WRC
November 14th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Michael Schumacher no longer has more motorsport world titles than any other driver with French rally driver Sébastien Loeb securing his eighth World Rally Championship title over the weekend. Loeb’s latest title was confirmed part way through the final 
round of 2011 World Rally Championship in the UK following the retirement of the only other contender for the 2011 drivers’ title.
Sébastien Loeb has not only won eight World titles to Schumacher’s seven titles, the Citroen driver’s titles are all consecutive and Loeb’s name and that of the Citroen rally cars he has piloted sit alongside just about every record in the WRC.
Having already won Citroen its seventh manufacturers’ world title in the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, Loeb went into the final round, Rally GB, the weekend (11-13 November 2011) with his rival, Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen just a handful of points behind him in the Championship title race, knowing he not only had to finish in first or second place to take the title, he also had to win the final ‘Power Stage’ which also provides points for title chase.
For the first seven stages the two drivers were neck and neck, swapping the event lead, with Loeb further under threat when the defensive shield of his team mate, Sébastien Ogier, crashed out. Meanwhile, Hirvonen’s team mate, Jari-Matti Latvala, joined Hirvonen in pouring on the pressure on Loeb and his Citroen DS3.
But on Stage Seven it all went wrong for Hirvonen when he went off the road and damaged his radiator. Ford later confirmed that the damage to his car was terminal and he was completely out of the event, handing Loeb his eighth World title. Read the rest of this entry »
November 2nd, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
The biggest prize in motor rallying will be won in the UK in less than two weeks time when France’s Sebastien Loeb and Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen go head-to-head for the FIA World Rally Championship crown in one of the 
most challenging events of the year – the season finale, Wales Rally GB, from 10-13 November.
Loeb, competing for Citroen Total World Rally Team, has emerged as the most successful rally driver in history with seven consecutive World crowns in the past decade. But Hirvonen, who drives for the UK-based factory Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, could be about to end the seemingly invincible Loeb’s reign at the top.
The Frenchman will arrive in Wales with a slender eight-point lead over the Finn – but with 25 available for a win the game is very much still on. Furthermore, an increasing number of rival crews – including those from iconic British manufacturer MINI – will be challenging for victory on some of the world’s most daunting forest stages. There is no doubt the WRC season is all set for a highly dramatic and unpredictable finish. Read the rest of this entry »
September 23rd, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
30 years after World Rally Championship victory in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus it’s time for Lotus to return to rallying with the brother of the newly launched Exige S – the Exige R-GT.
The Exige R-GT will participate in the newly formed FIA GT category of the FIA World Rally Championship on tarmac in Monte 
Carlo, Tour de Corse and San Remo.
For Group Lotus’ Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro the return to rally has an extra special meaning; “My motorsport career started in rally, in fact, I even took part in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus’ Italian Rally championship winning a race in San Marino back in 1981 so this is a very nostalgic moment for me. As we unveiled the car in Frankfurt, alongside the original championship winning car, I had the chance to get back inside and the smell was exactly the same – it brought back many happy memories for me.
“With the new R-GT rules in rally, it’s a very interesting time for us to return to the sport. Naturally our approach this time around will be different to when we won the championship with Talbot three decades ago but I think our philosophy is definitely the same, we want to compete and ultimately we want to win. Our new rally car, the Exige R-GT is a dream come true for those who are passionate about GT racing – this will be their car.” Read the rest of this entry »
June 29th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
The World Rally Championship is making a welcome return to NZ in 2012 and Auckland has once again been confirmed as the host city for the event.
Last year’s 2010 WRC Rally New Zealand proved very popular with the locals and was the first of three events under a host city contract between Auckland and Rally New Zealand Ltd.
Taking place between 21 and 24 June 2012, Rally New Zealand will make use of several inner city locations with organisers expected to repeat the very popular super special stage in the Auckland Domain. The official ceremonial start and finish will again be at Viaduct Harbour in the centre of Auckland’s redeveloped waterfront, with exact locations yet to be confirmed.
The Chairman of Rally New Zealand, Peter (‘PJ’) Johnston, says it’s a pleasure to confirm the 2012 event will be based in Auckland. “Auckland proved a fantastic host city for the 2010 running of Rally New Zealand,” says Johnston. “We look forward to having another opportunity to showcase the exciting, ultra-competitive World Rally Championship to the extensive audience of sports fans across the wider Auckland region.
Rally New Zealand, with the support of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development and other parties, tendered for the right to host a round of the World Rally Championship. We were up against 32 other countries, so it’s particularly pleasing to now have our 2012 event dates confirmed.” Read the rest of this entry »
June 10th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Almost all branches of motorsport have an iconic race. Endurance racing has Le Mans and F1 has Monaco, even NASCAR has its Daytona and for rallying it was always Monte Carlo. But the Monte Carlo rally hasn’t been included in the World Rally Championship schedule for a few years now. For the 2012 season, that will change.
Next year’s WRC event schedule has been released and the big news for us kiwis is the welcome inclusion of Rally New Zealand with the other big news being the comeback of Monte Carlo.
The once legendary race was organised by the same Automobile Club de Monaco that puts on the Monaco Grand Prix and dates all the way back to 1911. Since 1911 the famous rally was run every year except for some notable breaks during the world wars. From 1973 through 2008, the Monte Carlo rally was an important part of the World Rally Championship, but after that it went to the rival Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
But now the Monte Carlo Rally is returning next season to the WRC, however, it hasn’t been stolen back from the IRC. Instead, the round will act as the season opener for both rally championships.
The 2012 WRC Calender sees 13 rounds mostly held in Europe, with the only rounds outside of the continent being held in Mexico, Argentina and New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »
May 10th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Three days straight of being the first car out and sweeping the road in Italy over the weekend (5-8 May 2011) still wasn’t enough to stop Citroen’s Sébastien Loeb. He gave the new Citroen DS3 WRC its fourth win in its debut season when he dominated the fifth round of the World Rally Championship and extended both his own and Citroen’s lead in the 
championship title chases.
As the front runner in the Italian WRC round, Loeb had the dubious honour of being the first on the road, which meant his car swept the surface of each stage of loose dust and dirt to leave a cleaner, quicker surface for his following rivals who usually can set faster times.
But this didn’t slow the Frenchman down. He ended the first loop on day one a scant 2.7 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, but by the end of the day he had pulled the lead out to 33 seconds, which was the good news, the bad news being that he would be, as the leader of day one, the road sweeper for day two.
Day two saw Loeb hold his rivals at bay, while sweeping the road, but his lead was cut back 23.7 seconds, as the other drivers fought relentlessly to catch the head road sweeper and to settle the fight for the positions behind the number one spot. Read the rest of this entry »
May 5th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Rallying is a very pure form of motorsport, it’s just man, machine and cleared roads, but let’s face it at times it threatens to all get a little bit dull. That’s why there are crashes, while rare it’s the anticipation that a car will exceed its limits and come undone that makes rallying really exciting.
To celebrate this fact some crash enthusiast has added a full ten minute video to YouTube showing some of the baddest rallying smashes ever recorded. Called “Crazy Finns Crashing” this video is all shot in Finland the spiritual home of loose rally driving. It includes the original sound and shows a sketchy spectator incident at around the 35 second mark.
Check it out below. Read the rest of this entry »
April 13th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Mini’s re-entry on to the international rallying scene has now reached fever pitch with the official launch of the team less than a month ahead of its first WRC event, the Rally d’Italia Sardegna (May 5 – 8). In an event held at the company’s plant in Oxford, England, the all-new Mini WRC Team unveiled its two Countryman-based Mini John Cooper Works WRC cars, and introduced its drivers/co-drivers for 2011.
Using the Countryman as a base, the MINI WRC car was a team effort between Prodrive and BMW Motorsport. BMW sorted out the 1.6-litre turbo engine, which was built to comply with FIA Super 2000 regulations, including the World Touring Car Championship. Prodrive will run the MINI works team on a daily basis and will also supply customer cars to other teams, in both WRC or S2000 guise.
Mini’s main objective in its debut season is to gain experience and prepare to take on a full 2012 season. This year the team will compete in six events: Rally Italy (May 5 – 8), Rally Finland (July 28 – 31), Rally Germany (August 18 – 21), Rally France (September 29 – October 2), Rally Spain (October 20 – 23) and Rally Great Britain (November 10 – 13).
The wheel men controlling the two cars will be Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo, with co-drivers Paul Nagle and Carlos Del Barrio respectively. Read the rest of this entry »
