Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team ended today’s demanding opening leg of Rally de España in second and third places. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila hold second in a Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car, while team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen lie 23.6sec behind their fellow Finns in a similar car on the final step of the podium. Hanging dust created severe visibility problems in the still morning air, but Latvala’s pace carried him into the lead of this 12th and penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship…
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WRC – Update After Day 1 for Rally Spain
Just a brief recap here of the events of day 1 for Rally Spain. Keep it to OpenPaddock as the teams post indepth reviews of their first day for the penultimate round of the championship. Conditions were the name of the game for the gravel stages today. Loeb would start first on the road and usually that is an issue, but conditions actually favored the French ace as dust would cause the cars running behind massive problems. The gravel stages were very dry and there was not much of a…
Read MoreRally – WRC Rally Spain Preview from iRally
Rally – Rally America Announces 2012 Schedule and New Owner
The Rally America Series has a new owner and a new schedule for 2012. While the six events remain the same, the length of the season is extended beyond the X-Games in an effort to provide more continuous support for many of the regional rally events throughout the year. It also gives teams time to recover and rebuild between rallies. During the 2011 season, half of the championship events were crammed into a short couple of months. With the new schedule, and events spaced out a bit more, there should…
Read MoreRally – Why Loeb’s Extension is Good for the WRC
Usually when you have a driver that has dominated a sport as much as Sebastien Loeb has, you tend to think it is bad for business. Honestly, who wants to watch a guy win every single title and nearly every single event? Personally I don’t overly like it but at the same point, I don’t want that person to just pull over. I believe the other teams just need to up their game. That is something that Ford has had a hard time doing this season or any season since…
Read MoreRally – MINI WRC Team – Rally Germany Preview
FROM: MINI World Rally Team Munich, 12th August, 2011. With two FIA World Championship Rallies behind it, the MINI WRC Team is now ready for its next test and that will be on the asphalt stages in next week’s ADAC Rally Germany. This will be the first WRC event of the year on this surface for not only Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC number 37, and Kris Meeke (GB) and Paul Nagle (IR) in the number 52 car, but also…
Read MoreRally – Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ready for Asphalt Rally Debut in Germany
From: Abu Dhabi Ford World Rally TeamThe Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car makes its asphalt rally debut when Rallye Deutschland (19 – 21 August) signals the opening sealed surface round of this season’s FIA World Rally Championship. The car competed in gravel specification on asphalt in Argentina in May, but this eighth round of the series will be the first opportunity to see the Fiesta RS WRC in action in full asphalt trim. Drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila tested the new-for-2011…
Read MoreRally – Lotus Exige in the Cards?!?
Feel free to slot this under “what the hell are they thinking”, but it appears through some reporting out of England that Lotus may be set to go rally. I should say ahead of time that I don’t see this happening whatsoever. The level of involvement Lotus has put forth in GT/Le Mans/INDYCAR makes sense. The British company has a circuit racing pedigree with their tiny and very nimble cars. Taking them off road onto the gravel is a business era of mammoth proportions in my mind. Stick to what…
Read MoreRally – Subaru to Return?
Rumors and reports have surfaced that show Subaru may be keen to return home in the WRC. The Japanese rally icon has been absent for the last few years after the economic downturn forced many companies to halt motorsport operations to ensure financial security. Subaru was one such brand that chose to withdraw its machine due to what some called financial issues and what others called lack of competitiveness. It is no secret that Subaru looked really really bad towards the end of their time in WRC. However, now it…
Read MoreRally – L’Estage Wins New England Forest Rally
From: RallyCar – NEWRY, ME (July 17, 2011) — One of the most spectacular seasons in Rally America Championship history came to an end at the New England Forest Rally with Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard atop of the NEFR podium for the second consecutive year. The privateer Rockstar Rally Team took the lead from the start and held it for the entire duration of the event, winning eight of the eleven special stages. L’Estage finished 48 seconds ahead of Subaru Rally Team USA driver David Higgins. Higgins and…
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