It has seemed like a lifetime since the OP crew came back from the 100 AW Rally in Salem MO, but this weekend the Rally America championship finally restarts with round 3 in Washington. Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard will look to extend their overall championship lead with an overall victory in Washington this weekend. The stages will be tough for Canadian duo as the event will see the cars running up and down the coast for what promises to be a Kodak moment. The stages also house a…
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Rally – Gymkhana 3 Teaser
Rally – Latvala Rolls
Rally – Turkey Final Thoughts
The first mixed surface event is in the books and Sebastian Loeb has won yet again. The Frenchman is now in full control of his WRC title destiny and if this weekend was any indication, the Fords need to find answers sooner rather than later. I thought the first mixed surface event was interesting and applaud the series for putting on a pretty good show. Rain would cancel a number of stages on day 3 but the show would go on. The mixed surface rally would take away the need…
Read MoreRally – Turkey Day 2 Wrap
Day 2 of the grueling Rally Turkey has ended and as we said yesterday, don’t be surprised if Sebastian Loeb charges to the front. That is exactly what the Frenchman has done, but it is still wide open heading into the third day. The day started with Sebastian Ogier holding first position on the road. Usually that means road sweeping and with the large rocks on the road he would surely yield his position quickly right? Wrong…the junior ace was a rocket today as the cars hit the tarmac/gravel stages…
Read MoreRally – Turkey Proving Tough
Rally Turkey would be the first mixed surface rally of the year and many drivers have called the event tough. To further the difficulty, none of the drivers would have pace notes going into the event. The event has also seen the return of Ken Block and his Monster Energy/DC Ford Focus. After a very impressive run in Mexico, the pressure would be on to perform in Turkey as Ken continued to fact find ahead of next year’s championship. The day would come to a very early end however. Sebastian…
Read MoreRally – Latvala and Block
Episode 33 – Open Paddock Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadMike and I jump into Rally Jordan and the drug deals that went on. We also recap the Malaysian Grand Prix as well as all the news in the F1 realm. We also bring a short preview of things to come at Barber this weekend. Mike explodes on a rant right off the bat! Grab your favorite adult beverage, sit back and enjoy!
Read MoreRally – Jordan Gets Dirty
The dust was not the only thing that made things rather dirty on day 3 of Rally Jordan. There was tactics a plenty and some rather questionable moves by a few select individuals that would make the result a little sketchy. After the misfortune suffered by Mikko Hirvonen on day 2, Sebastian Loeb merely just needed to finish the event in order to collect a hefty points lead heading into Turkey. The Frenchman did just that by taking his 56th career victory over the factory Ford number 2 of Jari-Matti…
Read MoreRally – Misfortune for Hirvonen and Ogier
Mikko Hirvonen wrecked his Ford Focus this morning in the opening stage of the morning. The Finn who had set himself for a better road position yesterday, ended up playing a version of rally car pinball. The Ford driver who looked invincible in Sweden and Monte is clearly going to have his confidence rattled after this crash. Not only was the Ford way off the pace in Mexico, but now the hopes and dreams of the blue oval racers rests on a surprisingly good Jari-Matti Latvala. The clear number two…
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