Ahem, nobody interested in Rally Turkey then?

Why have the FiA organised an F1 race and a WRC event for the same weekend?? Madness, it's not doing anything for the lesser series, is it?

They don't exactly clash, F1 running is finished by the time WRC starts for the day

But it's the same weekend. What chance of coverage is the WRC going to get on a weekend with a F1 GP? Absolutely none!!

You must be kidding. When did you last see FIA really cares about WRC?

Pictures from day 1.

And there's an online magazine about all types of rallying called Handbrakes and Hairpins.

Anyone knows why did Ogier just lost 3 minutes?

A tyre exploded towards the end of stage 15 - changed it and lost 3 minutes.

Just what is Matt Wilson's excuse for this latest 'performance'? Being beaten by Villagra, and Raikkonen.....who as we know has very rarely rallied on Gravel? Final year of a 5 year plan...!!! Words fail me.

"Gathering valuable points in the championship" is the most obvious
But if this and this are true, WRC has reached a new all-time low IMO. Eventually, WTF is WRC doing in Turkey?

Those idiots shouldn't get a rally again.

Ogier, poor bastard, but I'm hoping for a Solberg-win now.

I don't follow WRC actively (hence any argument of mine is automatically weak) but each day I see a new headline, it looks like this is a shambles of a world championship at the very best.

Point being, there isn't going to be an influx of new fans watching any time soon.

At the finish:

1.
1
Sebastien LOEB
M
3:01:38.7
0.0
0.0

2.
11
Petter SOLBERG

3:02:33.2
+54.5
+54.5

3.
3
Mikko HIRVONEN
M
3:03:22.1
+48.9
+1:43.4

4.
7
Sebastien OGIER
M
3:05:24.7
+2:02.6
+3:46.0

5.
8
Kimi RAIKKONEN
M
3:08:23.0
+2:58.3
+6:44.3

6.
9
Federico VILLAGRA

3:09:35.4
+1:12.4
+7:56.7

7.
5
Matthew WILSON
M
3:10:08.5
+33.1
+8:29.8

8.
4
Jari Matti LATVALA
M
3:21:22.9
+11:14.4
+19:44.2

9.
56
Dennis KUIPERS

3:25:00.9
+3:38.0
+23:22.2

10.
21
Aaron BURKART
J
3:28:43.4
+3:42.5
+27:04.7



Solberg moves into second in the championship.

A good job from Raikkonen, and from Ogier and Sordo. The last time we saw a manufacturer with this much driver talent was in the early 2000s.

You don't even mention Solberg?! Man of the rally for me. Second with a what, 20 persons big rally team!

I meant to! I edited what I'd written and his name was accidentally deleted. He's driving very well.

Brilliant to see Solberg back up there fighting for wins with his family and friends team. Great job from Ogier and Kimi too. Ford not up to speed on a gravel rally again?

OMG, without Sordo's retirement, it would be 5 Citroens in Top 6. Now it's "only" 1-2-4-5. I wonder how Malcolm Wilson will explain this to Blue Oval bosses.

So what happens after his 5th year? He's thrown out on his a$$?

That was an interesting rally - Loeb is pretty amazing and lucky at the same time. Hats off to Solberg again - second in the championship, but he hardly seems to be making a blip on the coverage radar. Is he embarrassing the powers that be (Citroen and Ford), hence the lack of coverage.

And what's with the Mathew Wilson hate? I agree he's a waste of a seat, but come on, his dad owns the team, so what does it matter. Ford already has it's two main drivers, and all the other drivers bring in their own money. Not to defend the guy, but it's not like the other Ford drivers are helping out. I mean, how is his situation any different from Raikkonens (Ogier contesting for wins in the same car, think of what Solberg could've done with that support?). Or Sordo - he's been around for long enough in a top ride? Just asking.

I´m really not for Seb. But...

Jack Nicklaus has said it; "more i practise, luckier I get". Must admit that Loeb is the greatest of present drivers. It is not about the luck..

It's a much different situation than Raikkonen's. Raikkonen's showing potential for his current level of experience, and it makes sense to have him run competitively at the top level to optimise his learning process. Wilson is showing that he's a lost case.

I don't think he will be doing WRC in 2010 but...

All this paints the picture of present WRC. If the series were really alive, there would no hangarounds..

Read this from paper today, quite hilarious.. I assume we finns can sleep steady - there will be racers..?

Fantastic

A side note - is it legal for 8-years-old to dirve on the road in Finland?

Funny house at 5:03

So the farce continues....

The whole Prodrive/Mini announcement had been put on hold as I mentioned some months ago, due to the ongoing debate between the idiots at NOS and Jean Todt and the manufacturers. Namely that the lunatic decision to announce the 1600cc Turbo engine formula for 2011...may seem to have been a tad premature, as anyone with half a brain in the sport understood.

Now I took some flak for my views on why this question of engine size was still open for debate, but ongoing it remains...and as a result the champioship is in complete chaos as a result.

PSA/Citroen had the chat with Ford and the numpty brothers Simon Long and Neil Duncanson of North One Sport (ISC) and decided they would buck the FIA trend of trying to decide on a world engine size formula and instead go ahead and announce that 1600cc Turbo's would be the championship engine from 2011 onwards....ALL of this was during the term of a certain Mr Max Mosley!! Despite there seeming to begrowing support for the S2000 formula as a stop gap until the world engine could be decided.

Enter Jean Todt..... who looks at the championship of 2009 and says 'Sacre-bleur WTF are these clowns doing' or words to that effect.....

Yes there may be two manufacturers ready to go the 1600cc Turbo route...but hang on a minute...says Mr Todt... This IRC championship is steadily growing with the Super 2000 concept cars..and you guys wish to create a whole new engine spec all of your own????..... while there are many manufacturers who have made a clear desire for 1400cc based engines, or 2.0 Litre engines... OR..the chosen engine format of the FIA for the new 'World Engine'...which seems to be a 1500cc engine with Turbo sizes for different championships....

Yet you monkeys have gone ahead and announced your own deal, because you know Mini will join using the same base PSA powerplant.... 'well' thinks Mr Todt....'I think you fellas have gotten a little ahead of yourselves and I am not convinced that 1600cc has enough further manufacturer support to be approved at this stage and had any you Moron's stopped for one second to consider this, you would have realised that 2011 to 2013 Super 2000 format, followed by a new 'World engine' based formula thereafter...would have made MUCH more sense...

Now obviously I use a little artisitic license in the above, however the delays in the Mini announcement, the calendar and other matters has placed the championship into complete and utter shambles right now.....why???

Citroen do not have enough C4WRC cars built and are loathed to build anymore C4 WRC cars, as development has already gone a long way with the DS3 although not with the 1600cc Turbo engine, but a full blown WRC 2litre engine, while the current discussion goes on regarding the engine format for NEXT YEAR!!!!!!

NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

It is now April soon to be May and the development time for the new 1600cc Turbo engine is reducing by the week... For the LOVE OF GOD!!! Will someone in the Autosport Rally editorial team, highlight what a complete farce and dogs breakfast North One Sport are and have made of this once phenominal championship...

Not word is being raised as to WTF they are doing about next years regs???.... If Kimi Raikonnen was not here to take the media spotlight away from the idiots Long and Duncanson, there would be cries from all over the Rally world for these incompetent clowns to finally be removed from their positions and a new management team put in place to help try and solve the problem URGENTLY.

It truly breaks my heart to see what the WRC has become under the ownership of ISC/NOS.

So come on David Evans.... pull ya finger out and ask some damn questions as to why this year and more importantly next year, is in such complete and utter chaos? With one manufacturer taking the top 5 positions, while telling it's driver not to push too hard for fear of bending chassis....and not able to fully develop the 'supposed' agreed engine format for next year...as it clearly is not fully FIA ratified yet..........

And yet all we hear is how great Kimi is doing and seeing stupid publicity shots..... "THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES ON"...lets admit it....task a team to solve it....and truly get the WRC back to where it should be, rather than this joke we have today.

I have ZERO doubt in my mind that Harri is raising a future World Champion!.... Kalle is without doubt.... a future star in the making...

If there is a serie to take part in after ten years..

Nobody will say anything - as they'll lose their press pass. The only journalist who puts the boot in is Jerry Williams - the rest, not that there's many, all toe the party line.
When we were told the FiA/ISC/Manufacturers were in discussions regarding future cars regs, rules - just who were these Manufacturers? Just Ford/Citroen by any chance? Basically, they have far too much say in the running of the sport - to it's detriment! What good is beating 1 other team?
What engine car have many Manufacturers built? Yeah, an S2000 - So common sense tells you to go with that engine until about 2013 - giving a few years to sort a 1.4T engine - and gain Manufacturers - Hopefully!!
I wish there was a way Jean Todt could end the Promoter contract - what ISC/NOS know about WRC could be written on a stamp!!
It was said when Kimi joined it would increase the awareness/publicity of the sport - well has it? NO!!

Finally, in another post, I said that the WRC is no longer relevant to Manufacturers - it's up to FiA/NOS to make it a must do for them. Currently, why would you join a dead-duck series like the WRC?

As someone who's been following the WRC for almost 10 years by now, I have to say I feel exactly the same way.

You really have to wonder how someone can hang on to the belief that the WRC is still a healthy championship, when the P-WRC and J-WRC champions are stuck in their respective categories because there just isn't enough room in the WRC and also because it's expensive like hell, or choose to move to the IRC where there's good competition and even as a privateer you have reasonable chances to win.

Not mentioning drivers like Andersson, Galli, Atkinson who belong to the world's best rally drivers and despite their obvious talent can't get a place in the WRC. It's not like Wilson or Villagra are the talents of the century!

And then there's the Monte Carlo story, the most ancient rally which has been dumped from the calendar and too bad for the WRC, they found another championship which offers them more flexibility and now for the second year in a row the organisers of the ACM have turned down the offer to come back into the WRC calendar.

Sometimes I think the simplest thing would be to make the IRC the new world championship on a provisional basis and develop a new set of regulations for the WRC over a certain period, so there will be more interest from the manufacturers, but also from organisers etc..

Speaking of it, what is Proton actually doing in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship? Atkinson and A. McRae could compete for wins, at least podiums in the IRC... and they would surely add some more spice to the championship!

Rumour has it, that they are not only trying to get the car competitive enough to make a big splash entry onto the IRC and win an event, but also that they are developing parts to be used on a car that will use the new Proton/Lotus 1.6T and maybe make a surprise entry onto the WRC next year, but again... all a tad in the air, while the engine regs wait to be approved.

From what I understand, the FIA have said, get TWO more manufacturers to sign up for next year in order to proceed with the 1.6 Turbo format... (namely Mini and Proton).. OR.... you have to go S2000 for a couple of years until the world engine format can be agreed.

But then such things had to come about by including someone who actually has some former experience of any note in the sport...namely Mr Todt.

News from Formula One is that any tech reg change wi raise cost, no change, status quo makes the cost stable. So No change for 2011, keep on running the current WRC car... Am I taking it too easy on cost side?

That would make perfect sense.

What still makes me wonder in the discussion about the world engine, what are the manufacturers in other championships thinking about it? Since the whole point was to get an engine which you could use in several different championships it would be interesting, for example what the manufacturers in the WTCC think about it.

ALso wouldn't it have made more sense to find an agreement with the manufacturers involved in the IRC, what they would prefer, so you could bring the championships together at some point.

Then I have heard rumours about a Subaru works team run by Tommi Makinen Racing set to enter in 2011, do you happen to know more about it??

As Richard Littlejohn is known to say " you couldn't make it up". Sadly, it's true in the case of the WRC. Watching old DVD/Videos/YouTube clips, and you wonder if it's the same sport. I truly despair at just what laughing stock the sport has become. Does anybody really take it seriously anymore, has it got any credibility left? I feel sorry for Seb Loeb - who should be a true global Sporting Superstar, yet could walk down most capital cities and nobody would know who the little Frenchman is.
Yet, it seems those meant to be promoting it, can't see a problem. Jerry Williams hit the nail on the head in MNews 2 weeks ago - it needs more newspaper, magazine, radio journalists, 'Proper' TV coverage on a 'normal' channel. Surely a media savvy promoter would be doing all it can to encourage/entice journos to cover the sport. In fact, the coverage should virtually be given away free, without stupid restrictions as is the case now.

One other thing, the route for RallyGB is meant to be unveiled tomorrow - anybody expecting any surprises?

1: Yes sir...it would...but then not a single decision that has come from Simon Long and co. has EVER made sense. Everyone who has been involved in and around the championship knows this, only most are too afraid to say it, for fear of being cast out...

2: From what I understand, TM has made a pitch to get more support from Subaru in developing the Group N car, especially in light of a greater link-up between Cosworth and Subaru and the desire to now associate the brand of a 'Rally' Cosworth , with a Subaru, rather than memories of the Ford Cossie's... So yes Subaru may feel they have a bit more safety in their financials now and thus wish to expand a little but I dont think this could be considered a full 'works' entry per se.

However, I would be staggered to see anyone other than Prodrive take on the full works effort for Subaru, if such an option was on the table from Subaru, considering the history.

Not that I am aware of, but possibility of a remote service for some of the more Northern stages not used for many a year. We'll see what appears.. But I fully agree with you on the pricing for Rally GB, its an absolute disgusting disgrace... but then yet again we have event managers that sit in similar Ivory Towers to those at NOS... the school of 'We know best...what do competitors and fans know?'

A weekend pass should be £40 MAXIMUM for access all areas from Friday to Sunday...including a damn programme!!

The sooner we get the championship back to what it once was, which was a long distance test of men (and ladies) and machine, the better. At least we might start to get some of that truly stunning atmosphere back... False venues like Walters Arena and 'Sheep pens' for fans to stand in... have to go.

But again...what do we know eh?

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/press...s/wrc_2011.aspx

Next years calendar!

As we thought, a low key start in Sweden. Hmm, and RallyGB should be 2 weeks later!

I am very sorry if i bring you, dedicated rally men, back into an old subject, but the idea of World Engine, isn't it a bit far fetched?

In the past, especially in 70's, there are many attempt to unify any industrial product, including building construction, but those are failed as at the end of the day no one wants to rid differentiations. This is the lesson that industry has learned from 80th. industrial makers produces thus differences since so far and being successful. Making one engine and applying different kind turbo boost and so on to suit 'all' needs sounds like a return to 70's idea that is the path to fail.

I can hardly imagine that all paddock including Ferrari will commit to implement such racing engine as they will continuously develop larger engines for their customer models. Larger engine is a status symbol, differentiation that customers want.

So World Engine is NOT road relevant?

I rather think that drive train can be unified, meaning from clutch to sprung mass, plus electronics in order to reduce costs...

The ‘World Engine’ was Mad Max’s idea, wasn’t it? It seems as though everybody else has dropped the idea – except the WRC. I can see the idea behind having 1 engine and varying it for different disciplines, but I can’t see Manufacturers going for it. As ever, the WRC is out of step.

Only WRC to use World engine... irony... it is then WRC engine obviously...

WHat is 2 litter format is kept cost savings are to be made out of chassis side?

Unbelievable just how bad the WRC is run now - if it weren't for Solberg providing some entertainment, I don't know what there is to keep track of in the rallies.

The way Ford sells out of their RS limited number Focus', and the popularity of the EVO and WRX's, I don't see why they just don't bring back the homologation rules to WRC cars - that should offset some of the costs shouldn't it?

I like the calendar for next years, all the events coming in are good, and the crap events are coming out (if you exclude NZ which is only not there because of the rugby clash).

The idea of trying to bring in Poland in the winter seems quite radical too, wasn't that one of the quickest rallies they've ever been to? Now imagine that, but Monte Carlo-style with unpredictable variable grip.

I would pretty much think so....

Kimi is beginning to do a good job and never the less his presence is a huge boost to the WRC. Never mind the current status as looking from out side, WRC is as if it has never changed.

The key is here.

Your car tuned up and run on WRC... should be way upper class than S2000 or what ever it is called to keep its level. Higher performance drive train can do the job, if it were being homologated...

Rally Sweden (10-13 February)
Rally Mexico (3-6 March)
Rally Portugal (24-27 March)
Jordan Rally (14-17 April)
Rally d'Italia (5-8 May)
Rally Argentina (26-29 May)
Acropolis Rally (16-19 June)
Rally Finland (28-31 July)
Rallye Deutschland (18-21 August)
Rally Australia (8-11 September)
Rally of France(September 29-2 October)
Catalunya Rally (20-23 October)
Rally GB (10-13 November)


Monte and Poland all together should be exciting. WHat a pity that promotor can not find money to run those businesses...

Monte don't want to be in the WRC - they prefer the IRC - which gives them much more freedom, and far better TV, and it's live!!!
What makes them run Mexico, Portugal, Jordan, Italy, Argentina and Acropolis all after each other, when they are all very similar? Why not break it up with a Tarmac event?
Personally, I think GB should be another 2 weeks later.

What I find even MORE bizarre, is in this age of cost savings...why the WRC bosses are forcing their teams to go across the Atlantic twice when they could do it once....???? Yet more incompetent lunacy!

By keping certain surface events together to reduce car set-up changes and 'fly-away' races like F1, they can make savings to introduce a couple of extra events. Below is 16 events and Ideally you would have it kick off with Monte Carlo!

My version to help save costs would be to pair events taing place on consecutive weekends:
Rally Norway
Rally Sweden

Rally Mexico
Rally Argentina

Rally Portugal
Rally d'Italia

Acropolis Rally
Jordan Rally

Rally Finland

Rally Australia
Rally New Zealand

Rallye Deutschland
Rally of France

Catalunya Rally
Rally Ireland

Rally GB

But then hey....what the hell do we know?

Ha ha, we don't know anything!!!

I hope they sort the calendar to avoid any clashes with F1. Jerry Williams' column in MNews the other week made this very point. This year there are 8 clashes with F1 - Absolutely insane - yet Jean Todt didn't think this was a problem. Sorry, but it's a massive problem - during an F1 weekend - that is the only Motorsport the papers/media will cover. WRC needs all the help it can get.
Remember the FiA Presidential election? The result was announced on Day1 of RallyGB - while in Hafren forest, and waiting for the second run through - I had 5Live on, and the discussions over the outcome - they didn't know who Ari Vatanen was. Not only that, but after the result, no mention of RallyGB at all!!
They should've waited for F1 to announce their calendar - then arrange the WRC to avoid it.

You would certainly have my vote as successor to Simon Long. Dont you have some friends in low places who can help you with that?

WRC is a 3 day all-day-long event, not a lunch-time event, so I don't see what's the problem with it clashing with F1. The spectators on the road won't stay at home to watch F1; and as for the TV, if there were live broadcasts they could broadcast the stages that aren't at the same time as the races - but there aren't any live broadcasts anyway, F1 doesn't clash with the WRC highlights at the end of the day.

The world doesn't revolve around F1.

Yes, we know that, but the media don't see it like that. F1=Motorsport!! During a F1 weekend, the WRC won't be mentioned at all. That's why clashes should be avoided.