Rally Australia

Sebastien Ogier claimed his sixth victory of the 2013 WRC season on the Coates Hire Rally Australia this weekend. In an utterly dominant performance the Frenchman and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia won all bar 2 of the event’s 22 stages (Volkswagen claimed 21 out of the 22 stage wins) as well as taking maximum points from the power stage too.

With Jari-Matti Latvala recovering to a creditable 4^th overall and Andreas Mikkelsen finishing 6^th in the remaining Volkswagen Polo R WRC Australia proved to be a very successful rally for the Volkswagen Motorsport team – a car from Wolfsburg lead the event from start to finish reinforcing how impressive the first season for the team has been!

Coates Hire Rally Australia Results:-

1.   Sebastien Ogier - Volkswagen Polo R WRC

2.   Neuville +1m 32.1s

3.   Hirvonen +2m 02.1s 

4.   Jari-Matti Latvala +2m 57.4s - Volkswagen Polo R WRC

5.   Ostberg +3m 17.2s

6.   Andreas Mikkelsen +3m 37.6s - Volkswagen Polo R WRC

7.   Novikov +7m 31.2s

8.   Quinn +13m 10.2s

9.   Al-Qassimi +15m 17.6s

10. Al-Kuwari +17m 27.7s

MINIs in Oz - Day 2

 

Nathan Quinn and his fellow Australian Glenn MacNeall are 9th overall at the end of day 2 of Rally Australia, an excellent result for Quinn who had never driven his Motorsport Italia MINI WRC before the event. Quinn explained "It has been a pretty awesome day for me out there, driving the stages I love in a car that just continues to blow my mind on every stage I do, I can guarantee you that I have had more fun out there today than anyone else at this event."

Tomorrow the Australian pair complete two runs through the gruelling 50 kilometre Nambucca stage. Stages of this length are both mentally and physically demanding and require complete focus from the crew. "Where we are sitting right now is a good place for us to be. If we can just sit tight and maintain our position then we will finish the day just as happy as today," says Quinn.

Alexander Gelvez has driven his MINI RRC conservatively to bring home a straight car to the Motorsport Italia team. As the Rally Team Venezuela driver explained "There is a big difference between a production car (like the Evo Alex usually drives) and the MINI RRC car and we are just very focused on keeping the car in a straight line. Each stage we improve so we will try to keep doing this."

 

Motorsport Italia Team Manager Bruno De Pianto was pleased with the performance of both his MINI drivers today: "Nathan's stage times today were very encouraging. We all knew that he had potential, but I was impressed with his positive attitude and competitive stage times. At the moment, there's a group of eight experienced WRC drivers sitting tight in front of him on the leader board, but the rally is long. With the 50km Nambucca stage run twice tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised if we see things change up at bit. Alex also realises that today was a short day compared to the weighty itinerary tomorrow and practised a sensible strategy to make sure he brought his MINI home safely to service this evening."

 

Rally Australia MINI round up - Day 1.

Motorsport Italia are running two MINIs in the Rally Australia, a WRC version for Nathan Quinn and a RRC version for Alex Gelvez. The cars may be a long way from home but Nathan Quinn is hoping to use local knowledge to his advantage, Nathan is a native of Coffs Harbour where the rally is based.

At the close of today's stages Quinn is sat in 10th overall which is an excellent result for the young Australian. Despite having driven less than 50kms in the WRC MINI Quinn is setting an impressive pace. The local driver is expected to shine when the rally enters the forests early on Friday.

Alex Gelvez and the RRC Mini are currently 9th in the WRC2 class, the car proving very different to Gelvez's usual Mitsubishi Evo. Gelevez wanted to survive the 2 spectator stages today with the aim of gauging and increasing his pace once the WRC2 cars head out onto the challenging (and currently very dusty) gravel stages of days two and three.

Volkswagen keeps same drivers for 2014

Volkswagen Motorsport boss Jost Capito has confirmed that the team will contest the 2014 World Rally Championship with the three drivers currently competing in Australia. Therefore Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen all continue for another year in the WRC.

Whilst Ogier has all but clinched the 2013 WRC driver's title neither Latvala nor Mikkelsen have provided consistent pace to ensure their seats were guaranteed for 2014 - both have certainly made a few errors during the season so far. However Capito said " We have a great team and great team spirit and have achieved far more than we really expected. Why would we want to change anything?"

 

Judging by the first day performance in Australia Capito and Volkswagen seem to have made the correct choice!

Rally Australia - Day 1

Rally Australia after SS2:-

1. Andreas Mikkelsen
2. Meeke +0.9
3. Jari-Matti Latvala +1.4
4. Sébastien Ogier +1.5
5. Hirvonen +1.9

Currently all three Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRCs are in the top 5 overall with Andreas Mikkelsen holding the overnight lead.

Audi Sport Quattro concept

Audi have a new Sport Quattro on display at the forth coming Frankfurt IAA Motorshow. Inspired by the ever popular Sport version of the Ur-Quattro the 2013 concept might take its styling concept from the short wheel base Group B rally car but it benefits from a very modern combination of electric and petrol powerplants that offer a total of 700PS (800Nm of torque) when working together. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine develops 552PS with the electric motor providing a healthy 148PS on its own (driving range on the electric motor alone is claimed as 31 miles). Power is transmitted via an eight-speed automatic gear box with a claimed top speed of 189mph and the the 0-62 dash taking 3.7 seconds.

The Sport Quattro concept is slightly shorter than an Audi A5 Coupe, although it has a longer wheelbase, it is however slightly wider than an A5 Coupe. Many of the car's design details hark back to the original Sport Quattro with modern composite and aluminium panels keeping weight to around 1850kg.

Whilst there are no concrete plans for production just yet it is more than possible that a small production run of Sport Quattros could be ready for customers by 2016. As a range topping halo model the Sport Quattro would certainly find buyers, although the expected price of £150,000 means a production run similar to the original's 224 could be as many as Audi can sell.

2013

1984

Congratulations to Abdo Feghali who sealed the 2013 Lebanese rally championship in his Prodrive built Tok Sport run MINI RRC.

Smart ForJoy - IAA Concept

The IAA in Frankfurt is the debut show for Smart's FourJoy concept which, according to Smart themselves, previews its new four seater (ForFour) model that is due to go on sale in late 2014.

The ForJoy offers glimpses of the new ForFour as well as traditional concept car styling. The Smart FourJoy does not have any doors nor does it have roof or tailgate glass but its silhouette and dimensions are expected to be very close to the new incarnation of the ForFour (which was dropped in 2006 because of poor sales). The ForJoy is a design study that focuses on adventure and pleasure (why else would you include two electric powered longboards??) but lurking underneath is an important model for Smart, their return to 'family' motoring. Whilst the FourJoy emphasises the traditional Smart Tridion cell (an exposed metal frame or exo-skeleton to which the body panels attach.) by using polished aluminium, the production model will use less dramatic painted steel. Expect a return to original Smart styling for the rear lights though, these are almost certain to follow the ForJoy's lead and be sculptured within the rear Tridion area.

The production version of the ForFour may well have both the electric drive line from the ForJoy and current ForTwo (55kW motor) as well as a new 900cc three-cylinder direct-injection petrol engine.

The new Smart ForFour will be built alongside the new (3rd generation) Renault Twingo Slovenia, continuing the tradition of the ForFour being a joint venture.

Rally Germany

After 2 stages (and the end of the first day) Volkswagen have a firm grip on the Rally Germany leaderboard with Sebastien Ogier holding a lead of more than 5 seconds over team mate Jari-Matti Latvala. With only two Polo R WRCs competing this weekend the results could be no better for the German team.

Top Ten Overall:
1 S. Ogier/J. Ingrassia Volkswagen Polo R WRC
2 J-M. Latvala/M. Anttila Volkswagen Polo R WRC + 05.7s
3 T. Neuville/N. Gilsoul Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 12.7s
4 D. Sordo/C. Del Barrio Citroën DS3 WRC + 20.5s
5 M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen Citroën DS3 WRC + 25.7s
6 M. Ostberg/J. Andersson Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 30.7s
7 N. Al-Attiyah/G. Bernacchini Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 41.4s
8 M. Prokop/M. Ernst Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 45.6s
9 M. Kosciuszko/M. Szcezepaniak Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 51.0s
10 R. Kubica/M. Baran Citroën DS3 RRC + 59.8s

The teams head out tomorrow onto the tight and twisty vineyard roads that present such a demanding challenge to driver and car alike.

Victory for the Nani Roma and the PCR Sport Mini Cooper Countryman.

PCR Sport ‘s Mini Cooper Countryman completed a spectacular debut victory at the recent Rally Sprint Les Corbes  (first round of the Catalonian Rally Championship) with Nani Roma at the wheel.

The event comprised 4 runs of a gravel special stage totalling 52.8 kilometers. Roma built up a healthy leader over the first 3 runs allowing him to nurse the Mini when an engine mount broke. His winning margin was reduced from over a minute down to 28 seconds on the final stage but this was more than enough to show the dominance of the PCR Sport Mini.

With such a sensational debut the PCR Sport team are looking forward to further successful outings throughout the year. Having proven the capabilities of the Mini on gravel their next challenge is to make the car competitive on tarmac.

2nd Rallysprint Les Corbes results:-

1.       Barceló-Nani Roma (Mini Cooper Countryman) 55 mins 09 seconds
2.       Llinas-Torra (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) +0:28 
3.       Fores-ALUJU (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) +1:49 
4.       Gaig-Astudillo (Mitsubishi Pajero Proto) +3:49 
5.       Blancafort-Blancafort (Opel Astra G 2.0) +5:38