GRC: Great Right Challenge

GRC: Great Right Challenge
by Martijn Kösters

Global Rallycross makes its way to sunny California, and finally gets the facilities right providing great action. After some less successful track lay-outs earlier in the season the Irwindale Motor Speedway is still not a purpose based rallycross track, but does offer opportunities for good racing. The infield can still be described as tight but wide enough to squeeze a car alongside, and the long run towards the first hairpin, across the oval creates a great overtaking area.

Heat one featured the likes of Isachsen, Arpin, Deegan and Mirra. Isachsen had the best of starts in his Subaru and held the lead through the first few turns. Yet when arriving at the joker corner drivers faced wet mud rather than the drier clay and dust they practiced and qualified on. Only Isachsen managed to adjust his speed appropriately, the other went wide or brushed the wall. Arpin was unable to continue, resulting the race to be red flagged, rather late. Isachsen was already approaching the corner where Arpin and his stranded car stood.
The restart saw Isachsen again getting away quickly, with Deegan following him throughout the heat. Both qualified for the final.

Heat two saw well known GRC driver Patrik Sandell take up European drivers such as Anton Marklund and Liam Doran, who took his Mini out for this occasion. Doran was on the pace despite not being in his regular car, with Sandell following him closely, yet settling for second place without attacking fiercely.

A hectic first turn in Heat Three, as Speed Pastrana and Sterckx all make some mistake. And in true Topi-style Heikkinen somehow makes it past all the mishap. He leads Pastrana Speed Sterckx and Verdier after lap 1. Throughout the race the battle for second intensifies between Pastrana and Speed, and in the final lap Speed has no other choice than to go for it. Coming into hairpin two Speed makes his mad dash, with the move biting back on him. Pastrana takes second and his spot in the final, Speed is left with a Last Chance in the LCQ.

Heat four has to be a highlight in the 2013 GRC Season, the amount and especially the intensity of the action was sublime. Timerzyanov (in a VW Polo), Foust, Block, Lasek, Menzies line up. Ken Block makes the best start and leads into the hairpin where Foust briefly bumps into Timerzyanov. Timerzyanov, leading European Champion, chases Block in the following laps. Interesting to see how Block is quite like a defending drifter, using all track surface everywhere and preventing Timerzyanov from passing. Timur Timerzyanov however, is a more clean, agile, driver. Handbrakes for the tight hairpins. Quicker, but he can't find a gap to get past.
As Timerzyanov drops back throughout the race, this creates a terrific fight between him and Foust. Both know eachother from the European Championship, where they both raced for the championship the past years. Foust gets close at the second hairpin and takes the inside, but the traction on the outside helps Timerzyanov out. Going into the next turn drivers are door to door, bumper to bumper, but Timerzyanov refuses to make way.
In the penultimate lap, Timerzyanov loses some control over his car coming out of the second hairpin and with a brilliant move around the outside Foust takes the inner line into the next chicane. Timerzyanov hasn't given up yet, but Foust is having none of it, forcing the Russian very wide and even brushing the tyres himself. As a result Timerzyanov loses more time, letting Bryan Menzies through.

A lot of rubbing into the next turn where Timerzyanov will not concede his place and somehow also keeps it on the track in the process
Mistake for TT in the second turn of the penultimate lap, and with a breathtaking move round the outside by Foust both go side by side into the Joker corner. A disputable move by Foust follows, where he forces Timerzyanov wide, very wide. Yet as he had unmistakeably the inside line he had all the right to do so. Block by this time had created a large lead and easily makes the final, together with Foust.


Last Chance Qualifier also saw some action, as Rhys Millen stalled his car, Anton Marklun is quick to avoid him. Yet as he hits Jos Sterckx's car in the progress this catapults him into the concrete inner wall. Marklund gets out of his car on his own, yet needs some medical attention with an injured leg. As the race officials need another full lap to decide on a red flag racing continues in the infield for a full lap. Opinion: a red flag should not take 45 seconds to decide on, full stop.

Take two of the LCQ sees only five of the original nine cars show up. Speed has another fantastic start, with Millen clean away into second. Millen even gets the lead when Speed goes wide around the Joker Corner, which was rewatered before the LCQ. Bryan Menzies follows in third, waiting to take his joker at the right time. When he does so a little later he indeed passes Speed for second, but also clips the wall exiting the joker, resulting in terminal rear suspension damage. As a result, Millen and Speed qualify for the big final.


The Final sees Isachsen, Heikkinen, Doran and Block on row 1. With Isachsen making a very jumpy start he leads into turn one. As a result he avoids the carnage caused by Doran and Block, who touch and spin together with Deegan. Heikkinen makes his way past, but takes some cones out in the hairpin, still rejoins in second. As Isachsen is indeed penalised, Toomas 'Topi' Heikkinen inherits the lead when Isachsen stops for a very quick stop and go. Isachsen rejoins in 4^th, very close behind Pastrana. The middle of the ten lap race sees no major changes, although Sandell and Speed decide to change that. A contact between the two sees all kinds of debris and litter scattered across the track. A loose thread from Sandell on the home straight, tyre barrier on track right after the first hairpin, bits of barrier and bodywork in the infield. This time the race officials did not decide to interfere, oddly enough.
Despite all, it is Heikkinen who drives home his second GRC victory of the season in a commanding drive beating Foust, Isachsen and Millen.

Standings:

1	57	Toomas Heikkinen	OlsbergsMSE	96
2	38	Brian Deegan	OlsbergsMSE	62
3	34	Tanner Foust	OlsbergsMSE	61
4	18	Patrik Sandell	OlsbergsMSE	60
5	43	Ken Block	Hoonigan Racing Division	58
6	33	Liam Doran	LD Motorsports	51
7	32	Steve Arpin	OMSE2	47
8	77	Scott Speed	OMSE2	45
9	11	Sverre Isachsen	Subaru PUMA Rallycross	34
10	92	Anton Marklund	Marklund Motorsport	26

Rally Review: WRC Acropolis Rally - Bumpy ride just doesn't do it justice

Rally Review: WRC Acropolis Rally
Bumpy ride just doesn't do it justice
by Martijn Kösters
Rough terrain was expected, and explored during the recces, but few would have seen such battlefield coming up. Let alone in Stage one were Sebastien Ogier AND Mikko Hirvonen AND Mads Ostberg encountered severe trouble.

Indeed SS1 caused quite a stirr right at the start of the rally, Hirvonen had major steering issues which would delay the steering response and lost six minutes while Ostberg nursed a damaged wheel home. Ogier promptly retired for the day with fuel pressure problems and would be back on Saturday. Novikov was lucky to escape unharmed after his fully commited run, he went fastest ahead of Sordo and Latvala. Stage two provided little to no drama thankfully, so Novikov lead Sordo and Latvala after day one whilst Robert Kubica lead the WRC2 field ahead of Protsarov and Al Kuwari.

Day two saw the majority of the stages of this rally. Whilst Novikov and Latvala matched eachother's times on stage 3 it was Latvala leading after the fourth stage: Novikov had suffered a puncture and was thrown back a good four minutes into eighth.
After four stages: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+15.6, 3 Neuville+43.5, 4 Mikkelsen+1.23, 5 Al-Attiyah+2.09, 7 Ostberg, 11 Hirvonen, 19 Ogier
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Protsarov+1.21, 3 Al-Kuwari+1.28, 4 Aksa+2.12

Throughout the afternoon Latvala slowly increased his lead on Sordo, who drove more cautiously, to a minute by the end of the day. Behind the two Andreas Mikkelsen suffered a massive brake failure in SS5, completing the stage without any but the handbrake. Novikov had a similar problem after an earlier impact and Ostberg suffered another broken wheel, this time the allignment was far from correct.

Stage 8 saw evgeni Novikov recover from his earlier damage to take another stage win. Ogier reported onboard cameras falling off from all the shaking and battering the car took whilst Ostberg came across the finish with another puncture.
After 8 stages: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+44.7, 3 Neuville+1.32, 4 Al-Attiyah+3.25, 5 Mikkelsen+3.34, 7 Ostberg, 8 Hirvonen, 11 Ogier
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Al Kuwari+2.04, 3 Protsarov+2.08, 4 Aksa+3.42

The final day of the Acropolis Rally was not focussed on the battle up front, since there wasn't any really. Damage limitation seemed the main priority although Nasser Al-Attiyah and Andreas Mikkelsen did compete for a respectable fourth place though, with the difference being less than 20 seconds throughout most of the rally. Hirvonen and Ogier too seemed to be stuck in 8^th and 10^th respectively, with the driver in front being nearly two minutes away.

Mikkelsen passed Al-Attiyah on stage 12 out of 14, despite the gap being only 1.9s Al-Attiyah adopted a sensible approach and vowed not to push anymore. Yet despite sensibility all around the Rally paddock there were three extra points to be awarded in the final stage. Many drivers reported tweaking their setups after SS12 (also Power Stage 14). Sordo, Al-Attiyah, Ostberg and Prokop were not to be seduced by any extra points, finishing was their main goal and they therefore didn't put in a fast time. Andreas Mikkelsen snatched away a point from Latvala who swiftly but safely made it to the Finish. Novikov got hold of two extra points but the main treat went to the championship leader: Sebastien Ogier.

WRC Greece final: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+1.50, 3 Neuville+2.14, 4 Mikkelsen+3.55, 5 Al-Attiyah+4.12, 6 Ostberg, 7 Hirvonen, 8 Prokop, 9 Novikov, 10 Ogier, 11 Kubica
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Protsarov, 3 Al-Kuwari, 4 Tamrazov, 5 Al Ketbi, 6 Fuchs.

Global Rallycross in Europe: DNF

Global Rallycross in Europe: DNF
by Martijn Kösters

What should have been round two of the Global Rallycross Championship ended in a major farce as rain made the track service undriveable. Question on everyone's minds (drivers, fans, organizers): how could this happen to a major and professional sporting event. Because let's be honest, the X Games aren't a primary school sports day.

Both Global Rallycross / X Games tracks in Foz de Iguacu and Barcelona have been under a lot of criticism. In Brazil it was a poor lay-out, dust and a gripless track surface which hampered the experience for drivers and viewers. The narrow and straight-forward layout did not promote overtaking, and even if drivers were planning too, huge amounts of dust and a lack of grip made sure that they couldn't see or feel where they would end up.

With little competitive running in Barcelona, it's difficult to say how the action would have ended up. But taking a look at the track lay-out, it seems like similar design mistakes have been made. Although partly explained by the minimum around of room in the Estadio Olympic, designers definitely shouldn't have opted for a large infield section because of that. Tight and narrow hairpins wouldn't have promoted any overtaking action.

Then there was the major issue, something which wouldn't come to mind of everyone's mind. The facility was excellent, especially from an audience point of view, no doubt that the off track facilities were up to scratch. Yet the surface and particularly the ability of it to disperse water, well.

Let me explain this thoroughly before anyone rushes to conclusions, clay is a tricky surface, for many reasons. Unlike sand or gravel, it is very dense in structure, so it does not let through much or any water. That's why there was so much standing water on track this Sunday, and I doubt much could have been done to make the water drain, although banking would have been part of the solution.

Second is that clay, and especially wet clay is one of the least grippy surfaces you'll find in nature. If you have ever seen a tractor stuck in a field you can understand why racing was out of the question once it rained in Barcelona. Wet clay is miserable stuff to walk, cycle or drive on. Its very density and stickiness makes that when you spin the wheels on it it doesn't fly up in a rooster tail like you see on sand or gravel, but wraps itself around the spinning wheel. This downward spiral of grip makes it worse and worse.

Back to Barcelona and to what the organizers could have done. Another track surface would have been an easy fix but given the fact that the Stadium also served as the Motocross venue that is easier set than done, as you can't have bikers flying through the air when crashing into tarmac is a possibility. Yet, running Rallycross after the motorcyclists was an unwise decision. The Rallycross event had been postponed by two hours in order to let the track modifications take place. Because Rallycross started two hours later, the rain had started to fall down. I am by no means a Motocross expert but the bikes were better equipped to mud and rain than the cars. Someone in the X Games organizers could and should have seen the weather coming.

Another point is made by the cars not being ready for wet, muddy clay. This was the cause that sparked most outrage along Rallycross fans. For the simple reason that drivers were equipped with Tarmac-spec Rallycross tyres, with a much slicker and shallower thread. Although these tyres would have been perfectly suitable for the GRC events at NASCAR speedways they proved tricky enough in the Brazilian dust, let alone the wet mud in Spain. It seems awfully similar to what happened at the F1 United States Grand Prix, where a majority of the cars running on Michelin tyres found out they were not built for the oval conditions in Indianapolis.

To me, however, the saddest point of all is that the fine Global Rallycross Championship once again got squashed in between other extreme sports, in Foz de Iguacu TV-viewers had to sit through a lot of skating before a brief Rallycross segment came along. In Barcelona, the GRC had to wait for Motocross to finish their act and the track to be reconfigured. By the time GRC took to the stage, the proverbial janitor was out mopping the floor (quite literally). Does Rallycross want to be a part of the extreme sports ensemble when it means it is moved to the back of the stage and to adapt to motocross surroundings? Or should Rallycross move back to being a dessert after a NASCAR event, where fans of four-wheeled motorsports can stick around for some more action. It's the NASCAR-GRC combination that I envied and I wished would exist here in Europe.

As long as Rallycross can't stand on it's own legs, it should still try to stand out from other sports, rather than blend in with others at the cost of its own characteristics, don't you think?

The Global Rallycross Championship continues June 29^th, at X Games Munich