Rally-eMag 019 June 2014

Issue 19, June 2014

Monthly News Wrap-up & For my Friends

OliverJean-Baptiste

CieslaLey

Promoting wrc and erc

YpresPoland

ERC:WRC:

New! Artwork byDam Charles

mikko looking for the limit

Image: Bas Romeny

jari matti would make a half decent penalty specialist

Image: Bas Romeny

hayden loving his time in the Image: Bas Romeny

mads discovering lithuania

Image: Steven van Veenendaal

We strive to bring you the best possible emag about the WRC. To be able to do so we need your support!

Check out our advertisers, without them, there can be no Rally-eMag!

Sign up by sending us a mail with ‘subscribe’ in the subject at [email protected].

Follow us on Twitter at @emagrally.

Also make sure to give our Facebook page a like, http://www.facebook.com/emagrally.

Interested in advertising? Mail us at [email protected] to discuss the various possibilities.

Rally-eMagYour monthly dose of WRC reports, news and of course the best images of the most exciting sport on the planet.

Rally-eMag June 2014 / Contents

8/47

Who made it?

Publisher: Rally-eMag

Words: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal.

Photography: Bas Romeny, Timo Anis

Who helped?

Logo design: Minse Blom

Backcover artwork: Dam Charles

Distribution: Issuu.com

Who we thank!

PR Photography from: Peugeot Sport, Hyundai Mo-torsport, Citroen Racing, FIA ERC, Volkswagen Motorsport, M-Sport.

How to reach us?

Email: [email protected]: www.rally-emag.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/emagrallyTwitter: @emagrallyIssuu: www.issuu.com/rally-emag

featurepromoting erc & wrcInterviews the ERC and WRC promotersPage 24

ercgeko ypres rallyTo cut, or not to cut

Page 36

WRCRally polandBack to Poland

Page 11

For my FriendsThe ‘other’ shots

Page 44

This month

Rally-eMag June 2014 / News

9/47

This month’s wrap up

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the partnership between Neste Oil and Rally Finland the “Battle of Helsinki” was held the weekend prior to the rally. In this one day event six of the current WRC ‘Stars’ teamed up against some of Fin-land’s finest ‘Legends’.

Finland’s massive rallying history was on display as the Legends team was made of four true legends indeed. Mark-

ku Alén, four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen, four-time world champion Tommi Mäkinen and double world cham-pion Marcus Grönholm. Not a bad line-up hey? The current stars participating in the event were Ogier, Latvala, Ostberg, Hirvonen, Neuville and Hänninen.

A short street stage through Helsinki pro-vided the venue for this battle in which the legends competed each other as did the stars, before a shootout between the best of the two groups decided the eventual winner. Prior to the event all competitors said it was ‘just some fun for the fans’. Once they got in the car, they seemed to forget these statements instantly and fought hard for bragging rights in the up-coming Rally Finland. Grönholm was the fastest legend (although Mäkinen would have beaten him if he hadn’t nearly stalled in the final hairpin). Ostberg won in the Stars group.In the final shootout between Grönholm and Ostberg the Norwegian was fastest to claim the title of the Battle of Helsinki.

The importance of the event was of course not significant, although it did show the potential of live rally broadcasting. A solid live stream provided millions the opportu-nity to view the spectacle. A good move by the WRC, something which we hope to see more of in the near future.

Ostberg ‘Star’ of Helsinki Battle

The 2015 Rallye Monte Carlo will have a new route with 75% new stages compared to this year’s event. The start will once again take place Thursday afternoon at the Place du Casino in Monte Carlo. From here the drivers will head north towards Gap. On the way they will tackle two new stages at nighttime.

The main service park is once again in the host city of Gap. Friday will see a brand new loop of stages to the north of Gap, which will take the cars high into the Alps in the Hautes-Alpes region. Saturday’s action is also situated near Gap before the crews head south back towards Monte Carlo.

For Sunday currently only the la Bollene Vesubie – Sospel stage is planned, which includes a pas-sage over the infamous Col du Turini. Opposed the previous years the stage will be run at day-light. The final Powerstage is subject to FIA con-firmation on the format of the stage.

Another novelty is that the rally will allow teams to restart under Rally 2 rules for the first time in its history.

Image: Bas Romeny

Image: Citroen Racing Media

New route for 2015 Monte Carlo

Rally Poland / Overview

11/47

Based in: Mikolajki

Date: 26-29/06/14

Number of stages: 24

Shortest stage: Super Special Stage Mikolajki Arena, 2.50 km

Longest stage: Goldap, 35.17 km

Total stage distance: 362 km

Surface: Gravel

Rajd polski

Rally Poland / Rally Review

12/47

back to

PolandThe half-way point of the 2014 WRC season was Rally Poland, this year for the first time it had some stages in Lithuania, so in this rally a new country was add-ed to the list of “WRC countries”. It was a rally of mixed feelings especially for Jari Matti Latvala who had very bad memories of the last event here in 2009.

Words: Harry van Veenendaal

Images: Bas Romeny


13/47

History

Although Poland has a long his-tory in the WRC, it’s only the third time that Rajd Polski has been a WRC qualifier. In 1973 the inau-gural year the official World Rally Championship, the rally was a qualifying round already. It was a very tough event as out of 62 competitors, only three teams managed to reach the finish. First was Achim Warmbold in a Fiat Abarth 124. He held a lead of al-most three hours over runner up Egon Culmbacher in a Warburg. Third and last to finish the rally was Pole Maciej Stawowiak in a Polski Fiat 125. All other drivers had to retire or were disqualified because they reached the fin-ish much to late. In those days the rally had 55 special stages over more than 700 kilometres. Another interesting fact about this first edition was the name of the winning co-driver: Jean Todt, who now as acting FIA president is one of the people who recently decided to bring back the rally to the WRC.

After the first WRC event, the Poles had to wait until 2009 for the second running. And now, af-

ter a five-year pause, Rally Po-land is back on the calendar, re-placing the Acropolis Rally. One of the main reasons why Poland did come back was that they in-cluded a second country in their itinerary. A wish strongly voiced by, amongst other people, Jean Todt. So last year, after the deci-sion to drop Greece as a WRC event had been taken, It was an easy choice to pick Poland. It fitted very well into the former Acropolis slot and another coun-try was part of the rally: Lithuania.

In the following section we take a look at how things have changed from five years ago. Seb Loeb was still dominating at the time while Petter Solberg was pushing on as a privateer. Ogier was still ‘just a young talent’ in the Citroën junior team and guys like An-dreas Mikkelsen and Mads Os-tberg where fighting for respect as privateers. Martin Prokop was around in the little Citroën C2 but faltered to Kevin Abbring who won the Junior category in a Re-nault Clio. Here we provide you whith a collage of how the WRC looked five years ago, the last time we were in Poland.

First off, Loeb was still part of the WRC and dominating as ever, he would claim his sixth title later that year. He did not win in Poland though, that honour went to Mikko Hirvonen.

A lot can happen in 5 years


14/47

Petter Solberg was struggling at the time with an aging private Xsara, he remained spectacular as ever though.

Jari Matti Latvala had a fine rally, locking in on a 1-2 for Ford, when disaster struck and he crashed on the closing Super Special stage.

Mikko Hirvonen upheld Ford honours by taking the win. It would be one of the closest seasons ever, eventually he fell 1 point short of the world title.

Sebastien Ogier was relatively unknown at the time, running in the Citroën Junior team, but already he showed signs of great things to come.

Images: Harry & Steven van Veenendaal

5 years ago


15/47

Mads Ostberg started his carreer as a private Subaru driver. The car had it’s best days behind it at the time, making it difficult for Mads to make an impact.

Poland 2009 was Andreas Mikkelsen’s last WRC rally in a WRC car untill he returned in the VW Polo WRC last year.

Current ERC ace Kevin Abbring was around in Poland in 2009 as well. Here he took his maiden JWRC way, the first sign of his vast amount ot talent.

At the age of 19 Evgeny Novikov was taking the rally world by storm. P9 in Poland, but he really shot to fame by nearly backflipping his car the next rally in Finland.

Images: Harry & Steven van Veenendaal

5 years ago


16/47

The long Friday driveThe inclusion of the Lithuanian stages caused quite a few organisational challenges, the big-gest one being the itinerary, especially the one on day two (Friday). Just to give you an indica-tion: The morning started at 07:00 a.m. service in, then a 15 minutes service before service out at 07:15. The first stage of that morning was just under a hundred kilometres of nice Polish coun-try roads away. Some of them tarmac, ranging from brand new to very bumpy and in very bad need of repair. Some other roads were a variety of gravel roads. Consequently the driving time was just under two hours. So two hours and ten minutes after having

driven their car out of the overnight parc fermé they were at the start line of a 12.89 kilometre Wieliczki stage. Then the crews travel to Lithu-ania. Though Wieliczki is in eastern Poland they are only halfway the distance to the Lithuanian stages. The liaison route is about 1.6 kilometres shorter than the first liaison of the day but leads over deteriorating roads. Consequently the tar-get driving time is 20 minutes longer. So the first of the four Lithuanian stages (two loops of two stages) starts at 11:25. That is four hours and ten minutes since the start of the day. On Saturday and Sunday by that time they already had three stages and some 35 competitive kilometres be-hind their wheels.

The rally has potentialIf people say this, they usually mean: “The rally is not good (yet)”. This time it was Ogier. Like a lot of other drivers he praised the nice very fast stages. But he was less positive about the time-table, stating the days were to long. Starting at 07:00 am and finishing after 10:00pm is a long time to stay concentrated. The team managers added that this was difficult for the service crews. Having to work till after midnight and to be pre-sent again before 7:00 the next morning means a very limited amount of sleep. Especially the Su-perSpecial Mikolajki Arena was criticised for be-ing run four times. Two times starting at 10:00 pm.

It did provide a great spectacle though.The Super Special Stage in Mikolajki was held four times. Good for the fans, perhaps a bit too often according to the drivers.


17/47

How the action unfoldedThe special time schedule for Poland saw the competitors start on Thursday. In the morning they had to tackle the shakedown stage, not unu-sual but in this case in the afternoon there was of course the press conference, the ceremonial start in the central square of host town Mikola-jki and on top of that two serious stages and of course the SuperSpecial Mikolajki Arena. So this was the first full day. Starting at 08:00 in the morning and finishing at 10:00 in the evening.

The first skirmishes Again we can talk of a Volkswagen battle. This time it was a fight between Mikkelsen and (who else?) Ogier. The VW youngster made live mis-erable for his team colleague. This battle started from the word “Go..!” Although starting first Ogier grabbed his first scratch of the rally on stage 1. Stage 2 saw a surprise winner. Making good use of his starting position Juho Hänninen grabbed the scratch before a charging Mikkelsen who was followed by Ogier with the smallest of mar-gins (0.1 sec) The drivers then proceeded back to Mikolajki for the first run of the Arena stage.

Due to a setting sun the conditions were not easy. This was specially the case for Jari Matti Latvala. He holds some very bad memories to this stage. In 2009 he threw away a solid perfor-mance in this stage. Only a few meters left to the finish he smashed into a barrier, making it impos-sible to reach the finish that, literally, was in sight. So he was quite apprehensive but managed to make it through and did that in a very reasonable time. First was Ogier who really had a blistering speed. On the 2.5 kilometre stage, he was 2.7 seconds faster than anyone else bringing him the provisional first position on the leaderboard!

Blasting into the event Juho Hänninen won stage two. Andreas Mikkelsen put the pressure on his teammate Sebastien Ogier.


18/47

The long driveOn Friday there is an early start again and the drivers go all the way east. En route they have to tackle one stage before arriving in Lith-uania. It’s Mikkelsen who is completely awake and he grabs the scratch as well as the overall lead. Mads Øst-berg is the first driver to ever win a WRC stage in Lithu-ania and Ogier is the sec-ond. As the two next stages are cancelled they will be the only ones for at least a year. It is very doubtful how-ever if these stages will be used again. The top layer of the roads is simply too soft for a modern 4 wheel drive WRC. The enormous trac-tion sprays the top layer into the adjacent bushes and what is left is a road full of very deep ruts, unsuitable for another passage of the competing cars.

After having done the last two stages the drivers ar-rived back in Mikolajki with a marginal lead for Ogier. Mik-kelsen is second and a well performing Østberg third.

Ogier in winning moodThe battle simply continues on Saturday. Initially Mik-kelsen edges closer, closing the gap to half a second, but on the second stage Mik-kelsen makes a mistake and overshoots a junction. He loses 10 seconds and prob-ably the possibility to victory in Poland. His second place however was becoming more certain as Mads Øst-berg who was very deter-mined to steal second place, broke his front suspension by hitting a rock and rolling his DS3. The roll cage was damaged so no Rally 2 for Østberg. Mikkelsen chanc-es got another blow when his brakes started to fade on stage 19. This made him lose more than half a minute to his rival. Who can now look at a comfortable gap of just under a minute behind him. On the final day this did not change and Ogier won again. He also won the pow-erstage and therefore took maximum championship points. Mikkelsen was sec-ond and Neuville brought Hyundai it’s second podium. Latvala’s mission to grab fourth place, stranded at 0.7 seconds. Leaving fourth to Mikko Hirvonen.

For the second time since their re-introduction in the WRC Neuville gave Hyundai a podium finish proving the potential of the Hyundai i20 WRC.

Fighting for second, Mads Ostberg pushed a bit too hard an damaged his DS3.

Rally Poland / Round-up

19/47

Round-up

The team was quite relaxed and the FIFA World Championship almost got more atten-tion than the rally. This resulted in a penalty shoot out with the top rally drivers competing. Furthermore quite a few team members could be seen wearing the championship outfit of the German team, that later won the title. The battle of the day was the Ogier/ Mikkelsen fight. Latvala had a bad start to the rally. Some issues slowed him

down, but his biggest problem probably was his lack of confidence. His 2009 crash is still in his memory and it was hard to get rid of that. But finally he found himself again and fin-ished fifth only 0.7 sec-onds from fourth place. His third place on the powerstage earned him another driver’s point.

The Ogier/ Mikkelsen one, two brought Volk-swagen another step closer to the construc-tor’s title.

Malcolm Wilson still remembered the last time when he was at Rally Poland, “I ar-rived here a few days ago and the first ting I saw, was the SuperSpecial. It all came back to me that moment. That must have been one of the more traumatic experi-ences in my rally live. We were on a good way in the direction of a possible double championship then and this happening changed everything.” Well the 2014 edition was nothing like this. The good thing is that Mikko Hirvonen managed to get back after a very bad start of the rally. “My notes are simply too slow,” admitted Mikko. Together with co driver Jarmo Lehtinen he did man-age to change them after working late and watching on board footage. Eventually he ended up in fourth place. Young Elfyn Evans liked the rally a lot. As many other drivers he was a complete novice to the rally but liked the fast stages. However on stage 14 he clipped a hidden rock and a wheel came off. He did come back the next day but being first on the road made it impossible to get a top result. “However,” he said. “It’s good practice for the next event that is also very fast.”

M-Sport

Volkswagen

Martin Prokop probably wants to forget the 2014 edition of Rally Poland as soon as possible. Still suffering from a pain in the back caused by an incident in Sardinia, he did not feel too well. In the end he was happy to reach the finish in tenth place. At least earning him a point in the championship.

Jipocar Czech National Team

Rally Poland / Round-up

20/47

We spoke to Alain Penasse before the rally. “We are well on the way. We aimed to have a few scratches, and maybe later a po-dium. But we already have it. Now let’s con-centrate on having all three cars at the finish without Rally 2.” He said this before the ral-ly and again the team had some scratches, Neuville achieved a

podium and all three cars were at the finish in point scoring posi-tions, so his last wish also came true.

That doesn’t mean the team will be world champion this year but at least they show some very good im-provement one that gives a very healthy feeling for the future.

Mads Østberg had a really good feeling, he said. And his times showed that. But he became one of the casualties of Gol-dap. “I was doing quite well,” explained the Norwegian. “But then I clipped a rock and lost all steering. A bit further I hit a bank and we started rolling. As the roll cage was damaged we couldn’t come back.”

Kris Meeke initially was well on the pace, being third at the end of day one. How-ever in Lithuania he was hampered by his starting position somewhat further back and had to negotiate the pretty deep ruts. Add to that the puncture he got in the infamous Goldap stage and the only thing he could do was to fight to gain some reasonable points. Finally he finished seventh and was thus rewarded with these points.

Citroën

Hyundai

Expectations were high, especially among the many fans in his home rally. Apparently the pressures also became too high, as already in the very early stages of the rally he presented his, by now amost normal, first roll. It was an unlucky one. Coming out of a corner he came just a little bit wide and hit some-thing. Very slowly he rolled. Luckily there were many fans around that put him on his wheels again, limiting his loss to less than thirty seconds. But halfway the Saturday stages he again hit some-thing and one of his wheels came off. He came back the next day and finished the rally in 20th place. Not exactly what he had hoped for in his home event.

RK M-Sport World Wally Team

Rally Poland / Result

21/47

Final Result

1. Ogier-Ingrassia Volkswagen Polo R WRC 2:34:02.02. Mikkelsen-Markkula Volkswagen Polo R WRC +1:07.73. Neuville-Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC +2:13.54. Hirvonen-Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC +2:32.45. Latvala-Anttila Volkswagen Polo R WRC +2:33.1

6. Hänninen-Tuominen Hyundai i20 WRC +2:49.97. Meeke-Nagle Citroën DS3 WRC +4:27.98. Paddon-Kennard Hyundai i20 WRC +4:32.19. Solberg-Minor Ford Fiesta RS WRC +4:59.010. Prokop-Tománek Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6:11.3

Manufacturer standings

1. Volkswagen Motorsport 262 points2. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World RallyTeam 1153. M-Sport World Rally Team 904. Volkswagen Motorsport II 82 5. Hyundai Shell World Rally Team 80 6. Jipocar Czech National Team 347. RK M-Sport World Rally Team 198. Hyundai Motorsport N 8

Rally Poland / Standings

22/47

Championship standings (Drivers)

1. Ogier 166 points 2. Latvala 116 3. Mikkelsen 83 4. Østberg 66 5. Hirvonen 526. Neuville 467. Meeke 38 8. Evans 36 9. Prokop 31 10. Solberg 24

Rally-eMagAdvertise your business in Rally-eMag too!

Contact us at [email protected] more info.

Rally-eMag / Interview

24/47

There is a lot going on in the world of rallying. A crucial point seems to be television. But a whole lot of other things are at stake. In a small series we’re diving into this sub-ject and we’re trying to talk to some of the major stake-holders. For this first part we have been talking to the promoters. First we went to see Jean Baptiste Ley during Rally Ypres. A week later we met Oliver Ciesla in Poland.

Words and Images: Harry van Veenendaal


25/47

We met Jean Baptiste Ley in the Mediaroom of Rally Ypres. Our main aim was to talk about the European Rally Championship (ERC).

Why did you choose to promote ERC and to drop IRC?

We initiated IRC some years ago and it was quite successful. But it was a bit difficult to situate it. It had some good competition but it was not an FIA championship. So when FIA was looking for a promoter we started talking to them. Then we formulated our strategy, which most importantly was to be a kind of stepping stone between lo-cal championships and the WRC. The gap was very large on all accounts. And with the ERC it is possible for the competitors to learn about big international events in rallying. So we don’t want to compete with WRC we want to cooperate but at the same time keep our own identity.

What is your strategy in achieving your goals?

When we took over ERC it was a bit ‘old’ and it was a real challenge to make it better. Of course we had our TV strategy of IRC and we wanted to implement that in ERC. So our first aim is to produce a show with the best possible way to tel-evise ERC. At this moment that means several highlight shows during the week and also some

teasers in other programmes. Furthermore we provide small news items during the day so that fans don’t have to wait for the highlight show to know what is happening. Hopefully we also at-tract other people who might otherwise have for-gotten about the rally. In this way we attract some 8 to 10 million viewers per rally show. During the whole year that adds up to 200 million viewers for the whole year and that is only via our own channels. I have to be honest motorsport is not attracting the biggest audience. It is no snooker or Tour de France but still rallying is very impor-tant for Eurosport

What ideas do you have about televising an ERC event?

We think live coverage is very good. Only it is difficult to produce with on-board cameras, fixed cameras, helicopters and all the connections. Also you are depended to the weather and some other aspects, making it a real challenge to pro-duce and a lot more difficult and consequently more expensive than for instance covering an event on a racetrack. Also you have to be a lit-tle bit lucky that you have all the action. In the Azores we had everything: It was good weather and we had an exciting battle plus we had all the important action of the fight between Kevin Ab-bring and the later winner Bernardo Sousa. That is why we will continue with three or four events

the erc promoter

Jean-Baptiste LeyIs: European Rally Championship Coor-dinator for Eurosport Events.

“We formulated our strategy, which most importantly was to be a kind of stepping stone between local championships and the WRC.”


26/47

And what about the other events?We’re lucky to have Gilbert Roy, he is an excellent direc-tor who is responsible for all the broadcasts. His philoso-phy is: Rallying is not a track race. It is all about discov-ering new exciting places. Just focusing on the action is not good enough. You have to tell a story. That includes the action but also the places in which this action takes place, the scenery, the special conditions etcetera. Roy does that but we also have another thing. We show all the competitors. For example in our junior championship we have a standard package including TV coverage for ALL the teams also the smaller ones. They can buy extra cov-erage but they don’t have to, as their car will always be on TV. That is extremely important for their sponsor and their team members.

In WRC they are talking about a shoot out stage are you considering that too?I told you for us it is important to tell the story. To tell the

story, you don’t need a shoot out stage. Or something like that. The fuel for our fire is the competitor! So no we are not considering that.

With a larger budget what would you change to the ERC? We would not change very much to the television format but we would try to see if we can make it even more attrac-tive for the competitors. At this moment it is almost impos-sible for a team to do all the events.

So we have to find a way to reduce costs. First of all there are too many events. Furthermore we can reduce the num-ber of tyres that you can use during an event and of course we can reduce stage mileage. This would also make it a lot more affordable for the competitors. All this will take effect as soon as possible so that in 2015 more teams could be competing the whole championship. If we wouldn’t do this the future of the whole championship would be jeopardized.

“Rallying is not a track race. It is all about dis-covering new exciting places. Just focusing on the action is not good enough. You have to tell a story.”

Beginning as a profes-sional rally driver is not just about driving fast, you have to please the fans as well...

Then there is another idea we are looking into. And that is that, in order for a team to be eligible for scoring champi-onship points, they should register and pay a nominal fee. This is very good for the organizers as they know before-hand how many teams will be coming The feedback from the teams was good, depending a bit on the height of the registration fee. But we keep on telling the teams that they are the ones that will benefit from this rule. Furthermore we will not introduce it with a big bang. Competitors can register any time during the season. They don’t have to do it at the first event. In about three years, when we have been able to convince the teams, registration before the start of the season will probably be mandatory. Of course it will be a FIA registration.

What kinds of teams do you want, privateers or factory teams?We know the importance of the privateers. But some four to five manufacturer teams would be nice.

If you compare TV with internet what would be more im-portant?Oh there is no doubt about it: Internet is the future so we are doing a lot of research in that field. But at this moment TV is still more important.

Collaboration with WRCAs I said before ERC should diminish the gap to WRC. Thier-ry Neuville is here in Ieper and h told the drivers this morning that ERC is a very good training ground for WRC. The ideal mix for a young driver would be to compete in ERC and to do the recce for (a selected number of) WRC events. “It’s a very good way to learn how it work with international competition.

Finally I would like to emphasize that we have a very goof working relationship with FIA and the WRC promoter. We have a ten year contract for the ERC, so that shows that FIA trusts us completely

“There is no doubt, inter-net is the fu-ture...but at this moment TV is still more impor-tant.”

... and equally im-portant, you have to handle the press as well. ERC provides

young drivers with the opportunity to gain these skills as well.


28/47

Oliver Ciesla is one of the two directors of WRC Pro-moter GmbH, the company that is responsible for the promotion of the WRC. We met him in Poland where he invited us to come to the big studio where all the content for the different channels that WRC now operates is being prepared. Everything is done here on site and after every rally everything is packed in special cases and flown into the next event. Roughly there are three departments. Internet, Social media and last but not least: television. Words and Images: Harry van Veenendaal


29/47

Before we start he points out a few men in motor gear. “Look at these guys, they are bringing the tel-evision material. The helicopter pilot throws it out of the helicopter; they catch it, jump on their mo-torbike and bring it here. That’s rallying!” He says broadly smiling.

Can you explain what the WRC promoter does?Ok let me tell you about my work. We are a liaison between all the stakeholders including the FIA, the regulatory body. When we talk about stakeholders we refer to the manufacturer teams, private com-petitors, local event organizers and also the fans and the commercial partners that we have.

So we have to look into the fields of each of these partners, sometimes going in the same direction often also individual interests that we try to take care of. So under the cooperation that we have with the FIA we shall take care of building the feel of competitors making sure that those teams that are engaged in the WRC find a good commercial environment and can use the WRC both for their sport in the best possible manner on the highest world championship level but also as a commercial platform of course. In the end it is also about selling cars.

The calendarPart of our role is also to build the calendar. Of course we have the intention to be globally visible, if possible, on all of the continents. But it is a very challenging task to organize such big and complex

events. Our quality requirements as a world cham-pionship are reasonably high. So it is not so easy to say: ‘we want to host a rally in a country like Brazil or China’ and expect that it happens on the best level from the first day. So it is also part of our activities to identify a good spot for a WRC event and then help the local event organizer to organize a rally on the highest level.

How do you find new rallies?First of all we need to clearly know our own objec-tives. These objectives include the growth of the number of fans on site. Fans on site have always been important to WRC. To give you an indication in 2013 we had some 3.5 million fans visiting the 13 events that we were hosting. This is a tremen-dous number and to grow beyond hat level will be quite demanding. But the function that we have is: choose the right places like we did with Poland. And we are pretty sure that the average number of visitors per rally can be higher so this accounts for the total growth through the years. This certain-ly applies for China and Brazil and maybe other countries.

So one of the objectives is to go where the people are but of course there is more. We want to have all the different turfs. This is special about rallies. The events are not always on the same underground. We drive on snow, on ice, on sand on tarmac and on gravel so there are a lot of stories that you can tell. And this is what we also consider when we are selecting a place.

the wrc promoter

Oliver CieslaIs: Managing Director for WRC Promoter GmbH

“In 2013 we had some 3.5 million fans visiting the 13 events that we were hosting.”


30/47

China and BrazilYou can understand we look for markets that are important for the teams involved. Which includes, as everybody knows, Mexico, Brazil and China. Not only are they important, as a market to sell the cars but also because they have factories where cars are produced.

So we have quite a few elements to consider, al-ways bearing in mind we want a high quality event on the sporting level. It is the peak of world rallying so it must be very demanding and also it must be a global event with regards to spectacle, entertain-ment and show. At the moment China and Brazil are very concrete rallies we are looking at and where in close cooperation with the local motorsport federa-tions we identify the opportunities. Another dream of ours is having back a proper Safari Rally on the calendar, a nice dessert rally and maybe another

real snow and ice rally. We’re looking for these kinds of extremes that belong to the WRC. So we look for an an environment that gives us this extreme sport-ing challenge but also the great stories to tell and pictures to show.

Are there any specific rally’s you’re looking at in Brazil and China?Often we can look at existing rally’s that form part of a national championship or of an FIA continen-tal championship that then can be developed to the level of the WRC with more mileage and respective requirements that we have.

Do you have those at the moment in Brazil or China?Yes it is not a secret that in Brazil we are visiting the Rally Erechim and at this very weekend there is a rally in China north of Beijing we’re looking at.

“Another dream of ours is having back a proper Safari Rally on the calendar.At the moment China and Brazil are very concrete rallies we are looking at..”

A complete portable TV studio is shipped to each event.

Do they meet the requirements?Yes they do. We need a minimum of 300 kilometres that is our standard. Furthermore it shall be in an area accessible for the fans and finally it shall be a turf that we don’t have yet. And of course if we’re in China we want the pictures to show we’re in China. Our catalogue of requirements for the ideal place is quite long and in the end reality shows that sometimes you get more, sometimes you get less. But that is part of the job.

TV and digital platforms Another part of the function, as you can see here is to provide the fans with a TV signal. So TV production, distribution of he TV signal and selling The TV signal into the world. And then of course the second most important platform: the digital environ-ment. Creating the digital platforms like the new website, the new app and the new videogame that is already on the market. So we started by building the platforms and then fill them with the proper content. With what content do you fill the platforms? Well the three most important things that we have for the fans

are attractive cars, heroes and an attractive competition format. And this is what we are working on now.

The new carsThe FIA are setting all the rules and regulations. Now we work together with them to see if it is possible, for the new cycle start-ing in 2017 to have a new shape, and new requirements to the cars. Can they be bigger, can they be more powerful and what else can we develop to increase the attraction of this sport in the eyes of the fans. Secondly what can we do to build up the com-petition of man against man a bit more then we’ve been used to in the past. At the moment it’s one car after another. To build up heroes, battling against each other is currently quite a challeng-ing thing, but it is our strong desire to make the drivers more visible with more exposure. I’m sure you will agree that these guys have outstanding skills and outstanding courage and it is my desire to push that, much more than it is now, because this is unique also if you compare it to other motorsports.

“Can new cars be bigger? And more powerful?”

It’s important that when visiting coun-tries like China, it is very clear that the rally is indeed in China


32/47

DriftingWe want to increase the emotions you experience when you see and hear a car passing by. But how can we achieve that? That could be done for exam-ple by more drifting. The way they are driving at the moment is a driving style introduced by Loeb and copied by the others now, if I may say so. This is the most efficient line and so the less drifting the better. Technically speaking, if you want to be as fast as possible that is correct. But this is not exactly the best way if you want to sell and emotionalize the rally. Drifting is just fantastic to see and everyone is just cheering when you have the opportunity to see the guys drifting around the corner as fast as possible. How can we combine this? Is Power an element, is sound an element? Of course it is. You don’t need to ask the question we know that! And does size matter? Yeah! Is a bigger car that more impressive? Or does a bigger car give the different manufacturers the opportunity to work with a varia-tion of body shapes so that the look and feel is not so similar as it is, let us just say, with smaller cars. These are just elements that are under discussion as preparation of what a new car after 2017 could be, but the overall objective is to increase the emo-tional element, increase the popularity, increase the passion!

How do these changes come about?Under the roof of the FIA there is a group of peo-ple that is called the WRC commission, and in this WRC commission you find representatives of the event organizers, the manufacturer teams even of smaller teams, technical experts of the FIA and of course also representatives of the promoter. So it’s a group of experts that meets regularly and that puts these things on the agenda, Once it is on the agen-

da it goes to working groups where these things are further developed and taken forward.

Actually this is quite a democratic system and we contribute basically with points of view from the promoter’s angle: what is good for selling the rally, what is good for promoting the event and bringing it to more people, what is the feedback from the fans, that should be considered for any changes. This is our expertise. Then there is people who have the expertise of how do I implement it on site what do I need to consider for organizing my event best in the best possible way? Other experts sit at the ta-ble and they discuss security, which is a main issue with everything we are doing. And then the teams see it from their angle representing also the drivers. What have we got to consider in regard of fairness what do we have to regard in safety also for them. So everybody can contribute from his perspective and then a proposal is worked out jointly and this is approved by the commission and whenever it is a subject needing a change of regulations we take this forward and present it to the World Motorsport Council for final approval and then we move along!

Then to another issue, you seem to Focus on TVYes that is true. Apart from highlight shows we wish to establish a twelve o’clock show on Sunday. It will include the last, decisive, stage of the day, live on TV. Producing such a show is demanding but we know it is worth it, because we’ve been doing it since the beginning of this year in selected markets and the feedback is very good. Our objective is to double the TV audience and the digital contacts on Internet and mobile in three years.

“To build up heroes, battling against each other is currently quite a challenge”

Television still reigns supreme in medialand.


35/47

Fan surveyIn 2013 we had an audience of more than 600 million over 13 events and that is without live coverage. Introducing live gave us another 200 million only after the first three rallies, so that is a clear indicator for taking further live coverage to give the fans what they want. A recent fan survey said: after the Internet coverage, live TV is the most important for them. But for that it is essential that we have a regular transmission in a fixed time slot for the live coverage. In central Europe that would be 12:00 noon

Our own channelsFor countries where there is no live coverage we are think-ing of using our own channels. Why not make it available for a fan maybe against a small contribution. These models are being studied. For the fans this would bring extra op-portunities like the use of several on board cameras, tel-emetric data and you can even select on a map where you want to see your driver. And according to this fan base re-search, one third is prepared to pay. And it can be soon, follow WRC.COM and in the near future you will see some exciting things.

What do you think about the shootout stage?It was an idea that was produced some time ago. It was very good as it caused a lot of discussion that enabled a new way of thinking. But of course we have to be very careful. It could touch the DNA of rally and that is NOT what we want. So we are looking into it now and see if it can bring us something. And if not? We don’t do it.

There is a lot of talk about return of investment. Can you bring that?Well of course all the manufacturers are in it, eventually to sell cars. For that you need exposure. But another aspect is proof of quality. We can offer that. The cars have to per-form in very difficult conditions. Ranging from icy snow to hot dessert roads. This is the excellent platform to show the product is fit for that. And what is more we cover the whole world. So the products can prove their quality everywhere. That proof cannot be shown in any other way.

Will Internet be more important than TV?In interacting the answer is yes but further it is definitely not. Perhaps in future but even then you must produce the content and the production of that is no different from what we are doing already so we are prepared. But an impor-tant aspect is mixing your devices. Look at the popularity of Becs in WRC live. Each rally she and her team attract 50.000 listeners and this radio station together with the live result service and the video’s gives you an excellent mix to follow rallies, also if you’re not on site.

“Follow WRC.COM and in the near future you will see some exciting things”

In the end it’s all about reaching and pleasing the fans!

ERC: Geko Ypres Rally / Overview

36/47

Based in: Ypres

Date: 19-21/06/2014

Number of stages: 20

Shortest stage: Westouter 7.25 km

Longest stage: Hollebeke – 27.56 km

Total stage distance: 295 km

Surface: Tarmac

geko ypres rally

37/47

Every year the Ypres Rally attracts an impressive entry list. The fast tarmac rally has always been a magnet for the best European drivers and this year proved no different. Peugeot entered two of the new 208 T16’s for Craig Breen and Kevin Abbring while Skoda fielded their ERC regulars Lappi and Wiegand. Italian star and three times European champion Luca Rossetti held the first seed. Despite this star studded foreign line-up, the man to beat was still a local boy. Freddy Loix has already won the event eight times and came in search of a ninth win.

To cut, or not to cut

Words: Steven van Veenendaal

Images:Harry van Veenendaal, Steven van Veenendaal

ERC: Geko Ypres Rally / Rally review


38/47

Long but shortWith nearly 300 stage kilometers the Ypres Rally is by far the longest rally in the ERC, with most other events hovering around 240. Despite its length though, it is a very compact event. Most stages are in close proximity of the historic town itself, apart from the one stage across the bor-der in France. Uniquely, there are actually more stage kilometers than there are on the liaison, perhaps one of the reasons so many drivers love this event so much. Due to this compactness the organizers can run a rather short timetable as well. The rally didn’t start until late Friday after-noon, finishing the next day.

Confident LoixBeing interviewed under a clear blue sky at the

start podium Freddy Loix was confident and re-laxed. The Belgian was all smiles but had to ad-mit that the turbocharged R5 cars might have a slight advantage over his normally aspirated Skoda Fabia. Then again, their surplus of power should merely off-set his surplus of experience and create a level playing field at best. Because even though the stages might look rather simple and straightforward at first, they are some of the trickiest in the world to drive fast on. The key is-sue is, knowing when to cut, and how far to cut. As you are in sixth gear a lot and jolt the car from the tarmac onto grass and back on the tarmac again it is very difficult to maintain a solid line through the corners. Unless of course your name is Freddy Loix, then apparently it’s child’s play.

As the action got underway it was however not Loix who topped the timesheets. Dutchman Kevin Abbring powered his Peugeot over the stages to set fastest times on the opening three stages. Although Abbring claimed he was just driving smoothly, he looked very aggressive out on the stages and the times showed. Not only did he win three out of four stages on the opening loop, he opened up an eleven second lead over Loix. The gaps between drivers are always small on fast stages, making his performance all the more impressive. The experienced Rossetti was in a solid third early on after being the surprise winner of the qualifying stage on Thursday. He edged out ERC leader Esapekka Lappi by five seconds.

Confident, relaxed and all smiles. That’s what being 8 time winner of an event does. Kevin Abbring stormed into an early lead.


39/47

TroubleAbbring’s teammate Craig Breen got off to a dis-astrous start. A puncture on the first stage cost him time, but even worse, the flailing rubber dam-aged the brake line of his Peugeot. There was nothing left to do for Breen but to nurture his car through the next three stages to the first ser-vice halt. He never fully regained his confidence throughout the evening though and found him-self down in seventh, two minutes adrift after the opening day.

Luca Rossetti suffered a similar fate when he too suffered a puncture. It cost him around four min-utes and he dropped well outside of the top ten as a result. The unluckiest man of the opening day though was Bernd Casier. The local ace was looking for a good result in his Fiesta R5 and was

eleventh on the road. Just after leaving the ser-vice park to start the rally, his mechanics were cleaning up the service area and finally took a breather after having worked hard to prepare the car for the event. Just as they sat down and re-laxed in the sun the team manager got a phone call and the look on his face immediately told the story. Casier crashed on one of the very first cor-ners of the rally and ripped a front wheel off. It would force him to retire after having barely start-ed the event. He would return on Saturday but was of course out of contention for a good result.

Game, set and match?After the service break Kevin Abbring got right back to doing what he had been doing earlier in the day, winning stages. The remaining stages all fell prey to Abbring as he more than doubled his

lead over Loix to nearly half a minute, nearly pro-viding an early knock-out punch. Abbring praised his car, stating that it was really nice and relia-ble to drive on the limit, but really it was Abbring who deserved the praise. Going that much faster than Loix, in any car, is something quite special, as Loix recognized too. “Kevin is doing a great job, he seems to be a little bit too fast for me at the moment, I am impressed.” The ever-present smile was still on Loix’s face as he clearly ap-preciated the challenge the young Dutchman presented. The question now, was whether Loix would be able to stage a comeback or if he would have to face defeat.

Luca Rossetti surprised by winning the qualifying stage and was on the pace early on. A puncture dropped him back before a ditch ended his rally all together.

After a troublesome event, Craig Breen was eventually forced to retire with technical problems.


40/47

The final day of a rally often feels a bit obligatory, with few stages re-maining and most of the drama al-ready having occurred. Not in Ypres though. Despite the fact that the opening day had indeed been full of drama, the drivers were nowhere near home yet. The final day com-prised over 190 kilometers of com-petitive action, so about two thirds of the entire rally still remained.

More dramaLike the first day, the second day would be no walk in the park. Craig Breen continued his miserable event with technical issues haunt-ing him on nearly every stage until eventually the Peugeot would go no further after stage 13. At least for Breen it wasn’t his fault. Many other front-runners were caught out by the tricky stages in a flurry of crash-es. Former S2000 World Champion Xevi Pons ended his rally in a ditch, just like Pieter Tsjoen. Meanwhile Neil Simpson and Antonin Tlustak both crashed out of the event as well. The most spectacular crash was that of Esapekka Lappi after which he and co-driver Janne Ferm had to be taken to hospital for pre-cautionary checkups. Thankfully they were both uninjured.

The ultimate drama took place near the French border though. Kevin Abbring had been brilliant and was in complete control. He built his lead over Loix on the opening day and

maintained it throughout the sec-ond. Stage 13 would prove to be his Waterloo though. A technical issue forced him to stop and although he tried to apply emergency repairs the team advised it was best to park the car and retire from the event. The Dutchman was absolutely gutted. Afterwards he spoke in a profes-sional manner about how good the car and team had been up until the retirement but his body language and tone of voice told a completely different story. Before us stood an ambitious young man who felt he had just been robbed of the most important victory of his career.

Abbring is not blessed with deep pockets like some other drivers, and being from Holland he only has a small sponsor market to rely on. In other words, Abbring needs these wins; he has to show that he is one of the best rally drivers out there. That is the only way he can be suc-cessful in the sport. A win in Ypres would have looked great on his re-sume, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Afterwards Loix praised Abbring for his performance and he really meant it when he said he felt bad that Abbring retired, he had been enjoying the battle. As consolation Abbring was awarded the Colin McRae Flat Out Trophy, let’s just hope a lot of people noticed.

Kevin Abbring stole the hearts of the fans and was the moral winner of the rally......but Fast Freddy prevailed in the end and as usual, had everybody eating dust

ERC: Geko Ypres Rally / Results

41/47

1. Loix (B)-Gitsels (B) Skoda Fabia S2000 2:43:13.72. Cherain (B)-Leyh (B) Ford Fiesta R5 + 1:09.93. Wiegand (D)-Christian (D) Skoda Fabia S2000 + 2:14.24 .Kobus (NL)-de Wild (NL) Ford Fiesta S2000 + 2:32.55. Rossetti (I)-Matteo (I) Skoda Fabia S2000 + 3:47.5

6. Vanneste (B)-Snaet (B) Peugeot 207 S2000 + 5:25.47. Lefevere (B)-Vangheluwe (B) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X + 6:11.58. Duquesne (B)- Cuvelier (B) Ford Fiesta R5 + 6:53.29. Debackere (B)-Cokelaere (B) Peugeot 207 S2000 + 6:59.710. Orsak (CZ)-Smeidler (CZ) Skoda Fabia S2000 + 9:01.4

ERC: Geko Ypres Rally / Standings

42/47

Championship standings

1. Esapekka Lappi Skoda Fabia S2000 1032. Craig Breen Peugeot 208 T16 703. Sepp Wiegand Skoda Fabia S2000 704. Vasily Gryazin Ford Fiesta RRC 535. Kajetan Kajetanowicz Ford Fiesta RRC 486. Robert Kubica Ford Fiesta R5 397. Kevin Abbring Peugeot 208 T16 388. Robert Consani Peugeot 207 S2000 379. Bernardo Sousa Ford Fiesta R5 3710. Freddy Loix Skoda Fabia S2000 37

ForMyFriends / Rally-eMag

44/47

Bas’ ForMyFriends Bas Romeny travels the world to watch the WRC. Between his eyes and the rest of the world he usually holds a camera. You can see the results of that throughout this magazine.

During events he often he sees ‘other things’ than rally cars going over crests. He decided to send a selection to his rallyfriends. And this section he shares them with all his friends at Rally-eMag. Here he shows you his observations and his thoughts atthe moment he took the pictures.

Dancing drivers.

Mikolajki, the epic center of the rally.

As I noticed in 2009, many couples watched the rally. And they picknick!!( I think weforgot to do this anymore..)


45/47

At the Mikolajki hotel: the Martini colors on the floot! Fred Gallagher was theonly who noticed this as well.

First Superspecial was a tad dusty. And at 22.00 hrs, quite late..

Oi, red tape is forbidden area, green is a go area..

In the end Germany won and Holland became third..


46/47

As 2 drivers rolled on this point (the first run), they wealthily taped the corner

Uhhh, stop rally?

To be sure that all drivers noticed...

Capito could have used this mold to ‘sign’ hishead..

see you next time...

Documents

Rally-eMag 019 June 2014