Ford World Rally Team’s Nordic drivers will aim to extend the squad’s winning grip at the Swedish Rally (9 – 12 February) next week. The team has won the last five fixtures of the FIA World Rally Championship’s only true winter encounter and both Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Norway’s Petter Solberg have Swedish victories to their names. Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila claimed their maiden WRC victory at the Karlstad-based rally in 2008 and Solberg, now partnered by Chris Patterson, took the spoils in 2005. The Ford Fiesta RS World…
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WRC – MINI Program Set to Implode
In what is turning out to be a rough start to the 2012 season, it looks as though the MINI program is set to implode on itself as soon as tomorrow. The team that has been run and operated by Prodrive indicated that a board meeting was taking place and that a decision would be announced tomorrow on the future of the operation. This coming after a second place finish at the Monte Carlo rally but a couple weeks ago. There are a number of issues that could be contributing…
Read MoreEpisode 123 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Mike as they discuss this past weekends Rolex 24 from Daytona! The racing was furios and the Grand-Am show was great as always! We also go over the Sno* Drift rall yhtat opened the 2012 Rally America season. We talk Rubens, IndyCar, and have a little too much fun with Pirelli’s new tire sidewall press release! Sit back and enjoy the show and as alwasy thank you!
Read MoreEpisode 122 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin the Paddock Crew as they review the biggest rally of the year in Monte Carlo. Sebastien Loeb starts off the 2012 campaign strong but MINI proves despite controversy, they are still a team to be reckoned with. The Rally America championship kicks off this weekend with the Sno*Drift event in Michigan. We also briefly talk Le Mans and the effect that Peugeot pulling out will have on the WEC. We proceed to IndyCar and give a “here is where we are now” segment. Formula 1…
Read MoreWRC – MINI Final Day from Monte Carlo
Monaco, 22nd January 2012. The MINI WRC Team concluded the fifth and final day of the Monte Carlo Rally by bringing Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) and Pierre Campana (FR) and Sabrina de Castelli (FR) to the finish on the principality’s harbourside second and seventh respectively. This was only the team’s seventh FIA World Rally Championship event, but it was the third podium for the Spanish crew. The sun was shining and the roads were dry for the final stage of the rally – the 5.16 kilometre…
Read MoreWRC – Petter Slapped With the Infamous Article 151c
Ford’s new (or should that really be returning) factory driver for 2012, former World Champion Petter Solberg, has done it again. He was busted for speeding on his way back to the service park after the last competitive stage of Rallye Monte-Carlo. Apparently frustrated by a slower car in front of him, he accelerated to 106 kph (66 mph) while in a 50 kph (31 mph) zone. Not only that, passed the car on a stretch where there was a solid center line. It means the same thing there as…
Read MoreRally – WRC Promotion Contract: How It All Went Wrong
At the beginning of this month, the World Rally Championship was thrown into enormous turmoil after the FIA prematurely terminated its contract with promotor North One Sport. The sequence of events that lead up to this is rather convoluted, but let’s see if we can’t untangle the mess that ended up with the premier rally series in the world, the WRC, making its triumphant return to the premier rally in the world, the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Arrival of North One Sport and Convers Sports Initiatives In 2009, North One Sport, a…
Read MoreRally – MINI Monte carlo Leg 2 Release
Valence (FR), 19th January 2012. After day two of the Monte Carlo Rally, and another 131.76 kilometres of stages, Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) were still fighting with Petter Solberg (NO) for the second podium position and had snatched the place back as the cars returned to Valence for the last time. Meanwhile the MINI WRC Team’s French crew, Pierre Campana and Sabrina de Castelli, were still in seventh after a trouble free day. In his MINI John Cooper Works WRC number 37, the same number carried…
Read MoreBest of Rally Live – Monte Carlo Leg 2
Rally – MINI World Rally Leg 1 Release
Valence (FR), 18th January 2012. At the end of a challenging day one of the Monte Carlo Rally the MINI WRC Team crews of Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) and Pierre Campana (FR) and Sabrina de Castelli (FR) were second and eighth respectively after 134.70 kilometres of competition over four stages. The weather was cold and dry with a little snow and some icy patches on the stages. The story of the rally was always going to be about tyre choice and so there was a lot…
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