WRC WRC - 2015

ScottinBend · Feb 14, 2015

Yea.....paddle shifting is back this year. No more hand operated sequential gear changes.

Steve · Feb 14, 2015

All change again during Day 3. Yup, that's a Hyundai in the lead.

Neuville vaults into Sweden lead (wrc.com)

14 Feb 2015

Thierry Neuville delivered a masterful drive through Saturday’s final speed test to snatch a slender lead at Rally Sweden.

Armed with new spiked snow tyres on the front of his Hyundai i20, he blitzed rivals Andreas Mikkelsen and SÃ©bastien Ogier to turn a 7.3sec deficit into a 1.5sec advantage with one day remaining in this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Daylong leader Mikkelsen held second in a Volkswagen Polo R and team-mate Ogier was just 8.1sec further back in third.

“That was one of the best stages I’ve ever driven,” said Neuville. “I had a big, big push. The new tyres were probably worth three or four seconds and I had a good feeling in the car, it’s so much fun. It’ll be hard tomorrow with three tricky stages, but I’m not going to slow down.”

Neuville was more than 30sec adrift of Mikkelsen after three of today’s eight snow-covered special stages near Hagfors. But the Norwegian, who admitted to feeling the pressure of chasing a maiden WRC win, gave away 20sec after touching a snow bank and spinning.

Conditions favoured Neuville this afternoon as the early starters cleared slush off the driving line, and neither road opener Ogier nor Mikkelsen could hold the Belgian at bay as his clever tyre strategy paid dividends.

After restarting this morning in fourth, Ogier was up to second within two stages, slashing Mikkelsen’s lead to 1.7sec after his team-mate’s mistakes. Slushy roads cost valuable seconds this afternoon but he remained poised to attack in Sunday’s final leg.

Mads Ã˜stberg lost third place after slamming Citroen’s DS 3 into a bank in the opening stage and puncturing the left rear tyre. Gearbox problems hindered him all day and he is 53.4sec off the lead in fourth.

Ott TÃ¤nak consolidated fifth in a Ford Fiesta RS and Kiwi Hayden Paddon improved the feeling with his Hyundai i20 to stay sixth, more than a minute behind.

Martin Prokop was seventh, despite almost rolling his Fiesta RS after it landed on its nose at a jump. Elfyn Evans held off Kris Meeke in eighth, Meeke grabbing a stage win this afternoon. Yuriy Protasov completed the leaderboard, despite dropping 30sec after going off.

Jari-Matti Latvala’s troubled weekend continued when he dropped 45sec after spinning into the snow and the Finn ended the day in 17th.

Sunday’s final leg covers three stages and 46.74km, with the final live TV Power Stage offering bonus points to the fastest three drivers.
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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxt8EfX5oU"]Leg 2 - 2015 WRC Rally Sweden - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Feb 14, 2015

New record on the crest!

Neuville smashes Colin’s Crest record (wrc.com)

14 Feb 2015

Thierry Neuville’s stage-winning drive on Saturday’s Vargasen test not only earned him the lead of Rally Sweden, it also set a new record for the longest jump at Colin’s Crest.

Every year thousands of spectators gather to watch cars speed over the snow-covered crest, with an award named in honour of 1995 world champion Colin McRae going to the driver who flies the furthest.

This afternoon the crowds watched Neuville make history with a monster 44 metre jump in his Hyundai i20 World Rally Car.

The flight smashed the previous record of 37metres, set by Ken Block in 2011, and eclipsed Andreas Mikkelsen’s 41metre effort on the first pass through VargÃ¥sen today.

“When I arrived there on the first pass this morning I lifted a little, but this afternoon I kept it flat,” said Neuville, who also lifted the trophy in 2013 for a jump of 35 metres.

The landing was actually quite nice, but I had some trouble in the corner afterwards, where I was maybe a little too fast. But yeah, I think it was a great show and people seemed to love it.”

Event organisers have presented the award annually since 2008. This year they changed the rules to make jumps on both passes through VargÃ¥sen eligible, rather than nominating just one.
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Steve · Feb 14, 2015

Mr. Ogier needs to behave himself, he's on probation.

Ogier caught speeding seven times (wrc.com)

14 Feb 2015

World champion SÃ©bastien Ogier has been handed a suspended time penalty after being caught speeding during the recce for Rally Sweden a remarkable seven times.

Event stewards handed the Frenchman a two-minute penalty that will remain suspended until 13 February 2016 if he does not reoffend.

However, if he is caught speeding again during a recce before that date, the penalty will be applied at the rally concerned.

Rally Sweden has a 70kph recce speed limit and the Volkswagen driver also received a 1232.50 Euro fine, at a rate of 25 Euros for each cumulative kph that he was over the speed limit

Yuriy Protasov (18 offences), Lorenzo Bertelli (seven), Michal Solowow (four) and Max Rendina (three) also received a suspended two-minute penalty and a fine.

Kris Meeke received a fine for two offences, but the Northern Irishman did not receive a suspended time penalty.
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Steve · Feb 14, 2015

Stage 18 (L) overall (R):

Steve · Feb 14, 2015

Petter Solberg, what a guy! He competed again in the Historic Rally running concurrently with the WRC in Sweden, won (for the third time, I think), and donated his winnings to the Rally Sweden Volunteers after-party. :beer

Steve · Feb 14, 2015

MAXRALLY heroes and zeroes (Sweden, Saturday)

by Anthony Peacock / 14th February 2015

Who tasted Swede success? And who fell down quicker than a badly assembled piece of Ikea furniture? Read on to find out…

Day hero: Yuri Protasov

Yesterday, he won a stage. Today, he was in the top three. He’s not going to be troubling the leaders in 10th overnight, but the Ukrainian comprehensively proved that the pace he has shown in the past is absolutely real. Context is everything: he has next to no experience in a World Rally Car (just four events) and his team is a genuinely private effort. He really shouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the stage times. Yet he’s managing it – and for that we salute him. Not bad for a former Formula Ford racer who started his rally career in a Lada Samara.

Day zero: Jari-Matti Latvala

After his best-ever result in Monte Carlo, Jari-Matti is staring at his worst-ever result in Sweden. For whatever reason, this year’s event hasn’t really clicked for him, with both his team mates staying on the road – most of the time – and showing him the way. A pity, as Jari-Matti is meant to be the ice and snow expert don’t forget, as a former winner of Rally Sweden. You can say what you like about Jari-Matti, but his life is never boring: it’s one extreme or another. For tonight’s it’s 17th overall. Not where we expect to see him.
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Steve · Feb 14, 2015

Steve · Feb 15, 2015

Sweden's super Sunday showdown (wrc.com)

15 Feb 2015

Thierry Neuville, Andreas Mikkelsen and SÃ©bastien Ogier start Sunday’s final leg of Rally Sweden covered by less than 10 seconds.

As the trio prepare to fight for victory over the final three stages, wrc.com talked to them about the big Sunday showdown.

Thierry Neuville
“I’m ready for the fight! All three of us deserve to win but I hope I can keep my position and bring it home for the team. I’m not feeling any nerves. I’m in a good road position, following the two guys in front of me. I’ll give it my best from the start and try to be on the maximum, then let’s see what’s possible. I’ve never felt so good in the car since we started with Hyundai. It’s great to see I can drive this car as fast as I could with other cars before.”

Andreas Mikkelsen
“There’s not a lot of mileage left, so we need to be on it from the first metre. I know my first win is possible, so I’ll give it absolutely everything. The Norwegian fans that are supporting me on the stages are a big motivation to drive quickly. Thierry and I have had many close fights before in the IRC and he won before in Italy, but I’ll try and get my revenge here.”

SÃ©bastien Ogier
“I have nothing to lose but I really believe in my chances so I’m going to go for it. Actually there will be no need for rivalry between Thierry and Andreas because I will beat both of them! There’s not many kilometres so it won’t be easy to make up 10 seconds, but I think it’s possible. The opening stage in LesjÃ¶fors doesn’t have such great memories for me as I spent four minutes in a snow there last year. We’re all going to have similar conditions so it will be very exciting for all the fans.”
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Steve · Feb 15, 2015

WRC: Ogier wins after late Mikkelsen mistake (racer.com)

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Sebastien Ogier emerged victorious in a thrilling Rally Sweden showdown, as Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen threw away a potential maiden World Rally Championship win on the final stage.

Mikkelsen went onto the final stage with a three-second buffer over Ogier, who had been mounting a comeback since losing almost 40 seconds to the Norwegian after hitting a snow bank on Friday's final stage.

But a similar fate befell Mikkelsen partway through the event-closing Varmullsasen power stage, ending his hopes of taking a first WRC victory as Ogier came through to snatch the win, as well as three bonus points for setting the best time on the finale.

Hyundai's Thierry Neuville held the lead at the start of the morning after taking two stage wins on Saturday afternoon, but was overhauled by Mikkelsen on SS19 and then by Ogier on SS20, unable to keep up with the pace of the VWs.

The Belgian nonetheless went into the final stage with a shot of victory, starting 4.6s adrift, but fell 6.4s short of a second WRC win, picking up two bonus points for the second quickest power stage time and moving back into second place at Mikkelsen's expense.

Mads Ostberg claimed the final bonus point, having been a factor in the lead battle before his works Citroen sustained a puncture on SS11, leaving him a distant fourth.

He subsequently dropped to 10th after losing five minutes stuck in a snow bank on Sunday's opening stage, promoting M-Sport Ford's Ott Tanak to an eventual fourth, 2m26s off the pace.

Hayden Paddon took a career-best fifth place finish in the second factory Hyundai, a further minute behind Tanak, with the second M-Sport car of Elfyn Evans sixth after he managed to beach his Ford Fiesta in a snow bank on Friday.

Citroen's Kris Meeke, another to lose time after hitting a snow bank on Friday, entered the power stage with a chance of taking away Evans's sixth place, but a spin left him 21.5s behind the Welshman in the final reckoning.

Rounding out the points-scorers were Martin Prokop, Yuriy Protasov â€“ who became the latest driver to win a WRC stage on Friday â€“ and Ostberg, with Kevin Abbring coming home 11th on his factory WRC debut deputising for the injured Dani Sordo.

Jari-Matti Latvala was in strong victory contention, duelling with teammate Ogier on the early stages of the rally, but the Finn's hopes were dashed when he lost eight minutes stuck in a snow bank on the final stage of Friday. He ended the rally out of the points in 12th position.

Also enduring a miserable time was Robert Kubica, who dropped out of the points on Friday with a broken propshaft before being handed a five-minute penalty for his Ford Fiesta RS WRC exceeding the maximum permissible boost level, dropping him to 20th overall.

Jari Ketomaa took WRC2 honors after seizing the lead from Pontus Tidemand, the surprise overall pacesetter on the opening superspecial on Thursday evening. The Finn finished 32.6s clear of Eyvind Brynildsen, while Tidemand suffered an off on Friday.

LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS21:
Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 2h 55m 30.5s
2 Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 6.4s
3 Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Volkswagen 39.8s
4 Ott Tanak M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 2m 26.0s
5 Hayden Paddon Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 3m 31.5s
6 Elfyn Evans M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 3m 53.0s
7 Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 4m 05.8s
8 Martin Prokop Jipocar Czech National Team Ford 4m 26.0s
9 Yuriy Protasov M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 5m 32.2s
10 Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 6m 50.9s

LEADING POWER STAGE TIMES:
Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 8m 05.6s
2 Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 4.8s
3 Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 9.9s
4 Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 11.5s
5 Elfyn Evans M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 15.2s

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER TWO OF 13 ROUNDS:
Pos Driver Points
1 Sebastien Ogier 53
2 Thierry Neuville 30
3 Andreas Mikkelsen 30
4 Jari-Matti Latvala 19
5 Mads Ostberg 14
6 Elfyn Evans 14
7 Ott Tanak 12
8 Hayden Paddon 10
9 Kris Meeke 10
10 Daniel Sordo 8
11 Martin Prokop 6
12 Sebastien Loeb 6
13 Yuriy Protasov 2

Originally on Autosport.com
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Steve · Feb 15, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hBR4jUbFU0"]The Race - 2015 WRC Rally Sweden - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Crashton · Feb 15, 2015

As much as I wanted Thierry Neuville to win Ogier really earned that win with a gutsy drive. Man clawing back from a 40 second deficit is really something.

Steve · Feb 16, 2015

Mikkelsen had a strong chance for his maiden win, too. A big surprise given he was driving the 2014 version of the VW!

Here's a snip from a pre-Sweden story.

Mikkelsen places trust in 2014 car (wrc.com)

10 Feb 2015

Andreas Mikkelsen believes last yearâ€™s Volkswagen Polo R is capable of carrying him to a maiden WRC victory at this weekâ€™s Rally Sweden (12 - 15 February).

While team-mates SÃ©bastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala have the 2015 Polo R at their disposal, Mikkelsen will retain the all-conquering 2014 car until Vodafone Rally de Portugal (21 - 24 May).

But just 12 months after finishing runner-up in Sweden to claim his first podium, the Norwegian is convinced a win is achievable.

â€œPeople keep asking me whether I can win with last yearâ€™s Polo R WRC. I am convinced that I can and, given the right conditions, the prospect of a maiden win is entirely realistic.
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B.A.D. · Feb 16, 2015

Video of Nueville's jump

[ame="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw8m8SBi2k4"]Big jump Neuville Colin's Crest Rally Sweden 2015 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Feb 16, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPA0nTcnvcQ"]The Saga of Rally Sweden 2015. Closer to rally. - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Feb 16, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC7CMewAWO8"]Rally Sweden 2015: Powerstage SS21 - YouTube[/ame]

minirab · Feb 16, 2015

Thank you Steve!

Steve · Feb 18, 2015

More Yaris testing.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sojgkc1hfps"]Toyota's testing - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 3, 2015

Time for Rally Mexico!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IpcAMD7Cwo"]WRC Rally Guanajuato MÃƒÂ©xico 2015: Tech Special/ Turbo - YouTube[/ame]

Rally Guanajuato Mexico (WRC.com)

Info

Rally Guanajuato MÃ©xico
Start Date: 05.03.2015
End Date: 08.03.2015
Timezone: UTC -6
Category: WRC3
WRC2
WRC
Stages: 24 (395,21km)
Distance: 994,23km
Servicepark: Leon
Website: Rally Guanajuato Corona 2015 - 5 al 8 de marzo - LeÃ³n

Route

Based in the countryâ€™s fifth largest city of LeÃ³n, 400km north-west of Mexico City.
Covers familiar territory in the Sierra de Lobos and Sierra de Guanajuato mountains, north and east of LeÃ³n.
Begins on Thursday night with the start and opening test in picturesque Guanajuato.
Fridayâ€™s leg returns to the area for three dirt tests.
The final two days are closer to LeÃ³n and the last leg re-uses some roads from Saturday.

Challenge

Drivers must remember how to master gravel roads. Itâ€™s the first of six consecutive dirt rounds and the first hot gravel event since Australia last September.
Temperatures nearing 30Â°C put stress on engines and transmissions.
The route climbs to the seasonâ€™s highest point at 2737m. Engines struggle to breathe in the thin air and lose 20 per cent power.
Less power means mistakes are punished more severely as accelerating back to top speed takes longer.
Concrete culverts across the roads can inflict big damage.

Car spec

Normal gravel suspension â€“ the roads are not rough but become rutted during the second pass.
Only hard compound tyres are used due to high temperatures and hard-packed roads.

History

First held in 1979, the rally moved to LeÃ³n in 1998 and joined WRC in 2004.
The 2007 rally was the shortest in WRC history with a total distance of less than 850km. It still included more than 366km of stages and more than 43 per cent was competitive.
SÃ©bastien Loeb scored six consecutive wins between 2006 and 2012 (the rally was absent in 2009 due to rotation).

Whatâ€™s new for 2015

Thursday nightâ€™s curtain-raiser in Guanajuato is followed by tests at LeÃ³nâ€™s race circuit, a popular viewing spot for fans.
A short street stage close to the service park returns to an early afternoon slot on Friday and Saturday.

Donâ€™t miss

The colourful ceremonial start in Guanajuato, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Music, dancing and a party atmosphere create one of the seasonâ€™s highlights and the opening stage through former mining tunnels begins there and then. Get there early â€“ the crowds are huge!
Click to expand...

Steve · Mar 3, 2015

Slow starters could clean up in Mexico (WRC.com)

03 MAR 2015

After the icy tarmac and snow of the first two rounds, the FIA World Rally Championship roars onto gravel for Rally Guanajuato Mexico (5-8 March), and to conditions that could spring some drivers back into title contention.

Mexico is the first of a run of six loose-surface rallies, and the first event where drivers at the head of the field are forced to sweep a clean line for the cars behind.

In the expected hot and dry conditions, first on the road is tough going. The layer of fine, loose gravel covering the stages is thicker than any other round - making the road-sweeping effect as bad as it gets.

As championship leader, Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier has the dubious honour of being road opener on both Friday and Saturday. The situation won’t be much better for Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen, who start second and third.

Conversely, drivers lower in the standings, and therefore the start order, should benefit from a progressively cleaner road and better grip. And for drivers who scored poorly in Monte-Carlo or Sweden, it’s a golden opportunity to bounce back.

Fifth in the championship, Citroen’s Mads Ostberg is one of those hoping to make up lost ground. “From what we have seen previously, on the first pass especially it’s a big disadvantage to be first,” he explained. “I’ll go there fifth on the road this time, and I think that should be beneficial. It’s something I have to take advantage of right from the start.”

Title challenger Jari-Matti Latvala (pictured above) hopes his start position of fourth will help make up for a no-score in Sweden. “After the disappointment in Sweden I feel positive about going to Mexico. I will have an ideal start position for the conditions and now I have to make best use of it,” he said.

Having missed Rally Sweden through injury, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo is eager to make the most of tenth in the running order. “It’s a very good start position. It’s important for me to enjoy this position and try to do my best at the beginning of the rally,” he said.

Other drivers with great opportunities to impress from low start positions include Citroen’s Kris Meeke, and Ford Fiesta RS privateer, Robert Kubica.
Click to expand...

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