Matt Cotton (Left) In Action During On The 2008 Wales Rally GB

Cornish rally driver Matt Cotton will return to the British Rally Championship in 2012, entering both the BRC and the Fiesta Sporting Trophy after a three year break from the sport.

Cotton last competed in an international event in 2008, taking on the Wales Rally GB at the wheel of a Citroen C2R2, but has since been unable to find the budget required to complete an entire BRC season. He returns this year in an ex-Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta, which will be prepared and run by AVS Motorsport and Colin Ridgeway Motorsport, while he will be co-driven by long-time friend and BRC regular Glyn Thomas.

Matt said: “There’ll be some fierce competition in the BRC and Fiesta Trophy this year, but I think my past experience will enable me to set some consistent times. It’s a massive challenge, but I really can’t wait to get back behind the wheel.

It’s always been tough to find a budget to compete, let alone in the British Rally Championship, but it’s what I love so it’s just a case of working hard with our sponsors and making sacrifices in other areas of my life.”

MINI driver Dano Sordo in action on the Monte Carlo Rally (Photo Credit: BMW AG)

The BMW Group today announced they would continue their partnership with Prodrive in the World Rally Championship, however there were a raft of changes as the Mini World Rally Team lost their manufacturer status.

With BMW unwilling to give the extra financial backing to run a second car without sponsorship, and manufacturers obliged to run two cars all season, manufacturer status has instead been transferred to Motorsport Italia run WRC Team Mini Portugal, who have two full time drivers in Armindo Araujo and Paulo Nobre.

Dani Sordo‘s former works car will still run as a semi-works backed effort, albeit without the burden of having to score manufacturers points.

After much uncertainty about Prodrive’s future involvement with the Mini programme, BMW have confirmed they will continue building and maintaining all customer Mini Countryman WRCs, but Motorsport Italia will run the official works cars for the rest of 2012.

The switch in teams for the manufacturers championship ensures that Mini will complete the homologation process for their new car, allowing the Countryman to race in the WRC and other FIA sanctioned championships until 2018.

However, this effectively puts to an end any hopes of Kris Meeke returning to the WRC with Mini, after being benched in favour of pay drivers Pierre Campana and Patrik Sandell so far this season.

Sebastien Ogier - then a Citroen driver - on the 2011 Rally Sweden (Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Media)

The traditional white, snowy backdrop to Sweden’s traditional February WRC round is somewhat incongruous to the rally circus which is about to descend on the picturesque scenery surrounding the host town of Karlstad. Rally Sweden has been a near guaranteed fixture since the sport’s inception, however there are signs that it could be the last time there is even a world championship for them to host.

Amidst the cataclysm of BMW threatening to derail Prodrive’s Mini programme and negotiations over a replacement for North One breaking down, the usual faces are still making the trip to the only snow based rally of the year, a traditional hunting ground for the Blue Oval. The icy conditions are Sebastien Loeb‘s only ‘weakness’, with only a sole win eight years ago being his best result. In 2008 and 2011 Ford were even able to lock out the podium, such was their dominance over their French rivals. 2004 is also their only win here, albeit with their sister marque Peugeot being far more successful with the legendary Marcus Gronholm- a driver far more at home here than Loeb ever will be.

“It’s perhaps not a surface on which I excel, but I love competing here,” he said. “It’s actually one of the season’s most enjoyable rallies. If you look at my record here in previous rallies, it has often been the conditions that have made things more difficult for me.”

“When I went off the road in 2008, it wasn’t really a winter rally as the above-zero temperatures had turned the ice into mud. Last year, I finished sixth but lost any hope of winning after clearing the road of freshly-fallen snow on the first day and then picking up a puncture… When the stages have roads covered with a good layer of sheer ice, I think I’m just as fast as my rivals.”

Even with his natural ability, Loeb has not been able to challenge his new team-mate Mikko Hirvonen for victory, with the Finn picking up maximum points in the last two years the championship has visited Sweden. However, with Hirvonen defecting to Citroen for this year, he is more confident than ever of securing a good result next weekend.

“Mikko has joined the team with his own experience and he has helped improve the set-up of the DS3 WRC on ice,” he added. “I tried his set-up and I immediately felt confident. We have made a lot of progress compared with 2011.”

Hirvonen was outclassed by his world championship team-mate for most of the season opening Rally Monte Carlo, however with Sweden being one of his best events of the year, he expects to be in the mix for victory this time.

“The first thing would say is that I think we have a car that can win. But even though we have done well as this rally in the last four years, it is still going to be a difficult challenge,” he said. “After winning the last two editions of Rally Sweden, obviously my goal is to win again. I think that it will be a more closely-fought race than at Monte Carlo, simply because we will all have the same tyres from start to finish. Personally, it is a new challenge, which is very motivating for me.”

Ford are a team with a prestigious history at this event, currently holding a record of 5 consecutive wins to add to their success with native driver Bjorn Waldegard in 1978. The Nordic feel to the works team will certainly do them no harm, especially with the rally route crossing into Norway and – quite literally – passing Petter Solberg‘s doorstep.

“The farmhouse overlooks the special stage,” he said. “I can stand at the door and see the road, [so] at least I know the road well.”

Much like his notable record of being the last world champion pre-Loeb, the Norwegian driver is also the last driver to win this event in anything other than a Ford, taking victory at the wheel of his former works Subaru Impreza back in 2005. It may have been seven years since he last sipped champagne from the top step of the podium, but next weekend presents him with the best chance to date to finally get back to the top step.

“I have only two days of testing in which to get used to [the car] on snow and ice, but I’m not worried.  Asphalt was the surface on which I expected difficulties in settling into the car, but I felt comfortable immediately at Rallye Monte-Carlo.  Ford has a superb recent record in this rally and Jari-Matti and I want to extend that.”

After the disastrous start to the season, Jari-Matti Latvala will be looking to put his retirement in Monte Carlo behind him, and has set himself a more realistic aim of collecting a Top 3 finish. “That’s my target. I was happy after the first day of my pre-event test. I concentrated on perfecting the car set-up, and that’s now clear in my head. I was a little too aggressive with the settings last year so I’ve modified them slightly,” he said.

The elephant in the room is making a big splash off the stages, but when the timer starts, Mini could struggle to impose themselves in the fight for another podium place. The Countryman WRC is unproven on the slippery snow of Sweden, and tarmac specialist Dani Sordo has never been a fan of the surface. Alongside him in the merry-go-round second seat is former JWRC champion Patrik Sandell, who is looking to impress at his home event. He received backing from former Swedish rally drivers Waldegard, Stig Blomqvist and Tomas Radstrom to compete here this weekend, and has no intention of letting them down.

“This is a fantastic opportunity,” he said. “Knowing that all my idols since I was just a kid are coming together like this to support me is incredible. I think this piece of the puzzle is what I need to take the final step into the WRC class.”

There are other news faces this weekend – former PWRC champion Nasser Al-Attiyah begins his campaign in a semi-works Citroen DS3, after skipping Monte Carlo due to the clashing Dakar Rally. On paper his prospects look somewhat bleak – the format of the lower classes of the sport allowed him to skip the event in the past, and the few results he did score only just scraped him into the points in his own class, so expect an uphill battle for the Qatari driver to get on the scoresheet here.

Ford on the other hand have some more promising drivers backing up their works duo. As in Monte Carlo, Ott Tanak and Evgeny Novikov will be nominated to score points for the second M-Sport team, and the addition of Adapta World Rally Team to the Ford fold brings in another two talented young Norwegian drivers in Mads Østberg and Eyvind Brynildsen. The duo live in the same village of Valler, not far from where the stages cross into Norway, and after Brynildsen lost his drive with Skoda at the end of last season, is hoping a good result here can lead to more opportunities.

“To compete in a World Rally Car is the dream of every rally driver, and what can be better than to do that in cooperation with the neighbour,” said the 24-year-old Brynildsen. “I will prepare well for the task, and at the starting line of the shakedown I will have done 250 kilometres of testing. I will do my very best to have a good result in the rally. I hope that this is the start of something that can be [extended] to more WRC rallies later on. We are working hard to get a budget.”

The M-Sport list continues further, with European Rally Championship regular Michał Sołowow making his seventh appearance in the event, as well as Finn Jari Ketomaa in a self-run Fiesta. While Henning Solberg returns for Go Fast Energy World Rally Team, there has already been a blow for the independent Ford team, with second driver Matthew Wilson having to withdraw through an ankle injury sustained in training.

The SWRC are also back supporting the main series, albeit with only two of the drivers from Monte Carlo returning for the second round. Per-Gunnar Andersson will be hoping bad luck doesn’t strike twice for his Proton, after retiring from the lead in the season opener. Eventual winner Craig Breen will also be present to try and maintain his championship lead, while Giandomenico Basso makes way for Alister McRae in the second Proton. Promising New Zealander Hayden Paddon will be making his first appearance of the season in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

A couple of interesting footnotes will come in the form of Skoda Motorsport once again, with Sebastien Ogier being partnered by Andreas Mikkelsen in S2000 spec machines. Also, yet another Ford has been entered for a rather more unusual driver – multiple Swedish Touring Car Champion Richard Goransson. The Swede has already proven he has the talent to do well at his home event, after finishing second in the Group N category last year and 17th overall. This time he will be driving a WRC spec Mini Countryman, and is looking forward to his second WRC appearance. “This is going to be the biggest challenge in my career and I would lie if I didn’t say that I am nervous,” he said.

As much as I wish I could dwell on the quaint anecdote of a touring car driver taking on the world’s best rally drivers, the ever present danger of collapse will be lingering over the paddock all weekend. Something that may not be lingering around the paddock this weekend however is TV cameras – with the Eurosport deal collapsing, the sport is without a promoter and without any TV rights signed. The FIA have guaranteed Stage 1 Technology will remain to supply tracking data for the entire season, but without any international television coverage, BMW’s threat to quit the sport so soon after joining is beginning to look more sensible than it is malicious.

Loeb, Hirvonen, Solberg & Co could all take 25 points away from Sweden next Sunday. However, as things stand, it seems no-one is truly going to win this weekend.

Craig Breen graduated from last years WRC Academy (Photo Credit: M-Sport)

After the WRC’s former promoter North One Sport went into administration, the WRC Academy support series had been thrown into a state of uncertainty. However,  thanks to an agreement between the FIA and M-Sport, the single-make junior class will return for a 6 round championship at Rally Portugal in March.

M-Sport will be supplying and running the same Ford Fiesta R2s that were used in last year’s championship, which was won by current SWRC driver Craig Breen, who is funding his drive with the €500,000 he recieved as a prize for his title. This year the prize is slightly different, with either a full WRC season in a Fiesta R2 or five rounds of the championship at the wheel of the faster Fiesta S2000 on offer.

“The 2011 WRC Academy Cup was a great success and provided incredibly close competition through to the final stage,” said Michele Mouton, the FIA’s WRC manager. “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with M-Sport, ensuring once again that this arrive and drive formula continues at a set and affordable price for young competitors wishing to enter our sport. We have great confidence in Malcolm Wilson and his team to deliver yet another exciting series that is at the heart of nurturing future talent.”

The six round calendar will also see the young drivers visiting the rough gravel of the Acropolis in May, the fast and flowing stages of Finalnd in August, followed by the first of three asphalt events in Germany at the end of the same month. Rallye de France Alsace and Rally Catalunya in October and November complete the calendar, and drivers will drop one result from their six event campaign towards their championship standing.

Mark Donnelly Scored Two BRC F2 Podiums In His Renault Clio In 2011

The 1998 and 1999 British Rally Champions Renault UK has become the first manufacturer to sign up for the 2012 MSA British Rally Championship.

The British Manufacturer’s Rally Championship has been reinstated for the new two wheel drive era, allowing registered manufacturers and UK importers to vie for the title of British Champion. Renault UK is signing up to a promotional partnership and in 2012, the two highest placed privateer Renault rally cars will score points for the Manufacturer’s Championship.

BRC Manager Mark Taylor commented: “It’s brilliant news that Renault UK are the first to sign up to the Championship. We recognised the commercial realities currently faced by car manufacturers and their dealerships and specifically created a British Championship to attract UK Importers by reducing the usually barriers and high cost of entry.

“We are providing them with a platform to promote products that relate to what is being sold in the showroom. We are also offering them high quality media products and a chance to engage in rally themed dealer events.  Importantly, they will have a stakeholder ship in the future of this world renowned motorsport series.”

Jeremy Townsend, Communications Director for Renault UK, added: “Renault has a long and very successful motor sport heritage and the announcement today adds to the commitment we have in the UK to our national championships.”

MSA British Rally Championship

The MSA British Rally Championship has been obliged to make a change to its regulations regarding stage-based bonus points.

As reporting by The Checkered Flag at the weekend, the organisers of championship were going to implement a bonus points scheme, where drivers picked up one point per stage win. However this contravenes the Motor Sport Association (MSA) regulation 40.1.5, which states:

“There must be no awards for Competitors who equal or improve upon the time schedules for any sections, nor for the fastest times or fewest penalties on any sections.”

Therefore the BRC have had to withdraw the scheme, with paragraph three of the BRC regulation 5.3.1 no longer valid/

Championship Manager Mark Taylor said: “We offer our apologies to the MSA and to any competitor who may be inconvenienced by this change in the regulations. The error is down to us and due to an oversight following an exchange of emails between the championship and the MSA.”

Neil Armstrong Competing On The 2011 Rallye Sunseeker In His Sol Barbados-Liveried Mitsubishi Lancer - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice

Sol Rally Barbados 2012 and its island home are set to have an increased presence at next month’s Rallye Sunseeker, with the organisers and tourism backers of the Caribbean event using the event as a key part of its overseas promotion.

The Barbados event has promoted itself at Sunseeker for two years already, but this year is stepping up its involvement. Supported by the island’s private sector Tourism Development Corporation (TDC), the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) will rewards the winners of the Rallye Sunseeker National with free entry and shipping to Sol Rally Barbados 2012, including flights, accommodation and a rental car, a prize valued at around £5,500.

In addition, the Barbados Tourism Authority’s (BTA) London office has signed an agreement to become a direct Marketing Partner of the Bournemouth-based event, which will see it sponsor an exciting new component of the event, a travel exhibition that will run alongside scrutineering.

The innovative ‘Rallye Sunseeker featuring the Barbados Holiday Show’, a first for UK rallying, will be staged at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) on Friday 24^th February. The Barbados marketing team will then also be present at the Ceremonial Start on Poole Quay later that day, before being at Somerley Park the next day for the popular Motorfair.

BTA vice-president, marketing & sales UK, Petra Roach said: “Sol Rally Barbados is a key element of our sports-tourism product; there is great synergy between it and Rallye Sunseeker – both earn vital tourist income in ‘slower’ months, winter in the UK and summer in Barbados, both are organised by really professional teams, and both attract huge crowds, so I am delighted to take our relationship to the next stage.”

Sunseeker Event Director Rick Smith added: “Rallye Sunseeker has always been about innovation, so our plan to use the BIC as the venue for Scrutineering and Documentation was always on the wish list. Now that the Barbados Tourism Authority has continued – and increased – its support for 2012, we are pleased that the novel plan to link the two activities has culminated in a motor sport event allied to a holiday show.”

2011 British Rally Champion David Bogie - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice

The 2012 MSA British Rally Championship will see a brand new bonus point scheme introduced. The new system, similar to that used in last year’s World Rally Championship Academy, will see extra points handed out to those who set fastest stage times.

The scheme will reward the fastest crew in each class with one extra point per stage win, allowing those who go fastest to be rewarded, and also mean quick crews who may retire from an event to still pick up crucial points.

The scheme will start at next month’s Rallye Sunseeker International, with twelve extra points up for grabs on the event.

Petter Solberg (Photo Credit: World Rally Pics)

Petter Solberg got himself in hot water with the Monte Carlo rally organisers, after being clocked doing 106km/h in a 50km/h zone. The offence was committed last night, as crews returned to service in Monaco following the conclusion of the day’s competitive stages.

“On being questioned, the driver explained that indeed, he was accelerating at the said speed in trying to pass a slower car and in doing so, he passed the continuous centre line on the road, but was then braking immediately. He apologised for his lapse,” according to a statement released by the organisers.

He was charged with breaking Article 151c of the FIA International Sporting Code, which states; “ Any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.”

As a result, he was given a suspended one rally ban, valid for the next six rounds of the championship. The penalty can also be imposed retroactively, meaning he could face disqualification from Rally Sweden if he were to commit a similar offence during said rally. Any speeding offence where he goes over twice the speed limit will trigger the penalty. He was also handed a fine of €1400 for his actions.

Daniel Elena and Sebastien Loeb (Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Media)

Sebastien Loeb once again made the art of winning look effortless, winning the last day’s only stage – which just happened to be the bonus points powerstage – to finish the inaugural round of the 2012 World Rally Championship over 2 minutes up on his rivals and with 28 points to boot.

Loeb hadn’t put a foot wrong all weekend, and asserted his dominance in the final short sprint though Ste Agnes to Col de la Madone, with new team-mate Mikko Hirvonen backing the Frenchman up in second place, 1.2 seconds down the road.

“For sure it’s always a great moment to start the season like this, especially in front of so many fans,” Loeb told World Rally Radio. “Full points in the first race is incredible and for sure it’s the perfect start [to my title defence]. But Monte-Carlo is my rally and for the others we will have to see.”

The battle for second place culminated in a no-show. Petter Solberg had spent the previous day catching Dani Sordo at an alarming rate for the Spaniard, but with three worn tires on the former’s Fiesta RS, he couldn’t muster the blistering pace required to get anywhere near Sordo for second place. Surprisingly for a driver with so much history in the championship though, it was still Solberg’s first time on the podium in Monte Carlo.

The final point for the powerstage went to Evgeny Novikov, who has shown a new sense of maturity at the wheel of his Fiesta RS. The young Russian has been crash-prone in seasons past, but a level headed drive secured fifth place, equalling his best career result in the 2009 Rally d’Italia.

Francois Delecour ended his one-off WRC comeback in unusual fashion, allowing co-driver Dominique Savignoni to step behind the wheel of his Ford to mark the latter’s retirement from rallying. Predictably, they were a distant 52 seconds off the pace, but with both a large time gap and power steering problems for Pierre Campana, they easily retained the sixth place they had been holding for several days.

Just behind the third M-Sport Fiesta of Ott Tanak, the battle for ninth was still very much alive heading into the final stage. Martin Prokop started the powerstage three seconds up on Armindo Araujo‘s Mini, and it was the Czech driver who would prevail in the end by finishing 5th, just 4.4 seconds behind stage winner Loeb.

The other M-Sport Fords were not so lucky this week however. Matthew Wilson finished just outside the points in 11th, while Henning Solberg, whose car had been plagued with mechanical problems since the opening day, came 13th.

Splitting the two was Kevin Abbring, driving for Volkswagen Motorsport as team-mate to the retired Sebastien Ogier. He may have been the highest placed S2000 car, but not being registered to the SWRC, it was left to Craig Breen to pick up maximum points in class as the sole survivor, after previous leader P-G Andersson‘s Proton Satria Neo had died just short of the Col du Turini yesterday evening. Michal Kosciuszko may not have had a perfect rally, but with a class lead of over 10 minutes, he was never going to be threatened for the lead of the PWRC race. He finished 30th overall at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer, with an eye to upgrading the car before his next appearance in the series.

Final Classification

1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 4hrs 32mins 39.9secs
2. Dani Sordo (Mini) +02:45.5
3. Petter Solberg (Ford) +03:14.2
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) +04:06.8
5. Evgeny Novikov (Ford) +06:03.4
6. Francois Delecour (Ford) +07:47.9
7. Pierre Campana (Mini) +08:31.4
8. Ott Tanak (Ford) +10:34.7
9. Martin Prokop (Ford) +16:10.7
10. Armindo Araujo (Mini) +16:16.6

Sebastien Loeb (Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Media)

While Sebastien Loeb stayed in the background, accumulating Top 3 stage times to keep his lead as big as ever, it was Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg who were the center of attention yet again in the battle for second, with Mikko Hirvonen trying to barge his way into the podium places just behind them.

Hirvonen picked up from where he finished the previous day – winning the stage and edging closer towards Solberg ahead. “I was driving quite safely and still did that time,” he said. “I’m not sure it will be enough but I’m getting more familiar with the car.”

Enough it certainly was not – a mere 1.7 seconds was all Hirvonen had been able to gain on the Norwegian. Instead, they had both caught up with Sordo, who was too busy complaining about his ill-handing car – “slow and heavy” as he put it – to notice that Sebastien Loeb was struggling to stay focused on his two minute lead.

“I didn’t take any risks, I’m just trying to find the right rhythm and to be concentrated,” said Loeb. “But it’s really difficult to find the right rhythm when all you have in your mind is not to make no mistakes.”

Sordo’s woes continued in the following stage – dropping 12.5 seconds to the chasing Solberg, albeit with 40 seconds in hand still. All he could do at the end of the opening loop was shrug his shoulders in confusion as to how he had haemorrhaged so much time in just two stages. At the other end of the scale, Solberg was happy with the fastest time in Stage 15, gaining 8.4 seconds on Hirvonen behind.

“I’m just trying to keep my third place for Ford, that’s the main thing for me,” Solberg said. “We have to be realistic. I lost a couple of seconds with a mistake close to the finish. The car is working very well I must say, I feel very comfortable.”

His sentiments made sense in the context of Hirvonen’s anxious performance over the same stretch of tarmac. “I was not so confident on the damp and took it a bit steady,” he explained. “That’s not so good for the podium but I didn’t want to take any chances. It’s going to be tough for the podium now.”

Evgeny Novikov was having similar problems to Sordo due to a bad tyre choice, but didn’t need to worry about losing the 5th place he had held since yesterday, as Francois Delecour had to fight against his own car’s broken power steering throughout the opening two stages. Both M-Sport drivers held position in 5th and 6th despite their relative problems.

The trend set just before afternoon service continued in the rerun over the Col du Turini, with Solberg once again going fastest and gaining significant amounts of time on Sordo. Hirvonen meanwhile turned his slim chance of a podium into no chance of a podium by spinning early in the stage and dropping over 13 seconds to the stage winner.

“It was very good, no major problems at all,” said Solberg. “I took it a little careful on the downhill with no risk. It was a fantastic stage and it was a dream feeling.”

Loeb had similar praise for the Turini re-run, doing a solid job of retaining his lead by finishing just over two seconds off the pace of Solberg. “It was a very good stage, very good condition and nearly dry,” he commented. “It was a real pleasure to drive and there was a great atmosphere with a lot of spectators. I really enjoyed it.”

Solberg had become a man on a mission, and carved another 12.5 seconds out of Sordo on the final stage of the day. Not even the Monte maestro Loeb could keep pace with him, finishing 7.7 seconds down yet still second quickest through Lantosque to Luceram.

Sordo’s advantage may have shrunk to a slender 18.3 seconds, but with only the short 5km powerstage left of the rally tomorrow morning, he was confident he had done enough to secure second place. “Petter needs to push a little harder because I think we have enough of a gap now,” he said.

Regardless of his final position, Solberg was delighted with his performance and his new Fiesta RS, after being on the few drivers to actually take time out of Loeb over the course of a whole day.

“This has been my best day in a car since 2004.  I never dreamed of having a car as good as this, and to be able to attack on the stages like I have today is unbelievable,” he said. “I’m really happy to have set three fastest stage times today.  If someone had offered me that this morning, I’d have gladly accepted it.  When I drive with the feeling I have now it is just unbelievable,” he added.

Podium battles aside, there was good news further down the field, with Delecour showing he isn’t over the hill at 49 years old by coming third in both evening stages. He now looks destined to take 8 points on his one-off WRC comeback, just behind Novikov, 28 years his junior but surprisingly level headed this week. Pierre Campana had a mostly quiet penultimate day, aside from some intercom problems causing a brief issue near the end of Stage 14. And at the foot of the points scoring places there is still a close battle to be fought – Martin Prokop is less than three seconds ahead of 10th placed Armindo Araujo.

The Col du Turini was not going to come and go without claiming at least one victim however. Per-Gunnar Andersson had looked set for a straightforward victory in the SWRC class with several minutes in hand over his sole surviving rival Craig Breen. His victory hopes literally went up in smoke on the Turini re-run, a minor fire grinding his Proton to a halt just short of the famous peak, forcing him to retire on the spot and hand the only remaining points to Breen.

“[Andersson and co-driver Axelsson] reported smelling fuel in the car and saw a fire as they were going up the hill,” explained Proton team principal Chris Mellors. “They put the fire out, but have been forced to retire. Obviously we don’t know the precise nature of the fire until we get the car back here.”

He continued, “As you can expect, the team are completely gutted. After Giandomenico [Basso] went out on the first stage, PG has driven the perfect rally and done precisely what we asked of him. He extended his lead to an incredible seven minutes, but it’s all over now. Unbelievable. We were so close to a top 10 and completely dominant SWRC win on our first time out with the car at this level. Now, we go away and come back stronger on the next one.”

With just tomorrow’s powerstage to go, everyone with the exception of Prokop looks safe. But being the Monte, it wouldn’t be surprising to see one last twist in the tale. Delecour winning the powerstage is the surprise I will be looking for, but it seems like yet another event where Loeb can do no wrong.

Classification after Day 4

1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 4hrs 29mins 12.1secs
2. Dani Sordo (Mini) +02:41.6
3. Petter Solberg (Ford) +03:00.7
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) +04:05.6
5. Evgeny Novikov (Ford) +06:00.8
6. Francois Delecour (Ford) +06:55.7
7. Pierre Campana (Mini) +08:21.3
8. Ott Tanak (Ford) +10:27.2
9. Martin Prokop (Ford) +16:06.3
10. Armindo Araujo (Mini) +16:09.2

Subaru has confirmed they will once again register for manufacturer status in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, meaning select drivers of the Subaru Impreza R4 will be nominated for points throughout the season.

Fuji Heavy Industries has confirmed their long serving factory driver Toshi Arai will return for a full season, along with two new drivers to the Subaru fold.

“In addition to Arai, Subaru will be supporting Jarkko Nikara from Finland and Andreas Aigner from Austria in 2012,” a joint statment between Fuji Heavy Industries and Subaru Tecnica International confirmed.

Andreas Aigner, a former semi-works Skoda driver and 2008 PWRC champion, will be driving a Stohl Racing run Impreza, with a programme expected to include the French, Belgian, Romanian, Czech and Cypriot rounds of the championship. Nikara’s programme will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Mikko Hirvonen in action - Credit: Citroen Racing

While Sebastien Loeb remained out front, it was a subdued day for the Frenchman, with Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen taking two stage victories to rapidly close in on the ailing Petter Solberg, who let second place slip of out of his grasp and leave it for the taking by Dani Sordo.

As always tyre choice was going to be a decisive factor, and the Citroens had planned ahead for the icy stage to follow. Loeb had dominated the previous day, but after he chose a mixture of slicks and studs, it was the ever determined Solberg that came first on the opening stage, taking 13 seconds out of Sordo in the wet and slippery conditions of St Jean en Roynans to Font d’Urle. The tyre choice of the works Citroens allowed the customer Fords to capitalise, with Francois Delecour setting an impressive second quickest time, 3.3 seconds behind the flying Solberg. He was followed by another two M-Sport Fiestas, Evgeny Novikov and Ott Tanak.

Despite the lack of pace in the opening test, Sordo, like Solberg, had also gone for a tyre choice that was more suitable for the opening stage, with no studs to rely on in the upcoming icy stage. Despite this, it was Solberg who suffered the most, dropping over a minute to the Spaniard and falling dangerously close to the chasing Hirvonen, who had chosen studded tyres all round and won the second stage of the day.

“I had slicks on the rear and no studs on the front and there was so big aquaplaning from the start,” said Solberg. “I almost went off, it was unbelievable. There was so much water and black ice. It was much worse than I expected.”

“It was really, really tricky,” added Sordo. “We didn’t take tyres with studs and lost a lot in the last part where there was snow and where it was really bad.”

Another driver who guessed right in the tyre lottery was Pierre Campana in the second Mini Cooper. He set the third fastest stage time, helping him build a more comfortable gap to the chasing Ford of Ott Tanak.

The only stage of the afternoon was more of the same from Stage 12. After a couple of troubled days, Hirvonen had finally found harmony with his DS3 and was flying. Solberg meanwhile was having yet more problems, his aggressive corner-cutting causing a puncture and breaking a wheel rim. He limped his Fiesta RS to the stage finish, but the damage was already done – Hirvonen had closed to within 20.8 seconds of the Norwegian.

Loeb backed up his Finnish team-mate in second place in Stage 13, ensuring he retained a lead of over two minutes to Sordo heading into the penultimate day of the rally.

Evgeny Novikov has so far put past demons behind him, driving at a fast pace but avoiding errors that have blighted past seasons for the Russian driver at senior level. He set the third fastest time in the final stage of the day, but has fallen further behind Hirvonen and looks unlikely to improve on his current 5th position. However, he holds a lead of over two minutes to closest challenger Delecour, who holds a fine sixth place on his first WRC event in a decade.

Per-Gunnar Andersson still holds 9th place overall and the lead of the SWRC class, however Armindo Araujo is recovering from earlier mistakes and problems with his Mini Cooper WRC, and with only 1 minute 20 seconds in hand over the Portuguese driver, 9th may change to 10th tomorrow. He still holds a comfortable lead in his class, but Andersson wasn’t without problems in his quest for 10 points. His Proton Satria Neo’s windscreen de-mister failed, causing vision problems through Stage 12.

With only a single 5km stage on Sunday, tomorrow will likely decide the fate of the rally. The drivers will face 85km of competitive stages, with the enigmatic Col du Turini featuring twice, with the re-run taking place at night. It has taken many famous scalps in the past, but with the field whittled down to such low numbers already, can the Turini create one last surprise this weekend?

Overall standings after Day 3

1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 3hrs 31mins 25.2secs
2. Dani Sordo (Mini) +02:12.4
3. Petter Solberg (Ford) +03:22.2
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) +03:43.0
5. Evgeny Novikov (Ford) +04:28.2
6. Francois Delecour (Ford) +06:39.1
7. Pierre Campana (Mini) +07:45.1
8. Ott Tanak (Ford) +08:44.8
9. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Proton) +13:20.8
10. Armindo Araujo (Mini) +10:31.4

Ogier and Ingrassia before their rally ending crash (Photo Credit: VW Motorsport)

Sebastien Ogier’s co-driver Julien Ingrassia has sustained an injury to his right arm, after an accident in the last of today’s stages in the season opening Rallye Monte-Carlo.

The French duo’s Skoda Fabia S2000 left the road around 5km from the end of the Lamastre-Gilhoc-Alboussiere stage, and sustained heavy damage as a result.

“Julien told us that there is some problem from his arm, but he doesn’t expect it is broken, the doctor will be able to find out some more,” team press officer Stefan Moser told Autosport. “The crash happened in a long left corner. The car went off the road and hit at the right-hand side of the stage. I believe the right-hand side of the car is destroyed.”

The exact nature of Ingrassia’s injuries are unknown so far, however they are expected to be minor and unlikely to rule him out for any other rallies this season.

Sebastien Loeb (Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Media)

Sebastien Loeb won five stages and greatly increased his rally lead today, while his closest rivals Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg spent the day’s six stages constantly swapping places in the other podium places.

Loeb was quick to assert his staus as rally leader at the start of the day. He won stage five by 2.9 seconds from Solberg, but crucially for the Norwegian, he was also 2.9 seconds faster than Sordo, taking second place as a result.

“It was two different tyres each side and it was quite tricky from the start,” said Solberg. “But once I got the temperature in the tyres I kept the speed. Everything can happen on this rally so there will be no crazy pushing. There will be no risks or going over the top. I will keep it steady.”

Perhaps he had been to cautious on the following stage – he dropped 2.2 seconds to Sordo and slipped back down to third place.

“It was okay, no major problem,” said Solberg. “It’s just very difficult on the ice. I knew it would be tricky.”

Loeb had no such problems however, and went fastest again. More importantly for Citroen however, Mikko Hirvonen had finally started to make progress, passing both Sebastien Ogier and Evgeny Novikov in SS6.

“This one was a little better,” said the Finn. “It takes a bit of time to find the rhythm and to be confident with the grip level but it’s not too bad. I’m learning all the time and for sure I want to finish the rally.”

Francois Delecour suffered in the day’s second stage, a broken intercom meaning he could not hear pacenotes from co-driver Dominique Savignoni. It almost ruined his rally, missing a pace-note and crashing into a wall. However the pair swapped helmets for the following stage which fixed the problem, only losing minimal time to Pierre Campana behind.

“I just couldn’t hear his note: after we hit the wall, I was sure that our rally was over,” said Delecour. “I couldn’t believe that we had got away with it, and the damage was relatively minor.”

Further up the leaderboard, the fight for second continued in the final morning stage. Loeb was fastest yet again, but Solberg was able to find four seconds over Sordo and reclaimed second position. It seemed that the Ford driver was finally starting to break the Spaniard.

“I pushed really, really hard and did not make any mistakes. The time looks bad but I don’t know how,” said Sordo.

The other Sebastien had not given up on the three way battle for fourth, after setting the fourth fastest time through Lamastre to Alboussiere: “On this one it was a fantastic time. We pushed like hell but some places it was still tricky.”

After mid-day service, Sordo was on a mission to reclaim second place. He did what no other driver was able to on Wednesday – beat Loeb to a stage victory, albeit by the rather slender margin of 0.2 seconds. It wasn’t even enough to move up the leaderboard, but he did gain a valuable 2.5 seconds on Solberg.

“I have more feeling with the car, the road is better and I have more confidence with the soft tyre,” he said. “I can push more because I also did some small modification in the shocks and also the gearbox.”

Petter Solberg lies just three seconds behind Dani Sordo in the battle for second

Solberg edged further ahead in the penultimate stage, but on Stage 10, Sordo was 6.1 seconds faster, confirming he would end the day as the best of the rest behind the dominant Loeb. Solberg was at a loss to how the Mini driver was able to make up so much time on the final run of the day.

“There was so much mud in some places and I really struggled,” he explained. “That’s the only thing I can think of. We’ve lost second but it’s a long way to go.”

The battle for fourth went from a three way fight to a head t0 head. Ogier had been struggling due to the lower power in his Skoda S2000, but he took himself out of contention for a Top 5 finish by crashing out of the final stage. By now Hirvonen had also moved ahead of Novikov, but only holds a 6 second advantage over the Russian driver going into tomorrow.

Delecour now holds a steady sixth place, while Campana moved up to 7th, after falling behind Ott Tanak for a brief period. Henning Solberg was having a miserable weekend however – after differential problems on the opening day, his engine dropped a cylinder mid-way through SS7, and then had brake problems in the afternoon after a stone became wedged in one of his Fiesta’s calipers. He is at the rear of a chain of ailing Fords, with Martin Prokop 12th, Matthew Wilson 13th and Henning 14th, but over a minute away from gaining any positions.

The barely represented support classes remained as they were at the end of the opening day – Per Gunnar Andersson leading Craig Breen in the SWRC, and Michal Kosciuszko several minutes up on debutant Louise Cook in the PWRC class.

1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 2hrs 45mins 56.9secs
2. Dani Sordo (Mini) +01:37.2
3. Petter Solberg (Ford) +01:40.9
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) +03:40.4
5. Evgeny Novikov (Ford) +03:51.5
6. Francois Delecour (Ford) +05:19.9
7. Pierre Campana (Mini) +06:49.6
8. Ott Tanak (Ford) +07:00.6
9. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Proton) +10:08.9
10. Kevin Abbring  (Skoda) +10:31.4

Supercars from Aston Martin share the event wiith more conventional rally cars

Motorsport makes its return this weekend as this Sunday see’s the return of the TRS (Essex) ltd Brands Hatch Stage Rally at the Kent circuit, the first event on the busy MSV Calendar this year. After a successful event last year which saw Rallying return to Brands Hatch after a long absence, this year’s Rally hosted by The Chelmsford Motor Club will be bigger and better.

Eight stages having been increased in length from last year will incorporate the Indy Circuit, paddock, rally stages and access roads will take place in front of spectators on a circuit which provides superb viewing areas and facilities which makes Brands Hatch an ideal venue to host the event.

With over 90 cars set to compete on changeable surfaces and winter conditions, it is sure to be a spectacle for all motorsport fans. A whole range of modern and classics, from purpose built rally cars to hatchbacks and also Ferrari and Aston Martin supercars will up against fan favourites such as Mk1 Escorts and Subaru Impreza’s providing great entertainment. With the day’s event starting at 9.45am and run into the darkness of the early evening, spectators will be treated to blazing headlights, glowing brake discs and flaming exhausts. With the paddock area forming part of the stages, Colin Chapman Way will be used as the service area allowing the cars to be seen close up.

Pete Raynor and Richard Bonner seek to add to their Rockingham success. (Image - Chris Gurton Photography)

Last year’s winners John Indri and Dave Engwell will return to defend the title and try to make it back to back event victories in their Darrian T90 GTR but will face stiff opposition from the likes of Nigel Mummery and Fiona Scarlett in their Ford Focus WRC hoping to better last years disappointing result which saw them stuck in the gravel at Druids and The Pairing of Pete Raynor and Richard Bonner who look to add to their victory at the Rockingham Stages Rally last month in their Mk2 Ford Escort.

Rally Fans Will Be Able To Enjoy Live Rallye Sunseeker Coverage - Photo Credit: Neil Tozer/PDM Motorsport Imaging

The Southern Car Club, the organisers of Rallye Sunseeker 2012, have announced an exciting partnership with MIS Motorsport and Screens2Go that will see supporters able to see live footage of the February event.

MIS Motorsport, a leading global supplier of insurance products and services to the motorsport industry, is sponsoring a Screens2Go mobile TV screen. The screen will be at Scrutineering at the Bournemouth International Centre on Friday, before moving to Poole Harbour that evening to screen the Ceremonial Start live.

On Saturday, the screen will be at Somerley Park, where it will show live coverage of the two stages taking place at Somerley, with up to four cameras positioned on the stage to provide the footage. During the two days, all the footage will also be transmitted live to the Rallye Sunseeker website, allowing even more fans to watch the action.

MIS Motorsport’s Chief Executive Dermot Hanafin said: “Although we are a global company, it makes sense for us to team up with Rallye Sunseeker and Screens2Go for this year’s event. The rally is one of the best organised in the UK, and has a name for being well run and organised- for competitors by competitors. Our collaboration with Screens2Go means that we can help bring a new form of rally coverage, and also get our message across to everyone involved.”

Managing Director of Screens2Go, Charlie McGuckin, commented: “It’s good to be coming back to Rallye Sunseeker, we were here a few years ago and it went well. We have a new smaller screen TV unit now so it means we can be mobile and access areas that we could not before. It’s good that MIS Motorsport have joined us, as it means we can show to other organisers what can be achieved and how the rally, or any event for that matter can be screened back live through an event website.”

Rally Director Rick Smith added: “The whole deal came about very quickly at the Autosport Show and it’s good to have Charlie back here in Bournemouth.  When he was here a few years ago his service created huge interest. So with MIS Motorsport on board as a partner, it is shaping up to be a great addition for the rally. Dermot is well known in rallying and we are delighted to see him and his company join us.”

Sebastien Loeb, Rallye Monte Carlo (Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Media)

The script was already written – Sebastien Loeb, the master of the Monte, would end the first day by comfortably leading his rivals. For a while however, Jari-Matti Latvala seemed determined to turn the rally on its head by setting the script on fire.

The opening stage was by the book – reigning champion Loeb took the stage win, albeit with a determined Dani Sordo snapping at his heels. Mikko Hirvonen backed up his new team-mate in third position to hold off the works Fords of Latvala and Petter Solberg in 4th and 5th.

While stage one was typical dry asphalt, stage two was littered with patches of ice and snow. Loeb and Latvala had both taken a tyre choice of studs and slicks – one of each front and back – but crucially the Finn had taken super-softs to the Frenchman’s soft rubber. The impact was huge – Latvala took a colossal 52 seconds out of the world champion, immediately promoting him to the lead. Team-mate Solberg was equally as impressive – on full slicks he still finished second in the ice and snow of Burzet to St Martial, 24s faster than Loeb.

“We had not tested like this,” said Latvala. “I didn’t know what would happen, I was a little bit worried, but Petter had done something like this in Germany [last year] and he said it would be okay. It was a good decision.”

Sordo was the main loser from the unpredictability of the second stage, hitting a wall and damaging his Mini’s suspension. The big time gaps between drivers ensured he stayed in 4th overall for the time being however. Bryan Bouffier was not so lucky – driving his Peugeot 207 S2000 into a bridge cost him over 5 minutes, after being the inital leader in his class. Thierry Neuville also suffered through no fault of his own, held up by the slow Mini Countryman of Paolo Nobre and leaving him 13th.

The surprise of stage two was swiftly forgotten in the afternoon loop though. Solberg gambled on tyres yet again, but this time it backfired – a pair of snow tyres on a much improved road surface cost him dearly. Meanwhile Hirvonen was being carved to pieces by his world champion team-mate, his woes compounded by clipping a wall and damaging his brakes as a result.

Their problems paled into insignificance compared to Latvala however. The rerun of Burzet to St Martial may have been clearer than earlier that day, but there were still stretches of ice in places. In the end, something as small as half of a single pace note was the difference between leading the Monte Carlo Rally and retiring after rolling his Fiesta off the road. It was as if nothing had changed since years gone by; Just as Latvala looked to be a real contender on pace alone, he binned it and made Loeb’s task all the more easy.

“Miikka called a note about a tightening corner with ice in it,” explained Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson. “Jari was looking for the ice and didn’t register the tightening part of the call. The car slid wide, hit a wall and rolled over it.”

The man to benefit from the assorted mistakes was the same person who suffered during the morning run of the stage – Sordo moved back into second place, albeit just one second ahead of Solberg.

Through all the ups and downs of the opening day, there was another Frenchman who was keen to prove he had the skill to master the jewel in the crown of rallying. Sebastien Ogier is driving an S2000 spec Skoda Fabia this season, and his fast, consistent driving against the more powerful WRC spec cars earned him a solid fourth place at the end of the opening day. Ford may well be ruing letting Ogier slip through their fingers at the end of last season if he can keep this up for the rest of the rally.

Further down the order, Neuville’s woes contiuned, retiring from the final stage of the day. With no superally regulations in effect this week,  both he and Latvala will be sitting out the rest of the rally.

Two M-Sport drivers are sandwiching Hirvonen in 6th after the opening four stages – Evgeny Novikov is only 5.4 seconds behind Ogier’s Skoda, and Francois Delecour has done well to stay in touch with his far younger team-mate. A long way back from the Ogier to Delecour group is Pierre Campana, the pay driver in the second Mini. From the off he was unable to live with the pace of the other works cars, and is unsurprisingly lagging behind so far.

Unfortunately the support categories have been stripped to the bone at the start of this season. After the end of day one, out of the few SWRC entrants who turned up to begin with, only two remain. Per-Gunnar Andersson is 10th overall and over three minutes ahead of Craig Breen, who picked up a puncture on the final stage of the day.

Sebastien Loeb, Citroen DS3 (Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Media)

The Rallye Monte Carlo may be one of the most prestigious events on the WRC calendar, however this is the first time in four years the world’s greatest drivers will have faced the infamous rally, with the legendary Col du Turini once again included on the route of this year’s event.

Monte Carlo is like a second home to Citroën and Sébastien Loeb – they’ve won here five times in the last ten years.

“And yet, it’s three years since I last competed in this rally,” said Loeb, playing down his chances to dominate in one of his most successful stomping grounds. “I don’t doubt my ability to be on the pace, since we haven’t really stopped since the end of last season. But this rally is so specific, you can never be sure of anything.”

Loeb’s new team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is in the odd situation of being the most recent winner of the WRC drivers competing this weekend, yet a driver expected to struggle compared to both his team-mate and some of the other top drivers. He won the rally in 2010 for Ford when it formed part of the Intercontinental  Rally Challenge, but his best result in the WRC was 2nd place in 2008 – finishing a massive two and a half minutes behind winner Loeb.

“I’m a little apprehensive about Monte-Carlo,” he said. “Starting a stage where there are icy patches on slick
tyres is not something I am particularly looking forward to, but that’s part of what makes this rally special. My aim for
this weekend will be to ‘survive’, or in other words, make it to the finish without incident and pick up as many points as
possible in the championships.”

The Ford team Hirvonen departed at the end of last season has promoted Jari-Matti Latvala to lead driver – and the Finn is confident of a solid result, after winning the asphalt Rallye du Var last November as a warm-up to the season opener.

“I feel I’m more competitive on asphalt than ever,” he said. “It will be hard to win against the asphalt experts but a top three finish would be a good start to the season ahead of rallies that suit me more.”

Ford’s newest recruit Petter Solberg has never finished on the podium in Monte Carlo despite making seven starts here, but has an ace up his sleeve for this year’s event.

“I competed there last year, when it wasn’t a WRC round, so I know all the stages except the two new ones,” he explained.   However he may also be hindered by his lack of experience with the Ford Fiesta RS, having only completed two days of running leading up to the rally.

Mini has also returned with two Countryman WRCs, one for tarmac specialist Dani Sordo and the other for French pay-driver Pierre Campana. Mini won this even three times in the 1960s with the iconic Mini Cooper S, however with uncertainty looming regarding the future of the team – exemplified by Kris Meeke being sidelined in the opening  two rallies of the season – many will wonder if the WRC’s newest manufacturer will have both eyes on the prize this weekend.

Outside the top teams, Ott Tänak and Evgeny Novikov will be representing M-Sport Ford. Tänak also warmed up for the opening rally of 2012 by contesting the Rallye du Var, finishing in second behind Latvala, driving an identical Ford WRT run Fiesta RS.

M-Sport also have a notable third driver for the Monte – François Delecour, who won here in 1994.

“I am so excited to be back behind the wheel of a WRC car,” he said. “It’s been ten years since I last drove one. I have to say that the car is feeling fantastic. We did some testing with the Fiesta earlier in the week and it’s a real joy to drive. I cannot wait for the competition to start. There’s a great spirit here and so many spectators on the stages – even during practice. It’s unbelievable.”

Last year’s most frequently points nominated M-Sport drivers, Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson, will again be present in Ford WRCs, albeit as independent entrants. Martin Prokop also returns at the wheel of a Fiesta RS WRC for the Czech National Team.

Over at Citroën, Thierry Neuville will make his top-level WRC debut for the junior team, and Peter van Merksteijn, Sr. will continue running in his own Citroen DS3 WRC. Neuville has shown genuine pace on sealed surfaces, winning last year’s Tour de Corse and Rallye Sanremo in the IRC, driving for Peugeot.

The conditions are always a game changer in Monte Carlo, and all the drivers seem well aware that something as simple as bad tyre choice could potentially wreck their weekend.

“It’s challenging and stressful in equal measure,” said Latvala.  “You have to think about the weather and tyre choice.  When we’re in the service park at sea level in Monte-Carlo, we must predict what the weather will be like in the mountains at 1200m and make a selection accordingly.  A wrong choice can cost several seconds per kilometre, so it can win or lose the rally.”

Even rally favourite Loeb is worried about the conditions, after completeing the recce earlier this week.

“The first two days in the recce it was looking like a tarmac rally, with wet and humid conditions in some places,” he explained. “Then the third day of the recce it was full of snow. So it was really tricky, and if we have this kind of condition it will be very difficult. Now it depends on the weather.”

“It looks like there are going to be many moments where we are in those conditions on the wrong tyre, but that’s what Monte Carlo is about,” added Hirvonen. “So we just need to cope with that, survive and get through the stages. It’s all about making the best compromise with the tyre choice.” 

The rally begins tomorrow morning, with the longest stage of the entire rally getting the drivers underway. At 37km, Le Moulinon to Antraigues and its second running later in the day represents the best chance for drivers to gain time on one another – but all eyes will be on Saturday’s stages 14 and 16, when the cars will drive up to the legendary Col du Turini. The rally comes to a close with a single sprint finish on Sunday, with only 5km of tarmac to settle any close battles lasting until the final day.

All signs may point to Loeb taking yet another convincing win, but considering all the twists and turns the sport has endured leading up to the season opener, perhaps it is a sign of things to come for the drivers themselves.

Pirelli Have Continued Their Tyre Provider Deal And Star Driver Programe, As Won By Elfyn Evans - Photo Credit: tegsport.co.uk

The British Rally Championship have announced a new deal that sees Pirelli continue as its sole tyre provider for a further two years.

Pirelli have been the control tyre for the series since 2007, with the previous agreement set to end at the conclusion of the 2012 season. The new deal however will see Pirelli continue to provider tyres until the end of 2014.

As part of its commitment to the series, Pirelli also runs its young driver shootout, giving one young driver each year a fully paid season in the series. This years recipient is Jukka Korhonen, who will contest the BRC in a Pirelli-backed Skoda Fabia R2.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Manager Carl Naylor said: “Each of the six rallies have different surfaces and challenges that place a whole range of demands upon the tyre. This not only enables the drivers to learn a range of driving skills and techniques, but means that they have to learn tyre control and strategy; an important part of being a world-class rally driver.

“We have provided the Pirelli Scorpion K6 gravel tyre and K4 tarmac tyre to the series for a number of years now and drivers have found them to be extremely durable and reliable while offering them the grip required of these demanding rally stages. We’re really pleased to be able to commit to the BRC for a further two years and believe that with all the changes being made this year, it’s going to be a very exciting series to be involved in. This deal also takes in the Pirelli Star Driver programme for 2013 and 2014.”

BRC Championship Manager Mark Taylor added: “In this current global environment, it’s fantastic that we have secured this three year deal with Pirelli which also includes the coveted Star Driver competition. This agreement is a real testament, it shows Pirelli has confidence in the future direction of the Championship and we are delighted to extend our partnership which is now in its eleventh year.”

Tom Cave In Action During Rallye Sunseeker 2011 - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice

The organisers of the 2012 Rallye Sunseeker are offering fans the chance to win tickets to this year’s rally by uploading their photos and videos from last years event.

Two separate prizes of an AAA Car Pass and Programme worth £70.00, are being offered to the fans who upload the best photos and videos to the rally’s Flickr and Youtube channels.

Budding photographers are asked to upload a maximum of one photo to the rally’s Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/rallyesunseeker2012/), with the photos to be put in a poll on the rally’s facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/rallysunseeker), where the winner will be chosen.

For those with videos of the 2011 event, they should upload their video to Youtube, before adding a link to their video in the channel comment box on the rally’s official Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/RallySunseeker). Like with the photos, the videos will be uploaded to the Facebook page, where a poll will decide the best.

The competitions are for amateurs only, with the closing date for entries the 5^th February, followed by the polls running on the 8^th to 15^th February.

2012 Dakar Rally

Arequipa – Nasca
245 km

Stage twelve took the remaining competitors northwards along the Peruvian Pacific coastline. It began with a lengthy liaison section, and finished with a tough 20 kilometre stretch of dunes.

Bikes: Coma Bridges The Gap To Regain Lead

Marc Coma started the stage exactly four minutes behind Cyril Despres on the road, courtesy of finishing two places behind the Frenchman on the previous stage. He successfully closed Despres down over the stage, thus making up just under four minutes and regaining the rally lead. His advantage with two stages remaining stands at a narrow 1m35s.

It was a Spanish 1-2-3 on the stage, with the continually impressive Joan Barreda Bort coming in second and Jordi Viladoms in third.

“It was a difficult day,” said Coma. “I set off four minutes after Cyril and I managed to catch up with him. For the entire first part of the special I mainly focused on navigation, because there was absolutely no room for mistakes. After that, I knew that there would be good opportunities to attack in the second part and that’s where I managed to regain ground on Cyril. It’s no way near over, because there’s another big stage tomorrow.”

His rival was remarkably upbeat despite losing his lead: “It was a magnificent stage, one of the finest specials that I’ve ridden on the Dakar over the last few years. In sporting terms, I expected that Marc was going to catch up with me and that it wouldn’t be a good day. But it was majestic. I don’t have any regrets, because I attacked throughout the first part. You have to go for broke on this Dakar; it’s not a race where you can play the waiting game. Against Marc Coma, I’m doing battle with an excellent rider. He’s quick and clever. So, I try and find the right pace. Apparently, there are riders in between us, so that’s good news for the start tomorrow.”

Quads: Marcos’ Turn

The dominant Patronelli brothers have been taking  it turns to win the stages in recent days, with the rally all but gone to Alejandro with a comfortable overall lead of more than an hour. Today it was Marcos’ turn, 42 seconds ahead of his brother.

Cars: Gordon Returns As Peter Gets Stuck

Robby Gordon bounced back from losing 1h50m yesterday to mechanical problems by winning the stage by over 15 minutes as he looked to regain some pride. Leonid Novitsky put in his best performance since his stage-opening flash-in-the-pan stage win by coming second, ahead of Giniel de Villiers.

But where was Peterhansel? The Frenchman got his Mini stuck in the dunes for over 20 minutes. Fortunately for him, his nearest rival (and teammate) Nani Roma also got stuck, and as a result he only lost 2m49s of his lead.

“I showed the plug that everyone’s been talking about that gives me all super power and I just proved that Minis are for girls, because we beat them by twenty minutes,” said Gordon, referring to the technical infringement he has been accused of making by the race jury.

“It was a great stage, with big dunes and the car’s fast. It’s the same system that the French officials approved one year ago and now they’ve changed their minds. I’m pissed. I’m pissed at Stephane and I’m pissed at Nani for challenging my character about being a cheater and today I kicked their asses. I’m going to prove something every day for the rest of the rally. We’re going to win every special from here home.”

Peterhansel said: “As soon as we crossed the first dunes, we went over a crest and behind it was a sink hole, immediately penalising us as we got stuck. Time passed and the minutes seemed long. We lost at least 20 minutes, which meant that we would also lose the lead in the general standings. We cleared some sand and moved the car forward centimetre by centimetre to get out of there. Afterwards, I have to admit I took risks to claw the time back. That was the 50 km where I’ve attacked the most during the whole rally. In the end we caught up with Nani several kilometres from the finish, so he must have had problems too. I’ve been saying for a while that by getting stuck in the dunes it’s possible to lose half an hour. Today we came close to a real setback.”

Roma added: “We saw that the sand was soft right away, so we deflated the tyres a bit and I saw that Stephane seemed to be stuck in a hole. A bit later, I inflated the tyres and then it was my turn to get stuck in a hole. In the end, we went through the dunes with very little air in the tyres because one of the tyres came of its rim. I opened the tracks in the dunes and it just goes to show that you also need a bit of luck. At the end, Stephane overtook me, but I’m happy to have finished. I think the rest of the cars will finish very late this evening.”

Trucks: De Rooy Marches On

Gerard De Rooy scooped his fifth stage win of the rally as he continues towards the overall win in his Iveco. Teammates Hans Stacey and Miki Biasion incredibly managed exactly the same time, 32 seconds behind their team leader.

2012 Dakar Rally

Arica – Arequipa

Bike/Quad: 534 km
Car: 478 km
Truck: 432 km

The Dakar moved into Peru for the first ever time before Stage 11. Those on bikes and quads had a longer stage and journey, to their own bivouac for the night, west of Arequipa.

Bikes: Despres Ekes Out A Lead

Cyril Despres had seen his lead over great rival and KTM teammate Marc Coma shrink the previous day, but today he fought back to gain two minutes on the Spaniard and bring his overall lead up to 2m22s. Coma was only third quickest through the stage – P2 being reserved by his fellow Catalan Gerard Farres Guell. Farres Guell will no doubt move over for Coma during the next stage, helping Coma to gain time on Despres.  Despres’ helper in the KTM ranks – fellow Frenchman Johnny Aubert – was fourth fastest – and hence is ready to capitalise.

“After a modification to the road-book, one of the tracks wasn’t very visible,” explained Despres. “I rode 100 metres to far, but I saw that Marc was turning round, even though he started two minutes before me. The day already started with a bath in a stream, pushing alongside the bike. It was a tough day, all in all! An important development might be if someone moves in between Marc and me. In any case, apart from attacking and riding, there wasn’t much to do today. Mind you, if Farres has actually finished 2nd, it’s not good for me. Tomorrow will be complicated, but anything can happen on the Dakar.”

Coma said: “We had a mixture of several types of terrain: earthy, sandy and stony. It was predictable that Cyril would gain time on me today. I’m going to try my utmost right until the end. There are three days left to give it everything. It’s difficult to define a strategy when Cyril is riding flat out in front! I’ll just have to follow him. It won’t be flat out, but the pace will again be quick, like it has been since the beginning of the race.”

Quads: Patronellis Strike Back In The Stage Win Battle

Alejandro and Marcos Patronelli had lost out to fellow Argentine Tomas Maffei on the previous stage, but today they struck back. Domiant rally leader Alejandro took the stage, half a minute ahead of Marcos. Maffei meanwhile was 19 minutes further back.

Once again the brothers rode together:

“It was a great special and we’ve managed to get to Peru,” said Alejandro. “I’m happy because Marcos and I are together. There was a lot of navigation, but we took it easy. We were very lucky and fortunately my brother was there with me. My quad got stuck in the mud and one of the wheels just wouldn’t shift, it was stuck in the tyre tracks. Marcos was a few seconds behind me and if he hadn’t been, I’d probably still be there. Our solidarity is very moving. After the link route, there was a section where we came across a 200 metre descent with a 45% gradient. The quad started skidding into the stones. It was scary, but really majestic. I think we can accomplish something good. We’ll try and continue like that. I salute Peru and long live Argentina!”

Cars: Victory Chances Over For Robby

Having lost around 15 minutes to rally leader Stephane Peterhansel on stage ten, things got much, much worse for Robby Gordon. A mechanical failure sustained during the first part of the stage ended up in him losing over an hour trying to fix it, and he would find more trouble later on that resulted in him coming home 1h50m behind – although it only dropped him from third to fourth on the overall leaderboard.

Peterhansel won the stage to put a further 3m44s between him and nearest rival and Mini teammate Nani Roma. Giniel de Villiers is now set for a podium finish after Gordon’s troubles.

“We lost a CV joint boot and when we finished the first special we tried to change it,” said Gordon. “It took us too long to change and we missed the transfer section. At the end it was very bad and the silt is all inside the clutch, so we’ve lost the clutch and a wheel fell off… We’ve just had a bad day – we had a horrible day.

“The only way we’ll win is if the other guys have problems, but I’m pretty sure De Villiers got past us too. But, you know, that’s the Dakar. You fight, fight, fight and hopefully it doesn’t get you, but today it just got us, for no reason. A 1 dollar part, a hose clamp broke. That put is in a position to miss everything else, so it was a bad day for us, but we’ll just keep fighting until the end. We won’t give up. You never know what will happen, so we’ll ride to Lima.”

Peterhansel said: “We didn’t drive at a really fast pace, but we didn’t have any technical or navigation problems, so it was a good special, but not very pleasant to drive because of the fesh-fesh. There wasn’t much visibility, even opening the road, because the wind blew the dust up making it difficult to see. I overtook Nani several kilometres from the finishing line: he got stuck on a little dune trying to avoid a biker, but he didn’t even need to get out of the car to get going again.

“As for Gordon, whatever happens now, he will just be carrying on to Lima for the enjoyment. There’s around twenty minutes between Nani and me now, with two big stages of dunes to come. There’ll be a lot of dune cresting and we know that if we get stuck in a hollow between them we could lose a lot of time. We’ll have to play it safe. It’s always been like that. Each time I’ve won the car race, I always had a team-mate hot on my heels: Masuoka, Alphand… There’s always been this sort of pressure to handle.”

Roma, 22m49s behind overall, added: “I had two bikers ahead of me and a small dune and one of them fell in front of me, so I was stuck for two minutes, but it’s not too bad. I didn’t lose too much time, perhaps two minutes. Everything is ok, we’re happy to be here now and with Stephane, we drove a very good race.

“I don’t know if I have a chance because Stephane is quite far ahead. But I’m happy for all the team. There are twenty minutes between us and you can lose that much when you get really stuck in the sand. It can happen to anybody, but when I say that I’m not thinking about Stephane. With the experience that he has, he’s someone who doesn’t make many mistakes. In fact, I’m not counting on what the others do. I prefer to try and do my best by myself to finish in a good position in Lima.”

Trucks: A Second Stage Win On The Bounce For Kamaz

Kamaz finally sealed their first stage win on an Iveco-dominated rally on stage ten – and they repeated it again today. This time in the hands of Russia’s Andrey Karginov. Gerard De Rooy was only fourth fastest, but continues to lead comfortably.

2012 Dakar Rally

Iquique – Arica
377 km

Stage Ten initially saw the competitors head back down south from the Iquique bivouac, before looping around and heading north again towards Arica, just before the Peruvian border.

Bikes – Barreda Beats The KTM Duo

Joan Barreda Bort produced his most impressive performance yet on the 2012 Dakar Rally by bagging his first ever fastest time. After being forced out on his debut in 2011 by injury on just the second stage, this was only the Spanish Husqvarna rider’s 12^th ever stage on the Dakar. He finished up a minute and a half clear of compatriot Marc Coma. Cyril Despres finished another two minutes behind, but he clung onto his overall lead by just 21 seconds.

“After the rear wheel problems I had on the third day, I’ve been taking it day by day,” said Barreda after the stage. “On the last stages it has been better and yesterday, for example, I saw that I could go on the attack, so I went for it.

“On today’s stage, I had a problem with my foot. On a very quick bend, where I was at 120 kmph, I hit a stone with my foot and I thought that the impact had torn my leg off. When I arrived at the refuelling zone, I took some painkillers and it was ok until the end of the stage. I even sped up. We’ll see what’s happened to me. I thought I might have fractured my shin, but I don’t think I have. I don’t know how serious the injury is, but I think I should be ok and be able to finish in Lima.”

Coma said: “It’s the tone that’s been set for the rally and I think we’ll keep on battling until the end. We keep trying to make the difference all the time and the entry into Peru will be decisive. The race will hinge on the smallest of margins. When the performance level is equivalent with the same team and the same bike, it’s very difficult, both for him and for me. But when it comes to the crunch, it will be entirely to do with one rider or the other.”

Despres explained how a navigation error lost him time: “It was all going well for me until the 225-km point and I’d managed to keep up a good pace. But I made a small navigation mistake and that’s when Marc overtook me. He was with Joan Barreda, who I’d like to congratulate on riding a superb stage. At this level, every second counts! It’s a scenario that I thought might happen, so I’m not surprised. I’m just happy to have got through another day. In any case, staying out in front for the whole 377 km whilst riding flat out isn’t easy. If I finish in his dust or him in mine, it doesn’t change that much.”

Quads – Maffei Prevents A Patronelli Stage Win

Alejandro Patronelli continues to cruise towards the defence of his title, but he was only third quickest on the stage. He came in exactly 30 seconds behind his brother Marcos. Beating them both however was fellow Argentine Tomas Maffei, 13 minutes up the road.

“It was a very varied, quick stage and I was quite nervous about it,” said Maffei. “After the long stage at Antofagasta this one was shorter and it was better. The navigation was complicated. I lost a way point and had to look for it. But, all in all, it was a superb stage, with a magnificent passage through the mountains. There was a lot of earth and the wind wasn’t blowing it away, meaning it stayed on the tracks, especially in the last 20 to 30 kilometres of the rally. Now I have to look after the quad and avoid losing contact with the leaders in the general standings. We’re going to be entering Peru and there will be the marathon stage. It’s sure that being on my own makes it more difficult, but either of them could have a problem.”

Cars – Roma Wins The Stage As Robby Hits Trouble

The leading duo of Stephane Peterhansel and Robby Gordon took turns to head the stage during the day, but towards the end of the stage the American Hummer driver damaged the front left of his car. As a result he lost the best part of a quarter of an hour. This dropped him from second to third overall, behind stage winner Nani Roma. The Spaniard edged his Mini teammate Peterhansel by 21 seconds, to leave him 19 minutes behind overall. Meanwhile, Krzysztof Holowczyc came in over five and a half hours late due to a power steering failure on his X-Raid machine.

To make matters worse for Gordon, he is now racing under appeal after being disqualified for a technical infringement.

“I hit a rock with both right-side tyres and as you can see this wheel is way out, so we’ve got some broken parts,” explained Gordon. “Do I think I can win again? Of course. I was passing him [Peterhansel], he didn’t move over and I clobbered a rock and got two flat tyres at the same time. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ve got a damaged race car that we’re going to have work on and there’s a lot of damage from what I can see. Now we’ll push, push, push even harder.”

Peterhansel said: “Today it was a big fight with Gordon. At the beginning he was a little bit slower than us. We overtook him when he made a navigation mistake, but at the end he overtook me again. He was really fast on a very short corner to the left, very tight, and he went straight on and jumped off a small cliff. I was sure that he rolled, but when I saw again through the dust he was on his wheels. I think something happened with his car, I don’t know exactly why or what – maybe the tyre? I don’t know.”

Roma added: “The stage was good. Winning again is good motivation. For me, it’s just another win, but it’s really motivating for the guys who are working on the car. It’s good for Mini and it’s good for X-Raid. In any case, I’m very happy, but my aim is not to win stages. I’m looking at the bigger picture and I want to finish in Lima in the best position possible. For the moment, there are no instructions. It’s important to do things correctly like we have done up to today. Stephane is 18 minutes ahead of me, which is a bit far, but you have to believe and drive like we have been doing since the start.”

Trucks: First Stage Win For Ardavichus

Kazakhstan’s Artur Ardavichus scored his first ever Dakar stage win – but it was also the first win of the 2012 event for the previously-dominant Kamaz. He benefited from a navigation error by comfortable rally leader Gerard de Rooy, who led Iveco teammate Hans Stacey with him.

“Really today was such a difficult day,” said Ardavichus. “There was good navigation and very nice dunes, really big and difficult dunes – we like this. For us this was a normal stage. Everything was good today: good speed, good terrain. Everything was ok, the truck is good and this is much better. De Rooy is very fast. I don’t know why today he went a bit slower. Maybe there is a problem with his truck, but normally De Rooy is much too fast, faster than me. One kilometre before the finish, De Rooy overtook me. It was a good day.”

Nelson Panciatici aboard the Citroen DS3

World Series by Renault regular Nelson Panciatici will make his WRC debut at this month’s Rally Monte Carlo, behind the wheel of an Automeca Citroen DS3 R3.

In preparation for the event, Panciatici drove a Ford Fiesta R2 in last November’s Rallye du Var – the season finale of the French Rally Championship. However he will now step into the DS3 for a pre-rally test in the Chambery region of France to acclimatise himself to the new machinery, under the guidance of Automeca team principal and former Citroen works driver Philippe Bugalski.

“The Rallye du Var was a thrilling experience, I had an incredible time,  and as soon as I had finished, I wanted to do the Monte Carlo,” said Panciatici. “I know it won’t be easy, especially if it snows because I don’t know that surface but I have my co-driver, René Padovani, at my side. His help was invaluable in the Rallye du Var and he will know how to train me up fast.

“My first and foremost reason to be there is for pleasure, but that won’t stop me from taking it seriously. I will do my utmost to get the best possible result and put on a good race.”

2012 Dakar Rally

Antofagasta – Iquique
556 km

Today’s stage saw the competitors head further north through Chile from Antofagasta to Iquique. The second half of the stage was separated by a neutralised section on tarmac, prior to taking on the wildly steep descent back down to the Pacific shoreline and the finish at Iquique, as previously used two years ago.

Bikes: Despres Back Infront After Getting Stuck In The Mud

After losing his lead yesterday after getting stuck in exceedingly thick mud that was not shown in the roadbook, Cyril Despres made up the deficit on KTM teammate Marc Coma to regain the overall lead with a stage win. He was only second in the stage rankings at the end of the day though, after KTM had opted to change their engines and incur a 15 minute penalty for each of their factory drivers. The overall gap between Despres and Coma now stands at 2m28s.

“It’s feeling good,” said Despres. “After a difficult day yesterday when you start to doubt, I had to get back to winning ways. It wasn’t easy to psyche myself up for it, but I’m very happy with my day’s work. We came into this looking at a battle for seconds or minutes. It’s very competitive. Like any top level sportsman, if you don’t like confrontation or squeezing the last ounces of strength out of yourself, then you’re not ready for a fight. But, as for me, I’m up for it.”

Coma commented: “We knew that this would be a difficult race. It was long and there was plenty of navigation to deal with. We’re coming to the crunch part of the rally. Cyril is a major rival and we do battle over every single kilometre. But I think it’s interesting, it’s sport. Yesterday, the KTM technicians decided it was time to change our engines because we’d reached the half-way point. It’s a very good idea.”

Taking the engine-change penalties into account, third-placed overall Helder Rodrigues ended up top of the timesheets for the day. Despite gaining 15 minutes on Despres and Coma overall, the Yamaha rider is still the best part of 45 minutes behind, and has the issue of an old engine.

Quads: Patronellis Again

The stage was dominated again by the Patronelli brothers. They rode together through the stage, with rally leader Alejandro taking the win ahead of Marcos, and 44 minutes clear of Tomas Maffei.

“We rode almost all the stage together,” said Marcos. “In the end, over the last 60 kilometres, we were neck and neck. It was a superb stage, quick and a bit tricky on some parts with dunes at the end; I was a bit worried at the beginning of the stage because there were a lot of stones. There was still a long way to go and I was scared of getting a puncture. I’m happy with my machine because the Yamaha is working well. I’m more than an hour behind, so winning the category is out of my reach now, but finishing each day and getting through the stages until Lima is my goal.”

Cars: Gordon Wins, Al-Attiyah Out

It was certainly a mixed day in the Robby Gordon camp. While the American himself triumphed on the stage to take a minute and a half out of rally leader Stephane Peterhansel’s advantage, Nasser Al-Attiyah’s Dakar defence came to an end in the other Hummer. After breaking numerous alternator belts, the Qatari called it a day. He’s working on returning with his new WRC partner Citroen for next year.

“It was a very good special for us again,” said Gordon upon finishing the stage. “On the transfer stage, I think we had [Peterhansel] beat by about a minute and a half. But we need more than a minute and a half, so I pushed very hard on the last section, as hard as I could go the whole time and it will be interesting to see how much time we put on him because we pushed, like qualifying hard, not really knowing where you’re going. We had a couple of big scary moments. For us, we’ve got to make time. We’re in a different position to him. He has to conserve his time and I’ve got to make it. We’ve got four days left, four real days of racing left and the Hummer’s strong. 19 seconds? He made a lot of time up on me, then. I can’t believe he could catch us there, because we were going crazy. So he’s a madman; if he beats us, he’s a madman. Madder than me!”

Trucks: Loprais Crashes Out Of Second

Gerard De Rooy’s chances of victory improved further when nearest rival Ales Loprais had an accident in his Tatra on the neutralised section, putting him out of the rally. After losing hours in the dunes on Saturday, Miki Biasion was victorious on the stage. De Rooy now leads Hans Stacey by 47 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBuOsa1MtV4

2012 Dakar Rally Stage Nine Results:

Bikes

* includes 15 minute penalty for engine change

Quads

Cars

Trucks

Overall standings after stage nine

Bikes

Quads

Cars

Trucks

2012 Dakar Rally

Copiapo – Antofagasta
477km

After the rest day comes the longest stage of the 2012 Dakar Rally and the start of the northward swing along the Pacific seaboard towards the finish line in Lima. The new route aside the route between Copiapo and Antofagasta through the Atacama Desert have the mainstay of the Dakar since the move to South America. One of the toughest days of the 2012 rac saw the lead change in one class, while the order shuffled in all the others as we moved a day closer to knowing the winners.

Bikes: Coma Takes Advantage
The two man battle at the front of the bike race swung dramatically in the opening kilometres of the stage. First Coma – opening the road after winning Saturday’s seventh stage – lost time after a minor navigation error. However, the mistake meant he avoided a muddy river in which several other of the leading riders got caught in, including chief rival and overall leader Cyril Despres.

“There was a torrent of mud between the inspection of the reconnaissance car two days ago and today,” said the Frenchman. “Therefore, it did not appear in the road book and I was the first to fall into the trap. There was no way I could have avoided it.”

Despres’ issues where quickly apparent to Coma who pused as hard as he dare for much of the stage in order to capitalise on the problems for his fellow KTM rider. The combination of the time lost in the mud and the time Coma clawed back throughout the stage totalled over 17 minutes at the end of the stage. After the completion of the stage rally organisers too the decision to discount the time Despres and others – including Helder Rodrigues, and Pal Anders Ullevalseter – lost in the mud, cutting Despres’ time lost to just 9:14. However it was still enough for Coma to move into the overall lead.

“A very long special,” Coma said. “I was lucky not to lose too much time in the mud and then I saw I could open a gap, so I attacked really hard. But towards the end I noticed I had engine problems towards the end, so I took slowed down a bit to ensure I would make it to the finish. This is my 20th special victory: a nice figure. Yet it is not winning specials that counts, but winning the race. And I know there is still a long week of racing ahead.”

Quads: Alejandro’s To Lose
After leaping into a lead of over an hour thank to mistakes by his brother Marcos and Tomas Maffei, Alejandro Patronelli now looks certain to defend his class title, barring serious mishap in the remaining stages.

On the potentially difficult stage the elder of the Argentine brothers held strong, only surrendering the lead to Marcos in the closing kilometres to preserve his massive overall advantage as Tomas Maffei is over an hour behind after slipping another nine minutes into arrears on stage eight.

“A long, tough and fast stage,” Alejandro analysed. “The final part was also complicated. I am very happy and thank God I made it to the finish. I started among the motorcycles. I feared it might be complicated, but things turned out OK. I had the entire course to myself and was able to set a good pace. Most of the stage was full of rocks and my hands hurt a bit. But I am really happy. The classification is not my main concern.”

Cars: The Tale Of Two Hummers
For the first time, Robby Gordon’s team of Dakar Hummers have two truly competitive drivers, but thus far the Dakar seems intent on treating them in two different ways.

Defending champion and Hummer new recruit Nasser Al-Attiyah endured yet more niggling technical problems – the alternator, engine belt and a loose spare wheel – delaying the Qatari. When now slowed by his problems he was again the fastest man on stage, overtaking all the MINIs during the passage of the stage as he only lost eight minutes to stage winner Nani Roma after having been as far as nineteen minutes adrift after the opening exchanges.

Robby Gordon in the other Hummer, meanwhile, continues to win back time, slicing into Stephane Peterhansel’s overall lead. The American led the stage during the first half, but the MINIs of Peterhansel, Roma and Krzysztof Holowczyc were ahead by the half way point, before Gordon began to gain once more.

Roma won the stage – his second of 2012 – by just five seconds from Gordon who was over five minutes ahead of Peterhansel who was hampered by a puncture only 30km from the end of the timed section.

Peterhansel’s overall lead is now just seven minutes over Gordon in second and Krzysztof Holowczyc in third – the pair split by only twelve seconds. Roma lies fourth overall with Giniel de Villiers fifth, 37 minutes down on Peterhansel.

Trucks: Stage Win For Loprais
After consecutive second places on the two previous stages Czech driver Ales Loprais claimed his first 2012 stage win ahead of overall lead Gerard de Rooy.

De Rooy’s Iveco teammate Miki Biasion was third fastest on the day, though his problems before the rest day have rule the Italian out of challenging for the overall podium – he is more than six hours away from the overall lead – he still has the capability to add to the single stage win already to his name this year.

Loprais’ stage win has moved him to just 15 minutes down on the overall lead, with Hans Stacey also constant in third, though the Dutchman 15 minutes to De Rooy.

2012 Dakar Stage Eight Results

Bikes:

Quads

Cars

Trucks

Overall standings after stage eight

Bikes

Quads

Cars

Trucks

Andy Rowe and Cat Lund (Photo Credit: Bert Verstraete - BV Rally Pics)

Head of Operations at Rockingham Motor Speedway, Cat Lund, has been nominated for the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club (BWRDC) Gold Star Club award for the second year running.  Cat, who won the prestigious award last year after her double rally championship winning campaign in 2010 will be up against fellow BWRDC members Sarah Franklin, Lorraine Gathercole, Gail Hill, Jo Hodgson and Louise Inch for the coveted prize.

Along with Driver Andy Rowe in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III, Cat took both the Flanders International Rally Challenge (FIRC) and BWRDC Rally Co-Driver champion in 2010 and retained the FIRC title for the second year running in 2011. This year the pair and their crew hope to make it three in a row as they enter a new Evo III, having retired the previous one after 24 events with it, starting at the ORC Canal Rally in Oostrozebeke, West Flanders in May.

Cat who joined the team at Rockingham in 2007 said; “winning the award last year was a real surprise and it was extremely gratifying to see rallying recognized in this way. As the Goldstars Club Award winner, the BWRDC were a great source of advice and inspiration throughout 2011.” She then continued, “It would be fantastic to win for a second time, especially in such an important year for the BWRDC but there are some other extremely deserving members nominated for the award, so I do not expect to win.”

Andy Rowe and Cat Lund celebrate their 2011 FIRC triumph

John Surtees OBE, the only man to win World Championships on both two wheels and four will be presenting the award during a ceremony that will take place on Friday January 13 at the Autosport International Show. The presentation will commence at 11am on the Motor Sport Association (MSA) stand where visitors are welcome to attend.

The GoldStars are the BWRDC’s way of bringing the attention to talent within motorsport and help the winners to promote and progress their careers. The winner will receive a generous package of sponsors products, special BWRDC Goldstars stickers for their competition car, a dedicated webpage at www.bwrdc-goldstars.co.uk to help attract potential sponsors and mentoring from international dual sportswoman and broadcaster Liz Halliday who added, “I have been very impressed with how well Cat has done in 2011. She has clearly embraced her GoldStar status as she and her rally driver partner have successfully taken the FIRC championship for another year running! It’s fantastic to see so many of the GoldStars winners continue to have great success, and that says to me this award helps to inspire these women to work even harder to achieve their goals.”

2012 Dakar Rally

Copiapo – Copiapo

419 km

After an impromptu day off for the competitors yesterday when the stage was cancelled due to the Chilean authorities closing the border in bad weather conditions, they were back in action today – if just for one day ahead of Sunday’s rest. It was certainly a tough challenge though, with a large number of dunes to be crossed.  A 154 km liaison section took them south of Copiapo, before the first half of the special took them north again, but this time towards the Pacific coast. After a short neutralised section on tarmac they began climbing up into the dunes to the north of Copiapo, looping back down again to the bivouac.

Bikes: Coma Takes A Bite From Despres’ Lead

Marc Coma just pipped Cyril Despres to the finishing line of the stage by three seconds, having set off two minutes behind. The Spaniard therefore cut 2m03s out of his KTM teammate’s overall lead, reducing to 7m48s.

The leading duo again finished first and second on the stage, but were helped by others getting into trouble. On the first stage of this year’s race in his homeland, Chile’s Francisco Lopez separated the KTM pair at the first checkpoint, but then fell at the 83 km mark. He was straight back up and on his way again, but had lost more than eight minutes by CP2 before coming home a whole half an hour behind Coma – enough for him to drop from fourth to ninth overall (albeit just a second behind eighth placed Stefan Svitko). He is doubtful though that he’ll be able to continue at all.

“I fell in the first part of the special,” said Lopez. “Not very hard, but enough to re-awaken the pain in my right knee. In the second part of the special I suffered so much on the dunes that I was hardly able to ride. I do not know, but I fail to see how I could continue tomorrow. Fortunately, tomorrow is the rest day, so I will see the bivouac doctors and call mine, but I think my Dakar has come to an end. I am in a world of pain right now.”

After Lopez’s demise it was Juan Barreda Bort who took the challenge to the KTM men, and the Husqvarna rider was just 20 seconds adrift of his fellow Spaniard Coma at WP6. He then took a wrong turn before eventually coming home more than 13 minutes down. Instead it would be his teammate Paulo Goncalves nearest to Coma and Despres, 46s behind the Frenchman. He moves up to fourth overall following Lopez’s losses, behind fellow Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues (who was fourth on today’s stage).

Quads: Advantage Alejandro

Up against the might of the Patronelli brothers, it had been Tomas Maffei leading the way into Chile. However, he would lose nearly an hour on the stage – though he would only fall to second place overall. That’s because Marcos Patronelli lost even more time – 1h20m to be more precise.

“This stage was very long,” said Marcos. “I made a mistake at km 230. I took a wrong turn and did not realise I had until much later. I lost 30 kilometres due to this mistake – quite a lot of time. Therefore, I rode at a reasonable pace for the rest of the stage. What else could I do?”

All that leaves Alejandro Patronelli in pole position to repeat his rally win from 2011 – with 58 minutes in hand over nearest challenger Maffei. He’s being naturally cautious though.

“The stage was very interesting. I finished among the 30 first riders of the motorcycle classification. That is good. But the general classification is not the most important thing. There is still a long way to go. Of course, this classification means a lot and means nothing at the same time. Look at what happened to Marcos. He lost over an hour. He is so stubborn… I had told him to wait for me.”

Cars: Al-Attiyah Back As The Hummers Conquer The Dunes

After losing 45 minutes over the course of the previous two stages, everything came together for defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah today. He was actually two minutes down at the first checkpoint, but fought back through the remainder of the stage and was on fire during the dunes, passing a number of the cars ahead of him. The Qatari finished up more than seven minutes clear of anyone else. He’s still only sixth overall, more than 40 minutes adrift – but he hasn’t given up hope of retaining his title just yet.

“The car worked perfectly well today and we attacked from the beginning to the end of the special,” said Al-Attiyah. “We took a lot of risks to set the best time. Our objective is to claw back seven or eight minutes every day. And today we did it perfectly. We will do our best to repeat this performance in all stages from Monday onwards, or even try to do better. At any rate, we have no other choice if we still want to win the Dakar!”

By the end of the stage his nearest rival was actually his team boss Robby Gordon in the other Hummer. An early flat tyre left him five minutes down at the first checkpoint, but finished the stage second fastest. This lifted him back into the podium places overall – but he thinks it’s Al-Attiyah who can still stop the Minis from winning the rally.

“It really was a perfect day for the Hummers,” he proclaimed. “I had a flat 25 km into the first special and Peterhansel overtook me, but we were later able to move back ahead of him. We will see exactly how much time we gained on him, but it is obvious that our car is extremely fast on this type of terrain. It is easy to see that it was designed for this sort of stages. We have also changed a lot of things, including the transmission, and it is now a fearsome machine. In fact, I am sure Nasser is going to win this thing… OK, the others are still ahead, but I think we are in a very good position for the rest of the rally.”

Stephane Peterhansel was just 23s adrift of Gordon on the stage, and well ahead of his nearest challengers (and teammates) Krzysztof Holowczyc and Nani Roma. The Frenchman’s overall lead over Holowczyc is now at 11m22s.

Trucks – All Over For Biasion

The story of the day in the trucks category was Miki Biasion, who stopped between WP8 and 9. The former two-time World Rally Champion had been lying second in his Iveco as he enjoyed a day-off on his 54^th birthday yesterday.

Team leader Gerard De Rooy won the stage to strengthen his lead, while Ales Loprais finished second to move up into the same placing overall in his Tatra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUsy0Z91O8s

2012 Dakar Rally Stage Seven Results:

Bikes

Quads

Cars

Trucks

Overall standings after stage seven

Bikes

Quads

Cars

Trucks

Bill Gwynne Rallyschool and Rallye Sunseeker Are Teaming Up To Reward Volunteers

Twelve marshals who help out at Rallye Sunseeker 2012, the opening round of the MSA British Rally Championship, will receive places at the world-renowned Bill Gwynne Rallyschool as part of a new partnership announced ahead of this year’s running of the Bournemouth-based rally.

Eager to reward the volunteer marshals who are an integral part of the event, the organisers of Rallye Sunseeker and the team at the Rallyschool came together  to come up with this idea, which will see draws take place at each of the venues used by the rally, to pick twelve lucky volunteers to have a day at the school.

The Bill Gwynne Rallyschool has been in operation since 1982, helping the careers of many international successful drivers including Toshi Arai and Mohammed Bin Sulayem. Run by five times British Rally Champion Bill Gwynne, the school has instructors including former Rallye Sunseeker competitor Paul Gwynne, former British and World Production champion Martin Rowe, Nick Pollitt and Peter Bennett.

Commenting on the rewards, Bill Gwynne said: “I am delighted to offer the twelve places to Rallye Sunseeker, because it’s easy to forget that those who come and marshal are all volunteers. Rallye Sunseeker has been an important event in British rallying for many years now, and  Southern Car Club have continually pushed the event upwards to where it is now as  the opening round in the MSA British Rally Championship, no mean feat I can tell you. The event is a favourite with competitors, spectators and service crews so it was a natural thing to be involved”

Event Director Rick Smith added: “it’s great news that my old friend Bill has come on board with this offer to the volunteers. He is so well known throughout the world, he has had drivers from thirty countries attend his school, and he and his team have taught drivers everywhere, that this can only add prestige to the event.”