
In the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship that is being run concurrently and also organized by the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur, Younis Ilyas (Harish Kumar) was the quickest overall (02:35.7) followed by Arjun Rao (Satish Rajagopal) and Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) of Team Mahindra Adventure.
Provisional results (Super Special Stage – 2.1 Kms):
FIA APRC: 1. Gaurav Gill / Stephane Prevot (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (02mins, 17.7secs); 2. Ole Christian Veiby / Stig Rune Skjarmoen (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (02mins, 17.9secs); 3. PG Abhilash / Srikant Gowda (Team R3A PGA Motorsports, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti) (02:30.5).
MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (Overall): 1. Younis Ilyas / Harish Kumar (02:35.7); 2. 2. Arjun Rao / Satish Rajagopal (Volkswagen Polo R2) (02:36.2); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) (02:36.6).
eom/inputs from press release
Esapekka Lappi finished third in a Toyota Yaris, a further 1min 51.3sec behind. The results remain provisional after a bizarre incident at the finish of the penultimate stage when Ogier hurriedly departed in his Ford Fiesta without collecting his time card. It was later delivered to him by Ott Tänak. It was a breach of regulations which prohibit the crew receiving items from a third party.
Ingrassia admitted his mistake at the hearing. He said they left the stage finish without checking the time card had been returned by marshals and when he realised the error, it was too late to return to the finish line by car or on foot. Stewards accepted it was a genuine mistake which had no effect on the performance of their Ford Fiesta.
