Well here is this weeks Sunday Service Park all be it a day late. Some good news circulating around the various series with the IRC really gearing up for Monte Carlo which is now a few weeks away. So lets take a look at what happened in rally this week. Ken Block up for WRC award That’s right! America’s very own Ken Block is up for the Personality of the Year award. You can vote today and today only on WRC.comfor the Rally America/Gymkhana star. There is no doubt in…
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Rally – Sunday Sevice Park 12/6/2010
Welcome to the second edition of the Sunday Service Park. This week has been a little lighter than one would hope, but there are still drivers on the market and seats needing filled! In other news, felt my first rally withdrawal of the season the other day. Can it please be 2011 yet?!? SordoDani So I already touched on this story earlier in the week but it now looks as though MINI will be the choice for the Spaniard. While hoping for Ford to throw him a bone, it now…
Read MoreRally – Sordo Looking at Ford or MINI
While we have known for sometime that Dani Sordo probably would not return to Citroen, the real question we had to ask ourselves is where IS he going? The Spanish driver appears to be on the verge of a deal with either Ford or Prodrive MINI. Autosport ran a story this morning that had Prodrive technical director David Lapworth talking about a potential future for Sordo at the team. It does look at this moment anyways that Marcus Gronholm will not be making a return to competition full time this year.…
Read MoreSunday Service Park – 11/27/10
Welcome to the newest column at Openpaddock.net! As the rally season takes its short break they call an off season, the Sunday Service Park will be my time to give some opinion on the week’s news and address rumors within the WRC and Rally America blogs. This week has seen the driver market get kicked up a notch and Petter Solberg is trapped in the middle. Petter Solberg Last week during the podcast I had made the argument that Petter would be a reasonable fit at the Prodrive MINI operation.…
Read MoreRally – Solberg’s Future TBD in 2011
The last man to win the World Rally Championship that was not Sebastien Loeb is questioning his future in the sport for 2011. The 2003 champion has revealed that he does not have the budget to continue his privateer efforts when the new S2000T cars come on line next season. Solberg has been piloting a Citroen C4 the last couple seasons after offered a really good deal. This budget issue however may make Solberg a key player in the driver market if sponsorship cannot be found. Petter said he has…
Read MoreRally – Kimi DNFs Spain Before it Starts
Kimi Raikkonen has put on a rather embarrassing performance in Spain already. The Finn has crashed out of the rally during the shakedown stage and will not make the start for Day 1. Citroen explained that the roll cage had suffered terminal damage and would not be ready in time to start the event. In my opinion this is yet another pathetic showing in a year that Kimi will want to forget period. Citroen have made it very clear they will not pay Kimi to drive and he needs sponsorship…
Read MoreRally – MINI Looking for More?
The big buzz heading into 2011 has been MINI and Prodrive collaborating for a WRC program. Two fantastic names in the lore of the WRC coming together to mount a challenge against the giants Ford and Citroen. Originally scheduled to miss the first four rounds of the next years championship, some words dropped by Technical Director David Lapworth on autosport.com may see the new team up its original 2011 commitment. “We’ve got a good idea of where we’re going,” said Lapworth. “It’s going to be a minimum of six rallies,…
Read MoreEpisode 59 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadApologies for the late arrival. The show is 24 hours old but I left all of my important server uploading info on an external drive that I left at the hospital. #EpicFail! We take a good look at the season finale as well as the pecking order that is the IZOD IndyCar series. Silly season rumors are everywhere for IndyCar and the WRC, while we talk a little bit about Petit. Great discussion and a little comedy makes for a really long show time,…
Read MoreRally – The Face of WRC for 2011
With both championships decided this past weekend in France, we now begin to shift our focus to the 2011 season. The whole face of the WRC is set to change with the launch of the 2011 S2000T cars that occured late last week. I was not able to post the launch videos last week, so here are the launch videos for the Ford Fiesta RS WRC, Citroen DS3, and MINI Countryman WRC. These cars are based on a S2000 chassis and will run a 1.6 litre turbo charged engine. You…
Read MoreRally – MINI Showing Positive Progress
The Prodrive/MINI project seems to be coming along just fine. The MINI Clubman WRC has undergone its first serious gravel test and is looking to step up to a more intensive program. After last weeks test that saw the likes of Kris Meeke, Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin driving the car on gravel, the team has indicated their intention to test the car once a month up until Christmas. The team was clear that the level of technical changes and situations would be limited but they would run the car…
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