Well the news has finally been made official. Dani Sordo will now compete along Kris Meeke in the new Prodrive MINI WRC. The team is not 100% sure when they will make their debut, but the fit of Sordo at the team is the best Sordo could hope for. News had broken previously that a deal was done, but no official announcement was made due to Sordo’s Citroen contract. Now that the contract has expired, the announcement could be made. For Sordo, this is the best he could have hoped…
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Rally – Sunday Service Park 12/18/2010
Well here is this weeks Sunday Service Park all be it a day late. Some good news circulating around the various series with the IRC really gearing up for Monte Carlo which is now a few weeks away. So lets take a look at what happened in rally this week. Ken Block up for WRC award That’s right! America’s very own Ken Block is up for the Personality of the Year award. You can vote today and today only on WRC.comfor the Rally America/Gymkhana star. There is no doubt in…
Read MoreRally – Sordo Looking at Ford or MINI
While we have known for sometime that Dani Sordo probably would not return to Citroen, the real question we had to ask ourselves is where IS he going? The Spanish driver appears to be on the verge of a deal with either Ford or Prodrive MINI. Autosport ran a story this morning that had Prodrive technical director David Lapworth talking about a potential future for Sordo at the team. It does look at this moment anyways that Marcus Gronholm will not be making a return to competition full time this year.…
Read MoreRally – MINI Looking for More?
The big buzz heading into 2011 has been MINI and Prodrive collaborating for a WRC program. Two fantastic names in the lore of the WRC coming together to mount a challenge against the giants Ford and Citroen. Originally scheduled to miss the first four rounds of the next years championship, some words dropped by Technical Director David Lapworth on autosport.com may see the new team up its original 2011 commitment. “We’ve got a good idea of where we’re going,” said Lapworth. “It’s going to be a minimum of six rallies,…
Read MoreEpisode 59 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadApologies for the late arrival. The show is 24 hours old but I left all of my important server uploading info on an external drive that I left at the hospital. #EpicFail! We take a good look at the season finale as well as the pecking order that is the IZOD IndyCar series. Silly season rumors are everywhere for IndyCar and the WRC, while we talk a little bit about Petit. Great discussion and a little comedy makes for a really long show time,…
Read MoreRally – The Face of WRC for 2011
With both championships decided this past weekend in France, we now begin to shift our focus to the 2011 season. The whole face of the WRC is set to change with the launch of the 2011 S2000T cars that occured late last week. I was not able to post the launch videos last week, so here are the launch videos for the Ford Fiesta RS WRC, Citroen DS3, and MINI Countryman WRC. These cars are based on a S2000 chassis and will run a 1.6 litre turbo charged engine. You…
Read MoreRally – MINI Showing Positive Progress
The Prodrive/MINI project seems to be coming along just fine. The MINI Clubman WRC has undergone its first serious gravel test and is looking to step up to a more intensive program. After last weeks test that saw the likes of Kris Meeke, Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin driving the car on gravel, the team has indicated their intention to test the car once a month up until Christmas. The team was clear that the level of technical changes and situations would be limited but they would run the car…
Read MoreRally – MINI Test Video
Episode 49 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Doug and I as we talk all things blocking and team orders. Was the block right or wrong? Find out with this latest installment. We toss around ideas on Ferrari could have done better and not been so obvious as well as what the points look like in both Indy and F1. We make mention to something we have been following with MINI announcing their joint effort with Prodrive in the WRC as well as this weeks XGames. So as always, sit back…
Read MoreRally – Prodrive MINI Preparing to Test
Just when you thought all hope was lost of seeing a Prodrive MINI next year, Rallybuzz.com has now posted a story that is the first sign of life we have had from the project in a couple months time. The silence then began to drive rumors that funding had been cut and that Prodrive was looking at teaming with Toyota for a WRC bid. That being the dumbest rumor I have ever heard has now brought us a proof of life that the MINI project is on track. Reports are…
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