WRC WRC - 2015

Steve · Jun 14, 2015

Well, Paddon actually managed to hold the lead for another 6 stages. He lost the lead and started losing time, then...

Paddon: 'I thought it was all over' (WRC.com)

13 Jun 2015

Hayden Paddon feared his dream drive at Rally Italia Sardegna was over when a rock strike on Saturday left his Hyundai with a broken gearbox.

Paddon was in second place and enjoying the best form of his career when he hit trouble 8km into the penultimate stage.

"We struck a section of bedrock in a compression and the impact broke the gearbox," he told wrc.com "We could smell oil pretty much straightaway and although we still had gears the unit was moving about and losing oil."

The Kiwi was too upset to talk when he reached the stage end and drove off to assess the damage.

"I thought it was all over. It was similar to the problem we had in Argentina and it was end of our rally there," he said. "But after talking to the team John [Kennard - co-driver] and I topped up the oil and used ratchet straps to tie everything so it didn't move about. After that it was a case of crossing our fingers. I didn't think it would make it - especially the long [42km] stage.

Paddon said the drive through the Monte Lerno repeat was a tense one. "We had to take it really easy - we didn't want things moving around. I had to be very gentle with the braking, the throttle and try to drive around any bumps."

Stage complete, he carefully nursed the car through the 95km journey back to the Hyundai service park in Alghero. The car will be repaired tonight, ready for Sunday's final leg, when Paddon has his sights set on a career best result.

"We were lucky that Mads [Ã˜stberg] had a problem in the last stage and that's given us a good margin" he explained. "All we've got to do tomorrow is have a clean day and hopefully we can finish second. That would be a dream result."
Click to expand...

End of the day, Ogier led Paddon by 2:13, Ostberg 3rd, another 1:12 back. 4th Neuville, 5th Evans, 6th Latvala.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW-7xyCviog"]Leg 2 - 2015 WRC Rally Italia Sardegna - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jun 14, 2015

Then, today, with only 4 stages to go.

SS21: Ã˜stberg yields third after mistake (WRC.com)

14 JUN 2015

Thierry Neuville demoted Mads Ã˜stberg from third in Sunday’s opening stage at Rally Italia Sardegna when the Norwegian went off the road and damaged his DS 3.

It cost Ã˜stberg a minute and he then conceded fourth to Elfyn Evans as he limped through the following test 1min 20sec off the pace. He completed the loop 25.3sec behind the Welshman’s Ford Fiesta RS.

“There were a lot of things happening at the same time. I lost an ear plug in my intercom on a straight and was trying to put it back in place. I had a very bad pace note for the next corner, went wide and off the road. The damage wasn’t too bad but I lost my brakes,” said Ã˜stberg after the incident.

However, the damage proved worse than he thought. “It’s more than the brakes. I don’t know what, but we have to learn more about the problem,” he added at the end of Cala Flumini.

Yurii Protasov lost the WRC 2 lead and seventh to Paolo Andreucci in SS20 after a puncture in his Ford Fiesta RS. However, a radiator leak hampered the Italian and Protasov regained the initiative by 1.7sec in the next test.

Yazeed Al Rajhi lost fourth in the category and 10th overall when he crashed his Fiesta RRC.

Hayden Paddon won Olmedo Monte Baranta by 2.1sec from Jari-Matti Latvala, with Evans a further tenth of a second back. Leader SÃ©bastien Ogier was fastest in Cala Flumini by 0.3sec from Andreas Mikkelsen, with Ott TÃ¤nak third quickest.
Click to expand...

Maximum points for Ogier in Italy (WRC.com)

14 JUN 2015

SÃ©bastien Ogier claimed maximum points from Rally Italia Sardegna on Sunday after winning both his fourth WRC event of the season and the final live TV Power Stage.

After a fierce fight with Hayden Paddon, Ogier eventually enjoyed a comfortable 3min 05.3sec victory in his Volkswagen Polo R over the New Zealander, who produced the surprise of the rally by heading the world champion for almost two days.

After problems late yesterday, Paddon’s consolation was a career-best second in a Hyundai i20. Belgium’s Thierry Neuville finished 4min 22.5sec off the lead in third, ensuring two podium places for the Korean manufacturer.

Ogier was the only frontrunner to avoid major problems as the rocky roads took a heavy toll. He leads the championship by 66 points from CitroÃ«n’s Mads Ã˜stberg, with seven of the 13 rounds remaining.

The Frenchman overcame the handicap of sweeping gravel from the roads for the opening two days, and only demoted Paddon, in his first full WRC season, when the Kiwi spun and later hit a rock and damaged his gearbox.

Hayden did a great job and deserves his podium,” said Ogier. “I didn’t expect this kind of result here. It was very difficult to open the road but the times got better and better. Everything was perfect all weekend, from the car to the weather forecasts.”

Paddon became the first New Zealand driver to lead a WRC round outside his home country. But with victory gone after yesterday’s problems, he eased through the final day, hiding the fact he was nursing his car.

“We still had some damage from the impact yesterday so we were lucky to get here,” he said after the final stage. “I’m very relieved, it was a massive weekend but there’s more to come yet,” he promised.

Neuville climbed to third this morning after Ã˜stberg went off the road in the opening stage and damaged his DS 3’s brakes. He limped through the final three tests, falling behind both Neuville and Elfyn Evans but holding off Jari-Matti Latvala.

After driveshaft problems on the opening day, Evans recovered to finish fourth in a Ford Fiesta RS, 1min 12.3sec behind Neuville and more than two minutes clear of Ã˜stberg.

Latvala threw everything at his attempt to overhaul Ã˜stberg, but fell 16.6sec short and settled for sixth in another Polo R. The leaderboard was completed by WRC 2 trio Yurii Protasov, Paolo Andreucci and Jan Kopecky, and Khalid Al Qassimi.

Among those to finish down the order were Andreas Mikkelsen (suspension / fuel pressure), Kris Meeke (accident), Dani Sordo (wheel off / fuel pressure), Ott TÃ¤nak (gearbox) and Robert Kubica (gearbox).

Round seven of the series is the all-gravel LOTOS 72nd Rally Poland which is based in Mikolajki on 2 - 5 July.
Click to expand...

Full stage results and numbers here.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7F30CSt7EE"]Highlights - 2015 Rally Italia Sardegna - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jun 16, 2015

Some good HD video.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ptOp_cnXY"]WRC Rally Italy Sardegna 2015 Best of HD PureSound with CRASHCAM - YouTube[/ame]

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

Ott Tanak.

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
Click to expand...

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 6, 2015

Tanak, again. Same jump, coming and going.

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

looking at the video footage this rally could have ended badly. Crowd control was not at its best near those jumps.

Thanks Steve for keeping us informed. I'm still on catch up watching Argentina!

Crashton · Jul 7, 2015

I thought the same thing Chris. Look at all the organ donors. ut:

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