Tag: WRC, Rally

Norway’s Mads Ostberg and Belgium’s Thierry Neuville could not be separated over the opening 3.36-kilometre stage of Rally Portugal, setting identical times of 2:36.6 seconds.

For both, it was a continuation of the impressive form that they showed at the last event in Argentina, where Ford driver Ostberg was among the front-runners before Hyundai’s Neuville ultimately came through to take his second win of the season.

Both looked spectacular in their respective heats on the Lousada stage, with the event’s trademark large crowds creating an incredible atmosphere.

New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon was just 0.1s behind in his Hyundai, while the other driver that impressed last time out, Elfyn Evans, was a further 0.3s back in his D-Mack-shod Ford Fiesta (Ostberg is also running D-Mack tyres in Portugal).

Evans was followed by this morning’s fastest driver in Shakedown, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo (+0.5s), and championship leader, M-Sport’s Sébastien Ogier (+0.7s).

Ostberg, who pipped Paddon in his heat by just a tenth of a second, was happy to have taken bragging rights in such a tight battle in front of so many fans.

“It was a close one,” he said. “I saw after one lap it was close, so I pushed more on the second [lap]. A few small mistakes, but I’m happy with the time.”

There were no notable problems for any of the WRC manufacturer drivers.

In WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen started off in the same way he finished his last event in the Skoda Fabia R5, setting a 2:40.4 – which was 1.6s faster than his nearest rival, Teemu Suninen.

The rally proper commences tomorrow morning, with the second stage; the 26.7-kilometre Viana do Castelo. Crews will face a total of eight stages and approximately 150 competitive kilometres on Friday, culminating with two blasts through the streets of central Braga.

eom/FIA press release

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul won Rallye de France-Tour de Corse today and in doing so not only claimed their maiden victory of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship, but became the fourth different crew, and manufacturer, to climb the top step of the podium in as many events. Recovering from earlier electrical problems, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were able to power back into second, taking the position from Dani Sordo and Marc Martí by just 1.3 seconds.

New manufacturers and regulations, all-new cars and crews in different teams has resulted in one of the most open, competitive and unpredictable championships in years. Unexpectedly, Ogier claimed the first win for an M-Sport built WRC car on the season-opener in Monte-Carlo, despite limited seat time following his move to the British team. Toyota then shocked the rally world when Jari-Matti Latvala claimed the Japanese manufacturer’s maiden victory on only its second event back in the Championship after 17 years out of the top level of the sport. The multiple Championship-winning Citroën team then went on to prove it was also in the fight when Kris Meeke claimed a dramatic victory for ‘the reds’ in Mexico and now, four events into the Championship on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Korean manufacturer Hyundai has joined its rivals on the top step of the podium.

“This is exactly what we hoped the new cars and regulations would deliver,” said a delighted Jarmo Mahonen, FIA Rally Director. “We haven’t seen such a level playing field in many years and to go into every event with no idea which team or crew could win is fantastic for the Championship. Citroën, M-Sport, Hyundai and Toyota have produced dynamic and individual cars, the action has been spectacular and I firmly believe we will continue to see this level of openness throughout the whole season.”

The final day of competition on the Tour de Corse covered just two stages but it started with the longest of the rally, the 53.78 kilometre run from Antisanti to Poggio di Nazza. Neuville started the day with an unexpected 38.9 second lead over Ogier after the Frenchman dropped time in Saturday’s final stage when his Fiesta WRC lost hydraulic pressure. Neuville powered through today’s opener and benefitted further when Ogier was struck with yet more problems and slid another 20 seconds away from the lead with an intermittent electrical problem that affected power and handling. As a consequence, he slipped to third, 2.5 seconds behind Dani Sordo going into the final Power Stage. The battle behind the leading trio was also intense; Craig Breen managed to overhaul Latvala for fourth, despite thinking he had a puncture, so the Citroën and Toyota drivers also went in to the Power Stage with everything to fight for.

Neuville took a measured approach to the stage and was fifth fastest to claim the win by 54.7 seconds. Ogier, who somehow managed to affect repairs between the two stages, was back on form and while he didn’t win the Power Stage, he inched back ahead of Sordo to regain second position. Sordo was however happy with third, making it a double podium for Hyundai. Latvala went on a “crazy attack” and powered back ahead of Breen taking the Power Stage win and five more valuable points. Breen, a mere one-tenth of a second behind, was also happy with fifth with so few asphalt events under his belt, and considering it was only his second rally in the 2017 C3 WRC. Hayden Paddon rounded off the top six group of world rally car drivers. The only leading retirement of the day was Juho Hänninen, the Toyota driver off the road in the first stage.

Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger took another emphatic win in the FIA WRC 2 Championship, the Norwegians seventh overall and more than a minute ahead of category rivals Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula. The FIA WRC 3 Championship was won convincingly by Raphaël Astier and Frederic Vauclare, their second win of the season after taking honours in Monte-Carlo and, within this two-wheel drive category, Nil Solans/Miguel Ibanez won the opening round of the FIA Junior WRC Championship.

After four rounds, Ogier tops the Drivers’ Championship, 13 points ahead of Latvala and Neuville’s victory has elevated him into a more promising third position. M-Sport continues to head the Manufacturers’ Championship but with two podium positions on Corsica, Hyundai has overhauled Toyota for second.

The fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders back to the Americas for Rally Argentina (27-30 April).

Rallye de France-Tour de Corse – Final Provisional Results (subject to scrutineering)

La Porta, 8 April 2017: Thierry Neuville has edged one step closer to his first victory of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship by taking a 38.9 second lead into the final day of competition on the Tour de Corse. The Belgian has been on supreme form today and while Sébastien Ogier was able to challenge early afternoon and came within 2.2 seconds of the lead, the Frenchman dropped right back in the final stage with a loss of hydraulic pressure. Following the retirement of Kris Meeke, Dani Sordo has moved up the leaderboard and the Spaniard sits in third overnight.

Today’s route was the longest of the event and while it still covered just two stages, both repeated, it kicked off with the daunting 48.71 kilometre run from La Porta to Valle di Rostino. Meeke started the day as the leader and was able to extend his advantage over second-placed Ogier in the opener, but then disaster struck at the end of the following stage as engine failure sent his hopes of a second consecutive victory up in smoke. Having slashed the gap to Ogier in the first stage and then overhauled the reigning FIA World Rally Champion in the second, Neuville assumed the lead after his two fastest times and headed into the mid-leg service with 8.2 seconds in hand. After a difficult morning where, unusually, the Frenchman was at a loss to understand how he could go quicker, set up changes during service aided Ogier’s charge and he claimed fastest time in the first of the repeated stages, benefitting when Neuville also spun. It didn’t last long however, as a loss of hydraulic pressure hampered his charge through the final stage and he dropped nearly 40 seconds to Neuville, who also set the fastest time.

Dani Sordo has had a torrid day, the Spaniard driving the stages of his life but not being rewarded with good times. With Ogier’s problems, the gap to the Frenchman has however closed to 18.8 seconds tonight. After this morning’s loop, Jari-Matti Latvala finally had an idea of what changes to make to the transmission set-up on the Yaris WRC and the Finn enjoyed a much better afternoon and was in the top three on both stages. He is fourth, 11.7 seconds behind Sordo but under pressure from Craig Breen. The Irish driver is now Citroën’s sole runner with the loss of Meeke and Stéphane Lefebvre, who hit a wall in the first stage. Breen had brake issues and then the intercom broke this morning, but he had a clean run to fifth this afternoon and is 2.8 seconds adrift of Latvala. Both are potentially poised to fight for the podium.

Hayden Paddon continues his lonely drive in sixth overall, the Kiwi driver now using the event as an extended test session as he seeks to gain valuable experience on Tarmac. Aside from Meeke and Lefebvre, Elfyn Evans was another to retire. After his hydraulic problems yesterday the Fiesta was back on form this morning, but the Welshman then went off the road and was unable to continue. Ott Tänak had a problem with the fuel injection system and the Estonian is well outside the top 10, and Juho Hänninen returned after crashing yesterday. The Finn has set some impressive times in the Yaris WRC, some consolation despite being down in 32nd position.

Andreas Mikkelsen continues to head the FIA WRC 2 Championship contenders but the Norwegian came under fire from a charging Stéphane Sarrazin early this morning, the Frenchman in similar machinery but not registered in the category. Mikkelsen won two of the day’s four stages and heads Teemu Suninen by more than a minute.

Raphaël Astier has control of the FIA WRC 3 Championship, and in the Junior WRC series Nil Solans is heading towards victory with Terry Folb 25.6 seconds behind.
Rallye de France-Tour de Corse – Provisional results after Section 4