European Rallycross: Two halves equals nothing?

European Rallycross: Two halves equals nothing?

by Martijn Kösters

This has been bugging my mind for a while now, actually ever since the split of the European Rallycross Championship (back then the only series to be abbreviated to ERC) into the IMG European Rallycross Championship and The Rallycross Challenge. Why? Because break-ups never work out, and probably never will.

Most recent example comes from The States, Champcar and Indycar split in the 1990s and went there own way for a while. One focusing more on so called 'Road Courses', the other practiced the fine art of going counter-clockwise very fast. Yet in the end, with a little help from the financial crisis, they were forced into eachother's arms again. The United States could not hold up two major open wheel racing categories. If two similar series, in one of the biggest categories of motor racing in one of the biggest consumer markets on the planet is not achievable. Can a much smaller form of motorsport like Rallycross make a split work?

Given, despite the current financial climate the IMG championship can rely on more than decent backing. Its outlook for the coming years looks very good, with more TV coverage, and more revenue for both teams and drivers. IMG seem to have a vantage point on the horizon where they want to take Rallycross to, and so far teams and drivers are more than willing to jump the IMG-train.

In a way, something needed to happen in order to take Rallycross to the next level. Coverage was virtually non-existent except when you were in one of the Scandinavian countries and some successful drivers like Isachsen, Foust and Doran were moving to the US to compete in the Global Rallycross Championship. The GRC might not be what Europeans call Rallycross, if only for the lack of off-road driving. Tracks might have been very basic in their lay-outs as they often used pit-lanes at oval circuits combined with some (very exciting) jumps. Still, GRC did get one thing right, positioning GRC as a dessert after NASCAR-races meant the spectators were already there, and major channels like ESPN were too. It provides prime racing (great driver line-up) on a prime channel (ESPN) on a prime slot (right after NASCAR) in front of a prime audience. For 2013 GRC takes another step by hosting events in line with the X-Games in Brazil, Spain, Germany and the US.

The big question is what the future of European Rallycross will look like. Will both series survive, will only one remain or will the split lead to the complete demise of Rallycross? Virtually it is anybody's guess with no events being run yet and no feedback from drivers or spectators. Yet from what we have seen in the build-up to the 2013 season I'll have to say that the IMG Championship seems to have a very strong package. Not only in terms of resources, but also in terms of FIA backing and a driver line-up which is right up there.

The Rallycross Challenge has been cloaked in silence so far, having only released a calendar which lists planned events. The Challenge is founded on the slogan 'Rallycross the way it is meant to be' and promises accessibility for both drivers and spectators. The focus on old-school rallycross is one that appeals to a general audience, but it may be a dead-end street. In the end the teams need to pay their bills, something IMG promises to do in their Championship. Combined with the more progressive focus of IMG into new markets like Portugal, Hungary and good-old Scandinavia which the Challenge misses out on, IMG provides a commercially more appealing package.

This whole opinion might be redundant as soon when The Rallycross Challenge reveal their plans in detail, but as it stands now the IMG has everything the drivers and teams could like. And although both calendars do not interfere with each other, it seems unlikely that any team can pull off 15 Rallycross events in a year. Drivers and teams who have signed up for the IMG ERC might occasionally join the Rallycross Challenge, but I'm afraid the latter one will boast perhaps a better atmosphere, but a starting grid without any headliners.

Rally Review: WRC Sweden

So after an eventful Monte Carlo we are back on snow and ice for the rally of Sweden. It is also round two for Sebastian Loeb out of his four WRC visits this year. But can he really take victory in a place where Scandinavians rule and Loeb has only won once here previously?

So who's going to take the spoils? Ogier? Loeb? Or can the any of the Finish contingent take the race.
Let's find out.

Day one started with the qualifying stage. To decide the running order for the start of day two. So it was to be that Sebastian Ogier took the spoils earning him his choice of starting position for stage two. Ogier decided to start as far down the field as he could, leaving the others to clean the roads for him. One of these unlucky people was Sebastian Loeb, who finished eighth in the qualifying stage and had to start back in tenth.

Stage two is a challenging slippery stage with a lot of grip needed to get through it. Loeb had a bumpy time of it, using the snow banks to bounce himself round the corners, he managed to not sustain any damage whilst doing this. Mikko Hirvonen was extremely wild on the stage, pushing the car to the limit. This didn't pay off for him when he hit a snow bank and launched into a barrel roll. Luckily both driver and co-driver were okay. But the time they lost wasn't okay. Crashing in a place with no spectators, this left few people to help dig the troubled Citroen out of the snow and a crushing 25 minutes were lost along with Hirvonen's chance of winning. Mads Ostberg also had a bit of trouble on stage two, his though were relatively minor compared to Hirvonen's. Just a small amount of trouble with the engine overheating. Though this was fixed at service later on. Ogier was the winner of stage two.

Stage three showed a poor progression for both the mini drivers who had huge problems with both car and conditions. Loeb meanwhile was chomping  at the bit and was staying steady in second place.

Stage four at Vargassen is always a treat for the spectators due to Colin's crest named after the late, great Colin McRae which provided some great car jumps and thrills of speed for the drivers. Though Loeb and Jari-Matti Latvala didn't want to impress the spectators and chose to play it safe on their runs. Dabbing the breaks to make sure they got a smooth landing. Latvala later said that he was enjoying himself and gaining more confidence with the car. Ogier was building up his lead over Loeb in a stage where he struggled with gear shift problems. The stage however belonged to Ostberg who after gaining a twenty second penalty for his late stage arrival, managed to risk it all and win the stage outright.

Stage five brought trouble to Dani Sordo, who being notorious for his poor show on snow and ice didn't help himself by crashing into a snow bank losing four minutes in the process.

Stage six and seven proved to be a joy for Pontius Tidemand who with his local knowledge had managed to end day one of the rally in sixth place. Latvala however had a stage to forget when communication with his co-driver failed and had to drive blind for most of the stage. To say Latvala was fuming would be an understatement.

Stage eight ended the rally with a short stage that saw Loeb eat a little into Ogier's time cushion.

End of day two results.

1. Ogier 1:16:00:1
2. Loeb + 31.4
3. Latvala +33.1
4. Ostberg +42.3
5. Novikov + 1:11.1
6. Tidemand +1:22.1

Day three started with a busy day. Eight stages in all would be raced today on some fast terrain. Stage nine was the fastest of them all, Sagen. With the cars reaching an average speed of 115km on this stage. Sadly Tidemand wasn't going anywhere fast when he had to retire with engine problems halfway through after a fantastic day two. Latvala and Ostberg were having their own mini battle for the last place on the podium. This meant that Loeb could concentrate on maintaining 2nd place. Ogier comfortably took the stage nine win.

Stage ten was the most challenging of the day with huge jumps and a bumpy road surface. Ogier lost some of his momentum whilst trying to keep his time cushion and ended up losing 5 seconds to Loeb, luckily for Ogier that Loeb was also struggling and was 0.2 slower then Ogier. Latvala though had an epic run through stage ten winning overall and talking about how he was finally learning how the car leans and how he is getting it to work for him.

Stage eleven and twelve showed Novikov pulling in some great performances and maintaining a great pace halfway through the rally. Loeb finally claimed his first stage win of the rally in stage eleven but didn't make much of a dent in Ogier's time.

Stage thirteen was a rerun of Sagen, but this time with no fresh snow this meant that the rerun would be more difficult. Novikov was putting pedal to the metal and keeping up his strong run from the morning. Latvala was worried about Ostberg being quicker then him, but ended up managing to just edge him out. Loeb started to stray a little on stage thirteen and become slightly wild, but in a strange bit of coincidence managed to post the same time as Ogier.

Stage fourteen and fifteen and the battle for third place rages on. With Latvala this time being the loser. 3.1 seconds behind Ostberg and this included Ostberg having a high speed wobble near the beginning of the stage. This means with Latvala and Ostberg focusing again on each other, this left Loeb to enjoy the spoils of second place and following Ostberg's example also managed to have a high speed wobble. Ogier has a faultless performance in the stage and grabs both forest stage wins.

Standings at the end of day three.

1. Ogier 2:18:22.8
2. Loeb +26.9
3. Ostberg +57.7
4. Latvala +1:03.8
5. Novikov +1:43.5

The last day of Rally Sweden consisted of six stages including the power stage, so there would be plenty of points up for grabs. Stage seventeen had a huge covering of deep snow. Latvala had free reign from VW to fight for the last podium position from Ostberg. Ostberg now under pressure managed to deliver and just hold on to third place. On Loeb's run the snow started to fall but Loeb is a master, even with the tricky conditions and  manages to gain 3 seconds on Ogier. Taking the win on stage seventeen.

Stage eighteen and Latvala is pushing as hard as he can to gain on Ostberg, but he knows after his mistake in Monte Carlo that he has to bring the car home in one piece. Ostberg is still not backing down, flinging the car around the snow bank like bumper cars at a fairground. Mads manages to inch three tenths off Latvala's time. Loeb and Ogier stay steady.

Stage nineteen and twenty sees Dani Sordo have more major issues when he crashes. Though this time it is terminal and he is out of Rally Sweden. Novikov after a great rally and getting himself into the top six, crashes yet again. It's not terminal but he loses a massive ten minutes digging himself out. Ogier too gets himself into trouble by crashing into a snow bank, but lady luck shines for Ogier and he manages to get himself back on the road pretty quickly.

Stage twenty one sees more of the Latvala and Ostberg saga but this time they are both matching each other on pace. Loeb is realising that his poor start on day two has hampered any chance of getting close to Ogier and is starting to settle for a decent second place finish.

Stage twenty two is the final stage for Rally Sweden. It is also the power stage, meaning extra points are up for grabs and it's pretty tense for Ogier, Loeb, Latvala and Ostberg. But the stage goes off without incident from the top four and it's only Loeb who doesn't get any points in the power stage.

Power Stage results.
Ogier 3pts
Latvala 2pts
Ostberg 1pt.

So conformation of the results of Rally Sweden.

1. Ogier 3:11:41.9
2. Loeb + 41.8
3. Ostberg + 1:24.5
4. Latvala + 1: 30.6
5. Neuville + 5:06.4

The drivers standings after Rally Sweden

1. Ogier 46pts
2. Loeb 43pts
3. Ostberg 24pts
4. Sordo 15pts
5. Latvala 14pts

So can anybody stop the wins from the Sebastiens? Who knows. All I know is that I'm looking forward to some warmth in Rally Mexico after two races on snow.

So see you in a months time for another WRC review, but if you can't wait that long I'm also on Twitter @squiffany

Rally Review: WRC Monte Carlo.

So after nearly four months away, your British rally correspondent is back and ready to take you through the 2013 WRC season.

Now so much seems to have changed from last year. Loeb has gone part time, Ford doesn't exist anymore but sort of does in a weird way, VW are now in and the drivers have seemingly moved about more then the hokey cokey.

But hopefully we can both learn and catch up together.

So last weekend was the start of the WRC season with Monte Carlo being our first host and with this being one of Loeb's four 2013 drives, can Loeb win his seventh Monte Carlo rally?

Day One. 

Loeb is the first out on day one and with wintry conditions expected, most of the top ten have opted for the studded winter tyres. The main problem with the winter tyres is that for most of day one was  it was dry tarmac, meaning everyone has to take care not to wreck their tyres for the later stages.
One of the first people to suffer with this tyre issue was Sebastian Loeb, meaning that Sebastien Ogier took full advantage and won the first stage for VW on their debut in the sport.

Stage two saw Loeb take control and storm through the field to overtake Ogier on the leader board by 6.7 seconds.

Stage three saw the fight between old team mates Loeb and Ogier intensify but with black ice all over the stage it made conditions tricky for all the drivers. Luckily for all the drivers the stage ends with cake or should I say tart. Tarte du pommes are served to all the drivers after stage three in a tradition spanning 40 years and after a tough stage who doesn't like a sweet treat.



Sadly for stage four. Thierry Neuville managed to again achieve the dubious honour of never finishing day one of the Monte Carlo rally. Sadly for Neuville he clipped the corner and broke his suspension and he was again out of Monte.

So after day one. Loeb leads quite comfortably over Ogier but the battle for 3rd, 4th and 5th is starting to hot up.

1. Loeb 1:39:49
2. Ogier + 1:20:3
3. Hirvonen + 1:46:7
4. Sordo + 2:01:2
5. Latvala + 2:32:2

Day Two.

More dry/snowy conditions for the start of day two. During Ogier's run on stage five we start to see conditions worsen as the snow starts to drive down but even with this setback Ogier is still five seconds quicker the Loeb. Stage five also sees the start of Hirvonen's up and down phase, by this I mean that one minute his confidence is up and by the next stage it's down. But throughout all this he is still super consistent over the stages.
Novikov manages to regain his composure after a slight off down a snow bank, but even this doesn't stop the speedy Russian and Novikov even manages to gain a place in the process.

The start of stage six and seven takes a slightly off turn for the mostly on form Ogier after he spins on track, luckily he gets back to business pretty quickly and doesn't lose too much time.
Sadly for Dani Sordo he hasn't got the best track record on snow and ice but he is still managing to keep up with the leaders for 3rd place.
The new rivalry on stage six and seven is with Jari Matti Latvala and Eugeny Novikov, finally on day two we start to see some of the Latvala of old. With a huge amount of confidence and taking a huge amount of risks Latvala is finally storming on his 2013 campaign. However the winner of stage six and seven was Novikov who took both stages wins and is looking very much in contention for some big points.



Stage eight was a more icy affair after the earlier stage run had took off all the loose snow. Hirvonen and Novikov continued to battle it out for 4th and 5th place but it was Hirvonen who struggled to find a good rhythm with the added problem of chonic understeer, whilst Novikov took the safe approach and chose to conserve his tyres.



At the end of day two both Loeb and Ogier had drama free days and with Loeb being fantastic and consistent as usual. He ends day two on still on top of the leader board. With Novikov taking full advantage of Hirvonen's problems and leaps into fourth place.

1. Loeb 3:16:29
2. Ogier + 1:35
3. Sordo + 2:38
4. Novikov + 2:53
5. Hirvonen + 3:22
6. Latvala + 3:43

Day Three. 

Stage eleven started off with Loeb taking no risks as he attempts win number seven at Monte Carlo. Ogier sadly at this point seemed pretty content to sit behind Loeb and go for 2nd place. Ogier finished stage eleven 90 seconds off Loeb's time.
Sordo had more of a trickier time when he nudged a snow bank and spun off, luckily he managed to get back on track and keep hold of third place. Novikov was aggressive in taking time off Sordo whilst he had his problems and shaved another seven seconds off Sordo. Latvala seemed a lot more content in the car after making a few tweaks to the VW, he also gained a place due to privateer Brain Bouffier having a huge off which caused him to lose nearly two minutes.



Stage twelve saw Sordo struggle with poor grip and now with the added pressure from Novikov taking time away from him. Sadly the pressure did indeed get to Sordo with another spin on day three, he was lucky to be going at such a slow speed at the time or he would of easily been out of the rally. All the trouble for Sordo saw Novikov take over third place now 8.6 seconds up on the Spainard. Stage twelve however really belonged to Mads Ostberg who stormed ahead to take his first stage win on 2013.

Stage thirteen saw the toughest stage Sisteron, but considering this. The stage took place without much incident.

Loeb still leads. With Ogier still holding on the second place. Latvala is finally showing signs of improvement after moving into the top five and Novikov takes full advantage of Sordo's problems to move up into the last podium position.

1. Loeb 4:16:41
2. Ogier + 1:47
3. Novikov + 3:19
4. Sordo + 3:21
5. Latvala + 4:04

Day Four. 

Stage fourteen threw up a huge amount of problems for many drivers, with conditions being extremely poor. Loeb himself even deemed the stage to be 'completely undriveable'.
Novikov then proved Loeb's point when he lost control and banged into two walls, leaving the car far too damaged to continue. Novikov's exit was Sordo's gain after he sees himself back in third place.
Hirvonen's run was also compromised after marshalls waved for him to slow down after an accident. Turns out that Latvala had also got himself into trouble and he too joined Novikov on the sidelines.
Then in a case of the 'threes' Juho Hanninen who had been relatively quiet for most of the rally, joined Latvala and Novikov after braking his suspension with the wall. The main person who benefited from all this chaos was Ostberg who now jumped three places to sneak into the top five.



Stage sixteen is a rerun of stage fourteen. The same stage that took out Latvala, Novikov and Hanninen. So the rerun in the dark was expected to be even more tricky. Most of the drivers opted to play safe and not to rush and take risks. Sadly for Ostberg that didn't happen, after slipping on some black ice he managed to make contact with the wall, luckily he did manage to limp back to service but not before losing fifth place to Bouffier.

Sadly for Ostberg, service would all be vain after crowd congestion and bad weather made the running the two stages impossible and for safety reasons would be cancelled. So Loeb wins in Monte Carlo for the seventh time.

So here is the final standings for Monte Carlo.

1. Loeb 5:18:57
2. Ogier + 1:39
3. Sordo + 3:49
4. Hirvonen + 5:26
5. Bouffier + 8:13
6. Ostberg +12:03



With Sweden next on the cards and Loeb back for that event. Who knows what the snow and ice will bring.
See you again in three weeks.

And remember you can also follow me on twitter @squiffany