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Tag: WRC
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Ott Tanak shines on Rally Sardinia’s opening leg
Sardenga, 4 June 2021: Ott Tänak delivered a near-perfect performance to lead Hyundai Motorsport team-mate Dani Sordo after Friday’s punishing opening leg at Rally Italia Sardegna.
Tänak won five of the eight sun-kissed and rocky speed tests in his i20 World Rally Car to build a handy 19.0sec advantage over his Spanish colleague in this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
After dominating the previous round in Portugal only to retire from the lead, the Estonian was fastest out of the blocks on the Mediterranean holiday island. He won all four morning speed tests to lead by 16.9sec.
A fifth straight win was followed by a brace of second fastest times. His only blot on the day was a delaminated front left tyre in the closing test, which cost a handful of seconds.
Sordo, chasing a third consecutive Sardinia success, was hampered by minor problems this morning but hit top form later. He traded places with championship leader Sébastien Ogier before reeling off three fastest times to end the day 16.8sec clear of the Frenchman’s Toyota Yaris.
Ogier was delighted with his drive. Expecting a day of damage limitation after starting first on sandy roads where grip was at its lowest, he briefly held second but was unable to match the Hyundais and ended 36.2sec off the lead.
Elfyn Evans ended a frustrating day in fourth in his Yaris. The Welshman was out of sorts this morning and languished in sixth, but better pace this afternoon enabled the winner of the previous round in Portugal to recover. He ended more than a minute adrift of Tänak.
Thierry Neuville was another to struggle this morning. Set-up changes had a positive effect and the Belgian ended on a high, sharing fastest time in the final stage with team-mate Sordo. Two punctures didn’t help his efforts, but he was only 1.2sec behind Evans.
Sixth went the way of Takamoto Katsuta. The Japanese driver stalled his Yaris’ engine three times but held a comfortable advantage over FIA WRC2 leader Mads Østberg in his TRT World Rally Team-run Citroën C3. Class rival Jari Huttunen was eighth in his Hyundai NG i20, ahead of FIA WRC3 leader Yohan Rossel in his Citroën C3 and WRC2 contender Marco Bulacia (Toksport Škoda Fabia Evo).
Kalle Rovanperä was initially Tänak’s closest challenger but the Finn retired his Yaris with broken front right suspension in this morning’s final stage.
It was a disappointing day for M-Sport Ford. Teemu Suninen retired in the opening stage after tipping his Fiesta onto its side, while Gus Greensmith retired from seventh in the last stage with transmission troubles. Brake problems cost Pierre-Louis Loubet more than three minutes and he was 11th in an i20.
Saturday is the longest leg with 129.62km of competition. The morning features a double pass of two stages in the Monte Lerno area, including the breathtaking Micky’s Jump. After service, two afternoon tests, which are also driven twice, include one not used since 2005.
2021 Rally Italia Sardegna – Provisional Results after Section 5:
1. Ott Tänak (EST) / Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1 hr 26min 58.0sec 2. Dani Sordo (ESP) / Borja Rozada (ESP) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1 hr 27min 17.4sec 3. Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Toyota Yaris WRC 1 hr 27min 34.2sec 4. Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 1 hr 28min 00.0sec 5. Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Martin Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1 hr 28min 01.2sec 6. Takamoto Katsuta (JAP) / Daniel Barritt (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 1 hr 28min 24.1sec 7. Mads Ostberg (NOR) / Torsten Eriksen (NOR) – WRC2 Citroën C3 1 hr 30min 39.7sec 8. Jari Huttunen (FIN) / Mikko Lukka (FIN) – WRC2 Hyundai NG i20 1 hr 31min 06.7sec 9. Yohan Rossel (FRA) / Alexandre Coria (FRA) – WRC3 Citroën C3 1 hr 31min 33.8sec 10. P. Lopez (ESP) / D. Vallejo (ESP) – WRC3 Škoda Fabia Evo 1 hr 31min 50.1sec -
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin win Rally of Portugal: WRC
Porto (Portugal), 23 May 2021: Welshman Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin delivered a devastating performance on the final morning of the 54th Vodafone Rally of Portugal to seal a comfortable victory in their Toyota Yaris WRC and give their World Championship aspirations a major boost.
The feat marked Evans’s fourth WRC triumph after a debut win in his native Wales in 2017 and two victories in Sweden and Turkey last season. It went a long way to erasing the disappointment of missing out on victory on the last stage in Croatia recently and moves him to within two points of team-mate Sébastien Ogier at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Evans stunned rival Dani Sordo on the first stage of the final morning by almost doubling their overnight advantage and it was one-way traffic from then on as the Welshman eased to victory over the Spaniard by 28.3 seconds. His success marked the sixth different winner in Portugal in as many years.Runner-up Sordo and new co-driver Borja Rozada were a shining light for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team on an event that offered so much and ultimately delivered little.
Dramatic second-day retirements for long-time leader Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville threatened to derail the team’s push for the Manufacturers’ title, but both drivers bounced back to claim five and four bonus points for their respective performances on the final Power Stage.
Sébastien Ogier was always going to struggle after running the first car on the road during the first leg. But the Frenchman persevered and began a gradual climb up the leader board as the event progressed to seal the final podium position, the seven-time World Champion holding off his talented young Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta in the process.
The fourth-placed Japanese was rewarded with a best WRC finish to date, while Ogier maintained his World Championship lead.
The M-Sport World Rally Team has good reason to be optimistic about the rest of the season after impressive performances by both Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux. The Briton equalled his best ever finish in the WRC (Turkey 2020) with fifth place and Fourmaux was sixth on his first appearance in Portugal with the World Rally Car.
Both drivers suffered a puncture and throttle-related issues and may well have been challenging for the podium under different circumstances.
FIA WRC2 cars completed the top 10. Esapekka Lappi was the class of the field to seal victory and seventh overall in his Movisport Volkswagen Polo GTi. Second-placed Teemu Suninen pushed him hard on day two, but spun his M-Sport Ford Fiesta at the start of the final morning and drifted out of contention for the win.
TRT Citroën C3 driver Mads Østberg was a little disappointed not to be challenging the Finns for victory but the defending champion rounded off the podium places after getting the better of early rally pace-setter Nikolay Gryazin. Turbo and tyre issues on his Movisport Volkswagen Polo GTI ruined the Russian’s chances of claiming a podium finish and he was fourth, with young Oliver Solberg in fifth.
Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz reeled in Citroën driver Yohan Rossel during the course of the final morning to claim victory by 5.6 seconds in FIA WRC3. The Škoda driver and his French rival had been evenly matched for much of the rally. Chris Ingram and Nicolas Ciamin finished third and fourth.
Latvia’s Martin Sesks emerged as a comfortable of the FIA Junior WRC category. Finland’s Sami Pajari was second and Czech driver Martin Koči rounded off the podium places. Jon Armstrong arrived in Portugal as the series leader but was not able to start the final morning after issues on Saturday afternoon.
Three-time Rally of Portugal winner Armindo Araújo fulfilled his goal of being the leading Portuguese driver to reach the finish. He guided his Škoda to 19th overall. International soccer manager André Villas-Boas also completed his first ever Rally of Portugal in a respectable 33rd position.
The conclusion of the final Power Stage was neutralised for the back-markers after a crash involving Austrian driver Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof. Notional times were awarded.2021 Rally Portugal – Unofficial results
1. Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 38min 26.2sec 2. Dani Sordo (ESP) / Borja Rozada (ESP) Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC 3hr 38min 54.5sec 3. Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 39min 49.8sec 4. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN) / Daniel Barritt (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 40min 54.6sec 5. Gus Greensmith (GBR) / Chris Patterson (GBR) Ford Fiesta WRC 3hr 43min 18.9sec 6. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA) / Renaud Jamoul (FRA) Ford Fiesta WRC 3hr 43min 29.6sec 7. Esapekka Lappi (FIN) / Janne Ferm (FIN) – WRC2 Volkswagen Polo GTi 3hr 48min 03.4sec 8. Teemu Suninen (FIN) / Mikko Markkula (FIN) – WRC2 Ford Fiesta MkII 3hr 49min 46.2sec 9. Mads Østberg (NOR) / T. Eriksen (NOR) – WRC2 Citroën C3 3hr 50min 27.7sec 10. Nikolay Gryazin (RAF) / K. Alexsandrov (RAF) – WRC2 Volkswagen Polo GTi 3hr 51min 02.0sec 11. Oliver Solberg (SWE) / A. Johnston (IRL) – WRC2 Hyundai NG i20 3hr 51min 16.9sec -
Martins Sesks tops Juniors on Saturday: Rally Portugal Junior WRC
Porto (Portugal), 22 May 2021: Martins Sesks leads the FIA Junior WRC field heading into the final day of Rally de Portugal which has seen five different stage winners and three different leaders.
Saturday opened with stage nine and a new stage winner by way of Lauri Joona as Martin Koci closed within 11 seconds of Sami Pajari in the fight for the lead.
The following stage saw Sesks claim his first Wolf Stage Win Point of the rally to make it five different Wolf Stage winners on Rally de Portugal so far. On the very same stage, Sesks moved into the lead as Pajari was hampered by a loss of power steering, losing over three minutes, but he was able to finish the stage and return to service.
The first pass of the arduous Amarante stage followed, seeing Jon Armstrong add another point to his championship tally by going fastest on the stage, just 1.7 seconds ahead of Sesks.
The second loop of Rally de Portugal proved to be Junior WRC’s most treacherous yet, with the rough stages now filled with deep rock-laden ruts. Koci would be the first to fall victim of the vicious conditions, retiring for the day with a broken driveshaft, promoting Armstrong to third.
Stage 13 saw another Wolf Stage Win Point for Joona as Junior WRC headed for its second pass of the 37.92-kilometre Amarante stage.
The longest stage of the rally was a real test of endurance, following in the rock littered tracks of the wider more powerful cars ahead. Sesks claimed the Wolf Stage Win Point as Joona suffered a driveshaft failure. Armstrong also stopped on the same stage, and when the car was recovered to service it emerged the Northern Irishman had suffered terminal engine damage and would not be able to restart on Sunday.
The drama saw Robert Virves promoted to third position and, following a clean run of stages on Sunday, is set for his second FIA Junior WRC podium while Koci will restart the rally on Sunday in fourth.
Sesks would round out the day on the Porto Super Special Stage with another Wolf Stage Point to give him a total of three stage win points so far on Rally de Portugal.
Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager: “Today has been a very difficult and testing day for the FIA Junior WRC crews on what has been one of toughest loop of stages I have seen. We have had five different stage winners so far on this rally which shows the level this year’s crews are pushing at and every driver has had to fight numerous battles to hold their positions. It’s a huge shame to see the issues out on the stages today, but rallying is a hard and demanding sport and as we have seen at the sharp end of the WRC, these stages are testing for all cars. I must commend the crews today, they have all showed admirable determination and maturity with the situations they have all faced. Lauri Joona was able to demonstrate his speed by grabbing two stage wins and William Creighton has been right up there. Robert Virves found some bad luck on Friday with two punctures but is now looking at a podium position if he holds firm on Sunday.”
Martins Sesks, FIA Junior WRC Leader: “It didn’t look realistic to be leading today and I thought it would be really hard. I suppose it couldn’t have been done in a clean fight if all the cars were going so it was just about surviving and being tactical with the pace. The first loop was quite good, I was surprised that the roads were in such good condition but the road on the second pass was so bad with rocks the size of heads.” -
Ott Tanak leads as Dani Sordo slips: Rally Portugal
Lousada (Portugal), 21 May 2021: Hyundai driver Ott Tänak maintained his composure and erred on the side of caution when necessary to hold a lead of six seconds after eight special stages of the 54th Vodafone Rally of Portugal on Friday.
The three Hyundai i20 Coupés looked set to dominate the first leg. Dani Sordo led the rally from the end of stage two to the start of the seventh special, but tyre wear and a costly stall were expensive for the Spaniard and he slipped behind Tänak and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans before the final stage at Lousada.
Sordo erred on the side of caution on the final special as well and finished the leg nine seconds off the lead in third place.
The i20s had been the class of the field during the first loop, but Thierry Neuville was over ambitious with a pace-note in stage seven, slid wide, clouted a tree stump and lost over three and a half minutes coaxing the car to the stage finish. The crew worked in vain on the car on the road section, but had already plummeted from third to ninth when they were forced to retire from the day’s action.
Evans, Kalle Rovanperä and Takamoto Katsuta were locked in their own mini battle for fourth, fifth and sixth places for much of the day in a trio of Toyotas. They traded times until Evans made his move and Katsuta staked his climb on fourth place at the night halt. Rovanperä finished the day in sixth.
Starting first on the road was a distinct disadvantage for defending FIA World Champion Sébastien Ogier and he ceded time to his rivals throughout the day, despite winning the seventh stage. The Frenchman did manage to pass Adrien Fourmaux on the second loop of stages and moved up to sixth after Neuville’s issues and he displaced Rovanperä in SS7. But the fifth-placed Toyota Yaris driver still has his work cut out to make this trip to northern Portugal a fruitful one for his title aspirations.
Gus Greensmith showed impressive pace on three stages in particular in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta, but a time-consuming rear puncture ruined the Briton’s progress and he reached the night halt in seventh after passing Fourmaux when the Frenchman also collected a flat tyre.
A puncture ruined Mads Østberg’s ambitions in FIA WRC2 as well and the driver of the TRT World Rally Team-run Citroën C3 could only watch frustratingly as the flying Finns, Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Suninen, battled it out with Nikolay Gryazin for supremacy. The latter was the revelation on the opening day but his Movisport team-mate Lappi held on to take a 2.2-second lead into the night halt in his Volkswagen Polo GTi and held ninth overall. Suninen finished the day a further 7.6 seconds behind in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta Mk II.
Yohan Rossel (Citroën) held a slender 3.5-second advantage over Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Škoda) in FIA WRC3 after eight stages. Nicolas Ciamin (Citroën) and Chris Ingram (Škoda) were third and fourth.
Finland’s Sami Pajari held a lead of 22.3 seconds over Czech driver Martin Koči in the FIA Junior WRC category after seven stages. Latvia’s Martin Sesks was third, but the Ford Fiesta series-leading Jon Armstrong dropped over four minutes and lost his early advantage in stage six. -
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) -
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.” -
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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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 -
Ott Tanak-Martin Jarveoja claim first victory of 2021: WRC
Rovaniemi (Finland), 28 Feb 2021: Hyundai Motorsport has claimed its first victory of the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with an assured performance from start to finish in Arctic Rally Finland, the second round of the season.
Estonian crew Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja concluded the ten-stage event confidently to win by 17.5-seconds from Kalle Rovanperä with team-mates Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe in third.
The double podium finish for Hyundai Motorsport marks its first-ever top-three result in a Finland-based WRC event and sees the team hold second in the manufacturers’ championship on 77 points, 11 behind the leaders after two rounds.
Tänak took the rally lead on the opening stage on Friday afternoon and never relinquished his authority of the event. With five stage wins out of ten and a measured approach to the final morning, he secured his second-ever win in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC (his first was at his home rally in Estonia last season).
Crews had just one stage to negotiate on the final day, the 22.47km Aittajärvi test, which was run twice. The second pass was held as the rally-concluding Power Stage with extra points available for the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.
Neuville and Wydaeghe, in just their second WRC event as a crew, picked up their second consecutive podium result after another solid weekend performance. They continued to work on their communication and collaboration, using the high-speed rally to make another important step forward in their partnership. A dominant stage win on Saturday evening was a sign of their progress.
Craig Breen and Paul Nagle, in their first WRC event of 2021, ensured all three Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC cars made it safely to the finish, taking fourth. The Irish crew started Sunday with a new gearbox after impressively fast work by the team’s mechanics in the 15-minute morning service and rewarded them for their efforts with the second fastest time in the Power Stage.
For Hyundai Motorsport, the result cemented the team’s 18th victory, and also its 18th double podium in WRC. Neuville, meanwhile, has moved up to second in the drivers’ classification, just four points behind leader Rovanperä, while Tänak opened his 2021 points account in style to jump up to fifth.
Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)- Second victory for Hyundai Motorsport after a dominant weekend
- Secured the win by 17.5 seconds and added valuable Power Stage points
Tänak said: “This victory is very important and allows us to take away good points for the championship. We came to Finland – the home country of one of our closest rivals – so the pressure was on for sure. We knew it would be complicated to take on the fight but, in the end, we did a very good weekend. The pre-event test was held in very different conditions, so we didn’t really know what to expect. I was pushing the engineers quite a lot, but their hard work really paid off. We tried some new things in shakedown, and it all worked out nicely. This has been an amazing place to come for a rally, definitely one of the best for a winter event; there’s no place where you can have more snow and the characteristics of the road have been very special. Big praise to the organisers – it’s more than a worthy addition to the world championship.”
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Ott Tanak extends lead: Arctic Rally Finland
27 Feb 2021: Ott Tänak mastered Saturday’s second leg of Arctic Rally Finland to carry a substantial lead into Sunday’s finale.
The Estonian won three of the six superfast snow and ice speed tests in his Hyundai i20 to add to Friday’s opening leg double. He heads Kalle Rovanperä by 24.1sec with two more remaining at this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
His joy was in contrast to the disappointment suffered by World Champion Sébastien Ogier. The championship leader buried his Toyota Yaris into a snowbank 200 metres from the end of the closing test and plunged off the leaderboard as he battled for 20min to dig it out.
Tänak stretched his advantage to 23.6sec after winning two of this morning’s three stages in perfect winter conditions in Lapland’s forests. He held the Finnish youngster and a fast-closing Thierry Neuville at bay this afternoon to put himself in a strong position.
Despite overnight set-up changes to his Yaris, Rovanperä remained frustrated with his car’s balance. He yielded a few seconds after swiping a snowbank and after winning the penultimate stage, he came under fierce pressure from a charging Neuville in the final test.
The Belgian’s tyre strategy worked to perfection and he was quickest by more than 12sec to slash Rovanpera’s advantage to 1.8sec. It was a better afternoon for Neuville who earlier struggled to hear co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe’s pace notes above his i20’s engine noise.
Team-mate Craig Breen found tyre management more tricky as conditions worsened this afternoon. With frozen gravel poking through the ice and loose snow on the surface, the Irishman fell back to fourth, almost 30sec adrift of Neuville.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans broke Tänak’s run of stage wins this morning but the Welshman also struggled to manage his tyres and admitted he was often too cautious. He was 10.1sec behind Breen.
Oliver Solberg surpassed all expectations on his FIA WRC World Rally Car debut. The 19-year-old was a stunning third in the opening stage and returned to the Rovaniemi base in sixth – despite losing his glasses ahead of the final stage!
Takamoto Katsuta finished 7.6sec behind after a daylong scrap with Solberg and Ogier, with Ford Fiesta duo Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith next up. FIA WRC2 leader Esapekka Lappi completed the leaderboard in a Skoda Fabia.
Lorenzo Bertelli retired his Fiesta after plunging into a snowbank in the opening stage, while Pierre-Louis Loubet exited with technical troubles after doing the same later on.
In FIA WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen, driving a Skoda Fabia Rally2 for Toksport, pushed hard to stay on Lappi’s tail. The Norwegian admitted he was already driving on the limit and didn’t have much more to give. Nikolay Gryazin is 36.0sec behind Mikkelsen in third.
In the FIA WRC3 class, home hero Teemu Asunmaa still leads the way, 12.5sec ahead of Estonia’s Egon Kaur and with a comfortable advantage of 1min and 18sec over another fellow Finn, Eerik Pietarinen.
Sunday’s finale comprises two runs of the 22.47km Aittajärvi test, south of Rovaniemi. The second pass forms the live TV Wolf Power Stage, with bonus points up for grabs for the top five drivers and manufacturers.
The provisionnal classification can be consulted here.
