Prodrive MINIs to compete in New Zealand, Germany and GB

The Prodrive WRC Team has confirmed that its next three events in the World Rally Championship will be New Zealand, Germany and Rally GB in Wales.

Prodrive will run a MINI John Cooper Works WRC for Dani Sordo and are talking to a number of drivers who might join the team in a second car.  The team will compete in further events later in the season.

“We looked at the events we thought would be our most competitive and which gave an even spread throughout the year,” said Dave Wilcock, team principal. 

Kumho achieves overall victory in the French gravel rally championship and the National section of Wales Rally GB

Over recent years, Kumho tyres have carried drivers to the top of the podium in a host of international and national rally championships but, until this year, had never featured on a winning car in the French Gravel Championship. Now they have not only aided former double European Rally Champion Simon Jean-Joseph to outright honours in the Terre De l’Auxerrois, Terre De Langres and Terres De Catalunya rounds of the series and 3rd place in the Rallye Terre des Cardabelles, but taken him to overall victory in the championship, courtesy of a 2nd place in last weekend’s (November 12/13) Terre De Vaucluse event at the wheel of his trusty Peugeot 207 S2000. On this occasion he was only beaten by Stephane Chambon in a Subaru Impreza, which, like Jean-Joseph’s Peugeot, was shod with Kumho R900 gravel rally tyres. There was just 1/10th of a second between the duelling pair after two days of flat out competition.

Rogers conquers Wales Rally GB

Will Rogers put all his co-driving experience to good use at the weekend to complete his first ever international event, Wales Rally GB. The 22year old, competing alongside Becky Kirvan in the Cristal Global backed Ford Fiesta, took to the world stage to contest the five day epic in the final round of the World Rally Championship.

Becky battles to world rally championship success

Rally driver Becky Kirvan ended her 2011 season in style last weekend when she successfully completed Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB. The four-day event proved to be a very tough test with several of the world championship’s leading crews failing to reach the end but Becky and co-driver Will Rogers battled through to finish in 39th place and first in class.

Kevin Abbring clinches class victory for Volkswagen at Rally GB

At Rally GB, Dutchman Kevin Abbring with co-driver Lara Vanneste impressed as the winners of the S2000 classification, and in twelfth place overall clinched a season’s best result for the Volkswagen team. German junior driver Sepp Wiegand, with Dakar winner Timo Gottschalk as co-driver, was forced to retire at the 13th round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) having been running in a solid third place in class for much of the event.

Loeb and Elena 2011 World Rally Champions!*

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena became eight-time FIA World Rally Champions* over the weekend at Wales Rally GB.

The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew clinched the title, despite having to retire on the final day of the rally. Their DS3 WRC was involved in a collision with a car, travelling in the opposite direction, on a liaison section of the event. No one was injured, but the damage forced Loeb to retire, ending his thrilling duel for the rally win with Jari-Matti Latvala.

Latvala wins Rally GB as Ford claims podium clean sweep

Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila won Wales Rally GB as Fiesta RS World Rally Cars powered to a 1-2-3 finish on the final round of the FIA World Rally Championship.  The Finns claimed their fifth world rally victory, and their first since July last year, as the Fiesta RS WRC took eight of the top nine places in the demanding four-day event.

Latvala won by 3min 42.9sec after winning 11 of the 23 speed tests in the muddy Welsh forests, leading home Mads Østberg / Jonas Andersson and Henning Solberg / Ilka Minor from the privately-entered M-Sport Stobart Ford squad.

MINI WRC Team – Wales Rally GB – Day Four

The MINI WRC Team’s drivers were fighting to the very end of Wales Rally GB to give the team a great result on the last event of its first year in the World Rally Championship. Kris Meeke (GB) and Paul Nagle (IR) finished the event in fourth, while Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) set the second fastest time in the final test of the day, the Power Stage at Monument, and finished 20th overall.

MINI WRC Team – Wales Rally GB – Day Three

The sun came out in Wales, but it still threw challenges at the Wales Rally GB crews. Kris Meeke (GB) and Paul Nagle (IR) finished day three in their MINI John Cooper Works WRC fifth despite having to battle with a broken engine mount for the first three stages. Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) re-joined the competitors in the SupeRally and had a trouble free run.

Wales Rally GB

The championship came down to the final round but in the end neither of the contenders finished. Mikko Hirvonen (Fiesta WRC) retired on day 2 with a damaged engine after cooking it when he split the radiator in the first run through Dyfnant. Sebastien Loeb (DS3 WRC) had the title in the bag as was then free to battle with Jari-Matti Latvala (Fiesta WRC) for the rally. In the end it came to nought as Latvala was leading when Loeb collided with a spectator car on a road section. Mads Ostberg (Fiesta WRC) finished almost 4 minutes back in second place with Henning Solberg (Fiesta WRC) a similar margin back in 3rd.