Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Rally Monte Carlo (2014)

Steve · Jan 19, 2014

Steve · Jan 18, 2014

Kris claims first WRC podium finish (krismeeke.com)

18 January 2014 - by Site Admin

Kris has scored his first podium finish in the World Rally Championship with an excellent third overall on the first round of the 2014 season, the Rallye Monte Carlo.

The Northern Irishman and his co-driver Paul Nagle brought their Citroen DS3 WRC safely through one of the most chaotic days in recent WRC history, with one of the leg’s two stages held in appallingly wet conditions and the other run in deep snow.

In the end, Kris was among several drivers who received a notional time for the penultimate stage, and he and Paul negotiated the final, ultra-wet test to finish just over half a minute behind second-placed Bryan Bouffier, and just under two minutes off rally winner Sebastien Ogier. The result makes Kris the first British driver to stand on a WRC event podium since Richard Burns did so in Australia in 2003.

The Citroen pairing also scored a late bonus by taking third fastest on that final test. It was the ‘Powerstage’, so Kris gets an extra world championship point for his efforts.

Speaking to WRC radio’s Colin Clark at the finish line of the final stage, Kris said, ‘What a rally this has been – so crazy. I’ve never witness anything like the snow in the Col du Turini. And then in this last stage, there was just so much water on the road, everywhere; I don’t think I’ve ever driven so slowly.

‘It’s a great result for us, and I really have to thank Yves [Matton, Citroen Racing Team Principal] for the faith that he’s shown in me. If I can finish this rally with no mistakes then I really think I can do it anywhere.’
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Steve · Jan 15, 2014

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DegStvlRY"]Shakedown - 2014 WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo- Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jan 16, 2014

Kris Meeke onboard, Stage 3.

They hit the snow line at about 5:55 and then road conditions worsen.

They need to put some Aquapel on the glass in front of that camera.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vclbcO8ncEg]Kris Meeke Onboard SS03/ Rallye Monte Carlo 2014 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jan 17, 2014

Ogier on course for Monte win (WRC.com)

17 Jan 2014

World Champion Sebastien Ogier has edged a step closer to victory on this yearâ€™s Rallye Monte-Carlo after a near-perfect day two performance.

The VW driver, who was fighting back after a forgettable opening day, passed Bryan Bouffier for the lead on this morningâ€™s third stage. The Frenchman made his rivalâ€™s job easier by sliding off the road and landing in a field.

Ogier drew on his championship-winning experience to control the rest of the day and ended with a 51s advantage. â€œToday was much better than yesterday,â€ he said. â€œTomorrow will be difficult with some snow expected on the Col de Turini. But for now I can be happy.â€

Kris Meeke put in another assured performance in his Citroen DS3 WRC to retain third place. His main threat at the start of the day came from ex-f1 star Robert Kubica. However, his rally came to an abrupt end 32km into SS9.

â€œThere was a sudden change of grip,â€ the Pole explained. â€œWe needed to be cautious because we had it marked by our ice crew, but unfortunately I misjudged how big that change would be. We went into the corner, the front went straight on and we hit a bridge.â€

That took the pressure off Meeke and he carved out a 1m 10s lead over his team-mate Mads Ostberg at the final control.

Jari-Matti Latvala edged past impressive M-Sport World Rally Team driver Elfyn Evans to claim fifth place on the final stage, while Mikko Hirvonenâ€™s frustrating rally continued in seventh.

VWâ€™s Andreas Mikkelsen completed the top eight in his Polo R WRC. His progress was hindered when he slid off the road on SS10 and dropped more than four minutes.
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Steve · Jan 18, 2014

Col du Turini today:

Steve · Jan 19, 2014

Crashton · Jan 21, 2014

Excellent video.

Love the slicks on snow, not the fast way down the stage. Maybe they should get 4x4 pickumups..... :wink:

Steve · Feb 2, 2014

A little interesting background on Bryan Bouffier (finished 2nd this year).

Manâ€™s best friend (MaxRally.com)

by Anthony Peacock / 2nd February 2014

Bryan Bouffier may have gone off on the first morning of Rally Liepaja but with good friends around you, most disappointments are surmountable.

And itâ€™s said that the most loyal friends of all are of the four-legged variety.

In Bryanâ€™s case thatâ€™s probably true â€“ because his dog helped to net him the major sponsor that makes his rallying possible. Or rather, his dogâ€™s prodigious appetite did.

In 2005, Bryan acquired an enormous 80-kilogram dog that looked a â€œbit like Scooby Dooâ€ and had a seemingly bottomless appetite. The dog was christened â€œAtchoumâ€: French for â€˜Sneezyâ€™ (as in Snow White and the seven dwarves).

Atchoum was certainly no dwarf though, and soon started eating Bryan out of house and home. To make things worse, Atchoum eschewed conventional dog food in favour of premium chicken.

â€œIt was not so easy for me as I had to keep going to the local supermarket to buy chicken and it was costing me a huge amount per month,â€ explained Bryan. â€œThe supermarket got the chicken from a specialist poultry company called Royal Bernard. So first I gave the company a call to see if they would sell me chicken at a low price. First they said no, but then I went to meet them and the boss agreed. During that year I saw him many times as each month I was there to collect the chicken.â€

Fast forward to 2012, when Bryan was all set to do the Monte Carlo Rally. Inevitably, part of the budget was missing: the perennial problem facing most drivers on a tediously regular basis. The solution normally consists of knocking on every door imaginable: including, in Bryanâ€™s case, the chicken man. A meeting was duly arranged with the big boss, and Royal Bernard ended up being one of Bouffierâ€™s biggest sponsors ever since.

â€œThe man was not really involved in motorsport: he had some race horses, but he followed the rally and after our first Monte Carlo he told me it was a very good experience.â€

In 2013, Bryan was fifth overall and the best non-works entry on the Monte. This year, he was second overall. They were both performances that were finger-licking good, according to the French equivalent of Colonel Sanders.

So Latvia wasnâ€™t quite as successful, but there were still nuggets of success to be savoured, so who gives a cluck? (OK, weâ€™ll stop now). And itâ€™s all down to a very large mutt with gourmet tastes.
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Steve · Jan 13, 2014

Countdown to Monte: The challenge (WRC.com)

13 Jan 14

Unpredictable weather is without doubt the biggest challenge that crews face on the Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening round of this year's FIA World Rally Championship.

Although all the stages are run on asphalt, conditions from one kilometre to the next on each stage can change in the blink of an eye and catch out even the biggest of names.

As if that’s not tricky enough, teams and drivers have to second guess their tyre choice in the hope they have gambled correctly for the conditions that lay ahead.

The Monte is the only rally on the WRC calendar which allows teams to choose from four different tyres of tyre: winter tyres with or without spikes as well as soft or super-soft slicks. Ultimately there comes a point when they simply have to go with what the latest weather forecast is telling them allied to information relayed back by their ice note crews who have headed out onto each stage to monitor matters several hours before the start.

This can lead to some unusual results as some drivers, perhaps with less to lose, really take the plunge.

For example, the first stage to a leg can be dry with the next covered in slush and ice. One would think a risk-free strategy would be the answer – take the studded tyre: it might not be ideal for the first stage but will get you through and then surely come into its own on the next one. The alternative, of course, would be to opt for a racing tyre and set the pace on the dry stage in the hope that temperatures in the meantime might rise the fraction required to thaw out the next one.

Or the other option would be to run a mixture of slick and studded tyres – a seemingly unusual solution but, as we’ve seen in the past, one that can really pay off should conditions throughout the stage turn out to be ‘half and half’. Even then drivers still need the gods to smile kindly on them for much can happen in next few hours, particularly at high altitude which can also bring another hazard – fog.

The Monte’s usual biting cold conditions can also play havoc with the machinery. Back in 2000 all three factory Peugeots failed to start in the morning after freezing up overnight in parc ferme.

Then there is the challenge of pure, raw nerve. Driving to win in such topsy-turvy conditions, often with massive drops off the side of a narrow Alpine road, is the ultimate test of bravery. A sixth sense, luck, an ability to know when to push or hold back… call it what you want but this also has a dramatic effect on the final result.

So does maintaining concentration right to the end - for it is not uncommon to see the leaderboard suffer some big name casualties on the final stages. Notably, this year’s last two just happen to be on the legendary Col de Turini section in the dark. Finishes don’t come much more daunting that that.
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Steve · Jan 14, 2014

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZY7nyvpy4]Kubica Testing - 2014 WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

To anyone just catching up in time for the Monte, there's a bunch of 2014 pre-season stuff, videos, etc, in this thread.

Justa Jim · Jan 15, 2014

Cool, Kris is doing very well.

Steve · Jan 15, 2014

Justa Jim said: ↑

Cool, Kris is doing very well.
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And doing his best to temper expectations:

Meeke: Iâ€™m no Loeb (maxrally.com)

by Giles Wade / 15th January 2014

As Citroen prepares for a season of rallying without Sebastien Loeb for the first time in 15 years, inbound DS3 WRC stars Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg will attempt to fill the void left by the nine-time champion.

Citroenâ€™s side of the Monte Carlo service park was a strange place today without the Alsatian superstar. Loeb started the Monte 10 times â€“ every one of them in machinery sourced from Versailles â€“ and he finished on the podium nine times. And he won the French Alps classic seven times.

Now though, heâ€™s gone; departed to circuit racing as part of Citroenâ€™s World Touring Car Championship programme.

And for a little fella, heâ€™s left some very big shoes for those following him to fill.

Meeke might be driving the DS3 WRC with the highest start number and he might have Loebâ€™s engineer Didier Clermont to talk to at every service, but the Northern Irishman smiles at any further comparisons.

â€œIâ€™m not here to try and emulate Sebastien Loeb,â€ says Meeke. â€œI couldnâ€™t. Nobody could. Itâ€™s fantastic to be here, but I still have a heck of a lot to learn and a lot more experience to gain.â€

Ostberg was of the same opinion. The Norwegian adds: â€œFor me, to be in this team is one of the best things I can achieve, but I am still not where I want to be in my career, but itâ€™s getting closer. Joining this team is an important step in that goal. Itâ€™s an honour to be here at Citroen.â€

And both Citroen drivers made a solid start to their season at shakedown this morning. Despite having just six daysâ€™ of asphalt experience in the DS3 WRC (three daysâ€™ testing each) between them, Meeke and Ostberg set exactly the same time on their second run at the Chateauvieux stage. The pair were second only to reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier. And Citroen team principal Yves Matton reckons they could have gone even quicker.

â€œWe were on the soft tyre,â€ says Matton, â€œnot the super-soft. This is only shakedown, itâ€™s nt qualifying.â€

Life proper without Loeb starts in the morning.
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DavisMC40 · Jan 15, 2014

50 year anniversary since Mini won in '64... wonder if they'll release an MC50 with the F56?

Steve · Jan 17, 2014

Monte midday wrap: Friday (WRC.com)

17 Jan 2014

Bryan Bouffier continues to lead Rallye Monte-Carlo at the midpoint of day two despite some strong pressure from hard-charging Sebastien Ogier.

The defending world champion leapt into second place with a fastest time on the mammoth 49-kilometre opening stage, but Bouffier fought back on the next test to go fastest by 0.2s.

It was enough to stop Ogier in his tracks. Bouffier said: “I am having to drive quite flat out and close to the edges. It’s a great battle with Seb and I’m doing my best.”

Britain’s Kris Meeke was bumped down to third place following Ogier’s first stage charge but he was pleased with his morning’s work after successfully defended the place from day one sensation Robert Kubica just behind.

Citroen’s Mads Ostberg and VW’s Jari-Matti Latvala hold fifth and sixth places respectively at the end of the morning, while M-Sport World Rally Team duo Elfyn Evans and Mikko Hirvonen occupy seventh and eighth places in their Ford Fiesta RS WRCs.

There was drama in the WRC2 category as a brace of punctures forced the lead to change twice. Overnight pacesetter, Yurii Protasov picked up a puncture in SS7 and that handed the lead to Armin Kremer. But Kremer suffered an identical fate on the next test and that handed the lead back to a grateful Protasov.
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Steve · Jan 17, 2014

Mini on the Monte flashback time.

Miniâ€™s Monte Carlo anniversary (motorsportmagazine.com)

Paul Fearnley | 16 January 2014

Canâ€™t help thinking that the usually perspicacious BMW has missed a trick. But for its maxi budgetary kerfuffle with Prodrive in 2011-â€™12, it might this Sunday have been celebrating the golden anniversary of Paddy Hopkirkâ€™s Monte Carlo Rally victory with another timely win for a Mini â€“ preferably a red one with a white roof (and sponsored, natch) â€“ driven by a Northern Irishman.

Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon with the winning Mini

Both the MINI â€“ in caps presumably because it wasnâ€™t that mini, truth be told â€“ and driver Kris Meeke showed tantalising glimpses of promise during their short WRC time together. We know now, of course, that it wasnâ€™t meant to be.

We should be grateful that Meeke â€“ I am amazed he is 34 â€“ has been awarded another opportunity, this time by a CitroÃ«n in gentle rally decline while its focuses on SÃ©bastien Loeb in the WTCC. Itâ€™s difficult to imagine Meekeâ€™s DS3 defeating the fast and still rising SÃ©bastien Ogier and his mint Volkswagen Polo R, but the Monte can be fickle, as the late, great Colin McRae often found to his cost, and so thereâ€™s always hope. (Meekeâ€™s being second-fastest time behind Ogier in yesterdayâ€™s official shakedown was certainly encouraging.)

Thereâ€™s hope, too, that the WRC, like the WEC, is exhibiting signs of recovery. Ogier is an odds-on favourite, but there are perhaps six others who can reasonably entertain thoughts of victory, as Ford and Hyundai, as well as CitroÃ«n, take the fight to VW.

That said there were almost twice as many retirements (136) from the 1964 Monte as there are entrants (72) for its 2014 iteration.

A lot has changed in 50 years.

Rallying in 1964

The 299-car field of 1964 was initially spread far and wide: from Oslo, Glasgow, Lisbon, Paris and Frankfurt to Athens. Hopkirk and studious co-driver Henry Liddon began their 2700-mile odyssey from Minsk â€“ now in Belarus, then part of the USSR. This was a decision that triggered at least one handbrake turn to avoid a grumpy Red Army soldier wielding a submachine gun.

The gendarme who later intercepted Hopkirk travelling the wrong way along a one-way street and haughtily demanded to see his rally road book â€“ any official â€˜blotâ€™ would have resulted in disqualification â€“ was fobbed off with a cock-and-bull story about a mercy dash to a friendâ€™s funeral.

Hopkirk, now 80, still possesses the gift of the gab and a twinkle in his eye. In a recent interview he explained how rallying then was akin to the Olympics: a nationalistic endeavour as much as a PR platform for the manufacturers. His Monte victory was a victory for British industry.

He also admitted that he had surprised himself in winning.

The Miniâ€™s first outings

Despite the protestations of its ingenious creator Alec Issigonis â€“ he was soon persuaded otherwise â€“ Mini had demonstrated its sporting prowess from the moment Marcus Chambers, then BMCâ€™s comps boss, provided chase support to Pat Mossâ€™s Austin A40 during the 1959 Viking Rally in Norway.

Suffolk farming twins Donald and Erle Morley scored its first international class win on the 1960 Geneva Rally.

.......... <snip>
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Full article here.

Kris Meeke craves Paddy power (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

By Sammy Hamill â€“ 16 January 2014

The symmetry would be perfect but the possibility of emulating Paddy Hopkirk wasn't on Kris Meeke's mind as he began the Monte Carlo Rally this morning.

It was exactly 50 years ago that Hopkirk stunned the rally world by winning the Monte in a tiny little Mini Cooper, a feat which will be celebrated with a gala dinner in Belfast's Titanic Quarter next month.

It was Hopkirk, too, who helped to launch fellow Ulsterman Meeke on his rally career by picking him out in a "find a driver" competition more than a decade ago.

Now it has come full circle with the 34-year-old former Intercontinental Challenge champion from Dungannon becoming the first driver from Northern Ireland since Hopkirk to tackle the most iconic of all rallies in a car with winning potential. It has been a torturous climb since the day at Silverstone in 2000 when Hopkirk identified the potential in the young rally rookie, fresh out of Queen's University with a first class engineering degree.

There have been huge pitfalls and knockbacks along the way but Meeke's steely determination and belief have finally paid off with a contract to lead the Citroen team into the 2014 World championship.

Just think, a year ago Citroen were on the brink of winning the Monte for a ninth time with the most successful driver of all time, Sebastien Loeb, at the wheel of their factory-prepared DS3.

Twelve months on and Meeke, who is partnered by Kerryman Paul Nagle, has the daunting task of taking his place.

"Citroen Racing has rewritten the WRC record books with Sebastien over the past 10 years and to be a part of that now is fantastic; I know I can count on their vast experience," he said.

"They understand where I am â€“ I've only ever done 10 WRC rounds in a World Rally Car â€“ but they understand my potential too, otherwise I wouldn't have been given this chance.

"There is pressure, but it's different than what you'd find on a one-off appearance. It is a challenge but it feels right."

He adds: "I know I have to temper my enthusiasm. There have been a few occasions in the past when it has got the better of me. But there have always been cases when everything's been riding on a single event; now I know I have a full season ahead of me and I can build throughout that year.
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Justa Jim · Jan 17, 2014

Well, I feel better. Paddy sees promise in Kris, so I am in good company.

Steve · Jan 17, 2014

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmOpwChCTUs]Leg 2 - 2014 WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jan 18, 2014

Sordo actually did pretty well until his brand new Hyundai stopped working. He was competing, ironically, with Meeke, give or take. Then, in 3rd place overall and 6.1sec behind Meeke after Stage 4, his car just stopped working on the way to Stage 5. There was some sort of issue with the electrical system and they couldn't fix it so he was forced to retire.

Steve · Jan 18, 2014

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EWN4BgMPZs]Leg 3 (Turini) -2014 Wrc Rallye Monte-Carlo - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

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