Vegas showdown to conclude Global Rallycross Championship

GRC Preview: Vegas showdown to conclude Global Rallycross Championship

by Martijn Kösters

After last weeks European semi-finale produced three new champions, there is another championship decider awaiting, on the other side of the pond. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway sees the finale of the Global Rallycross Championship, with six drivers mathematically still with a shot for the title.

The standings prior to this weekend: Tanner Foust leads the championship with 62 points, with a comfortable lead of 12 points on Samuel Hubinette. Brian Deegan is third with 49 points. Further down Grönholm (43 points but absent this weekend), Binks (42), Block (40) and Verdier (39) could mathematically still take the title.

Though it seems most likely the focus this weekend will be on Foust, Hubinette and Deegan. Foust can comfortably start his weekend with the notion that a 6^th place in the Final would grant him the title by default. Surviving the heats and cruising in the final will be his target, but taking the title in style and amusing the crowd is more fun, Foust will now that. Note that Foust's worst result was a sixth place during the X-games which were dominated by Sebastien Loeb.

Hubinette (Saab 9-3) and Brian Deegan (Fiesta) will be trying their best for maximum points, rightaway from the first heats as an extra point are awarded for winning your heat. A win would be absolutely necessary for Hubinette and Deegan, giving them 20 points. Note Hubinette's best result was second place in New Hampshire, and Deegan finished third three times in a row in the last three events.

The sub-championship complementing the Global Rallycross Championship is much more exciting, and far, far from over. The Discount Tire-Americas Tire Cup takes scores from three events (Texas, New Hampshire and Las Vegas) to crown a champion. Because only two race in the DT-AT Cup have been driven so far, there are no less than 12(!) drivers capable of the title. Foust and Deegan are sharing the lead on 32 points, Hubinette follows on 28, Pastrana fourth on 23, with Grönholm, Binks and Block in his wake on 21 points.

Plenty of contenders, and in typical Vegas style a big prize up for grabs, 25000$ for the Winner of the Discount Tire-Americas Tire Cup. All will be decided this weekend, ESPN2 starts coverage at 6:00PM (EDT) on Sunday. Keep posted on our twitter as we expect youtube videos to pop up early next week.

#ERC Finland: New stars shine, but old ones shine brighter

#ERC Finland: New stars shine, but old stars shine brighter

by Martijn Kösters

The European Rallycross Championship came to a wet Kuovola for the penultimate round. In every category there was the possibility of the title race being concluded this weekend, yet this didn't mean the weekend was only dominated by possible new champions. The weekend in Kuovola also saw some future stars trying to outshine the heroes of 2012.

In the Supercar category Tanner Foust was the only challenger to Championship leader Timur Timerzyanov, all be it only mathematically. The title fight was effectively ended by Foust himself when he revealed not to compete in next weekend's German round, as he will try to obtain the Global Rallycross Championship in 'Vegas. Nonetheless Foust started off well by being fastest in Saturday's first heat ahead of Citroën driver Liam Doran and Mats Lysen in his trusty Renault Clio. Timerzyanov concluded Saturday in fourth place.

New boy on the Supercar block represented a more than well-known name. Hansen, Timmy is better known for his outings in formula racing, yet after breaking with his team the son of 14-time Champion Kenneth had time on his hands to try different kinds of motorsport. Given the opportunity to drive a Citroën DS3 Supercar (previously used by Sebastien Loeb to win the X-games) he ended day one in tenth.

Old name, new tricks. Timmy Hansen brings a famous name back.

Super 1600 could see a fight between Andreas Bakkerud and Ulrik Linnemann who were both still in the title chase. Bakkerud supported a ten point lead coming into Finland. Though day one did not see many action between the two, as Linnemann had to deal with a misfiring engine he finished Saturday in 19^th. Jussi Pinomäki of the Set Promotion team had all the reasons to be content after day one, his two Finnish rookies Suninen and Wiman were first and second in the first heat, with fellow Finn Leppihalme in third and Bakkerud in fourth.

Where the Finns dominated Super 1600, the Touringcar division was an all Swedish affair. Robin Larsson continued to show form by beating main championship contender Anton Marklund in the first heat, with Daniel Lundh (in a Volvo) making it three Swedes in the top-3. Marklund's main rival Derek Tohill ended the Saturday in fourth.

On Sunday, the second and third heats saw similar drivers on top of the time sheets. Peter Hedström took Supercar pole by being fastest in Heat 2 and 3, Doran and Timerzyanov were second and third in both of sunday's heats. After three heats Lysen, Jeanney and de Keersmaecker were the other three drivers who qualified directly for the A-Final. Tanner Foust only just qualified for the B-final after P20 in heat 2 and a DNF in heat three. Timmy Hansen had to settle for the C-final, as he didn't make the top 10 in any session on Sunday.

As mentioned before, Joni Wiman dominated in Sunday's quali heats, with a first place in Heat two ahead of Minnikhanov and Färén. Heat three resulted in second place behind Skorupski for the young Finn. These good results meant Wiman would start the A-final from pole, alongside him fellow Finnish rookie Teemu Suninen and Minnikhanov on P3. Skorupski, Färén and Bakkerud complete the A-final. Linnemann didn't overcome his engine issues and would start in the C-final. In Touringcars Robin Larsson and Anton Marklund secured P1 and P2 in the A-final by finishing first and second in Heat Three. Though he won heat 2, Roman Castoral had to settle for 3^rd place on the grid, ahead of Tohill and Lundh.

Wet conditions added extra action into the game

Finals started great for Timur Timerzyanov, not only could he start from third in the A-final, that position also granted him the title as he only needed a single point for the title. Rival Tanner Foust did make it up to the A-final, as did Timmy Hansen all the way from Finale C. The A-final itself was dominated by Timerzyanov in his almost traditional style, he drove to a clear victory, his sixth of the season. Doran and Hedström completed the podium. Lysen finished fourth, only just ahead of Timmy Hansen and Tanner Foust, who ended his year with a mediocre result.

In Super 1600 would become a Set Promotion party. Without Ulrik Linnemann in the A-final, it would be a lap of honour for Andreas Bakkerud who only needed fifth in order to take the title. The race was won by Jussi Leppihalme, ahead of team mate Suninen. Skorupski came third and now holds second in the championship. As Skorupski would need to drop his score of seven points in Austria he can only score an additional 13 points in Germany, not enough to bridge the 17-point gap to Bakkerud.

Would the third champion of the day come from the Touringcar class today? Well yes, Derek Tohill never got in front of Anton Marklund during the final, who 'cruised' to second place and the title in Touringcars. Robin Larsson continued his end of season sprint by taking yet another victory, ahead of Marklund and Castoral.

Timerzyanov still seemed surprised with his title

At the end of the day we had three great champions in the names of Timur Timerzyanov for Russia in Supercars, Andreas Bakkerud for Norway in S1600 and Anton Marklund for Sweden in Touringcars. What Germany will bring? There are no titles left to race for, an invitation for all drivers to drive freely and put up a good show, next week in Buxtehude.

ERC Season Finale Preview

Who will take the silver? - A brief guide

by Martijn Kösters



As the final two rounds of this year's European Rallycross Championship in Finland and Germany are coming up, time for a quick brush up of all standings and title candidates.

Some of you might know that the European Rallycross Championship is divided into three categories. Supercars are four-wheel-driven vehicles fitted with a turbocharged two-liter engine. This might sound like a similar recipe as the WRC cars used throughout the 90s and 00s, but one must note that power output of ERC Supercars easily doubles that of WRC cars. Although exact numbers are kept secret, expect Supercars to put out around 600 horsepower, where WRC cars “only” have about 300 at best. The other two categories are Super 1600 (FWD, 1.6 liter atmospheric engines) and Touringcars (RWD, 2 liter atmospheric engines).

The Supercar category has been dominated throughout the season by one man: 'Czar' Timur Timerzyanov. Out of the seven rounds in which he competed d he managed to win five, of which three out of the last three rounds. Timerzyanov currently leads the championship with 128 points, his closest and only rival Tanner Foust is another 39 points down the road. Foust is the only driver who managed to keep Timerzyanov from a victory, yet as he is competing for the US-based Global Rallycross Championship as well he had to skip the Austrian and Swedish round of the championship. Mediocre results in France and the Netherlands put him only just ahead of #3 in the championship Alexander Hvaal, who is out of the title chase with 82 points.

The way in which the ERC is set up means there is another factor to be taken into account: drop-scores. Of both halves of the season each driver has to drop his worst result. In the first halve of the season, Timerzyanov dropped his non-entry at the season premier in the United Kingdom, where he couldn't enter because of visa issues. Other title candidate Tanner Foust skipped the Austrian round.

Standings at the moment come in two versions: one with and one without drop-scores. With drop-scores Timerzyanov would be on 108 points prior to the last two rounds, Foust would stay at 89 points (non-entry in Sweden). This decreases the gap in the championship from 39 to 19 points, leaving Foust with a chance for the title. On the other hand, a retirement would cost Timerzyanov absolutely nothing, since a 0-score would become his mandatory drop-score. To clinch the title this weekend, Timerzyanov would only need a single point (15^th place), since Foust could only reach a total 129 points.

Prediction: Timur Timerzyanov


In Super 1600 matters are not so clear as in Supercars, since there are many more drivers still competing for the title, five to be precise. Leading the Championship is Andreas Bakkerud, with a 119 points he has a nice but not comfortable lead of 10 points over Ulrik Linnemann. Third is Krzystof Skorupski on 99 points, closely followed by Ildar Rakhmatullin on 94 and Bakkerud's team mate Jussi Leppihalme on 91 points.

Andreas Bakkerud can take the title his this weekend, if he wins and Linnemann would finish no higher than third the scores would be 139 against 124. If Linnemann would then win in Germany he would need to drop his 5 points scored in Belgium putting him on 139 points. Bakkerud would then be champion on four wins to three for Linnemann.

Bakkerud's worst score was 7^th place in Belgium, still an A-final finish. He's great at fighting his way up from a B-final position to the A-final. Linnemann can only try to win and hope Bakkerud doesn't do well.

Prediction: Andreas Bakkerud

In the Touringcar class there are only two title candidates left: Anton Marklund leads on 125 points with 2010 champion Derek Tohill second on 108 points. Marklund has had an absolutely fantastic season with two wins and five second places. Only time Marklund didn't make the podium was in Norway, and that score doesn't count for the championship anymore (dropped). Tohill is on two wins as well, yet finishing 4^th, 9^th and 3^rd in the last three rounds has cost him the lead he held after the first half of the season. Outsider for this weekend could be Robin Larsson, he either did not score or finished on the podium (4 times out of 6 starts).

In order for Marklund to take the title in Finland he would 'only' need to finish second. This would put him on 142 points, whereas Tohill can only reach 140 given he wins twice (drops 8 points from Belgium).

Prediction: Anton Marklund

WRC: Wales rally GB review.

So hello Rally and Cross readers. In case you don't know me I'm Tiff and I usually write about Formula One. But I do have a secret passion for the WRC.
So I was truly honoured when Martijn asked me to write a review for the Wales rally GB.
Now being British. This means I get to start by writing about my home race. Winner.

Now being British also means I get British coverage of the Rally, which sadly now is pretty dire. Ten years ago the WRC used to be on prime time terrestrial TV, then it fell in to the clutches of cable TV and then even more further into almost obscurity by being on to a specialist motors TV channel. Now don't get me wrong Motors TV which covers the WRC do a pretty good job with the limited resources they have. It just means that I'm doing a review based on just ninety minutes of coverage.
But I aim to do my best for you readers of Rally and Cross and hopefully this won't be the last you see of me on the blog.

So we head into round ten with Sebastien Loeb fifty four points ahead of Mikko Hirvonen but with Wales rally GB usually being Ford territory. It will be interesting to see if Citroen can do anything about it.
What will also be interesting is how the weather will affect play. Especially because the UK is notoriously rainy and wet and I personally can testify to this.

And of course it was raining for start of day one.

After Stage One, Ford took the rains. (Take the pun if you will) and it was Petter Solberg who took charge over Mads Ostberg and Jari-Matti Latvala.

Stage Two and Three saw a change of the guard. With Loeb starting to play catch up to a race that he doesn't even need to win. Solberg after a cracking Stage One still kept his foot in the door and seemed confident in Wales. Though Stage Two and Three didn't seem to be fun times for everyone. As Ott Tanak can testify when power steering started to fail on him.
SS3 saw Latvala take the lead of the rally and declare that this was his favourite stage.
It seems that Latvala is finally starting to enjoy himself after a dire few months.

Stage Five saw Loeb start to lose time to the Ford's meanwhile team mate Hirvonen had a case of the Jenson Button's and started to complain about a lack of grip. A gripe that would continue for most of the rally.

The last stage of day one bought one of only a few hairy moments throughout the whole rally. With Solberg almost falling off the road, even though the track was starting to dry off.
Latvala started to put consistency together to bring the Ford home and keep the lead of the rally at the end of day one.

1. Latvala 1:25:05
2. Solberg +12.1
3. Loeb +21.3
4. Ostberg + 32.6
5. Hirvonen +53.8

Day Two of the rally started off a bit like my eyesight. Foggy. Though for Thierry Neuville the start of Day Two ended up more soggy then foggy, when water started coming into the car. Even at one point ending up on the pace notes. Hirvonen was still massively frustrated with his lack of traction and grip, which still hadn't been sorted from the previous day. The start of Day Two was great for Ostberg though who took his first stage win on Stage Seven, his first stage win for three years.



The second half of Day Two was finally clear of fog and also for once stayed dry. Stage Eleven and Twelve saw Loeb attempt to catch Solberg. Loeb trying to take every point out of anyone he can, but sadly for Loeb Solberg responded to Loeb's advances and held on to second place at the end of Day Two.

1. Latvala 2:18:05
2. Solberg +24.5
3. Loeb +30.9
4. Ostberg +49.9
5. Hirvonen +1.22

Day Three saw the start of the battle for the minor placings with Evgeny Novikov and Ott Tanak. Tanak started to make a charge on Novikov but then sadly made a mistake, never truly recovered and ended up losing out on a chance at sixth place.
Talking of struggling. Ostberg started Day Three with a continuing mis-fire problem, which meant he struggled going fast uphill. Sadly this isn't good in Wales as it is pretty hilly.
In Stage Fifteen and Sixteen we started to see Loeb take charge to try and take second place away from Solberg. Sadly Solberg started to crumble and slowly started to lose small increments of time which led to Loeb taking Second place away from him.

The second half of Day Three saw Ostberg still struggling with his mis-fire from earlier in the day, but he still kept up the pace to safely secure a great fourth place in Wales. Loeb managed to keep hold on to his position and retain second place.
So we see Latvala strike an impressive performance to win the Wales rally GB. Not only with style but also with bags of confidence.
I literally can't wait to see what the next three rounds will hold.

So the Wales rally GB Top Ten ended like this.

1. Jari-Matti Latvala 3:03:40
2. Sebastien Loeb +27.8
3. Petter Solberg +28.7
4. Mads Ostberg +1.10
5. Mikko Hirvonen +1.29
6. Evgeny Novikov +3.37
7. Thierry Neuville +4.11
8. Matthew Wilson +6.00
9. Martin Prokop +6.58
10. Nasser Al Attiyah +9.32



Hope you enjoyed my review of the Wales rally GB.
If you like Formula One as well then you can also read my blog here.
You can also follow me on twitter @squiffany

Rally Review - IRC Yalta Rally

Stars shine in their absence

by Martijn Kösters

The Intercontinental Rally Challenge set up camp around Yalta in the Ukraine for the 10^th round of this year's championship. A major disappointment came at that start of the Rally, when an inspection of the entry list learned that none of the big names in the IRC (as there are Mikkelsen, Kopecký, Hänninen or even youngsters like Wiegand) took part in this year's event.

Instead the field consisted of three Fiesta S2000s, a Fabia S2000, a 207 S2000, an Impreza R4 and two Lancer Evo R4s. A total of 8 cars would compete in the major class of this event. Further look at the entry list reveals a lot of Citroën C2 and Fiesta in R2 regulation, and old Citroën Saxo and more curiously a VAZ 2112 and 11193, which I would love to see in Rally trim. 

 

Even though the amount of entries was limited, this would not necessarily have to stand in the way of an interesting Rally, yet there were two drivers who were clearly superior to the rest. Mikko Pajunen (Fin) and Yuri Protsarov (Ukr) (both in Fiestas) could comfortably beat the rest of the field by a margin of 30 seconds on a 20 kilometer stage, which meant that after a combined hour of timed stages the gap to third was over 100 seconds, and fourth place was 3,5 minutes down the road.

When Pajunen had to retire after a stage 5 crash this left Protsarov lonely at the top of the standings, and most excitement seemed gone from the Rally. Further down Yagiz Avci was in second, 2.29 behind Protsarov and 2.03 ahead of Romainian Tempestini. Protsarov picked up a puncture on SS7 which cost him three minutes and the lead, which he retook after a storming drive on SS8, winning the stage by a full minute. Troubles on sunday morning put him out of the Rally. Stages on sunday afternoon saw only 14 teams left, Avci initially lead the Skoda S2000 of Hungarian Vicin, but a great drive of Robert Consani in a 2WD (!) Renault Mégané was rewarded with second place at the end of the rally.

The Prime Yalta Rally again showed a trend of inflation ongoing in the IRC, where in previous years a three-way battle between top-level drivers was guaranteed at every event, the 2012 IRC is a championship where many stars disappeared, and the few left are acting on a part-time basis. The fact that a 2WD car made it to the podium is partly due to Consani's driving capabilities, but mostly down to the lack of competition.

So far, Championship leader Andreas Mikkelsen was the only driver to compete in every Rally until this weekend. Juho Hänninen, thanks to three victories and a second place, is second in the standings. Note that he only had to compete in four rallies to secure 2^nd in the championship. Comparing the IRC to its big brother WRC, we see that the WRC has 15 drivers who have taken part in two-thirds or more of the events in the championship. In the IRC, only four drivers achieve this criteria, compared to ten last year. The Intercontinental Rally Challenge really needs to step up its game in order to remain the biggest championship behind the WRC. It is already not Intercontinental anymore, and it is now risking losing its appeal as a major championship.

Special Announcement: We're back!

I admit freely, after setting up this blog in March I failed to provide infromation beyond the 140 characters on @Rallycross_ERC.

Yet, Although, But and Also.... We are back, and properly back that is.


This weekend the Iconic Wales Rally GB is driven oncemore, and there will be a report, yes. But not any ordinary report, we have got our own "local correspondent". A good friend of mine Mrs. Tiffany Fletcher (And do read her blog here) has taken an interest in the World Rally Championship. And what way to complement the British round of the WRC than with a British entry on the blog.



For now, enjoy the Rallies (IRC Yalta Rally this weekend too) and look forward for posts this weekend.


The @Rallycross_ERC TEAM