News the world’s latest rally news
Ogier heads to IRC to help Meeke Sebastien Ogier, fresh from his maiden World Rally victory in Portugal, joins Peugeot UK’s IRC Champions Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle in Sardinia as Peugeot braces itself for a major battle on the gravel stages of Sardinia this weekend. Ogier will swap his Citroen C4 WRC car for a Peugeot 207 S2000, and lines up in Peugeot colours alongside Meeke and Nagle, Bruno Magalhaes, Franz Wittman, Thierry Neuville, Paulo Andreucci and the Turkish lady star Burcu Çetinkaya. It’s the biggest Peugeot line-up this year, and is t<strong>here</strong> to help Peugeot defend their manufacturers’ title in the teeth of strong opposition from Skoda’s Juho Hänninen, Jan Kopecky and Guy Wilks. And Meeke and Nagle need all the support they can in a very strong fi eld, especially after the disappointments of Argentina and Canarias. Co-driver Paul Nagle comments: “We’ve simply got to get everything right at Sardinia. It’s the biggest fi eld of the year so far. Along with the normal suspects we have P-G Andersson in a Mitsubishi and Andreas Mikkelsen in a Fiesta. We’re looking for a good result this weekend. It’s vital to our championship defence.” Ogier was last seen on an IRC event at Monte Carlo in January when he came agonizingly close to a back-toback victory in the event. To have the new superstar of world rallying alongside him is a huge boost to driver Kris Meeke: “Sébastien is a huge talent - anyone who can beat Loeb has got to be. It’s great to have him competing for Peugeot and sharing our area of the Service Park. With Seb on board we can pose a genuine challenge to the Skodas. We’ll have to work very hard indeed to beat them. But try and beat them we will, because that’s the best way to score points, not just in the drivers’ title race, but also for Peugeot in the manufacturers.” - Credit: ircseries.com Henning Solberg may contest WRC Rally Bulgari in Fiesta S2000 Stobart driver Henning Solberg has said that he may contest the Rally Bulgaria in a Ford Fiesta Super 2000, after it was confi rmed that former Junior World Rally Champion P-G. Andersson will drive Solberg’s usual Ford Focus WRC on the event in early July, reported www.wrc.com. “If I drive in Bulgaria, it will be with the Fiesta,” said Solberg - who also admitted that his participation in the allasphalt Bulgarian event still hung in the balance. “We’ll have to wait and see.” Bulgaria - along with Rallye Deutschland in August - never formed part of Solberg’s 2010 programme according to Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson. Solberg has never favoured asphalt rallies, with his best result on the surface being fourth place on the 2009 Rally Ireland. Wilson also added that Andersson’s drive in Bulgaria was not part of a commercial deal but was instead fully funded. While Andersson is by no means an asphalt expert either, Wilson said that he was keen to take the Swedish youngster out of his comfort zone and see how he performed under pressure. “It’ll be interesting to see what he makes of it,” said Wilson. “I think a few people have been watching him for a while. We’ve certainly always been aware of him.” The Ford boss stressed that Andersson’s deal was a one-off for the time being, but that the door was open for further outings if he performed well. Solberg is expected to return to the Expert-backed Ford Focus WRC for Rally Finland from July 29-31. Rumours about Solberg’s future began to surface on the Rally de Portugal, when he failed to show up for the offi cial 2010 competitors’ photograph - with only his co-driver Ilka Minor representing the crew. - Credit: © 2010 NORTH ONE SPORT LIMITED. NEWS Rally Show at Chatsworth sees more big names join the party With just three day to go, stars past and present are still adding their names to the very impressive list of attendees at the 2010 Rally Show at Chatsworth this coming weekend (5 - 6 June). Henning Solberg: Brother of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter and a regular on WRC events himself, will be helping Jari Matti Latvala with the driving duties over the two days of the Rally Show. They will be sharing the BP Ford Abu Dhabi Ford Focus WRC 09 which M-Sport are sending down from their base at Dovenby in Cumbria. Simo Lampinen: The former Saab, Lancia, Fiat and latterly British Leyland works rally driver will be demonstrating his skills in a variety of cars. Simo’s career began in the early 60s but winning the 1968 RAC Rally, accompanied by John Davenport in a Saab 96 V4, fi rst brought his name to the attention of the British motorsport fans. In a professional career that lasted for more than two decades, Simo also won the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1963 and 1964 on his way to taking the Finnish National Championship in both seasons. Paul Stewart: Son of Grand Prix Racing legend Sir Jackie, will be driving the brand new Subaru Impreza STI managed by George Donaldson and featured in depth in Motorsport News. The Formula One team that Paul and Jackie set up in 1996 has undergone various changes in the interim but is currently enjoying its most successful season to-date under the name of Red Bull!... For further details of the Rally Show at Chatsworth, visit the website: www.therallyshow.org. - Credit: www.rallybuzz.com Ford plans test session in Serbia Rally for Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen will enter next month’s Serbia Rally (18 - 20 June) in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. The Finns will use the two-day asphalt event, which takes place during the summer break in the FIA World Rally Championship, as a test session before the WRC season restarts in Bulgaria in July. Rally Bulgaria is the fi rst of four sealed-surface rallies in the fi nal seven rounds of the WRC season. Three more asphalt events will take place in Germany, France and Spain. The Serbia Rally is a round of the FIA European Rally Championship Regional Cup (East), as well as the national championships in Serbia and Bulgaria. It is based in Belgrade, which hosts the start ceremony on the evening of Friday 18 June. Two days of competition follow and drivers will tackle 18 speed tests covering 229,14km. “This will be perfect preparation for the asphalt rallies during the second half of the WRC year,” said 29-year-old Hirvonen, who is competing in Rally de Portugal, round six of the WRC this weekend. “This season has been entirely based on loose surface roads so far, and the last all-asphalt event in which I competed was in Spain last October. “The Serbia Rally will provide the opportunity for me to shed the rust on this surface in competitive surroundings.
Change language