The Rally D’Italia Sardinia weekend started off with some exciting news… Volkswagen officially announced its intent to enter the WRC with the Polo R WRC. The VW campaign will begin in 2013 with a 5 year commitment to WRC competition.

The announcement by VW comes on the same weekend as the WRC debut of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC car. The MINI debut got off to a great start with MINI’s driver Kris Meeke beating reigning WRC champion Sebastien Loeb’s stage time on the opening stage. Meeke then set the 3rd fastest time on the 2nd stage, putting him in 4th overall. But on the next stage Meeke felt something braking for a 5th gear corner and ran wide into some loose gravel. He was forced to retire from the day and restart under Super Rally rules on the following day, which put him out of the running. The other MINI driver, Dani Sordo, was able to stay consistent and ended up in 6th overall, a great showing for MINI’s first event.

“I’m really happy we’ve finished the rally with some points,” said Sordo. “It’s difficult to fight when the gaps to the driver in front and behind are big but it’s nice to take the experience with a new car and with a new team. We will take the data from the car and look at everything to try and do better on the next rally. I’m really enjoying developing the car. The people in Prodrive are really professional and people know really well the car and the direction we need to work. I have confidence we will do better in the next rally.” More…

The 2011 WRC Rally season continued with a very exciting battle at Rally Jordan, resulting in the closest finish of all-time. Sebastien Ogier took a risk on Friday that ended up paying off, as he took the victory by just .2 seconds total over Jari-Matti Latvala in Ford Fiesta WRC. With all the other top 3 (Jari-Matti Latvala, Sebastien Loeb, and Petter Solberg) backing off and playing tactics as to not have to go out first and sweep on the final day of competition, Ogier pushed even harder and built a 30 second advantage. Ogier had to push hard on the final day and even lost the lead to Latvala on the second to last stage, but Ogier was the fastest in the penultimate power stage and claimed the win by the narrowest of margins. “Incredible,” said Ogier. “An incredible day. I had to push like hell today. It’s an amazing feeling. Jari-Matti was so fast today and I had to drive flat out. I’m so happy to end like this.” The victory in Jordan puts Ogier back in the drivers championship hunt where he sits in 3rd, just 5 points behind teammate Loeb.

Latavala was a bit disappointed losing on the final stage, but was still pleased with his finish. “Somebody wins the rally, someone has to lose,” Latvala said. “It’s the same situation as last year in New Zealand when I won and Sebastien [Ogier] lost it by fractions of a second. I can’t deny that I’m disappointed. It was so close, we were 0.5 seconds ahead going into the final stage. We were absolutely on the limit – we all were, you can tell because the four of us were 0.7 seconds apart on the Power Stage. It’s difficult to say where I would improve – there were a couple of places where I was a little bit wide but I think it’s like that for everybody. At that speed, sometimes when you try so hard you do little mistakes. You need to do a perfect performance and today was not my perfect performance.” Latvala is still in the mix of things with a shot at the championship just, sitting in 4th, 8 points out of 1st. More…

WRC Rally Portugal got off to a dramatic start, even before it had begun. Monster Energy World Rally driver Ken Block, dramatically rolled his WRC Ford Fiesta during the 3rd shakedown stage on Wed. after hitting a rock. Block was ok after the crash, but the car was not and he was forced to withdraw from his entry.

The 3rd WRC Rally of the year went much better for the Citroen Team with Sebastien Ogier taking his 1st victory of the year and their 2nd consecutive victory on the gravel stages in Portugal. “I’m very happy, we had the perfect weekend, the car was perfect and Julien was perfect. I would like to dedicate this victory to all the team who prepared a perfect car. They showed trust in me since the start of the season and following my mistake in Mexico. It is the best way to come back. It is a long way to go in the championship but I’m in a better position,” said Ogier. More…

Ken Block is out of Rally Portugal after clipping a rock and rolling his WRC Ford Fiesta multiple times during a shakedown stage today at Rally Portugal. Block and his co-driver, Alex Gelsomino were taken to a hospital for precautionary check ups after the accident, but both seem to be doing ok. The spectacular crash was caught on video, which you can see below. Unfortunately the car had to be sent to the auto repair shop.

The crash left the car too badly damaged for Block to continue in the rally and has been forced to withdraw. A spokesperson for the Monster Energy World Rally Team said, “Ken and Alex are 100 per cent fine. They went to hospital but it was a precaution because it’s better to be safe than sorry. Unfortunately when the car came back to service the scrutineer declared that it was too badly damaged and was a no-go. Ken is obviously disappointed and bummed out that he’s been unable to start the rally. It was his first big crash in a World Rally Car and Ken is obviously relieved that he and Alex are both okay. They’re heading back home now to prepare for their next stop on their world tour, Argentina WRC.”

WRC Rally Portugal begins competition today. Check www.wrc.com for more information

Rumor has it that Volkswagen will be announcing a WRC campaign sometime this month. Odds are that the announcement will come at Rally Portugal.

The VW WRC car will most likely be based on the Polo

The car will most likely be based on the Polo, as it is lighter then the Scirocco. Development has rumoredly already begun, as VW has been considering the possibility since the WRC rules changes were announced. More…

Team GotCone.com driver Christy Carlson competed in last weekend’s Rally America Rally in the 100 Acre Wood event held on the usually very fast roads around Salem, MO. The heavy rain that fell on Thursday made the roads very slippery and made for some deeper then usual water crossings.

Carlson set some impressive times right from the start. She was able to put down one of the fastest 2WD stage times during the Super Special Stage at Potosi Lions Park, despite having the fuel pump lose power and having to coast across the finish. The fuel pump was fixed and the car was able to make it’s way to the next stage. More…

Heavy rain lead to some slippery roads in and around Salem, MO this past weekend, but that didn’t slow down Antoine L’Estage. The 2010 National Champion set impressive times right from the start and was able to hold off Subaru Rally Team driver David Higgins to take the victory.

L’Estage jumped out to an early lead in the opening Super Special stage and ended Day 1 with a 22 second lead. L’Estage was able to keep his Rockstar Mitsubishi EVO X going just as quick on day 2 and Higgins had no chance of catching up. David Higgins got his first championship points of the year in his Subaru Rally Team STI, after having engine issues at Sno*Drift. Third place went to Dave Mirra, in his Subaru Rally Team STI, who took his 2nd podium in a row. Travis Hanson who became the first Super Production competitor to win a National Rally America event overall at last month’s Sno*Drift, took 4th overall and first in Super Production. More…

The 2011 WRC season got underway last weekend and it is already shaping up to be a great one. The event marked the debut of the new breed of rally cars, namely the Ford Fiesta and the Citroen DS3. Ford was looking to get back on top after struggling and falling to the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier in 2010. And get off to a good start they did taking all 3 podium spots in Sweden.

Mikko Hirvonen drives his Ford Fiesta to victory at 2011 WRC Rally Sweden

Mikko Hirvonen wrapped up his first victory of the year, looking more like the Mikko of 2009 where he challenged Loeb for the driver’s championship. “I was really nervous before the last stage but what a fantastic start from the team with the new car,” Mikko said. “The car has been quick straight away and after a tough season last year I am really pleased with this. But I am not taking this feeling any further. We’ve won here and now we need to move on to the next round in Mexico where it will be a different game. But I’m very happy with this and it couldn’t be better to have a Ford one-two-three.”
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The 2011 Rally America season got under way on Friday with the first stage of Sno Drift, held in Atlanta Michigan. As usual the name told the tale with stages covered in ice and snow, with frigid temperatures in the teens and twenties for most of the event. There was less snow then usual, so the snow banks weren’t as high which meant there was much less room for error.

Travis Hanson makes history winning Sno Drift in his Super Production Subaru

The lack of snow banks had an impact right away for last year’s Rally America champion, Antoine L’Estage and his Rockstar Mitsubishi Evolution X as he went off on stage 4 and was forced to retire from the event after not being able to restart the car. Before the off by L’Estage, he held a 20 second lead over new Subaru Rally Team Driver David Higgins, who then assumed the lead. But the first day would claim Higgins and his Subaru STI as a victim as well. Going into stage 6 Higgins had a lead of over 2 minutes in front of Super Production driver Travis Hanson, but Higgins’ STI motor failed on the stage and he was forced to retire from the event.
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