I have a good chance of the title: Loix

BFO Skoda Rally Team driver Freddy Loix is still sure that he can claim the IRC title this year.

Loix sits third in the drivers title, one point behind Peugeot driver Bryan Bouffier and three points in arrears of fellow Skoda Fabia S2000 driver Juho Hanninen, who leads the series.

The Belgian ace was only due to compete on seven events this year, and has already competed on two, Rallye Monte Carlo and Rally Islas Canarias. He finished second on the Monte and fourth in the Canaries.

Competitors have only to count their best seven scores out of the 12 events, but as Loix is only due to contest seven events, he cannot afford a mistake. Another addition to his challenge is that points-and-a-half are awarded in Scotland and double points are awarded in Cyprus, but he is not scheduled to contest either event, which could prove an opportunity to any possible rival for the championship.

“Definitely [will] I try to win the championship but I know as well with seven rallies only on my schedule [my chances] will be quite limited because the last two events in Scotland and Cyprus are very important for the points. I hope I can leave Sanremo [which is currently scheduled to be his last rally in the IRC this year] close to the front of the points and that I can get some help from Skoda.” He said.

On the limit from here on out: Solberg

2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg has said he will start next week's Rally d'Italia Sardegna, and the rest of the events in this year's WRC calender, with one thing in mind. That one thing will be that he is now driving only for wins.

At the start of the year, with the new cars being introduced, many people thought Solberg would recover his winning form. These thoughts were reinforced when he was running in a strong position for most of the rally, until an incident with the local police lead to a driving ban which forced Solberg to switch seats with his navigator Chris Patterson. The pair finished fifth a the end of the rally.

Their luck was not to change, however. An electrical problem, more specifically the wiring loom coming loose, was to blame in Mexico.

With Portugal came a remarkable four punctures, with two of them on the same stage, and in Jordan he crashed out. All of Solberg's problems came whilst he was fighting for a podium spot.

“It’s flat-out everywhere from now on. It’s got to be. It’s frustrating that we’ve had such a tough start to the year. In Portugal, we were in a good place without strategy and then we got the puncture[s], the same with Mexico, everything was looking good. Now the strategy is to be fast, that’s it.” he said.

Solberg has a good history on the next event, though. He won the inaugural Rally d'Italia Sardegna in 2004, came second in 2005, 5^th in 2007 and 3^rd in 2009. He says he is happy that the event will mark its return to the WRC this year.

“I like the event,” said Solberg, who will be co-driven by Northern Irishman Chris Patterson. “It’s always a tough rally, but the roads are good. It’s going to be an exciting one and we have always gone well there in the past. I want some results from these rallies now.”

Solberg will be navigated by his regular navigator Chris Patterson and will drive his PSWRT Citroen DS3 WRC in partnership with Citroen Racing Technologies.

Subaru to run works backed cars in IRC

Subaru have confirmed that they will enter two Impreza WRX STi's on six events in this year's Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The Impreza's will conform to the new R4 specification, which was brought about to close the gap between the Group N and S2000 cars. The R4 cars feature uprated suspension, better engine performance, enhanced cooling and a lower overall weight.

Subaru have selected two highly experienced drivers in Toshi Arai and Fumio Nutahara to head the new campaign. Arai, a double P-WRC Champion, made his IRC début on last years Geko Ypres Rally and Nutahara, multiple P-WRC event winner, débuted on last year's Barum Czech Rally Zlín. Both drivers will run on Yokohama tyres.

Their calendars will comprise of:

Tour de Corse (Arai only)

Sata Rally Acores

Barum Czech Rally Zlín (Nutahara only)

Mecsek Rally (Arai only)

Rally of Scotland

Cyprus Rally (Arai only)

Subaru are no strangers to the IRC, however. They registered as a manufacturer in 2010, and again in 2011. They also started up the Subaru Individual Award, which was awarded to the highest placed Subaru mounted driver on selected rallies.

Loeb sure Sordo will impress

Seven-times World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb has said that he expects his former team-mate Dani Sordo to impress in his new surroundings.

Sordo, who signed for MINI in January, completed five seasons as team-mate to Loeb in the Citroen World Rally Team. He was brought into the Citroen-backed Kronos Racing WRT in 2006 after a successful run in the J-WRC, which he won. Citroen retained him for 2007, where he impressed on the tarmac rounds, most notably completing a 1-2 finish for Citroen behind Loeb on the début of the C4 WRC. He improved with multiple gravel podiums in 2008 and 2009 before a dip in performance led to him being demoted to the Citroen Junior squad for gravel rallies, being replaced in the No.1 team by Sebastian Ogier, who would eventually take Sordo's vacated seat.

The Spaniard somewhat enjoyed a No.2 status at Citroen, never really being able to compete with his all-conquering team-mate Loeb. Sordo did show enough pace at times to be able to better Loeb, most notably taking four straight stage wins, six throughout the rally and leading throughout Day 1 on his home event in 2009 and on the 2008 Jordan Rally, where he lead for most of the rally, only relinquishing the lead after a hard fight with Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen.

“He will have the freedom to fight for himself now and maybe he can be stronger because it’s a different situation for him,” said Loeb, the current WRC title leader. “I think it’s good for him to have this position in the team now he has a lot of experience. He was working for a manufacturer for a long time and for sure he can do some good things.” said Loeb.

Loeb said that Sordo did a good job in Citroen No.2, regularly scoring points and always doing his best: “I always was in front of him immediately at the start of the season and he accepted easily to be the second driver and score the points and do what the boss was telling him to do. He accepted I was faster than him and he didn’t try [to beat me]. He was doing his best but I was always in front.”

Sordo and new team-mate Kris Meeke will now mark the début of the new MINI John Cooper Works on next week's Rally d'Italia Sardegna. Meeke and Sordo have been team-mates before, back in the Kronos Racing J-WRC team in 2005, when Sordo took the title.

Circuit of Ireland 2011: Review

Four times became five times today after Derek McGarrity took victory on the 80^th anniversary of one of Ireland's most famous rallies, the Circuit of Ireland.

McGarrity was involved in a titanic fight with Banbridge preparation ace Kenny McKinstry throughout Day 1 and into Day 2. When Day 2 dawned in Service in Armagh City, it was bright and sunny, unlike out on the Day's opener, the 8 miles of SS11. Rain greeted the top crews, and became heavy in some places. Both McGarrity and McKinstry spun, but the difference was that McGarrity found the right direction quite quickly, McKinstry did not. His S8-spec Impreza stalled and he could not get going for 30 secs. McGarrity pushed his S11 example to it's limits for the rest of the stage, and was shaking at the end of the stage, describing his recovery drive as a 'crazy run'. McGarrity's run was so quick that he bettered McKinstry's dry time on the repeat stage, SS14

“It was a very good rally. Yesterday was tricky for us learning the car all over again. Today was brilliant, the Pirelli tyres worked well and the car was good. My mechanics Paul and Jim did a fantastic job getting the car ready and fitting Niall Maguire’s engine – they wouldn’t give up. I am really grateful to Niall for lending me the engine” said the now 5-times Circuit winner.

Eight WRC-spec Imprezas started the rally, and two didn't arrive at the finish.. Darren Gass' machine caught fire on SS1 and Next out was Stuart Biggerstaff on SS3. Kevin Barrett was on the verge of retirement quite a number of times with multiple problems in his Impreza. Derek McGarrity nearly didn't start the rally after a serious engine problems during pre-event testing, but Niall Maguire came to the rescue with a spare engine. George Robinson was competing in the NI Rally Championship section, so he did not compete on Day 2.

“I’m disappointed but realistic. Any fight there was going to be disappeared with that spin this morning. To be fair to Derek his time in the wet this morning was faster than my time over the same stage this afternoon in the dry” said McKinstry.

In the Showroom class, Donagh Kelly inherited the lead after Garry Jennings crashed out on SS11. Kelly occupied 4^th o/a after Jennings' exit, but fell to 6^th o/a after both John Dalton and Phil Collins both passed him. This was only a minor thing, as he slowed down to protect his massive lead. Indeed, he had such a lead that he was able to drop around 12secs to Brendan Cumiskey. His final winning margin was 42.8secs.

Welsh visitor John Dalton won the Modified Class in his Darrian T90 GTR. Phil Collins was 1.8secs behind Dalton at the finish. Early leader Wesley Patterson crashed on the final stage of Day 1, bending the MK2's cage. Wesley was taken to hospital with a pulled muscle in his back, but co-driver Martin McGarrity is okay. Wesley later apologised for blocking the stage, and thanked everyone who helped him.

Rising star Amy Cox won Class 6 in her G3 Escort. She finished ahead of Shane Cullen in another Escort, 32.3secs ahead to be exact. She also finished 23^rd o/a.

Steve Perez retired on SS1 after he snapped the gear stick off in his Stratos. He had it repaired and completed 'OO' duties. He SuperRallied on Day 2 and finished the rally.

MINI to début at The Rally Show

Cornbury Park will play host to the first British appearance of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, when the all-new car arrives at the Rally Show.

"We are looking forward to giving British rally fans their first opportunity to view the new Mini John Cooper Works WRC in action.” Campbell Roy, Team Manager said “We know that everyone is very eager to see the car on home soil and we can't think of a more fitting event than The Rally Show at Cornbury Park, just a few miles from where the car is built.

The car will make a run over the 1.1 mile course, but it is yet to be confirmed who will drive it, Kris Meeke or Dani Sordo. The event takes place only one week after the car's international début on the Rally d'Italia Sardegna.

"The team will only just have returned from making its WRC debut on the Rally of Italy in Sardinia the previous weekend, so there should be plenty of interest and excitement generated in advance of this outing." Roy added.

Managing Director of The Rally Show, Malcolm Neill, said that he was delighted to have the car's British début at the event, saying: "The new Mini WRC is one of the biggest news stories in rallying for years, and we are delighted to be able to offer the first chance to see it. The fact that Minis are built in Oxford and that the rally car has been designed and built by Prodrive in Banbury, close to the Cornbury Park Estate, makes it all the more exciting."

The Rally Show will also host the British début of the Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Circuit of Ireland 2011: Preview

Four-times Circuit of Ireland winner Derek McGarrity will lead the 100-strong entry list for the 2011 Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland away from the ceremonial start this Saturday at 12:00.

McGarrity, a two-times Tarmac Champion, will revert to WRC power for this weekend, instead of the Evo X, in which he contested the Galway International. He will use an Impreza S11 from his personal stable and will have regular navigator James McKee on the notes.

McGarrity is not alone in the WRC ranks, however. Darren Gass, Emma McKinstry, George Robinson, John McGaffin, Kevin Barrett, Kenny McKinstry, Ray Brammer and reigning Hankook Northern Ireland Champion Stuart Biggerstaff are all WRC-spec Impreza mounted. Kenny, a two-times Tarmac Champion in his own right, will be looking for his first Circuit trophy.

Aaron MacHale will switch from his regular Ford Focus WRC to an Evo 9 for the rally as will Garry Jennings, who will return to his usual Evo 9, after experimenting with an Impreza S10.

This year’s Circuit entry holds the biggest World Rally Car entry for quite some time, but it also has a very strong Group N and 2WD contingent, with around 20 Group N's and many 2WD cars vying for top honours.

Donagh Kelly could take top spot in the Sunoco Group N standings if he manages to get a solid result, but he faces a tough time with drivers such as Philip Morrow, Alan Carmichael, Neil McCance and Garry Jennings all fighting for top Showroom Class spot.

The 2WD Class again features a host of MK2's, with Wesley Patterson, Adrian Hetherington, Phil Collins, John Waring and Camillus Bradley all capable of taking the 2WD honours. The MK2's will not have it all their own way, though, with English businessman Steve Perez wheeling out his pristine Lancia Stratos. Perez is hoping to do what Billy Coleman and Cahal Curley were never able to do, take home the winners trophy from the Circuit of Ireland.

Multiple winner of The Rallysport Association's Summer and Winter Series' Amy Cox will mark her International début at the wheel of a Ford Escort G3. She will be navigated by Emmet Sherry.

“I am expecting the rally to be fun and enjoyable with some tight and twisty stages. I hope that everyone enjoys the event and the atmosphere should be good. Also, thanks to everyone who has helped me reach the Circuit!” She said.

The Circuit of Ireland evolved from the Ulster Motor Rally, which was first held in 1931 and was won by Jimmy McCaherty in an Austin 16 saloon. The proper 'Circuit' Of Ireland was held in 1958, which was won by Paddy Hopkirk, driving a Triumph TR3A. Over the past 53 years, the Circuit has been altered to reflect the changing times, first running from Belfast to Waterford (and back, via Galway and Donegal), instead of Killarney, and latterly, being run as a more compact two-day rally. This year's event comprises of 113 competitive miles, instead of the 500+ competitive miles of the 70's and 80's.

This year's event will begin at 12:00 midday at the Armagh City Hotel, the Rally HQ, before the crews head off to tackle the day's first test. The Armagh City Hotel will also act as service area for the rally. Lisburn will host the aptly named 'Lisburn Power Stage', the first time a town centre has been closed for a special stage. The crews will make two runs over the stage, SS6 and SS7. SS6 will start at 6:00PM. The National B rally will only incorporate Leg 1, while the rest will tackle both Legs. The winners of their respective classes will be presented with their trophies at 4:35PM on Sunday.

MINI WRC Team is go!

The MINI WRC Team was formally launched at the MINI plant in Oxford today.

The all-new team was launched by team drivers Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo, with former Mini drivers Paddy Hopkirk and Rauno Aaltonen also present. Hopkirk and Aaltonen drove the 60's Cooper, in which they won the Rally Monte Carlo in 1964 and 1967, respectively, onto the main stage.

The new MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

Hopkirk, Aaltonen and Timo Makinen, also known as the 'Three Musketeers', were synonymous with the Mini Cooper in the 60's, taking the Monte 3 times between them. Today's drivers, Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo are hoping to follow in the 'Three Musketeers'' footsteps.

“On the one hand, MINI can look back on a unique success story. On the other hand, MINI is the epitome of excitement for millions of fans around the world and thrills them with its energy. This is precisely what we are able to authentically represent through our motorsport involvement in the World Rally Championship. Thrilling rally events, ultimate performances by man and machine, and as much success as possible, of course: motorsport is pure emotion – just as MINI is for its fans.” said Ian Robertson, who sits on the Board of Management of BMW AG for Sales and Marketing.

Dave Richards, Chairman of Prodrive, who will prepare and run the MINI WRC Team, is very confident in the abilities of the new team, saying: “We have been working towards this moment for more than two years and it is truly exciting to be launching the MINI WRC Team and what I believe is the most stunning car in World Rallying, the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. We have an experienced team, a talented driver pairing and, most importantly of all, a strong partnership with MINI. We are now eagerly looking forward to demonstrating the performance of the car on its début in Sardinia in just a few weeks.”

Dirk Hollweg, head of MINI Motorsport, says that the aim of the MINI WRC Team is to continue to please long-term MINI supporters as well as to communicate with new supporters: “The excitement of everyone involved in the comeback of MINI to the rally stage is building with every day we get closer to our maiden rally appearance,. With the MINI WRC Team we not only want to please the loyal fans of the MINI brand, but also aim to address new motorsport enthusiasts. We want to thrill them with fascinating pictures, technical know-how and pure performance. In addition, the special MINI lifestyle is always part of the equation. For us, it’s always about a bit more than just motorsport. I think the rally fans will love it.”

The new MINI John Cooper Works WRC has already been put through thousands of kilometres of testing to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the new car, as well as to assess the speed of the car. Most of this distance has been covered by Kris Meeke.

“This launch is the next milestone on the long way to our first rally,” said Meeke following the presentation of the car. “I cannot wait to get the season started.. It’s nice for everyone in the team to see the result of their work presented in such a spectacular way. The heritage of MINI in motorsport is fantastic. Now we want to make sure we play our part in adding some more chapters to the success story.” he said.

The MINI driver line-up. L-R: Carlos Del Barrio; Dani Sordo; Kris Meeke; Paul Nagle.

Meeke's team mate Dani Sordo has covered substantial mileage in the new car as well, and is looking forward to returning to full time driving, on next month's Rally d'Italia Sardegna: “It’s about time we get the ball rolling. The break since my last rally has been long enough, now we want to show how good we are. Everything is new for me this year. Bearing this in mind, the additional time to get accustomed to my new environment has definitely been helpful. Now I’m really looking forward to the new challenge and to fight for strong results with the MINI John Cooper Works WRC.”

The assembled media were briefed on the new car's spec sheet. It is fitted with a 1.6 turbo engine, which has already seen action in BMW's Touring Car machines. The turbo has a 33mm restrictor fitted. The Super 2000-spec MINI's are fitted with a 30mm restrictor, so as that it will comply with the Super 2000 regulations. Armindo Araujo's MINI is a S2000 variant.

“This Team Launch is really perfectly timed for us.” said David Wilcock, who gave the briefing to the assembled media and guests. “We look back at some extremely demanding and busy months. Now we are entering the crucial phase of our preparation programme for the first rally. We started the development of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC early. It was important to make sure the ratio between development and actual building of the car was right.”

“Our goal was to maximise every area of performance we could get from the technical regulations. Our first rally appearances will show how well we achieved this. In any case I can say that the partnership between MINI, Prodrive and BMW Motorsport on the engine side is running exceptionally well, everyone is contributing to the project with a lot of enthusiasm.”

(Photo credit: MINI Motorsport)

McRae to return on Pirelli

5-times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae will return to the stages in just under three weeks when he takes part in the all-new Tuthill Porsche Challenge on the Pirelli Historic Rally.

“Pauline has co-driven for me in the past and Jimmy has done a lot of events under the JLT banner so I’m pleased to welcome them back into the team.” said John Lloyd, who was happy to be able to call up McRae and Gullick.

McRae Snr. will drive one of the two Porsche 911s run by the JLT Rally Team. JLT Team driver Andrew Barnes has a prior commitment that will keep him away from the rally. McRae is no stranger to the Porsche, having competed in last year's British Historic Rally Championship and on the Colin McRae Forest Stages in 2008.

“It’s great to have Jimmy back in one of our cars and driving in the Tuthill Porsche Challenge. Jimmy has driven for us on plenty of occasions in the past and it goes without saying that he has lots of experience. After Francois Delecour drove on the opening round of the Tuthill Porsche Challenge earlier this month, having Jimmy competing in the series is equally significant.” said Richard Tuthill, Challenge Director.

McRae has driven for Tuthill Porsche before, having driven to a superb second-place, and class win, on last year's Summer Stages Historic Rally in Barbados. He will be navigated by Pauline Gullick on the Pirelli Historic.

“Nobody knows historic Porsches better than Tuthill Porsche.” McRae said “The desire is always there to drive, the Kielder Forest is a great place to go rallying and Tuthill Porsche always prepares a good car. I’ve done a lot of testing with them in the past and had a good result in Barbados last year in one of their cars.”

The Pirelli Historic Rally runs behind the Pirelli International Rally, the second round of the BRC.

Late ship delays Jordan recce

The recce for next weekend's Jordan Rally has been delayed until Tuesday (12^th April) after a delay in getting the recce equipment to the rally base in the Dead Sea Resort.

The WRC's pre-organised route from Portugal to Jordan had to be changed to avoid the political unrest in Syria. The route usually took the equipment trucks from Venice to the Syrian port of Tartous. However, due to the Syrian unrest, the route was changed and the ship will now dock in the Israeli port of Haifa, coming from Trieste in Italy.

However, delays at sea mean that the ship will dock a day late, on Monday instead of tomorrow, Sunday. The recce was due to start on Monday, but will now start on Tuesday. The organisers hope that it will not affect the running of the rally itself.

"This is unfortunate. All we know is that the boat won't be there until Monday and the recce is supposed to start that day. The concern now is that the boat might not get processed in the port as quickly as we would like. We don't know this port well at all, we've been into Jordan through Aqaba previously. We'll have to see." A WRC source said.

However, Ford's Mikko Hirvonen dosen't seem to mind the delay, saying: "I don't mind, it means we get a day off on Monday! I don't think it's going to affect anything too much. The recce will still happen. It's better to wait for the recce cars, I don't think there are really enough [Group N recce] cars to hire privately for the teams to go without their own."

Delays in shipping recce cars is now a completely new experience. Crews had to hire Group N cars from Limassol so as that they could make their permitted two runs over the stages.

Shakedown for the Jordan Rally is now believed to be taking place on Wednesday evening.

Delecour to return?

Francois Delecour is gunning for a return to the WRC.

Delecour, whose works World Rally Career spanned 11 years, retired in 2002 after poor season with Mitsubishi who were struggling with their new WRC-spec Evo. He began his works career with Ford in the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, after 5 years in the private ranks. His best time with Ford came in 1993 when, armed with the Escort Cosworth RS, he won three events and was, at one stage, favourite for the championship.

He took one final win for Ford on the season-opening Rallye de Monte Carlo in 1994. He would later move to Peugeot. He seemed to find comfort in the kit-car spec Peugeots on tarmac, scoring points regularly. He had a big influence in the 206 WRC during it's development. He returned to Ford in a third works car, and scored regularly, but a big crash in Australia in 2001 almost crippled his navigator Daniel Grataloup, and ended his time at Ford.

Her joined Mitsubishi with Alistar McRae in 2002, but the new car proved troublesome, and another big crash, which separated the engine from the car and ended Grataloup's career as a WRC co-driver. Delecour did compete in the season-ending Rally GB, but Mitsubishi announced their sabbatical from the WRC, ending Delecour's WRC career.

Delecour has been in action recently, competing on the Rally Monte Carlo and in a Historic-spec Porsche 911.

He says he wants to take part in a rally in one of the modern-day rally cars, preferably on the Rally de France, his home event.

 “I would love to drive the new WRC for sure, on Rallye de France or another event." he said " I am pushing for it because I have this opportunity with my budget from Romania and the tourist minister there."

However, the Romanian Tourism Minister insists that the Dakar would be a better publicity opportunity, Delecour says he would prefer to do a WRC round, specifically Rallye de France.

“He would like me to do the Dakar Rally, but I would like to do something in the world championship. They are sure that Dakar would give them good publicity and media, but for my case I would prefer to do WRC and Rallye de France.”

He plans to stay 'rally-ready' and will compete in a few international rounds in a Peugeot 207 S2000, the same car in which he competed on the Rallye de Monte Carlo back in January.

MINI lands first win

The MINI John Cooper Works has taken it's first win in it's S2000 guise.

The joint venture between Prodrive and BMW Motorsport, which made it's international debut on last month's Rally Portugal in the hands of privateers Daniel Olivera and Armindo Araujo.

Former European Rally Champion Andrea Navarra piloted the new car, run by Grifone team, to the first step of the podium on the opening round of the Italian Gravel Rally Championship Rally dell'Adriatico. Based near the coast town of Ancona, the MINI lead the 100Km event from the start, finishing 12.6 secs ahead of the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Skoda UK driver Andreas Mikkelsen.

The car was running a 30mm restrictor, instead of it's usual 33mm variant. The car ran this smaller restrictor to balance it's power output with the conventional S2000 cars.

“It’s a great honour for me to give MINI this first victory with Pirelli tyres and another milestone in our history together,” said the 1998 European Rally Champion. “It was a fantastic rally that was competitive from start to finish: we had to push hard but in the end we got the result that we wanted."

Navarra was pleased with the car, saying: "I really enjoyed driving the car: the turbo engine means that you can drive with the throttle all the time compared to a conventional Super 2000 car, where you are driving with the gears.”

Navarra hasn't registered for points in the series, but he will return on the Rally Costa Smeralda on the 6 May. The rally runs behind the main World Rally Championship event, on which the MINI World Rally Team will make it's debut.