Day One Update of the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles

The Rallye Aicha des Gazelles is One Day In and Already Big News

Rallye Aicha des Gazelles Kicks Off in Tangier, Morocco

TANGIER, Morocco (March 15, 2010) – Today, 110 teams hailing from 14 countries arrived in Morocco for the ultimate driving and navigation test. All vehicles cleared technical inspections on Saturday in Sete, France at the ceremonial start of the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles in front of thousands of cheering fans.

This year, the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles celebrates its twentieth anniversary and its successful and unique history. The rally is the only all-women’s off-road rally in the world and strictly forbids competitors from using GPS, support teams, cell phones and even modern maps. Keen navigation skill combined with strategic off-road driving is essential for the success of the Gazelles. Read more →

March Madness in Mexico – WRC Round 2

March madness in Mexico bring on thoughts of the San Felipe 250 complete with taco stands, drunk crazy fans inches from the cars on Zoo Road, dueling mariachi bands playing late into the night, four foot whoops  and plastering the town with Steeekers.  This however is a different story of Mexico.

After a one year hiatus the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) returned to Leon, Mexico for Round Two of the 2010 championship with the Corona Rally Mexico.   Following the opening round in Sweden this was the first full gravel rally of the season and the warm weather would be a welcome change from the -20 degree temperatures of Scandinavia.

Leon is situated in the state of Guanajuato and is a major leather producer in the region as well as a large hub for business, so instead of taco carts, souvenir shops, luchador masks and topless bars the city is full of malls with nothing but shoes, corporate buildings and high end restaurants including an ice bar.  The state itself has a European flare with narrow cobblestone streets, castles (yes, castles in Mexico) and dealerships for many auto brands not seen in the US like Renault, Seat and Peugeot.

American driver Ken Block would also be making his WRC debut in an M Sport  built Ford Focus RS WRC 08 with his co driver Alex Gelsomino for the Monster World Rally Team.  2007 Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen has also joined the WRC  full time in 2010 after being let go from Scuderia Ferrari in favor of Fernando Alonso.  Kimi is driving a Citroen C4 WRC for the Citroen Junior Team.

Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team was victorious in Round One and was looking good to give six time World Champion Sebastian Loeb a run for his money in Mexico but there would be many surprises in store for racers and fans as the week progressed.

In terms of geographic area WRC Rally Mexico  is the most compact and has the shortest overall distance of the championship.  In total the rally would cover 354.6 km over 22 special stages.  Leg one and two featured three specials in the morning, then back to town for a short street stage at Rally HQ, back to the country to run the morning three stages again, with a final trip back to town for two runs on the Rally Cross track as part of a super special stage.

The action started on Thursday with a 5.18km shakedown stage for the drivers to check setups and do any last minute testing on the cars.  The course featured two water crossings, one rather shallow that the drivers could actually skip over if taken at high speed and a second much deeper crossing that wreaked havoc on the cars and provided plenty of work for the mechanics.  The massive displacement of water destroyed many fan shrouds and air ducting as well as deforming  bellypans.

That evening all of the drivers assembled in the city of Guanajuato for the ceremonial start.  The city is full of very narrow cobblestone streets, archways, underground tunnels with exposed rock walls and even two castles.  It is also incredibly hard to navigate even with a GPS system with roadmaps.  I have spent some time in Europe and previously had thought some of those towns were hard to navigate, never again.  This is by far the most confusing, and difficult city to get around I have ever experienced.  I spent two hours trying to find the start area while I was within 300 yards of it and finally had to acquire a human GPS (a local) to find my way.  Despite the nav issues Guanajuato is a beautiful city with many cool things to see.

The ceremonial start began with the cars and drivers lining up in front of the Teatro Juarez .   The cars were parked and for 30 minutes the drivers hung out and mingled . The street was lined with thousands of fans clamoring for autographs and photos with their favorite drivers.  The level of fan access to stars on the world stage was impressive and well appreciated by the spectators.  Most of the drivers were gracious and spent lots of time with the fans including Ken Block, Dani Sordo, Jari-Matti Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb.  Kimi Raikkonen was clearly not accustomed to the fan access and looked to be longing for his F1 days when he could hide in his motorhome instead of interacting with fans as he leaned on his car and sulked.

Racing officially began Friday morning with SS1, Alfaro 1.  Former Subaru Factory driver and double World Champion turned privateer Petter Solberg layed it down early winning the first special by 9.8 seconds over Citroen Jr. driver Sebastien Ogier followed by Sordo, Loeb and Latvala.  Hirvonen was first off the line throughout day one which is a disadvantage in gravel rallies, particularly in Mexico.  The loose surface and rough (by WRC standards) roads are often difficult for the first few drivers who end up cleaning the surface for the later drivers.  It makes enough of a time difference that drivers have been known to check up and drop a few spots at the end of leg two to get more grip in the final leg.

Solberg’s speed stuck with him as he also won SS2, 3, 5 and 6 giving him a lead of 15 seconds over Ogier at the conclusion of the 137.24 km of Leg one with Loeb in third.  American Block was down 4:33.2 to Solberg.  The biggest news of day belonged to Kimi Raikkonen on SS7, El Cubiete 2.  The end of the stage switch backed down a mountain into a small town and at the top of the closing decent the F1 star went off the mountain rolling several times and ending his rally early.  Kimi is off to a rough start in the WRC as he also got himself stuck in the snow several times in Sweden.

For Leg Two the start order would be based on leg one’s overall times.  Loeb went to work on the field early and took advantage of his third starting spot by winning Special Stage 10, Ibarrilla 1 by 10.3 seconds over Hirvonen.  Solberg dropped back to fifth.  Block, Matthew Wilson and Dani Sordo all had offs on SS10.  While Sordo was able to continue both Wilson and Block were done for the day.  Both crashed in the same spot in a high speed corner, going wide dropping a wheel into a ditch.

After the off Block said “It was a bit of a rookie mistake, I just did not have this loose section of braking into the corner noted and I came in a little bit too quick.  By the time I realized how loose the braking was it was too late.”

On SS11 Duarte 1 Loeb kept the hammer down and claimed the overall lead over Solberg by 5.2 seconds but Solberg held strong with a second place finish on the stage followed by Latvala, Hirvonen and Ogier.  At the end of SS12, Derramadero 1 Loeb extended his lead to 16.6 seconds and Ogier moved into second overall just 1.9 seconds ahead of Solberg.  Back in town at the Coca Cola Street Stage Loeb continued to lead  but Solberg was able to battle back to second over Ogier.

Loeb again won all three afternoon specials but Solberg was able to hold on to second place.  The biggest crowds of the weekend were on Derramadero where the stage featured a large jump at the bottom of a small hill.  Much like Borrego or Ojos the fans came out the night before or early in the morning a made it a day long fiesta.  Unlike the spots in Baja however vendors took advantage of the large crowds and the area was packed to the brim with mobile bars, swag vendors and food service.  One of the bars even went so far as to offer a VIP area with bottle service.  The area was also heavily staffed with police and medical service people and compared to Baja the fans were fairly mild and controlled.

Loeb took the win again on Super Special number three but Ogier stepped up to win number four.  When the dust settled on Leg Two Loeb was in the lead by 55.5 seconds over Petter Solberg and Ogier third 2.7 seconds back over 158.82km.

The short Leg Three was to feature three gravel stages and one super special but SS20 was cancelled due to safety and security concerns with massive crowds of spectators.  The day opened with SS19, Guanajuatito the longest special of the rally at 29.12km.  Early in the stage at 3km in the racers crossed a deep river to the delight of the few spectators that chose to hike into the stage.  Junior driver Ogier continued to impress and won the stage by 4.1 seconds over Solberg with Latvala third.  Loeb dropped back to sixth on the stage but retained his overall lead by 40.2 seconds.  Block also returned to the race after fixing his suspension in service the previous day and he finished the stage 42.3 seconds behind Ogier.

From SS19 the drivers continued on to SS21, Comanjilla that covered 17.94km.  Solberg turned it up again and won the stage by 0.8 seconds over Ogier and Sordo 2.5 off the lead.  Loeb was sixth with a 26.1 overall lead and Block dropped back to 16th on the stage.

Coming into SS22 the final super special and stage of the rally Loeb had a comfortable lead but the battle for the rest of the podium real estate was as tight as ever with Ogier in second just 0.6 seconds on third place Solberg.  The super special was a 4.42km rallycross stage with tarmac, dirt, grass, several jumps and even a small water crossing.

Few knew that Solberg’s privateer C4 Citroen was special in that “it goes to 11″, and rode on tyres  that were matched perfect and staggered special.  Solberg put the features to use and won the stage by a healthy 1.4 seconds over Dani Sordo to earn second overall just .6 seconds ahead of Ogier.

Later that afternoon during the podium ceremony Loeb looked almost bored after winning his fourth Rally Mexico but Solberg was a hurricane of emotion with his second place finish.  Solberg had a trying season in 2009 with an old car after Subaru left the WRC and though he got a current spec car for this season he also suffered a terrible first round in Sweden, so his second place finish was that much sweeter for his tiny crew.  For comparison the Solberg team brought just 12 people to Mexico and hired three locals where as the Citroen factory team brought close to 200 personnel.

After the race Solberg said “Me and Ogier had a big fight. He is a professional sportsman. Okay it was better for me on Friday and I built up a good lead. I needed to lead after the first day to play the game with Seb (Loeb) and Ogier. First on the road was also good practice for me for later this year… I dealt with it. I started yesterday flat out. Okay it was tricky and I lost time. It ended up with me and Ogier very close.”  he continued “Sébastien (Loeb) told me ‘you are too old’, then my brother (Henning Solberg) said ‘come on!’. I really focused on the road section and analyzed the stage. I was running each corner of the stage through my mind and, starting seventh, I was running on the stage to see him (Ogier) driving.”

While Loeb took the win the battle between Solberg and Ogier was clearly the show to watch.  Look for some good results from Solberg throughout the season as well.  The season resumes April 1st with the Jordan Rally.

Results:

1. Sébastien Loeb
2. Petter Solberg
3. Sébastien Ogier
4. Mikko Hirvonen
5. Jari-Matti Latvala
6. Henning Solberg
7. Federico Villagra
8. Xavier Pons
9. Martin Prokop
10. Armindo Aaraujo
11. Toshi Arai
12. Nicolas Fuchs
13. Miguel Angel Baldoni
14. Benito Guerra
15. Dani Sordo
16. Gianluca Linari
17. Matthew Wilson
18. Ken Block

100 Acre Wood Highlight Video

Highlights and results from round 2 of the 2010 Rally America Championship, won by Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino.

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino of the Monster World Rally Team have claimed their fifth consecutive 100 Acre Wood Rally win. Block drove the Open Class Ford Fiesta to victory despite having a tough first day and starting the second leg over a minute behind rally leader, Travis Pastrana. The Ford driver was able to gain some ground after Antoine L’Estage dropped to third place due to a water crossing visibility issue and a puncture on the second stage of the day. Read more →

KEN BLOCK TESTS FOR RALLY MEXICO IN MONSTER WORLD RALLY TEAM FORD FOCUS

March 1, 2010, León, Mexico—Directly off their fifth consecutive win at the Rally America 100 Acre Wood Rally, Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino are set for the Monster World Rally Teamʼs first WRC race at Rally Mexico this week.

“Iʼm super stoked to be down here, getting ready to race this week, especially after taking my fifth win at the 100 Acre Wood Rally,” says Ken Block. “I just wish I couldʼve done more than one day of testing in the Ford Focus RS before jumping in the ring with the worldʼs best drivers this weekend at Rally Mexico. But this is my development year, not that I wonʼt be going flat where I can, but I realize that I have a bit to learn before becoming a really competitive driver in the WRC.” Read more →

Domination at 100 Acre Wood Rally Cut Short for Pastrana, Mirra Finishes 4th Overall

(February 28, 2010) Subaru driver Travis Pastrana was nearly untouchable at the 2010 Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, convincingly pulling away from a strong field before a seemingly innocuous driving error late in the event damaged his 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI and forced him to retire. Pastrana’s Subaru teammate, BMX and X Games icon Dave Mirra, finished cleanly in 4th overall as he grew more familiar with his new higher-specification Open Class Subaru STI rally car. The 100 Acre Wood Rally, based in and around Salem, Missouri, was the second stop on the six-event 2010 Rally America National Championship series.

Read more →

Pastrana and Mirra Competing at The 100 Acre Wood Rally this Weekend

Subaru Rally Team USA’s Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra to Compete in The 100 Acre Wood Rally this Weekend

(February 24, 2010) Four-time and defending Rally America National Champion Travis Pastrana will compete on Missouri’s high-speed back roads this weekend at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. The Subaru Rally Team USA driver, who leads the Rally America National Championship after a dominating win at the first round last month, will pilot a BFGoodrich Tires-shod 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI with co-driver Christian Edstrom. Pastrana’s Subaru teammate Dave Mirra, the BMX legend turned rally pro, will drive an identically-prepared Subaru in the event and will have veteran co-driver and former national champion Martin Headland sitting in the navigator’s seat Read more →

Travis Pastrana Leads After First Day of 100 Acre Wood Rally

Salem, MO (February 26, 2010) — After the first day of the 100 Acre Wood Rally, Subaru Rally Team USA’s Travis Pastrana sits in the overall lead, 22 seconds ahead of Rockstar Energy Rally Team’s Antoine L’Estage. Canada’s L’Estage lost ten seconds to Pastrana after suffering a flat on SS1 and will be pushing to catch him on tomorrow’s stages.

Ken Block is campaigning a new 2011 Ford Fiesta with the Monster World Rally Team and currently follows in third place, 46 seconds behind L’Estage.

Block has been outright dominant at this event in the past, having won the 100 Acre Wood Rally four times in a row. He is seeking a “one for the thumb” win here to even the score with Pastrana for the Rally America Championship lead. Many consider the roads of Missouri to favor Block’s “flat out” driving style with long straights and sweeping turns.

Close behind in fourth place, Bill Bacon from New England is within striking distance 38 seconds behind Block.

In Super Production, the father-son team of Travis and Terry Hanson, command a sizeable class lead and could potentially win back-to-back Super Production overall wins. George Georgakopoulos dropped to fourth in class after holding second position going into the day’s final stages. Wazoo Racing’s Tim Penasack is now in second with Tim Rooney three seconds behind him.

Much like Travis Hanson, 2-Wheel Drive Class master, Chris Duplessis, continues to dominate his class in a 20 year-old 1990 Volkswagen Golf. Duplessis is seeking his second 2-Wheel Drive overall win for the season.

Husband and wife team, Henry and Cynthia Krolikowski, provisionally won the Trespassers Wil Regional Rally while also leading the Regional Rally Championship. The top three teams from each Rally America regional series are invited to the 100 Acre Wood Rally to determine a top regional winner after a weekend of competition.

Despite the surprisingly dry and sunny weather not usually seen at 100 Acre, many notable teams have suffered attrition in the first few stages of the day.

NOS Energy Rally Team, Andrew Comrie-Picard, was slated to drive first on the start order before his engine seized during the shakedown stage. This DNF is a drastic blow to Comrie-Picard’s Championship hopes.

Super Production favorite, Piotr Wiktorczyk, put out a serious engine fire early on SS1 that required another team to drop off their fire extinguisher. The car was not severely damaged from the fire and the crew was OK.

Competition will resume at 10:30am CT on Saturday morning out of Salem. Check www.rally-america.com for live updates, results, photos, and more.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

This year there will be six forest events from Maine to Washington, before X Games 16, plus three new European style rallycross events after X Games — all based in Southern New Jersey.

Top teams in the series are also invited to compete in the Summer X Games, the leading action sports event broadcast live on ABC and ESPN.

About Rally America
Based in Golden Valley, Minn., Rally America sanctions the premier rally racing series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series. In 2010, Rally America will conduct six National Championship events at venues across the country, from Olympia, Wash., to Bethel, Maine, and three European style rallycross events in New Jersey.

Photo Credit: Tim Williams/Rally America

Subaru Rally Team USA signs VP Fuels as Official Fuel Supplier

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
***
Subaru Rally Team USA signs VP Fuels as Official Fuel Supplier
(Febuary 24, 2010) Subaru Rally Team USA is pleased to announce today
the selection of VP Racing Fuels products for their 2010 rally
campaign. The partnership includes VP Fuels being designated the
Official Fuel of Subaru Rally Team USA. Subaru Rally Team USA,
managed by Subaru technical partner Vermont SportsCar, is headed by
four-time defending Rally America National Champion Travis Pastrana
and BMX legend Dave Mirra. The team is scheduled to compete in the
six event 2010 Rally America National Championship, ESPN’s X Games 16
Rally Car Racing event as well as Rally America’s three all-new
European-style RallyCross exhibition events this fall.
VP is the Official Fuel of American LeMans Series, NHRA, SuperDirtCar,
World of Outlaws Sprint Car and Late Model Series among others,
fueling championships in North America and around the globe for over
35 years. VP Racing Fuels was founded in 1974 by Steve Burns, who
initially exhibited his aptitude for R&D in the early 1970’s as a
young racer in San Antonio, Texas. Self-taught in chemistry and
physics, Burns began experimenting with exotic blends of fuel, much to
the dismay of his parents whose garage served as Steve’s laboratory.
VP is now recognized by many as the world leader in race fuel
technology, with a catalog of nearly 70 fuel blends and a growing
roster of VP-fueled champions across the entire spectrum of
motorsports.
“VP Fuel has been extremely successful in every form of motorsports
they have entered and their international blends of rally fuel are
second to none,” said Lance Smith, President of Vermont SportsCar.
”The decision to switch to VP Fuels was made after we assessed the
power their rally car products make and learning of the technical and
developmental support VP could provide our team. We are looking
forward to both the technical and performance gains that VP Fuel can
provide our team as we aim to win a fifth straight Rally America
National Championship title.”
Four-time consecutive and defending Rally America National Champion
Travis Pastrana and his teammate Dave Mirra, the 2008 Rally America
Rookie of the Year, both return to Subaru Rally Team USA and will
pilot 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally cars. Vermont SportsCar will
be working closely with VP Fuels on the build and development of the
next evolution of their Rally America Open Class specification Subaru
Impreza WRX STI rally car to maximize engine performance and power
output.
“Rally Racing is probably the most challenging and most exciting form
of car racing on the planet” said Jim Kelly, VP Fuels Regional Manager
for Europe and the Northeast United States. “VP fuels championship
winning teams in all types of racing and while we are in a lot of
rally cars in Europe it will be particularly gratifying to see the
Subaru rally cars of Travis [Pastrana] and Dave [Mirra] flying down
rally stages with VP in the USA.”
Subaru Rally Team USA heads next to the second round in the Rally
America Championship series, the 100 Acre Wood Rally, scheduled on
February 26 – 27 in southern Missouri.

Subaru Rally Team USA is proudly supported by Subaru of America, Inc.,
Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT),
DC Shoes, BFGoodrich Tires, RECARO, Vision X, Alpinestars, Motul,
Exedy, VP Fuels and Vermont SportsCar.

For more information on Subaru Rally Team USA, as well as exclusive
photo and video galleries visit rally.subaru.com and for the latest
news follow the team on Twitter: twitter.com/srtusa.
For more information on VP Fuels please visit www.vpracingfuels.com

Top Team Competition Fierce at Round 2: Rally in the 100 Acre Wood

Salem, MO (February 16, 2010) — The nation’s top teams are coming to the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood set in the beautiful woods of the surrounding Salem, Steelville, Potosi, and Viburnum areas of southern Missouri. The 100 Acre Wood Rally is the second rally in the Rally America National Championship Series.

Fans can expect a fierce battle for the overall lead. Four-time defending champion Travis Pastrana of Subaru Rally Team USA comes to the 100 Acre Wood Rally as the overall National points leader after winning the Sno*Drift Rally last month in Atlanta, Michigan. Read more →

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