WRC ACADEMY 2012: ELFYN EVANS TAKES HEAD OF THE CLASS HONORS IN FINLAND

As one of the most eagerly awaited rounds on the FIA WRC Academy calendar, every driver dreams of lifting the trophy at rallying’s spiritual home in Finland. But as the 2012 Neste Oil Rally Finland came to a close in Jyväskylä this evening, there could be only one winner.

In another dominant performance, Elfyn Evans added the ‘Gravel Grand Prix’ to his tally of victories – with seven stage wins – and assumed control at the head of the WRC Academy standings. Rounding off the top-three, Pontus Tidemand claimed second withBrendan Reeves third.

Day 1 saw the crews travel south for three stages around the picturesque harbour city of Lahti where a real battle emerged between Evans, Tidemand and Alastair Fisher -each claiming a provisional stage win on the opening tests.

Unfortunately, the three-way battle was cut short after Tidemand was awarded a 10 second time penalty for jumping the start on SS2, demoting the Swede to sixth place and awarding the stage victory to an ever improving Jose Suárez on the Spaniard’s least preferred surface.

Elsewhere, there was misfortune for Ashley Haigh-Smith 5km into SS1 when the South African incurred damage to the gear lever of his Ford Fiesta R2. Despite forfeiting more than 12 minutes to the leaders, the 19-year-old put his ‘bush mechanics’ training to good use to get his Fiesta back to service where the M-Sport team were able to return the car to full working order.

More heartache followed for Sweden’s Fredrik Åhlin whose birthday celebrations were cut short with an accident on SS3. Carrying too much speed into a tight left-hander, the 22-year old rolled his Fiesta R2. Both crew members avoided serious injury in the spectacular incident, but too much damage to the rollcage put an untimely end to the youngster’s charge.

Day 2, and as the competition moved closer to the rally base in Jyväskylä, the dominanceEvans showcased at the Acropolis Rally shone through once more with six out of a possible nine stage wins. What is more, with Fisher forced to Rally 2 after a puncture caused electrical damage to the wiring for the fly by wire throttle of his Fiesta, Evans extended his lead to more than a minute over his nearest rivals.

Despite Evans’ control of the event, the battle for the final podium positions was one of the closest and most thrilling in WRC Academy history with four drivers separated by just 12.3 seconds heading into the final five tests.

Recovering well from his earlier penalty and having been suffering from flu earlier in the rally, Tidemand secured a stage victory on SS6 – and was rarely out of the top three on individual stage times – to hold the runner-up spot going into the final day. Claiming the final two stage wins over Lankamaa 2 [SS11] and the second pass of the Killeri Super Special [SS12], Reeves was just a further 8.3 seconds adrift in third. Just 3.9 seconds behind the Australian, Van der Marel continued his strong performance on what had been a good event for the KNAF supported driver with Suárez’s ever improving technique on gravel bringing the youngster into contention for his first WRC Academy podium a mere 0.3 seconds behind in fifth.

Day 3 saw the crews embark on what is arguably the most challenging day of competitive driving the WRC Academy crews have ever faced in their rallying careers – featuring some of Finland’s classic tests with wide roads, fast jumps and the infamously demanding Ouninpohja stage.

Rising to the challenge, a composed drive from Evans saw the 23-year-old maintain his lead whilst a clean-sweep of fastest stage times from Tidemand - including glory on the legendary Ouninpohja stage – saw the Swede consolidate his second place. But it was not enough to topple Evans whose faultless drive saw the Welshman claim his second successive win in as many events to assume the lead of the championship.

Elsewhere, the battle for the final podium position played host to some thrilling driving –Reeves, Van der Marel and Suárez separated by just 1.8 seconds at the end of SS13. The battle was so intense, that SS14, SS15 and SS16 each saw the final podium place occupied by a different driver – Reeves on SS14, Van der Marel on SS15 and back to Reeves at the end of SS16.

The final podium position was settled on the classic Ouninpohja stage when Van der Marel went off the road 3km into the final test, thus handing third place to Reeves.Suárez decided to settle for fourth when he encountered Van der Marel’s stricken Fiesta, but with a strong improvement on gravel the 21-year-old will be well placed ahead of the upcoming asphalt events.

A solid drive from Scotland’s John MacCrone saw the youngster secure a strong fifth place with Chris Duplessis enjoying the stages and bringing his Fiesta home in sixth. Portugal’s João Silva secured seventh, with a recovering Haigh-Smith and Fisherclaiming the final points in eighth and ninth respectively.

1st Elfyn Evans said:

“I am very happy to take the victory and make it to the finish on such a prestigious rally, it is such a good feeling. We held it together throughout the event and got the reward. We take away vital points towards the championship, especially after our pace yesterday, and I am very pleased to take seven stage wins.

“We had to look after the car today so I did not push for more points. But it was a great haul of points over the event and our championship attack is back on track, brilliant!”

2nd Pontus Tidemand said:

“I am really happy with second place and six stage wins throughout the rally. I was not feeling well on Day 1 and struggled to find a good rhythm, but my pace and consistency has improved over the past two days. I am very happy to take away so many points towards the championship and I will take away some confidence in my pace from this event.”

3rd Brendan Reeves said:

“We are very happy to be on the podium at the finish. It has been a great battle right from the start, so it was a real shame that Timo [Van der Marel] went out like that, but we managed to keep Jose [Suarez] at bay and kept pushing on.

“Our outright time was really good it the last stage [SS17], which was a great way to finish. We have consistently improved over the course of the event and have gained some great experience. We will go away very happy and confident ahead of the change to Tarmac in Germany.”

4th Jose Suárez said:

“I am happy with our progress over the event and with fourth position. It is an incredible feeling to get to the finish of such a famous event. I have learnt a lot over the event and found a good pace. We have collected good points towards the championship, which I am also very happy about. I go to the next round on Tarmac with a big smile on my face.”

5th John MacCrone said:

“We said before the start of the rally that we would be happy with a top five finish and we take away fifth place. We were in the mix pretty much all of today, apart from two stages. I do not really understand where we lost the time, maybe our pace notes where a little cautious.

“We always knew this would be a difficult event, and are delighted that we can take away strong points towards the championship. It was all about learning and gaining experience on this event and we certainly did that. The stages where exceptionally fast, but great fun. We will come back here next year and hopefully be able to challenge for a podium finish. This result was a great confidence boost ahead of Germany in a few weeks time.”

6th Christopher Duplessis said:

“This event has been so much fun and it is great to be here at the end of such a challenging event, especially after the hard work which went into making sure we could compete here! There were some stages where we pushed hard and had some good times, but we need some practice to match the pace of the front runners, it is an honour to race against them.

“Unfortunately this is my last event in the [FIA] WRC Academy as I am out of budget. I have had an absolute blast and for sure I have learnt a lot and gained invaluable experience. I have loved every minute of it, what better way to finish than on Rally Finland!”

7th João Silva said:

“This has been a really tough event, but I guess without any kind of experience on a surface with the characteristics of Rally Finland, we managed to pass through all of the stages without any major problems, which is a great achievement for us. OK the pace in the last stage [SS17] was not so great for us, but we just wanted to take our car to the finish safely.

“I have learnt the most from of all rallies to date from this event and we take away some great experience and driving confidence. I have really enjoyed the stages and leave here happy. Hopefully we will be in Germany to make good use of what we have learnt here.”

8th Ashley Haigh-Smith said:

“This has been a really challenging event for us, which I have learnt a lot from. It really has been a character building rally. We have suffered some issues over the rally, but have really enjoyed the stages and I am happy to still be here at the finish.

“The stages were fantastic today, although a little rough on the second pass, but we expected this when we started. Otherwise, we found a good rhythm this morning and were going well, but unfortunately we had a gearbox issue on the second pass which resulted in us loosing time to the others.

“Craig deserves a lot of praise on this event, I am so glad he was sat next to me, he has helped me to get the car to the finish that is for sure.

“We have a lot of work to do in preparation for Germany in just over two weeks time, but I will use the experience from here to build confidence.”

9th Alastair Fisher said:

”I have mixed feelings at the end of this rally. We started very well lying second going into Day 2, with a very strong pace and rhythm shown on Day 1 leaving us just 5 seconds behind the lead. Then we got a puncture and decided to continue, but unfortunately encountered issues with the throttle and had to retire from the rest of the day two stages.

“Today we returned under Super Rally regulations and found it a little difficult to push on the limit, but we are here at the end and I really enjoyed the stages. They certainly live up to their reputation!

“I am obviously disappointed to finish at the back of the field on this event after such a competitive start, but we will take away some good experience from the event in preparation for Germany, where we will be looking for maximum points towards the championship.”

Source: M-SPORT

STPR ORGANIZERS PROMISE MORE ACTION FOR RALLY FANS IN 2011



Dave Mirra, will be looking to get back on track after his wreck at Olympus. Photo Neil McDaid

 The 35th annual running of the Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally® (STPR®), presented by Citizens and Northern Bank returns to Wellsboro, PA with a refreshed event format and plenty of spectator opportunities.

As the oldest, continuously-running motorsports event in Pennsylvania, the 2011 STPR event, which is round five of the Rally America Championship Series, will take place June 3 and 4, 2011. The rally, promoted by the Finger Lakes STPR Motorsports LLC committee, is pleased to announce that the racing stages at the Tioga County Fairgrounds is now being combined with both a Friday and Saturday appearance of the cars on “the Green” in the center of Wellsboro, PA.

STPR® Chair Meridith Croucher says, “This has become a very popular family event, especially with the Fairground stages, where kids can get up close to the rally cars, meet the drivers, enjoy some refreshments, and then watch the cars battle on a closed course for competitive times and a chance to win the event.” Croucher said, “but some local residents and merchants have missed the second appearance of the cars on the Green on Saturday.”
“We have brought that back by instituting a Parc Expose – an open exhibition of the cars – on the Green at noon on Friday for the traditional viewing and ceremonial send-off into the Waste Management territory for the timed racing stages, plus a revival of the Saturday morning send-off from the Green as well,” said Croucher.

The Fairgrounds stages cost five dollars for admission each day, with event tickets on sale in advance at the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce (info at 570-724-1926).
One of the other changes made several years ago – the transition of STPR to an alcohol-free event – has helped enhance the family enjoyment of the rally for everyone, and made the administration of the event, both in town and in the woods, easier.
More than 40 race cars, the infusion of thousands of dollars to local area businesses rivaling a national convention, and Rally America championship points chase all highlight the arrival of STPR to the state forests near the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, again announcing the coming of spring in Tioga County.

With Waste Management, plus Citizens and Northern Bank and the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce sponsorship of the event helping to defray overhead expenses, the STPR Committee is able to offer the rally to the area at little or no cost to the community. Besides the 400 volunteers who work the rally – many of whom come in from out of town and use local services - another estimated 10,000 people come to the Wellsboro area either as spectators or workers for the various teams and their sponsors.
After last year’s sold-out STPR VIP Super Pass, the Committee is continuing its expanded spectator option to include separate Friday and Saturday programs for those who might not be able to do both days.
Starting Friday afternoon with the Waste Management stages, where you will be escorted to a private viewing area, to Saturday afternoon, when a bus will take you to a secluded, private area to watch the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon stages, you can get a view of the action previous reserved only for the working media. Food and drinks will be served, and VIP Super Pass holders will receive special rally mementos. Bring your camera for even better photos than before.

Plus, there will be VIP seating for the stages both Friday and Saturday nights at the Tioga County Fairgrounds. Bus transportation will be provided to and from the Fairgrounds to all points. All this for only $50.00 per person per day – kids are not free, as the number of VIP Super Passes are limited. Pick them up today at the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce and Tioga Publishing Company, or call 570-724-1926 for additional information.

The Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally®, presented by Citizens & Northern Bank, is a National Rally, approximately 300 miles long with approximately 128 miles of competitive stages. The Sherwood Forest Rally is a Regional Rally (for competitors who are not running for national Rally America Championship points), coefficient 2 that includes Stages One through Six and is approximately 48 miles. The Finger Lakes Rally is a Regional Rally, coefficient 3 that includes Stages Seven through Ten and is approximately 80 miles – both Regional rallies are run in conjunction with the full national event.
On Friday, June 3, the 22th annual Relay for Life street rally will take place in conjunction with the STPR event. This year’s event will benefit the Tioga Country chapter of the American Cancer Society, and is opened to the general public.
A time-speed-distance rally designed for any legal vehicle, within the legal speed limit, on high quality paved and unpaved roads in Tioga County. This event will not use the forest roads of the Performance Rally. The instructions will have a mileage to each turn, and are intended to be easy to follow. There are no tricks or traps involved in following the course. Awards in four classes: Novice (less than six (6) rallies by anyone in the car); Stock (stock odometer & single memory calculator); Limited (any equipment which cannot accumulate time and distance simultaneously, including non-programmable calculator, relocated odometer, - SCCA class "L" equipment; and Equipped (anything goes). Door Prizes, too. No limit to the number of people in each car. Limited to the first 50 paid entries.
Registration for the charity rally is from 11:00 a.m – 1:00 p.m., with a class for newcomers to time-speed-distance road rallying at 12:30 p.m. – all at the Tioga County Fairgrounds. There is a mandatory drivers meeting at 1:00 p.m., and the three-hour event starts at 1:31 p.m. the fee for paid, pre-registered competitors is $35/car before May 25, and $40/car after that. More information can be found at http://www.stpr.org/.

The Rally America Championship Returns to the Northwest for the 2011 Olympus Rally



Dave Mirra will be hoping to keep his streak of podium finishes alive at Olympus Rally this weekend.
Photo Neil McDaid /OLY 2010



April 30, 2011: Ocean Shores WA.  Round #3 of the 2011 Rally America Championship gets underway today in South Bend WA. This is a change over previous years where the southern loops of stages were run on day two of the Rally.

Team Subaru USA will debut their latest car at Olympus, and will as always be on a mission to capture the top step on the podium, getting them there lays firmly on the shoulders of David Higgins.

Off the front in AWD, we expect to see Higgins set the early pace; he cannot let the Canadians Antoine L’Estage or Pat Richard open any gap before the rally turns to the more technical stages in the afternoon and on day two.

The opening stages today, Palix, Smith Creek and of course the infamous Brooklyn stage are all very fast smooth flowing tests, and should suit the more powerfully car of Team Subaru USA. 

As with Higgins, Antoine L’Estage will no doubt be on the early pace, but we expect Antoine may not be at 10 tenth on the opening stages and may make his move later in the day over the more technical twisty Pico stage.  Despite running first on the road we would not rule Antoine out for a stage victory on say, the second pass on Palix or on Brooklyn West. 
Making his annual pilgrimage across the border from Canada Pat Richard is always the wild card at Olympus, and he can never be ruled out as a contender for the overall podium. Running third on the road Richard is in perfect position to be the spoiler for the Championship contenders.

We feel that dispite the introduction of the new car from Subaru, and his gravel clearing duties on day one, we still  give the edge to L’Estage for the overall victory.

The second of the two Team Subaru USA cars will be driven by Dave Mirra, who’s just coming off a few epic rounds at The Global RallyCross Championship; Mirra will need to quickly adjust back to taking instruction from his navigator Marshall Clarke to be in the hunt.  We expect that Mirra will be felling the heat from some of the SP cars running behind him in the top ten.  

In SP Class, look for Ramana Lagemann to charge hard right from the get go, Ramana has some good history at this rally, he took the overall victory at Olympus in 2007.  We expect to see a more conservative run from the current overall Rally America and SP Class point’s leader Travis Hanson as he sets his focused on the 2011 SP championship.

It’s shaping up to be a great 2WD battle, both on the national level and also in the chase for those precious Max Attack dollars.

Point’s leader Dillon Van Way finally gets some more grunt under the hood of his 2011 2WD Ford Fiesta. The Van Way Racing Team added a turbo since their last outing at 100aw. Fitted with a front mounted intercooler, the car will also be popping with the tune of it new  anti lag system.  The Fiesta is now reported to be putting out somewhere in the ballpark of 260 bhp, a lot of power from a  1.6 Motor, let’s hope it holds. In addition the car has been fitted with a new sequential 6 speed box; assuming  everything performs as planned, we expect to see big things from Van Way this weekend.

Canadian Andrew Comrie-Picard makes a return to stage rally in above all things, a 2WD Scion XD. Andrew [ACP] has called on the services of English co-driver Robbie Durant to call the notes, ACP and Durant have teamed up many times in the past, and have seen some great results. The Scion that ACP will drive is the same car that Chris Duplessis drove in 2010 with the addition of few go faster bits, it will be interesting to see what ACP can do with the Scion, if it holds up?.

Last but not least, we expect to see Wyatt Knox in the Team O’ Neil - MazdaSpeed3 running in the front 2WD pack.  Both Dillon Van Way and ACP have past experience at Olympus which will work to their advantage.   For Knox this is his first visit to Olympus, Wyatt will have to put a lot of trust in the experience of his co-driver Ole Holter to stay in the hunt. Wyatt may be best advised to ease into this unfamiliar rally as the reliability of both the Fiesta and the Scion is still in question.

The Rally will move north of Ocean Shores for day two.

Check back for updates and you can also check in with www.rally-america.com for the latest updates.

Hanson and Hanson Head West for Round Three of the Rally America Championship

Hanson focused on Super Production title in Washington

Littleton, NH, 26th April 2011 - Travis Hanson will begin next weekend's Olympus Rally holding the lead in

both the overall standings, and the Super Production class standings, yet his feet remain firmly on the ground
as his aim is the Super Production championship.

As usual, Travis will be co-driven by his father Terry. The pair are looking to deliver a good result, after last

 years disappointment on the Washington based Olympus Rally.

To-date in 2011, the Hansons have enjoyed an unprecedented level of success, which began in the first round

of the championship when they steered their Super Production specification 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

to outright victory at the Sno*Drift rally.

In claiming the overall win they became the first ever Super Production class competitors to win a

Rally America National event outright, and in-turn assumed their deserved place in the Rally America history.

Following up the victory at Sno*Drift, the T. Hanson Motorsports' pairing delivered another good

performance at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood in Missouri, as they claimed fourth overall, and first

in their class.

The long break between the second and third rounds of the Championship left Travis longing to get back

behind the wheel. "I am excited to get back in the car after a long break in the schedule. Some of the roads

at Olympus are my favorites because of the beautiful scenery and because of their fast flowing nature,"

said Travis.

Speaking of the challenge they face in keeping ahead of the manufacturer backed entries,

Travis said "It will be hard to stay in front of the charging open class cars of SRT USA and L’Estage,

 if we have another strong finish, it is still possible for us to continue to lead the overall championship."

Even though Travis is more than happy to sit at the top of the outright championship standings, he has

made it clear that his focus is on the Super Production title. "This however is not our main goal” he says.

The next three rounds of the championship comprise the Olympus Rally (April 30 - May 1), Oregon

Trail Rally (May 13 - 15) and Susquehannock Trail Rally (June 3 - 4), and with all in fairly close succession,

Travis believes consistency is the key.

"The next events are all within 5 weeks time, and stretch cross-country 3000 miles one way. I believe the

drivers that are the most consistent at these events will have the upper hand in the championship,” said Travis,

adding "It is our goal to be a consistent team and one that is always there fighting for a spot on the podium".

Concluding, Travis spoke of the close nature of the Super Production class, and it's ever increasing speed.

"The competition of this class is really good with ex-factory Subaru and Mitsubishi drivers pushing the class

 faster. We’ve had a great start to the season and we are excited for the next event.”

The T. Hanson Motorsports setup is propelled by a small group of highly motivated and dedicated people,

whose commitment to the cause is second to none.

The vital contributions of each and every team member,

along with the support from Team O’Neil Rally School, Olson’s Auto Body, OSLV, Exedy Clutches,

Big Boulder Park and Broken Motorsports is the reason behind the great success the team has enjoyed

to-date in 2011.

Photo/ Neil McDaid

Flying Finn Marcus Gronholm Dominates at Global RallyCross #1, While Jimmy Keeney Walks Away From the Big One.

By Neil McDaid

Irwindale CA, March 26, 2011. As round number one of the Global RallyCross Championship got underway on Friday morning, it quickly became apparent that we were going to witness a master class in driving from WRC Champion and Flying Finn Marcus Gronholm. Marcus, who teamed up with Best Buy and Ford Racing for the inaugural round of the Championship would dominate on both days of competition, taking his 2011 Ford Fiesta to the top spot on the podium in both Super Rally and RallyCross.

Considering the short amount of time from when we had confirmation that Global RallyCross was a go, the organizers did a bang up job in pulling it all together for the first round. With a mountain of dirt trucked into the infield of Irivindale’s Toyota Speedway earlier in the week, it was all hands on deck to get the course set in time for competition. Adding to the already tight schedule, wet weather in the area in the days just prior to the event hampered in the construction of the Gap Jump bringing things right down to the wire as the teams arrived.

The 70 foot Gap Jump was to be the main feature of the course layout, with a smaller second jump thrown in for entertainment value. Several hundred concrete and plastic jersey barriers would form a maze in the infield, which drivers would navigate to complete their laps.

With a limited entry for the first round we basically ended up with two classed, AWD and 2WD. To the disappointment of many, myself included Mikael Eriksson’s  mighty 2WD Porsche  911/966 got delayed in U.S. customs and did not make the event, which left the remaining  2WD  entries evenly matched for the most part.,

Not so much in the AWD class, for Art Gruszka, Jimmy Keeney and Joseph Burke who showed up in their regular stage rally cars, it was kind of like bringing a knife to a gunfight. They were down by as much as 200 HP to the RallyCross specific cars, nonetheless undeterred they fought well with what they brung.

Leading the charge for the Americans was Tanner Foust in his RockStar Energy / Ford Racing backed AWD Ford Fiesta. Foust volunteered to take the first pass over the jump to determine the optimal speed to clear the gap. The approach speed to the jump is critical, too slow spells disaster as we have seen in the past at XGAMES, and would unfortunately witness again at this event.

Day one would get underway with Super Rally, a racing format developed for XGAMES competition. Despite the best efforts of the announcers, the fans in the stands struggled to grasp the concept of the super rally. I have to say that it can get a bit confusing at times to understand where things are at.  Down time between runs was extremely tedious, granted this should improve as more cars enter at future events.

A moment of high flying drama during the AWD eliminations had the fans on their feet in awe. While chasing Marcus Dodd in the Hyundai Veloster, Jimmy Keeney from Colorado would disintegrate his pristine Subaru STI over the jump.

Jimmy made a late gear change as he approached the gap jump ramp, which dropped his approach slightly below the required speed. He just about cleared the gap but his rear tires would clip the edge launching the car back into the air followed by several end over end flips before the mangled Subaru came to rest at the bottom of the ramp.

There were a few tense moments before Jimmy emerged from the side window of the car. The Irwindale track rescue teams sprang into action and were with Jimmy within seconds of the car coming to a rest.

Although the car was a total loss, Jimmy’s safety equipment performed as planned and thankfully despite been a little sore from the belts Jimmy walked away from this massive wreck to race another day.

Onto the quarter finals, America’s rising rally star Joseph Burke would throw down a massive drive against Sweden’s Mikael Jernberg.  Jernberg who is one of Europe’s top professional RallyCross drivers has decided to forego racing in Europe for a year and contest the new Global RallyCross Championship and XGAMES. Burke’s Mitsubishi Evo was clearly drastically down in power to Jernberg’s angry little Skoda, but it did not deter young Burke from hounding the old hand around the course.

Jernberg would eventfully take the win over Burke and go on to edge out Tanner Foust in the semi finals.

Jernberg would now meet WRC legend Marcus Gronholm in the final who despite having a slight mechanical glitch on the start line of one of the heats breezed his way through to the finals.

Apart from Jimmy’s big moment, the SuperRally final was the highlight of day one, Gronholm and Jernberg would go at it hell for leather. Jernberg getting a nose ahead on Gronholm on the opening lap but it was only a nose, Marcus was on the attack. The pair gets into each other at the bottom of the jump ramp, Marcus would power his way through and edge out Jernberg for the lead. Despite continued intense pressure from the Jernberg, Marcus would take the overall victory in Super Rally. Tanner Foust would claim third from his placing in the semifinals.

The course layout for the 2WD cars excluded the large gap jump, but the small jump on the second dirt section inflicted some front end damage on the 2WD cars as the battled the clock in qualifying, before it was flatten out some by the track crew.

Dillon Van Way and Tyler TurnBull both in Ford Focus’s along with Randy Zimmer and Matthew Johnson who were both in the Mazda camp all advanced from qualifying to the 2WD Final.

In the final, Van Way got the edge and ran with it to the finish line, Matthew Johnson steered the Mazda RX8 to second, and while a very elated Randy "Zoomer” Zimmer brought his very unique Miata home in third.

Despite the lack of HP, traction and any sign of sponsors, the 8 drivers entered in 2WD gave it their all on every lap.

Day two would see a much better crowd in attendance over day one, drivers took a time out from the action to sign posters and just about anything else for the fans. Photo Neil McDaid www.rallyworldnews.com

Day two, we move from Super Rally to the RallyCross format, the track layout out gets a slight tweak by the organizers to reduce the risk of impact after the jump. We also are delighted to see the arrival of Dave Mirra and Team Subaru for day two. For some unknown reason beyond our information level, Subaru decided to sit out day one.

After a few practice laps, we would jump right into the 2WD heats. Dillion Van Way would set the early pace, with Andrew Sutherland in the Honda Civic in second and Matthew Johnson in third.

Sliding over from Formal D, drifter Chris Kregorian showed up Saturday in his twin turbo spinning Nissan 350Z to get in on some of the RallyCross action. Andrew would grab forth in the first heat.

Dillion Van Way would also take heat #2, with the Kregorian moving up to second and Randy Zimmer moved to third.

Matthew Johnson, tried his best to grind the passenger’s side door handle off his Nitro Circus sponsored Mazda as he clipped a tire in the heat of battle and slide over the finish line on his side. Somehow the car managed to drop back on all fours; Johnson fired it up and returned to the pits.

Whether it was from the bump landing or some other little gremlin working its way into the RX8, Johnson’s car decided it would stay in second gear. Despite all kinds of tugging and pulling it was locked in. Not wanting to give in just yet Johnson would complete the last heat in 2^ND gear, while others had issues Matthew somehow managed to make to the finish line to qualify for the 2WD A-Main.

In the words of Matthew Johnson, “Rally needs more characters” well, you will be hard pressed to find a more interesting character in rally than the man himself [pictured on the right] and no less of a character is his fellow 2WD competitor Randy “Zoomer” Zimmer. Photo Neil McDaid www.rallyworldnews.com

There was no want of drama when the AWD cars started the heat races, five of the ten starters DNF’ed in the first heat.

Dave Mirra misunderstood the starting system and failed to launch in his heat, Art Gruszka tagged a barrier which stopped his run.

But it was Joseph Burke who brought the fans to their feet in the early going. Burke while running second to Hyundai team driver Rhys Millen come into the gap just a little too hot, he clipped the bank performed a perfect mid air flip and landed his Evo on the guard rail. “it’s hard to back off when you’re so close to a victory even it’s only a heat race, I was right there with Rhys coming into the gap, the rear end just stepped out, I thought I had it recovered enough to make the turn, but over she went, I fired it up right before it landed but it was caught up on the rail-bummer” it would take some creative work by the tracks recovery crew to get Burke stricken Evo off the guard rail.   Marcus Gronholm took the heat #1 victory, trailed by team mates Tanner Foust and Pontus in third.

The Ford’s of Marcus Gronholm and Pontus Tidemand would falter in heat #2, and DNF.  Because of damage sustained in his earlier roll, Burke would have to sit out heat 2 while his crew rushed to repair the car.  Tanner Foust took the victory in heat #2 with Hyundai Team mates Rhys Millen and Marcus Dodds finally getting a good showing in thier beautiful new Velostar’s.

Heat # 3 seen a return of the Ford men to the top of the sheet, Marcus, Tanner and Pontus made it 1,2,3,. Stephan Verdier in his Crawford powered Subaru was pushing hard to took forth.

With the heats and the b-mains behind us it was onto the finals.

For some strange reason the crew can always seem to eke out just a few more horsepower from the cars for the A-Finals.

As the 10 minute warning was giving to the 2WD drivers to report the start line, all kinds of drama was going on under Johnson’s Mazda, I think I counted 5 pair of feet sticking out from under the RX8 at one point.

The car was still stuck in gear; Matthew was keeping us posted via twitter, “Bummed, car stuck in 2nd gear....running out of time. Might have to try to compete in 2nd and givr” but @mjrally quickly follow up with “Holy cow, just got ma' gears back! Thanks Odi at FEAL suspension! Ready to rock I think” yes indeed MJ was back and ready to rock.

And rock it he did, Matthew got off to an early lead, Dillon Van Way and Andrew Sutherland would start to close the gap on Matthew in the closing lap, but their tight racing would get the better of them. As the charged along the front straight, Andrew would clip one of the barriers which pitched his Honda in front of Dillon taking both of them out of the race. Randy Zimmer who had been in forth now moved to second and Laughlin O Sullivan grabbed the final podium spot in third. It was back to back podium finishes for Johnson and Zimmer in the Mazda’s a great result for two men that drove cross country to get to L.A...

On to the climax of two long days of racing, the AWD, A-Main, I have to say there are few things in motorsports that can compare to the standing start of the AWD cars in RallyCross. Not to make lite of the situation in Japan, but I swear I felt the earth shutter as the cars launched.

It was Marcus Gronholm with the edge as they rounded turn one at Irwindale speedway, closely flanked by team mate Tanner Foust and privateer Stephen Verdier. With Pontus Tidemand leading the second pack of Dave Mirra and Rhys Millen, all three headed towards the jump.Marcus would maintain his lead over Foust as the laps counted down, Pontus Tidemand who was rubbing bumpers with Stephen Verdier for third pulled off to the side on the front straight in the closing laps with mechanical issues. .

Stephen Verdier would find an opening and passed Foust for second, which he held for a half of a lap, before Foust grabbed it back. In the end it was all Marcus, he just seemed to be able to turn it up a notch when needed taking the overall victory on both days of the event.  Tanner Foust would keep Verdier at bay and held second. By taking third, Stephen Verdier proved there is a place on the podium in this sport for the privateer, as he beat the factory supported teams from Subaru and Hyundai.

Crews will head north to Seattle for round #2. It’s doubtful that we will see Marcus Gronholm in attendance, but it’s not out of the question. Most of the competitors that ran at Irwindale seem set to compete in Washington. Hopefully we will see a few more drivers jumping into the 2WD battle. Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available; also check in with http://www.global-rallycross.com/ for the most up to date info and tickets.    

Pictures ©Neil McDaid / RallyWorldNews.com

FIA WRC Academy: Class of 2011 completes Induction Programme



Ireland's Craig Breen will be part of the WRC Academy class for 2011. Photo: Craigbreen.com



The FIA WRC Academy, rallying’s premier training programme for young drivers, completed a three-day Induction Programme for its competitors atM-Sport in Cumbria. Thirty-four drivers and co-drivers from 14 countries participated in the event, ahead of round one, Vodafone Rally de Portugal which takes place from 24-28 March 2011.

The sessions offered the drivers a chance to familiarise themselves with the Ford Fiesta R2 rally car and Pirelli tyres with which they’ll contest six rounds of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, as well as offering classroom tutorials on topics including professionalism, goal setting, media, nutrition and fitness. 

Explaining the importance of both on and off-stage preparation to a rally driver’s career, WRC Academy Principal Marc de Jong said, “The WRC Academy is a world class competition, mixed with education and training for drivers up to 24 years of age. In rallying, experience is very important and these guys are at a really early stage of their career.

Many are graduating from national championships and these are their first steps at WRC level. We want to help them prepare for the WRC Academy season and give them a good foundation to build their talent. That’s why this Induction Programme isn’t just about driving, but included many other aspects as well.”

Robert Reid, 2001 World Rally Champion co-driver and director of ESP, delivered a talk on the importance of planning and goal setting: “Some of the WRC Academy drivers might have felt a bit like they were back at school for the day, but the smartest drivers who take all the advice on board and work with it will soon see the benefits.”

By the end of the day session, the atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation among the excited WRC Academy ‘Class of 2011’. At only 17 years old, Miko-Ove Niinemae can’t believe he’s already found himself on the first rung of the WRC ladder, even proclaiming the Fiesta, “The best R2 car I’ve driven. I think my favourite thing is the handling. It’s steady on the road, not nervous.” Other drivers focused on the benefit of the theory sessions with Dutchman Timo van der Marel chipping in: “I learned how important it was to identify weaknesses and make a plan to turn them into strengths.”

But perhaps the clearest message came through when fellow Aussies and Pirelli Star Drivers Brendan Reeves and Molly Taylor were asked to say the first thing that came into their heads when they heard the phrase ‘WRC Academy’ and chimed in uncanny unison “great opportunity”. The first round of the WRC Academy gets underway at Vodafone Rally de Portugal on Thursday 24 March 2011.

Michael Jernberg brings the Wicked Skoda Fabia to USA for the 2011 Global RallyCross Championship

Irwindale CA, Top Swedish RallyCross driver Michael Jernberg has just been added to the entry list for the opening round of the 2011 Global RallyCross Championship. Michael will drive his 2000 cc Trollspeed design, four cylinder, 16 valves, 550 bhp, Skoda Fabia in U.S. Competition.

Michael will not compete in Europe in 2011 and will only focus on the GRC rounds and ultimately compete at XGAMES 17. Jernberg decided after the 2010 season that after many years competed in Europe he is tired of EM and SM. Michael looks forward to “Fun with a new country, new drivers and it is also a fun challenge for me”.
Skoda is not sold in the U.S, so the brand will not sponsor Jernberg in the GRC rounds in the USA, but will continue to work with the driver in Markets where Skoda is sold.

Driver Bio:
Michael Jernberg is one of Sweden and Europe's
top-winning Rallycross drivers.
2009 – Second place in European Championship
2009 – Best driver in RallyCross Norden.
Four times Swedish champion
(2008, 2001, 1998, 1995)
Winner of Shell Helix Cup (1997),
Twice 3rd place in European Championship
(2008 &1992)
Three times – 2nd place in EM (2009, 2005, 2004).

Photo: Tim Wittington / http://www.britishrallycross.com/



Team Subaru USA Unable to Match the Pace of Privateer Antoine L’Estage at Rally in the 100 Acre Wood

Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard set the pace from the opening stage on day one to clinch victory at Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. Photo Neil McDaid/www.RallyWorldNews.com

February, 2011. Salem, Missouri.  After a DNF at round one of the 2011 Rally America Championship, Canadian and U.S. Rally Champions Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard got back to their winning ways by claiming victory at the 2011 Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. Despite massive pressure for Team Subaru USA and some challenging stage conditions L’Estage and Richard prevailed to take the top spot on the podium. Team Subaru drivers David Higgins and Dave Mirra would round out the overall podium.

As the crews headed out for the recce Thursday morning they were greeted with some torrential downpours on the stages which made for some very tough going. Many of the small creek crossings that are a trademark of the rally quickly rose to flood conditions leaving them quite challenging to navigate. The heavy rain would continue throughout the day leaving several sections of the stages water logged and quite muddy in places.

As Friday morning rolled around the rain had cleared out of the area but crews were left wondering how the torrential rain had affected stage conditions.  Tire choice would be a critical factor on the opening day.



Imported from Europe by Subaru USA to replace Travis Pastrana, David Higgins struggled throughout the rally to match the pace of L’Estage. Photo Neil McDaid/www.RallyWorldNews.com



Making a surprise last minute entry to the rally was 4-time Rally America Champion Travis Pastrana. Travis, who has made the move to NASCAR, came directly from a race in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday evening and did not have an opportunity to pre-recce any of the stages nor get familiar with his car or new co-driver for this event, Jeremy Wimpy.

Adding to his challenges, Travis also drew the short straw in the draw for road position, putting him out first on the road.  This was not a desirable position with the questionable conditions and many sections of loose gravel.

SS1, a short jaunt around the fairgrounds in Potosi, would see Antoine L’Estage set the fasted time with little or no drama.

It was then onto the first real stages of the rally.  Running first on the road and pushing just a little too hard, Pastrana’s brief return to rally would come to a sudden and spectacular end on SS2 “Country Line 1”. 

Less than a mile into SS2, driving the same car that the late great Colin McRae spectacularly rolled at X-Games 12 in 2006, Pastrana slid wide clipping several trees before coming to a rest back on the stage partially blocking the road. With little more than a bruised ego, Pastrana and his co-driver Jeremy Wimpy would walk away from the wreck uninjured, but the car may very well have seen its last stage.

SS2 would also see the retirement of up and coming driver Joseph Burke.  We had hoped to see Burke continuing the battle he had with Dave Mirra at Sno *Drift, but it was not to be on this event. A pre-event engine swap led to some electrical gremlins working their way into Burke’s Evo.

Despite the torrential downpours on Thursday and some of the creeks remaining at flood condition, the stage roads had drained off remarkable quickly.

Antoine L’Estage would gamble on drier roads in his tire choice, a gamble that would pay off for the reigning Rally America Champion. L’Estage set fastest times on three of the first four stages of the rally while others who had opted for narrow mud tires lost time in the dry conditions.  Heading into the first service on day one, L’Estage in his Mitsubishi had already opened a significant gap on Subaru driver David Higgins in second and Dave Mirra in third.

SS5, “Pandora Westover,” would be cancelled due to an overflowing creek on the transit to the stage.

SS6, “Ollie’s Camel,” a classic stage on the rally was also first of the night stages. Now running first on the road with Pastrana’s retirement, L’Estage would attack hard stopping the clock with a 2 second margin on David Higgins. Privateer Ramana Lagemann would nip Subaru Team driver Dave Mirra by one second for third.  As the cars headed back to Salem for the overnight halt, Antoine L’Estage held his overall lead with Team Subaru USA drivers David Higgins and Dave Mirra  rounding out the top three.

With Chris Duplessis missing from the 2WD line up, his fellow instructor from the Team O’Neil Driving School would take up the reins.  Wyatt Knox would lead the 2WD charge throughout day one in his Mazda Speed 3.

Knox, who has teamed up with co-driver Ole Holter for 2011, managed to open a 23 second gap on Chris Greenhouse in a Plymouth Neon in second. Rounding out the top three in 2WD was Ford Racing’s Dillon Van Way.  Dillon, who had taken the overall 2WD victory at Sno*Drift, suffered some electrical issues in his Ford Fiesta on the opening stages and was now trailing Knox by over 2 minutes at the end of day one.   

As we moved into day two it seemed from the outside looking in that Higgins was not 100% committed to his notes. David and his co-driver Craig Drew are somewhat new to each other as this was just their second event together. They would have a narrow escape on SS7, the first stage on day two after they misjudged a fast crest which resulted in an off-road excursion between some tree stumps. David managed to get his Subaru back on the road and was able to finish the stage.

For Ramana Lagemann and Chrissie Beavis their rally would come to a flaming end on SS8.  A sudden flat wheel would result in a high speed wreck in their 2008 SP Class Subaru Impreza, which was followed by a small fire. Both Ramana and Chrissie were lucky to escape unharmed, but the stage had to be cancelled for all cars running after Lagemann as his mangled Subaru was blocking the road.  

Carrying his momentum forward from day one, Antoine L’Estage seemed untouchable as he set the fastest times on the first three stages of day two despite running first on the road. At the mid-day service halt Team Subaru driver David Higgins seemed resigned to the fact that he was clearly not on L’Estage pace and was more focused now on protecting his second place and tweaking the car setup. While Higgins struggled to find his form his teammate Dave Mirra was very satisfied with his progress. “My car setup is the best I’ve ever had. Marshall and I have a good rhythm going. I am really focused on driving to the notes; it’s good, and it just feels right,” he commented.   

With the departure of Ramana Lagemann from the SP Class battle, and holding a little over a minute lead on their nearest challenger, Travis and Terry Hanson seemed well on their way to yet another class victory in their SP Subaru Impreza.
Behind the Hanson’s the battle for 2^nd in SP Class was far from settled however.  Roman Pakos and Bartosz Sawicki were in a tight battle with Laughlin O'Sullivan and Scott Putnam who were struggling with some overheating issues.  The 2WD battle was unchanged from day one with Wyatt Knox holding a commanding lead in the Mazda over Chris Greenhouse and Dillon Van Way.

After completing another dash around the short spectator [SS10] stage in Potosi, it was back out to tackle the six remaining stages of the rally. 

SS11, “Floyd Tower West,” again we would see yet another cruising blow from L’Estage as he set a stage time some 5 seconds faster than Higgins over the 10-mile test.  SS11 may have been the best indication of Antoine’s pace at 100AW.  This was the third pass on this stage for the teams and with perfect road conditions we expected to see Higgins put in a big push and take the stage victory, but he had no answer for the Canadians’ pace.  

Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard would push on to take stage wins on SS12 and SS13 before dialing it back a notch as they took a more conservative approach over the final 3 stages on their way to a well deserved victory.

David Higgins would take stage victories on SS14, SS15 and SS16 to close within 17 seconds of L’Estage at the final time control. Dave Mirra and his new Irish co-driver Marshall Clarke would enjoy their second podium finish of 2011 in third. Taking into consideration that L’Estage was running first on the road throughout the rally on some very difficult stage conditions, this victory truly highlights Antoine’s pace over Higgins and the rest of the field.

Travis and Terry Hanson maintained their pace to take overall SP class honors, and continue to build on their SP and Overall championship standings.   Laughlin O'Sullivan would put in a massive push over the final three stages of the rally to grab second overall in SP Class from Roman Pakos by the narrowest of margin. Making it a perfect 1, 2, 3 SP Podium finish for Subaru.

2WD honors went to Wyatt Knox and Ole Holter in the Mazda. Chris Greenhouse put in an epic drive and claimed second while Ford Racing’s Dillon Van Way would have to settle for third in his Fiesta.

The RallyCar/RallyAmerica Championship will now head west to the city of Ocean Shores, Washington, for round number three, Olympus Rally. Assuming Antoine L’Estage can secure funding to compete out west, I would predict a similar result to 100AW.  Without question L’Estage has the edge on Higgins in both prior knowledge of Olympus and more seat time in a familiar car and with a familiar co-driver.

Subaru Rally Team USA is also set to debut new cars from both Higgins and Mirra at Olympus. Will we see the return of the sedan? Time will tell.  Graham Wilcock from Auto Sports Engineering out of Ann Arbor, Michigan will also unveil a brand new Mitsubishi Evo X at Olympus. The driver has yet to be disclosed.

Expect an event preview as we get closer to the rally date.