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…
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Rally – Manufacturer Supply and Demand Issues
2011 will see both Ford and Citroen drop their current WRC cars in favor of the new technical regulations that allow for only S2000 chassis and 1.6 litre turbo engines. That has presented an interesting issue. Both Citroen and M-Sport are at capacity building the DS3 and Ford Fiesta WRC respectably. Because of the manufacturers efforts in developing, testing, and building these machines in time for next season, there is currently no way to produce a C4 or Focus in case of emergency this season. This can be a REAL…
Read MoreRally – Corona Mexico Review
So ends the first proper gravel test of the year, and what a rally it turned out to be in Mexico! The clear favorites going into this weekend had to be Mikko Hirvonen and the BP Ford team, however it was not to be as the Citroens would prove to be too much. Day 1 was exciting as Petter Solberg would set a dominant pace all day long. Sebastian Ogier would run a clean and consistent second as the two factory Citroen efforts would take the third and fourth positions.…
Read MoreRally – Kimi Raikkonen Keeps on Rolling
Rally – Hirvonen Takes Sweden
Mikko Hirvonen has started off his 2010 campaign in style as he has won the Rally of Sweden. The Finn defeated Sebastian Loeb by a margin of around 42 secs. The battle raged in the morning stages as Sebastian Loeb took an early lead. However, a differential change at the mid day service park saw Mikko surge ahead of his title rival. Once ahead, the Ford number one began to pull away until Sebastian threw in the towel and Hirvonen was able to take the opening round by 42.3 seconds.…
Read MoreRally – WRC 2010 Preview
Coming off of what was one of the more exciting WRC seasons in 2009, the world’s premiere rally championship is ready for launch in Sweden this weekend. Below are some of the key additions and changes for the 2010 season. WRC Machines This year is the swan song for the WRC machines as the series will be switching to the S2000 modified as I like to call them. The S2000 chassis will take over with the Ford Fiesta and Citroen DS3 representing the two manufacturers in the series. Unlike the…
Read MoreRally – Kimi Shows True Colors
Mercedes Grand Prix were not the only team to release a new livery today. Red Bull has issued a picture featuring Kimi Raikkonen and his new Citroen C4 and its livery as well. Raikkonen who made his highly publicized switch to the WRC this fall turned in his Ferrari for a Citroen C4. The car looks amazing and will probably the best looking one running the stages, provided the Finn can keep the car right side up. Kimi will contest all rounds under the Citroen Junior satellite team except for…
Read MoreRally – Kimi Finally Drives C4
Kimi Raikkonen completed his first run in his new Citroen C4 today ahead of his opening test in the Artic Rally. The Finn met with his Citroen Junior squad and ran approximately 50 kilometers in the Red Bull sponsored machine. Prior to today, Raikkonen had yet to drive a full WRC machine as he has only ran a Fiat Super 2000 up to this point. Kimi is one of the big names that the WRC added in the offseason as he completed his defection from F1. The Artic Rally that…
Read MoreRally – Kimi and Citroen
After snubbing Mercedes GP and confirming his temporary exit from F1, Autosport is reporting that Kimi is closing in on a deal that would see him in a C4 backed by Red Bull. While he will have little implications in any title fight, this raises a couple questions about the Kimsters career as a whole. We have to establish one thing up front and in the clear, Kimi Raikkonen will have no implication in the 2010 WRC title if he gets this deal. I know I know…Shaun, how do you…
Read MoreF1 – Kimi Out for 2010
Since Ferrari officially announced that Fernando Alonso would be racing for them in 2010, Kimi Raikkonen has been at the center of the driver market “fault line” that is set to completely reshape F1 next season. Speculation had him driving for the Woking based McLaren squad whom he had previous success. Instead, Kimi has chose that he will do nothing in 2010 outside of maybe making a couple more appearances in the ape suit. The 2007 Finnish world champion will take a sabbatical from Formula 1 racing during 2010 after…
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