Patrik Sandell has finished eighth at Rally Sweden today and the highest placed local driver on his debut in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. The Swedish driver finished the day in the same position he started and extended his lead over the chasing driver, Prokop. It has been a very strong debut for the Swede in his first outing in a World Rally Car with only established and far more experienced WRC drivers ahead of him. Sandell was in eighth position after stage one and, except for one stage,…
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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 rally in 2008 and Solberg, now partnered by Chris Patterson, took the spoils in 2005. The Ford Fiesta RS World…
Read MoreWRC – 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 could be contributing…
Read MoreMSP – Sweden, Mikkleson, VP Fuel, and SPEED Center
The WRC season has arrived and because of that, we will now move the Service Park column to Monday to accommodate. What a show the WRC put on in Sweden to usher in its new era of car and talent. This rally had absolutely everything and will go down as one of the most exciting rallies we have seen in a long time. Final Thoughts on Sweden Are you serious!?! This has been one of the best overall rallies we have seen in sometime. New Zealand was amazing due to…
Read MoreRally – Hirvonen Takes Back to Back Sweden Victories
The 2011 season got started with one of the craziest rallies in recent memory! Way to usher in a new era for the Fiesta and DS3. The previous two days of the rally were unpredictable except for one point. Whoever was first on the road usually lost time due to fresh snow. Mikko Hirvonen was to be first on the road this morning and he would prove that to be false as he set some blistering times in the mornings stages on what was really nothing more than fresh ice.…
Read MoreRally – Co-Driver Chris Patterson Drives Solberg’s D3 at Rally Sweden
Rally – Sweden Day 2 Review
While the 1st leg of Rally Sweden had all the excitement of the new cars and teams taking to the stages proper for the first time, the second leg would be business as usual. Mads Ostberg was the surprise of the first day, how much time would he lose and how far could Mikko stretch the lead? We found out the answer to those questions in what was one amazing day on the stages. Mikko Hirvonen would move quickly to take the lead from Day 1 leader Mads Ostberg. As…
Read MoreRally – New Ford Fiesta RS WRC dominates opening day at Rally Sweden
FROM: ABU DHABI FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM: Ford’s all-new Fiesta RS World Rally Car made a perfect debut at Rally Sweden today to hold first and second places after the opening leg. Four of the top five positions in this opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship were owned by the car after an unpredictable start to the 2011 season in the blizzard-hit forests of central Sweden. Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen are second, just 14.8sec from the lead, with team-mates Jari-Matti…
Read MoreRally – Sweden Day 1
Finally the 2011 season proper has kicked off and what a first leg! Snow had fallen all night and was still roaring in the morning as the cars lined up for the start. Sebastien Loeb would be first on the road due to last year’s title standings. The French ace would suffer massive time loss as his DS3 struggled for grip on the loose powder. Jari-Matti Latvala would set a time over 40secs faster! Biggest loser in the first stage would be P-G Andersson who had been tipped to do…
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