Young Singapore driver Pavan Ravishankar took his first win in his debut F3 season on Sunday morning at Silverstone.
After coming to grief in Race One, Ravishankar started pole in the reverse grid race and didn’t look back as Sun Yue Yang fought to hang on to second with Tom Gamble an impressive third.
And Ravishankar was delighted to see his improvement this season laid bare.
“I love this circuit, it is a bit of a shame with the race yesterday because we had front wing damage and I had to drop back. We showed that we have the pace now.”
Ravishankar built a lead over Yang in the opening stages of the 10-lap race and controlled the race from there, something that was a deliberate tactic.
“I really pushed a lot in the first few laps because I knew that they would be fighting behind and that if I got a gap I’d be fine. Once I saw the fighting behind me I just realised that I had to just manage the gap.”
And the 18-year-old paid tribute to his Double R team for helping him settle during his first season in Europe.
“The tests were positive and I’m still new to Europe so I’m going to work as hard as possible between now and Spa.
“It’s been very difficult, with the weather and the cold conditions being something that I’m not used to so that was very difficult. The team has helped me settle in so much so a big thanks to them for supporting me through the tougher times.”
Meanwhile, Gamble has targeted more consistency after a run of bad luck since his first pole and win at Rockingham six weeks ago.
“After Rockingham on that Saturday we were top of the championship but since then we’ve had a lot of bad luck, I just need to get back on track, get some better qualifying and get closer to the front.”
An engine problem halted his progress on sAturday where he could only finish tenth, but an engine change brought about better luck on Sunday morning.
“We had issues yesterday with the engine and it was lacking power and costing us time, the guys at British F3 checked the engine and allowed us to change it so we swapped it last night.
“Everyone at Fortec did a great job changing it over, thankfully there were no problems today and we had great pace today.”
Daniel McKay says Equipe Verschuur have given him an easy car to drive after his #10 McLaren shared with Finlay Hutchison claimed GT4 pole by almost a second at Silverstone
The Scot was third fastest in the Gt4Pro qualifying after teammate Hutchison built a huge gap in Am qualifying.
“Finlay did a great job in qualifying in the first session and I did my best not to mess it up in the second session and we came from there with a really good gap.”
And he was full of praise for his one-car team, and hopes that the pole coupled with impressive pace at Snetterton is a sign of things to come.
“Equipe Verschuur are doing a really good job with the car, this year, I know everyone says that’s motorsport, we’ve been very unlucky for us. We got pole at the first one and had that taken away so it’s nice to keep this one and hopefully it’s converted into a win.
“The car’s been great all year if I’m honest, the McLaren they’ve presented us with is absolutely fantastic. It’s consistently quick, consistently a nice car to drive and Finlay and I are doing a good job too.”
McKay was keen to further make his point about his team, with the Belgian outfit considerably faster than their GT4 McLaren counterparts, but was keen not to put too much pressure ahead of the race tomorrow.
“I think we were the quickest McLaren at Snetterton by around half a second which is huge in any championship, I think today it was 0.6 seconds. You can only go as fast as the car and our team are doing a really good job with the car.
“I think you have to put expectations out of your mind otherwise you overthink it, start hearing noises that aren’t there. Ultimately it’s about taking it lap-by-lap and see where we are at the end.”
Meanwhile, RJN Motorsport took an unexpected pole position with Struan Moore and Ricardo Sanchez, who was a late call to replace Devon Modell for this weekend.
Sanchez revealed that he only received the call to step in last week to partner Moore, and was pleased with the early result.
“I’m quite happy, especially as it was a last minute invitation, I wasn’t supposed to be here.
“It was a good job, my lap wasn’t the best because we struggled with the cold tyres but I’m happy. I think it will be a hard day tomorrow for us, the car is hard on tyres so we want to keep it clean, nice and steady, no dramas or penalties or contact and after 3 hours we’ll see where we end up.”
As with McKay, Sanchez is confident of taking top honours for the British GT’s longest race.
“I would like to win the race, to be in the podium but it’s a tough race. There’s a lot of GT4 cars, traffic and you have to be really careful with track limits. There’s a lot of warnings and penalties. Expectation will be to win but if we don’t, get on the podium. It’s a strong line-up.
“Our average lap-times together are strong and if everything goes well, we have a chance. As I said to Struan and the team boss, we have to take it stint by stint.”
There are a few difference for Sanchez to get used to, especially as the team try and base a strategy around three pit-stops tomorrow afternoon.
“The biggest challenge is that each driver has to do two stints, and the tyres and fuel tank last an hour each so it’s a bit of a grey area there how we’re going to make the strategy. Everything has to line up.”
Max Verstappen. Image courtesy of Marcel van Hoorn / Red Bull Content Pool
Currently standing in sixth position on the drivers’ standings with just 35 points after six races, Max Verstappen can’t possibly be happy about how his season has gone so far. He is just three points ahead of Alonso, not something you’d be hoping for with a Red Bull car. It’s not only Max that is disappointed in the results, his team isn’t quite happy as well. With Daniel Ricciardo standing in third position on the drivers’ standings with 72 points and having won two of the six races so far, the other side of the Red Bull garage is probably way happier. It looks like the hopes of a possible fight for the championship for Max are gone, and he now needs to focus on driving in the points for some races. He has already received a lot of criticism for his driving style and his incidents this season, and it doesn’t look like that will end very soon. And it didn’t.
At the press conference on Thursday of the Canadian Grand Prix, Max got himself again in the spotlight of another controversy. A journalist from the Daily Mail asked him: ‘’Why do you have so many crashes?’’ , to which Max responded: ‘’Like I said at the start of this press conference I get really tired of the questions, I think if I get a few more I will headbutt someone’’, obviously not being serious about that as he smiled to make clear that was a joke. After being asked about a possibility of changing his driving style, he said: ‘’I get really tired of all the comments that I should change my approach. I will never do that, because it has brought me to where I am right now. I do not listen to it. I do my own thing.’’ He does have a point there. After all, he did win his first ever F1 Grand Prix for Red Bull in Spain in 2016 by defending aggressively – as we know from Max – against Kimi Räikkönen.
Backing up his comments is no other than his teammate Daniel. He said that he ‘’can understand his reaction’’, as Max is now being watched very carefully after all those incidents. ‘’His crash in the third Free Practice [of Monaco] obviously wasn’t a small mistake’’ he added, but he feels like ‘’every mistake he makes now gets more attention than if it happened to any other driver.’’
However, this all does not mean that he can keep doing this, as we have seen that his driving style has cost him more points than it did earn him this season. This therefore might be the appropriate time to analyse his season so far, and how much better it could have been if he didn’t have his incidents.
It was a mediocre start to the season for him at Australia. Qualifying in P4, things looked promising for the Dutchman. Losing P4 to Kevin Magnussen at the start made things tough though. Pushing to the limit lap after lap behind the Haas driver, he over committed in the first corner and spun –keeping has car under control when he came back on track- meaning he had to fight his way up from P8. He eventually ended up in P6, which was not a bad result after such a spin, but he started fourth after all so he lost some points there.
At Bahrain, the weekend already started horrible as he had engine problems in the first Free Practice. He pushed the car into the pit lane and didn’t set a time after that. Free Practice 3 went much better as he put in the second fastest time on the board. Having put in a time to go through to Q2, he didn’t have to take any risks. However, he crashed the car in the closing minutes of Q1 which meant he had to start the race from P15. He fought his way through the grid, even touching Hamilton’s car in the first corner as Lewis ran him a bit wide. This incident meant the race was over for Max, and his first DNF of the season was a fact.
Not looking back at the horrendous Bahrain GP, Max could now fully focus on the Chinese GP. Starting fifth from the grid ahead of his teammate, he could make up some points he lost in the first two GP weekends. In another fight with Lewis he went off track after trying to overtake him. Up to P4 he could score some good amount of points and even a victory as he had the best strategy, until he crashed into Vettel in lap 43 after braking way too late into corner 14 after the long straight. Vettel afterwards said that Max shouldn’t bother that much about him, but about himself as Max threw away a possible victory. He did end up in P5 though, even after a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
After three races then he could not look back at a big success. Thus you’d think it couldn’t go any worse. It did, however. Maybe the ‘highlight’ of the poor season so far came at the Azerbaijan GP. Max qualified in a reasonable fifth place, just behind his teammate. After already battling heavy with each other in the race, the two Red Bull drivers collided together on the long run to turn 1 after Ricciardo defended his place whilst Max tried to attack. A crash with your teammate is never good for your reputation, especially when you have missed out on very important points earlier in the season. Both drivers were partially blamed for the incident, and warned that if they continue like this team orders would be enforced to secure some points.
Eventually after the darkness comes the light, and so it did for Max. He achieved another fifth place on the starting grid, which gave him the opportunity to try and go for a podium in Spain he really needed. And going for the podium he did. An impressive drive – defending his third position from Vettel after damaging his front wing after a crash with Stroll when the Virtual Safety Car ended – saw him taking the podium in P3 with just less than a second separating him and Vettel in P4.
At the Monaco Grand Prix the Red Bulls were the favourite for a victory. They showed real potential by dominating all Free Practices, with Daniel taking P1 and Max taking P2 in all of them. That domination ended when Max crashed in the closing minutes of Free Practice 3. The damage as such wasn’t that big as the mechanics could fix that on time, but during those repairs they found issues with the gearbox which meant Max couldn’t even set a time in Q1. He had to start the race from last place, and in Monaco that means you’re in for a tough race. Max did impress, however, by finishing in ninth place after some impressive overtakes on Sainz and Leclerc. This still was a disappointment as his teammate Ricciardo won one of the most prestigious races.
So far Max has lost an incredible amount of points due to these incidents he has had in every single race so far. He has been criticised for his aggressive style which cost him many points, but fans and Max himself praise that style as it brought him the victories he already has achieved. If he didn’t take so many risks this season he might have been third in the drivers’ championship right now. If that doesn’t make him think about his driving style, what will? He makes some interesting comments which may be found controversial, which is refreshing from some other drivers that give same answers all the time, but are these comments smart when you’re under performing? Max doesn’t need to be controversial for the things he says, but for the things he shows us in a GP weekend. One thing for sure is that the questions about his crashes from journalists will keep on coming until he finally does the talking on, not off, the track.
The British GT series rolls into Silverstone for the longest race of the season just two weeks after the two sprint races at Snetterton.
Aston Martin dominated in the GT3 class with two victories including the #11 TF Sport crew of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim in Race One, while Derek Johnston and Marco Sorensen in the #17 Aston held off a late charge from the #99 Beechdean crew of Darren Turner and Andrew Howard in Race Two.
There are fourteen GT3 crews at Silverstone this weekend, with Balfe Motorsport’s McLaren returning this weekend and one-off appearances from Ultimate Speed’s Aston Martin team and another Mercedes in Team ABBA Racing.
Points-and-a-half are on offer in the British GT’s Big One, where five different crews have won five races in 2018, with the #116 Mercedes of Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman leading the overall GT3 class by just 4.5 points after a tough weekend in Norfolk.
Like the ERC Sport Mercedes, the second in the championship #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini crew of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen do not have to serve a success penalty in the first mandatory pitstop.
Such is the closeness of the GT3 category that the top seven crews are separated by less than the 37.5 points available this weekend.
The #99 Beechdean Aston Martin is 12 points behind in third, with the #17 of Johnston and Sorensen and the #11 of Farmer and Thiim following close behind.
The Optimum Aston crew of Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam are still in touch in sixth, while technical issues meant that Iain Loggie and Callum Macleod slipped to seventh in #7 Bentley.
Meanwhile, the GT4 championship race is as closely fought as the GT3 counterparts after Tolman Motorsport’s #56 crew of Joe Osbourne and David Pattison took the spoils in Race One and a dramatic Race Two win for the #42 Century Motorsport BMW of Ben Tuck and Ben Green.
Five different crews have won five races this season, and half a point separates the leading #55 Ginetta crew of Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen leading the #4 McLaren duo of Michael O’Brien and Charlie Fagg.
Academy Motorsport’s Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones are next after three straight podiums and the #42 Century BMW of Tuck and Green.
The Jaguar Invictus’ second batch of wounded, injured and sick armed forces veterans make their British GT debuts this weekend when Basil Rawlinson (2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment) joins Jason Wolfe in the #22 F-TYPE SVR and Paul Vice (42 Commando Royal Marines) teams up with Matthew George aboard #44.
It’ll be a busy weekend for George, who is also registered to race as James Holder’s co-driver in the Generation AMR Super Racing Aston Martin.
George and Holder last contested a full-season British GT programme together in 2016, which ultimately led to David Appleby Engineering – which runs the V8 Vantage – overseeing 2018’s Jaguar project. George will therefore split his weekend between both cars and swap between them during the race, before a lie down after the race.
Nicolai Kjaergaard is looking to build on his early-season reputation as the great overtaker in British F3 after winning race one on Saturday to go top of the standings on countback.
Kjaergaard beat Kush Maini of Lanan Motorsports after the Indian driver profited from a late error from Championship leader Linus Lundqvist, with the Swede relegated to third in the dying embers.
The result means that Kjaergaard, who has 22 points from overtaking in race two, will start from the back, but with extra points on offer the great Dane is relishing the challenge.
“It is definitely (all to play for) I am going to try and make up as many places as possible tomorrow. It’s a big point race and that is where you can make a real difference if you’re good in that race throughout the season.
“It will be very difficult having a podium in the race two tomorrow having a podium because it is difficult to overtake and we are starting plum last.”
Kjaergaard considered himself pleased with his day’s work after converting his pole position from the morning qualifying, and says he wasn’t under undue pressure from Linus Lundqvist despite the Swede spending most of the race just one second behind.
“Today has been really good, I saw that they had new tyres on but managed to keep them back in the first few laps. After that they didn’t seem to have a lot of pace difference to me, it was a little bit close towards the end with Linus but then he made a mistake which helped me cruise to the end.
It was a really good win and the perfect start to the weekend. He was close enough that I couldn’t make a mistake but he was never close enough to attack me. I could manage the race at around a second for the whole thing.”
Maini was upbeat after moving up the order from third in qualifying, and is looking to convert a solid day today into more points tomorrow.
“Definitely I’m pleased with second, it’s five more points at the end of the day. Starting third and finishing second still isn’t the win but they’re going to have bad races and it’s up to us to take advantage. It’s still good points and we’re still in the fight for the Championship and that is all that matters.
“It’s tough to follow here, passing is not the issue it is trying to stay near them, which I found pretty difficult.
“The further back you start the more points you can get, so we’ll try and pass as many as possible while making sure we finish. I won’t take too many risks, but calculated risks and then from race three we want to build again and get a podium. I’m confident we can get a lot more points tomorrow.”
And the 17-year-old believes it will be a season-long battle between himself, Kjaergaard and Lundqvist for the British F3 championship.
“The tracks coming up seem to suit us three and I honestly think it’s between us three, it’s Tom’s first year in single seaters. It’s going to be a fun year and you guys are in for a treat.
Lundqvist remained philosophical after an oversteer moment on the infield section saw the 19-year-old cede second place late on.
“As I said after qualifying, it could have been a lot worse. In the end I can’t be too down about this result. It’s still a podium, we had the pace for second. When you’re the one that made the mistake and cost yourself a position you are always a little upset with yourself.”
Nicki Thiim has targeted victories for the #11 TF Sport Aston Martin that he shares with Mark Farmer during tomorrow’s two hour-long sprint British GT races.
Thiim was almost half a second clear of Phil Keen’s #33 Lamborghini in GT3 qualifying, and says it was an important step to right the wrongs of a disappointing Rockingham weekend last time out.
“This was important because we had to make up for Rockingham, which was a terrible weekend for us and this was perfect. We’ve kept it inside the top two all day and hopefully we can do the same tomorrow, keep the guys with a smile on their face.
“We want to keep improving, we have to start making up points now otherwise it will be too late, tomorrow’s the best opportunity to do that.
According to Thiim the tight and twisty layout of the Norfolk circuit will impact tomorrow’s action despite the shorter format in play this weekend.
“In practice we saw a massive tyre degradation and that’s going to be a big thing to watch for in the race, so tomorrow we must watch for that even in the short races.”
This is the first time the experienced Dane has ever been to Snetterton in a racing capacity, but he played down the achievement of taking pole first time out, and instead praised his Amatuer category teammate Mark Farmer for his pole position in GT3 Am qualifying.
“I’ve been here once before for one test four years ago so it’s been some time! I’m no local. I’m just trying to get the job done. You have to be on the pace as quickly as you can because you’re sharing a car with one guy so you are limited with time.
“You have to make every lap count in every session, keep improving. As a Pro driver you have a double duty to help the amateur driver, try to learn him and watch the lines he does to improve his lines as he might not know what the right line is. Mark did a stunning job today though.
With the level of driver in that category it can be hard for him to put everything into practice, I can sit there and yell at him and punch him in the shoulder but for him to go out there and do it is hard. He’s a really good listener and the lap he did shows that, so it’s a tap on the shoulder for me too. The respect goes both ways and it’s really good.”
Meanwhile, Keen had an unusual issue to say the least as he battled to second in GT3 Pro qualifying.
“The car caught fire on the first lap, I did as much as I could and had to pull over. I was a bit distracted by the smoke in the car, it did quite a lot of damage. I probably should have stopped really.
“We’ll keep pushing and see what we can do, at the moment this is what we have and the most we can get out of the car in the race.”
Meanwhile, Ben Tuck took GT4 AM pole position in his Century Motorsport #42 BMW and believes he and Ben Green can challenge for top honours tomorrow.
“That lap felt really good, we struggled a little in practice but we were on old tyres and once we put new ones on it would work.
Matt Nicoll-Jones took GT4 Pro pole for the second race tomorrow afternoon in his Academy Motorsport #62 Aston Martin.
The week of practice and qualifying is over. We had some surprising results across the weekend of qualifying at the Brickyard.
Ed Carpenter stole the headlines though with a 230mph+ starting lap and broke up the Penske party. The oval specialist got his third pole, and his fourth front row start in six years, he’s yet to convert any to tasting that iconic milk and taking the flag.
Sebastien Bourdais may of had the fastest car last year and had that horrific crash but didn’t let it faze him as he qualified fifth.
Danica Patrick in her last racing outing starts seventh. She got through to the fast nine and as others had difficulty she succeeded. Castroneves who ran last felt loose throughout his run much like Dixon who complete the third row with her.
The shock of Saturday was that James Hinchcliffe who will not be on the grid due not being in the fastest 33. Alexander Rossi who won the race on his debut in 2016 is starting 32nd. He had terrible vibrations which restricted his speed.
Ed Carpenter. Image courtesy of http://media.gm.com
The Indy 500 Qualifying Grid
1. Ed Carpenter, 229.618
2. Simon Pagenaud, 228.761
3. Will Power, 228.607
I finally got to see the new LEVC purpose built electric London Taxi at the London Motor Show.
Hands up, I wasn’t in the mood to roll over and have my tummy tickled by the salesman. I do know a thing or two about electric cars!
Let’s start with the positives, yes, it’s still the iconic London taxi and yes, the build quality is another level to my TX4. In the passenger compartment you have the feel of space that you’d expect, with nice clean lines you can see they’ve learned from previous vehicles, the panoramic glass roof is a lovely touch, I do wonder about insurance issues though.
The wheelchair ramp/step is a huge improvement but the grey plastic that’s hard to keep clean remains. The drivers compartment felt like a mid-range car not cheap at all, in fact I’d say well built, but it’s is small with the battery clearly cutting into the luggage compartment. Now, as a small chap I felt cramped.
Now unfortunately I have to mention the negatives and there are a few, not least of which is the price, now the salesman can dress this up however they like the cheapest version is the Vista that comes in at £55,599 on the road after a £7500 discount from The Office For Low Emissions Vehicles. The Vista Comfort comes in at £56,799 after discount and the top of the range Vista Comfort plus £57,999 after discount.
I’m not going to get into the state of the trade here, we all know about that but we all also live in the real world! LEVC state the saving you can make with the electric power unit (approximately£60-70 a week depending who you talk to) here’s the elephant in the room, it just doesn’t have a long enough range to be fit for purpose.
The taxi has a 110kW (150 PS) motor with a batter power of 31kWH and a range of 80.6 miles whilst the Tesla Model X has a 100kWh battery providing 351 miles of range! Now in comparison, the Nissan Leaf has a range of 140 miles with future upgrades to 80kWH. It’s likely to exceed the range of a Tesla all be it in a much lighter car.
So, the question is would I buy one? The not so simple answer is yes, but not yet. Technology is moving so fast that the moment they launched the car the tech had already moved on in leaps and bounds, Toyota launching self-charging cars for instance.
This is the first generation and we all know that LEVC AKA LTI haven’t got a great track record with new vehicles. It’s has to be a wait and see, and I’m sure the government will try and pressurise us into ditching the dirty diesel they forced us to buy as quickly as possible but here’s an idea, why not take of the VAT until the fleet is totally upgraded? That would at least 10k a cab. Yes, it’s a loss for the tax man but a huge win for the environment not least that of London.
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 07, Rally Italia Sardegna 05-11 June 2017 Day 1 Portrait Thierry Neuville Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry gives his thoughts after five rounds of this year’s world rally championship. After three podium finishes including a win in round two in the snow-covered stages of Sweden, he’s now just ten points away from championship leader Seb Ogier with Rally Portugal next week.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Argentina 26-29 April 2018 Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Warren Nel
Thinking about Day one of Rally Argentina, how hard is it the judge the pace to drive at when you’re second on the road?
Thierry Neuville
Its not more hard than before, but you know that due to the road cleaning you are losing time, but that’s part of the game so you try your best you have to take some times a bit more risk, but the Friday is the most important day because it influences your road position for the upcoming days so you have to give it everything.
WN – Day two of Rally Argentina saw some foggy stages. Can you give an idea how hard it is to drive fast when faced with this?
TN – Really tricky, especially when there were no trees- was really really tricky, but had to say I had good pace notes, I was confident, I was decided to make a difference in that stage, to try to make a gap with Kris Meeke, and I was able to do it, kept Dani Sordo behind, Ott Tanak was on the same speed as us, but we have done pretty well.
WN – Sunday saw you win the power stage and score another podium this year. When we spoke at the Autosport Show in January you said you were aiming for a consistent approach to the results throughout the year. Would you say that was working so far?
TN – Of course, it’s working so far, no real big mistake, good points couple of podiums, a win so I’m satisfied, there were only some issues we had in Mexico which made us lose some points, but other that this we are really consistent, we never gave up, even in difficult conditions and scenarios like in Mexico with the powersteering and the fuel problem, but we kept it going and were still able to score important points.
WN – Leading the championship heading into Rally Mexico meant that you opened the road on day one. How did you approach the creation of the stage notes taking this into account?
TN – No different approach, you just need to be mentally prepared, you won’t be the fastest, it’s not possible, but still we were driving well, obviously we got some issues, but yeah, my approach is the same, try to do your best, make no mistakes, and obviously so far always try to keep Ogier behind.
WN – With eight rounds of this year’s championship left you’re ten points behind Seb and Ott is now third. Do you think the championship fight will just be between you three, or will someone else join the fight?
TN – Ah yes, I think so. We are three drivers, we are clearly always fighting for podium positions. Yep, it’s going to be between us. Maybe Mikkelsen can join at some point as well. But for sure the wins in upcoming events that won’t be us, we have Hayden joining with a very good road position, Kris Meeke, Jari-Matti Latvala, who are quite far in the standings as well, Lappi a bit behind, so all those guys going to fight for wins on the next events so we going to try to survive with our road position and try to make podium out of it.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 02, Rally Sweden 15-18 February 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
A big thank you to Thierry for answering my questions. Also, a big thank you to the PR of Hyundai Motorsport, Nicolette Russo for sending these to Thierry, and finally our own PR, Julia for setting up the interview.
Young Estonian Ott took his third WRC victory and first for Toyota on his fifth outing for the Finnish based Toyota squad! Here’s the story of how they did it. In the championship fight, Thierry closed the gap on his rival Seb in their fight for the title and Ott Tanak has brought himself into this fight with his brilliant drive to victory.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05, Rally Argentina / April 26-19, 2018// Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
After the short stage on Thursday evening, Thierry Neuville held a lead over Ott with Seb in third.
Friday would see the crews tackle seven stages, totaling 154.2km. This was the start list – Ogier, Neuville, Tänak, Mikkelsen, Meeke, Lappi, Latvala, Sordo, Breen, Evans, Suninen, Al Qassimi.
Despite being the first car into the stage, Seb won the stage and was eight seconds faster than Thierry who was fourth fastest. Ott was not fast in this one, over twenty seconds slower than the leader and tenth.
It all turned around on the next stage. Ott took the stage and Seb dropped 17.8 seconds. Andreas Mikkelsen moved into the lead with Ott now just nine and a half seconds off the lead. Sadly, this stage saw the exit of Jari-Matti.
Stage four saw Ott close the gap to Andreas to just one second, whilst Kris got past Seb into third overall. Thierry was also moving up on place to fifth overall.
The lead changed again in stage five in the short 6km super special with Ott moving ahead of Andreas. Thierry also dropped a place to Dani.
After the service break, the second run of Las Bajadas – Villa Del Dique saw Ott take another stage victory and increase his lead after Andreas drop right down to eight overall. Kris was now the closest to the young Estonian.
Stage seven saw the lead increase again with Ott now almost 17 seconds ahead of Kris. Dani was second fastest in the stage and this moved him ahead of Seb and Thierry into third overall.
The final stage of the day was won again by Ott with Thierry just a little over one second slower than him in second, meaning that he’d moved ahead also of Dani and into third overall. Kris remained the closest driver to Ott, ending the day 22 seconds away, and wary of the foggy stages that sometimes show up during the morning of day two.
Ott had driven a superbly all day, whilst Kris had done a clever drive. He’d picked up a puncture in the last stage of the day though, leading to the little time loss.
Classification after Day One
1
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Toyota Yaris WRC
1:30:38.6
2
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+22.7
3
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+28.6
4
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+29.5
5
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Ford Fiesta WRC
+36.4
6
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+41.2
7
A. Mikkelsen
A. Jæger
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+58.5
8
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:07.9
9
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:10.3
10
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:33.7
Let’s hear then from the drivers-
Ott Tanak
“I am definitely happy with today. We have been pushing really hard and I couldn’t have done that if it wasn’t for the perfect feeling that I have with the car. It has been performing really well and it’s giving me confidence. It’s good that we have been able to make some improvements and they seem to be paying off, although I think there is still more to come. It’s a shame that we lost some time on the first stage this morning: I’m not sure how it happened but we had a spin in a very narrow place and it took a long time to get back in the right direction. Then we started to push hard to get the time back, and this afternoon we had three perfect stages. I feel quite confident about our position: Tomorrow the stages are even faster and we know that fast roads suit this car really well, and I was able to do some really good times on these stages last year, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Kris Meeke
“Although our day got off to a difficult start, with some visibility issues on the first stage and some problems finding the right pace on the next one, we worked things out after that. This was a daunting leg so we’re pleased to have been both smart and consistent. I felt confident behind the wheel, which just goes to show that the changes made to the car are going the right way and that we have to keep it up. If there is fog tomorrow, then that blows the whole thing wide open again because the gaps will end up being minutes rather than seconds. So it’ll be up to us to perform!”
Thierry Neuville
“I am quite pleased with the day overall. We have had a good feeling inside the car and felt that we could really push for competitive stage times despite starting second on the road. At the same time, we have had to avoid trouble and effectively save the car, as the stages were pretty rough in places. The strategy has really been to take it easy and keep in touch with the leaders. I am sure we have more pace in us for tomorrow, which will be a very different challenge.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (4th)
“It has been a positive start to the rally for us, and I am thoroughly enjoying driving in front of these crowds. The stages themselves, as we know from the past, are very rough and it is very easy to have some problems. To be fighting for the podium is where we would hope to be at the end of the first day – and it is very close. I have to thank the team for the job they have done to prepare our car. I have hit a few big rocks this afternoon, and the car has done its job perfectly, very solid and competitive. Let’s see if we can keep up the fight tomorrow!”
Andreas Mikkelsen (7th)
“We had a great morning and led the rally for a few stages, which was very promising. Ott has been incredibly fast today so we knew we had to push hard, which is easier said than done on such rough stages. It was going well until the start of the afternoon loop when the tyre came loose from the rim and lost us a lot of time. We then had to be extra careful because we knew one more issue might be game over, so we focused on getting the car home. We’ll be ready for another push on Saturday.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (5th)
“It was an excellent day for us and I couldn’t do much more in terms of driving. We didn’t make any mistakes and I really tried to push as much as I could. Ott [Tänak] is flying and did a great job, but other than that we’re still in the fight for second place – despite opening the road.”
Sébastien Ogier, Rally Argentina 2018 – Photo Credit, M-Sport Ford
Elfyn Evans (9th)
“For sure it has been a difficult day for us. On the whole I felt that the driving wasn’t particularly bad, but the times just haven’t been there. We need to understand why that is and do better tomorrow.”
Teemu Suninen (10th)
“It hasn’t been the easiest day in the car, but we have learnt a lot. We were able to improve the driving a bit today, but we need to improve more to be faster and challenge for the podium. The main things we need to look at are the braking style and corner entries. Hopefully if we can improve one, it will be like a domino effect and the other will improve too. So, let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (8th)
“This morning started surprisingly well on the first two stages. On the third one we lost a lot of time, as it was a bit more slippery and I didn’t want to make any mistakes. This afternoon it was a lot rougher on the second pass, and to have three punctures today is obviously not good. I’m not really sure why it kept happening, and to be honest I think it was just bad luck: the tyres themselves were fine but they kept coming off the rim. Tomorrow the weather might be different and this could be an opportunity for me to get some time back.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (DNF)
“I had a perfect feeling with the car this morning. The Yaris WRC is going so well here, and it was so easy to drive. I was really enjoying it. The second stage of the day was going really well and actually getting better and better as it went on. Then we came to a long right-hand corner and at the exit of the corner I hit a rock which I didn’t see hidden in the shadows. Immediately the front-right suspension was broken and one of the oil pipes was damaged, so I had to stop. On this rally there are so many rocks: sometimes you are lucky with them and sometimes you are unlucky, and I think I was unlucky. It is very frustrating because we were in such a good rhythm. My co-driver Miikka was really frustrated too, because he knew that I was not attacking too hard. I just need to put this behind me, and hope that I can get that good feeling again on the next rally. One thing is for sure: the car is really fast.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT
Craig Breen (6th)
“It was a pretty good leg for us, given our lack of knowledge of the stages. I think I made a real breakthrough in the afternoon, in trying to adapt my driving style to the handling of the C3 WRC. My time on the final stage shows this and that augurs well for the rest of the rally.”
Kris Meeke, Rally Argentina – Photo Credit Citroen Racing
Khalid Al Qassimi (15th)
“With the fog we experienced in recce, my pace notes weren’t perfect but we made it to the end of this leg whilst making steady progress. Although the first loop was difficult, I felt more confident on the afternoon loop thanks to the adjustments to my C3 WRC’ set-up by the technical team.”
Day Two – Saturday!
The crews had seven stages and 146.88km of action! The top cars would run in opposite order – Al Qassimi, Suninen, Evans, Lappi, Mikkelsen, Breen, Ogier, Sordo, Neuville, Meeke, Tänak.
Ott started the day where he left off, winning from Kris and extending his lead over the Citroen driver. Seb was doing his best to stay with the leaders but lost more time.
Stage ten saw the crews face the fog and Al Qassimi really struggled with this, using the brakes a lot just to be sure he’d complete the stage. Thierry and Dani were the closest challengers to Ott who won the stage, but Kris fell back a little and now the gap between them was over 30 seconds. Thierry was now closer to Kris as a result.
Stage eleven saw more fog and a longer stage at 40km’s! Craig rolled out after losing control over a jump and his teammate Kris fell behind Thierry. We saw a welcome return to the front of Elfyn Evans who set the third fastest time and moved up one place to seventh. Ott’s lead was now a pretty comfortable 43 seconds.
The short 6km super special saw Thierry take a stage victory, his measured approach paying dividends, now ten seconds ahead of Kris. Dani was also driving well, his gap over Seb growing and hoping to take points away from Seb to benefit Hyundai’s best hope for the drivers’ championship (Thierry).
Ott continued to set the pace at the front in the first afternoon stage, number thirteen, and continued to open the gap over Thierry and Kris and was looking pretty comfortable.
The fog had now gone from the next stage, but Kris reported that it was very low grip after wearing his tyres more in the previous stage. He was now almost a minute behind the leader. The Hyundai twins of Thierry and Dani set exactly the same time, just 2.1 seconds slower than Ott.
The second running of the 40km stage saw disaster for Kris who ran over a stone and got a puncture immediately. He and Paul changed the tyre as fast as they could, but still lost two and a half minutes meaning that they dropped to eighth overall. The top three was now Ott followed by Thierry and Dani.
The Spaniard won the stage, ending Ott’s run of fastest times today. Esapekka also moved ahead of Elfyn into sixth after setting the second fastest time.
After all the drama, the top ten at the end of Saturday looked like this-
Classification after Day Two
1
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Toyota Yaris WRC
2:58:33.9
2
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+46.5
3
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:08.2
4
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:59.0
5
A. Mikkelsen
A. Jæger
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:13.8
6
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2:42.9
7
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+2:49.1
8
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+3:20.4
9
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+4:17.6
Here’s the views then, starting with the top three.
Ott Tänak
“Everything has been working really well. I have a very good feeling with the car, and especially so on today’s roads, which were fast and flowing and suit our car very well. I was not pushing as hard as yesterday, when I was really on the limit. Today there was maybe a bit more control, but still the times were clearly quite good. This morning we had some really tricky conditions with really thick fog, but we managed it well and this afternoon was very enjoyable. I need to show respect for tomorrow’s stages, because El Condor and Mina Clavero are very tough pieces of road and very different compared to today, but I am feeling confident.”
Thierry Neuville
“I am pleased to have moved up into second place in the overall classification. We have had to stay really focused today. We lost a bit of time early on as we tackled the foggy morning stages but pushed as hard as we could. In the afternoon, with soft tyres, we had to take things carefully to avoid risking a puncture. We could have done a bit more but it wasn’t necessary. Ott has a commanding lead of this rally so our target tomorrow is to secure second place and maximise points for both championships.”
Dani Sordo
“The opening loop was really difficult in the fog, and it was impossible not to lose some time getting through in those conditions. Things improved at the end of the long stage but it offered a tough start to the day. The fight for the podium places has been quite open. The final stage went really well – although I was a bit scared of the tyres because we were on the limit. We couldn’t afford a single mistake so we drove clean and just enjoyed it. In the end, the time was good and we moved back up to third. We will do all we can to keep this position on Sunday.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Argentina 26-29 April 2018 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (4th) said:
“I wasn’t committed enough to go for it in the fog this morning. I was a bit too careful and maybe also a bit distracted when I got the message that Craig [Breen] and Esapekka [Lappi] were stopped – thinking something worse would be coming. At least we are here now – finishing the day in the points which isn’t too bad for the championship.
“Dani [Sordo] did a great job today and it would have been difficult to catch him anyway. It looks as though we’re not as fast here as we have been at the previous events. Like last year we struggled with the pace and we’re not exactly sure why – so at the end of the day fourth position is not too bad.
“Tomorrow we will of course try to hold on to this position, and it would be good to grab some extra points in the power stage. The three stages tomorrow are the toughest challenge of the weekend. We’ll have to see what the weather does and – if it turns out to be foggy as it so often does on El Condor – it will be a challenge for sure.”
Elfyn Evans (7th) said:
“It’s been another tough day to be honest, and we were still struggling in all the clean stages. We were able to make a difference in the fog – pushing very hard and setting a pretty decent time – but we’re still not where we would like to be and need to find the answer.”
Teemu Suninen (9th) said:
“We’ve been the second car on the road today so we had a lot of cleaning to do. I was a bit disappointed with the time in last stage, but it’s all a learning curve and all okay. Tomorrow we will experience another completely different type of stage where the roads are a lot slower and a lot narrower. I’ve still got some homework to do, but hopefully next time we will be better.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (5th)
“We have used today to try and make up some places after our issue on Friday. The fact we are back into the top-five is a positive result considering where we were at the start of the day. We have made some changes to the car during the day in a bid to find more rear stability and there was a definite improvement. We are not a million miles behind Seb in fourth place but we are just trying to drive neat and tidy, and we’ll see where we end up tomorrow. As we’ve seen again today, this is a particularly tough and unpredictable rally.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi
“This morning started well: the car was working well and the setup felt good. Then on the long stage, I got a wrong pace-note, and in the fog, I couldn’t see anything and we went a long way off the road.
Luckily, we didn’t hit anything. This can happen, we are only human. The afternoon was really promising.
We all know the potential is there in the car, as Ott has been showing since yesterday, and I’m getting there step by step. I had some strong times and the road was getting cleaner for the drivers behind me, so, I’m pretty pleased with the speed. Every day is different here on Rally Argentina, and tomorrow’s stages are the slowest, very technical and narrow with a lot of rocks. Therefore, I don’t know if I can have the same confidence tomorrow, but I will certainly try for sure.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05, Rally Argentina / April 26-19, 2018// Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Kris Meeke (8th)
“There was a stone in the middle of the road and I couldn’t avoid it, given the width of the road. Unfortunately, I got a puncture straight away on the right rear tyre. It’s a shame because I was both quick and consistent, and I clearly felt capable of securing third place.”
Khalid Al Qassimi (14th)
“It wasn’t an easy day for us, mainly due to the fact we opened the road all day, which meant we spent the morning especially cleaning the road for those behind. I enjoyed the afternoon driving a C3 WRC that was more precise, despite making a minor mistake, which fortunately had no serious consequences.”
Craig Breen (DNF)
“Unfortunately, I turned in a bit too soon on a right-hander over a crest. I realised that I was going to hit a ditch so I tried to steer to avoid it but it was too little, too late and when we landed, we were thrown into a roll. Obviously, I’m sorry for the team, who deserved a better result, and am frustrated not to have been able to complete any more miles at this event, where I’m already short on experience. But I have to focus on the speed we showed at certain points and will aim to come back stronger in Portugal.”
Day Three – Sunday!
The last day then and with 55km’s spread between three stages and the narrowest stages including a double run of the iconic El Condor stage, with the added twist of running in the opposite direction this event could still throw up a surprise. The start list looked like this- Al Qassimi, Suninen, Meeke, Evans, Lappi, Mikkelsen, Ogier, Sordo, Neuville, Tänak.
Kris and Citroen were using the final day to test some changes and settings for Portugal and clearly it worked after setting the fourth fastest time and climbing one place to seventh. Esapekka lost a chunk of time dropping from sixth to eighth. Andreas won the stage with Seb just half a second slower and Ott third fastest with his lead now at 49 seconds, only disaster would stop him winning!
The penultimate stage, the longest of the final day at 22km. Tanak was taking a measured approach, whilst Thierry won the stage from Andreas and Dani. Despite being the third car on the road, Kris set a good time, just twelve seconds slower than Thierry for sixth fastest, the settings for Portugal proving their worth.
So, to the final stage and Thierry blazed through the stage and beat Seb to the power stage victory, taking all five points with Andreas third, Ott fourth and Kris fifth despite having to avoid a dog which he blamed for losing him half a second.
However, it was Ott Tanak’s weekend. He’d won his third rally and his first for Toyota. It was also their first victory of the year! He’d set the pace all weekend and brought himself into a championship battle with Seb and Thierry.
Final Overall Classification – Rally Argentina
1
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Toyota Yaris WRC
3:43:28.9
2
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+37.7
3
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:15.7
4
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:58.6
5
A. Mikkelsen
A. Jæger
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:02.6
6
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+3:06.3
7
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+3:25.7
8
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+4:32.6
9
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+5:38.6
10
P. Tidemand
J. Andersson
Škoda Fabia R5
+12:15.8
Let’s hear what he had to say.
Ott Tänak
“It is very special to take my first win with the team. We have been improving the car very quickly, and it is now pretty much how I like it. It has been giving me great confidence. It is also great to see how much the team has been supporting me. To dominate a rally like this for the first time is very nice, but it has definitely not been easy. Earlier in the weekend I was pushing a lot. As the gap was growing it was possible for us to control it more and more, and today we were more on the safe side. The direction is good and we are closing up in the championship. It is still fairly early in the season, so now we just need to keep going in the same way in the coming rallies.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05, Rally Argentina / April 26-19, 2018// Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Thierry Neuville
“I am thrilled to finish on the podium in Argentina and to have taken the Power Stage win. It has been something of a relief after the difficulties we had in Corsica, as we have been on the pace all weekend and felt completely comfortable with our Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. The team has really done a great job for this rally and I am hugely thankful for everyone’s contribution. We knew we had to push on the Power Stage to take as many points as we could off Séb, and we were able to do that. I’m happy with what we take away from Argentina and look forward to Portugal.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Argentina 26-29 April 2018 Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Dani Sordo
“What a fantastic rally this has been for the whole team. I am really happy to take my second podium of the season alongside Carlos, and to continue to show a competitive pace. The stage times have been very close all weekend long with lots of fighting for positions each day. Above all it has been a positive event for the team with a double podium that scores good manufacturer points. We didn’t take too many risks on this final day, concentrating on finishing third. Thankfully we had a decent buffer so could complete our mission to take the podium. We have had a huge support from the fans – we hope they enjoyed the show!”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (4th)
“There was an amazing atmosphere this weekend and I’ve never seen so many fans out on the stages. It wasn’t an easy rally for us and we need to work on some areas to improve. But when you come away from a difficult event with 16 points, it’s not so bad.
“As expected, the stages were challenging again today. They were rough and slow with very low grip – and we weren’t super-fast in those conditions. We had to push hard to try and make a good time in the Power Stage, and we managed to grab four points which was important.”
Elfyn Evans (6th)
“All things considered, sixth place isn’t a bad result and it was good to get some solid points on the board. But the pace just wasn’t there this weekend. It was disappointing and not what we came here to do. We need to do some analysis to try and understand why that was. The engineers will study the data, I’ll study the onboards, and hopefully we can get back on it in Portugal.”
Teemu Suninen (9th)
“It’s been a challenging weekend, but I have to say that the car has been amazing. It’s really nice to drive and really easy to drive. From that side I really enjoyed the rally – even though I would have liked to have been a bit faster.
“On Friday we weren’t able to set the fast times and that gave us the worst starting position for the next two days. It’s like that for everyone, but we need to work on having a better Friday so that we have a better starting position for the weekend.
“But overall it has been a good experience – not an easy one, but a good one. Next year it will be much easier to prepare as we’ll know what to expect and what the biggest challenges will be.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (5th)
“Firstly, I extend my congratulations to Thierry, Nicolas, Dani and Carlos for their podium results here in Argentina. From the team’s point of view, this was a very competitive weekend with all three cars inside the top-five. We had a positive final day with a stage win, a second place and three points from the Power Stage. Obviously, we would have liked to fight those couple of places higher up but unfortunately our time loss on Friday prevented us from doing that. It has been a very closely fought and tough weekend, which has been a pretty good start to the run of gravel events.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Kris Meeke (7th)
“It was a good day for us: we did set-up tests for Portugal and it was informative. The feeling was very good in the car. Apart from that, and the frustration of not being able to bring home the result that we deserved, the main thing for me is that the upgrades introduced this weekend to the C3 WRC enabled us to be a lot more consistent. I felt confident throughout the weekend, even when fighting for the podium. I felt that I had the situation under control at all times and we need to keep going in this direction.”
Khalid Al Qassimi (14th)
“Obviously, I’m disappointed for the team that we didn’t manage to secure a result that would reflect our real performance level. Nevertheless, I’m pleased to see our C3 WRC make regular progress and I’m convinced that this will lead to some good results very shortly. On a more personal note, running first on the road didn’t make life easy for me today, but I was happy to be back with the team and enjoy the atmosphere of the championship again.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (8th)
“I can take home some positives from my first Rally Argentina. My speed was actually better than I was expecting on my first time here. It helped that we seemed to have the best car here: Ott controlled the whole rally, congratulations to him. We had many issues with punctures during the weekend and we need to investigate what was causing them. Although we had many things that caused us to lose time, we managed to do all the stages and get the experience. This first part of the season was never going to be easy, with events I did not have enough experience on, but there have been positive moments and I will take this on to Portugal.”
The next round is in Portugal, held from the 17th of 20th of May. I think we are set for an amazing mid season, with just twenty-eight points between first and third places. Also Mads makes his second start of the year with Citroen and they are bringing three cars to the party!
Thierry should be very happy with his result, bringing the gap down to Seb to just ten points. Hayden Paddon is re-joining the Hyundai team in Portugal as well and will want to do well.
Finally, Elfyn and Dan will want to get a good result there as well. They’ve not had the best start to their campaign.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings After round 5
1
S. Ogier
100
2
T. Neuville
90
3
O. Tanak
72
4
A. Mikkelsen
54
5
D. Sordo
45
6
K. Meeke
43
7
E. Lappi
40
8
J.M Latvala
31
9
E. Evans
26
10
C. Breen
20
11
S. Loeb
15
12
H. Paddon
10
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings After round 5
