INDIA in F1

Tag: Sebastian Loeb

  • Loeb and Al Attiyah head to Sonora Rally, Mexico, to resume W2RC duels: Rally Raid

    Loeb and Al Attiyah head to Sonora Rally, Mexico, to resume W2RC duels: Rally Raid

    Sébastien Loeb and Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah resume their fascinating duel for supremacy in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) at this weekend’s Sonora Rally, a new event in the FIA cross-country calendar that runs over varied terrain through northern México from April 22-28..

    Loeb and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin currently lead the Drivers’ and Co-drivers’ Championships by 16 points from the Qatari and his Andorra-based team-mate Mathieu Baumel, although both crews encountered problems at the recent Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. That enabled Czech rival Martin Prokop and round two winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi to close the gap at the top of the points’ standings.

    Al-Rajhi’s maiden win in Abu Dhabi means that Toyota Gazoo Racing holds a 41-point cushion over Bahrain Raid Xtreme in the Manufacturers’ standings, with the Baic ORV operation in third and the X-raid Mini JCW Rally Team two points further adrift in fourth.

    Organised by Aventura Events with the support of Mexican ASN OMDAI and series-promoting A.S.O., the Sonora Rally has attracted 27 FIA entries, including 12 in the FIA T1+ category. Italy’s Eugenio Amos and Argentina’s Juan Cruz Yacopini join Al-Rajhi at the wheel of Overdrive Racing Toyotas, while Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter BRX is joined by Guerlain Chicherit at the wheel of a GCK Motorsport Hunter and a pair of X Rally Motorsport Hunters for the Brazilian duo of Cristian and Marcos Baumgart.

    China’s Guoyu Zhang and Yunliang Zi represent the BAIC ORV team in a pair of BJ40s. Sebastien Halpern currently holds seventh in the Drivers’ Championship in his Mini John Cooper Works Plus and the Argentine is joined by Denis Krotov in a two-car X-raid Mini JCW Team that rounds off the T1+ entries.

    American trio top T3 field in México

    Eleven crews will line up in the FIA T3 series-production cross-country vehicles in a competitive section that is being dominated by three American drivers after two rounds. Third overall and maximum T3 points in Abu Dhabi have given Seth Quintero a five-point category lead over his Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA team-mate Austin Jones, both at the wheel of South-Racing-built Can-Ams. Quintero’s co-driver Dennis Zenz leads Jones’s navigator Gustavo Gugelmin by five points in the T3 Co-drivers’ Championship.

    Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch have persevered with the prototype MCE-5 T3M this season and are a distant third in the points’ standings.

    Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing’s Francisco Lopez and Cristina Gutierrez hold fourth and fifth in the rankings and are entered in their Maverick X3s.

    Competition comes from four South Racing Can-Am Team Mavericks in the hands of Sweden’s Mattias Ekström, Chilean driver Hernan Garces and the Argentine duo of David Zille and Diego Martinez.

    The X-raid Team has entered a prototype Yamaha YXZ 1000 R for the Portuguese duo of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro and French veteran Claude Fournier drives a BRR-run Can-Am to round off the FIA entries

    Rokas Baciuška heads FIA T4 category

    Only four FIA T4 crews have made the trip to the Sonora Rally. Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing’s Rokas Baciuška won the category in Abu Dhabi and finished second at the Dakar Rally and leads the series by 48 points after two rounds.

    The Lithuanian again teams up with Spaniard Oriol Vidal and faces competition from an Xtreme Plus Polaris in the hands of Japan’s Shinsuke Umeda, Spaniard Eduardo Pons in a South Racing Can-Am and Italy’s Rebecca Busi, who teams up with Frenchman Sébastien Delaunay to drive an FN Speed Team Can-Am.

    The new addition to the FIA cross-country calendar is also the first event of its kind to be staged in México that is sanctioned by the sport’s governing body. Formerly a round of just the FIM series, the event has been revised to adhere to FIA regulations and is the brand child of American racer Darren Skilton and his team.

    Action will be fought out over five legs and a provisional 1,249 competitive kilometres in a route of 2,091km between the bustling city of Hermasillo, the fishing and resort city of Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point) on the Gulf of California and the Arizona-México border town of San Luis Rio Colorado in northern México.

    The demanding off-road event will pass through the state of Sonora en route towards the Sea of Cortez and across the cactus deserts of historical Caborca before reaching the famous dunes of the Altar Desert and on to the ceremonial finish in San Luis Rio Colorado’s El Bosque park

  • Loeb beats Vettel to be crowned Champion of Champions: RoC

    Loeb beats Vettel to be crowned Champion of Champions: RoC

    • Nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb has thrilled the fans braving heavy snow at Sweden’s Pite Havsbad by winning the Race Of Champions trophy for a record-equalling fourth time.
    • Loeb prevailed after defeating four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel by three heats to one in the Grand Final to take the ROC 2022 title ahead of a field featuring some of motorsport’s greatest ever drivers.
    • ‘Mr Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen and Sweden’s DTM and Rallycross ace Mattias Ekström reached the semi-finals at the first ever ROC event held on ice.
    • Yesterday’s ROC Nations Cup winners for Team Norway Petter and Oliver Solberg couldn’t repeat their heroics today, both knocked out by Loeb.
    • Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson exited in the quarter-finals while double F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen lost in the Round of 16.

    Baltic Sea (Sweden) 6 Feb. 2022: France’s world rally legend Sébastien Loeb put in a stunning performance to eclipse 17 fellow superstars of motorsport and win the 2022 Race Of Champions – on a day of non-stop action on the frozen Baltic Sea at Sweden’s Pite Havsbad, just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle.

    Following Team Norway’s triumph in yesterday’s ROC Nations Cup, all cooperation went out of the window today. The individual Race Of Champions pitted some of the world’s greatest drivers head-to-head on ROC’s iconic parallel track, purpose built on ice for the first time. After an unprecedented tidal surge saw yesterday’s racing take place on just the inner half of the track, today the drivers could let rip on the full circuit featuring ROC’s famous crossover bridge.

    On an afternoon of heavy snow at Pite Havsbad, the Race Of Champions saw greats of global motorsport battling it out for glory in a mix of identical machinery – including the FIA RX2e electric rallycross car, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, off-road Polaris RZR PRO XP and the 100% fossil-free biofuel powered SuperCar Lites.

    In front of packed crowds of Swedish fans braving the cold, the best-of-five Grand Final boiled down to a duel between a pair of true legends: nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb and four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

    After a thrilling finale as both drivers pushed to the limit in the blizzard, Loeb saw off his German rival by three heats to one to be crowned ROC Champion of Champions for the fourth time. He thus equals the all-time record set by Didier Auriol, his partner for Team France in yesterday’s ROC Nations Cup.

    Loeb said: “It’s been a long time since I was last at the Race Of Champions, so I’m happy to find out that at 47 years of age I still have the pace! This adds to my good start to the season: second in the Dakar Rally, first in Monte Carlo and now a victory here at ROC. It wasn’t easy for us to go up against all the Swedish and Norwegian guys because they are more used to these conditions. I also knew it would be tough adapting between the Porsche, buggy and rallycross cars. But after I made it through against Petter Solberg I got more confidence with each run. It was a nice fight with Seb in the final and I had a good feeling – except for when I completely lost control of the car in the third heat! Now here we are, and it’s great to equal Didier’s record of four ROC Champion of Champions titles.

    “We also need to congratulate the Fredrik Johnsson and the ROC organisers who have done a great job all week in difficult circumstances. They had to deal with a practice track that sailed off towards Finland, a snowstorm during practice and a rising sea. But everyone kept up a great mood and a positive attitude, with no stress, always finding solutions. And they found it.”

    Vettel added: “Sébastien was just too fast today. The conditions were tricky out there and it was getting more and more slippery, which I guess is normal for snow and ice! I don’t have that much experience so it was a struggle to adapt; in my day job getting sideways is what we try to avoid. But I felt I was improving every time I drove. That’s a good sign, but also a sign that I still have a lot to learn. Yesterday was a short day because I let Team Germany down and we went out very quickly, but today I could get more into the groove. I knew the final was a big stretch and I maybe pushed too hard, but I knew I had to go for it to be close to Seb. l made mistakes here and there, so in these conditions I have a bit of catching up to do…

    “We’ve missed two years of the Race Of Champions so it’s great to be back and to have a sense of normality. I’ve really enjoyed coming here on a different surface too, and it’s special to be on Fredrik’s home soil. It’s great to have the fans back too and I’m impressed to see so many people in the crowds. I don’t know how they can stand the cold and the wind in their face, but they seemed happy and up for it! Now I hope we can come back to Sweden again.”

    To reach the Grand Final Loeb and Vettel had to see off a field featuring 18 of the world’s greatest drivers. Because the track conditions on snow and ice can change quickly depending on the weather, ROC’s traditional group stage did not take place. Instead this year’s Race Of Champions used a straight knockout system with the field split into two halves: one featured the international racing drivers while the other had the rally experts and those with more experience of off-road driving.

    At the best-of-three semi-final stage Vettel beat nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen 2-0 to take bragging rights in the racing drivers’ half of the draw, though the Dane was hampered by a mechanical problem in the first heat.

    On the rally side, Loeb finished on top of the pile having brought an end to a spirited run by double DTM Champion and FIA World Rallycross Champion Mattias Ekström, who was the last Swedish driver standing in front of his home fans. The match went to a deciding third heat, won by the Frenchman.

    The quarter-finals, which were decided over two heats, saw many big names bite the dust – not least seven-time NASCAR Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson, who lost to Kristensen. IndyCar’s youngest ever race winner Colton Herta was the other racing driver who went out, beaten by Vettel on countback of fastest times after a 1-1 tie.

    On the rally side Loeb saw off rising WRC star Oliver Solberg after a match in which one of their races finished in a dead heat, to the nearest thousandth of a second. The other driver exiting at this stage was four-time FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson, who lost to Ekström despite winning their first race heat by just one hundredth of a second.

    The Round of 16 was another graveyard for motorsport’s superstars. In the racing half of the draw, double F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen went out at the hands of Johnson while his long-time McLaren F1 team-mate David Coulthard was defeated by Kristensen. Double W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick and this year’s W Series runner-up Emma Kimilainen also left the competition at this stage, beaten by Herta and Vettel respectively.

    The rally side of the draw was just as brutal. FIA World Rally and World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg couldn’t find a way past Loeb so there was to be no repeat of yesterday’s ROC Nations Cup glory. His fellow World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen had to accept defeat by Kristoffersson after crashing out, while four-time ROC Champion of Champions Didier Auriol fell to Ekström. Mexico’s reigning ROC Champion of Champions Benito Guerra was another of the early casualties after being beaten by Oliver Solberg.

    Kicking off the afternoon’s action, four of the racing drivers were matched up in pairs for two Round 1 play-offs. Germany’s FIA F2 and F3 Champion Mick Schumacher was defeated by Chadwick while four-time Indy 500 Winner Helio Castroneves also had to bid an early goodbye after falling to Herta. The Brazilian ace was later seen relaxing in style in the ROC Drivers’ Lounge after declaring he and snow ‘don’t mix’.

    Ahead of the main action, the home fans were given a treat as four sporting legends took place in a celebrity race in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. The field featured tennis great Jonas Björkman plus Olympic skiing gold medallists Ingemar Stenmark, Anja Pärson and Aksel Lund Svindal, who was the only Norwegian taking on three Swedes on their home turf. In the end it was Lund Svindal who came out on top, beating Stenmark in the final by just 0.8 seconds. The skiing great thus added to his home country’s amazing run of success here this weekend following Petter and Oliver Solberg’s triumph for Team Norway in the ROC Nations Cup yesterday.

    This year’s Race Of Champions has raised over 1 million SEK (€100,000) towards a selection of worthwhile charities. The key recipients have included German children’s charity Kinderlachen, the Zelmerlöw and Björkman Foundation’s school in Kenya, the ICM (institute for advanced research on brain and spinal cord injuries in Paris) plus a range of the drivers’ other favourite charities.

    Today’s action at Pite Havsbad marks the end of ROC Sweden for 2022. We hope you enjoyed this festival of motor sport and entertainment on the snow and ice, and we look forward to welcoming you back for our next event.

  • Sebastien Loeb leads Hyundai’s 1-2-3: WRC Spanish Rally

    Sebastien Loeb leads Hyundai’s 1-2-3: WRC Spanish Rally

    Sebastian Loeb takes lead on Friday. An FIA image

    Nine-time FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb took the lead of Rally de España ahead of his Hyundai teammates with a commanding time on Friday’s final stage.

    Sixth overall after his stage win on the first run over the event’s longest stage – the 38.85 kilometre “La Fatarella-Vilalba” – Loeb continued to set impressive pace in the afternoon’s loop of three stages, held mostly on gravel to the west of Salou.

    A win on SS5 moved the Frenchman to third behind his colleagues Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville, before another fastest time on SS6 – by 8.9 seconds – propelled him into the lead, ahead of Saturday’s tarmac stages.

    He now holds a small advantage of 1.7s over Neuville, while Sordo is a further 5.9s behind after struggling in the day’s final stage.

    The three Hyundais are followed by the three Toyotas, with Kris Meeke moving up to fourth ahead of Ott Tänak by setting the second quickest time in SS6. Running first on the road, Tänak ended the day 21.7s off the lead and 8.7s behind Meeke, although the Estonian “pushed hard”.

    Jari-Matti Latvala said he was lacking confidence in the morning but improved in the afternoon to move from eighth after SS3 to sixth overall; another eight seconds behind Tänak.

    Elfyn Evans dropped to seventh after he had an issue on his Ford Fiesta in SS6. His teammate Teemu Suninen is eighth and Takamoto Katsuta holds ninth in a privately entered Toyota.

    A difficult day for Citroën continued as Esapekka Lappi was forced to stop and retire in SS5 because of a technical issue affecting his engine. Sébastien Ogier is 17th overnight, with a deficit of four minutes, following an hydraulic problem that hampered him during the morning.

    Mads Østberg is 10th overall and leading FIA WRC2 Pro in his Citroën, increasing his advantage over Škoda’s Kalle Rovanperä to over 40 seconds. Jan Kopecky completes the class standings overnight.

    Pierre-Louis Loubet now leads FIA WRC 2, just 1.5s in front of fellow compatriot Eric Camilli, while Ole Christian Veiby is in third position, a further 20.7s behind.

    Unofficial Results after Section 2 (Day 1):

    1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) / Daniel Elena (MON) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1hr 21min 24.7sec
    2. Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1hr 21min 26.4sec
    3. Dani Sordo (SPA) / Carlos Del Barrio (SPA) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1hr 21min 32.3sec
    4. Kris Meeke (GBR) / Sebastian Marshall (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 21min 37.7sec
    5. Ott Tänak (EST) / Martin Järveoja (EST) Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 21min 46.4sec
    6. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) / Mikka Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 21min 54.8sec
    7. Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR) Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 22min 8.7sec
    8. Teemu Suninen (FIN) / Marko Salminen (FIN) Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 22min 16.5sec
    9. Takamoto Katsuta (JAP) / Daniel Barritt (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 23min 15.1sec
    10. Mads Østberg (NOR) / Torstein Eriksen (NOR) Citroën C3 R5 1hr 24min 24.5sec
  • WRC Round 3: Rally Mexico to start on Thursday

    WRC Round 3: Rally Mexico to start on Thursday

    For round three of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship, the competitors travel to Rally Mexico (March 7-10) where high temperatures and high altitude provide considerably different challenges to those experienced in the opening two winter events in Europe. First held as a WRC event 15 years ago, the León-based gravel rally has proven popular ever since with its compact route and colourful atmosphere.

    Rally Mexico, the third round of the WRC begins on Thursday. An FIA image

    Mexico, 3 March 2019: Run in the Sierra de Lobos and Sierra de Guanajuato mountains, the rally climbs to a height of 2’700 metres above sea level, where the thinner air deprives the engines of oxygen, which can result in a potential power loss of up to 20 per cent. Ambient temperatures of up to 30°C add additional stress to the machinery. Teams take special measures to ensure the reliability of their cars, and the drivers must adapt their driving styles to the conditions.

    With three different manufacturers sharing the podium in both of the opening rounds – and two different crews on the top step – it has been a thrilling start to the season, and Rally Mexico promises to add another exciting episode to the story. Ten World Rally Car drivers will battle it out on the Central American stages, with Dani Sordo making his debut on the championship this year in the Hyundai i20 Coupé driven by Sébastien Loeb in the opening two events of the season. As part of his preparations for Rally Mexico, the Spaniard, who finished second in Mexico in 2018, competed – and won – Rali Serras de Fafe in Portugal last weekend, the opening round on gravel of the Iberian FIA European Rally Trophy.

    In the FIA WRC 2 Pro category, Poland’s Lucasz Pieniazek (M-Sport) will pilot a Ford Fiesta R5 car, alongside four FIA WRC 2 entrants: Benito Guerra from Mexico, Marco Bulacia Wilkinson from Colombia and the Heller brothers, Pedro and Alberto, from Chile.

    All of the stages can be watched live on WRC All Live on WRC+, with three stages additionally broadcast live on television: SS12 and SSS15 (El Brinco) and the rally-ending SS21, Las Minas Power Stage.

    THE 2019 ROUTE

    The Rally Mexico route features only minor changes compared to 2018. The event traditionally holds its stunning opening stage in the colourful town of Guanajuato on Thursday evening, where the crews take on the city’s narrow streets and former mining tunnels. Friday includes two runs over the rally’s epic “El Chocolate” test, the season’s highest point at more than 2’737m. Both Friday and Saturday’s itineraries feature a street stage in León and two runs around the city’s racing circuit. Saturday is the longest day of this year’s rally, with an extended Otates, the longest stage of the rally with 32.27 kilometres. The day also includes El Brinco, where the famous jump has been replaced by a man-made ramp in a dry reservoir which should contribute to a spectacular finish. On Sunday, the penultimate Mesa Cuata stage is new, using the opening half of El Chocolate before turning towards Guanajuato, where the Las Minas Power Stage will finish.

    RALLY DATA

    Total distance: 1,003.49 km
    Stage distance: 303.87 km (31%)
    Number of stages: 21

  • Loeb by a whisker: Dakar Rally Second Stage

    Pisco (Peru), 8 Jan 2019: A brief report of the Dakar Rally 2019 after the second stage on Tuesday.

    Focus
    The second longest stage of the rally varied in aspect, with an alternation of dunes, sandy tracks and potions of beaches. Once they had made it passed the difficulties of Ica’s dunes, the riders and drivers headed to the Pacific Ocean and followed the coast for one hundred kilometres, over small dunes and sandy beaches. A quicker section heading north was perfectly utilised by Sébastien Loeb, who managed to keep sufficient pace in the last 50 kilometres through the dunes of Ocucaje, just before the finishing line of the special.

    The essentials

    After caution the day before, Sébastien Loeb unleashed his talent to let the lion on his Peugeot 3008 roar this Tuesday on the long special finishing in San Juan de Marcona. The man from Alsace did not make the slightest mistake and held out against the amazing comeback by Nani Roma, who was timed at just 8 seconds behind Loeb on the finishing line. In 4th place, Giniel de Villiers took command of the general standings in which Stéphane Peterhansel plummeted downwards after losing almost 20 minutes stuck in a dune. Such difficulties were brilliantly negotiated by Chaleco López for only his second stage in an SxS, allowing him to add to the excellent roll of honour (3rd overall in 2013 and 2014) which he started on a bike, 5 years after his last appearance on the Dakar. Matthias Walkner can also already boast an improved victory count. The Austrian was faithful to his role as title holder and beat Ricky Brabec at the death by just 22 seconds at the end of a superb duel between the two men throughout the stage. In 3rd, Joan Barreda still leads the general standings. In the quad race, the same classification is heavily dominated by Nicolás Cavigliasso thanks to the Argentinean rider’s second successive stage win. In the truck race, there were also two stage wins in a row, as Eduard Nikolaev triumphed again behind the wheel of his Kamaz.

    Performance of the day

    For his second Dakar after an impressive showing in 2016 and a fine top 10 finish at the outcome, Harry Hunt today showed that he possesses pure talent. The Englishman took time to return to his best level after a neck injury in late 2016, but today demonstrated that he perfectly knows how to handle the Peugeot 3008 DKR Maxi entrusted to him this year as a team-mate to Sébastien Loeb. Hunt grabbed 9th place in the first stage before improving to finish in 7th position on the first major test of this year’s Dakar. Car manufacturer Peugeot has left the event, but two of its former cars have nonetheless made it into the top 10.

    A crushing blow

    With Adrien Van Beveren’s 7th place, 9 minutes behind the winner, and the 12th position achieved by Xavier de Soultrait, 16 minutes behind Walkner, the Yamaha clan have little to smile about. Both men have not yet seemed able to keep pace with the rhythm imposed by the leading lights of the Honda and KTM teams. For the moment, they are far from reaching their goals. The damage in the general standings is already significant and the two Frenchman will be keen to reverse the trend tomorrow in the dunes around Acari.

    Stat of the day

    2: the number of SxS competitors taking part in the Dakar who have already participated in this category. Almost half of the field are newcomers to the Dakar!

    Quote of the day

    “I got stuck in a really bad place.”

    Stéphane Peterhansel: “For us it was not an easy stage. We started with some electrical problems inside the car: no microphones, no air-conditioning, no wipers, nothing was ok. I lost my concentration a little bit and after I got stuck in a really bad place. We are happy because Cyril stopped for us and pulled us out. In the end we have lost a lot of time, but without the help of Cyril I think we would probably still be in the same place, so it’s ok”.