Breaking News: Sébastien Ogier joins Volkswagen WRC Team

Breaking WRC News: Sébastien Ogier is out as Mikko Hirvonen jumps from Ford to Citroen

After an exceptional 2011 season with ten victories, the seventh manufacturers’ title for the Citroën Total World Rally Team and Sébastien Loeb’s / Daniel Elena’s eighth drivers’ title*, Citroën Racing is already turning its attention to 2012 with the arrival of a new crew for next season.

Initially contracted until December 2013, Citroën Racing has finally decided to finish their collaboration with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia at the end of the 2011 season.
In 2012 and 2013, Sébastien Loeb’s and Daniel Elena’s team-mates will be Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen. The Finns, runners-up in the 2009 and 2011 World Championship, have scored 14 victories and 51 podium finishes in 124 starts in the WRC.

Olivier Quesnel, Citroën Racing Team Principal, said, “Seeing Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia leave strikes a particular emotional chord in the whole team. Citroën Racing trained them, first of all in the JWRC and then in the Citroën Junior Team and the Citroën Total World Rally Team. They had a very good season with five victories and third place in the Drivers’ World Championship, and they made a productive contribution to the conquest of the manufacturers’ title alongside Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena who have claimed their eighth consecutive world crown, a unique achievement in motorsport. Now, we’re very happy to welcome Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen. They’ve been our toughest rivals over the last four seasons and we’re really looking forward to our future collaboration. Mikko is a talented driver and his consistency will be a big help in our fight to retain the manufacturers’ title.”

Frédéric Banzet, General Manager Citroën Automobiles, said, “I’d like to take advantage of this occasion to repeat my congratulations to the whole Citroën Racing team for their 2011 titles, as well as Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena for their eighth consecutive crown. I’d also like to thank Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia for their involvement with the make over the last four years and the six victories they’ve added to its results. Today, I’d like to welcome Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen who are joining us to continue Citroën Racing’s sporting adventure and its determination to score more victories starting with the 2012 Monte Carlo Rally.

Ford Celebrate with a Sweep of the Podium at Final Round of the 2011 WRC battle, Rally GB.

WRC Academy: Craig Breen INAUGURAL CHAMPION

Craig Breen has become the inaugural WRC Academy Cup champion by the smallest of margins following a dramatic finale to the season in Wales this evening.

Breen needed to win the event and claim the maximum number of fastest stage times as possible to stand any chance of taking the title from Egon Kaur, who’d led the standings from the opening event of the season.

Although victory on the rally was secured when Breen completed the final Myherin stage with a dominant margin of 4m36.1s over Kaur, he had to wait for the Estonian to complete the 27.88-kilometre run before he could celebrate the title in case Kaur went faster than him and deprived him of the final bonus point he needed to draw level with Kaur in the standings.

With the title decided in favour of the driver with the highest number of fastest stage times during the course of the year, Breen had done enough to take the title and the 500,000 Euros scholarship prize handed out to the winner.

“I can’t find words to describe this moment,” said Breen, who reported a small gearbox problem this morning. “For sure it’s the most amazing feeling to finally get here after all the effort we’ve put in all year, all the ups and downs we’ve made it to the finish. We’ve finished level on points but we’ve got it on stage wins so we’re absolutely thrilled.”

Kaur said he lost time stuck behind a slowing car on the final stage. “We pushed on the last one but we lost time and we lost the title because of this,” he said. “But Craig has done a really good job. He pushed very much, we used a strategy to keep our car safe but it was not enough.”

Northern Ireland’s Alastair Fisher finished third overall to claim third overall in the final standings despite a fraught finish to the event. “We had a broken steering column for the last stage so we had strap the steering column to the roof for the last stage using a ratchet strap,” explained Fisher. “We got through it okay and to be third in the championship is what we deserved after the problems we’ve had this year.”

Christian Riedemann finished fourth with Molly Taylor taking fifth after a slow puncture cost her 40 seconds on Saturday’s third test. Sergey Karyakin was sixth with Valentin Hummel seventh on his WRC Academy debut, although the German is not eligible for points after registering for the series after the deadline.

Andrea Crugnola was next to finish followed by Spaniard Yeray Lemes after a puncture on stage 14 caused a four-minute delay.

SOURCE: WRC.COM

Ken Block brings home a best-ever 8th overall finish at WRC France

BLOCK TEARS UP THE TARMAC OF WRC FRANCE, TAKING HOME 4 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS WITH A PERSONAL BEST 8TH OVERALL FINISH ALONG WITH HIS FASTEST STAGE PLACING EVER. 

October 3rd, 2011, Strasbourg, France – Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino set two personal bests at this past weekend’s Rallye de France. While the duo charged hard throughout all three days of racing, they turned it up a notch for Sunday’s final stages, laying down a blistering pace at times that not only netted Block his fastest stage finish ever (4^th fastest on SS18), but also his best WRC event finish of 8^th overall, securing 4 points in the 2011 driver’s championship, doubling what he brought home last year during his rookie season.

“This rally was awesome,” said Block. “There have been more Americans on the moon than those who have scored points in the WRC, so to come out on what’s mathematically my first race after a season’s worth of rallies (a season is 13 events) as a WRC driver and score 4 points, well, it’s just an amazing feeling. The final day of this rally went really well for us and I think a combination of me being more comfortable and confident in my tarmac setup, as well as having done this event last year really paid off.” 

After what Block had repeatedly described as a “difficult and frustrating event” for him in Germany a month and a half ago, Block set out at Rally France, only his 14^th event in a WRC-spec car, for a clean and solid race. His pace over the first two days kept him in point contention but as a battle brewed on Sunday morning with up and coming French rally driver Pierre Campana, who was a mere 7 seconds ahead, Block stepped it up for what would be his most impressive WRC outing to date. 

“Ken ran a great race the entire weekend,” said team manager Derek Dauncey. “Looking at his split times, you can see that his pace was on point with the top drivers, even beating Ogier, Petter [Solberg] and Hirvonen on SS18 at the start of Leg 3, which is huge. I’m also massively impressed with the way he went out and took time out of Campana right off the bat this morning, then continued to do so and protect that top 10 position. Ken and Alex have made a giant step in their development over the previous few months and I am sure we have a lot more to come.”

Block’s next competitive event is the RallyRACC Rally of Spain, October 20 – 23, where he’ll once again be racing on tarmac with hopes of scoring more points in the driver’s championship. Until then, follow the team at monsterworldrallyteam.com, facebook.com/KenBlockRacing and facebook.com/MonsterWorldRallyTeam.