Usually I wait to do a wrap up for the WRC event just before the coverage is shown on Discovery HD Theater, but it looks like the U.S. will not be getting any coverage of Rally New Zealand on television. Coverage for Rally New Zealand does not appear on this month’s Discovery HD Theater schedule and an inquiry for an air date resulted in a reply stating that Rally de Portugal would air in the middle of June. So it looks like Discovery HD Theater will not be airing Rally New Zealand at all. So, I might as well write my wrap up now..
Jari-Matti Latvala edged out Sebastien Ogier for victory at WRC Rally New Zealand
It was a good weekend if you were driving a Mitsubishi EVO at the Rally America Oregon Trail Rally held in The Dalles, OR and not such a great weekend if you weren’t. Three EVOs swept the podium with ACP (Andrew Comrie-Picard) taking 1st place in his NOS Energy Drink EVO, followed by William Bacon in 2nd and Rally America points leader Antoine L’Estage in 3rd.
ACP took the win at this year's Oregon Trail Rally
Discovery HD Theater has moved its coverage of the WRC to Saturday mornings, beginning at 8 AM Central. Rally of Turkey coverage will be shown this Saturday (5/8), with all 4 segments (preview, Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3) shown back-to-back.
Sebastien Loeb Flies his Citroen rally car to his 3rd victory of the year at Rally of Turkey
Travis Pastrana wrapped up his 2nd Rally America victory of the year at the Olympus Rally in Washington State. The Subaru Rally Team USA driver set the fastest time on 8 of the 13 stages to easily secure the victory over the Rockstar Energy Mitsubishi EVO X of Antoine L’Estage. Pastrana said, “This rally was hard from the start. It was definitely the most intense field that we’ve had, unfortunately a lot of guys went out on the first day. It was a really technical course, more so than we expected!”
Travis Pastrana wins the Rally America Olympus Rally in his Subaru Rally Team STi
The Ferrari 599XX recently set the record for production cars by posting a 6 minute 58 second lap time. Although i have a hard time with this being considered a ‘production’ car, it is amazing nonetheless. Enjoy the video of the record breaking lap time.
The long rumored BMW 1-Series M version was recently spotted being tested on the Nurburgring. It looks like the car may actually go into production sometime in the next year. It will be interesting to see what the specs for the final version of the car. Rumors have swirled of 350HP with a M suspension, fatter tires and bigger fender flares. Only time will tell what the car will actually be.
That’s right it is official (according to Top Gear)… there will be an American version of the hugely popular Top Gear series (BBC) that is hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. The History Channel will begin airing the first 10 episodes this fall. The hosts for the American version will be Tanner Foust, Adam Ferrara and Rutledge Wood.
Tanner Foust, Adam Ferrara and Rutledge Wood set to host American verson of Top Gear
After giving a preview of the Gymkhana 3 2011 Ford Fiesta yesterday in a video posted on youtube (see Gymkhana Teaser Video and Reveal), the car was revealed last night in San Francisco.
Ken Block and his 2011 Ford Fiesta (Gymkhana version)
The popular Ken Block Gymkhana series is set for it’s 3rd installment with a reveal scheduled for today in California. While Block drove a Subaru STi in his previous Gymkhana demonstrations, he will be driving a 2011 Ford Fiesta in Gymkhana 3. With over 13 million views on YouTube of the 2nd Gymkhana, number 3 should definitely garner some immediate attention.
Coverage for WRC Rally Jordan begins tonight on Discovery HD Theatre at 9:00 PM Central with a Preview and Day 1 coverage. Day 2 and 3 coverage continues on Friday also beginning at 9:00 PM Central. Rally Jordan was the 3rd event of the WRC season and is a gravel rally. Mikko Hirvonen won last year’s event and was looking to repeat and make up some ground on Loeb in the WRC driver points standing, but unfortunately things didn’t turn out so well for Mikko. Loeb managed to fight off Mikko’s teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala, for another victory for the season. Loeb has quite an advantage in the driver points standings going into Rally Turkey. Petter Solberg made another strong showing finishing in 3rd and Kimi Raikkonen finished his first event and even cracked the top 10.
