Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Rallye de France - Alsace (2012)

Interesting on-boards.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBz0slM1ZiI]Atko Test MINI Rallye de France 2012!.m4v - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEEnvPVYpCw]Dani SORDO -Tests day pré France 2012- [HD] Didvidéo - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6qQqalmcw]Séance test Pré-Alsace WRC 2012 Mini Cooper John Works WRC Dani Sordo - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNxm6uF6Pg]The Race - 2012 WRC Rallye de France - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

 

MINIs being prepped for rally. The two on the left are headed for France...one will be driven by three-time World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller (see next post).

 

Yvan Muller to drive MINI WRC in France (Prodrive.com)

 

Friends reunited in the WRC (WRC.com)

 

Yvan Muller at Prodrive taking delivery of his car for France.

 

Muller testing at Prodrive track ahead of France rally. Looks like they covered the lower sides to avoid damaging the sponsor / advertising wrap during the test.

 

Muller light (WRC.com)

 

WRC Team MINI Portugal Rallye de France Preview (RallySportLive.com)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNbm22MfPUQ]Wicked Ridealong Movie in Chris 'Atko' Atkinson's MINI WRC.mp4 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Testing for the rally.

Dani Sordo:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxtEgFcNR6I]Test Days Dani Sordo Rallye France-Alsace 2012 - YouTube[/ame]

Chris Atkinson:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i39bw3OUN0s]Tests Day Chris Atkinson for Rallye de France Alsace 2012 [HD] Rallye-Addict.com - YouTube[/ame]

 

Meet Chris Atkinson's co-driver Glenn MacNeall:

Four questions to Glenn MacNeall



Glenn, welcome back, it's been a few years since we last saw you in the WRC outside of New Zealand. What have you been up to ?

I'm currently co-driving in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship alongside Indian driver Gaurav Gill and this year we've been team mates with Chris and Stephane. I've actually been working with Gaurav and Team MRF ever since I retired from co-driving for Chris in the WRC back in 2007. Back then Gaurav had just started out - he was previously a race driver. We've worked together for the past five years and he's got better and better. I've enjoyed working with him as he's progressed a lot over these five years which makes it pretty rewarding. We could have won the Championship two years ago, all we had to do was finish an event in China, but unfortunately we retired and he lost the Championship by one point! In a twist of fate the other driver had used two different co-drivers (including me!) so I still won the FIA Asia Pacific Co-driver Championship.

I paired up with Chris in the World Rally Championship for two and a bit seasons when from 2005 to 2007 and prior to that I had competed in 2001 co-driving for Japanese driver Toshi Arai. In between all of that I also competed in the Australian Rally Championship for several years before returning to the PWRC with Toshi Arai for several seasons before switching to doing the Asia Pacific with MRF and Gaurav.


How did you start out in rallying ?

Rallying has been a family thing since I was very young. My parents are involved in the business as well and I have been a co-driver since I was 16 years old. My father is a member of the FIA Rallies Commission. They still live in Perth - an awesome place - which will always be home. I love the weather and the lifestyle there. I did a university degree in Perth mainly so I could keep rallying as much as possible as uni had heaps of holidays and they didn't care if you turned up to class (Shhhh!). I eventually passed my degree in Marketing and PR and never stopped being a co-driver.



We all know about your career as a co-driver, but could you tell us more about your daily life ?

I am a partner in a car dealership in Dunedin, New Zealand. Where is that you may ask? Deep in the South Island or three hours drive east of Queenstown on the coast. It's a city of only 120,000 people. Nice place but quite cold. I moved here from Australia and am a partner in a business in Dunedin. It isn't a big dealership at the moment, but we hope to grow it. It's a new challenge as we only took over the business two years ago.


Do you have any hobbies or things you like to do in your free time ?

I like the normal things most people do, hanging with friends, watching movies. I'm nowhere near as fit as I should be, which Chris use to give me hassle about when I was co-driving for him. We'd go running and he'd be off in the distance and I'd be panting behind. He's mellowed over the years though, we could never get him to drink even a coffee before rallies. Now he seems a tad (but just a tad) more relaxed and enjoying himself. I'm a bit of sad individual when it comes to motorsport as I like watching most forms of it. I did a rally as a driver recently. As a birthday present some people organised a car and I drove in a local club rally. It was a bit of fun, I spent 40 mins in a ditch on the third stage, but didn't do any damage so we got pulled out and carried on, was great!

 

WRC debut for Romain Dumas (best-of-rallylive.com)

 

Romain knows (WRC.com)

 

:lol:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwP-NUBJks]Multitasking Miracle: Atko's asked 10 Quick & Dirty Questions while driving a MINI.m4v - YouTube[/ame]