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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

M-Sport keen to hang onto Neuville

With interests in acquiring the services of Thierry Neuville coming from Hyundai and Citroen, M-Sport have said they are determined to keep the young Belgian in one of their cars for the 2014 season and beyond.
Neuville in Action in Finland, where he finished 2nd
Former IRC front-runner Neuville has been the revelation of this year's WRC season, which is only his second full year in a WRC car in the top flight. To date, after eight rounds, he lies joint second in the overall Driver's table with Jari-Matti Latvala, with four podiums, including two second places, to his credit.

The only downsides in his otherwise excellent year came when he crashed out of Day 1 of the Rallye Monte Carlo, and having to restart in Portugal thanks to damage sustained after hitting a rock.

Even with interest from WRC newcomers Hyundai and his former employer, Citroen, Neuville wants to remain at M-Sport.

"I didn't talk to anybody [else]. I am very happy with M-Sport and I have a lot to focus on for the rest of this season. The Fiesta is a beautiful car to drive, I'm really enjoying myself." he said.

The man responsible for the Qatar tie up, Nasser Al-Attiyah, says he is happy with both the team's main drivers and M-Sport's general performance, appearing keen to hang onto Neuville and Mads Ostberg and to stick with M-Sport for 2014.

"They are both very good drivers and we want to keep them. In Finland, they both did really well, with Thierry making an incredible drive to finish second.”

Al-Attiyah is planning ahead to 2014 as well, aiming to sit down with M-Sport's top brass in Germany to discuss next season and to have everything in place for the new season, insisting he very much wants to continue on the same path as team has done this year so far.


"We will try to fix everything in Germany, it's much better to get everything done early and have everything in place for 2014. We want to carry on in the same way that we have this year.” he added.

Photo credit: M-Sport

Monday, August 12, 2013

Meeke gets factory Citroen seat for Australia

Kris Meeke will get another chance in a Citroen DS3 WRC in a month's time when he takes over Dani Sordo's works car on the Coates hire Rally Australia.

Further drives in a DS3 WRC this year for Meeke were already being rumoured before Khalid Al-Qassimi dropped a rather large hint over Twitter, saying:

Meeke in Finland
“Chances may come & go, yet Kris deserves them - that's how he'll grow. @krismeeke to you and all your fans I'm thinking of another chance.”

Later, speaking to Gulf News, he said: “Kris did an excellent job and I wasn’t surprised. He was up there with Mikko and much quicker than Dani, and he’s given us a lot to think about. Our first priority is to get the best we can out of our drivers for the rest of the season, and we need to be on the podium. But already we’re looking ahead to next season, and Kris could get more chances.”

Al-Qassimi jumped to Meeke's defence on the subject of the Dungannon man rolling the DS3 WRC just two stages from home in Finland. “He’s a very good driver, that’s why we picked him. We considered several drivers, but decided Kris would be the best choice and he proved us right. It was just unfortunate that he didn’t get the finish he deserved. I really felt for him, especially as I rolled in the same car in the Acropolis Rally.” he said.
Kris Meeke

Now Meeke will get another chance, replacing a lackluster Sordo. The Spaniard has been enduring a less than fruitful return to Citroen, after two years away at MINI. He currently lies fifth in the Driver's Championship, only one point ahead of Sebastian Loeb, who has only competed on three events so far this year.

“Kris showed what he could do in Finland with an excellent performance and high motivation levels. So we instinctively turned to him to take over in Australia.” said Managing Director of Citroen Racing, Yves Matton.


Meeke himself added: “For us, this is an incredible opportunity to take part in the rally as part of Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team alongside Mikko [Hirvonen] and Jarmo [Lehtinen], and we are determined to give of our best.”

Photo credit: Citroen WRT

Monday, August 5, 2013

Ogier lands first Finland win


Consolidating his lead in the 2013 World Rally Championship for Drivers, Sebastien Ogier claimed a “dream” victory on the high speed gravel roads of the Neste Oil Rally Finland.
Sebastien Ogier
Claiming twelve stage wins out of a possible twenty three, Ogier wrapped up a 36.6 sec win over the very impressive Theirry Neuville. Neuville himself with locked in a battle for second with team-mate Mads Ostberg, both of whom were unable to stay with Ogier.
Thierry Neuville

“I had a dream about winning here. [We gained] A lot of points for the championship and victory in Finland make it a perfect weekend. We pushed when we had to and backed off when necessary to save the tyres and the car,” said Ogier.

Neuville held the overnight advantage after Day 1, driving tactically over the rough and soggy stages. Ogier held second, 5.2 secs down on the flying Belgian, also driving carefully in the poor conditions. Third was occupied by Mads Ostberg, 8.9 secs down on the leader.

Mads Ostberg
Day 2 was all about Ogier and the VW Polo R WRC. Netting seven fastest stage times from the day's nine stages, he rocketed into a 38.1 sec lead over Neuville. Ostberg was breathing down the Belgian's neck, sitting less than a second behind in third.

All Ogier had to do over the final eight stages was to hang onto his lead, which he his admirably. Dropping only 1.5 secs throughout the day to the chasing pack, Ogier decided to have some fun over both runs of the legendary Ouninpohja stage, breaking the stage record on the second run. The battle between Neuville and Ostberg ended when Ostberg went off and dropped 20 secs avoiding a rather large rock.

Speaking of his second placed result on only his second trip to Finland in a WRC car, Neuville said: “It’s an unbelievable feeling. We did a great job. Yesterday we lost time with a puncture but otherwise it was a smooth, clean run. Before the rally I couldn’t have imagined this result was possible.”

Mads Ostberg has had a season fraught with problems, both mechanical and driver-errors. However he put those issues behind him and, for a time, fought for the rally lead. However a solid third place for the Norwegian could help him back up to consistent rally-leading pace. He might have won the rally, if not for shattering a wheel on Day 2 and the off-road excursion on the final day.

“It’s nice to be here fighting for the whole rally without any problems. We have been leading, we had a safe second and we ended up third. But it’s great to fight for the win again and rebuild my confidence because it was low after the first half of the season.” he said.

Leading Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen endured a disastrous rally, finishing over 1 min 20 secs behind Ogier in fourth. Almost rolling on two separate occasions, he suffered a large time loss on Thursday evening when heavy rain left the roads in a very poor condition and, running last of the front runners on the road endured the worst of the conditions.

Hirvonen's team-mate Dani Sordo finished fifth, benefiting from Kris Meeke's exit on SS22. Evgney Novikov rounded out the top six in sixth, having completed a very eventful rally, suffering a crash on SS10, which threw the bonnet up over the windscreen.

Jari Ketomaa won WRC2 and finished seventh overall, ahead of PG Andersson who had a relatively quiet rally in eighth. Robert Kubica and Andreas Mikkelsen (who lost a wheel on Day 2 and was forced to restart) rounded out the Top 10.

Jari-Matti Latvala
Jari-Matti Latvala had an even more disastrous rally than compatriot Hirvonen. Initially confident of a good rally, Latvala smashed his suspension to pieces on the first day. Running repairs allowed him to continue for a bit but he eventually admitted defeat. He was later blasted by team director Jost Capito, who said it shouldn't happen happened. But, after reviewing the situation, he changed his tune to “It was not at all his [Latvala's] fault”, acknowledging a weakness in the Polo R WRC's rear supension.

Well worth a mention is the performance of Dungannon's Kris Meeke. Having not competed on a top level rally in 20 months and having not finished Rally Finland since 2005, Meeke faced an uphill struggle when asked to step in for Khalid Al-Qassimi in Finland. However, he silenced the doubters when he kept pace with Citroen star and local hero Mikko Hirvonen over the latter half of the rally, holding an impressive fifth place overall in his first rally in a DS3 WRC. A small mistake on SS22 sent him rolling out of the rally, but it just goes to show that given a decent car Kris Meeke is world class, and very few people can dispute that.
Kris Meeke
Keith Cronin
Keith Cronin also showed his world class pace by dominating the WRC3 category in Finland. Inheriting the lead after early leader Alastair Fisher crashed out (rolling spectacularly on SS8), Cronin was never troubled afterwards. With 1 min 14.5 secs in hand over Sebastian Chardonnet at the end, it's hard to believe this is only Keith's first visit to Finland!




Please note: Images copyright to their respective owners, in no particular order Willy Weyens, Citroen WRT and M-Sport.