Round 6. A brand new event to the WRC 1919 meets 2019 - 100 years of Citroën vs. year 1 of Rally Chile WRC Meeke entertaining the crowrds A slow roll hampered his progress, Meeke really needs a clean run Meeke's roll was a minor issue compared to the accident of Neuville, check this out, the crew were taken to hospital, but thankfully they were ok. Loeb got his first podium for Hyundai Winner in WRC2 was Kalle Rovanpera Tanak had clean run to victory Podium celebrations with Tommi the boss! Final results: 1.Ott Tanak EST Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing 3hr 15m 53.8s 2.Sebastien Ogier FRA Citroen C3 WRC +23.1s 3.Sebastien Loeb FRA Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +30.2s 4.Elfyn Evans GBR M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC +1m 36.7s 5.Teemu Suninen FIN M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC +3m 16s 6.Esapekka Lappi FIN Citroen C3 WRC +3m 45.4s 7.Andreas Mikkelsen NOR Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +4m 39.0s 8.Kalle Rovanpera FIN Skoda Fabia R5 +7m 52.5s 9.Mads Ostberg NOR Citroen C3 R5 +8m 16.1s 10.Kris Meeke GBR Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +8m 33.4s 11.Jari-Matti Latvala FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +10m 59.2s 12.Gus Greensmith GBR Ford Fiesta R5 +11m 41.5s
WRC Portugal The crowds used to be like this when cars ran at full speed in Portugal, but nowadays it's confined to low speed encounters Gus Greensmith was having his first outing in a WRC car, his pace was impressive Skoda were debuting their new R5 car, Kopecky made his first appearance of 2019, although he was a little hindered Rovanpera took an brilliant 6th overall in the sister car, can't be long before he finds himself in a WRC car VW's R5 car was also on the pace Final results: 1.Ott Tanak EST Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing 3hr 20m 22.8s 2.Thierry Neuville BEL Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +15.9s 3.Sebastien Ogier FRA Citroen C3 WRC +57.1s 4.Teemu Suninen FIN M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC +2m 41.5s 5.Elfyn Evans GBR M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC +7m 08.3s 6.Kalle Rovanpera FIN Skoda Fabia R5 +10m 34.8s 7.Jari-Matti Latvala FIN Toyota Yaris Gazoo Racing +10m 52.5 8.Jan Kopecky CZE Skoda Fabia R5 +11m 41.9s 9.Pierre-Louis Loubet FIN Ford Fiesta R5 +12m 46.3s 10.Emil Bergkvist SWE Ford Fiesta R5 +14m 28.4s 11.Henning Solberg NOR Skoda Fabia R5 +14m 54.5s
Rally Italia Sardegna Cars made a slow tour through the streets of Alghero And, action!! Another WRC2 win for Rovanpera, there's no stopping this guy Hyundai had a special guest in the service area, it is 25 years since Gabriele Tarquini won the British Touring Car Championship, but he is still on top of his game, he is the current World Touring Car Champion for Hyundai Green energy! A bit dusty Drama at the end of the event, Tanak's steering appeared to jam almost solid, giving Spain's Dani Sordo only his second WRC win, and his first since Germany 2013 Celebration time at Hyundai Final results: 1 Dani Sordo Hyundai 3:32:27.2 2 Teemu Suninen M-Sport Ford +13.7 3 Andreas Mikkelsen Hyundai +32.6 4 Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford +40.5 5 Ott Tanak Toyota +1:30.1 6 Thierry Neuville Hyundai +2:16.7 7 Esapekka Lappi Citroen +2:59.6 8 Kris Meeke Toyota +4:40.1 9 Kalle Rovanpera Skoda Motorsport +8:24.6 10 Jan Kopecky +8:49.2 Driver Championship: 1. Ott TÄNAK 150 2. Sébastien OGIER 146 3. Thierry NEUVILLE 143 4. Elfyn EVANS 78 5. Teemu SUNINEN 62 6. Kris MEEKE 60 7. Andreas MIKKELSEN 56 8. Dani SORDO 52 9. Esapekka LAPPI 40 10. Jari-Matti LATVALA 40 Manufacturers Championship: 1. Hyundai 242 2. Toyota 198 3. Citroen 170 4. M-Soprt Ford 152
Dan Barritt has had a bit of a low profile this season, after co-driving for Elfyn Evans for a few seasons, a time which included his Rally GB win. Dan has been working for Toyota this season, co-driving for their Japanese protégé Takamoto Katsuta, the pair have been driving a Fiesta R5 on selected WRC events this year, but Toyota put them out on two rounds of the Finnish Rally Championship recently, which they won both of. Tommi the boss is now letting them run a WRC Toyota on some WRC events this season, starting with Germany.
Some sad news from the rally world today, the death of Jen-Luc Therier has been reported. Although he may not be as well known as some of his fellow French compatriots, such as Ragnotti or Mouton, he actually took 5 WRC wins, more than either of the aforementioned drivers. He was the last (and one of only two drivers ever) to win a WRC event in a Porsche 911 RIP JLT WRC win number 1 was on the 1973 Rally of Portugal 1973 Tour de Corse Porsche's last WRC victory - 1980 Tour de Corse His final WRC appearance came on the 1984 Monte Carlo, when he finished 4th overall, behind a trio of Audis driven by Röhrl, Blomqvist and Mikkola
Hayden Paddon's WRC return was over before it started, after a huge accident in testing for Rally Finland, the car was beyond repair to a timescale. He hit a rock in the road and it was game over, bad luck.
Rally Finland Starting a WRC event for the first time this year was Craig Breen with new co driver Paul Nagle (Nagle has previously sat with Kris Meeke) Ogier! Hot favourite, and last year's winner, Ott Tanak. Lappi was hoping for a decent result, it has not been a good season for him so far Meeke was flying! He was lying second after the first leg, with a 1-2-3 for Toyota, Tanak in front. Kalle Rovanperä was in charge in the WRC2 class, he is really maturing as a driver. He is to rallying, what Verstappen is to F1 Greensmith was having another run in a WRC car "Could you sign my hat young man!" 4 times world rally champion Juha Kankkunen with Kalle Rovanperä Fly Finnair!! Latvala was in trouble with Tommi the boss, for not listening to team instructions, he went off, but luckily got going again to finish 3rd overall Things were much worse for Meeke, same complaint from the boss, but Meeke retired, his chances of a drive for 2020 are not looking good Ott Tänak was again the man in charge, taking a healthy lead in the championship Final results: Championship standings after Rally Finland
It has become apparent why Thierry Neuville was seen with Gabriele Tarquini recently, Neuville made his racing debut at the Nürburgring over the weekend, scoring a pole and a win in his first ever race! Learning from the master!
Rally Germany Toyota actually fielded 4 cars in Germany, one for Japan's Takamoto Katsuta, with British co driver Dan Barritt on the notes, they finished in 10th position, considering Katsuta had never competed on Rally Germany before, it was a solid result. Meeke was trying to stay out of trouble A clean sweep for Toyota. Final results: 1 Ott Tanak Toyota 3h15m29.8s 2 Kris Meeke Toyota 20.8s 3 Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota 36.0s 4 Thierry Neuville Hyundai 58.5s 5 Dani Sordo Hyundai 1m16.6s 6 Andreas Mikkelsen Hyundai 1m46.2s 7 Sebastien Ogier Citroen 1m56.3s 8 Esapekka Lappi Citroen 2m02.2s 9 Gus Greensmith Ford 6m22.2s 10 Takamoto Katsuta Toyota 8m19.2s
Rally Turkey The start in Marmaris Turkey is known for having the roughest stages on the WRC, not difficult to see why! There are some nice views, if you have the time to take them in Skoda fans Gus Greensmith had been put back into the WRC2 car at M-Sport "OK boss, I'll keep it one piece, don't worry!" "He'll probably not notice if I cover it up" - Despite this damage, Greensmith won WRC2 and finished in the top 10 It's those French blokes again! Former co driver, turned team principal, turned FIA boss, Jean Todt called in to see what was going on This time it was Citroen who took the top spots 1 Sebastien Ogier Citroen 3h50m12.1s 2 Esapekka Lappi Citroen 34.7s 3 Andreas Mikkelsen Hyundai 1m04.5s 4 Teemu Suninen M-Sport Ford 1m35.1s 5 Dani Sordo Hyundai 2m25.9s 6 Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota 2m59.1s 7 Kris Meeke Toyota 3m53.3s 8 Thierry Neuville Hyundai 5m34.8s 9 Pontus Tidemand M-Sport Ford 7m22.9s 10 Gus Greensmith M-Sport Ford 15m18.7s Driver championship after 11 of 14 rounds: 1 Ott Tanak 210 2 Sebastien Ogier 193 3 Thierry Neuville 180 4 Andreas Mikkelsen 94 5 Kris Meeke 86 6 Jari-Matti Latvala 84 7 Teemu Suninen 83 8 Esapekka Lappi 80 9 Elfyn Evans 78 10 Dani Sordo 72
Round 12 - Rally GB Welcome to Wales! In actual fact, the ceremonial start of the rally was held in Liverpool... ...and the first stage was run in England, Kris Meeke took fastest time at Oulton Park, we had a British rally leader! That didn't last long, Tanak soon took over the lead Chased hard by Ogier Evans was finally out again after his back injury, he was flying, but lost over 40 seconds with suspension damage, he took 7 stage wins, what could have been.. One thing the UK hadn't been short of recently, water! No, it's not a photoshop, Rovanperä had stopped to change a puncture, and teammate Jan Kopecky had caught him "So boss, what about that drive next year? - Hey, why you laugh?!" Anybody guess who won!! Final result: 1 O.Tanak_Yaris WRC 3:00:58.0 2 T.Neuville_i20 Coupe WRC +10.9 3 S.Ogier_C3 WRC +23.8 4 K.Meeke_Yaris WRC +35.6 5 E.Evans_Fiesta WRC +48.6 6 A.Mikkelsen_i20 Coupe WRC +58.2 7 P.Tidemand_Fiesta WRC +5:23.8 8 C.Breen_i20 Coupe WRC +9:25.0 9 K.Rovanpera_Fabia R5 Evo +10:51.1 10 P.Solberg_Polo GTI R5 +11:36.1 It's still down to 3 drivers, but Tanak is looking like the favourite now, 2 more rounds to go. Drivers standings: 1 Tanak 240 points 2 Ogier 212 points 3 Neuville 199 points
We lost another rally legend this week, Andrew Cowan was an accomplished driver in his day, particularly on long distance events. However, many people will remember him for his time as team boss at Mitsubishi Ralliart. https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/october-2019/andrew-cowan/page/6755--12-12-.html Taking a podium position on the 1979 Ivory Coast Rally, as a member of the factory Mercedes team One of Cowan's last competitive WRC outings was on the 1981 Acropolis Rally After he backed off from international stage rallying, Cowan competed in long distance events, finishing as high and second overall on the Paris-Dakar He went on to mastermind the 4 WRC titles for Tommi Makinen. When Makinen took the job of running the Toyota WRC team, he rang Cowan to say that he hoped he could become as successful a team manager as Cowan had been. His private car collection was not too bad also!
WRC Catalunya, the penultimate round of the championship Catalunya is the only true mixed gravel/tarmac round on the WRC Loeb led the rally after day 1, not bad for an old man with a part time drive Ogier's title bid was dealt a hammer blow after power steering failure put him well down on day 1 Ostberg won WRC2 for Citroen For once, Skoda didn't have it their way Neuville took the win But 2nd place was enough for Ott Tanak to end 15 years of French drivers titles The 2019 World Rally Champion Final results: 1 Thierry Neuville Hyundai 3h07m39.6s 2 Ott Tanak Toyota 17.2s 3 Dani Sordo Hyundai 17.6s 4 Sebastien Loeb Hyundai 53.9s 5 Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota 1m00.2s 6 Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford 1m14.2s 7 Teemu Suninen M-Sport Ford 1m47.6s 8 Sebastien Ogier Citroen 4m20.5s 9 Mads Ostberg Citroen 8m24.6s 10 Eric Camilli Citroen 8m47.2s
I wish I'd put a bet on French drivers winning the title 15 years in a row, I'd be a millionaire I reckon!
And in other news, the 2019 driver's champion will switch camps for 2020!! https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/tanak-hyundai-2020-toyota-move/4586262/
Earlier this month we lost Andrew Cowan. Yesterday came news that we lost another British rally legend, Russell Brookes. Brookes started road rallying in a Mini, but soon switched to stage rallying He became known as one of quickest drivers on the British Championship, winning the title twice. He finished 2nd overall on the 1979 RAC Rally When Ford withdrew from rallying, Brookes switched to Talbot for two seasons, but the car proved unreliable A move to a Vauxhall Chevette HSR for '82 & '83 brought much better fortune He then spent the rest of the Group B era in a Manta 400, there was talk of an Andrews sponsored Quattro in that period, but it never materialised A one off drive in a Lancia Delta 4WD didn't quite work out on the 1987 RAC, maybe he didn't have chance to adapt to LHD. Despite what it says on the drivers seat, it was Brookes who drove the car! He spent the rest of his career driving Sierra Cosworths, both RWD and 4WD, adding the Irish Tarmac Championship to his trophy cabinet in 1989 Just for fun, he drove a Mini on his final WRC event, the 1994 RAC Rally He was seen until very recently on the historic scene, always an ambassador for his long time sponsor, Andrews Heat for Hire, they certainly got a lot of TV time back in the day, people will remember those yellow cars and Russell for years to come RIP Russell
It's official, the 2019 WRC has ended. Rally Australia cancelled: https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/november-2019/australia-cancelled/page/6826--12-12-.html Although there is not a wheel to be tuned in anger this weekend, Hyundai are still spraying Champagne to celebrate their first ever WRC Manufacturers' Championship, they spent a lot of money to get here, and with the new drivers champion joining them for 2020, they could easily take that title next year as well.
