Category: WRC

News and commentary premier rally series in the world, the World Rally Championship.

Episode 174 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadKevin Neely, Mike Shaw, and Doug Patterson review the week’s news in IndyCar, the Mazda Road to Indy, Rally, and Formula 1. Kevin keeps trying to throw AMA Supercross into the mix, but so far he’s not found much traction. The USF2000 Winterfest has started! Doug leads us through Tuesday’s activities and looks at the results as a foreshadowing of how the regular season will shape up. Kevin leads us through the silly season news in IndyCar and how Jay Penske may have pissed…

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Episode 172 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIt’s rally time!! Mike Shaw takes us through a recap of the opening round of the World Rally Championship, the legendary Monte Carlo Rally, and gives us a preview of the opening round of the Rally America series, the always slippery Sno*Drift Rally. Kevin, Doug, and Mike Whitesell finish out the show with news from Formula 1, IndyCar and a brief look at the upcoming 24hrs of Daytona. We’re also giving more stuff away this week! To one of our Twitter followers, we will…

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Review: Rally Monte-Carlo 2013

Mike Shaw

In recent past the Monte-Carlo rally has been a tarmac rally with patches of ice and slick spots. This year however it was completely different as massive snow storms came through and blanketed the stages. It looked more like Rally Sweden than the Monte-Carlo we have all been accustomed to.   At the end of the very first stage Sebastian Ogier gave Volkswagen their first stage win in the debut of the Polo R WRC. It wasn’t by much, but a significant achievement nonetheless. Loeb was just 3.7 seconds behind.…

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Episode 171 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWe are happy to have on this week’s show, Dan Andersen. Mr. Andersen talks with us about his journey in motorsports from drag racer, to series owner of USF2000, to team owner and back to running the USF2000 series again. We also talk about how he came to take over the Star Mazda series now renamed the Pro Mazda Championship. In addition to our conversation with Dan, Mr. Shaw gives us the run-down on Dakar and a preview of Monte Carlo, Doug goes over…

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Preview: Rally Monte Carlo 2013

Mike Shaw

Rally fever has been steadily growing across the globe as we get ready for one of the most historic rallies in history. Two weeks ago we got a taste of the European Rally Championship at the Austrian held Jänner Rally which ended in an epic charge by Jan Kopecký to win by just half a second. This time it will be the top level WRC class on the icy roads of southern France pushing to the limit. Who will win? Will Loeb once again out pace everyone? Or will Ogier…

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Episode 169 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis week on the OpenPaddock.net Podcast Kevin, Mike, & Mike dissect new CEO of Hulman & Co. Mark Miles’ comments on the future direction IndyCar should take, recap the testing action at Sebring, and reexamine the prospect of Hoosier or Continental replacing Firestone. They also spend some time looking at developments in the Pro Mazda Championship as Andersen Promotions is already beginning to evolve the series, and they weigh in on Doug’s comments on the potential future direction of the series. Lastly, the trio…

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Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team from Trio to Quartet

Mike Shaw

This weekend the newly created Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team announced the rest of their driver lineup for 2013.  As we already knew, Mads Østberg was picked as the number one driver, and Nasser Al-Attiyah will of course be on board but only attend some of the championship rounds while also competing in the Middle East Rally Championship.  The surprise announcement was a decision to draft both Evgeny Novikov and Thierry Neuville to attend all 13 rounds of the 2013 World Rally Championship under the Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team banner.…

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Episode 168 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadKevin, Mike, Mike and Doug are happy to have Conor Daly as their guest tonight. Conor talks with the OP boyz about the different racing culture in Europe, having spent the past two years competing full-time in GP3. He also talks with us about his goals for 2013, his upcoming IZOD IndyCar Series test with AJ Foyt Racing, as well as a bit of rally. We need to start a campaign to get Conor into the X-Games RallyX event! Also, anyone have a car…

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Rally – Petter Solberg Speaks About WRC Exit

Mike Shaw

2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg’s announcement of his exit from the WRC has had the rallying community in a frenzy this week.  His legions of fans and supporters have been all over Facebook and Twitter trying to figure out what he is going to do in 2013 and wondering if he will ever return to the WRC. To assure his fans that he will still be doing some form of racing next year, Petter posted on his Facebook page the following statement: Hello everyone. First off, I want to…

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