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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Rally – iRally Colin Clark and Seb Marshall look at conditions for Sweden
Episode 75 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe 75th “diamond” edition of the Openpaddock.net podcast is packed full! We have Mike Cockrall (@TeamCanada1) on to talk the new Edmonton track layout. Kristi talks IZOD IndyCar and Doug with the Mazda Road to Indy. We preview Rally Sweden as the WRC calendar kicks off and talk the aftermath of the Robert Kubica accident. What’s next for Lotus Renault? What is next for teams and their drivers during the offseason? We talk about it all, so sit back and enjoy the diamond addition!
Read MoreRally – Ken Block’s all new WRC Ford Fiesta and 2011 Schedule
SSP – Kubica, Sandell, and DMACK *Update*
Welcome to this week’s Sunday Service Park and it is with great regret we kick off the column with terrible news. Yet again the motosport world has turned its eyes to rally and not for the right reasons. Lotus Renault F1 driver Robert Kubica suffered a huge accident this morning in Italy competing in the Ronde di Andora rally. The Formula 1 ace and a pre-season favorite has multiple fractures in his right arm and leg. The polish driver was air lifted to the hospital where surgery began on his right…
Read MoreRally – All-new Ford Fiesta RS WRC geared up for Rally Sweden debut
FROM: ABU DHABI FORD After completing more than 12000km of testing, the all-new Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car will make its debut at Rally Sweden (10 – 13 February) next week. The opening round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship will introduce a fresh era to the sport, and the renamed Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team has prepared meticulously in the development of its new-generation WRC challenger. Testing broke through the 12000km barrier last week – the equivalent of more than two seasons of WRC competition –…
Read MoreRally – DC SHOES KEN BLOCK’S 2010 HIGHLIGHT CLIP: WIN OR FAIL?
Rally – Sunday Service Park 1/30/2011
Welcome to the end of another weekend and another addition of the Sunday Service Park. We have a few items to discuss, but we also had the first round of the RallyCar/Rally America championship as well. The Landscape was different for Sno* Drift 2011 entirely. We had no Ken Block (WRC), no Travis Pastrana (NASCAR), and no Andrew Comrie Pricard. 2010 Rally America champion Antoine L’Estage was back alongside Nathalie Richard and Subaru Rally Team USA would now have David Higgins along side Dave Mirra. In the end, all of…
Read MoreRally – Surprise Ending at Sno*Drift
Here’s the press release from the RallyCar Series summarizing the final results of the first round of the Rally America National Championship, the Sno*Drift Rally in Atlanta, Michigan. It was quite an epic story for Super Production driver Travis Hanson as he became the first SP competitor to claim an overall victory. Shaun will have more commentary and insight into this phenomenal achievement later today in his Sunday Service Park column. Travis Who? Hanson Wins Sno*Drift 2011, Makes American Rallying History Atlanta, MI (January 30, 2011) — Travis and Terry…
Read MoreRally – Ford switches Fiesta RS WRC test plans for Arctic Rally
FROM: FORD Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team has dropped plans to debut its all-new Fiesta RS World Rally Car in Finland’s Arctic Lapland Rally (28 – 29 January) next weekend. Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were scheduled to drive a leg each in the two-day snow and ice rally based in Rovaniemi. It was due to be the final part of the squad’s pre-season test programme before next month’s opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship in Sweden. However,…
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