Olympus Rally Recap: Stages

The Olympus Rally has ended, marking the end of the third round of the 2023 Green APU American Rally Association season. Brandon Semenuk would take home all 12 stage wins. 




SS1, Nahwatzel 1

Stage one would see Brandon Semenuk take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 24.1 seconds. Patrick Gruszka would finish third on the stage, 44.2 seconds back from Williams. Alejandro Perusina would finish fourth on the stage, 2.1 seconds back from Gruszka. Jeff Seehorn would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 13.6 seconds back from Perusina. 

 

SS1 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 15:31.1 
  2. Williams, 15:33.2 (+24.1)
  3. Gruszka, 16:39.4 (+1:08.3)
  4. Perusina, 16:41.5 (+1:10.4)
  5. Seehorn, 16:55.1 (+1:24.0)
  6. Bailey, 17:25.0, (+1:53.9)
  7. Plsek, 17:28.9 (+1:57.8)
  8. Olivares, 17:43.5 (+2:12.4)
  9. Miller, 17:47.2 (+2:16.1)
  10. Bardha, 17:48.4 (+2:17.3)



SS2, Cougar Meadow 1

Stage two saw Brandon Semenuk win the stage once again, beating Tom Williams by 10.6 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, 7.5 seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, 1.8 seconds back from Seehorn. Alejandro Perusina would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 5.8 seconds back from Gruszka. 

 

SS2 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 4:21.5 
  2. Williams, 4:32.1 (+10.6)
  3. Seehorn, 4:39.6 (+18.1)
  4. Gruszka, 4:41.4 (+19.9)
  5. Perusina, 4:47.2 (+25.7)
  6. Olivares, 4:57.6 (+36.1)
  7. Dickinson, 5:01.0 (+39.5)
  8. Bailey, 5:01.9 (+40.4)
  9. Block, 5:05.6 (+44.1)
  10. Bardha,  5:05.9 (+44.4)



SS3, Nahwatzel 2

Stage three would see Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 22.7 seconds. Patrick Gruszka would finish third on the stage, 30.3 seconds behind Williams. Jeff Seehorn would finish fourth on the stage, 26.5 seconds behind Gruszka. Alejandro Perusina would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 19.8 seconds behind Seehorn. 

 

SS3 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 15:27.8
  2. Williams, 15:50.5 (+22.7)
  3. Gruszka, 16:20.8 (+53.0)
  4. Seehorn, 16:47.3 (+1:19.5)
  5. Perusina, 17:07.1 (+1:39.3)
  6. Bailey, 17:10.9 (+1:43.1)
  7. Olivares, 17:16.6 (+1:48.8)
  8. Miller, 17:36.3 (+2:08.5)
  9. Bardha, 17:40.6 (+2:12.8)
  10. Trudel, 17:52.0 (+2:24.2)



SS4, Cougar Meadow 2

Stage four saw Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 9.1 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, eight seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, 5.8 seconds back from Seehorn. Javier Olivares would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 10.6 seconds back from Gruszka. 

 

SS4 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 4:21.3
  2. Williams, 4:30.4 (+9.1)
  3. Seehorn, 4:38.4 (+17.1)
  4. Gruszka, 4:44.2 (+22.9)
  5. Olivares, 4:54.8 (+33.5)
  6. Perusina, 4:54.9 (+33.6)
  7. Bailey, 4:57.5 (+36.2)
  8. Block, 4:59.4 (+38.1)
  9. Hooper, 5:00.5 (+39.2)
  10. Block, 5:01.8 (+40.5)



SS5, Stillwater 1

Stage five would see Brandon Semenuk take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 28.4 seconds. Patrick Gruszka and Jeff Seehorn would tie for third on the stage, with both finishing 44.8 seconds back from Williams. Jason Bailey would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 48.1 seconds back from Gruszka and Seehorn. 

 

SS5 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 13:12.9
  2. Williams, 13:41.3 (+28.4)
  3. Gruszka, 14:26.1 (+1:13.2)
  4. Seehorn, 14:26.1 (+1:13.2)
  5. Bailey, 15:14.2 (+2:01.3)
  6. Olivares, 15:17.4 (+2:04.5)
  7. Block, 15:40.3 (+2:27.4)
  8. Bardha, 15:42.0 (+2:29.1)
  9. Honn, 15:44.3 (+2:31.4)
  10. Miller, 15:48.1 (+2:35.2)



SS6, Stillwater 2

Stage six saw Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 25.9 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, one minute and 55.1 seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, finishing 7.5 seconds back from Seehorn. Jason Bailey would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 19.1 seconds back from Gruszka. 

 

SS6 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 13:34.4
  2. Williams, 14:00.3 (+25.9)
  3. Seehorn, 15:55.4 (+2:21.0)
  4. Gruszka, 16:02.9 (+2:28.5)
  5. Bailey, 16:22.0 (+2:47.6)
  6. Clark, 16:49.3 (+3:14.9)
  7. Olivares, 17:08.1 (+3:33.7)
  8. Hooper, 17:17.6 (+3:43.2)
  9. Sperry, 17:20.3 (+3:46.0)
  10. Allen, 17:21.0 (+3:46.6)



SS7, Wildcat

Stage seven would see Brandon Semenuk take another stage win, beating Tom Williams by 32.6 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, 1 minute and 15.5 seconds back from Williams. Javier Olivares would finish fourth on the stage, 33.3 seconds back from Seehorn. Patrick Gruszka would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 21.6 seconds back from Olivares. 



SS7 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 20:40.5
  2. Williams, 21:13.1 (+32.6)
  3. Seehorn, 22:28.6 (+1:48.1)
  4. Olivares, 23:01.9 (+2:21.4)
  5. Gruszka, 23:23.5 (+2:43.0)
  6. Bailey, 23:37.9 (+2:57.4)
  7. Trudel, 23:55.5 (+3:15.0)
  8. Miller, 24:00.0 (+3:19.5)
  9. Bardha, 24:11.8 (+3:31.3)
  10. Brassfeild, 24:18.1 (+3:37.6)



SS8, Dayton

Stage eight saw Brandon Semenuk take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 13.7 seconds. Patrick Gruszka and Jeff Seehorn would tie for third on the stage, with both drivers finishing 19 seconds back from Williams. Jason Bailey would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 13.7 seconds back from Gruszka and Seehorn. 



SS8 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 5:47.3
  2. Williams, 6:01.0 (+[13.7)
  3. Gruszka, 6:20.0 (+32.7)
  4. Seehorn, 6:20.0 (+32.7)
  5. Bailey, 6:33.7 (+46.4)
  6. Olivares, 6:34.6 (+47.3)
  7. Hartmann, 6:41.8 (+54.5)
  8. Miller, 6:43.0 (+55.7
  9. Block, 6:45.2 (+57.9)
  10. Trudel, 6:46.5 (+59.2)



SS9, Wildcat

Stage nine would see Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 21.7 seconds. Patrick Gruszka would finish third on the stage 1 minute and 22.9 seconds back from Williams. Jeff Seehorn would finish fourth on the stage, 8 seconds back from Gruszka. Javier Olivares would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 27.4 seconds back from Seehorn. 


SS9 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 20:40.7
  2. Williams, 21:02.4 (+21.7)
  3. Gruszka, 22:25.3 (+1:44.6)
  4. Seehorn, 22:33.3 (+1:52.6)
  5. Olivares, 23:00.7 (+2:20.0)
  6. Bailey, 23:10.7 (+2:30.0)
  7. Block, 23:43.9 (+3:03.2)
  8. Miller, 24:03.9 (+3:23.2)
  9. Trudel, 14:16.3 (+3:35.6)
  10. Reavis, 24:16.4 (+3:35.7)



SS10, Dayton

Stage 10 saw Brandon Semenuk once again take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 8.1 seconds. Jeff Seehorn would finish third on the stage, 11.7 seconds back from Williams. Patrick Gruszka would finish fourth on the stage, 2.1 seconds back from Seehorn. Jason Bailey would round out the top five on the stage, 17 seconds back from Gruszka.



SS10 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 5:47.4 
  2. Williams, 5:55.5 (+8.1)
  3. Seehorn, 6:07.2 (+19.8)
  4. Gruszka, 6:09.3 (+21.9)
  5. Bailey, 6:28.3 (+38.9)
  6. Olivares, 6:33.5 (+46.1)
  7. Block, 6:35.0 (+47.6)
  8. A Miller, 6:43.0 (+55.6)
  9. Hartmann, 6:45.2 (+57.8)
  10. Redd, 6:45.7 (+58.3)



SS11, SIP SuperSpecial 

Stage 11 would see Brandon Semenuk take the stage win, beating Tom Williams by 3.7 seconds. Patrick Gruszka would finish third on the stage, 7.4 seconds back from Williams. Jeff Seehorn would finish fourth on the stage, 10.1 seconds back from Gruszka. Jason Bailey would out the top five on the stage, finishing 2.4 seconds back from Seehorn. 



SS11 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 4:42.6
  2. Williams, 4:46.3 (+3.7)
  3. Gruszka, 4:53.7 (+11.1)
  4. Seehorn, 5:03.8 (+21.2)
  5. Bailey, 5:06.2 (+23.6)
  6. Block, 5:16.9 (+34.3)
  7. Olivares, 5:19.4 (+36.8)
  8. Block, 5:20.2 (+37.6)
  9. Bardha, 5:21.3 (+38.7)
  10. Redd, 5:27.1 (+44.5)




SS12, SIP SuperSpecial

Stage twelve would see somebody finally match Brandon Semenuk, technically. As a stoppage would force both Patrick Gruszka and Jeff Seehorn to transit the entirety of the stage. This came in accordance with ARA RCR 5.31. All three drivers would finish the stage with a time of 4:43.8. Jason Bailey would finish fourth on the stage, 27.2 seconds back from Semenuk, Gruszka and Seehorn. Lucy Block would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 7.3 seconds behind Bailey. 



SS12 Top 10 Times

  1. Semenuk, 4:43.8
  2. Gruszka, 4:43.8
  3. Seehorn, 4:43.8
  4. Bailey, 5:11.0 (+27.2)
  5. Block, 5:18.3 (+34.5)
  6. Olivares, 5:27.2 (+43.4)
  7. Block, 5:29.3 (+45.5)
  8. Brassfeild, 5:31.9 (+48.1)
  9. Bardha, 5:35.9 (+52.1)
  10. Clark, 5:41.3 (+57.5)




 

Stage One Cancelled

SS1 would be cancelled due to a car catching fire. That car would be car 282 driven by Mark Tabor. The cause of the fire is said to be because of a mechanical issue. Mark will not restart the rally, as well, he doesn’t have a car.

 

Stage Two Cancelled

SS2 would also be cancelled much like SS1. This time it was due to a time issue. As the stage was delayed due to a crash involving car number 307 driven by Spencer Crabb. This delay would ultimately take too long and too many drivers were backed up for the stage to run in enough time to be ready for SS4. 

Photography Credit

© Trevor Lyden, Subaru.com/motorsports, 2023

Rally Croatia 2023 – Day Three Report. Elfyn and Scott win!

The final day then and with 56km’s over four stages, could Elfyn hold on and take victory or would Ott be able to fight back and take a second win of the year? Meanwhile, Esapekka would be looking to take third, unless anything would happen in front of him. Also, there was the battle between Kalle and Seb to settle. Finally let’s remember that all crews were out there and competing for Craig.

 

The first stage then, SS17 Trakošćan – Vrbno 1 – 13.15 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb by 3.7 seconds whilst Elfyn was third and with Ott down in sixth, the gap widened between the top two. The Finns pace meant that he passed Seb and moved into fourth overall. In WRC2 Yohan continued to lead, with Nikolay now 14 seconds behind and holding second place and reigning WRC champion Emil in third.

 

Onto SS18 Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 1 – 14.09 km and Thierry was fastest from Kalle by just nine tenths of a second and Seb third. The gap was widening with the Finn going a little faster than his teammate. Meanwhile, Elfyn continued to lead Ott by a slightly reduced margin of 29 seconds but was looking comfortable in the lead. Top three in WRC was unchanged and Yohan was also looking comfortable with a 13 second lead.

 

The penultimate stage then, SS19 Trakošćan – Vrbno 2 – 13.15 km and Kalle was again fastest from Seb and Ott. Esapekka was still holding third overall despite only setting the sixth best time on this one, but the Finn had a good gap to Kalle of 34 seconds.

 

The final stage then, SS20 Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 2[Power Stage] – 14.09 km and the top five was Thierry, Kalle, Seb, Takamoto and Esapekka. Elfyn and Scott took victory at last, their first win since Rally Finland 2021. We did not see the normal celebrations at the end and instead saw a very poignant and low-key podium, with Elfyn and Scott holding an Irish flag, and the all the drivers joining the top three on the podium, whilst the Republic Irish National Anthem was played.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Croatia Rally

1 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 2:50:54.3
2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +27.0
3 E. Lappi J. Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +58.6
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:18.3
5 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +1:28.0
6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:22.5
7 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +4:22.6
8 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Citroën C3 Rally2 +7:51.3
9 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Škoda Fabia RS +8:07.4
10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Škoda Fabia RS +9:16.7

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Elfyn Evans (1st)

“Obviously we have been working for another win like this for a long time but that doesn’t mean so much right at this moment. It’s been a tough week for everybody and the whole WRC family can be proud of how everyone has come together and paid tribute to Craig. Competition went on as usual, as he would have wanted. It seemed a bit of a tall order to win here with our road position on Friday with the amount of dirt on the road, but some others hit trouble and that gave us an opportunity to fight for the win. Scott and myself promised Craig’s family that we would enjoy this weekend and we’ve been able to do that. Now it’s all over, our thoughts turn back to them.”

Kalle Rovanperä (4th)

“It has not been a great weekend in terms of result but in the end, we did what we could. It was a great fight with Seb and to come out on top is not so bad. Of course, we don’t want to be fighting for fourth, but that’s all we could really do after Friday. We didn’t start the weekend well; we made a small mistake with the setup, but after that the car was good so thank you to the team. We tried to push hard on the Power Stage and got some good points at the end of the weekend.”

Sébastien Ogier (5th)

“It has been a tough week. From a sporting point of view, we had the pace to do much better, but things did not go our way this weekend. That’s motorsport sometimes. It was quite difficult today, but I have to say that Kalle was really fast, and I didn’t have the same pace as him on this final day. Of course, the Power Stage was still a target, but we made a wrong decision with the tyre strategy, and I had a lot of moments in the stage, so I was glad to cross the finish line and still bring some points to the team.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Esapekka Lappi (3rd)

“I don’t know where to start. Big thanks to the team. It was not an easy decision to come here for most of us, but we appreciated the opportunity to drive again. I know it’s been really tough, arguably one of the hardest weeks ever. We kept our heads together with a smart drive that enabled us to be on the podium. It’s a very important result for us and for the team this week, so thank you.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 4, Croatia Rally
20 – 23 April 2023
Esapekka Lappi
Photographer: Austral
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Thierry Neuville (33rd)

“I don’t know what to say. I am just so disappointed for the team, for us, after everything that has happened. It is a tough moment, so we really wanted the victory to make Craig proud. Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity with our retirement from the lead on Saturday. We have had to give more than 100%, and when you are on the limit you can’t always avoid such mistakes. We re-joined the rally this morning determined to fight in the Power Stage. We gave absolutely everything and that was for Craig.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak (2nd)

“The car has the pace, we can see that from the times, but the operating window seems very small, and it has been difficult for me to understand where the sweet spot of the car is. Up until now the team has been working very hard and I have managed to stay in touch with the competition, but we need to continue working hard on finding more so we can keep involved in this exciting battle for the championship. I am happy to be only four points off the lead of the championship and second this weekend is still a very good result along with the two stage wins. The test for Portugal is next week and now my focus turns to preparing as best as possible and working with the team to get us as prepared as possible for the next important event.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet (7th)

“I am pleased with the performance, some places we have been fast, showing the potential is there, but I have missed some consistency. I made a bad tyre choice on Friday losing us time, however on Saturday it went well, and we were up to fourth but unfortunately with a couple of issues we dropped to seventh by the end of the event. But let’s keep positive, I know if I can get the consistency back, I can finish in the top five or even the podium in the coming events.”

Adrien Fourmaux – Fifth in WRC2

“I’m really happy about the weekend and performance of the car. We had a really good time on the power stage, where we scored valuable points for the championship. We got the car going so much better over this weekend, it was a bit tricky on Friday with a mechanical issue where we lost one minute but I was pleased to be back driving fast on Tarmac with no drama, we were really able to push. It was quite hard for all the drivers with all the emotion over Craig’s loss. It was a really tough weekend for everyone and it’s nice to finish on something positive and have the right feeling with the car going forward for the rest of the championship.”

Gregoire Munster – 26th Overall

“Not the best weekend for us, we had a mechanical issue on Friday which lost us some time. Following that I made a mistake which led to a small off, and then we had a small fire when we restarted the car. Luckily the mechanics were able to repair it so we could go out and grab some more experience on Saturday and Sunday. These kilometres were really important for me to get, as we don’t yet have so much mileage with the car, so this gave us some experience on Tarmac which is a really positive point.”

Oliver Solberg (10th)

“It has been a tough one,” said Oliver. “When I tested, we had so much rain, the roads were so wet – in the recce it was the same, I had such a good feeling with the car, I decided to go to a wet set up with the transmission. The transmission is sealed at scrutineering which was on Wednesday. “If it continued to rain, I had the perfect car!” Sadly, the sun came out.

“It was really tricky in the dry. I took the gamble, and it didn’t work. Basically, you have to make a choice on the transmission set-up, and I didn’t trust so much to the weather predictions and when the roads dried, my car wasn’t so good.

“The differential set-up for the wet is kind of more progressive, with the diffs more open – I didn’t have the same pull I needed from the diff. It was a mistake I made. It’s frustrating, but the positive is some fastest times. When the road got a bit more dirty with more mud pulled out, I won some stages – not as many as I would have liked, but some.

“We took some good experience. I did this rally in full wet last year and now full dry this year, so I understand it quite well now.”

“Craig was such an amazing person,” continued Oliver. “He had such love and such passion for this sport – he loved all of the old cars and he loved to talk about rallying all of the time. But above all of that, he was one of the nicest and most positive people I know – that’s what I’m going to take forward with me when I think about this great guy.”

 

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’

After round four

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 161
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 132
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 108

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’

After round four

1 S. Ogier 69
2 E. Evans 69
3 K. Rovanperä 68
4 O. Tänak 65
5 T. Neuville 58
6 E. Lappi 31
7 C. Breen 19
8 T. Katsuta 18
9 D. Sordo 17
10 P.L Loubet 14

Summary

Well, what a rally. It was good that it went without incident and great that Elfyn and Scott took victory. If it could not be one of the Hyundai crews, then Elfyn and Scott as close friends of Craig was definitely a great result. Of course, Scott was Craig’s co-driver for many years, and they took their first ever podium in 2016 in Finland.

I’m going to leave it at that and give Craig the final words –

“Don’t let anyone ever put you down, because only you know your true potential.”

Craig Breen, Rally Sweden, February 2023

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 02, Rally Sweden, 09-12 February 2023
Photographer: Vincent Thuillier
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Rally Croatia 2023 Day Two report – Elfyn moves into the lead!

Well, day two would see the crew tackle 116km’s over eight stages. Thierry held a small 5.7 second lead over Elfyn following Friday’s stages. The top ten would be reversed with Thierry starting the stage last of all.

 

First up was SS9 Kostanjevac – Petruš Vrh 1 – 23.76 km in which Kalle as fastest from Ott and Seb. The Frenchman was now fighting back up the leader board following getting a one-minute penalty for moving away after the tyre change. Thierry was 4.8 faster than Elfyn, therefore taking his lead to over 10 seconds. There was a change in positions between Takamoto and Pierre-Louis as the Japanese star was passed by the young Frenchman. In the WRC2 category, Adrien was fastest from Emil and Yohan.

 

Kalle made it two from two, winning SS10 Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 1 – 8.78 km from Seb and Ott. The top two duo of Thierry and Elfyn were fourth and fifth respectively separated by just three tenths of a second and they continued their battle for the lead, the advantage going to the Hyundai driver. Yohan continued to lead WRC2 with a thirty second lead over Nikolay.

 

There was drama in SS11 Ravna Gora – Skrad 1 – 10.13 km as last through the stage Thierry lost control of his car on a long right hander and slid into large rock on the outside of the corner and was spun into the trees. He knew immediately that they could not continue. Elfyn was now in the lead.

 

Into SS12 Platak 1 – 15.63 km and Seb was fastest from Kalle and Elfyn. The Welshman held a 22 second lead over his former M-Sport teammate. Meanwhile, Seb had moved up into fifth place, pushing his teammate Takamoto down to sixth. In WRC2 there was a change for second place, with Nicolas Ciamin passing Nikolay, whilst Yohan continued to hold a big lead.

 

After the midday service the second run of SS13 Kostanjevac – Petruš Vrh 2 – 23.76 km was won by Seb, with Ott and Kalle second and third fastest. With the pace of Seb and Kalle out there, they both moved up to fourth and sixth respectively, with Pierre-Louis falling to fifth and Takamoto to seventh. There was drama in WRC2 with Nicolas rolling out of second place.

 

Ott won SS14 Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 2 – 8.78 km from Kalle and Seb, whilst Elfyn saw his lead over Ott fall to twelve and a half seconds. Kalle also passed Pierre-Louis for fifth overall as the Frenchman struggled with his hard compound tyres.

 

Kalle won SS15 Ravna Gora – Skrad 2 – 10.13 km and closed the gap to Seb for fourth overall to just 1.3 seconds, whilst Elfyn was third fastest and increased his lead over Ott. This was part in due to the Estonian getting technical problems with his Puma, mainly with his handbrake. Further back, Takamoto passed Pierre-Louis for sixth overall.

 

The final stage of the day, SS16 Platak 2 – 15.63 km saw Seb again leading the way from Kalle and Esapekka. Elfyn was fourth, whilst Ott could only manage sixth fastest and 8.6 seconds slower than the leader, who now had a 25.6 second lead over Ott.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 2:20:05.7
2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +25.4
3 E. Lappi J. Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +55.4
4 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +1:49.4
5 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:51.4
6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:25.9
7 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +2:32.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a long day but a good one in terms of our position tonight. I was maybe taking a bit too much care in the dirty places to begin with, but I felt things were getting better as the morning went on and things were working quite well in the car. I wasn’t completely happy with my afternoon; we were losing some time compared to Ott but then he had some issues which has given us some breathing space. But it’s also a big part of the game on this rally to stay on the road and avoid trouble. It’s not a huge lead on a rally like this, so we still need to drive well tomorrow while managing the risks.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Today we were fighting really hard to gain some positions back, and we were able to gain three places and we also had a close fight with Seb. It’s always tough to fight with Seb, so it’s been a proper push today and we were fast during the whole day. After yesterday afternoon I knew that I now had a good feeling with the car and the setup, so I was more confident starting today. We also had a good road position this morning, starting first with a clean road, although for the second pass this afternoon it was still quite dirty and slippery. Tomorrow we’ll see what happens and try to score as many points as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It has been nice to be fighting with Kalle and for us to both climb some positions today. OK, it’s not really the position that either of us want to be fighting for, but at least it’s working towards scoring more and more points for the team. It’s been enjoyable in the car and at least I could have a trouble-free loop this afternoon. This morning we had to fix an issue on the road section, and we were just a little bit too late to avoid another penalty. But at least we could keep going, and after that we had good pace. Now we will try to carry on like this for the four remaining stages.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Esapekka Lappi

“Of course, it’s nice to be in a podium position even though we have been lacking a bit of pace today; it’s been a different feeling compared to what we had yesterday, but I know I have never been perfect on the dirty tarmac. I have been trying to reproduce the driving we had on Friday, but it was difficult to match the times at the front. The conditions have felt more slippery, and if you feel like there’s no grip then the confidence just goes. We knew that the new stage would be tricky, but it was crazy how dirty it was. We have benefitted in terms of our position because unfortunately Thierry went off this morning, so we will have to concentrate, try to find some improvements in the car for the final day, and aim to complete the rally on the podium. That would at least be something to take away for the whole team.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 4, Croatia Rally
20 – 23 April 2023
Esapekka Lappi
Photographer: Austral
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Thierry Neuville

“We were trying to maintain defence of our lead over Elfyn, which we had done well on the two opening stages with good pace. In SS11, we were a bit late braking into a third gear right-hander, we entered the cut and just lost the rear of the car upon corner entry. We hit some concrete on the outside and our day was over; we broke the rear left damper and upright, so there was no chance to continue. I didn’t feel too comfortable up to that point. Even though we were slightly down on the splits, I had expected to continue my rhythm, but it wasn’t to be. When you are battling for victory sometimes small mistakes can happen. I want to apologise to the team. We were all dreaming about the victory this weekend for the reasons that we all know about. We were close, we were doing our best, we kept believing but unfortunately our efforts were not rewarded.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“There were many things (referring to problems that started in stage three), some hydraulic and transmission issues and the handbrake in the last stage, quite a few things at the moment. It’s tricky and for sure we will keep going for tomorrow with a short day.”

Summary

Well with just 54km’s over four stages, it will be interesting to see if Ott can close the gap again to Elfyn and take victory or will the two-time championship runner up take his first win since Rally Finland 2021. I know this would be a very popular win.

Rally Croatia 2023 – Day One Report, Thierry leads for Hyundai Motorsport

The first full day of competitive action in Croatia saw some incredible drama out there. Here’s the round-up of the first eight stages from Friday.

 

First up, SS1 Mali Lipovec – Grdanjci 1 – 19.20 km and with the crew starting in championship order, Seb was first in and would ultimately set the fastest time from Thierry and Ott. At this stage, Kalle and Elfyn were holding fourth and fifth overall, a little over ten seconds from the leader. In the WRC2 category, Yohan held the lead From Emil and Gus with third.

 

It was all change in SS2 Stojdraga – Hartje 1 – 25.67 km with both Seb and Kalle suffering punctures at the same point and on the same side in the stage and having to change their wheels. Seb lost over a minute and Kalle over two minutes changing their wheels. Thierry also had some drama, colliding with a bale in a chicane and damaging the right front bumper and splitter. Once Elfyn completed the stage he now held second overall, whilst Esapekka moved into third, and just 5.6 seconds covered the top three.

 

Into SS3 Krašić – Vrškovac 1 – 11.11 km and Seb was back to the fastest time, but of course was holding seventh overall, now a minute and thirty seconds from Thierry. The Belgian was second fastest and opened up the gap to Elfyn a little to over 15 seconds.

 

The final stage of the morning loop SS4 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 1 – 9.11 km and Seb was making the most of still being first on the road and took another stage win, whilst Ott and Elfyn were second and third respectively. In WRC2, Yohan continued to lead, from Nikolay who gained two places overall and moved into ninth overall.

 

After the service break, Seb was fastest in SS5 Mali Lipovec – Grdanjci 2 – 19.20 km from Elfyn who was starting to close the gap to Thierry, whilst Ott was third fastest. There was a change in positions further back, with Pierre-Louis moving into fifth place.

 

Esapekka took his first stage win in SS6 Stojdraga – Hartje 2 – 25.67 km from Elfyn whilst Seb was third. The former champion was now up into fifth overall, whilst Elfyn had now closed the gap to Thierry to just eight seconds. Kalle was also on the move up the leader board gaining one position and moving into eighth overall.

 

We had another new stage winner with Ott winning SS7 Krašić – Vrškovac 2 – 11.11 km from Thierry and Elfyn. Ott moved ahead of Esapekka and into third overall, just 1.5 seconds ahead now of the Hyundai driver.

 

The final stage of the day, SS8 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 2 – 9.11 km was won by Elfyn from Kalle and Ott was third fastest. Thierry was fifth and lost a further few seconds of his lead to Elfyn, the gap just 5.7 seconds at the end of the stage.

 

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid 1:16:02.4
2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +5.7
3 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +30.0
4 E. Lappi J. Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +33.4
5 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +1:23.7
6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:52.1
7 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +1:52.9
8 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:40.3

 

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“First of all, I am happy to get to the end of the day in the lead of the rally; this is the best result we could expect especially after the incredibly tough week we have had as a team. It was a big relief as we passed the final stage end and saw we were still in front. It has not been an easy day; this morning, it was tough and more challenging than we were expecting. We changed the dampers on the car and felt more comfortable, but I still don’t feel that I can commit 100%. We were fast but we weren’t chasing those final tenths of a second which make all the difference. The next two days will also be challenging; we have a new stage which was dirty in the recce, and we must remember we will be starting from the back of the field, so it could be tough.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 04, Croatia Rally
20-23 April 2023
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Esapekka Lappi

“This morning, we didn’t have the greatest pace, but we also carried a disadvantage that we didn’t do these stages last year. We were lacking a bit on the pace notes as a result, particularly on the high-speed parts; we needed to make sure they were correct so we could commit more. There were lots of places where I know I could gain on the second pass, and we made good progress. The conditions in the afternoon were much better and more equal for everyone. The gravel crew notes were also more precise which gave me extra confidence. It was quite an enjoyable afternoon. Tomorrow could be a bit ‘easier’ for me as I have done all but one of the stages before. I’m looking forward to it.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been easy out there today. The grip was changing almost with every corner and the amount of dirt brought onto the road from the cars in front of us was varying quite a lot. It maybe wasn’t the strongest start to the day, with a lot of pollution on the road with our road position in the first stage this morning. But after that we kept building and building. This afternoon we had some rain showers, and it was a bit of a lottery, but we actually managed to make the right tyre calls at the right time. So, it’s been a pretty positive day overall. There’s a long way to go, but it’s hopefully going to be an interesting fight for the rest of the weekend.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“This morning was more difficult than I expected. The conditions were tricky with more loose gravel and less grip than anticipated. The setup we started with was not so good for me in these conditions, so I was struggling a bit with the balance. Then in the second stage we had the same thing happen as Seb: I had this compression in my pacenotes but it seems the bump was bigger than expected. This afternoon was definitely much better. In mid-day service we could make some changes to the setup, and it was much easier to enjoy the driving and to be on the pace. Hopefully we can continue with a good feeling tomorrow.”

Sébastien Ogier

“The pace was good this morning but unfortunately, we lost a lot of time when we had to stop in SS2 and change the wheel. It happened in a compression on the road in a high-speed section, which is difficult to see in the recce at slower speeds. I was trying be safe and avoid the cut on the inside of the road, but the impact in this compression was too hard. After that, we just needed to keep pushing and try to catch back as many positions as we can. The gap in front now is pretty big so it will be tough to gain more, but we have nothing to lose so we need to keep trying and see what happens.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“The afternoon was better than the morning, although we didn’t make a good choice in one stage, which was tricky, but other than that the last two were more positive. It’s been quite an improvement since Monte, and also to get reliability and to have a bit of fun actually. Everything is open, we need to keep doing own, and I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the full potential of this car and there’s still a few things to do, so let’s go step by step.”

Summary

Well, after a full day of rallying, the leader board is interesting. It should be noted that Seb was given a one-minute penalty for moving away with the safety belts not done up after the tyre change and therefore dropped two positions to seventh overall. That means that Takamoto and Pierre-Louis both gain a position each and hold fifth and sixth respectively.

Saturday will see the crews take on 116km’s over eight stages. Can Elfyn close the gap further and take the lead? We shall see.

Olympus Rally Preview: Competitors

The 2023 Green APU American Rally Association season continues this weekend with the third round, the Olympus Rally. 

National Championship Rundown

Reigning ARA champion Brandon Semenuk’s championship defense has gotten off to a strong start. As Semenuk has taken both event wins so far this season. Only one driver has been able to take any points away from Semenuk this season. As Barry McKenna would win the Powerstage at the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood last month. Lowering Semenuk’s point total at the event from 27 to 26. Semenuk currently sits 27 points above Patrick Gruszka, who sits second in the championship. Matthew Dickinson sits third in the championship, three points behind Gruszka. Barry McKenna sits fourth in the championship, one point behind Dickinson. Tom Williams rounds out the top five in the overall championship, sitting one point behind McKenna. Unfortunately, McKenna won’t be at the Olympus Rally this weekend, which should make it easy for Williams to move into fourth overall or higher this weekend. 

Overall Championship Points Heading Into Olympus

B. Semenuk, 53

P. Gruszka, 26

M. Dickinson, 23

B. McKenna, 22

T. Williams, 21

RC2 Championship Rundown

Only two RC2 drivers will be competing this weekend. RC2 Championship leader Patrick Gruszka will be one of them. Tom Williams will be the other. Gruszka leads the championship by 14 points. Williams will likely look to close that gap this weekend. Williams would fail to take any points at the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood last month as he would retire with a turbo issue on day two. Kyle Tilly was registered to compete at Olympus this weekend, but he would, unfortunately, pull his entry out.

RC2 Championship Points Heading Into Olympus

P. Gruszka, 39

T. Williams, 25

K. Tilley, 17

O2WD Championship Rundown

Micah Nickelson leads the O2WD championship after taking the class win at the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood last month. Unfortunately, Nickelson won’t be at Olympus this weekend, and likely won’t be seen again until the Southern Ohio Forest Rally in June. Nick Allen sits second in the championship, 15 points behind Nickelson. Nickelson’s absence should make moving into first place easy for Allen this weekend. As only three other drivers will be competing in the O2WD class this weekend. Those drivers are Lia Block, Michael Hooper and Tim O’Neil. All three drivers will likely look to keep Allen out of a top-three finish this weekend. Lia Block sits third in the championship, 15 points behind Allen. 

O2WD Championship Points Heading Into Olympus

M. Nickelson, 47

N. Allen, 32

L. Block 17

T. O’Neil 14

LN4 Drivers Championship Rundown

Matthew Dickinson leads the LN4 Drivers Championships, sitting 30 points above Vincent Trudel and Javier Olivares who both sit tied for second overall. Dickinson has taken both class wins so far this season, as well as three points on the Powerstage at the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood last month. Vincent Trudel will return to the ARA this weekend, after missing 100AW. Javier Olivares will also be at the event this weekend. Jason Bailey and Ele Bardha will also be at the event this weekend looking to move their way up the championship rankings.

LN4 Championship Standings Heading Into Olympus

M. Dickinson, 47

V. Trudel, 17

J. Olivares, 17

No McKenna

Barry McKenna will miss the Olympus Rally this weekend. McKenna has been the only driver so far this season to challenge reigning ARA Champion Brandon Semenuk. As McKenna would manage to take nine out of 17 stages at the Rally In The 100 Acre Wood last month, including the powerstage. McKenna would retire from the Olympus Rally last season. After a DNF on SS11 would end his rally early.

Photography Credits:

© Matthew Stryker, Subaru.com/motorsports, 2023

Meatball Media: Instagram

Adam Bachi: Facebook

Rally Croatia 2023 Preview – Craig Breen honoured by the sport.

The event will run but with the loss of Craig Breen during a test day for the rally on the 13th of April, the fourth round of the championship will be a very low-key event and the teams, drivers and fans will look to celebrate the life of the popular Irishman.

Here’s what the team principles of Hyundai Motorsport and Toyota World Rally team had to say ahead of the event.

Hyundai Motorsport

Cyril Abiteboul

“After careful consideration involving all stakeholders, we have decided to participate in Croatia Rally. We will do this in memory of Craig, to honour him, his passion for rallying and his competitive spirit. We will enter two cars and withdraw the third entry as a mark of respect. Both cars will run with a special livery for Craig, his family, friends and fans. It is clear from speaking to everyone that the best way to honour Craig’s legacy was not to withdraw our entry, so we participate mindful of our lost team-mate, friend and incredible competitor.”

How much consideration was given to withdrawing from Croatia Rally?

“Very careful consideration was given when making this decision. It was clear from the feedback given by all who knew Craig well that participating would be the best way to honour him. We consulted with the family, and they have endorsed this approach.”

What is the reasoning for the special livery?

“We are contesting this rally primarily to honour Craig and his incredible life and talent. Craig was a proud Irishman and passionate representative of the Irish rally community so the livery will represent the colours of the Irish flag in his memory.”

 

Toyota World Rally Team

Jari-Matti Latvala

“Along with the rest of the WRC family, we are truly saddened following the sudden loss of Craig Breen. As well as being a top driver, Craig was a real enthusiast for rallying, and we shared the same passion for old rally cars and for the history of our sport. As we prepare for the next rally, our thoughts are with Craig’s family, friends and his colleagues within the service park.

We know that the Croatia Rally can be a very challenging event: last year the conditions were extremely difficult, and even in the dry there is still a lot of dirt brought onto the road. It has been a good rally for us on our previous two visits and, together with our drivers, we will try our best to make it another successful weekend. As championship leader, Seb will be first on the road and this is a good starting point. Kalle had one of his best performances last year in Croatia, showing how good he is when the conditions get difficult, and we know Elfyn can also be strong whenever grip levels are changing a lot.”

Stage information

There will be 302km’s over twenty stages for the crews to tackle this year. Friday is the longest day with 130km’s over eight stages.

Summary

Well, I hope that the event passes with no problems. I suspect that we won’t see a normal celebration at the end and that it will be a respectful celebration of Craig Breen and his passion for the sport.

Rally Mexico 2023 Report – Seb makes it Seven!

There were two short stages on the first day of the event and we had an early leader in the shape of Ott and Martin who led Kalle and Esapekka.

Friday

The first full day of real stages would see the crew tackle eight stages and 124 km’s in total, although only six real stages and two mickey mouse stages at the end of the day.

First stage then would see the crews enter in championship order. Yep, Ott and Martin would be first into SS3 El Chocolate 1 – 29.07 km and but they would suffer a turbo failure in the stage and lose so much time. Both of the other Puma Rally1 had problems as well, with Jourdan having an accident and Pierre-Louis damaging his suspension. The Frenchman was out for the day sadly. There was a lead change as well, with Esapekka moving into the lead, Seb into second and Dani into third. Of course, the demise of Ott meant that Kalle was going to open the road for the rest of the day.

Into SS4 Ortega 1 – 15.71 km and Seb was fastest from Esapekka and Elfyn. The Welshman’s pace took him ahead of Dani and into third place. Meanwhile, Kalle was on the move as well, as the Finn passed Thierry for fifth overall. Meanwhile in WRC2 we had a battle between Emil, Gus and Adrien with just seven seconds between them.

The last morning stage, SS5 Las Minas 1 – 13.79 km and Esapekka set the fastest time from Seb and Dani. It was not a good stage for Takamoto as he lost control and slid off the side of the road. The car was not damaged, but the bank they slid down was too high to drive back onto the road.

After the lunch service the second run of SS6 El Chocolate 2 – 29.07 km saw Esapekka fastest again from Seb as they continued their fight for the lead, but the Finn was opening up the lead from his former Citroen teammate. In WRC2 there was a lead change with Emil tumbling down three places as Gus, Adrien and Oliver moving ahead of the Finn.

Next up was SS7 Ortega 2 – 15.71 km and Seb closed the gap to Esapekka to just three tenths of a second. Elfyn remained third overall. However, Dani fell from fourth to sixth overall with Thierry and Kalle both moving ahead of the Spaniard.

The final proper stage of the day then SS8 Las Minas 2 – 13.79 km and Esapekka led a Hyundai 1-2 with Seb third fastest. Elfyn was till holding third overall, but with Thierry faster, he closed the gap to the Welshman ahead. Meanwhile in WRC2 Oliver dropped two places with Emil and Kajetan moving past the young Swede who was now in 11 place overall.

The last two stages SS9 Las Dunas Superspecial 1 – 3.53 km and SS10 Distrito León Mx SSS – 1.30 km ended the first full day of the rally. Esapekka led from Seb by 5.3 seconds with Elfyn holding third overall.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1 E. Lappi J. Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid 1:25:12.0
2 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +5.3
3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +30.1
4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +39.8
5 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +59.7
6 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +1:27.2

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Esapekka Lappi

“This has probably been one of the best days of my career. I hoped that I could fight at the top but to be leading and fighting all the time against Séb was not in my mind. I was confident that our pace would be competitive, but I didn’t really give it much thought. This is a good car. We did a lot of work during Monte-Carlo and Sweden, as well as between those events. We can now stop searching for the right set-up because I think we’ve found what I like, so I can just concentrate on the driving. You can then gain time here and there. I’ve been trying to keep it clean, close to the limit, have good acceleration out of the corners and just see at the end what times we have set. It’s been a positive start.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 03, Rally Mexico
16-19 March 2023
Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Thierry Neuville

“I think we expected more from the day, but we had a few situations that cost us some time. In the morning loop, in SS4, we had a hard compression on the car, hitting a bump that was not there in the recce, causing the loss of the hybrid. On this particular stage, at high altitude and with long straights, we lost a lot of time and that influenced our position. I have been working on the car throughout the day; we had some concern with the driveshaft in the heat – the grease was gone – so we had to try and repair that between every stage. We also had a blocked rear right damper in SS8, which might have been related to the morning issue, but we were able to clear that. It could have cost us more, so we were fortunate to make it to the end. Ultimately, we are 20 seconds clear of Rovanperä and less than ten from Evans, so I think we’ve done a good job today.”

Dani Sordo

“In general, we were having a really nice day, and we had found a good feeling from the car until we lost our chances of a podium push in the afternoon loop when we picked up a puncture in SS7. I felt good at the start but then after the first few corners, the car started to slide too much from the rear when I came on the throttle. I thought it was a diff problem; I couldn’t drive the first few kilometres, and I then realised I had a puncture. Before that, we’d been on the pace, but the problem now is when you have an issue on the first day you start closer to the front on Saturday, so we’ll have to keep pushing and try our best to regain something.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a good day and we can be happy tonight. There was not so much more we could do except for taking a lot of risk and that’s never the approach I like to have on this rally. So I’m satisfied. Esapekka has done a great job as well and is in the lead, so there’s still some work for us to do and some analysis to do tonight to try and find a bit of extra speed. The gap is very close, and tomorrow’s stages have a different profile and different grip, so we’ll see how the fight evolves.”

Elfyn Evans

“Overall, it’s been a positive day. Maybe we were not quite as fast as we would have liked to be, but Rally México is a rally where you also have to look after the cars and the tyres. So, I was perhaps a bit careful in some moments but the feeling in the car has been quite OK. This afternoon there were a few surprises with a few big rocks, and we lost a bit of time in some of those places, so we’ll look to try and improve on that for tomorrow. We’re on the podium for now but there’s still a very long way to go, with a big day tomorrow.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Today has not been too bad considering our road position. I think we did what we could, and we tried our best and the time loss is probably what we would have expected running at the front. It was actually better than I was expecting in the first two stages this morning, even though we were kind of cleaning the road. We lost a bit more on the third stage when we didn’t have the hybrid available. There was still quite a lot of cleaning this afternoon, but I think we managed it well. Tomorrow we’ll be in a better position, and we need to be on the pace straightaway in the morning.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“It’s been a tough day, generally some issues out there which I didn’t notice this morning so, yeah, let see now. Would be nice to find some more pace.”

 

Saturday

With 126km’s over nine stages there would be a good challenge for the crews out there in the first seven stages, with two mickey mouse stages to end the day.

First stage of the day, SS11 Ibarrilla 1 – 14.82 km had a sting in the tale. Our overnight leader, Esapekka Lappi was last through the stage, and unfortunately, he lost control on a right hander and spun into a post at the side of the road. This took the power out for some houses nearby. The stage was won by Seb from Elfyn and Thierry. Meanwhile in WRC2 Gus remained in the lead. These crews did not complete this stage due to the accident for Esapekka.

Next up was SS12 El Mosquito 1 – 22.56 km and finally Thierry found the car to his liking and was fastest from Elfyn and Seb. Meanwhile Ott was climbing up the leaderboard and after setting the sixth fastest time was now into thirteenth overall and about a minute away from the points paying positions. WRC2 top three remained Gus, Adrien and Emil.

Into SS13 Derramadero 1 – 21.70 km next and Thierry continued to show great pace winning the stage with Seb and Elfyn second and third fastest. Elfyn reported at the end of the stage that he was a bit safe in places but said that things were going quite well.

The final morning stage before the service break, SS14 Las Dunas Superspecial 2 – 3.53 km and as usual Thierry who is the super special specialist was fastest from Seb and Oliver in his Fabia Rally2! Sadly, Elfyn lost 1.7 seconds to the Belgian. He would look to fight back in the proper afternoon stages though.

The afternoon action started with SS16 El Mosquito 2 – 22.56 km as SS15 was cancelled due to the damage to the post damaged by Esapekka. Seb won the stage from Thierry and Elfyn. Although the Belgian was faster, it was only by two tenths of a second and Elfyn remained eight and a half seconds ahead of his challenger. In the WRC2 category Oliver was fastest from Gus and Adrien, whilst the Brit continued to lead the category by 18.8 seconds over former M-Sport teammate, Adrien.

The second run of SS17 Derramadero 2 – 21.70 km saw Thierry set the fastest time from Elfyn with Seb third and looking to manage the gap that he held over his teammate. Elfyn did lose a little bit of time to the charging Belgian, the gap now just 5.9 seconds between the two of them. There was a change in positions between Oliver and Kajetan as the Swede moved ahead and into fourth place in the WRC2 category.

The last two stages were the mickey mouse SS18 Las Dunas Superspecial 3 – 3.53 km and SS19 Rock & Rally SSS – 1.30 km with Ott setting the best times on both. In the battle over second overall, Thierry closed the gap even further to just 4.3 seconds.

Here’s the top positions at the end of day two.

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 2:35:37.6
2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +35.8
3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +40.1
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:34.0
5 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +2:21.2

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I think I can be very satisfied with my day. To be in the lead tonight with a bit of a gap is great, of course. It was another strong day with a bit of a different approach once the battle with Esapekka ended this morning. I felt sorry for him because he was doing a great job. But this is rallying, and you have to put three days together to win. After that I tried to stay in more of a safe mode but still, we managed to set some good times and increase our lead. It was a surprise to me to see the time in SS16; I was just trying to be very clean and maybe my tyre management helped to make the difference. Tomorrow could still be the trickiest day of the rally with the longest stage to get through, so we cannot afford to relax.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a solid day out there and a close fight. Of course, I would have preferred to increase the gap behind us rather than concede some time. Thierry has ever so slightly had the upper hand, but it’s been very close on most of the stages with only a few tenths of a second in it. Things have been working well inside the car and I’ve been feeling quite comfortable, but there’s still a big fight on. Tomorrow has a mix of stages with sections we’ve driven already and others we haven’t, so it could be tricky to choose the tyres and nail the setup. But we’ll try to prepare well tonight and do our best to secure the position.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a tough day but quite OK overall. We were trying to have good pace and I felt the driving was good but it seemed the road was getting faster with each car so it was not easy. We also had to use a lot of soft tyres yesterday to give us more grip when cleaning the road, so we had to use some hards this morning which was not ideal. When the gaps in front and behind are quite big it’s always difficult to maintain the speed and stay focused, but we could have some good pace in some stages this afternoon. Tomorrow we’ll just try to have a clean morning and then focus on the Power Stage.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I have continued with the same speed as we were driving yesterday, but we attacked a bit more this afternoon to try and close the gap to Elfyn. It worked out quite well. We won three stages this morning and moved up to third on the classification. I felt sorry to see EP and Janne going off first thing; they were doing a great job out there. We knew with a better road position we could be faster but obviously Elfyn also increased his speed. He has been driving well so the gaps have been small. On the last stage, unfortunately, we picked up a puncture after 1.5km, which lost us 1.5-2s, otherwise the gap would have been below three seconds. Still, it’s a small margin, so we are going to push for it on the final day; we’ve been trying all weekend and we are now firmly in the fight for second place.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship Round 3,
Rally Mexico 2023, 16-19 March 2023
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid, Action during Day 3 of WRC Rally Mexico 2023
Photographer: Romain Thuillier
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Dani Sordo

“With our road position today, it has been difficult to stay on the pace of the crews in front. The road cleaning effect is very high. Unfortunately, we lost Esapekka’s car early on, which from a team perspective has made things a bit harder. I have to say, though, that the roads here in this rally are nice to drive. I’ve enjoyed it a lot but sometimes we have just lacked grip; that tends to improve when more cars have been through each stage. Still, we’re here inside the top-five, so we will keep motivated, keep pushing and we will try to enjoy ourselves also on the final day. We’ll continue to give our maximum.”

Esapekka Lappi

“As we have often said, when you drive with more caution and safety, it becomes more difficult; I think this is exactly what happened on the opening stage this morning. I wasn’t attacking or pushing particularly hard. There was a long right-hand turn which you cut before the entry to the left-hander where we crashed. I felt that I got a bit stuck on the cut, and I couldn’t make the entry immediately. I missed the apex by about 40 centimetres, went wide by about half a metre and touched a bank. That alone would have been OK, but we then spun and hit the post. There was also a fire in the car, which we managed to put out. I am disappointed, of course. We need to take away the positives from yesterday, along with our pace from Sweden. We have the speed; we just haven’t been able yet to translate into the results we know we can deliver.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“Compared to yesterday it’s been a fantastic day, amazing I must say, ah yeah, it’s been trouble free and quite a bit more fun, but still struggle to drive the car fast and for me it’s a bit unnatural but at least we are a bit closer than yesterday. Just the way it’s behaving with many surprises and unexpected moments from nowhere, it’s difficult to find the confidence, but I must say that we’ve definitely learnt something today, and I’d like to believe it can only get better from here.

Sunday

The final day then with 61km’s over four stages including the longest stage of the day and event, Otates at 35km. A proper stage.

First up was the final run through SS20 Las Dunas Superspecial 4 – 3.53 km and Elfyn did well to limit the time loss to just 2 tenths of a second going second fastest to Thierry.

Onto SS21 Otates – 35.63 km and Elfyn was fastest from Thierry by 1.7 seconds and the gap between grew to 5.8 seconds in their battle over. Seb was third fastest in the stage. Sadly Pierre-Louis had a belt failure in this one and stopped to change the belt. Ott was taking it easy as he felt there was a problem with one of his dampers. However, he had now made it into the top ten at last.

Into the penultimate stage then SS22 San Diego – 12.61 km and Thierry was fastest from Ott and Elfyn and the gap between them was just 2.7 seconds. What caused the time loss then? Well, turned out that there was some damage to his GR Yaris which he’d been fixing, and he was managing the problem that he’d picked up in Otates.

The final one then, SS23 El Brinco [Power Stage] – 9.59 km and Seb was fastest amazingly from Ott and Thierry. There was heartbreak though for Elfyn who only managed the sixth best time and ultimately Thierry pipped him to second overall by just 4 tenths of a second. However, what an amazing drive for Seb to his seventh Rally Mexico victory, the most in history!

In WRC2, Gus scored a very well-deserved class win from Emil, with Oliver taking third. The Brit hadn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.

Here’s the final standings.

Final Overall Classification – Rally México

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 3:16:09.4
2 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +27.5
3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +27.9
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:55.3
5 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +2:58.8
6 G. Greensmith J. Andersson Škoda Fabia RS +12:31.5
7 E. Lindholm R. Hämäläinen Škoda Fabia Evo +13:04.4
8 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Škoda Fabia RS +13:37.7
9 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +15:19.6
10 K. Kajetanowicz M. Szczepaniak Škoda Fabia Evo +15:56.6

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It has been an amazing weekend and I’m very happy to take this victory. We came here with a clear goal to win this rally. The car was great this weekend; it was a faultless weekend for us and a strong weekend for the team, so thank you to them for making this possible. When you end up taking 30 points it’s really a perfect weekend. We had great pace when we needed it, and great management too when it was required. It’s not easy when you need to manage a gap like that, and I think today was the toughest loop of the weekend. I could afford to lose a bit of time, but it was important to stay focused. I felt I had to go for it in the Power Stage because I love that stage, and it’s important to score the points, also for the team. Records and numbers are always nice and of course I’m proud of them, but the most important thing for me is this victory.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a pretty good start to the final day, but unfortunately just near the end of the long stage we picked up some damage to a suspension arm. We could carry out a repair on the road section, but I felt I had to try and take care with it through the last two stages, and we weren’t quite able to keep Thierry at bay. It was very close in the end but just not quite enough. Overall though it has been a solid weekend. I think we had the speed to finish second and the positive thing is that we are back on the podium after what feels like a really long time. So, I’m happy for that and also now with the feeling in the car on gravel.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has not been an easy weekend for us. We lost out on Friday when we were kind of opening the road and then we were a bit behind in the fight for the rest of the weekend. I was hoping we could get some more points from the Power Stage; we were pushing really hard and tried everything we could, but we lost the rear wing going wide in one corner and after that I couldn’t really push so much without that downforce. But to finish fourth overall from our starting position gives us some decent points. Congratulations to Seb who did a great job this weekend.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This was a difficult rally for me because all of the stages were new for me, and it was hard to know what to expect. I had to be a bit cleverer on Friday; maybe I was in too much of a rush to move forwards and one mistake cost us quite a lot. It was a very high-speed section, and I was a little bit optimistic on the braking point, a bit too late to turn in and we lost the line. Thank you to the team for fixing the car. It was not so easy to get back the confidence and the feeling, but it was nice to finish the rally and get some experience on all of the different stages. I found that the grip levels are changing a lot – more than I had expected after the recce – and it’s not easy to trust it 100 per cent. The car was amazing, but I was not able to use its full performance. Hopefully next time I can do that and have a better result.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I have been flat out all weekend, and I am delighted to take our third podium in three rallies. We had tried hard to improve the car all weekend; the handling has been getting better. With our road position on the first day, it was tough; we ended Friday almost 40 seconds adrift of the lead. Since Saturday, things have been better and slowly we could catch up with Elfyn. He didn’t make it easy, so we had to fight hard right to the end. After today’s long stage, Otates, I was a bit disappointed, as I had to slow down for a couple of dogs on the road. That cost us time, but I stayed calm and saw an opportunity in the Power Stage. I pushed as hard as I could, without taking unnecessary risks. Second place is a great reward for the whole team.”

Dani Sordo

“I have mixed feelings because on the one hand I am pleased that we could score some good points for the championship, but there is also a little bit of frustration. The puncture we had on Friday prevented us from being more involved in the fight. We had higher expectations coming into this event. The competition is fierce and there are a lot of strong drivers at the front. We did well to bring the car home in the points and I am sure we can do an equally good job at our next rally. It has been great to be back in Mexico on amazing roads, in front of all these incredible spectators who give so much love and support to WRC. I’ve enjoyed it and I think we’ve shown our potential.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“Happy to cross the finish line, there was nothing more we could have taken from here. Still, it’s positive to at least take some points because on Friday it didn’t look like we could get any points. The car [performance] is there, it has always been there, it’s just me and the car are a bit of a mismatch, which is tricky but let’s see what we can come up with in the next weeks.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“It’s been a tough weekend for sure. A few mistakes with my driving, it’s like that. We can take experience and I know it will be good for the future. I am sure we will have some better days.”

Oliver Solberg (WRC2)

“Third isn’t exactly what we came here chasing,” said Oliver, “but it’s good for the championship and I’m happy enough. This is a really tough event. It’s tough for the tyres, the cars and everything, with the altitude, the heat and the rough, rough roads. We go home with some good points and a big smile.

“This rally has so many amazing people, so many fans and fantastic spectators, to give them something to cheer for is a really nice feeling.”

“There was a compression in the stage before,” explained Oliver. “It was not too big, but we dropped the three cylinders. After the stage, I was checking to the sensors and all the connectors, but we couldn’t find anything. That was a bit frustrating, it would have been nice to take more points.

“But OK, like I said, we had a good time on this rally, and we are more ahead than when we started. That’s good. I have to thank Elliott for another great job as well as the whole team. What a weekend for Toksport! Our team has been leading for the whole time. Congratulations to Gus [Greensmith] and Jonas [Andersson] on taking the win and with Emil [Lindholm] and Reeta [Hämäläinen] second it means we are dominating the podium. I’m very happy for everybody in Toksport – it’s a very cool bunch of people.”

Summary

Well, what an incredible return to Mexico for the championship! Seb drove a very good rally and took a very good victory. Having said that, Esapekka had a great first day and was leading when he crashed. It was a shame, as we lost a really good battle that could have lastest the whole rally. We will never know if the Finn could have kept Seb behind him. Hopefully we’ll get another chance this season to see them fight it out again.

2023 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 03 / Rally Mexico / 15-19 March, 2023 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Thierry had a crazy rally and took his time to find some pace out there, struggling to find the right set-up for his i20 Rally1, but once he got there was no stopping him. He got very lucky with taking second place on the final stage when Elfyn had the suspension problem.

Finally, Elfyn, we saw a really great drive from the Welshman, and he deserved to finish in second place. Winning the longest stage of the rally and setting a number of top three times out there. He really does not like and get on with the mickey mouse stages at all.

Next rally is Rally Croatia in the middle of April from the 20th to the 23rd. We know that Seb will be competing there as well, and the part time driver is leading the championship!

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’

After round three

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 127
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 100
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 73

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’

After round three

1 S. Ogier 56
2 T. Neuville 53
3 K. Rovanperä 52
4 O. Tänak 47
5 E. Evans 44
6 C. Breen 19
7 D. Sordo 17
8 E. Lappi 15
9 G. Greensmith 8
10 T. Katsuta 8

Rally Mexico 2023 Preview – Back to Gravel!

We head back to Mexico three years after the pandemic cut the 2020 edition short at the end of that events Saturday’s stages.

With 315km’s over twenty-three stages this season, there has been some talk about the number of short stages in this year’s event, with eight stages of less than 5km in length and five of them being the exactly the same stage. Not really rallying in my book, but the organisers say it is the way to bring the sport close to the fans.

We do see some true classic stages as well, with El Chocolate being run on Friday and the longest stage of the whole rally, Otates being run on Sunday. This a big one at over 35kms and a big challenge on the final day.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“During testing it was my very first time on gravel in the Puma Rally1 and it was very important to discover as much as possible. As most of the rallies are on gravel, we decided to do two test days in Spain. The team is working hard to keep improving, but to really understand where we are now, we need to do a gravel rally first.

“The key challenge for Mexico is the altitude and temperature together. Because of high altitude, the power is reduced which makes the behaviour of the car quite different. The roads in Mexico are actually fun, there are stages which are very technical, and it feels like we are driving them forever in the high temperatures, but there are also faster sections with big compressions and jumps. As we are leading the championship, we need to start first on the road on Rally México, it could be a good place to start if it rains, but not sure I’m that good a (rain) dancer to get the rain in a place where it almost never rains!”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“It will be the first time I am competing on a rally outside of Europe, that will be a new experience again for me. It’s exciting to be going back on gravel as my pace on gravel is good so my aim is for a strong result in Mexico.

“I think my experience of Greece and Sardinia last year will help me; things change rally to rally but experience always helps massively. The preparation for this rally has been good as it has been running for such a long time and there is a lot of material out there to help me study the roads. The test was fine, I am really happy about it because I re-found the feeling that I had in Greece last year and the car felt really strong. I think we have everything we need to do some good things and have the pace so let’s see.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s nice to be going back onto gravel after quite a long time, and it’s been especially long since we were last in Mexico. I’m sure it’s going to be a tricky event like always; with the high altitude it’s one of the most specialised gravel rallies on the calendar. But it’s really exciting to go back there. As a team we have been doing a lot of work to improve the car and the pace for rough gravel conditions, and it was nice to see already in our recent test in Spain that we’re definitely moving in the right direction. I’m quite happy not to be starting first on the road in Mexico – just one position can make a big difference. It might still be tough compared to those starting behind us, but we will of course do our best.”

Elfyn Evans

“It is good to have Mexico back on the calendar this year. It’s an event that always provides a bit of a culture shock in terms of the climate compared to the first two rounds, and it’s always a big challenge. This will be our first time back at that really high altitude for a few years, and we can always expect a lot of heat and dry gravel. It’s very difficult to replicate those conditions when testing in Europe at this time of year, but we tried to simulate it as much as possible. When the roads are dry and loose then traction is key, and we’ve worked on all areas of the car to try and optimise every aspect and be as ready as we can be.”

Sébastien Ogier

“When I knew that Rally México was coming back, I straightaway had to mark it in my calendar as an event that would be nice to do again. It’s where everything started for me in the WRC, as it’s actually where I made my debut in 2008, and since then there have been many good memories and a lot of success there. The atmosphere is always nice, with beautiful stages too. I hadn’t really driven on this type of gravel since Portugal last year, so the recent test in Spain was important for me to find the best possible feeling. It will be interesting to see how the hybrid can help against the usual loss of power we feel at high altitude. More than ever it could be important to use it as efficiently as possible because it could make a big difference to the performance.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport 

Thierry Neuville

“Rally México is a lovely event and is always one of my highlights of the season. It is a beautiful country with fantastic roads, and there is always a lot of support there. However, it will be challenging for a number of reasons: it is the first gravel rally of the season, it will be hot, and the high altitude is tough on the cars. This year it will be important to get the hybrid mapping correct and take advantage of that extra power. Setting up the car to have good traction and then driving precisely will be also very important to us performing well. Our target for the weekend is to be amongst the fastest crews and fight for another podium.”

Esapekka Lappi

“Mexico is always a special rally. Engine performance usually drops due to the high altitude and hot temperatures, so it will be interesting to see how that will feel with the new hybrid systems. The stages are almost the opposite to Sweden; they are a lot slower and very technical. It can also be quite slippery because of the small layer of loose gravel, meaning rear grip is particularly important. Our road position of sixth should be an advantage, as there should be some cleaner lines after the first cars have cleared the way. We want to have a consistent and strong weekend, as I feel we deserve it after the first two events. With that in mind, we should be firmly in the fight for the podium.”

Dani Sordo

“Rally México is an amazing event with really nice roads. The fans and spectators there have a lot of energy and passion which creates a great atmosphere for rallying. It is also unique as the high altitude causes the cars to have less power, making them feel a little bit different. Physically you have to be ready as the lack of oxygen and heat makes it very demanding on the body; it definitely makes you more tired. Our target for the rally is to finish as high as possible and we hope that is near the top. If we get it right, we believe we can be in the battle for victory, but we want to be on the podium as a minimum.”

2022 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 05, Rally Italia Sardegna
02-05 June 2022
Dani Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai i20 N Rally 1
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

In the WRC2 category there are a lot of cars running once again! Two of the main protagonists are running in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and Skoda Fabia Evo.

M-Sport Ford WRC2

Adrien Fourmaux

“It will be my second time in Mexico, last year I competed there in the Rally of Nations and finished second, so I am happy to be back there in a rally car. After our Monte-Carlo result our expectation is to fight for the best result as possible as we need the points for the championship. We know it’s always a tough rally in Mexico because it is really rough for the cars so it will be a big challenge for everybody. I am really pleased to be driving the Fiesta Rally2 again and can’t wait to get back on gravel stages!”

Toksport Škoda

Oliver Solberg

“After Monte and Sweden, you really have the feeling of coming a little bit to the summer.” “The temperatures are quite high, and the place is just fantastic. The atmosphere around this rally is always one of the best of the season. And the ceremonial start on Thursday night is totally amazing.”

“The altitude is a challenge we are competing as high as 2700 metres and that has an impact on the performance of the car. The air is thinner up there and that means less oxygen going into the engine. It also means less oxygen going into Elliott and I – it’s definitely a little bit more physical competing in México.

“I did this event for the first time in 2020, just before the world started to shut down with the global pandemic. I’m excited to be back there again, like I said the fans are some of the best in the world and I want to build on the great start to the year that we’ve had.”

Summary

Well, time then for round three of this season’s championship, and road position will be hugely important! It’s fair to say that the top three will find things very tricky with the amount of road cleaning that will be needed.

Best position should be fourth on the road onwards which puts Elfyn and Seb in a good position to benefit. Of course, the former champion has won this rally the last three years for his current team and also M-Sport Ford and Citroen Racing in 2018 and 2019. Elfyn has taken a podium in 2019 as well and has shown good pace throughout his career on gravel.

The question that may arise is how big will the super special stages affect the overall standings? Time will tell for sure, but my hope is the big stages will have the biggest impact on the standings and the ultimate result.

Enjoy!

Rally Sweden 2023 Day Three Report – Ott and Martin take Victory for M-Sport Ford!

The final day then of this epic rally and the action started at six in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise. The dark conditions meant that most of the top-class cars had their light pods fitted.

 

Once again, Takamoto opened the road and headed into SS16 Västervik 1 – 26.48 km. The stage winner was Kalle from Ott and Thierry. The gap opened up between Ott and Craig as the Hyundai driver was fourth fastest, now more than 11 seconds between them. In WRC2 Ole Christian was fastest from Oliver, whilst Marco was third. The Bolivian was holding fifth overall in the category. Meanwhile Teemu was recovering positions after his problems from Saturday and moved up into sixth in category.

 

Into the second running of SS17 Västervik 2 – 26.48 km and Thierry was fastest from Craig and Kalle. The big change came at the front though, with Craig taking a 10 second penalty after clocking in a minute late, as the team looked to put Thierry ahead of his teammate and into second place overall. The gap between the two was half a second! The gap that Ott now had over Thierry was 18 seconds. In WRC2, Sami was fastest from Ole Christian and Georg.

 

The final stage then, SS18 Umeå 2[Power Stage] – 10.08 km and there was drama aplenty in this one! First of all Takamoto retired from the rally and didn’t start the stage. Then as Pierre-Louis was going through the stage he was clearly losing power and started to slow down. They stopped their car and briefly jumped out and opened their bonnet with a fire extinguisher ready. There was no fire though and they restarted after being stationary for a brief and short time. However, they restarted in EV mode and drove slowly to the end of the stage. Then came Thierry who having gained second place with team orders, then slid wide, hitting a snow bank and was stationary for a brief couple of seconds. Now Craig had already started the stage and would have no idea that his teammate had this problem. Ultimately the Irishman would retake second place! Now, who was the stage winner and the other points scorers? Well, Esapekka was fastest from Elfyn, Ott third, Kalle fourth and Craig fifth fastest! In WRC2 the top three get power stage points and it was Oliver who set the best time from Emil and Ole Christian was third.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Sweden

1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid 2:25:54.5
2 C. Breen J. Fulton Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +18.7
3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +20.0
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +25.1
5 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +1:24.0
6 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +5:59.0
7 E. Lappi J. Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +7:42.4
8 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Škoda Fabia RS +7:48.1
9 O. Veiby T. Eriksen Volkswagen Polo GTI +8:30.4
10 S. Pajari E. Mälkönen Škoda Fabia RS +9:03.2

Let’s hear from the drivers

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“It’s quite impressive, not so bad at all. When we came into the rally, we didn’t really know what to expect. In the build-up to the rally, we understood that we were never going to be the fastest, but we’re happy to have kept our average pace pretty high and alongside the other guys.

“As a team, we made sure we didn’t have any bad stages and didn’t lose any time anywhere; that was the key. Sweden is unique, we only rally here once a year. It’s the same for Mexico, and opening the road there can’t be a big advantage! It’s a great start to the championship, probably more than we expected. For sure we can improve a lot, and the plan is to pick up the pace.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I first want to say a huge congratulations to Ott, Martin and the rest of the team. This weekend has been a huge achievement for M-Sport and I am very glad to be a part of it.

“I think I have a lot of positives to take from this weekend; Friday was a good day and we spent a lot of time on the pace of the guys at the front. We also achieved a second-fastest time, and considering I don’t have a lot of experience on snow-and-ice, I think we can be very happy with this. Sometimes we lacked the confidence to really push the car, and this is where we lost some time, but overall, I am happy. It was a challenge but we have learnt a lot, and now we look forward to a different challenge in Mexico.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Craig Breen

“To be back battling at the front of the WRC has been absolutely brilliant. I’ve said many times this weekend that I’ve missed that feeling but to come back after a difficult period with a podium is unreal. It’s James’s first podium, as well, which is fantastic for him. We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved here in Sweden. Massive thanks to the team for putting their faith in us, and to James for a faultless job. I am over the moon to be back with this amazing team and car.”

Thierry Neuville

“After a difficult Friday, in which we were one of the first on the road, I was not expecting this great result. Our preparations for the event were limited as I was sick for the pre-event test, so to come back to third place is incredible. It has been a strong rally for our team, with all three crews showing great performances and speed. With Craig/James taking second place and Esapekka/Janne grabbing five Power Stage points, there are excellent positives we can draw from the weekend.”

Esapekka Lappi

“There are many positives to take away from this weekend. We had good preparation for the rally and although the result wasn’t what we wanted; the pace was there. Second place would have been possible for us this weekend, so we need to be pleased with that, especially after what happened yesterday. We targeted the fastest time in the Power Stage. I didn’t think we had done enough, but in the end, we made it and gained some extra points. We need to build on this for Mexico, even if it will be an entirely different type of rally.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 02, Rally Sweden
9-12 February 2023
Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has been quite a difficult weekend but at the end we can be fairly happy. On Friday opening the road we lost over 30s just in one tricky stage that we drove twice, and we are 25s behind at the finish so we did quite a good rally in the circumstances. This morning in the first stage we could straight away do a good time and be fighting with Thierry, but on the second pass we just lacked the pace with the car in those kinds of rutted conditions. We pushed hard the whole weekend but on the second passes of stages the times were not there. At least we won’t have to open the road in Mexico and we can go there with a fresh mind and hopefully have a good rally.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 02 / Rally Sweden / 09-12 February, 2023 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“This has been a tough weekend and not what we hoped and worked for. Personally, I have struggled to feel really confident in the car and on the back of that we made a couple of errors as well. In that sense I’m happy to at least come away with some points, but we come to rallies aiming for better performances and results than this. There are a few areas we will review after the event and work on for the future, but Sweden is always a very specific event. Now the focus needs to switch to gravel and I’m looking forward to Mexico.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I have felt really good with the car this weekend. Thanks to the team who fixed the car after my accident on Friday so that I was able to get a lot of experience from the Saturday and Sunday stages, which will help for the future. Unfortunately, we could not finish the rally today: I started to feel a lack of power and the engineers checked the data and saw there was an issue, so we couldn’t continue. I’m sorry for the team that we couldn’t get a good result here but I will try to perform well on the next rally.”

 

Oliver Solberg WRC2 Winner

“Really, it was,” smiled the 21-year-old. “This is such a nice result. I really feel we did a good job with this one. We were consistent, no mistakes, Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] did a fantastic job and so did the team. I’m very, very happy.

“OK, we were quite controlled in this rally, and when the road was really quick and nice and wide, we could make some margin and really push. I love those places. But it definitely wasn’t so easy. There was some understeer in the car on some of the twisty sections and we were running as the first car in the ruts from the Rally1 cars ahead.

Explaining the issue of following the Rally1 cars, Oliver added: “They are a little bit wider and they have more power, so they are making a set of lines and ruts in the road which we have to follow.

“But in some places, because our car is a little bit more-narrow, we have one set of wheels on the left or on the right side out of the ruts and jumping around. Basically, it makes the car a little bit unstable; this is no problem when you are in second or third gear, but when you have a lot of speed and you’re flat out in fifth then it’s not always making you smile!

“The main thing for me – the only thing for me – is that we came here, we took more experience from the car and we were able to win the event and take the maximum bonus points from the stage. I have to be very happy with that one.”

“I think it’s fair to say I am happy with everything in my life, right now,” he said. “The win, to be joint leading the championship and to be with this team and this car… it’s all good right now!”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’

After Round Two

1 O. Tänak 41
2 K. Rovanperä 38
3 T. Neuville 32
4 E. Evans 29
5 S. Ogier 26
6 C. Breen 19
7 E. Lappi 15
8 T. Katsuta 8
9 P.L Loubet 8
10 D. Sordo 6

 

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’

After Round Two

 

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 80
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 66
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 51

Summary

Well, what an incredible rally we were treated to! What a victory for Ott and Martin, but he was made to work hard for it by Craig and James. Ott and Martin now lead the championship and are the first to lead for M-Sport Ford since Seb Ogier in 2018.

Craig made a great return to the Hyundai after a year at M-Sport Ford. It was also only the second time that Craig and James competed as a crew, the last time of course at Rally Japan last year.

Finally, Thierry and Martijn did really well to get on the pace after a difficult Friday that saw Thierry strugglingly with sickness and not able to get the best performance. There was of course a use of team orders to get them onto the second step on the podium, but due to the error near the end of the power stage, they scored a very good third place that puts them into third in the championship.

The championship fight is very nicely poised with just 12 points between Elfyn in fourth and championship leader Ott. Next up is Rally Mexico on the 16th to 19th of March.

Rally Sweden 2023 Day Two Report – Ott takes the lead!

The second day of this classic rally and we saw some amazing drama throughout the stages. This day would be the longest with over 126km’s of competitive stages. The good news was that Takamoto was back following his roll in the second afternoon stage yesterday. The Japanese star would now open the road.

First up was SS9 Norrby 1 – 12.54 km and Thierry was fastest from Kalle and Craig. Ott was a bit off the pace with the sixth best time and Craig’s lead was now 4.6 seconds. Despite opening the road, Takamoto was not far off the pace, just 1.1 slower than Ott. In WRC2 and Oliver was again fastest from Ole Christian and Jari was third. However, there was a change in the positions with Ole Christian moving into third overall in the category.

Next up, SS10 Floda 1 – 28.25 km and Craig was fastest from Kalle and Thierry. The Irishman was rebuilding his lead over Ott, who was just 1.1 seconds slower and fourth fastest. Kalle was on the move and went past Elfyn into third, whilst Kalle pace also brought him into fourth overall. In WRC2 Ole Christian was fastest from Egon and Emil. The Norwegian’s pace took him up into second overall and Jari followed him through to third overall in the category, whilst Sami dropped to fourth.

Into SS11 Sävar 1 – 17.28 km and Kalle was again fastest from Thierry and Ott. The Estonian was closing on Craig for the lead, the gap between the leaders just 3 seconds. Meanwhile Ole Christian made it two stage wins in the WRC2 category from erstwhile leader Oliver. The gap between them was still over 30 seconds.

After the service break it was the world champion again setting the pace in SS12 Norrby 2 – 12.54 km from Ott and Esapekka. In fact, Thierry set the same time as his Finnish teammate for fourth in the stage standings. The Belgian’s pace took him ahead of Elfyn who spun in this one early in the stage and losing around 18 seconds. Meanwhile in WRC2 it was Emil who was fastest from Ole Christian and Oliver third.

Thierry was fastest in SS13 Floda 2 – 28.25 km from Ott and Kalle who spun in the stage, but stayed out of the snowbanks. There was huge drama though for Esapekka who spun near the end of the stage. He lost over seven minutes being helped out of the snowbank by the spectators. They did an amazing job to get the car out. When he came to the end of the stage, his tyre was completely delaminated. Craig also suffered the same problem. Oliver was fastest in WRC2 from Ole Christian and Sami and this trio were the top three as well.

Thierry was also fastest in SS14 Sävar 2 – 17.28 km, but in fact Ott was on target to beat the Belgian’s time, by a huge seven seconds. However, he suffered a delamination as well, just like Craig and Esapekka on a straight, again just before the final corners, ultimately going third fastest behind Esapekka. However, the Estonian still took the lead as Craig was 2.8 seconds slower. In WRC2, Oliver was again setting the pace from Sami and Robert, the young Estonian going well in this tricky stage.

The final stage then of the day SS15 Umeå 1 – 10.08 km and Thierry made it three in a row from Esapekka and Takamoto. Amazingly the Belgian’s stealthy pace had now taken him ahead of Kalle and onto the final podium position. They were on the same overall time coming into this stage, and with the Finn going 3.8 seconds slower, meant he dropped to fourth. Oliver kept his control over WRC2 winning the stage from Teemu and Sami. His lead was now a huge 51.6 seconds over Ole Christian, with Sami a further 22.3 seconds back.

Classification after Day Two

1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid 1:54:45.4
2 C. Breen J. Fulton Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +8.6
3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +23.7
4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +27.7
5 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +57.7
7 P. L. Loubet N. Gilsoul Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +2:28.1
11 E. Lappi J. Ferm Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +7:26.4

Let’s hear from the drivers

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“A challenging day, quite challenging for tyres it seems, it was a shame that something outside is deciding results. But you know we had everything planned with the tyres and to take the time. The last stage was had to do with a tyre with no studs which was so tricky.”

WRC 2023

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Craig Breen

“It was important for us to get this morning out of the way. There was a lot of talk yesterday about road position, but thankfully today we could keep a good rhythm, and were happy with the opening loop. We made it into service still in the lead of the rally. We all live for that feeling to be in the fight. I’ve missed it greatly, so I was soaking up every second. Unfortunately, we lost the hybrid quite early in the second stage of the afternoon. We carried that around with us for the rest of the loop, so it was a case of damage limitation. It’s a bit disappointing but that’s how it is. We will get everything back working again for tomorrow; the kilometres are few and the gap is relatively big, but we’ll keep at it and keep our shoulder to the wheel. Overall, it’s still been a good weekend so far, we just need to round it off in the best way we can.”

Thierry Neuville

“The main difference today has been our road position. Since we got better grip, we have been capable of showing our speed. The lack of pre-event testing probably didn’t help yesterday, but we made a few set-up changes overnight – not too many – and we had a clean run. There was no doubt that we were attacking yesterday, it’s just that our times were masked by the road position. Today, we could set several fastest times and close in on third place. It will continue to be a tough fight with Kalle; nobody will give up and we will certainly give everything we’ve got.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 2, Rally Sweden
9 – 12 February 2023
Thierry Neuville
Photographer: Austral
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Esapekka Lappi

“Like we all saw in the morning, we couldn’t match the times on the first two stages. The final one of the loop was improved, and in the afternoon we definitely had better pace. We drove fairly cleanly, and it felt like we could probably push a bit more. We were managing the tyres well, and it was generally OK. In the end, if you lose seven minutes stuck in a snowbank, it doesn’t help. We had a small vibration on the straight before, and I thought there was ice or something on the tyre. It seems the tyre delaminated; as I approached the final corner, I had no grip. There was too much snow under the car, and we were in the ditch on the other side, so we couldn’t get out easily. Now we must decide what our strategy will be for tomorrow – try to climb up the ranking or attack the Power Stage.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has been a big fight today. In the first pass we did quite well. The feeling in the car was not perfect but still we could do some good times. The afternoon was not so good. I think we messed up a bit with our plan for the tyres. I don’t think we were necessarily wearing them more than our rivals but they were rotating them better between each stage; we ended up with worse tyres for the last two stages and lost too much time. But tomorrow there are still many kilometres to go with a new stage in the morning. We’ll try to do well on the first pass and see what we can do after that.”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 02 / Rally Sweden / 09-12 February, 2023 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Today has not been our day to be honest. I’ve struggled again to feel comfortable behind the wheel and I think that has shown in the times, and of course we had the spin this afternoon that has put us further behind. I’ve not been able to find the confidence needed so it’s been a disappointing weekend so far. With the pace we’ve had we’re too far away and now we just have to salvage what we can tomorrow; secure some points and see what’s possible on the Power Stage.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I was very happy to be back on the stages this morning. A big thank you to the team: they fixed the car perfectly. It looked and felt brand-new and I got back the good feeling that I had yesterday. The only thing that had changed was our road position. The conditions opening the road were quite difficult and a new experience for me on snow. There was a lot of learning and the pace was pretty fine when the conditions were OK, I was just losing time when there was a lot of snow and we needed to create the lines. Tomorrow I will focus on the Power Stage and try to push for some points there.”

Summary

Well, what a crazy second full day of competition! We had it all, spins, crews changing positions and sadly some tyre failures as well. The question now is, can Ott go on to take victory, or will Craig be able to fight back and retake the lead? Well, there are three stages and 63km’s left to run on the final day. In the WRC2 category, Oliver is on target to take victory and set him and Elliott with a good points haul for the category championship.

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