During the weekend was the final event of GT4 European Series in 2018. It was the debut year in this series for the Polish ambassador of #GirlsOnTrack Gosia Rdest. After the second race, which took place on Sunday, Pole answered a few questions asked by Julia Paradowska.
Julia Paradowska: The 2018 season has ended, what are your plans during the off season?
Gosia Rdest: I’ve begun working on the next season; mostly discussing plans with current sponsors and acquiring new ones. We are organizing a large media day in October; to recap on the 2018 season, and discus the 2019 season. There is also the Auto World GO program. The recordings will probably start at the end of September. Plus there will new videos on my Youtube channel. I do plan to have some time off from the simulator and physical training but only for a couple of weeks, as we have plans to race in Bahrain, probably during the last week of November.
As part of mentoring the winners from #GirlsOnTrack Tychy and Rzeszów heats. This year I still have 3 sessions with the pupils looking at various aspects of racing – one is actually a video link session. The #GirlsOnTrack project will head to Le Mans in March of next year with the 3 finalists and to start to prepare them as racers. I hope this program will bring good results. I also hope that a Polish Woman will be first winner from the competition.
JP: Are you going to drive for Phoenix Racing for next season?
GR: I’m definitely in the team for the next season and I am satisfied with the format of the racing weekend and the level represented by GT4 European Racing, because there is really a lot of driving and the rules are simple and clear. The question will be which GT4 European series. When it comes to the balance and performance of cars; the cars presented at an even level. If at the beginning of the weekend they did not present this level, then the track was adapted later.
I adjusted to the car’s performance by the second event of the series. Brands Hatch was a mix of emotions, where we finished the race in the sixth place in the general classification, and the first in the PRO-AM class, but the next day the cup was taken away because the pit stop that my alternate was doing was too short – it was about 0.2 seconds too fast.
There is also a chance of starting in the US. This is something incredible for me, one thing is for sure – it will also be GT4. I’m 100% in the car.
Julia Paradowska/ThePitCrewOnline
JP: Looking back, during race one on Saturday you received penalty points, what happened?
GR: we had two penalites, which I and Cedric (Gosia’s teammate) caused through different events. My punishment was that during the yellow flag I went faster in my sector. It resulted from the fact that on the previous lap I was driving behind other cars. It was only when the space between us got out and I had a free track in front of me, involuntarily I started to drive faster. It was not my personal sector record in comparison to the times achieved in Friday’s trainings or the next sector times, but unfortunately it was my first quick lap and it was faster than the previous. It was a bit of a surprise to everyone, because I was not the only car, but probably 10 more cars received the same penalty.
And Cedric’s penalty – it was for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane. Until the end we are not sure what it resulted from – when I went down and handed over the car, I had a pit limiter turned on. Probably some irregularities occurred when drivers changed. Maybe I or Cedric caught a knee, foot, armchair or whatever pit limiter you could turn off. It never had happened to us before, and Cedric did not check if the pit limiter was on. when he accelerated from the pit stop on the pit lane, he had no resistance and drove more than 50 km/h. If it is a qualification or training, for such an offense you get penalty points depending on the offense – one or two. At the moment of season, penalty points are not awarded, especially considering that it was the last race weekend in the series, so no point would have worked, which is why Cedric got a penalty through the pit lane.
JP: Sunday hosted the second race, unfortunately your car didn’t finish the race. Can you explain the events leading up to the retirement of the car?
GR: Cedric, got hit during the start of the race. This resulted in problems with the temperature, because the right cooler was damaged and thus the temperature of oil and water had to be controlled all the time. As the race continued, the car gently began to go crazy in traction control, which we turned off anyway, but all the time there was a problem. There was Safety Car period which shortly after, we got hit again; when somebody drove into the left rear. This caused the car to have steering problems and we had to retire the car.
I have did not race one lap today; It was terribly sad because I was ready to change – I had my little racing seat in my hand and helmet on, waiting for the car to come in during the pit window – and it turned out that I will not go any further in today’s race.
Julia Paradowska/ThePitCrewOnline
JP: But there is a big positive for the team this weekend.
GR: The huge positive of this day is the fact that the second car from our team with the number 5 (drivers: Milan Dontje and Nicolaj Møller-Madsen) won the championship title. It was also a huge combination of events; because the BMW which was competing with our car was involved in the incident during the first lap right after the start. The BMW did not manage to avoid the collision and they hit a back-facing Mercedes. The #55 Ginetta was also involved in the collision, which became engulfed in flames later on because of the impact received during that incident.
JP: You have a lot of memories when it comes to the Nürburgring- you have achieved a lot here. Is this one of your favorite tracks?
GR: Definitely yes. In fact, the first time I was here (about 7 years ago at the Polish event) – it was the premiere of the new Mercedes A45. It was an event for Polish Mercedes customers, so I received an invitation and it was my first contact with the circuit.
The next time I appeared here in the Audi Sport TT Cup, where I managed to beat in third place. It was a cherry on the cake and a terrible joy because it was supported by the plant. It was the penultimate race of the season and the bet consisted of this: if I finished on the podium during this race, then my supervisor at Audi Sport TT Cup, declared he would present to me an Audi TT at The Warsaw Motor Show. Luckily I finished 3rd.
This year the track was in a different configuration (sprint). With Oscar Tunjo, we managed to win second place in the first race, and in the second race the first place. Memories from the track are very good – in fact, apart from this weekend, which is the worst, but it is a combination of unfortunate events. Two penalties, I still had a gentle contact after the start, but it was a gentle push and the fact that today I did not participate in the race. I was disappointed at Spa, where my team-mate completely broke the car during qualifying, but it was not so bad, because the Hungaroring and Nürburgring were next on the calendar, so there was almost still half of the season left.
W miniony weekend zakończył się sezon GT4 European Series. Był to debiutancki rok w tej serii dla polskiej ambasadorki #GirlsOnTrack Gosi Rdest. Po drugim wyścigu, który odbył się w niedzielę, Polka odpowiedziała na kilka pytań zadanych przez Julię Paradowską.
Julia Paradowska: Sezon 2018 właśnie dobiegł końca. Czy masz jakieś plany na ostatnie miesiące 2018?
Gosia Rdest: Przygotowuję się już do kolejnego sezonu. Prace tak naprawdę już się zaczęły nad utrzymaniem sponsorów, którzy są oraz pozyskaniem też nowych. (Prace już ruszyły. Póki co chodzi o utrzymanie obecnych sponsorów, a także pozyskanie nowych). To co mamy też teraz w planach, to zorganizowanie większego media day, który będzie już w październiku. Podczas niego trzeba będzie zaprezentować się, pokazać formę oraz podsumować także sezon. Poza tym jest jeszcze program Auto Świat GO. Ramówka będzie już we wtorek. Nagrania pewnie zaczną się pod koniec września. Oprócz tego jest jeszcze też mój kanał na youtube – także dzieje się. Teraz będzie kilka tygodni zwolnionych od symulatora, przygotowania fizycznego i pewnie będzie to taka delikatna posezonowa rekonwalescencja, która nie będzie trwała długo, ponieważ są już głosy, że polecimy wystartować w Bahrajnie. Ten wyścig bodajże jest w ostatnim tygodniu listopada – także to będzie takie drugie zakończenie sezonu.
W tym roku będzie kontynuowany program #GirlsOnTrack, w ramach którego będziemy realizować cztery bloki tematyczne z laureatkami zawodów w Tychach oraz w Rzeszowie. W tym roku odbędą się trzy spotkania – jedno będzie zdalne. Projekt będzie kontynuowany w następnym roku – wyjazd na zawody z trzema finalistkami w Le Mans oraz pomoc w przygotowaniu do startów, którą planujemy na marzec. Mam nadzieję, że praca, którą już podjęliśmy przyniesie efekty i to właśnie Polka będzie pierwszą zwyciężczynią.
JP: Czy zostajesz w zespole Phoenix Racing na następny sezon?
GR: Na pewno zostaję w zespole na następny sezon – jest to pewne na 100%. Nie ma co do końca decyzji jeżeli chodzi o serię wyścigową. Jestem zadowolona z formatu weekendu wyścigowego oraz poziomu reprezentowanego przez GT4 European Racing, ponieważ jest naprawdę dużo jeżdżenia i zasady są proste, jasne oraz klarowne. Jeżeli chodzi o balans i performance samochodów to nie było zbyt dużych gaf ze strony organizatorów. Auta prezentowały wyrównany poziom. Jeżeli z początkiem weekendu nie prezentowały wyrównanego poziomu, to później następowała adaptacja do toru. Z samochodem już w zasadzie od drugiego w tym sezonie wyścigu zaczęłam się dogadywać. Był to Brands Hatch, gdzie skończyliśmy wyścig na szóstym miejscu w klasyfikacji generalnej, a na pierwszym w klasie PRO-AM. Niestety, następnego dnia zostaliśmy zdyskwalifikowanie z powodu za szybkiego pit stopu mojego zmiennika (trwał za krótko o 0,2 sekundy).
Na ten moment pewne jest to, że samochód będzie to GT4 i jest również pewne, jaki będzie to zespół. Do końca jednak nie jest wiadomo, w jakiej serii będę startować, ponieważ na rynek wyścigowy wchodzą mistrzostwa Niemiec w serii GT4 organizowane przez ADAC i tutaj zobaczymy, jak zespół zadecyduje o kierunku, w którym pójdziemy. Dla mnie jest ważne, żeby zostać z tym samym samochodem.
Ostatnio pojawiła się jeszcze ewentualna szansa startów w USA. Jest to coś niewiarygodnego dla mnie, ale z tym myślę, że trzeba z miesiąc poczekać, żeby cokolwiek było ubrane w ramy. Jedno jest pewne – też będzie to GT4. Na 100% zostaję w przy tym samochodzie
Photo credit: Julia Paradowska/ThePitCrewOnline
JP: Porozmawiajmy o weekendzie. W sobotę odbył się pierwszy wyścig, w którym na wasz samochód zostały nałożone kary. Z czego one wynikały?
GR: Tutaj karami podzieliliśmy się z Cedricem (partner zespołowy Gosi) po równo – jedną przywiozłam ja, a drugą on. Moja kara była za to, że podczas żółtej flagi pojechałam szybszy czas swojego sektora. Wynikało to z tego, że na poprzednim okrążeniu jechałam za innymi samochodami. Dopiero jak zrobiła się przestrzeń miedzy nami i miałam wolne pole przed sobą, mimowolnie zaczęłam jeździć szybciej. Nie był to mój rekord osobisty sektora w porównaniu do czasów osiągniętych w piątkowych treningach czy następnych czasów sektorów, ale niefortunnie złożyło się, że było to moje pierwsze szybkie kółko i niefart chciał, że było one szybsze od poprzedniego i stąd ta kara. Okazało się to zaskoczeniem dla wszystkich, ponieważ nie byłam jedynym samochodem, ale bodajże jeszcze 10 samochodów otrzymało tą samą karę.
A kara Cedrica nałożona została za przekroczenie dozwolonej prędkości w alei serwisowej. Do końca nie jesteśmy pewni z czego to wynikało – jak ja zjeżdżałam i oddawałam samochód, to miałam włączony pit limiter. Prawdopodobnie w momencie zmiany kierowców zaszły jakieś nieprawidłowości. Może ja albo Cedric zahaczyliśmy kolanem, stopą, fotelem czy czymkolwiek czym można pit limiter wyłączyć. Nigdy wcześniej nam to się nie zdarzyło, także Cedric nie sprawdził, czy pit limiter był włączony. W momencie gdy przyśpieszył w alei serwisowej, nie miał oporowania i pojechał więcej niż 50 km/h. Jeżeli są to kwalifikacje lub treningi, to za takie wykroczenie otrzymuje się punkty karne w zależności od wykroczenia – jeden lub dwa. W momencie wyścigów nie są przyznawane punkty karne, zwłaszcza biorąc pod uwagę fakt, że był to ostatni weekend wyścigowy w serii, więc żaden punkt na nic by się zdał, dlatego Cedric dostał karę przejazdu przez aleję serwisową.
JP: Wróćmy do wydarzeń z dzisiaj – niestety wasz samochód wziął udział w wypadku i nie ukończyliście wyścigu.
GR: Kontakt był z nie naszej winy i to nie jednokrotnie. Cedric dostał dwa uderzenia zaraz po starcie i też po zjeździe samochodu bezpieczeństwa ktoś wjechał w jego lewy tył, przez co go obróciło i nie był w stanie kontynuować jazdy. Już po pierwszych dwóch kontaktach pojawiły się problemy z temperaturą, ponieważ została uszkodzona prawa chłodnica i przez to cały czas temperatura oleju oraz wody musiała być kontrolowana. Przez poślizg delikatnie zaczęła wariować kontrola trakcji, którą i tak wyłączamy, ale mimo tego cały czas pojawiał się błąd. Także całkowicie poszła geometria i zbieżność w samochodzie. Finalnie nie przejechałam dzisiaj ani jednego okrążenia. To było strasznie przykre, ponieważ byłam przygotowana do zmiany – miałam w ręku mój fotelik oraz założony kask, bo za 2 minuty miało być otwarte pit window, ale okazało się, że nic z tego i dzisiaj nie pojadę.
Photo credit: Julia Paradowska/ThePitCrewOnline
JP: Ale jest duży pozytyw dla zespołu podczas tego weekendu.
GR: Ogromnym pozytywem tego dnia jest fakt, iż drugi samochód z naszego zespołu z numerem 5 (w składzie: Milan Dontje i Nicolaj Møller-Madsen) wygrał tytuł mistrzowski. To był też ogromny splot zdarzeń, ponieważ konkurujący z naszym samochodem BMW zostało zamieszane w incydent podczas pierwszego okrążenia zaraz po starcie. BMW nie zdołało uniknąć kolizji i uderzyło stojącego tyłem do kierunku Mercedesa, a z kolei Ginetta z numerem 55 spłonęła w wyniku uszkodzenia, które było spowodowane było kontaktem podczas tego samego incydentu.
JP: Masz dużo wspomnień jeżeli chodzi o Nürburgring – dużo tutaj osiągnęłaś. Czy jest to jeden z twoich ulubionych torów?
GR: Zdecydowanie tak. W zasadzie pierwszy raz byłam tutaj około 7 lat temu na polskim evencie – była to premiera nowego Mercedesa A45. Było to wydarzenie dla polskich klientów Mercedesa, więc dostałam zaproszenie i to była moja pierwsza styczność z torem.
Następnym razem pojawiłam się tutaj w pucharze Audi Sport TT Cup, gdzie udało mi się zdobyć na trzecie miejsce. To przysłowiowa wisienka na torcie oraz straszna radość, ponieważ była ona poparta zakładem. Był to przedostatni wyścig sezonu i zakład polegał na tym – jeżeli wbiję się na podium podczas tego wyścigu, to wtedy nasz opiekun Audi Sport TT Cup zadeklarował, że przywiezie mi samochód na Warsaw Motor Show. Byłam na najniższym stopniu podium, więc nic mu nie zostało i musiał przywieźć auto do Warszawy.
W tym roku też już byłam na tym torze, lecz jeździłam w innej konfiguracji (sprint). Z Oscarem Tunjo udało nam się wywalczyć w pierwszym wyścigu drugie miejsce, a w drugim wyścigu pierwsze miejsce. Wspomnienia z toru są bardzo dobre – w zasadzie oprócz tego weekendu, który jest najgorszy, ale z powodu spotu niefortunnych zdarzeń . Dwie kary, ja miałam jeszcze delikatny kontakt po starcie, ale było to delikatne przepchnięcie i jeszcze fakt, że dzisiaj nie wzięłam udziału w wyścigu. Równie byłam rozczarowana na Spa, gdzie podczas kwalifikacji mój kolega zespołowy kompletnie rozbił auto, ale nie byłam tak rozgoryczona, bo w perspektywie miałam wyścigi na Hungaroringu i Nürburgringu, więc przede mną była jeszcze prawie połowa sezonu.
Well, let’s get this out of the way at the start. What delights has Turkey got for us……? Sorry. Anyway, it’s the first WRC event in Turkey since 2010 and let’s take a look at the results from that event.
The top ten was dominated by Citroen and Ford, but you’ll recognise a few names. Kimi’s co-driver is part of the Toyota team now, whilst Craig Breen’s co-driver was guiding Matt Wilson back then.
Now, here’s the full stage info.
RALLY TURKEY SCHEDULE (GMT+3)
THURSDAY 13 SEPTEMBER
9.30am: Shakedown (4,70 km)
6.30pm: Ceremonial start (Marmaris)
8.08pm: SS 1 – Super Special Turkey Full Speed (2,00 km)
8.33pm: Parc fermé (Asparan)
FRIDAY 14 SEPTEMBER
7.00am: Service A (Asparan – 15 min)
7.58am: SS 2 – Çetibeli 1 (38,10 km)
9.21am: SS 3 – Ula 1 (21,75 km)
10.24am: SS 4 – Çiçekli 1 (12,57 km)
12.24pm: Service B (Asparan – 30 min)
1.37pm: SS 5 – Çetibeli 2 (38,10 km)
3.00pm: SS 6 – Ula 2 (21,75 km)
4.03pm: SS 7 – Çiçekli 2 (12,57 km)
5.48pm: Flexi service C (Asparan – 45 min)
SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER
7.42am: Service D (Asparan – 15 min)
8.35am: SS 8 – Yesilbelde 1 (34,24 km)
10.08am: SS 9 – Datça 1 (10,70 km)
11.11am: SS 10 – Içmeler 1 (20,37 km)
12.16pm: Service E (Asparan – 30 min)
1.24pm: SS 11 – Yesilbelde 2 (34,24 km)
3.08pm: SS 12 – Datça 2 (10,70 km)
4.11pm: SS 13 – Içmeler 2 (20,37 km)
5.01pm: Flexi service F (Asparan – 45 min)
SUNDAY 16 SEPTEMBER
9.25am: Service G (Asparan – 15 min)
10.08am: SS 14 – Marmaris 1 (7,14 km)
10.46am: SS 15 – Ovacik (8,05 km)
11.24am: SS 16 – Gökçe (12,65 km)
1.18pm: SS 17 – Marmaris 2 Power Stage (7,14 km)
2.15pm: Podium
This year’s event promises to be one of the open yet, with all new stages. Stage notes creation, therefore will be key and we may even see the crews making changes between the morning and afternoon running of each stage. There are 312.44km of competitive stages over the event, with the longest stages on Friday and Saturday, Çetibeli which is first thing on Friday and Yesilbelde on Saturday morning, 38.10km and 34.24km respectively.
Let’s hear then from the drivers –
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“Rally Turkey will be a step into the unknown for everyone. We don’t know much about the stages, but we have had the chance to see some video footage. It seems like the roads will be very rough. From our position as first on the road, I am expecting a tricky weekend. I like new rallies and new challenges; it keeps the championship fresh and offers teams and crews something entirely new to tackle. My main target is to enjoy the rally and, of course, to do all we can to preserve our position at the head of the championship.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 07, Rally Italia Sardegna 7-10 June 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen
“I took part in Rally Turkey back in 2008, which was held in a completely different part of the country to where we will be rallying next week. It’s going to be a totally new experience for all competitors and one that will undoubtedly spring some surprises. From what we have seen, it appears we will be competing on rough roads and in very hot conditions, which will be tough on the crews, cars, tyres and brakes. All in all, it will be a nice new challenge and one I am looking forward to.”
Hayden Paddon
“I can’t wait to get back into WRC action; it feels like a long time since Finland! Turkey promises to be an unpredictable rally for everyone. I competed there back in 2010 but in a different part of the country so that experience is not comparable to what we’ll encounter next week. It looks like the stages will be twisty, rough and very hot, resembling an old Cyprus rally. As with any new event there are lots of unknowns, but we’re as prepared as we can be. We’ll definitely give it a good crack.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“Rally Turkey will be an interesting event for sure as no one really knows what to expect. This is the first completely new event for a long time and, even though I contested the rally in 2010, next week’s event will be completely different.
“There will be a lot of work to do on the recce, and Julien [Ingrassia, co-driver] will have to write brand-new notes for every single kilometre! It’ll be a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and to discovering what these new stages will be like.
“Our goal is to deliver the best possible result, but the loose gravel will make it a challenge. We’ll be the second car on the road and there will be a lot of fast drivers benefiting from a cleaner and faster road behind. We’ll need to try and stay as close as we can on Friday morning and then see where we are after that.
“The most important thing is to score a strong haul of points for our championship defence, and that is what we will focus on.”
Seb and Julien – Photo credit M-Sport
Elfyn Evans
“We’ll be taking a step into the unknown with a brand-new rally next week. I’m sure it will be an interesting weekend and I’m looking forward to discovering what the Turkish stages have to offer.
“For sure it will be hot, and we’ll need to be prepared for that. It also looks as though it could be quite loose which would give us a good road position for the first day; but it also has the potential to be fairly rough and everyone will need to have their wits about them.
“We completed our pre-event test on some pretty rough roads in Greece and the Fiesta proved as strong as ever. We’ve had to do a lot of preparation to get ready for this one, and the hard work will only continue next week.
“We’re as prepared as we can be and I think we’re all looking forward to experiencing something completely new – where the aim is to be in the fight for the top positions.”
Teemu Suninen
“Whereas most of the rallies this year have been new only for me, this one will be new for everyone. That will make things really interesting and could bring me an opportunity as we will all be equal on experience before the first stage.
“No one is allowed is test in Turkey so we’ll all experience the roads for the first time during the recce and then the shakedown. Set-up wise, I’ll discuss with my team mates first to see what they have experienced and discovered. Otherwise, I will need to make my own conclusions and choices.
“As for what to expect, I have never been to Turkey before and will travel out a little earlier than usual to get a feel for everything. I’m expecting it to be a very hot rally and very demanding, but I hope to deliver a good result.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala
“This is the first time for many years that I am preparing for a completely new WRC event. There are many unknowns: you have to do new pace-notes, you don’t know the characteristics of the roads and you don’t know how they will change for the second pass. I remember from when we went to Turkey in 2008, near Antalya, that it was very hot. The long stages were very demanding and very hard on the tyres. From what I have seen so far, I think there will be some similarities to that rally and also to the Acropolis Rally. The pre-event test was really good for me. I was very happy with the car and we made some good steps with the suspension.”
Ott Tanak
“Obviously we have had some very good results recently, but I am still taking it rally-by-rally. It is difficult to have any expectations for Turkey as we don’t have a lot of know-how about the rally. Everybody is talking about it being a rough event: we will have to wait and see how it is on the recce. We certainly know that it will be hot. I think that our pre-event test in the south of Portugal was good preparation for that and we are doing everything we can to be ready and be competitive. Now there is not too much more we can do until we get there and see the stages for ourselves.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 07, Rally d’Italia, Sardegna / June 7-10, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Esapekka Lappi
“We should expect the unexpected in Turkey. The information we have is that it will be rough with a lot of loose gravel, and that tyre management will be key. For that reason, the long afternoon loops will be crucial, I think. We saw on our test that the tyre wear is quite high when you have rough roads and it’s 35 degrees outside. In general, the test went very well and I think we managed to find some nice settings with the car. I am looking forward to the challenge: it’s a chance to learn something new. So far, being early on the road on loose gravel has not been a strong point for me, so I will try to improve that.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen
“The aim is really to get through the opening leg without any hiccups. If we manage to do that, we should be right up there, in the mix and well placed for the rest of the rally. It’s difficult to take any real information from the on-board footage recorded by the organiser in a production car. One thing is sure, however: the course looks very interesting, with a good variety of roads, some narrow, technical and rough, others much quicker.”
Mads Østberg
“We’re expecting it to be hot this weekend. It’s going to be a technically-difficult, demanding rally for the cars and that’s what we prepared for during our pre-event test in the Aude. I’m feeling pretty confident because I always produce decent performances on this kind of surface. And the C3 WRC is even more efficient and easier to drive than it was in Sardinia, which is the last event contested on similar types of road. We’re also going to be able to use some of the things we learned in Finland on this surface.”
Mads and Torstein, Photo credit Citroen Racing
Khalid Al Qassimi
“I’m delighted to be back behind the wheel of my C3 WRC, especially at a new event. It’s always exciting to contest brand new stages for the first time, especially as we’re expecting fairly difficult conditions. I’ve always felt comfortable at events like this. I have some good memories of the Acropolis Rally, for example. It’s always a question of finding the right balance between pushing and looking after the car.”
I think we can expect the key players to be at the front once Friday is done, but those extra drivers to watch will be Hayden and Elfyn I believe. Can Ott Tanak continue his fine form and close the gap further to Thierry and Seb in the fight for the championship?
Shakedown took place on Thursday morning, with Ott showing great pace, and the two top championship protagonists in third and fourth.
SHAKEDOWN STANDINGS
Tänak / Jarveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:52.9
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:53.1
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2:53.5
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) 2:53.6
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) 2:53.8
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) 2:54.3
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2:54.3
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:54.7
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) 2:55.4
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2:55.9
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) 2:57.3
Later in the same day, we had the first stage of the day and with Ott taking and early lead from Kalle Rovanpera who is driving a Skoda Fabia WRC2 in this event! Real giant killing driving! In fact, there were a number of WRC2 drivers inside the top ten.
Onto Friday’s action and with six stages, who would emerge in front? The start list looked like this – Neuville, Ogier, Tänak, Lappi, Sordo, Mikkelsen, Latvala, Evans, Ostberg, Breen, Suninen.
Seb won SS2 from Thierry and Ott third and with it took the lead by just eight tenths of a second from the Estonian. The road was becoming quite gravel strewn by the time Craig came to it, with him finding he needed to be cautious, and getting his braking points right, so made it through with no moments.
Onto SS3 and there was a change in the lead, with Ott five seconds faster than Seb in the stage. Everyone who finished the stage before Craig had a clean run, but three or four km’s into the stage the heavens had opened and it was really wet! His Citroen teammate, Mads had a spin in a hairpin as well, so not a great stage for their team.
It was a Toyota 1-2 in SS4 with Ott faster than Esapekka, and Thierry taking third, closing the gap to Ogier a little. Further back, Latvala passed Elfyn, moving into sixth.
It was time for service, and the opportunity to change some aspects in the car set up.
Into the afternoon stages, and Ott won SS5 by just three tenths of a second from Seb. There was a big change though, with Elfyn jumping from seventh to fourth overall with a great stage time. Mads sadly had a car problem, losing engine power. Craig was also on the move in his Citroen, passing Andreas in their battle for eighth overall.
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 09 / Rallye Deutschland 2018 / August 16-19, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Well, SS6 had dried out since the run in the morning and Ott won again, increasing his lead a little bit over Seb. Mads lost some more time with his engine problem dropping out of the top ten. There was another change in the top ten, with Dani getting past Esapekka Lappi into sixth.
The final stage of the day and SS7 was won by Ott again, whilst Lappi and Sordo were ahead of Seb. Ott’s lead over Seb was now 12.3, with Thierry in third overall. Craig was optimistic that Saturday would be better too.
Here’s the top ten then after Friday’s stages.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 59:22.6
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 12.3
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +27.4
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 37.8
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 38.8
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 42.7
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 42.8
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 58.0
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 59.0
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:21.4
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) +1:28.1
Here’s the thoughts of the drivers then – Top three first
Ott Tänak
“I think we have had close to a perfect day today. The driving was clean and the car was working really well. Everything was new for me, driving this car on these very specific stages, but I could adapt quickly, the rhythm was there from the first stage and I was able to push hard all day. This afternoon it was more difficult because it rained during lunchtime and every corner had a different level of grip, but we had a clean run with no mistakes. Tomorrow is a different day with more demanding stages on Baumholder, but the mindset is still the same. There is a long way to go and we just need to keep focused and keep concentrated.”
Sébastien Ogier
“I’m pretty happy with my day. I was pushing hard all the time and the car feels good. The chassis is working really well this weekend and I had a lot of fun driving.
“Hats off to Ott [Tänak] for a really strong day – but of course it is frustrating to see him just that little bit faster than us on almost every stage; making the gap 12 seconds at the end of the day.
“We need to keep trying tomorrow and with Baumholder having a different characteristic you never know what’s going to happen.
“The main target is to stay ahead of Thierry [Neuville], but the second target is to win the rally – so I’m only halfway there! Tomorrow will be a long day and we have to keep trying.”
Thierry Neuville
“I think we have done all we could today with no real mistakes. We had one minor problem this morning, which we were able to resolve and we can reflect on a safe start to this rally. In the morning loop we took the safer option with two spare tyres, and lost some time because of the extra weight. It was also quite dusty. It’s been difficult to match the times of Ott and Seb, but we are in the podium fight, which is good. I am not in the mood to take big risks being in the lead of the championship.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“It’s been an okay day and I think we can be pretty happy with the way things have gone. It was a bit of a shame to lose so much time this morning, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes and we have to keep trying. It’s extremely close in the mid-pack, but we’ll give it a good push for the podium positions tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans, Dan Barritt. Rally Deutschland. Photo credit M-Sport
Teemu Suninen (10th)
“The feeling has been getting better and better and I have been really happy with the car. This is my first time with this car on Tarmac, but already the level is quite good. There is still a lot to learn and the main thing is the braking and turning with these cars, but I’m enjoying and looking forward to another challenge tomorrow.”
Toyota Gazoo WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala (5th)
“This morning I lacked a little bit of confidence in the conditions: with my road position there was more dirt coming on the road than I was used to here before. In service we made some changes with the front differential and the afternoon was definitely better for me. I was very happy with what we did on the second run over Mittelmosel in particular. It’s going to be a good fight tomorrow. For me, tomorrow’s stages are the best ones on this rally. It’s wider and you can use racing lines more, and that’s what I like. Also, the roads will be cleaner than today and that should suit me better.”
Esapekka Lappi (7th)
“I was quite pleased with the morning loop. The conditions were quite nice and the car worked really well. The afternoon was then quite tough. The vineyard roads got really dirty in some corners and I struggled a lot in these places. The car feels fine, it’s just a lack of confidence on my side because I don’t want to make a mistake and I am backing off too much. Still, tomorrow is a long day and we have a good road position, and we are only five seconds away from fourth place.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (6th)
“It has been a difficult start to the rally for us. I wasn’t particularly happy on the morning loop and struggled to find grip. We have continued to push as hard as possible but the times at the front are very quick and we haven’t been able to match them. We have suffered with understeer and just haven’t been able to get into the required rhythm. The stages tomorrow will give us a different tarmac challenge, so we will continue to do what we can. The fight for fourth place is very close!”
Andreas Mikkelsen (9th)
“We have spent the day working hard on adapting my driving style as well as making some adjustments to the car. It was clear during the morning loop that I had to be more aggressive on the steering. We looked closely at the situation at service, and my engineer did a great job to help us make improvements. The afternoon was definitely a step in the right direction. Changing my style of driving after ten years is not the work of a moment but I hope we can continue in this way for the remainder of the weekend.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (8th)
“It really does seem that I can’t get a break on a Friday. Things didn’t go the way I had hoped, but there’s still a long way to go. The weather is forecast to be dry and sunny tomorrow and I’ll have a decent road position, so hopefully I can show what we’re capable of.”
Mads Østberg (11th)
“I’m still learning about the car, and getting used to racing on tarmac again as well. Given the conditions, the morning went fairly well for us in terms of our pace. The afternoon was harder with the engine issue, but I really hope that tomorrow’s leg will work out better for us.”
Day Two – Saturday
Into Saturday then and with eight stages run, a much longer day to deal with. The start list reflected the top ten – Serderidis, Ostberg, Suninen, Mikkelsen, Breen, Lappi, Sordo, Latvala, Evans, Neuville, Ogier, Tänak. Certainly, Craig was looking to a better day, with his best road position since Sweden.
The first one, SS8 saw Latvala go fastest with Dani and Craig just a tiny gap behind. Jari-Matti’s pace took him past Elfyn. Craig’s pace took him closer to Lappi, with the Citroen driver so much faster than the Finn.
The next one, SS9 saw a fastest time from Dani Sordo and with that, he jumped into fourth passing Elfyn who now fell to sixth. Ott Tanak’s lead was now 13 seconds over Seb. Mads, who was looking to get back into changed part of the setup, but it introduced understeer when on the power, making the car hard to drive. Craig was fourth as well, getting a little closer to Lappi.
It was Lappi though who hit back in SS10, winning the stage from Jari-Matti with Ogier third. This moved him ahead of Elfyn. Mads and Teemu continued their battle for the final points position, with just a little over a second between them, but in Teemu’s favour.
Disaster would befall Elfyn in SS11, after he went off. Craig Breen won the stage, from Lappi with Mads and Ott sharing the third fastest time. Dani could only manage the eighth fastest time whilst Thierry was ninth, meaning they’d both been passed by Jari-Matti who was now in third place overall.
A service break followed, with Thierry looking to make some changes to his car, so that he would feel a lot more confident with it. Ott said that he wasn’t that happy with his car
Into SS12 then, and Dani won the stage, moving ahead of his teammate, Thierry, who was now in fifth place. The gap closed a little between Ott and Seb, but not really anything to get too excited about with the gap still at over 13 seconds between them.
Massive change happened in SS13. Another stage victory for Dani – he was really in the groove – moved him ahead of Jari-Matti, and with Ogier getting a puncture 8.4km into the stage, he only managed 21st fastest, losing 1 minute 43 seconds and dropping to ninth overall. Mads didn’t understand why he was slow, after reporting that his car felt great in the stage. Dani was now in second overall.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 09, Rallye Deutschland 16-19 August 2018 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Just two stages remained and the first, SS14 was won by Seb, fighting back after his problem in stage 13. Lappi and Latvala were second and third after setting the same time. Top three overall was Ott, Dani and Jari-Matti. Ogier’s pace was good enough to put him up one place into seventh, Teemu dropping behind. Andreas will be Seb’s next target, with just 3.5 seconds between them.
Okay, the final stage of the day, SS15. Drama for Craig, who went off the road, damaging the rear left tyre. He lost so much time and dropped to tenth place, behind Mads. Winner of the stage was Jari-Matti, four tenths faster than Esapekka whilst Ogier set the third fastest time and this meant the gap to Andreas had come down to just half a second. But what a day that Ott had?! His lead over second placed Dani stood at 43.7 seconds and now Jari-Matti was just eight tenths of a second behind the Spaniard.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:23:2711
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 43.7
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 44.5
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +52.5
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 58.8
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 1:50.7
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:51.2
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:57.0
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) +2:20.4
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 2:34.4
Thought’s then of the drivers – Top three first
Ott Tanak
“Obviously it has been another good day. This morning it wasn’t easy, because I had to get used to driving on different types of road in this car for the first time, and I needed to push hard because it was a really close fight. In the afternoon my feeling was much better and I was enjoying it a lot. The changes we made during lunchtime service were a good step in the right direction and the car is really comfortable to drive. Now we have a big gap behind us and there are some nice stages tomorrow, so the most important thing will be just to enjoy it.”
Dani Sordo
“All in all, it has been a competitive day for us and it’s encouraging to be involved in such an exciting fight for the podium in the team’s home rally. We have taken three stage wins and have pushed really hard throughout the day, I felt really comfortable and competitive in the Panzerplatte stages, getting absolutely everything out of the car. We struggled a bit in some other stages, especially in the morning, but we couldn’t do more. Jari-Matti closed the gap a lot on the final stage, after I lost quite a lot of time, so we will be focused on defending our position from him on Sunday morning.”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“It has been a really enjoyable day. It started well this morning and then I was delighted with how the afternoon went. I couldn’t match Dani Sordo’s pace in the military area, but then on the Saarland stages on the farm roads I tried to push harder. He was better in one area and I was better in the other and now we are really closer to each other. To be fighting like this is a really nice feeling and I am looking forward to continuing the battle tomorrow.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (4th)
“We have to accept that we haven’t really been on the pace today. We have struggled with the handling of the car, and have had to be careful not to push too much because we know how easy it is to make a critical mistake. There’s a lot to think about so we have to remain calm and just do what we can. I didn’t do some of these stages last year, so we have been using Dani as a reference and have to be satisfied, even if we’re not completely happy.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (6th)
“It has been another challenging day, that’s for sure, but we have fought hard and continued to find out little things which we can use to improve. All the stages have their own characteristics so we have had to continue trying and evaluating different driving styles. We have been working closely with the team and I’ve tried to be more aggressive with the handbrake. We want to be fighting for better results than we are currently. The time sheets don’t make for good reading but we are taking steps and that is the most important thing right now.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“Overall, today has been quite average for me. In the Baumholder area I struggled a bit. This morning I had too soft a setup for those stages, and although I think I managed to improve that for this afternoon, I still lost a lot of time there for some reason and that is frustrating. On the other hand, on the other stages among the fields everything felt nice and the times were good, even when there was dirt on the road on the second pass. The gap to fourth place is still quite small so let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (7th)
“We had some bad luck today. We know that this stage has a lot of stones everywhere and that it’s always a bit of a lottery whether you will pick up a puncture. Unfortunately, this time, we didn’t win that lottery.
“It was a slow puncture after seven kilometres and we had to stop and change it. After that I took some crazy risks as I had nothing to lose. I was pushing super hard to finish the day, but there isn’t so much we can do now – only some points in the Power Stage.
“We made a good effort this weekend and were doing a good job. It’s frustrating not to get the reward for that, but we will come back stronger.”
Seb at speed. Photo credit, M-Sport Fordd
Teemu Suninen (8th)
“It’s been a good day and the driving is starting to be on a good level now. I was able to be much closer to the fastest guys which was really good, and I know where we can be faster. That is a big positive as I already know how to make the fastest times.”
Elfyn Evans (Rally 2)
“It didn’t go fantastically well for us today. We spun at the start of the third stage in the loop [SS10], and then on the fourth one [SS11] we hit some gravel and understeered off into a field. Unfortunately for us, there was a big concrete block on the line we took and that broke the suspension which meant we could go no further.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Mads Østberg (9th)
“There were highs and lows today, with some difficulties in finding the right rhythm in the military base. The main thing for me was that I managed to set a few good times, particularly the third-place finish this morning. I can’t wait to get back out there tomorrow to keep learning about this car on this surface, especially as the Power Stage, for example, is being contested on similar roads to the sections where I have been the most comfortable so far.”
Craig Breen (10th)
“It had been a positive day for us, setting quite a few good times, until this final stage. Unfortunately, on a fast, difficult right-hander, there was a bump on the inside of the corner that sent me slightly off the line and I ran wide into a field. Obviously, I’m very disappointed for the team, but I’m going to try and find some confidence again tomorrow and the same sort of pace we had today.”
Craig Breen, Scott Martin. Photo credit Citroen Racing
Sunday
The final day then and three stages remained. Interestingly, the power stage would only be run once. The start list looked like this – Serderidis, Breen, Ostberg, Suninen, Ogier, Mikkelsen, Lappi, Neuville, Latvala, Sordo, Tänak, Evans. We had just a little under 45km’s to run.
There would be drama from the get go in SS16! First up, Jari-Matti had the bonnet up on his car before the start of the stage…. What was happening? Meantime, Dani had lost time, and there were reports of a damaged right-front corner and a smashed windscreen. Trouble for both of those in second and third… Jari-Matti appeared to have a problem with changing gear, as he was using his manual gear change. It all came to naught, just a kilometre from stage end, Jari-Matti pulled over and it looked like transmission failure for the Finn. With Dani, he reported that he’d lost the car in a right-hand corner and hit the vineyards. Mads also went off in the stage, so it was all over for him. All of this had the result of bringing Thierry, who won the stage, and Esapekka into second and third!
Before the re-run of the same stage, both crews were attempting to start the next stage. Sadly, despite their best efforts, they didn’t manage to do it. Still, SS17 saw Seb win from Thierry and Craig who was now up to seventh overall.
Mads Ostberg and Torstein Erikson. Photo credit Citroen Racing
The final stage then – SS18. Top five was Seb, Ott, Esapekka, Craig and Thierry! Ott was so close to taking the stage, just one tenth slower than Seb! The Estonian was bringing himself back into the title fight though. What a drive, and it meant that he now matched Markko Martin for WRC victories, both of them on five apiece. A very impressive drive from Esapekka Lappi, plus a mechanical failure for his teammate Jari-Matti, brought him to a good podium, but he still has more to learn, as Dani, Craig and Elfyn could all have finished ahead of him.
FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 3:03:36.9
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 39.2
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 1:00.9
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:34.5
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:02.9
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 2:13.8
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 2:39.1
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 09 / Rallye Deutschland 2018 / August 16-19, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Drivers points after Rallye Deutschland
Thierry Neuville – 172 points
Sébastien Ogier – 149 points
Ott Tänak – 136 points
Esapekka Lappi – 88 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 65 points
Dani Sordo – 60 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 55 points
Elfyn Evans – 52 points
Mads Ostberg – 48 points
Craig Breen – 47 points
Manufacturers standings
Hyundai WRT – 254 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 241 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 224 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT – 159 points
Here then are the thoughts of the drivers – Top three first
Ott Tanak
“This was definitely the hardest victory I have ever had. For the majority of the weekend it was a really close fight and I had to push so hard. On Friday in the vineyards I felt very comfortable with the car. On Saturday morning I did not feel so confident, but the team really improved the car in service. Today I just needed to keep it clean. I am really happy for the whole team: we were really strong this weekend. We are moving in the right direction in the championship but I am still taking it event-by-event: Now my focus is on Turkey and trying to be as well prepared as possible.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 09 / Rallye Deutschland 2018 / August 16-19, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Thierry Neuville
“It has been a challenging weekend so to come away with second is a job well done. I have been able to increase my lead in the drivers’ championship slightly, which was the objective. I was hoping to take a few more points in the Power Stage but unfortunately, I made a mistake and had to reverse, so I took it steady after that. We have struggled with confidence and pace, even if we have been consistent over the weekend. Not an easy weekend but we’ve done what we needed. The championship battle is going to be closely fought right to the end of the season!”
Esapekka Lappi
“It has been a difficult weekend but it was also a clean one with no issues and that has brought us this podium. There was a lot of drama for the others yesterday and this morning as well. That is rallying and we have been in that position before. I think we made some good progress during the weekend. I think I still need some more mileage to understand what the limits are when these roads are dirty. There is not much room for mistakes and I really didn’t want to make one this time.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (4th)
“We deserved more this weekend so I can’t say that I am happy with the result, but that’s rallying and we just need to accept it. We saved the day by winning the Power Stage and now we just need to focus on the next one.”
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“It was a really great weekend of us and I was improving the driving a lot and finding a good set-up with the car. From the beginning of the rally until the end we made a lot of progress and I was able to set some really good times. Of course, I couldn’t drive all of the stages like this, but I know what it takes – I just need the experience.”
Elfyn Evans (25th)
“We had a positive first day and, considering our road position, I think we did a pretty good job. But unfortunately, Saturday just didn’t go our way at all. We lost a bit of time on the opening stage [SS8], had a spin in the third one [SS10] and then a trip into the field in the fourth [SS11] which ended in retirement. It certainly wasn’t the result we came here for, so now we just have to look forward to the next one.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (6th)
“This weekend has been one of experimentation with the car, trying to adapt the settings and my driving style to match the demands of these tarmac stages. We have found some things that have given us a positive feeling but there have also been things that worked less well. To get a top-six finish is not too bad considering. We didn’t take any risks at all in the Power Stage because these points are too important for the manufacturers’ championship. When you don’t feel completely comfortable, it’s easy to make a mistake when you push. We have a lot of homework to take away from this weekend, to prepare for the tarmac stages in Spain. For now, I am looking forward to getting back on gravel where I feel more confident with the car.”
Dani Sordo (DNF)
“I am incredibly disappointed for the team and for myself. We had put ourselves into a strong position after Saturday’s stages and the car this morning – in the first kilometres – felt amazing with lots of grip. I had a lot of confidence. I was a bit late braking into a corner with some gravel in the road that sent us wide into the vineyards. The windscreen was completely smashed and there was some damage to the radiator. We tried to repair it but the temperatures were too high to continue. In any case, our rally was already over with the time lost in the stage. We take comfort from knowing we were able to fight for the podium. The speed was there, but the result this time was not. I can now only look forward to my home event in Catalunya in October.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (7th)
“Obviously, it’s a shame about the rain on Friday and my mistake yesterday afternoon, because I really wanted to fight with the very best drivers throughout the race. But we managed to make it through yesterday and I also had a good feeling again in the car today. I’m going to give it my very best shot to secure a good result in Turkey. Everyone will be starting from scratch there, so we should be in with a serious chance.”
Mads Østberg (DNF)
“On a fast left-hander, I oversteered and ran wide into the bushes. The impact caused damage to the car’s cooling system and we were unable to continue. It’s a shame, but there were still some positives this weekend. We gradually upped our pace and managed to set some decent times despite a lack of knowledge of the car on this surface.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala (DNF)
“On the road section to the first stage I stopped and when I selected first gear it didn’t take the gear. The hydraulic pump stopped, and although I could switch to the manual gear lever, there was a lot of stress for the gearbox and eventually we lost drive completely. We have had a lot of bad luck this year, but I had a great feeling this weekend. The car’s performance was very good, I was really enjoying the fight and that’s the most important thing.”
Well, just an incredible event. Two wins in a row for Ott Tanak has done amazing things for the championship. At the end of Sardinia, the points standings between the top three looked like this
The gap between Ott and Thierry stood at 72 points. After Finland it had reduced to 46 points, and now just 36 separate them. Now, it’s a tall order with four events remaining for Ott to catch and pass Thierry and win the title, but he’s certainly capable of winning the remaining events. Turkey next time out will be an all new event, so anything could happen there. It will be a fascinating championship run in.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Deutschland (DEU) – WRC 16/08/2017 to 20/08/2017 – PHOTO : @World
The battle for this year’s championship arrives on the sealed roads in Germany. Thierry Neuville holds a twenty-one-point lead over Sébastien Ogier, and he will be aiming to build on that, as his road position will give him an advantage.
2017 FIA World Rally Championship, Round 10, Rallye Deutschland 17 – 20 August 2017, Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, Photographer: RaceEMotion, Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Four years ago, he won on these roads, and will be looking to do the same this year. Thierry is joined by Andreas and Dani, back to the i20 for the first time since Portugal. Andreas scored a second place in this event last year and will be looking to get a strong result again, whilst Dani has taken two second places in 2014 and 2016.
Ott Tanak is trying to get back into the championship fight, and his win last time out in Finland has done him some favours. He won last year for M-Sport, and will want to do the same again. Jari-Matti took a podium here in 2015 when driving for Volkswagen.
M-Sport come here with three cars, Seb and Elfyn, with Teemu taking part in his first full tarmac event in a full-blooded WRC car. He’ll be looking to gain knowledge and experience on this very tricky event. Seb has won this event three times, whilst Elfyn came close to a podium in 2014, taking fourth in the end.
The rhythm of the event changes day by day, with roads around the famous vineyards, the Baumholder military roads and classic country lanes, making the recce and car set up crucial. Even Sunday is by no means easy, with almost 75kms of stages to run.
Here’s the full schedule for the rally.
ADAC RALLY DEUTSCHLAND SCHEDULE (GMT+2)
THURSDAY 16 AUGUST
8.00am: Shakedown St. Wendel (5,52 km)
2.45pm: Start (Bostalsee)
7.08pm: SS 1 – Super Special Stage St. Wendel (2,04 km)
7.48pm: Parc fermé
FRIDAY 17 AUGUST
9.00am: Service A (Bostalsee – 15 min)
10.11am: SS 2 – Stein und Wein 1 (19,44 km)
11.05am: SS 3 – Mittelmosel 1 (22,00 km)
12.53pm: SS 4 – Wadern-Weiskirchen 1 (9,27 km)
2.13pm: Service B (Bostalsee – 30 min)
3.39pm: SS 5 – Stein und Wein 2 (19,44 km)
4.33pm: SS 6 – Mittelmosel 2 (22,00 km)
6.21pm: SS 7 – Wadern-Weiskirchen 2 (9,27 km)
7.21pm: Flexi service C (Bostalsee – 48 min)
SATURDAY 18 AUGUST
7.35am: Service D (Bostalsee – 15 min)
8.48am: SS 8 – Arena Panzerplatte 1 (9,43 km)
9.15am: SS 9 – Panzerplatte 1 (38,57 km)
11.03am: SS 10 – Freisen 1 (14,78 km)
12.06pm: SS 11 – Römerstrasse 1 (12,28 km)
1.40pm: Service E (Bostalsee – 30 min)
3.08pm: SS 12 – Arena Panzerplatte 2 (9,43 km)
3.35pm: SS 13 – Panzerplatte 2 (38,57 km)
5.23pm: SS 14 – Freisen 2 (14,78 km)
6.26pm: SS 15 – Römerstrasse 2 (12,28 km)
7.40pm: Flexi service F (Bostalsee – 48 min)
SUNDAY 19 AUGUST
6.20am: Service G (Bostalsee – 15 min)
7.49am: SS 16 – Grafschaft 1 (29,07 km)
9.42am: ES 17 – Grafschaft 2 (29,07 km)
12.18pm: SS 18 – Bosenberg Power Stage (14,04 km)
1.00pm: Podium
Let’s hear from the drivers then.
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“After four consecutive gravel events, it is going to be nice to get back onto tarmac. Rallye Deutschland is a great event. It is a home rally for the team, and it is also situated close to the Belgian border, so we see lots of travelling fans coming to support us. We have had some fantastic results here in the past – including our debut win in 2014 – as well as some more difficult ones. Still leading the championship after a frustrating weekend Finland, I am ready to get back to the front in Germany.”
Andreas Mikkelsen
“Rallye Deutschland is one of my favourite tarmac events. It is a rally with plenty of variety and challenges, but one that I find highly enjoyable. I finished second in last year’s event, so it brings back good memories. I hope for a good result this time around with Hyundai Motorsport. We’ve not had the sort of results recently that we know we are capable of, so I am determined to rectify that in Germany.”
Dani Sordo
“I am pleased to be back in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for Rallye Deutschland, which is a very nice event and a home rally for the team. It is not a straightforward event with lots of different stage profiles. We often see some rain over the weekend, which can leave the roads muddy and slippery, but who knows what we will face this year. We have been competitive in Germany in past seasons, with some happy memories of the podium. That’s got to be our target against tough competition from our rivals.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala
“After Rally Finland I am feeling relaxed and I have a good feeling about Rallye Deutschland. I hope we can continue where we left off and maintain a good rhythm until the end of the year. I think our car should be good in Germany: last year we were already quite competitive there. I really enjoy the small country roads through the fields, which are narrow but fast, and the military area which also has some nice sections. We just have to be prepared for everything when it comes to the weather, because it can be very changeable.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Deutschland (DEU) – WRC 16/08/2017 to 20/08/2017 – PHOTO : @World
Ott Tänak
“We will go to Germany with a high target after our win in Finland. I want to take it event-by-event, try to get the maximum out of each rally and see whether we can get back into the championship fight. I enjoy Germany every year. I like the challenge of having many different kinds of roads. We will need to keep an eye on the weather because when I won the rally last year, the tyre choice made a big difference. The Yaris WRC has been performing pretty well on asphalt so I hope we will have everything we need to fight for the top. We are feeling confident.”
Esapekka Lappi
“Rallye Deutschland is always such a challenging rally. Usually there is some rain and you often get different conditions during each day. This can make things tricky because there is a lot of corner-cutting and a lot of dirt on the road. It has been difficult for me in the past, but I actually really like the challenge. I’m looking forward to being back on asphalt, too. In Corsica we achieved a nice setup with the car and the speed was good. Germany is quite a different rally but hopefully we can repeat that.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen
“I’m longing to get back on the tarmac. It’s been a year since I last competed in a 100% tarmac rally. The Saturday stage will definitely be decisive again, with the two runs through the Baumholder military base, but before that, I really hope more than anything that it doesn’t rain on Friday, so that we can start the race in ideal conditions, despite being a long way down the running order. Since our Germany tests at the start of the summer, I have had an extra day of testing in Alsace to get back into the habits you need to drive on tarmac, and I’ll be giving it my all to rediscover the joys of the podium.”
Craig Breen, Scott Martin – Photo credit Citroen Racing
Mads Østberg
“Except last year, I have competed in this rally every year since 2010, so I know the course pretty well and I have always enjoyed the variety of the stages, even though it makes things difficult! I will have to get to grips with driving on this surface again, but I know I can count on the team’s immense experience on tarmac and at this rally in particular. I have had two days of testing with the C3 WRC to work through all the road profiles I will be facing, so a top-five finish would be a good result for me.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“We didn’t have the pace that we wanted in Finland, but next week’s Rallye Deutschland is a completely different event and we’ll be aiming to challenge for the leading positions once again.
“It’s always nice returning to asphalt, and we had the performance last time out in Corsica. But this is another difficult rally and everyone knows how big the challenge is to get everything right with all the varying stages.
“As always, the goal is to deliver our best and challenge for the victory. That’s what we’ll be aiming for – together with the target of reducing the gap to the championship leader.”
“Rallye Deutschland is a pretty challenging event, but I think that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy it so much. The stage characteristics and conditions are constantly changing, and you’ve really got to be on the ball.
“It’s all about finding the right rhythm and set-up for each of the different challenges; as well as staying fully focused as this is one of those events where second chances are few and far between!
“The weather can also play a crucial part and a wet rally would make things pretty interesting. But let’s see what gets thrown at us next week. The Fiesta felt really good last time out on Tarmac, and we’ll be aiming for a strong result.”
Teemu Suninen
“This will be my first time in a world rally car on asphalt and a big leap into the unknown. So far, I know nothing about driving these cars on this surface and I will have a lot to learn. I’m most curious about the tyre wear and how to use the brakes.
“This rally will be full of questions, and it’s always been one of the most challenging on the calendar. There is always a lot of dirt that gets dragged onto the stages, but I hope to find good confidence in the car and improve my driving in these tricky conditions.”
We really are heading to the end of the season, with just five rounds remaining, including this event. Who will win, and what will it mean for the championship?
Awards, beers, eBay, clones, drones, a big yellow crane plus a crash landing – the full story and secrets behind the jaw-dropping #Skydriver viral video have been revealed in a short follow-up film released today (Tuesday).
What started life as some bar-room bravado banter ended up, more than two years later, with a livered car flying down one of Zip World’s adventure tourism wires at Slate Mountain, Blaenau Ffestiniog in north Wales – an incredible stunt that has already been watched by many hundreds of thousands of online viewers in the first few days since being released on Wednesday 1 August.
Matt Edwards (@MERallysport ) drove the car – Photo credit Wales Rally GB
Although some of the more eagle-eyed browsers did spot that two different look-a-like Dayinsure liveried cars had been used for the rally driving and sky driving elements (the clue was in the wheels), what the cameras didn’t reveal was the car’s somewhat unplanned bumpy landing at the end of its dramatic, high speed flight down Zip World Titan.
Rally aces @ElfynEvans and @MERallysport shortly before the shooting of the #SkyDriver stunt – there's a lot of driving talent in that picture!
The full story is now disclosed in a special behind-the-scenes #InsideSkydriver film. The edit includes yet to be seen footage of the spectacular stunt plus interviews with key members of the ambitious #Skydriver team who were not only responsible for dreaming up such a crazy proposition but also for actually accomplishing the eye-catching feat.
Tuesday: Finland recce is always fun, I love getting back into these stages. I spent so much time in this area when I was competing with Tommi Makinen Racing that it feels like a second home. Today we recce’d six stages, a mixture of the traditional flat-out Finnish roads and newly added tighter and twisty sections.
Wednesday: More recce today, pacenotes in Finland are super-critical, the speed you are carrying, often in the air, means that you have to commit absolutely. The jumps require bravery and skill, because you can’t really turn a car when its wheels aren’t touching the road. Tom and I have been working really hard on our pacenotes over the last few weeks, and we can feel the difference here.
Thursday: A big day today, we had an early tyre meeting with Pirelli to help us decide on our tyre strategy and then straight into shakedown. Shakedown was extremely hot, and the weather continued throughout the weekend. We found a good set up and felt confident in the car. After lunch Tom had some PR engagements for the event, and I continued to work on the notes and strategy. Finally, in the evening we had the start of the rally and SS1 through the centre of Jyvaskyla.
Friday: The first proper day of rallying, we started with a good pace and settled in well. The new stage configuration of using smaller, narrower, rougher roads was tricky to say the least as they were still very fast in the little M-Sport Fiesta R2T. The Pirelli tyres worked really well, and our tyre strategy was giving us the grip we needed. I really enjoy these Finnish roads, it’s great to get a flow with the pacenotes and synch with the driver… it’s amazing how fast you can go.
Saturday: Iconic stages today, with the new narrower twist. We were locked in a great battle with New Zealand Champions Dave Holder/Jason Farmer, absolutely great guys and we were having a lot of fun – tiny gaps on every stage. Unfortunately, Dave and Jason picked up a double puncture on the second loop of stages dropping them out of contention. Meanwhile, we were feeling good in the car and especially in our pace notes – all the hard work since Portugal on our fitness, pace notes, and all-around performance, was really paying off.
Phil Hall jumps to best-ever JWRC finish with Tom Williams in Finland – Image credit M-Sport/JWRC
Sunday: 4 Stages. It’s not that far to hang on to our best result in the JWRC. Except this is Finland, and anything can happen. Finishing with the legendary Ruuhimaki test, and a monumental jump to finish (which we took absolutely flat, see the video on my social media), we kept on it to the very end and were rewarded with a fantastic result. Now we are focusing on the next round of the JWRC in Turkey.
Phil Hall (L) celebrates with Tom Williams (R) – Image credit M-Sport/JWRC
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@PhilHallRally) for more behind the scenes JWRC stuff!
After a fight through Friday with Mads Ostberg for the lead of this rally, Ott Tanak opened up a good lead through Saturday and then controlled his pace and 15 years after the last Estonian to win Rally Finland, took a very well-deserved victory. The championship protagonists found themselves playing bit parts further down the standings.
Here’s the story of how Rally Finland played out.
After Thursday’s short evening stage, Ott held the lead from Thierry and Seb.
The start list looked like this for Friday’s stages, running in championship order – Neuville, Ogier, Tänak, Lappi, Mikkelsen, Evans, Latvala, Breen, Ostberg, Suninen, Paddon, Al Qassimi. Ten stages awaited the crews out there.
The first stage of the day, SS2, was won by Ott, with Mads just behind, 1.3 seconds slower than the Toyota driver, with Teemu Suninen a further few seconds behind in third, and this was now the overall top three with Seb and Thierry now in seventh and ninth respectively. Craig suffered a puncture seven km’s into the twenty km stage, losing 47 seconds and falling to 18th overall. We would see a fightback from him through the rest of the rally.
Stage 3, a shorter 12km stage was won by Jari-Matti and with that, he passed Teemu, moving into a podium position. Craig put the disappointment of the puncture behind him and drove to second fastest, just eight tenths slower, whilst Ott increased the overall lead over Mads a little. Further back, Seb and Thierry were still in seventh and ninth, their road position hurting them.
Stage 4 saw a couple of dramatic moments – Mads took the lead after setting a great time 4.8 seconds faster than Ott and now in the lead by just half a second. However, Hyundai driver, Andreas went off the road, losing more than three minutes. Craig’s pace in the last two stages had brought him up into tenth overall.
The following stage, number 5 saw greater pace from Ott and coupled with some little mistakes from Mads, he retook the lead, by just 1.1 seconds. A mistake from Thierry saw him drop behind Craig and the Belgian was now over a minute behind the leader. Hayden though was now the top Hyundai driver, just nine tenths slower and second fastest, meaning he was now in fourth overall.
Midday service followed this stage, and then it was time to tackle the remaining six stages.
Mads started off in a strong way, winning stage 6 and retaking the lead from Ott and with Teemu going several seconds quicker than Jari-Matti and Hayden, he moved back into third overall! Showing how competitive these cars are three different cars in the top three, just nineteen seconds between them.
Mads and Ott continued their fight for the lead in stage 7, with them both setting identical times through the stage, the lead remaining at one tenth of a second. Jari-Matti retook third overall. Further back, Thierry remained in tenth overall, now one minute 41 from the lead, whilst Seb was in seventh, 54 seconds from first place.
Top three in stage 8 was Craig, Esapekka and Jari-Matti, whilst the overall top two were fifth and ninth fastest. It was Mads who opened up a gap of 1.9 seconds over Ott. The Norwegian was driving to a safe pace, knowing Ott wasn’t as fast.
The lead swapped again in stage 9 after Ott was fastest and with Mads nearly three seconds slower, the Estonian retook the lead by a second. Mads was not letting him get away, driving a sensible but fast stage as his tyres were quite worn. The rest of the positions in the top ten were pretty static though.
Stage 10 was won by Ott and with Mads seventh fastest there was now a 4.3 second gap between them. Further back, Hayden repassed Teemu in their battle over fourth place and Seb passed Elfyn, the Frenchman now in sixth. Craig set the fifth fastest time in the stage, despite starting to suffer with brake problems near the end.
The final stage of the day, 11, saw Seb set the fastest time from Ott and Thierry, who set identical times. Craig and Kalid suffered with fuel pressure problems in their C3’s, with Craig losing 27 seconds, but didn’t drop out of the top ten at least. A real shame for him, after a very good drive through the day after the puncture.
So, what a day. Toyota and Citroen both shared out the stage wins and Ott ended the day in the lead. Mads had driven really well, and had kept a great pace, leading at times as well.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 1:02:26.0
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) + 5.8
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 23.1
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 36.4
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 46.1
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 58.9
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:01.1
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 1:01.4
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 1:34.1
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:57.7
24. Al Qassimi / Patterson (Citroën C3 WRC) +8:28.5
Let’s hear from the drivers. Top three first.
Ott Tänak
“I am really happy with my day. Everything has been working just perfectly. I have a lot of confidence in the car and it is really nice to drive on these roads. Except for one moment where I stalled the engine and lost a bit of time, I did everything that I could. The roads have been pretty slippery with a lot of cleaning. Tomorrow, we will have the same conditions as the guys we have been fighting with today, which will be good, but it still won’t be easy.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 08 / Rally Finland 2018 / July 26-29, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Mads Østberg
“I’m delighted for everyone in the team that I have managed to produce such a solid performance. We have all worked so hard together in order to make it happen. I really enjoyed driving my C3 WRC throughout the whole day. We are now going to try and keep it up tomorrow!”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I think today has been pretty good. On the first stage it was difficult to get into the rhythm, but then I found it on the second stage. I also made the car a bit stiffer to have some more stability, and since that I’ve been happy. I was a bit too careful on the first stage this afternoon but I was able to fight back and claim third position. I am enjoying the driving and hopefully I can improve a bit more tomorrow.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“It’s been a tough day. We were fighting for a podium position but then we had a few issues and dropped down to fifth. The driving has been on an okay level, but there is still some more to find and I hope that I can find that tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier (6th)
“If I’m honest, I expected things to happen the way they did today. With the roads being so dry, it was a tough day for us and we lost some time for sure. That said, I have to say hats off to Ott [Tänak] because he has been flying. Starting just behind us, he was setting times which were really impressive to watch.
“I think I did more or less what I could today. Of course, I could have gone a little faster – a few tenths here and there – but then I would have needed to take some big risks. Our road position will be a bit better tomorrow, and hopefully we can find some small things to be a bit faster. It’s not been an easy day, but we’ll keep trying tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans (7th)
“We can’t be completely satisfied as this isn’t really the position we were looking for. Although to be fair, it was pretty clear that the road evolution played a big part over the morning loop. With the exception of Ott [Tänak] who was just on a different planet, we were faster than everyone in front of us but the guys behind were faster than us.
“We then struggled on a few stages this afternoon so it was okay but not perfect. There’s still a long way to go, and Saturday was a really good day for us last year – so we have to try and let’s just see what happens.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (4th)
“I think we can be pretty happy with our opening day, even if we could have probably taken a few more risks. We didn’t want to overdo it, because we were focused on getting the set-up right for the whole weekend. In the morning loop, we had to adapt to the conditions and our pace notes were a bit slow in places. From there, we started to enjoy the car and the stages more. We’ve been consistent, had good pace and that’s allowed us to stay in touch with the leading three. We’ve now got to build on this over the next two days.”
Thierry Neuville (10th)
“Starting first on the road, particularly in this event, makes life really tough from the outset. There was not much more we could do, as we struggled for grip and consistency. Things weren’t helped by the mistake in SS5 when we were too optimistic with a pace note. I was thinking about correcting it, but then missed the next one and ended up going straight into a ditch. We had to take it a bit easier after that. The mechanics did a great job at midday service to fix the car. We are losing some positions compared to Ogier, so we can’t really be happy but we knew it would be hard. We can only do our best in these circumstances and minimise the damage.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Finland 26-29 July 2018 Day 1 Action Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen
“It has been a very challenging start to Rally Finland for us. We made a mistake in SS4 during the morning loop, but we’ve struggled for pace throughout the day. You never want to make a mistake but I misheard a pace note. I thought Anders had said five minus, when it should have been four, which is quite a difference. We had a slow roll but were pushed back onto the stage by the Finnish spectators, who were very helpful. Thanks to my mechanics for getting us ready for the afternoon. We still have some work to do to get the right feeling but we will aim for a fresh start on Saturday.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (9th)
“In terms of the times, we had a good rhythm and overall, it was a good day. Obviously, it’s frustrating to have picked up a puncture this morning and then to have had the fuel problem this evening, but that’s the way it goes, I guess. It’s gone now, so we’re already focusing on tomorrow’s leg. We’ll try to enjoy ourselves on these magnificent roads and do even better.”
Craig Breen, Scott Martin – Photo credit, Citroen Racing
Khalid Al Qassimi (24th)
“I really liked the fast, typically Finnish stages. Less so the stages that were very narrow and rough, but I adopted a cautious approach in these sections in order to keep out of trouble. I’m going to try and up my pace during the rest of the rally.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (8th)
“This morning was a bit of a struggle: I stalled in a junction in the first stage, which was very disappointing, and after that I was having difficulty finding a rhythm. In service the engineers found a small issue on the car and were able to fix it. After that, it started to go well and the speed was more like what I was expecting. Of course, I wanted to be fighting for the victory, but there are still two days to go and some good chances to gain positions.”
Saturday would see eight stages for the crews to tackle and the start order looked like this – Al Qassimi, Mikkelsen, Neuville, Breen, Lappi, Evans, Ogier, Suninen, Paddon, Latvala, Østberg, Tänak.
Starting with SS12, the top three was Ott, Mads and Jari-Matti and now Ott’s lead had increased over Mads and Latvala was now on a mission to catch Mads. Further down the leaderboard, Esapekka and Elfyn overtook Ogier, who was now down to eighth.
Into SS13 and Ott increased his lead over Mads, who in turn was doing enough to keep Jari-Matti at arm’s length. Further back, just 14 seconds covered the gap between 6th and 8th. Craig was driving well and enjoying the car on the stages and wishing for a better road position.
In SS14, Ott continued to make the most of his road position and increased his lead a further few seconds, his overall lead now over twenty seconds after Mads made a couple of mistakes. Seb also passed Elfyn for seventh place.
The shorter stage SS15 saw Ott still faster than Mads, whose tyres were not giving him the feel he wanted. Last years winner, Lappi set a great time, going fourth fastest and passing Teemu for fifth place.
After service, the same stage was run as SS16. Jari-Matti and Ott set the same time, whilst Mads was only fifth fastest, losing a little over three seconds to the charging Finn. He’d made some changes to the car during the service break, with the hope that these would give him the opportunity to push harder on the longer stages.
Lappi kept the stage wins in the Toyota team camp with a great time through SS17. Jari-Matti closed the gap to Mads by five seconds, just twelve seconds between them now. The reason for this was that he had two spare tyres in the car and was finding the car harder to drive on the limit with the extra weight.
Esapekka won the following stage too, SS18 and with that moved ahead of Hayden Paddon, deposing the Kiwi to fifth, whilst the gap between Mads and Jari-Matti came down another four seconds to eight between them now. The ruts in the stage were hindering Craig, plus a little change that he made to his car between the stages actually gave the car understeer, and not giving him confidence to push into the corners.
Lappi really was on a mission, winning SS19 and building a gap to Hayden too, with a nine second gap between them. The fight was still on between Mads in second and Jari-Matti who wanted that position, with the Toyota driver taking another three seconds out of the Norwegian and now just five seconds behind. They’d have to wait now till Sunday to continue their battle.
It had been a remarkably good day, with just one accident and no reliability issues either. We still had all of the top cars and drivers.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:13:18.2
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) + 39.0
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 44.4
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 1:20.6
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 1:29.6
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:45.1
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:07.6
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:17.9
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 2:56.4
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +3:34.5
Let’s hear again then from the drivers after day two. Top three first
Ott Tänak
“Overall, it has been another a good day. In the morning we were in a good rhythm and our road position was so much better than yesterday, so we managed to increase the gap even though I was not pushing as hard. This afternoon I was a lot more cautious because the roads were pretty rough and we already had a good gap. It was not so enjoyable to drive like this, but we still managed to increase our lead, so I cannot complain. Tomorrow we have some pretty smooth and fast stages and I’m looking forward to it.”
Mads Østberg
“Once again, we gave it everything today on these magnificent and very demanding roads. With the warm conditions, in the afternoon we had to contend with high tyre wear. We also had extra weight from the two spares we took for the second loop, but I think we managed really very well to hang onto second place! I’m pretty confident about tomorrow. We’ve already shown that we can hold off Latvala.”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“It has been really enjoyable today. There was still a little bit of speed missing during the morning loop but we made some changes to the car in mid-day service and I started to get a better feeling and I could start to push more. This meant that I was wearing my tyres a lot, but it was amazing how fast we were still able to go. Of course, we need to try and attack tomorrow and try to get second place. But of course, if you do risks they need to be controlled risks and that’s important.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (4th)
“It has been a really strong day, particularly this afternoon. The morning was pretty enjoyable and we managed to gain three places already. Then during the afternoon, I pushed really hard, and didn’t save the tyres at all. This was a very risky game because we didn’t have much rubber left for the last stage, and yet we were still fastest! Now the target for tomorrow is to stay ahead of the guys behind us.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (5th)
“It has been a marginally better day compared to Friday being second on the road. I feel we’ve had a decent day, considering, taking no risks. We know we have nothing to play for. It’s a difficult situation but we absolutely accept that. Now, we need to keep the car on the road and get to the end of the rally. Having led the championship for a few events, we knew there would come a time when our job would be trickier – and this rally is that moment! Finland is a particular event; we just have to enjoy it and accept our limitations.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Finland 26-29 July 2018 Hayden Paddon, Seb Marshall, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (10th)
“It has been a marginally better day compared to Friday being second on the road. I feel we’ve had a decent day, considering, taking no risks. We know we have nothing to play for. It’s a difficult situation but we absolutely accept that. Now, we need to keep the car on the road and get to the end of the rally. Having led the championship for a few events, we knew there would come a time when our job would be trickier – and this rally is that moment! Finland is a particular event; we just have to enjoy it and accept our limitations.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (11th)
“It is always hard to be first on the road. Thierry had to manage yesterday and today it was my turn. We have had to use today’s stages effectively to get some mileage under our belts in an effort to improve the car. We are trying in all areas to find solutions but there’s not much we can do this weekend.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (6th) said:
“We made some good progress throughout the day and were able to make the car a bit faster during the midday service. In the second loop I had a much better feeling for the car and was able to set some much better times. We’re still missing a bit of pace compared to the guys at the front, but I was able to beat both of my team mates which means I can be happy with my day and my driving.”
Sébastien Ogier (7th) said:
“Performance wise, it’s not been the weekend we wanted – but we are ahead of Thierry [Neuville] which is always the main target. We’re still in a position to close the gap in the championship, and that is a positive.
“We all expected the Toyota’s to be the benchmark this weekend, but we were hoping to be closer too. We’re happy about the new package of parts, but with only one day of testing it was going to be a bit of a risk. We’ve used today as another test session, but we still have some work to do before we’re where we ultimately want to be.”
Elfyn Evans (8th) said:
“It’s not been a bad day and all three of us have been fighting quite closely together – although for sure we’d all like to have been fighting a bit higher up the leader board! We lost a bit of time this afternoon as I didn’t want to take the risks. We’ve got to play the team game and whatever happens we won’t be finishing ahead of Sébastien [Ogier] so it wasn’t worth taking the risks.”
Elfyn Evans and Dan Barritt, Photo credit M-Sport
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (9th)
“Although it’s always frustrating for us as drivers to not be able to do any more, we had a decent day given our road position, setting similar times to those around us in the running order.”
Khalid Al Qassimi (Rally2)
“It’s a shame to have made a mistake in a technical section on the loose gravel, but these things can happen at events that are as difficult as this one. I have high hopes that I can make up some ground again tomorrow.”
Sunday would see four stages, totalling 45km, and they were all a little over 11km each in length. There was also the spectacular Ruuhimäki, with its huge jumps, including at the finish!
The running order was – Mikkelsen, Neuville, Breen, Evans, Ogier, Suninen, Paddon, Lappi, Latvala, Ostberg, Tänak, Al Qassimi.
The first stage of the day SS20, saw the demise of Esapekka Lappi, who crashed out. This promoted everyone up a position and now Andreas was in the top ten. Meantime Mads won the stage with Jari-Matti just nine-tenths of a second behind and second fastest.
This battle continued in SS21 and it was Jari-Matti who won the stage from Mads and the gap was now around five seconds again. Ott remained in control and in the lead, which was now thirty-three seconds.
Jari-Matti was really on a mission now, winning SS21 from Mads again, the overall gap between them now, just two and a half seconds. This was the only battle now, with the gaps between the others too big to overcome.
The final stage then, SS22 and Ott won it, taking maximum points from the weekend! Mads prevailed over a charging Latvala, scoring a great second place for him and Torstein would be standing on his first WRC podium too! We saw team orders come into play too, with Teemu slipping behind M-Sport team leader Ogier, allowing the reigning champion to take fifth place.
Well, Ott and Toyota had done it. They’d followed up Lappi’s victory from last year, and Jari-Matti had got a great podium with third. All three on the podium, had driven really well all weekend. None had been gifted their finishing position. The championship rivals were well down the field, Seb getting some assistance from Teemu and Elfyn to get fifth, whilst Thierry crossed the line in ninth place and keeping a good gap, if slightly reduced to Ogier.
Here’s the thoughts then of the drivers, starting with the top three.
Ott Tanak
“It has been a perfect weekend. Everything worked as we wanted. On Friday we had a really big job with our road position, and after that we could just increase our advantage. We had the perfect preparation and full support from the team. If you work together as one then these kinds of results are achievable. To win in Finland is definitely special. It’s kind of a home rally for me and it’s the home rally for the team. To win in front of all this support is incredible.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 08 / Rally Finland 2018 / July 26-29, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Mads Østberg
“I’m really, really happy to fighting at the front again on these incredible stages! It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my racing career. I’m also delighted for everyone at Citroën. The guys did a fantastic job to get us in this position and I’m proud to be a part of this team. I knew from our pre-event test that this C3 WRC was the best car that I’d ever had on this rally and I’m pleased that we managed to show it this weekend.”
Mads Østberg was overjoyed with second place! Photo credit, Citroen Racing
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I gave everything today to try and get second place. It was a great fight. It really helps with the confidence when you fight as hard as this and you can keep everything together and not make mistakes. To be back on the podium after quite a long time feels really good, and especially to do it here in Finland. Together with the victory for Ott, this was a really important result for the team.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (4th)
“On the whole, I’m really happy with the weekend. We have been able to keep pace with some of the event favourites, maintaining a consistent performance. Naturally, we would have preferred to score a podium, of course, but we took a measured approach to secure important points for the manufacturers’ championship. The final morning was all about taking it easy to bring the car home with a comfortable gap behind us. I’ve really enjoyed the stages this weekend, the car has been a joy to drive and it has given me the confidence I need. We are back on the right track.”
Thierry Neuville (9th)
“Road position has really dictated a lot this weekend. Even without our mistake on Friday, when we misread a pace note, I don’t think we would have been any higher up the classification. We have had to accept our limits and focus on completing each stage with no further trouble. The main target was not losing too many points to Ogier, which we did to the best of our ability. We could only control what’s in our hands. We gave it everything we could in the Power Stage and it was good to take a couple of extra points. Overall, we have done our best, the team has done a good job and we can be proud of ourselves. We now look ahead to the team’s home event in Germany.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (10th)
“A difficult weekend for us. Any chance we might have had to feature further up the order was spoiled with our time loss on Friday morning’s loop. Losing three minutes due to a pace note error was just what we didn’t need, and it meant we were penalised as first on the road for Saturday and again this morning. We have had to avoid any unnecessary risks and use this event as a way of better understanding the car in these conditions but I’m sure we’ll be back on pace in Germany.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (5th)
“For sure it was a difficult weekend for us and we expected to be a lot more competitive. The Fiesta performed really well here last year and every driver was able to set fastest times. That wasn’t the case this year and it was a bit of a bad surprise.
“We tried all we could, but there wasn’t a lot more we could do. That’s how it is and we just have to try and analyse why we were not able to keep up the pace this weekend. The positive is that we scored more points than Thierry [Neuville] – and that is anyways always our main target.”
Seb Ogier, Julian Ingrassia reduced the points lead after finishing four places ahead of Thierry and Nicolas. Photo credit M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (6th)
“It’s been a tough weekend for us. We wanted to challenge for the podium, but we were missing some pace and couldn’t fight with the fastest drivers. I was able to beat my team mates and I am happy with that, but we let Seb past just before the last stage as he’s the one fighting for the championship.”
Elfyn Evans (7th)
“It’s not been a terrible weekend driving wise and I don’t think anyone can say that they don’t enjoy driving these stages, but for sure seventh place wasn’t the result we wanted.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (8th)
“It was a difficult weekend for us, with the puncture on Friday that proved very costly, leaving us to clean the road for two days. We nevertheless managed to show our pace whenever the conditions enabled us to do so. It was nice, especially, to finish with a good time on the Power Stage, which means we can now look ahead to Germany with optimism.”
Khalid Al Qassimi (37th)
“Although it was a difficult rally for us, with our mistake yesterday morning, I’m pleased we were able to re-join the action today and enjoy these incredible stages. Above all, I’m delighted for the team, whose hard work has been rewarded by a great result.”
FINAL STANDINGS
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2 :35:18.1
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) + 32.7
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 35.5
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 1:35.6
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:15.0
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:19.2
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:29.5
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 3:08.4
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +3:51.8
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +8:37.4
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thierry Neuville – 153 points
Sébastien Ogier – 132 points
Ott Tänak – 107 points
Esapekka Lappi – 70 points
Dani Sordo – 60 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 57 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 55 points
Elfyn Evans – 52 points
Mads Ostberg – 48 points
Kris Meeke – 43 points
Craig Breen – 39 points
MANUFACTURERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Hyundai WRT – 228 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 202 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 201 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT – 153 points
Well, the next round is Rallye Germany, 16th to the 19th of August, the scene of Thierry’s first win in 2014 for Hyundai. It really will be battle on for the championship between the Belgian and M-Sport’s champion Seb. Who else can challenge there? We know Elfyn goes well on tarmac, and Seb took a tarmac win this year too. Clearly, Citroen are making progress with their car again and you can’t discount Toyota, as they have last years winner, Ott as well!
Well, I’ve been here five years. I started out in the customer engineering department, spent a couple of years there, I was working with Nassar Al Al-Attiyah, and we did WRC2 and we won that championship, did a couple of years in the Middle East. I then transferred over to the works team in 2015 and been there ever since. I worked with Elfyn these past years including last year in the D-Mack car and obviously this year as well, so that’s where we’re at really. With the works team, we actually quite a small team, we have a lot of responsibilities, not just the car, kind of spread out to other departments.
Chris Roberts is the furthest from the camera – M-Sport engineer to Elfyn Evans and Dan Barritt / FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Monte Carlo (FRA) – WRC 24/01/2018 to 28/01/2018 – PHOTO : @World
Okay, well the reason for this call is to get a point from the safety aspects of the way the cars are constructed, how you tackle the events, from that safety aspect, keeping everything safe so they can go all out knowing it’s all safe.
Warren Nel
The first question is, in terms of the FIA, what kind of checks do they do on the cars, are there any inspections for the cars, before you enter each year?
Chris Roberts
Yes, the main inspections are during scrutineering at each event, so with the car being homologated the FIA expect you turn up with a design that is homologated, within the safety regulations. As a manufacturer, we actually self-scrutineer before the event.
The event scrutineers and the FIA technical delegate will arrive in the service park and will go to each manufacturer team and they will inspect simple things like fire extinguishers, they’ll look at the cut off switches and they’ll check the safety foam around seat and the doors, side impact structures, just very basic checks, but they expect us to self-scrutineer and present the car in a safe manner. Now one of my responsibilities is to liaise between the FIA and ourselves with regard to what we are going to seal at each event, be it engines, transmissions, whatever it is we are sealing and we present a scrutineering form for each car and that declares that part is safe to start the event.
If you then get caught at post event scrutineering, if that part of the car is found not to conform to the form, there can be penalties. There is a certain amount of trust from the FIA to the manufacturers as we present the car in a safe manner. Now, that is different for a customer team, so anybody who competes as a customer WRC or in the WRC2 or any of the support championships, they don’t self-scrutineer, they are inspected a bit more thoroughly, as I guess they have fewer resources, they maybe are not familiar with the regulations, so they have to present their car to the FIA and pass a series of tests before they start. In that respect, it’s easier for a manufacturer, but a lot goes into it, with homologating the car and so on.
W.N
In terms of the construction of the car, were there many changes to the cars, compared to the previous generation, other than the obvious things?
C.R
Yes, there was a big drive in fact. The main concern from the FIA was looking back to the mid 2000’s, the cars hadn’t really progressed from then to 2015, 2016, so in that ten-year period the safety side hadn’t really developed, so there was a bit of a push from the FIA and also the Global Institute for motorsport safety, which is an independent body that sits inside the FIA. So, going back to when they presented the new regulations in 2015, the FIA came up with a safety road map for the WRC.
The first thing presented to the teams, a proposal for safety enhancements as part of the new for 2017 regulations. Now each car is fitted with an accident data recorder and using statistical analysis they were able to see the highest ‘G’ impacts on the cars could sustain without having any injuries and if there was a threshold above which there were injuries to the crews and then they would work to increase that threshold by improving various aspects of the safety that’s when they started to present a proposal for new equipment, to change the design of the cars that means that incorporated new seatbelts and new side impact, new regulations on seats as well.
That was all the effort to increase the safety. Now the safety road map is something that all the teams are working towards, for 2017 we had to as part of the new regulations, the cars were wider and that allowed us to add 20% extra impact foam and this was in the door the carbon structure along the sill as well. As well as that we were able to introduce new regulations for the fuel tanks and we had to fit a medical light to the windscreen so that in an impact of over 25g the light switches on and any marshal that arrives at the car, if this bright blue light is flashing, then the crew will need medical attention.
W.N
Thinking then during an event, if there is any damage to the car during an event what happens there, obviously you’d try to fix it, but would the FIA come a re-inspect the car before it goes back out?
C.R
If it’s an impact that damages the safety cage, the FIA will want to inspect that. If it’s an impact that we deem we car repair, we’ll have to get the car re-scrutineered again during the rally2 service, plus if it’s an impact that we deem we can’t repair then at that point the FIA remove the seals that are on the body shell and roll cage and then when that shell is repaired and brought back into circulation, it will have to be re-inspected and sealed again.
We always have the FIA technical delegates around and they’ll always be checking if there is any damage to the roll cage. Effectively the roll cage can be damaged and repaired during an event. We can change parts of the roll cage if we need to, but if we do that it has to be with a piece that’s already been pre-inspected at the start of the homologation process to the car, we will present pieces of roll cage that aren’t assembled to the FIA and they will fit seals to them and those will be the only parts we can fit into the car.
W.N
How many pieces would you therefore be transporting to each event?
C.R
Well, I think we carry three full kits to each event, actually and they take up a lot of space. Certainly, since this new generation of car that came in at the start of last year (2017) we’ve never had impacts there, we’ve not needed to replace roll cage parts, but we’ve only had one large accident, which was with Elfyn in Mexico, and in that case the shell had to be completely rebuilt and that car hasn’t come back into circulation yet, so when that does come back in we’ll have to get it re-inspected and sealed again.
W.N
Now thinking of the safety crews that go into the stages, when are they mainly used?
C.R
They are mainly for tarmac events, and each crew has a safety crew and they don’t have to be a qualified person, but they tend to be. Obviously in Elfyn’s respect, it’s his dad, ex-WRC driver Gywndaf and Phil Mills and these guys have a timetable they have to follow when they go through the stages and that can be as close as forty minutes before the stage actually goes live and those guys would call back to the crews and engineering as well and then if they correct the notes they will pass those through the team back to the rally crew.
W.N
Of course, we saw Phil Mills sit in alongside Elfyn after Dan’s concussion which was caused by that high-speed roll during Mexico, so I asked Chris about this.
C.R
It’s something that I feel quite strongly about, I have strong views personally. The issue with the crews, when they get concussion is it maybe that they feel okay within themselves, or they may not feel they have concussion, but say in Dan’s case, he felt ill, he wasn’t sure if he could continue, so in that case the first point of contact between the team and the crew is myself or the car engineer, so it’s possible if you don’t have immediate medical assistance to basically diagnose possible concussion, you can end up with the crew speaking directly to the engineer, I don’t know if we can continue, and for me I think someone who has not qualified and should not have an opinion on medical issues and it shouldn’t really fall to the team or the engineer to make a decision if they should continue or not.
With Dan, it was a case that he felt a bit ill, and obviously didn’t know he was concussed, and we took a view that he had to seek medical assistance, but he did one more stage after the accident, a little super special before coming into service – so he actually went through another stage, a small stage, and the kind that you wouldn’t expect them to have another accident, but because there hadn’t been any kind of medical assistance where he was checked out, it’s possible they could have had another accident there, so for me I think that was a bit of a failing there in the safety system. I think that’s something that needs to be looked at. (Chris made it clear this was his own personal opinion).
M-Sport mechanics hard at work. Photo credit Anna Rudd, M-Sport Ford
Chris also talked about Julian Ingrassia, who suffered concussion last year at Rally Finland.
C.R
They were both side impacts, which were between the head and the seat, which is an area the FIA are looking at, going forward and next year they are bringing in a new helmet standard for Formula One which is supposed to improve safety. We’ve not seen a rally version yet, but the intention of the FIA is back to the safety road map is that will be introduced next year. Hopefully that will reduce these concussions.
W.N
One more question for you then – When the recce is completed, do you sit down with Elfyn and Dan and discuss the stages?
C.R
Yes, we have a team debrief, and debrief just after the event with all the crews together, go through aspects of the cars performance, team performance as well. We’ll also give feedback to the team manager about how the event has been run, tend to do that as soon as possible after the event, so we’ll do that at four or five o’clock, Sunday afternoon.
Then after that we’ll conduct our test for the next event which tends to be a about a week later. Now with Elfyn in the UK, he sometimes comes up to the factory and we’ll sit down in the office and we’ll look at things in more detail, so in that respect it’s quite good that he’s only a few hours down the road, and we can get together and look at some things. Obviously, the relationship between the engineer and the crew is a close one. We are always in constant contact.
W.N
Finally, I asked Chris if there was anything he wanted to talk about additionally.
C.R
Well, we’ve got a few more safety things coming in the pipeline. Things being brought forward by the FIA. One area we’re working on with the FIA is the seat rails, integrating the seats into the bodyshell. We’re looking how these can bend and deform to take some of the impact away from the crew, and this is something which will be introduced for 2020 – that’s the seats themselves, the way they’re anchored into the shell.
For next year we’ll start using the Formula One biometric gloves, so basically the crew will wear these, and they’ll send real time data, actually measure blood oxygen levels, that will be sent to the FIA and the medical crew and if there’s been an accident, particularly an accident where the car has gone off the road and they can’t quite reach the crew, the medical crews will be able to assess the crew without being with the crew and this will be a good advancement.
One final thing which is being brought in is a high-speed camera, which is fitted into the cockpit and this means we can see the impacts and how the body is moving inside the car and that’s something that’s started being used in Formula One and we started testing that, with the intention to bring that in next year.
These are all good steps indeed to look after the crews and Chris said,
Rallying is a living environment, rather than a circuit, so has different safety requirements.
Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to Anna at M-Sport for being so helpful in arranging this and to Chris a massive thank you for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions.
Look out during this week for more articles from my colleagues about safety in motorsport.
Josh Cook at last years Snetterton race. Image courtesy of BTCC
This weekend is the sixth meeting on the 2018 BTCC calendar, and also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the BTCC forming. There are numerous things to be discussed about the weekend, most notably the special ‘Diamond Double’ race, which is a mouth-watering prospect for both the drivers and their fans. First, however, let’s recap.
Recap
Last time out at Croft was a hectic event packed with action as well as a resurgence from the reigning champion Ash Sutton. Sutton scored his first win of the season in round thirteen and his second in round fourteen. Dan Lloyd took to the top step of the podium in round fifteen after benefiting from the reverse grid. Colin Turkington emerged from Croft as the championship leader, despite having only won a single race so far this year. The BMW driver, however, has finished on the podium an impressive five times, showing that consistency has been key to the season thus far. His nearest challengers, Tom Ingram and Matt Neal, aren’t far behind. Neal in particular should be one to watch this weekend, with the Hondas having run fastest in the two day test at Snetterton.
Ash Sutton at Croft 2018. Image courtesy of BTCC
The circuit
The circuit itself is an exciting one, with two of the longest straights in the country as well as the iconic ‘bomhole’. Rob Collard is the man with the lap record, a 1m56.352, which was set in 2016.
Diamond double
The drivers will have the perfect opportunity to set a new lap record in the third race of the weekend. Dubbed the ‘Diamond Double’, round eighteen of the season has a completely different format to the other races. The race will be for double points, with its own qualifying session used to determine the grid. All cars will be on base weight and the length of the race is approximately double that of a regular one. The double points on offer will allow drivers to potentially close gaps (or open them) throughout the championship standings. Expect a highly competitive race with perhaps a hint of caution, as not finishing this race would be very detrimental to driver’s championship hopes.
Overall this weekend looks set to be another thrilling chapter of this season’s BTCC championship. Be sure not to miss the action, especially the Diamond Double race. Going into the business end of the season, it could be hugely significant.
