Rally – Ford Taps Sordo to Replace Injured Latvala at Rally Argentina
Ford World Rally Team has finalised an agreement for Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio to drive for the squad in next week’s Rally Argentina. The Spanish duo will replace regular drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in a Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car. Latvala was forced to withdraw from the fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship after breaking his left collarbone in a cross-country ski-ing accident while training in northern... [Read More...]
WRC – Latvala and Solberg Head Portugal Leaderboard for Ford
Ford World Rally Team lies first and second after today’s opening leg of Rally de Portugal. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila lead this fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship in a Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car by 2.6sec from the similar car of team-mates Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson. The team won three of the four speed tests which made up the short opening day’s action in this four-day event. Solberg, who was fastest in... [Read More...]
WRC – Ford Set Fastest Times During Qualifying Stage
The Ford World Rally Team has struck the first blow during Rally Portugal with the Blue Ovals setting the top two times during qualifying. Jari-Matti Latvala led the way with 3m01.884s. That put him clear of second place Petter Solberg by 1.771s. Latvala admitted to taking risks during the 4 kilometer stage in order to take advantage of road conditions. With Portugal being a gravel rally, road position will be tricky to pick. While he could start... [Read More...]
WRC – Ford and M-Sport Secure 50th World Rally Victory in Sweden
Ford World Rally Team drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila won Rally Sweden today by 16.6sec after a tense finale to this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Victory in a Ford FiestaRS World Rally Car was Ford’s sixth consecutive success at the only true winter rally of the season. It was Latvala’s second win in Sweden, and it came despite his comfortable lead being slashed when he hit a rogue rock and punctured a tyre... [Read More...]
WRC – Ford Targets Six of the Best at Scandinavian Snowfest
Ford World Rally Team’s Nordic drivers will aim to extend the squad’s winning grip at the Swedish Rally (9 – 12 February) next week. The team has won the last five fixtures of the FIA World Rally Championship’s only true winter encounter and both Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Norway’s Petter Solberg have Swedish victories to their names. Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila claimed their maiden WRC victory at the Karlstad-based... [Read More...]
WRC – MINI Program Set to Implode
In what is turning out to be a rough start to the 2012 season, it looks as though the MINI program is set to implode on itself as soon as tomorrow. The team that has been run and operated by Prodrive indicated that a board meeting was taking place and that a decision would be announced tomorrow on the future of the operation. This coming after a second place finish at the Monte Carlo rally but a couple weeks ago. There are a number of issues that... [Read More...]
WRC – MINI Final Day from Monte Carlo
Monaco, 22nd January 2012. The MINI WRC Team concluded the fifth and final day of the Monte Carlo Rally by bringing Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) and Pierre Campana (FR) and Sabrina de Castelli (FR) to the finish on the principality’s harbourside second and seventh respectively. This was only the team’s seventh FIA World Rally Championship event, but it was the third podium for the Spanish crew. The sun was shining and the roads... [Read More...]
WRC – Petter Slapped With the Infamous Article 151c
Ford’s new (or should that really be returning) factory driver for 2012, former World Champion Petter Solberg, has done it again. He was busted for speeding on his way back to the service park after the last competitive stage of Rallye Monte-Carlo. Apparently frustrated by a slower car in front of him, he accelerated to 106 kph (66 mph) while in a 50 kph (31 mph) zone. Not only that, passed the car on a stretch where there was a solid center... [Read More...]
Rally – WRC Promotion Contract: How It All Went Wrong
At the beginning of this month, the World Rally Championship was thrown into enormous turmoil after the FIA prematurely terminated its contract with promotor North One Sport. The sequence of events that lead up to this is rather convoluted, but let’s see if we can’t untangle the mess that ended up with the premier rally series in the world, the WRC, making its triumphant return to the premier rally in the world, the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Arrival... [Read More...]
Rally – MINI Monte carlo Leg 2 Release
Valence (FR), 19th January 2012. After day two of the Monte Carlo Rally, and another 131.76 kilometres of stages, Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) were still fighting with Petter Solberg (NO) for the second podium position and had snatched the place back as the cars returned to Valence for the last time. Meanwhile the MINI WRC Team’s French crew, Pierre Campana and Sabrina de Castelli, were still in seventh after a trouble free day. In... [Read More...]
