WRC Most liked posts in thread: WRC - 2015

Steve · Apr 26, 2015

SS11: Latvala retires in Sunday's opener (WRC.com)

26 APR 2015

Jari-Matti Latvala retired from third place in Sunday’s opening special stage of XION Rally Argentina with engine problems in his Volkswagen Polo R.

He stopped for about 25 minutes on the liaison section from the Villa Carlos Paz service park to the start of the famous El Condor test after issues with the fuel supply to one of the engine cylinders.

He started the stage two minutes late and drove at reduced speed through the early part of the test before the car stopped after 12km and again 600 metres later. His retirement was confirmed shortly afterwards.

Leader Kris Meeke was seventh fastest in CitroÃ«n’s DS 3 but the Northern Irishman, closing on his maiden WRC win, wasn’t in the mood for talking at the finish.

Team-mate Mads Ã˜stberg was 11.6sec faster than Meeke and the gap between the duo at the head of the leaderboard stood at 27.0sec as they headed back up the mountain for the second pass through the stage.

Latvala’s retirement promoted Elfyn Evans into third in his Ford Fiesta RS, the Welshman on the verge of his maiden WRC podium.

Andreas Mikkelsen was quickest in a Polo R by 5.7sec from Dani Sordo’s Hyundai i20, with championship leader SÃ©bastien Ogier third in another Polo R.
Click to expand...

Steve · May 18, 2015

WRC+ live coverage for Portugal this weekend.

Steve · May 22, 2015

Portugal (WRC), after Day 1: seven drivers covered by 30 seconds! (best-of-rallylive.com)

22/05/2015 7:15 pm

Jari-Matti Latvala (VW/Michelin) has concluded the fiercely-fought opening day in Portugal on top. Kris Meeke (CitroÃ«n, +11.1s) and the Finnâ€™s team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen (+16s) are second and third. Tanak, Sordo and Ogier are covered by eight seconds and the top seven are all within half-a-minute.

The first day of the Rally de Portugal at the very north of the country delivered its fair share of drama, including a forest fire that broke out overnight, threatening the cancellation of â€˜Ponte de Limaâ€™ (SS2/5).

The first pass finally remained on the menu, despite the fact that the double-zero car caught fire and set alight to the trees. After that, the stage was interrupted and the second visit was dropped.

The soft ground prompted most Michelin drivers to choose the soft-compound LTX Force S4 for the morningâ€™s run, except Thierry Neuville who opted for â€˜hardâ€™ rubber. By the end of SS4, the Belgian was almost a minute adriftâ€¦

The soft conditions meant that the stages cut up quite badly for the afternoonâ€™s loop. Following the cancellation of SS5 (27.65km), only two tests remained, so some drivers remained on soft tyres, but others switched to the hard compound, while most of them ran a combination of both. Their numbers included Latvala who left lunchtime service with three â€˜hardsâ€™ and two â€˜softsâ€™. SS6 saw him extend his lead at the top of the order.

The Finn, who had the benefit of running ninth on the road, completed the day with an 11.1s cushion over Meeke (CitroÃ«n DS3 WRC) who posted several top-five times today. The Briton is 4.9s clear of third-placed Mikkelsen (VW). Ott Tanak, who chose five soft tyres, has closed to fourth place, just 1.3s shy of the podium.

SS2 winner Dani Sordo (Hyundai) is fifth, four seconds behind the Estonian and 4.1s clear of SÃ©bastien Ogier (VW). The championship leader has suffered from being first on the road all day, and his woes were compounded by a slow puncture on SS2 which ruined his morningâ€™s tyre strategy. Mads Ostberg (CitroÃ«n) won a stage and is seventh, just 31.3s behind Latvala, despite running second in the start order.

This is turning out to be a close contest, possibly because the stages are new to everyone, and Saturdayâ€™s programme features 165km more competitive action. It will be the turn of Elfyn Evans to go first on the road after he was forced to make use of the Rally2 ruling following his â€˜retirementâ€™ on SS2 with an electronic sensor problem.

In WRC2, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford) overcame a puncture on SS6 to finish the day 13.5s better than Al-Rajhi (Ford). Pontus Tidemand is third (+43.4s) in the new Skoda Fabia R5, ahead of StÃ©phane Lefebvre (CitroÃ«n).

The Junior battle is topped by the championshipâ€™s provisional leader Quentin Gilbert who appeared in front after SS6, pursued by Terry Folb and Ole Christian Veiby.
Click to expand...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmFeAG0tICM"]Leg 1 - 2015 WRC Rally de Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · May 24, 2015

Been busy, time to catch up.

The V-dub guys made a big comeback after disastrous results in Argentina to fill the Portugal podium, 1-2-3, 4th Meeke, 5th Tanak, 6th Sordo.

Latvala ends barren run with Portugal win (WRC.com)

24 May 2015

Jari-Matti Latvala ended a bleak sequence of results by holding off team-mate SÃ©bastien Ogier to win Vodafone Rally de Portugal on Sunday.

After failing to score in the previous three rounds, Latvala finished 8.2sec ahead of the FIA World Rally Championship leader in the four-day gravel event to claim his first victory since October last year.

Andreas Mikkelsen completed the podium a further 20.4sec behind to provide a clean sweep of the top three for Volkswagen Motorsport with its Polo R car.

“After the last three rallies some people were doubting if I would come back,” said Latvala. “It was one of the worst situations in my rally career so to come and win here is unique. I really appreciate this victory feeling.”

It was the 13th career win for the 30-year-old Finn, who benefited from a low start position and cleaner road conditions to take the lead on Friday afternoon and was never headed.

Despite overshooting a junction yesterday morning, he saw off challenges from firstly Kris Meeke and then Ogier to climb from ninth to fifth in the drivers’ championship.

Tyre choice and management played a crucial role in the first WRC round in the north of the country since 2001. Sandy roads hampered the early starters and exposed rocks offered further difficulties during the second pass of stages.

Ogier endured the worst conditions for the opening two legs, sweeping loose gravel from roads. However, he roared up the leaderboard from sixth to second yesterday, reducing his deficit from almost 26sec to less than eight as he threatened to snatch an unlikely victory.

Second was sufficient for Ogier to extend his championship lead to 42 points after round five of 13.

Mikkelsen led early on his debut in the 2015-specification Polo R and traded seconds with Kris Meeke in their battle for the final podium place. With the gap at 0.4sec, a broken anti-roll bar on Meeke’s DS 3 in the penultimate stage decided the outcome.

Meeke finished 20.1sec behind the Norwegian but the Northern Irishman, who claimed his maiden WRC win in Argentina last month, was the only man able to challenge Volkswagen’s trio.

Ott TÃ¤nak finished a confidence-boosting fifth on the debut of the new Ford Fiesta RS, ahead of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo who came out on top of a three car battle for sixth involving team-mate Hayden Paddon and Mads Ã˜stberg.

Ã˜stberg lost time yesterday with a turbo boost problem in his DS 3 and while he overhauled Paddon today, he fell just 4.3sec short of passing Sordo too. Robert Kubica and Martin Prokop completed the top 10.

Round six takes drivers to the Mediterranean for the all-gravel Rally Italia Sardegna (11 - 14 June).
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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zislr034YiY"]Highlights - 2015 WRC Rally de Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · May 24, 2015

Interesting quote from Ogier after losing to Latvala.....

â€œI know it will be a happy event for some people - some people will be happy because the best didn't win. It is not the best feeling for me, but still a fantastic weekend,â€ said Ogier, after the final stage.
Click to expand...

Steve · Jun 16, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aozohKhh1-k"]WRC RALLY D' ITALIA SARDEGNA 2015 KUBICA CRASH!!! - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jun 30, 2015

Here's Bob Kubica getting ready for his home rally (this weekend).

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOIArVzq3wc"]Kubica / Szczepaniak | Tests | WRC Rally Poland 2015 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jul 2, 2015

Rally Poland has begun. Only one 2.5km super stage today.

Rally Poland (WRC), SS1: Ogier leads Kubica (best-of-rallylive.com)

SÃ©bastien Ogier (VW/Michelin) deprived Pole Robert Kubica of the fastest time on this evening’s super-special by half-a-second. Andreas Mikkelsen was third.

02/07/2015 9:17 pm

The main square in Mikolajki was packed for this afternoon’s sunny ceremonial start which was preceded by an autograph session. Unsurprisingly, the biggest queue for a signature was in front of Kubica’s booth and he was treated to a big ovation when he appeared on the start podium.

There was warm applause, too, for Jari-Matti Latvala, Ott Tanak and Kris Meeke who was without his car following his accident on this morning’s shakedown. To celebrate his birthday, he was presented with a bunch of flowers followed by a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’!

After the ceremony, everyone moved on to the service park barely a kilometre from the ramp and, at 6pm sharp, the focus of attention became the super-special, which was only around 500 metres from the park.

Competitors completed three laps of this figure-of-eight stage which was laid out in a 15-hectare field with two parallel tracks and a central bridge. It has been visited by the rally every year since 2009 and the rest of the year it is used by a rally driving school, as well as for other sporting and special events. It was here in 2009 that Latvala famously crashed.

This evening’s stage was won by Ogier who beat Kubica by half-a-second, depriving Poland of a good reason to celebrate tonight. Mikkelsen was third, while WRC2 victor StÃ©phane Lefebvre was seventh overall, just 2.4s short of the winner.

Friday’s menu features eight stages totalling 155.84km with only a remote tyre zone in Goldap between the two long loops.
Click to expand...

Steve · Jul 2, 2015

Steve · Jul 2, 2015

Meeke's crash mentioned above.

Need to post a NSFW language warning, just to cover our collective butts...

He really looks bewildered, genuinely doesn't know how it happened.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh1XlG3LATQ"]WRC - LOTOS 72nd Rally Poland 2015: CRASH Meeke - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jul 3, 2015

MAXRALLY turbo tweet (MaxRally.com)

3rd July 2015

Rally Poland day one is done. Here’s our take in 140 words.

Ott Tanak was the man to watch through the morning on a day when Rally Poland visited the Russian and Lithuanian borders. M-Sport’s speedy Estonian was slowed (or rather he wasn’t slowed…) by brake problems, without which he might have held his lunchtime lead to the end of day. As it was, he slipped to fourth as the afternoon progressed. Sebastien Ogier went the other way, the French flier hit the front on SS7 and stayed there, 2.1s ahead of team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen at final service in Mikolajki tonight. Jari-Matti Latvala made it a provisionally perfect Polo podium with third. Hyundai’s Rally Italy hero Hayden Paddon was fifth behind Tanak while local superstar Robert Kubica did nothing to calm the fever and fervor of a nation with sixth, just over half a minute off the front in his Pirelli-tyred Fiesta.
Click to expand...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSMZVesEgZg"]Leg 1 - 2015 WRC Rally Poland - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edOKcPGf16c"]Kubica/Szczepaniak - On The Limit - WRC Rally Poland 2015 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jul 3, 2015

Standings (right) after SS9:

Steve · Jul 5, 2015

Thrilling finale awaits in Poland (WRC.com)

04 Jul 2015

Team-mates SÃ©bastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen will go head-to-head in a final day showdown to decide the outcome of 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland on Sunday.

Ogier ended Saturday’s penultimate leg with a 5.6sec lead over Volkswagen Motorsport colleague Mikkelsen with just two speed tests and almost 30km remaining in which to decide this seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Despite cleaning the sandy gravel tracks in his position as road opener, series leader Ogier extended his 2.1sec overnight advantage to 7.2sec over this morning’s four special stages.

Tyre choice again proved decisive in this afternoon’s scorching temperatures, which reached 32˚C. Mikkelsen’s choice of Michelin hard compound rubber proved more suited to the conditions than Ogier’s mix of hard and soft, and he reduced the deficit.

“I’ve been cleaning the roads since the start so to lead is fantastic, but we have to finish the fight tomorrow. I wasn’t so sure about my tyre choice this afternoon because they were moving a lot. It wasn’t a perfect choice,” said Ogier.

Mikkelsen (bottom) could have been even closer to his Polo R rival had it not been for hanging dust in the penultimate stage. “There was so much dust I couldn’t see in places. I pushed to the maximum but lost time in the dust. On hard tyres, I think that was my chance,” he said.

He needed every available kilometre to rein in Ogier, but the cancellation of a stage this afternoon for safety reasons further dented his chances.

The fight for third was just as intense. Jari-Matti Latvala held a 5.9sec advantage last night but, despite an opening stage spin, Ott TÃ¤nak won two morning stages to head the Finn by a tenth of a second at the mid-leg service.

A rejuvenated Latvala briefly regained position but the Estonian added a third win to end the leg with a 1.5sec lead in his Ford Fiesta RS.

Hayden Paddon retained fifth and achieved his target of building a 20sec cushion over Hyundai i20 team-mate Thierry Neuville, while local hero Robert Kubica survived two overshoots in his Fiesta RS to hold seventh ahead of a closing Kris Meeke.

CitroÃ«n’s Mads Ã˜stberg overhauled Spain’s Dani Sordo for ninth.

The only retirement was Elfyn Evans whose Fiesta RS stopped with a broken water pump, while Dutchman Kevin Abbring lost three minutes after beaching his i20 in soft sand.

Tomorrow’s final leg comprises two passes over the 14.60km Baranowo stage, the second of which forms the live TV Power Stage, with bonus points to the fastest three drivers.
Click to expand...

Steve · Jul 5, 2015

I had to push from first metre to last - Ogier (crash.net)

Sebastien Ogier: I feel good, of course, like after every victory. It might be my 29th win, but still I enjoy it the same way. I love the taste of victory and the win this weekend did not come so easy

5 July 2015

Sebastien Ogier says he â€œdrove at the maximum all the timeâ€ on Rally Poland, pushing from the first metre to last to secure victory.

Ogier put in another masterful performance in his Volkswagen Polo R WRC and despite running first on the road on days one and two, re-took the lead on Friday afternoon and then held off team-mate, Andreas Mikkelsen, eventually triumphing by 11.9 seconds.

It was his fifth win of the season â€“ and his second on the trot in Poland - a result that extends his championship lead from 66 points to 78, with six events to go.

â€œI feel good, of course, like after every victory. It might be my 29th win, but still I enjoy it the same way. I love the taste of victory and the win this weekend did not come so easy,â€ Ogier said. â€œThere was a lot of pressure on me. I drove at the maximum all the time and had to push from the first metre to the last, especially on Saturday.

â€œI hoped to have some rally cars in front of me but that was not the case this weekend and I was first on the road for 90 per cent of the route.

â€œIt's not the hardest rally to open the road, because it is fast. But it's still not so easy. The speeds here were incredible. We saw on the recce how fast it was, but it was more than I expected during the race. It is a fantastic feeling to drive on these roads at this speed. Some friends were telling me that they watched the live stage on the television feed and we were faster than the helicopter! It must be great footage. Believe me, it is the same sensation in car.â€

Asked if he made any mistakes over the three-days, Ogier admitted that his tyre choices could have been better.

â€œLet's say my main mistake was the tyre choice a little bit. Every day was a problem, Saturday was not good and Friday was, well, not perfect. I was thinking to myself at service that Andreas was wrong and I was right [on Saturday afternoon]. But it was the opposite at the end. We were lucky not to lose so much time,â€ Ogier continued.

â€œSunday was a little easier. The pressure was not there. I had to continue the same way and make no mistakes and that's what we have done.

â€œIt is looking fantastic [now] in terms of the gap in the championship. With six rallies to go, we have a three race advantage.â€

Co-driver Julien Ingrassia, however, emphasised that they are not thinking about the championship yet and will keep focusing on each individual event.

â€œMay and June were hard months with difficult rallies. We are very happy to have a break now. It's good to have a few days of summer in front of us to enjoy the points in our pocket. It is not in our spirit to say it is done though,â€ Ingrassia noted. â€œWe cannot predict what happens with the other guys and we take it rally after rally. Finland is on our radar, Germany will be a special target also this year and Volkswagen is sure to be preparing something for Australia.â
by Rob Wilkins
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Steve · Jul 5, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzyhB_bqbQI"]The race - 2015 WRC Rally Poland - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jul 5, 2015

Kris Meeke.

Steve · Jul 5, 2015

Neuville.

Latvala?

Steve · Jul 7, 2015

Tommi MÃ¤kinen Leads Toyota GAZOO Racingâ€™s WRC Return in 2017 (toyota-motorsport.com)

Toyota City, Japan, July 7, 2015â€”Toyota GAZOO Racing has determined its team structure leading up to Toyotaâ€™s return to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2017.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda will serve as team chairman while Tommi MÃ¤kinen*, a celebrated WRC veteran, will be offering his expertise as team principal. With comprehensive oversight from MÃ¤kinen, who holds four driversâ€™ titles over his 18-year WRC career, the team will strengthen its vehicle development capabilities and work toward 2017.

Team name:
Toyota GAZOO Racing

Vehicle:
Yaris WRC (length: 3910 mm; width: 1820 mm)

Team chairman:
Akio Toyoda

Team principal:
Tommi MÃ¤kinen

Message from Team Chairman Akio Toyoda:

Whenever Iâ€™m behind the wheel, I always think: â€œit is the road that makes the car.â€

For Toyota to make ever-better cars, we have to get a feel for all the kinds of roads that are out there.

Rallying requires us to drive on the very roads our customers use every single day, and I believe it is the perfect training activity, ultimately helping us to strengthen our products.

As the pinnacle of rallying, WRC is the best way to experience roads all over the worldâ€”thatâ€™s why Toyota is returning to the championship. And I am very happy and excited to have Tommi MÃ¤kinen heading up our WRC team.

I first met Tommi in 2013. At that time he was my instructor, helping me improve my driving technique. In the end, he taught me a lot more; he showed me the appeal of rallying and the relationship between vehicle development and rallying.

Tommi has abundant experience and fresh ideas for vehicle development, both of which will be valuable assets to us. After talking to Tommi, I felt: â€œI want to work with him; I want him to help us make better cars,â€ and thatâ€™s how I came to ask for his support with this project. With Tommi behind us, Toyota will forge ahead with our return to WRC and also our efforts to make ever-better cars.

Rallying allows both participants and spectators to feel the enjoyment of cars, and it encourages car manufacturers to hone their skills. We have been away from WRC for a long time as a manufacturer. I have huge respect for the manufacturers, drivers, team members, and fans that make this wonderful competition what it is, and Iâ€™m thrilled to bring Toyota back to WRC. Please join me in supporting Toyota GAZOO Racing.

Akio Toyoda
Click to expand...

RallyMini370 · Jul 7, 2015

I think the drivers were lucky too! they landed on the camera's most of the time. That's one thing I noticed last year was the Go Pro's on sticks right in my line of sight, came off once because of that!

Steve · Jul 7, 2015

It could have been worse, they actually cancelled one stage because of spectators.

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