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.

Rally Review: WRC2 / JWRC / WRC3 were all present in Portugal

Rally Review: WRC2 / JWRC / WRC3 were all present in Portugal

by Martijn Kösters
WRC2 had an interesting line-up of drivers for the Rally of Portugal. Amongst them we found a WRC Academy Winner (Elfyn Evans), a Grand Prix Winner making his gravel debut (hello Robert Kubica) and the current leader in WRC2 (Sepp Wiegand). Yet it was neither of these who took the lead after the first duo of stages. A young Finn going by the unique name of Esapekka Lappi topped the time sheets ahead of Wiegand, Evans, Kubica and Barrable. After the end of the first day Sepp Wiegand had crashed on the final stage of the day and Kubica retired because of problems on the liason. This meant that Lappi lead Evans by 30 seconds after day one, with Bresolin and Barrable a good two minutes behind the Finn.

Kubica's debut on gravel can be summarized in three words: Impressive, short and troublesome. Impressive as he managed to keep pace on a surface he never competed before, setting top four times in the stages in which he did compete. Troublesome for the fact that a tree branch ended hopes of a good result when it decided to become a structural part of the radiator, piercing it and spilling fluid everywhere. Kubica and his co-driver Maciek Baran did fix the cooling issue after the stage, but a trio of punctures with only two spare tyres around meant that the final stage of the day in Lisbon was a bridge too far. Kubica did return for day two, but transmission problems meant he had to use his weaker right hand for manual shifting.

Back to the action on day two where Lappi continued to dominate the pace, by setting up a nifty 11 stage win streak and building a four minute lead Elfyn Evans was forced to retire with transimission issues at the first stage of the day, handing P2 to Robert Barrable who demoted Bressolin to third in WRC2. A puncture for Barrable and troubles for Bressolin meant that Wiegand made his way back into second, ahead of Barrable. Meanwhile Fuchs and Villanueva held on to 4^th and 5^th after day 2.

Four stages remained on day three, with Lappi comfortably leading he did not push for fastest stage times any longer yet still extended his lead in what seemed an easy run for the Finn. When Wiegand's gearbox jammed he lost second place and a good ten minutes, giving Lappi a ten minute lead over Barrable with two more stages to go. As no more close battles were fought out little changes happened in the final loop. Esapekka Lappi won by 11,5 minutes over Barrable, with Wiegand a quarter of an hour behind. Fuchs fourth almost twenty minutes behind Lappi. Al-Kuwari and Kubica made up the top six.

The JWRC kicked off its six-event season in Portugal, with a field of ten drivers. Best known might be Pontus Tidemand, who showed impressive pace in the WRC field at the rally of Sweden where he ran within the top six during the first day. Drivers drive identical Fiesta R2s for this year, but setup and such is all theirs to adjust. Day one saew Pontus Tidemand, Jose Suarez and Marius Aasen draw ahead of the rest of the field by a good 2 minutes with little drama for most drivers. Except for Estonian Sander Parn who lost a wheel in stage one and already had to retire. Tidemand lead after day 1 out of 2 by 27 seconds over Suarez, Aasen third 32 seconds behind and Bostanci in fourth trailed Tidemand by 2m02.

Day two saw Jose Suarez keep up nicely with Tidemand, losing only 19 seconds over four stages but a puncture on the final stage threw him back by over 1,5 minute. Lemes had a strong second day, climbing all the way up from 8^th to 3^rd place. After a puncture on day one he put on a strong performance to claim a podium spot. Amberg edged out Koci for fourth by just 4 seconds as Marius Aasen dropped to sixth after a puncture and rear axle damage.

The JWRC will be back during the Acropolis Rally.

WRC3 then, with only a field of nine drivers the smallest of the four World Rally Championship. Yet this did not affect the competition as the top four was split by just over 20 seconds after the first day. Keith Cronin lead the field by only 3.3s over Alistair Fisher, Chardonnet another 3.3 behind. Bryan Bouffier was also at Rally de Portugal and maintained fourth only 23 seconds behind.

Drama on day two where a river crossing claimed two leading drivers. Both Cronin and Fisher got their DS3 R3s stuck. Where Fisher managed to get going after a long 18 minute delay Bouffier used his experience to avoid trouble and take the lead. Chardonnet went off road later on the day and lost six minutes, yet held second. Bouffier lead by eight minutes after day two, Chardonnet as said being second. Francesco Parli held on to third, more than 13 minutes from the lead, with Quentin Gilbert in fourth and the only other driver to complete the full day. He is almost 22 minutes behind Bouffier.

Day three saw just four more stages, and with differences being this big little changes in the standings. Bouffier, Chardonnet maintained one-two. With Francesco Parli retiring on the final day it granted Quentin Gilbert third place. Fisher, Cronin and Campadelli were the last to complete the rally in 4^th, 5^th and 6^th respectively.

Rally Review: WRC Portugal

So after 4 weeks away, the WRC championship is back and we are in Europe. This time Portugal takes its turn and with its dusty roads and high attrition it's going to be interesting to see how the cars fare up.
Also Portugal brings a new driver in WRC2 but any Formula One fan will know straight away who it is. After his huge accident in 2011 Robert Kubica is back and hoping to gain plenty of experience on the rally circuit.
So let's go with round four.



Day One. 

In qualifying Dani Sordo took charge and won to gain the first pick for the start of the race. He chose 13th so that cars ahead of him could clean the dusty road ahead.

Stage One was about tyre choices. With Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala on a mixture of the hards and softs. Mads Ostberg was on the hards and Sebastien Ogier the only driver to pick full softs.
The hards are more durable but the softs are quicker for a short period of time but degrade rapidly.
But these tyres will have to last for all the day's action.
Ogier made the softs pay off for now by posting the fastest stage time but Ostberg on the hards was only 4 seconds behind.

Stage two shows Ostberg's aggression to be the fastest but he makes a small mistake and hits a hill. Luckily the car is all okay. Ogier knows by picking the softs from earlier that his tyres will deteriorate quickly and he loses 3.9 seconds to Ostberg. Dani Sordo keeps up a fine form and finishes the stage 2nd quickest and stays third overall.

1. Ostberg 23:23.1
2. Ogier +3.9
3. Sordo +10.3
4. Hivonen +16.5
5. Latvala +16.8

Stage three is memorable for all the wrong reasons for Mads Ostberg after a stella run throughout the morning, right near the end of stage three confusion over a pace note leaves Mads clipping a corner and rolling the car 3/4 times leaving it the wrong way up. Luckily Mads and his co-driver Jonas are all okay. Ostberg though is out for now. Meaning that Ogier retakes the lead of the rally.



Stage four and five shows the roller coaster that the back of the field have to deal with. Martin Prokop is holding steady in 10th, while Andreas Mikkelsen is struggling with the lack of power steering. Meanwhile Sordo is trying to close up on Ogier,  however Ogier is still sitting pretty at the top of the table even with the soft tyres.

1. Ogier 49:33.0
2. Sordo +4.4
3. Latvala +11.4
4. Hirvonen +16.2
5. Neuville + 30.7

Day Two. 

Ostberg returns under rally rules.

Stage six starts with Thierry Neuville running into trouble. Clipping his left rear tyre on the wall, crushes his suspension and he too is out of the rally. Also out of the rally is Dani Sordo after an off. Latvala is over driving the car in a bid to keep his third place over Hirvonen, who is wild and wide at times. All the trouble in the midfield keeps the pressure off Ogier helping him retain the top spot.

Stage seven sees the Evgeny Novikov struggling with getting the best out of the car. He has been slightly underwhelming in this rally but is keeping good pace. Latvala is showing his confidence as he's half a second slower the Hirvonen but seems to have raised his game. Ogier as usual is speedy but consistent.



Stage eight sees Kosciuszko benefiting from the early runners retiring helping the mini climb slowly up the table. Ogier is the quickest through the stage.

1. Ogier 1:43:25.8
2. Latvala +14.1
3. Hirvonen +37.2
4. Novikov +2:51.6
5. Al-Attiyah +4:36.7

Stage nine sees Latvala losing ground to Ogier after running on used rubber.

Stage ten and eleven sees Prokop cruelly lose his 6th place position due to a broken drive shaft. He loses two minutes overall. Hirvonen is struggling to catch up to the VW's and we see the VW of Latvala lose time to his time mate Ogier.
Ogier however is still on fine form and take his fourth stage win in a row.

1. Ogier 2:36:55.1
2. Latvala +34.8
3. Hirvonen +1:08.5
4. Novikov +4:23.9
5. Al-Attiyah +6:19.2

Day Three

Stage twelve sees Al-Attiyah on course for his second top five finish even though the conditions are tough. Low light and excess dust is making it tricky for everyone. Ogier gets off to a slow start on the start line and loses half minute overall. To top off the VW's bad stage woes. Latvala has no traction and is only on two wheel drive. A big sign of a drive shaft problem.

Stage thirteen sees Hirvonen take 2nd place due to Latvala's drive shift problem. Ogier too is having a few niggles car wise but nothing close to what Latvala has, the clutch seemingly to blame. Meanwhile both Prokop and Ostberg are bouncing back after their earlier car problems. Prokop gaining two places while Ostberg gains a massive forty five places since his off in day one.



Service sees work begin on the two VW's to repair both the cars problems.

Stage fourteen sees Koscuiszko improving but a hole in the floor makes driving difficult. He manages to hold on to 12th place. Latvala meanwhile is now back up to speed after his repairs and is second fastest in the stage.

Stage fifteen is the power stage so extra points are on offer for the top three finishers. Hirvonen struggles in the stage but keeps on to an overall 2nd place. Ogier however capitalises on a fantastic weekend to take not only the three points from the stage but also the win overall. Ostberg gains two badly needed points after a bad weekend. Latvala takes the last point on the power stage.

1. Ogier 3pts
2. Ostberg 2pts
3. Latvala 1pt

Rally Portugal results
1. Ogier 4:07:38.7
2. Hirvonen +58.2
3. Latvala +4:04.5
4. Novikov +5:27.7
5. Al-Attiyah +7:43.5
6. Mikkelsen +9:39.8
7. Prokop +15:04.2
8. Ostberg +15:43.6
9. Al-Gassimi +15:56.9
10. Lappi +16:21.0



Drivers standings
1. Ogier 102pts
2. Hirvonen 48pts
3. Loeb 43pts
4. Ostberg 32pts
5. Latvala 31pts

Manufacturers standings
1. VW 121pts
2. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi 107pts
3. Qatar M-sport 53pts
4. Qatar 36pts
5. Abu Dhabi Citroen Total 27pts

So Ogier takes an hat trick of victories but with Loeb back in Argentina. Who knows what could happen. All I know is that I will see you again in a few weeks time for more rally review.

In the meantime you can follow me on Twitter @squiffany

Kubica flies, Kopecky scores

Kubica flies, Kopecký scores
by Martijn Kösters


Not just any odd comeback from Kubica, he came back with style, quite some style. Winning a tourist trophy is another thing than winning in the ERC I said before, apparently Robert didn't get that message.

Although sunny weather is what you would expect from the Canary Islands, the rally was off to a wet start with rainon SS1 and foggy conditions on the second stage. Kubica wasn't halted by these conditions, with Breen "as blind as a bat" on stage two after forgetting his glasses. No major drama in the early stages of the rally, but Kubica lead by 37 seconds after just 45 kilometers of stages aided by the soft compound tyres whilst others drove on hard ones. After the first leg of three stages it was Kubica, Kopecky, Breen, Monzon and Ancian in the top 5.

Kubica continued his streak of best stage times on the next trio of stages, building on his lead continuously. Conditions did improve, but full attack was not an ideal option on damp stages. Behind the pole, Craig Breen challenged Kopecky by cutting his lead to 10.3s after stage 5. Luis Monzon dropped over 40 seconds to Jeremi Ancian on stage 5 after a puncture struck the Spaniard, handing over fourth place as a result.

The final two stages also went to Kubica, completing a clean sweep on friday of 8 stage bests. Behind him Kopecky felt the need to respond to Craig Breen's charge. Though not without risk: "We had a big moment on a long left-hander when we were braking too late and sliding 40 metres completely off the line". At the end of dayone Kubica lead Kopecky by 1m06. Breen in third 44 seconds behind the Czech. Ancian and Monzon in fourth and fifth well clear of eachother. Aigner lead production class in p6 overall.

A sign of change on day two, with Kubica not winning the first stage of the day. Kopecky gained 1.1 second on the rally leader, and was still unlikely to win the rally. Major drama arose on the following stage, when Kubica had a big shunt and terminally damaged his suspension. He was out, and Kopecky lead. Ancian was also forced to retire, running out of spare tyres and barely making the stage finish meant he couldn't continue. After ss10/14 it was Kopecky leading Breen by 1m17, with Monzon a further 1,5 minute back in 3rd. Andreas Aigner, Bonnefis and Leandri made up the top six, with Antxustegi and Robert Consani lurking at Leandri's sixth place.

Final loop of the rally saw people consolidating their podium spots at the front. Consani dropped time after a puncture on ss12 was out of the battle for sixth place, though was promoted up to seventh when Leandri ran into trouble on the penultimate stage. That joy was shortlived however, as another puncture cost him 7th and even 8th place. 

Final result saw Kopecky taking the win, comfortably ahead of Breen. Local hero Luis Monzon must have been joyed with a podium spot in third. Aigner, Bonnefis and Antxustegi made 4th 5th and 6th whilst Puskadi and Leandri completed the top 8. Kopecky leads Breen in the championship by 18 points.