IT IS NOT JUST the lead of the FIA European Rally Championship that will be up for grabs when the Geko Ypres Rally takes place from 19-21 June. The 2014 ERC Asphalt Masters accolade is currently a straight fight between overall championship title chasers Esapekka Lappi and Craig Breen with the Finn 51 points ahead […]
KEVIN ABBRING’s co-driver Seb Marshall says the Dutch ace has the pace to win next month’s Geko Ypres Rally, round six of the FIA European Rally Championship. Abbring and Marshall will head to Belgium on a high following their second-place finish on SATA Rallye Açores recently. And they are hoping for further success in their […]
AFTER WINNING two of yesterday’s three gravel stages (stage four was cancelled because of extremely dusty conditions), they controlled matters from the front today, adding another two stage wins (stages five and seven) and finished 49 seconds ahead of Henk Lategan and Barry White (Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000). The VW pair produced the performance of […]
CRONJE started day two in his Ford Dealer Ford Fiesta first on the road with a lead of about 46 seconds and in spite of being first on the road he never let go of that lead. Hergen Fekken in the Castrol Toyota Yaris started second, but soon found himself pushed into third overall by […]
WITH SEVEN of the events eleven stages done and dusted Cronje was leading with a total time of 1:25.04.1. He was 54.6 ahead of the chasing Lategan who won stage 6 this morning. Hergen Fekken, who started in second place this morning, found himself demoted to third by his former teammate Lategan and is +1:08.5 […]
THEY WON two of the day’s three gravel special stages in the Bapsfontein area and will start tomorrow 24 seconds ahead of Hergen Fekken and Carolyn Swan (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris). There were four stages scheduled covering a total distance of some 82 kilometres, but this was unavoidably reduced to 77 kilometres when extremely dusty […]
IN SECOND overall, and the only one of three works toyota’s entered, was Hergen Fekke, in a Castrol Toyota Yaris. He was 24.2 seconds behind Cronje. In third place ater the end of stage three and 42.0 second of the pace was the Dutch Volkswagen Racing driver in a Volkswagen Polo. He was followed by […]
THE FIRST CAR to leave the start ramp at the RallyStar Driving Academy near Bapsfontein will be the Ford Dealer Team Fiesta of defending champions Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton. They will be followed by current championship leaders Leeroy Poulter/Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris), the visiting Dutch/Belgian duo of Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn […]
RICHARDS says a more internet-based approach is vital to take the WRC forward.“The strategy I was ready to pursue 10 years ago was to really drive the internet,” Richards told MN. “Convention says for a promoter that you produce a television show which is very expensive to make in TV quality terms. You try to […]
THE OUTING will not be Ogier’s first venture onto the race track, as the Frenchman contested the Porsche Supercup event supporting last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. However, this time around, the current WRC leader will swap his Volkswagen Polo R WRC – with approximately 315bhp – for an Audi that has well over 550bhp on […]
THE CHAMPIONSHIP’S most experienced driver Mikko Hirvonen said: “It would be nice if we could be listened to a little bit more, we all have some ideas about the future.”For me, the idea of the shootout on Sunday is stupid, but my co-driver [Jarmo Lehtinen] came up with a good plan. “Jarmo’s idea is to […]
The battle for America HIGGINS comes fresh off a dramatic Oregon Trail Rally victory over action sports icon, Travis Pastrana, to extend his points standings lead at the beginning of the month. Higgins could strengthen his position even further with another overall victory at STPR, however, his rally won’t be without challenges when Hoonigan Racing’s […]
R5 cars make their first appearance ALSO back for his first outing since the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo is Slovakian Jaroslav Melicharek who will drive a Fiesta RS. The WRC 2 category features its strongest entry of the season with 26 crews lined up, including the top four in the standings – Yuriy Protasov, Lorenzo Bertelli, […]
Win leaves Sousa speechless IT WAS THE SAME 21.3km stage that had proved to be Abbring’s downfall on the final morning, when he went off twice, losing the best part of 20s to Sousa, who had held a narrow lead overnight. Abbring spent the rest of the day clawing back the gap, while Sousa tried […]
Very difficult roads conditions “WE HAD QUITE a big lead on day two, so I just wanted to avoid making any mistakes on the muddy roads. I was under no pressure, and could relax in the Fabia Super 2000, which was perfect – as always,” said Kopecký, who was delighted with his first win at […]
The event brings challenges BY THEIR OWN high standards it has certainly been an inauspicious start to the season: it kicked off with an uncharacteristic mistake in KZN, and then ended prematurely with an equally atypical mechanical breakage in Mpumalanga. This after already having been delayed with a pair of punctures – one on the […]
Class very competitive A full house of 25 points and a 12-point lead over second-placed Willie van Straaten and Scott Howden (Toyota RunX) seems like a good cushion, but such is the competitiveness of the S1600 class that anything can, and usually does, happen. Van Straaten and Howden are a surprise package in their first […]
The Ford Fight Back BACK-BACK wins by Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris) see the factory pairing leading the championship with 50 points from team-mates Hergen Fekken and Carolyn Swan, whose 40 points come from second in the Tour Natal Rally in March and third in the Sasol Rally in April. Third […]
Seeking to improve points standing THERE ARE 172 km of rally stages waiting for the Volkswagen Sasolracing team at this third event, the last for the team before they tackle the Volkswagen Rally in July. The PMC event will be centred around Rallystar in the Bapsfontein area with five stages taking place on Friday and […]
Mutual Understanding IN 2012 they also paired up in Volkswagen Motorsport’s learning year in the WRC, which both team and driver contested in a Škoda Fabia S2000. Andreas Mikkelsen and his previous co-driver, who currently find themselves third in the Drivers’ Championship behind the Volkswagen duos of Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) and Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN), […]
Largest field in 110 year history The Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb, also known as the Climb to the Clouds, was first run in 1904 as part of the famous Glidden Tour and serves as one of North America’s oldest motorsports events. Following a 3-year hiatus, the 2014 Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb will be a 3-day […]
Peugeot 208 T16 R5 vs Ford Fiesta R5 “I WAS 3.5s quicker than in Free Practice,” said Breen. “The road is cleaning and I’m quite happy with the time although there are one or two small things to change.” Breen’s performance means he will be the first driver to select his starting position when the […]
MRF expected to be pace setters again JUST 11.9 seconds behind were their Czech team-mates, Jan Kopecky and Pavel Dresler, who were making their APRC debut.Gill knows the stages well. In a recent interview, he commented that his driving has become more refined over recent seasons. “With age and with time, my driving has become […]
WITH THE itinerary featuring fast and flowing gravel stages – a kind of terrain very familiar to Finnish drivers – selecting Hänninen to partner Neuville was the ideal choice for the Alzenau-based team. As previously announced, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard will drive the Hyundai i20 WRC #20, scoring points for the Hyundai Motorsport N […]
Two Hyundai i20 WRC cars will be at the start of the Villa Carlos Paz based event with lead crew Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul at the wheel of car #7 being joined by Spaniard Dani Sordo and his co-driver Marc Martí on car #8, after their promising performance at Rally de Portugal. Yet another […]