Rally-eMag 045 May/June 2017

Rally-emag

The digital rally magazine Issue 45, May/June 2017 W

wrc Sardinia

! ! !

T T O O #G Behind

Special feature:

the sce nes at SIT

the trac ker and of the W timer RC

Plus brc: Sezoens / ERC: Islas Canarias Erc: Acropolis Greece / DRC: ELE Rally

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

Aaahhhh La Bella Italia Rally Italia-Sardegna is always one of the most popular events of the year. From beach-side stage viewing to passages through quaint little villages, all under immaculate sunshine. Life's good.

Rallypicture

d/ Erik van ‘t Lan

Citroen overing over h re a s d u lo C lsen is dreas Mikke this year. An age the acted to salv tr n o c y d a e ndalr rwegian is fi o N e th t u b season o.

RC tricky to ing the C3 W

Erik van ‘t Land/Rallypicture

One of the most iconic spots in the WRC, Micky's jump.

Where the brave are cheered by throngs of fans on makeshift grandstands.

Erik van 't land / Rallypicture

Finally The traditional post-Sardinia dive into the sea is M-Sport's after homegrown hero Ott Tanak sealed the deal.

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Editor’s note Delay

By Steven van Veenendaal

Dear readers, As you are aware we have been falling a bit behind schedule lately.

We're sorry about that.

Let's be honest, money doesn't exactly grow on trees in the world of rallying. Just like the drivers that aren't fortunate enough to be born with a silver spoon in mouth or made big gains with their businesses, mosts journalist are constantly juggling for funds to cover their beloved sport.

We're no different and most of us have a so-called 'day-time job'. Frankly, this is our primary job and must be treated as such. However great it is to run a rally magazine, the job that puts the bread on the table comes first and cannot suffer because of it. Lately that job has been killing so to speak. Good for our professional career, but not so great if you also try to create a decent quality magazine.

That being said, we're not about to quit. We love what we do. We love to create a magazine that gives a bit more background to rallying than most regular websites. We love to try and take the best pictures to design a good looking report. Most of all, we love rallying.

So don't worry, we will be back and we will catch up! Expect the next issue to be released within a couple of weeks after this one so we're right back on track!

Thanks for your understanding Steven van Veenendaal Editor / Rally-eMag

Rally-eMag is brought to you by:

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

Words:

Harry van Veenendaal Steven van Veenendaal Tara Hurlin Sven Kollus

Images:

Erik van ‘t Land Tara Hurlin Sven Kollus

Publisher: Issuu.com

Join us via social media!

Facebook: facebook.com/emagrally/ Twitter: @emagrally

This month May/June 2017 14

Editor’s note

20

Sardinia

34

Islas Canarias

42

Timing & Tracking

all

wrc erc sit

Delay

Tanak at last

The edge of Europe

Greece

56

Sezoensrally

62

Scottish

66

ELE Rally

72

The World

drm brc drc

eee

34

You do it, because you love it!

50

erc

20

Hey, this is the Acropolis

Verschueren vs Princen

Pirelli International Rally

Centraal Nederland Rally

Erik’s Epic Encounters in Sardinia

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

62

56

66 42

50

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

WRC

Tanak at last Words: Harry van Veenendaal, Images: Erik van 't Land

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

I

taly is always a rough rally round, one of the roughest on the WRC calendar. This year again many people found out the hard way. Still it was an exciting event again.

The first five stages had five different winners. In these five stages there were four different leaders. Then a leader who stayed there for eight stages until the winner took over the lead for the remaining seven stages. This winner was Ott Tänak.

After his demise in Poland last year he finally got what he deserved: a WRC win!

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

WRC

Top: 2017 Has been an uphill battle for Citroen Right: Toyota's new kid, Esapekka Lappi, keeps impressing Bottom: Mikkelsen jumped on the Citroen WRC opportunity

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

The 'Olbia loop' The route this year has been slightly revised by Tiziano Siviero former co pilot to two times World Champion (1988- 1989) Miki Biasion. He wanted to return to the classics of the island like Terranova, Monte Olia, Tula and Tergu-Osilo. These four stages together make up the ‘Olbia loop’ that is run twice and then includes just over 125 kilometres of competitive kilometres. In order to achieve this the drivers, after having opened the rally with the Ittiri Arena show, had to travel some 150 kilometres all over the island to Olbia, headquarters to the rally until 2013. After having run the stages near Olbia the drivers drove back all the way to Alghero where they would stay until the end of the rally.

In shakedown Sordo was fastest before teammate Thierry Neuville. Latvala was next and Esapekka Lappi showed his strength by achieving the joint fourth fastest time with Andreas Mikkelsen. The rally started on Thursday evening with the Ittiri Show stage, a two-kilometre show test that was won by Neuville.

But of course the real rally did not start until Friday morning. Kris Meeke was fastest on Terranova and took the lead from Neuville. On Monte Olia (SS3) it was Hänninen who took over the lead by setting fastest time. The next stage was Tula it brought a scratch for Sordo. Meeke however was the next leader. But on SS6, it was over for Meeke. A roll and a bent roll cage meant the end for his Italian drive.

Citroën shake-up The biggest news for Sardinia was of course that Andreas Mikkelsen would be competing again and this time in a fully fledged 2017 generation World Rally Car. He was asked by Citroën to join them in Italy. Stéphane Lefebvre was promised he would be driving in Poland again. Mikkelsen’s drive would only be a one off occasion. Later on this was proved to be different as at the end of the rally Mikkelsen

was offered a second drive. But that was after the rally had finished. By then Kris Meeke when leading the rally had rolled his C3 again. Immediately he was declared the scapegoat. Yves Matton offered Meeke’s seat to Mikkelsen, so that the Northern Irishman could ease some of the tension. A decision that was discussed a lot in social media. Of course we will come back to it in the update section.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

WRC Latvala disobedient?

At the stop finish of stage 12 on Saturday morning we saw an unfamiliar thing. Jari Matti Latvala parked his car next to Mads Østberg’s car. Steam was coming out of the Finn’s ears. He was furious. He had been caught in the dust thrown up by Østberg who had to change a punctured tyre during the stage. "If I don't get the time back here, when I am in his dust and fighting so hard, I will stop this sport." It was clear Latvala was not good humoured.

Later when things had calmed down he came back to the incident. “We have a problem here, as we can’t have radio contact with the team during the stage. In this case that was very dangerous. Also it is ridiculous that Østberg, being a private driver doesn’t have the official radio system. “If this happens again I will risk using my radio”.

As Østberg had changed a wheel he was driving at more or less normal speed, consequently people along the track did not expect a car so soon after Østberg had passed. “A marshal had to jump to safety,” Latvala said.

“As he was not expecting me.” In the end Latvala will still be competing in world Rally-emag / May/June 2017

rallying although he did not get a compensation for the lost time. In Portugal it was Latvala who caused time loss in a similar incident when he drove slowly because of a problem on his Yaris. Then it was Neuville who was the victim. Neuville however did get some compensation as, according to the steward’s ruling, ‘He had been hindered by a slow driving Latvala’. In Sardinia however, Østberg had already been driving on a normal speed again. Latvala had therefore not been hindered by a slow driving car, but by the fact that he was too close to the driver in front of him and so he was only hindered by the dust that had not yet settled. A subtle difference but we’re not going to oppose the stewards of course. Latvala however accepted the verdict but did not like it.

“I should have been given a compensation in time”, he said. “I was fighting for the lead.” As more drivers have been complaining about this, FIA’s Rally Commission is now looking for a solution.

One idea the are thinking of is be to bring back two-way radio communication again.

Latvala: Uncharacteristically angry, Latvala se Ostberg: Last minute drama for Ostberg as he

enses this year might be his chance. e ripped a wheel on the final day.

Neuville: Not happy with third, Neuville felt he could have done more in Sardinia.

Sordo: It was a rally to forget for Sordo, though the footage looked great.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

WRC Grande finale

Meanwhile Hayden Paddon had been approaching; possibly he was the cause Meeke faltered under this pressure as on SS 4 the Kiwi had closed the gap to Meeke to 0.8 seconds.

Paddon was happy to be performing well again and he kept the lead until the end of the day. His pursuers had first been Hänninen, who stayed close until the penultimate stage when he made a mistake that threw him back. On Saturday Paddon kept his nerve by winning the first stage and then two second places on the next stages. On stage 11 it was Neuville who after some troubles came back and realised the scratch. On 12 it was Ott Tänak who opened a serious attack after having been in the top five all rally long. Then on stage 13 Paddon made a ‘Kindergarten mistake,’ as he called it himself. He went off and Paddon took over the lead. From then on it was the Tänak show. He won the next two stages and was second on the last stage of the day. By the end of the day he had a healthy (25 seconds) lead over Jari-Matti Latvala in second and Neuville (38 seconds) in third.

The final day Tänak looked reasonably relaxed and confident, but Lat-

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

vala did not give up yet. Neuville just focussed on a good PowerStage result. Paddon returned under Rally2 regulations won the first stage with Latvala close behind. The Finn took some 6 seconds from Tänak, but the Estonian retaliated on the next stage by taking back most of the time Latvala won in the previous stage. By now Tänak knew he could win and did not push to the max anymore. In the end the gap to Latvala had reduced to some 12 seconds, but that is more than enough to win, so after 73 rallies Tänak won his first WRC event. Not bad for the team either as Ogier is first and Tanak third in the driver’s standings and they are leading the manufacturer’s championship.

Lappi A special mention goes to Esapekka Lappi. In his second WRC event in a full spec WRC he impressed friend and foe. Winning six stages, including a heavily fought victory in the PowerStage, with loads of eager to score people, made him scratch king. “No I know how to go fast in a slow rally”, he said. “Now let’s learn about fast rallies!”

Rally d'italia sardegna

Key stats through the dust of the seventh round of the WRC Itinerary

Event data

DAY 1 - 08.06.2017 SS1

Ittiri Arena Show

Shortest stage

2.00

DAY 2 - 09.06.2017 SS2

Terranova 1

14.54

SS3

Monte Olia 1

19.05

SS4

Tula 1

15.00

SS5

Tergu-Osilo 1

14.14

SS6

Terranova 2

14.54

SS7

Monte Olia 2

19.05

SS8

Tula 2

15.00

SS9

Tergu-Osilo 2

14.14

DAY 3 - 10.06.2017 SS10

Coiluna - Loelle 1

14.95

SS11

Monti Di Ala' 1

SS12

Monte Lerno 1

28.11

SS13

Coiluna - Loelle 2

14.95

SS14

Monti Di Ala' 2

28.52

SS15

Monte Lerno 2

28.11

Longest stage

28.52

DAY 4 - 11.06.2017 SS16

Cala Flumini 1

14.06

SS17

Sassari - Argentiera 1

6.96

SS18

Cala Flumini 2

14.06

SS19

Sassari - Argentiera 2

Powerstage

6.96

MOST STAGE WINS esapekka lappi

6

(32%)

Event leaders: Neuville (SS 1), Meeke (SS 2), Hanninen (SS3), Meeke (SS4), Paddon (SS5-13), Tanak (SS14-19) notable retirements

Based in:

Alghero

Surface:

Date:

08/11-06-2017

Stage distance: 312.66 KM

Nr. of stages: 19

Total distance:

1st

tanak

Gravel 1495.36 KM

2nd

3rd

latvala

neuville

Final results 1.

Tanak-Jarveoja

Ford Fiesta WRC 17

3:25:15.1

2.

Latvala-Anttila

Toyota Yaris WRC

+12.3

3.

Neuville-Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC +1:07.7

4.

Lappi-Ferm

Toyota Yaris WRC

+2:12.9

5.

Ogier-Ingrassia

Ford Fiesta WRC 17

+3:25.3

6.

Hänninen-Lindstrom

Toyota Yaris WRC

+3:38.5

7.

Ostberg-Floene

Ford Fiesta WRC 17

+6:31.8

8.

Mikkelsen-Synnevaag

Citroën C3 WRC

+8:07.8

9.

Camilli-Veillas

Skoda Fabia R5

+11:15.8

10.

Kopecky-Dresler

Skoda Fabia R5

+11:21.4

drivers Standings 1.

Sébastien Ogier

M-Sport World Rally Team

141

2.

Thierry Neuville

Hyundai Motorsport

123

3.

Ott Tanak

M-Sport World Rally Team

108

4.

Jari-Matti Latvala

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

107

5.

Dani Sordo

Hyundai Motorsport

70

6.

Elfyn Evans

M-Sport World Rally Team

53

7.

Craig Breen

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

43

8.

Hayden Paddon

Hyundai Motorsport

33

9.

Juho Hänninen

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

29

10.

Kris Meeke

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi

27

Manufacturer Standings

Kris Meeke

Citroën C3 WRC

Accident

1.

M-Sport World Rally Team

234

Hayden Paddon

Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

Accident

2.

Hyundai Motorsport

194

3.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC

143

4.

Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

71

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

order the 2017 calendar now! action pictures of the wrc teams driving all over the world!

For 15â‚Ź (ex. shipping order now at info@rallypicture.nl

WRC

M-Sport world rally team The pictures show it clearly At M-Sport they are quite happy with the way things are going. Some fifty weeks ago it was different, Ott Tänak when leading Rally Poland made a small mistake ending his dream of winning. Sebastien Ogier then consoled him by taking him onto his shoulders stating: “Your time will come,” he then said. Andreas Mikkelsen agreed but was happy to take the win. At the finish of Sardinia 2017 Ogier was one of the first to congratulate Tänak at the stopfnish. “You deserved it mate,” he must have said. And indeed he did. Malcolm Wilson has always been a Tänak fan throwing him out of the team several times but always taking him back. So Wilson must be pleased: he can still spot talent. For the team it was also important as they strengthened the lead for the constructor’s title. Ogier, struggling with the circumstances did what he had to do. He scored some solid points and is still leading the drivers’ standings. He even indicated he wanted to stay: “But then Ford has to fully commit.” Wilson agreed: "We cannot continue like this for another year, we need support, either from a title sponsor or from Ford”.

"We cannot continue like this for another year, we need support, either from a title sponsor or from Ford” - Malcolm Wilson calling on Ford to step in and ride the Ogier-train

Hyundai motorsport

Hyundai and Neuville have gotten to the point where a third place is very disappointing. That's championship territory.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

Hyundai’s Italian adventure in 2017 was a mix of achievement and disappointment. Hayden Paddon proves to be a driver to keep an eye on. He led the rally for eight stages in a row, but that is worth nothing if one of these stages is not the last one. Unfortunately the Kiwi did not make it to the end. Two similar incidents threw him out of contention and even out of the rally. Dani Sordo had the speed to. He won four stages. More than ever before in a single rally while driving for Hyundai. Also a second place in the PowerStage is not bad, but a turbo issue that cost him too much time, compromised his rally. Thierry Neuville wasn’t happy either when on Saturday; he had to run without any brakes for some time costing him a minute that he couldn’t win back. When his brakes were working again he started to prepare fro some good PowerStage points. But even that did not work out as planned. He was ‘only’ fourth and the bad thing about that was that Ogier was third. No wonder the team’s press release about his third place overall read: Consolatory podium for Hyundai.

Citroen total abu dhabi wrt The situation at Citroën almost becomes awkward. Both Breen and Meeke encountered problems. A superfluous look may say, that is Sardinia. Breen breaking his gearbox casing after a heavy landing and not much later, Meeke, while leading the rally, touching, a bank and rolling and at the same time finishing his rally as unfortunately the roll cage had been compromised. Yves Matton’s reaction was harsh; he kicked out Meeke for Poland. “This break will give him the chance to recharge his batteries and release some of the pressure before Rally Finland”, Matton explained. Whether this was the right decision we won’t know until much later. But in the media colleagues wonder if it’s really Meeke who is the problem. In this same rally Breen also had an incident that makes you wonder.

After a jump he landed hard and broke the gearbox casing a situation that occurred before. We can go on giving examples but there is a serious question if there is something basically wrong with car’s final set up. We’ll leave it to the people who really know to make a final conclusion, but we keep on following it. Hopefully Andreas Mikkelsen can provide some answers after Poland.

“This break will give him the chance to recharge his batteries and release some of the pressure before Rally Finland” - Yves Matton on replacing Kris Meeke for Rally Poland

toyota gazoo racing wrc

"Lappi will drive all remaining rallies this year."

- Tommi Makinen has confidence in his young star

In the beginning of the season Toyota was a kind of enigma, now it is clear it is a very serious contender.

With no exception all drivers performed well. Latvala was overall second, Hänninen was leading the rally and scored a scratch and had it not been for a steering issue and a mistake he would have ended even higher than fifth here. The new revelation is Esapekka Lappi. In only his second drive in a proper car he won six stages. On one of these his second gear was missing. “I’ll tell Tommi I only need five gears,” he smiled. But even more important was the fact that he won the PowerStage, though he spent, as he said, the whole Sunday morning tyre preserving, it was far from obvious that you can win this stage when nearly all front-runners had a strong urge to win here. When you can achieve that you’re one of the big ones. “Well I now learned how to drive this car fast in a slow rally, now I only have to learn how to go fast in a fast rally! Mäkinen was quick to react stating: “Lappi will drive all remaining rallies this year”.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

ERC

Rally islas canarias words: harry van veenendaal Images: sven kollus/flat out media agency

With their situation of 1600 kilometres straight west from Lisbon, The Azores were the most western rally in the ERC. In the weekend of the 6th of May the competitors moved some 1600 kilometres to the southeast where, just off the Moroccan coast we’ll find the Canary Islands. Here we continue our European campaign with the Rallye Islas Canarias. As a former winner Alexey Lukyanuk was one of the favourites here, but after his late crash in the Azores he was slightly frustrated and not so sure he would his last year’s success in the Atlantic coast holiday island.

ERC

Lukyanuk steps up

sue, damp spots made some parts of the route into very a slippery experience but Alexey did not back down.

After having set fastest time on the qualifying stage on Thursday, he simply continued on Friday morning. But could the Russian perhaps be a bit nervous? We can’t say but on stage 2 he got a 10 second penalty for a jump start. Due to this penalty he temporarily lost the overall lead after this stage to Kajetan Kajetanowicz, but at the lunchtime break he was leading the event again. Kajetanowicz was following at 2.5 seconds.

Lukyanuk on a high Another 6.5 seconds later we find José Lopez in third Right from the word GO, Lukyanuk was on top of things. place and who is leading the ERC Junior Under 28, catThe first loop consisted of three stages and the Russian egory. Only 0.3 seconds behind him is José Suarez. He is won all of them. He did not drop his speed for the haz- complaining about some loss of power from his Peugeot ards of the day. High temperatures made tyre wear an is- 208 T16 R5. Lopez.

As we know by now Alexej Lukyanuk is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, in the European Rally Championship. We also know however that he has a tendency of losing concentration in the final parts of an event.

This led to several offs in leading positions. You can imagine the Russian was slightly tense when coming to the islands. But right from the start he showed the way even under the tricky conditions of this year’s edition of the second round in the ERC.

Increasing the gap

After lunch Lukyanuk continues his morning results.

Again he is fastest in all stages. Kajetanowicz is in second but he had some issues on the first stage of the afternoon loop. “I have no breaks,” he said at stopfinish. In the Canarian terrain this is quite an issue but in the following stages he manages to stay in contention.

Though Bruno Magelhães is clearly sowing his Azores Rally-emag / May/June 2017

win was not a coincidence. Heavy showers and fog didn’t bother him as can be seen from his runner-up position in stages 4 and 5. In the process he took the overall second spot from Kajetanowicz. The Pole however found back his brakes and on the last stage of the day, he was only 0.2 second slower than Lukyanuk and just over 1.5 second faster than Magelhães.

Magalhaes returns After his sensational drive to victory on the season opening Azores Airlines in March this year, Bruno Magalhaes decided it might be his time to shine in the ERC this year. Although initially not having planned a full season in the series the Portuguese set out to find the funds that would allow him to compete on more events in the championship. Having the number one of the championship leader on your door helps and so far Magalhaes has secured drives in Gran Canaria, Greece and Cyprus.

"It was even better than last year!"

- Alexey Lukyanuk sure has been enjoying his Gran Canarian outings

the last couple of years.

local lore The Hyundai i20 R5 is specifically targeted as a customer car. The car is rarely driven under the factory banner, as the manufacturer opts to not challenge any potential clients with their own drivers. As such, Hyundai relies on its customer entries to deliver the results.

Ivan Ares delivered this weekend by giving Hyundai its best ERC finish so far, with fourth overall. Moreover for the Spaniard he finished as the top Spanish driver on the event, always something to cherish.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

ERC Can he make it?

But as said the Portugese Fabia R5 pilot keeps the overnight second place leading Kajetanowicz by a small (2.2 second) margin. Obviously he was quite happy with this result. “This was one of the best days of my career,” he said. “This is my first rally on asphalt in this car, so it’s quite amazing and I did not expect to be fighting Kajto here!”

the championship leader too much. So it’s a battle for the whole day. In the end it is Kajetanowicz who keeps the distance to just under 5 seconds. For Lukyanuk the nerve challenge is over and he is excited to be victorious. “It was even better than last year,” the 2016 winner said. “It means I’ve developed as a driver!” This result brings him back in contention for the championship.

But now it is still led by Bruno Magelhães, who by winWith six stages over a competitive distance of just under ning third place still holds a 17 point lead to Kajetano110 kilometres to go on Saturday, Rallye Islas Canarias wicz, runner in the Canarias.

2017 was far from over. Lukyanuk had a healthy lead of almost 26 seconds, but we’ve seen him in the lead be- In ERC 2 the Hungarian driver Tibor Érdi jr. was fastfore. Well anyway, the Russian starts by driving anoth- est. Tears of joy flew over his cheeks when he realized er scratch. Kajetanowicz loses 11 seconds but his quest he won here. He is now joined 2nd in the standings with to pass Magelhães succeeds. The Spaniard is still not Luis Pimentel, who finished fourth in the island rally. feeling completely at ease in the damp circumstances of the early Saturday stages and drops almost 10 seconds In ERC it was Chris Ingram again who was fastest. Notto Kajetanowicz. The rest of the day can be summarized withstanding some issues and a scare when his car did in a few words, a leader who is, more than anything else, not want to start again. He made it to the finish and won, fighting himself. He knows he is fast, but he knows he 20 seconds before his teammate Huttunen in an Opel sometimes gets over excited. Then there is the battle Adam. Peugeot honours in this class were for Spaniard for second. Kajetanowicz is the more experienced driv- Robero Blach in a 208 R2. Another Opel Adam was in er, especially in the current Canary circumstances. But fourth it was taken there by the Dutch couple Timo and Magelhães is not just handing the extra points of a high- Rebecca van der Marel who debuted a mixed championer position to his colleague. He likes the taste of being ship programme here.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

rally islas canarias

Results of round two of the ERC drivers Standings

Final results

1

Bruno Magalhaes

Skoda Fabia R5

63

2

Alexey Lukyanuk

Ford Fiesta R5

46

+1.03,6

3

Kajetan Kajetanowicz

Ford Fiesta R5

35

Hyundai i20 R5

+1.15,4

4

Pepe Lopez

Peugeot 208 T16

27

Ford Fiesta R5

+1.28,7

5

Marijan Griebel

Skoda Fabia R5

27

Lopez-Rozada

Peugeot 208 T16

+1.33,8

6

Josh Moffett

Ford Fiesta R5

20

7

Garcia-Gonzalez

Ford Fiesta R5

+1.41,4

7

Ivan Ares

Hyundai i20 R5

19

8

Michel-Degout

Skoda Fabia R5

+1.43,7

8

Luis Monzon

Ford Fiesta R5

15

9

Bouffier-Giraudet

Ford Fiesta R5

+2.23,2

9

Nikolay Gryazin

Skoda Fabia R5

15

10

Griebel-Kopczyk

Skoda Fabia R5

+2.37,1

10

Pedro Meireles

Skoda Fabia R5

9

1

Lukyanuk-Arnautov

Ford Fiesta R5

2.05.51,8

2

Kajetanowicz-Baran

Ford Fiesta R5

+57,2

3

Magalhaes-Magalhaes

Skoda Fabia R5

4

Ares-Pintor

5

Monzon-Deniz

6

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

SIT

Timing & Tracking you do it, because you love it!

Behind the scenes at SIT Sports pt. I

Ever look at the live maps on WRC+ to track your favourite team and just take for granted that there's a dot marking that crew for you to follow?

In the modern age we assume that something as 'simple' as tracking a couple of cars can't be too complicated. Right? Well, when those cars race around the entire globe and you're dealing with temperatures ranging van -20c to 40c, altitudes to well over 1km, no-fly zones over military ranges, mountain cliffs and desert lands, regions that near the north pole, ... well, you get the idea. Tracking the WRC is be no means easy and it involves a lot of planning and problem solving. The guys at SIT Sports have been doing it for years now and we got to take a peak behind the scenes toe find out what it's all about. words: Harry van veenendaal Images: Steven van Veenendaal

I

n the olden days timekeeping in rallying was simple.

You start at the right time and a finish official records the time of the synchronized clock at the finish line. An assistant takes a piece of chalk and writes the time on a blackboard. The timekeeper records the time on the co-driver’s time sheet and off goes the team, on to the next stage. Meanwhile another assistant puts the time in the log of that stage, this log is then reported to rally HQ, sometimes by motorbike. They type it on result lists and that is it. This was decades ago, now in the 21st century, timekeeping is a high tech business. We talked to Alex Rodriguez, rally manager and Toni Garcia, general manager at SIT. For some five year SIT, a company founded some 30 years ago by it’s current president and owner Cesar Barroso, has been responsible for tracking and timing of the World Rally Championship. Their work includes three major aspects: tracking, timing and radio communications. In this period they gradually honed their system to perfection and even now are improving it. Alex Rodriguez takes us on a tour to have a somewhat more detailed look at how this works.

TRACKING One of SIT’s main jobs is to track every car so that we know where a car is at any given time during the event.

That means not only during the rally itself but also during recce.

We provide the system on a private platform that can only be accessed by race control, FIA and the teams. As such it is for example an important tool for the Clerk of the course to decide whether to stop the race or to send an ambulance or helicopter. He can see where the car stops if it is on the road and we are even working on a system so that he can see if the car is upside down. But that is not operational yet. We also provide data that allow WRC+ to show the tracking positions from all the cars on their platform. On the TV broadcasts you also see graphs that use tracking data. This data is sent to the mobile television unit where it is mixed with the TV footage, for which we also make the graphs.

SIT how does it technically work?

TRACKING - 追跡 1. Rally car gets position using GPS 2. Position is sent through:

REPEATER Tracking sent by radio

Tracking

by GPRS

Server

BASE SERVERS

1.

Tracking sent by radio

RALLY CAR

2.

RADIO: Airplane repeats the signal to reach Rally Base servers GPRS: Mobile phone stations send the information through the internet to servers

Cellphone station

www.sitsports.es

Inside the car we have the tracking box. This box sends a GPS signal to the base servers. There are two separate systems to do that. The first system uses the GPRS cell phone system. The cell phone station receives the signal and transmits it to the base servers at the control centre. The second system is an aerial radio repeater placed in a plane flying over the stages.

our optima altitude is 24.000 feet, then the footprint of the plane is much smaller. Imagine the shape of the area a plane can cover is like an umbrella, if the plane is low, the umbrella is smaller and if the plane is higher the umbrella is bigger and therefore you can cover a bigger area. In the lower altitudes you can cover an area of perhaps only twenty kilometres.

In some countries GPRS coverage is not good. For example in Germany, there are a lot of ‘shadows’ where there is no signal. Also don’t forget quite a few of the stages there are on military grounds like the Panzerplatte. It’s horrible to cover those stages, as the plane cannot move freely and quite often there are also military maneuvers that make it even more difficult. In that case our plane has to fly lower than 15.000 feet and

The other transmission system works by radio. The tracking data is sent to an airplane (we have two) flying in a certain pattern over the area of the rally. The tracking data then is repeated and sent by the airplane to reach the servers again in rally base HQ. So we always use two systems but we are now trying to even improve that, trying to achieve that for perfection.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

OK or not ok?

When a car is stopped on the stage the drivers have to press a button. There are two buttons OK and not OK. The FIA forces the drivers to do they get fined if they don’t. If you are OK you have one minute to press the OK button it tells the organizers: ‘don’t worry we are fine don’t sent any body. We are off road but we re OK’. If one of the drivers is injured, if the car is blocking the stage or if there is another emergency they need to click the panic button. We can see that in the control centre and also at Rally HQ of course.

If an emergency occurs, the dot on the map becomes a red octagon. And there is an alarm sounding in the

control centre. It rarely happens we see the stationary dot but we don’t see an emergency sign. This can sometimes be caused if the crash is so hard that cables and antennas of the car are destroyed. For example it once happened in Sardinia when Bertelli had a bad crash. The next driver stopped, pressed the panic button and then drove on to the next radio point where he reported what he saw. In the course of time you find out certain behaviours. If for example a car stops near a stopped car you know the road is blocked or there is another emergency.

recce tracking Apart from tracking the cars during the rally we also track them during the recce. We install small devices with GPS to monitor the recce. We control if the cars don’t exceed the speed set by the organizers. We only check the speed of the cars on the stages; we are not the police so we don’t look at the speeds on the normal roads. However if the organizers or a steward or even the police has seen a car speeding outside the stages, we can only provide the data they need to prove

that, with a formal request from the FIA. This for example happened in Poland where the organizers asked for this kind of information but we couldn’t provide it. Generally you could say we never provide the data without a FIA request, as I said we are not the police and we don’t want to be. If a car is speeding on a stage we can see it and so can race control and they can then take appropriate action.

splits “We also provide splits, Rodriguez explains. “Splits are virtual beacons with a range of “X” meters. When the system detects that the tracking box of a car is inside the range of that virtual beacon, the system calculates a time taking into account parameters as the

speed of the car, the direction and the coordinates position. These splits however are not 100% accurate. In this way the FIA tries to prevent the teams from sending split times to their crews.”

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

SIT

TIMING No rally without timing. The system we use nowadays is basically quite simple but technically quite sophisticated. At the start and finish there are photocells. When the car goes through this cell a device called the chronoprinter gets a time. That time is then transmitted to a satellite and then through the internet to the servers.

Here too there is a second system that transmits the signal through GPRS to a cell phone station and then via the internet to the servers. The official start time is recorded by the chronoprinter and shown to the competitor at the start control. So the equipment immediately records when there is a jump-start.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

The data collected in this way is processed by the servers and sent to several outlets such as race control and control room. We also provide information to the website by using an API, that is a kind of device that translates our data to a format that is used by the website. Sometimes the satellite antenna is not sending the signal to the satellite. That is very common in Finland.

It is so much to the north you have to orientate very well and add to that the forest that may block the signal. In Mexico the GPRS is very bad but you always get a signal through the satellite even if you put the antenna flat. So we always have to bear in mind the typical ground situation as every country has it’s own tricky things.

recce tracking Barcelona Apart from our control room at the rally, usually in the service park, there is also a team in our office in Barcelona where they control the internal functioning of the timing software, the different connections and if there is perhaps a power failure somewhere.

They also monitor if all on-board equipment is working properly. We are moving around the world all timing equipment but we prepare it in Madrid. After it comes back from an event it is cleaned thoroughly, tested and repacked for the next event.

course to the local time keepers because they are volunteers. We hand over the equipment to them in a case that holds all the equipment they need depending on if it’s a team for the time control, the start or other point.

They get a manual so that in case of an emergency on the control they know how to install it and they know the procedures; how to configure the equipment the satellite antenna and they are reminded to recharge the batteries at night, which from time to time they forget.

We also tell them the normal procedure, the procedure in case of incident in four or five situations that could happen, we need to tell them that otherwise they On site might forget. We may never forget they are volunteers In the field we check again if everything is still working and not professionals. We cannot demand more from and when we arrive we charge it, we split it for the dif- them, most of the time they do it for a T-shirt and a ferent local timing teams and on Wednesday we give a sandwich and of course the pleasure of meeting their sport heroes.

NEXT MONTH

Now that you have an idea of the basics of what goes into the timing and tracking of the WRC, next month we go through a rally week with SIT find out what it takes to get the job done.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

ERC

acropoli gre

words: Steven v Images: Sven Kollus / f

For the fourth consecutive formed part of the ERC. Fi the event out of the WRC challenge presented by th through Central Greece p rallying co

is rally eece

van veenendaal flat out media agency

e time the Acropolis Rally inancial difficulties forced C in 2014, but the classic he rough winding roads proves irresistible for the ommunity.

ERC

Russia out, qatar in A shockwave blasted through the ERC family when new arose that a Russian rallydriver had been fatally wounded in a head on collision during a test session.

Headlines circulated with images of Alexey Lukyanuk supporting the articles. A bit grim considering it turned out that Lukyanuk was in fact the driver killed in the accident. Lukyanuk was involved in the accident, piloting one of the cars involved, Alexey Ljaduhkin sadly lost his life in the other car.

The man holds a PWRC title, twelve MERC titles, two WRC2 titles, three FIA Cross Country rally cups and won the Dakar twice. Oh, he also won bronze at the Olympics in 2012 for skeet shooting. In other words, Al-Attiyah is no slouch and should be expected to give the ERC hopefuls a run for their money. He also indicated that he would join the ERC for the upcoming Cyprus Rally, so we haven't seen the last of Al-Attiyah just yet (thankfully).

Lukyanuk didn't escape the accident unhurt though.

Apart from the obvious mental impact being involved in such an incident must have, Lukyanuk also suffered a pretty severe leg injury which keeps him from competing at the moment. With multiple fractures it remains to be seen when and if Lukyanuk can rejoin the ERC again this year. As a sign of support most of the ERC front-runners sported 'Stay strong' stickers on their cars to support Lukyanuk with his recoveries, in various ways.

On the qualifying stage another name topped the timetable though. Nikolay Gryazin was fastest through, gaining the right to select his starting position first.

He didn't squander the opportunity and quickly seized the lead of the event. Although all of Kajetanowicz, Magalhaes and Al-Attiyah managed to win at least a stage, it was the young Latvian who was out at front after the first five stages.

And that was when it all went wrong. On the road section between stages five and six the Skoda suddenly Lukyanuk's withdrawal didn't mean that Kajetano- caught fire. "I felt the car slide a bit so we stopped wicz and Magalhaes would have it all their own way to check what was wrong, but then the car was on fire though. Enter Nasser Al-Attiyah, the most decorated already." Despite their best efforts to stop the flames, Middle Eastern rally driver to ever grace the planet. the car ended up as a crisp.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

“I felt the car slide a bit so we stopped to check, but then it was already on fire�

- A stunned Nikolay Gryazin after watching his car (and ambitions to win) go up in smoke.

Top: A great start by Nikolay Gryazin, but not the finish he was hoping for.

Bottom: Bruno Magalhaes soldiered on and never gave up for those valuable championship points.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

ERC Hey, this is the acropolis...

After Gryazin's fiery exit the battle for the win is wide open again for the trusted three musketeers. Al-Attiyah is the fastest of the bunch and reaches the overnight hold with a slender lead in hand. Magalhaes and Kajetanowic are in hot pursuit with just thirty seconds separating the top three. On the undulating roads of Greece, that's nothing really.

ing rewarded for his clever driving as the event nears its climax. "We are driving well and I heard the other guys ran into trouble? Well, this is the Acropolis..." It would become the catchphrase of the event.

Al-Attiyah can't get his power steering issues resolved and is forced to retire from the event. Magalhaes meanwhile is nurturing his car home. The Skoda is clearly at Havoc the end of an Acropolis as seemingly everything is tartSunday morning and the Acropolis immediately lives ing to malfunction. Magalhaes perseveres though manup to its reputation. Al-Attiyah is the first to suffer. ages to guide his manhandled car home. He is rewarded With a hard landing after a jump he damages his power with second behind Kajetanowicz and the very welcome steering, not just a luxury on the bumpy Greek stages. accompanying championship points.

In an attempt to fix the issue, Al-Attiyah shuts the car down for a full reset, but it only goes from bad to worse. For a long time it looks like Turkish driver Murat BosThe crucial second part of a restart, the actual starting tanci will take the final podium spot. That is until three of the engine again, fails. A frustrated Al-Attiyah fran- kilometers before the end of the final stage he goes off tically tries to get the Fiesta running again but it would the road and ends up stuck. It promotes local driver take two minutes to do so.

George Philippedes to third but he also goes off on the final stage. Consequently a rather surprised Grzegorz This handed Magalhaes the lead, bit it would be a short Grzyb takes the final podium spot. He had started the lived one. Just a stage later the Portuguese is running day in sixth, didn't overtake anyone purely based on into problems of his own "Every time I shift, the engine speed but just by sheerly making it to the end unscaved cuts!" He cries disappointedly. finds himself a podium finisher in Greece.

And just like that, Kajetanowicz finds himself in the Hey. lead of the event. The Pole had been driving hard but a slightly more steady pace than his rivals. He is be- This is the Acropolis.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

Seajets acropolis rally

Results from the Acropolis drivers Standings

Final results

1

Bruno Magalhaes

Skoda Fabia R5

93

2

Kajetan Kajetanowicz

Ford Fiesta R5

72

+5.05,3

3

Alexey Lukyanuk

Ford Fiesta R5

46

Citroen DS3 R5

+7.48,3

4

Pepe Lopez

Peugeot 208 T16

27

Skoda Fabia R5

+15.49,2

5

Marijan Griebel

Skoda Fabia R5

27

Melegari-Barone

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+20.05,6

6

Gregorz Grzyv

Skoda Fabia R5

22

7

Drymoussis-Drymoussis

Subaru Impreza STi

+24.43,5

7

Josh Moffett

Ford Fiesta R5

20

8

Banz-Erdener

Ford Fiesta R2T

+25.06,0

8

Ivan Ares

Hyundai i20 R5

19

9

Ozdemir-Memisyazici

Ford Fiesta R2T

+26.45,4

9

Alexandros Tsouloftas

Citroen DS3 R5

16

10

Erdi Jr.-Papp

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+29.11,2

10

Luis Monzon

Ford Fiesta R5

15

1

Kajetanowicz-Baran

Ford Fiesta R5

2.50.40,6

2

Magalhaes-Magalhaes

Skoda Fabia R5

+1.58,7

3

Grzyb-Wrobel

Skoda Fabia R5

4

Tsouloftas-Giraudet

5

Tsolakidis-Dimos

6

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

BRC

Sezoensrally >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Round 5 -BelgianOf The

Rally Championship <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Vincent Verschueren is currently the man to beat in the Belgian Rally Championship. Both Kris Princen and Kevin Abbring have the pace to challenge the man with number 46 but have so far lacked consistency. The result?

Four rallies into the season Verschueren tallies nearly the double amount of points of his nearest rivals. Is the championship locked up already?

words: Steven van veenendaal Images: BRC MEDIA

BRC

No dutchman to challenge the belgians After racking up two podium finishes, Kevin Abbring decided to skip the Sezoensrally. The championship dictates that each driver has to skip one event and as the Sezoensrally is one of the least technical rounds of the season Abbring deemed his chances of beating his Skoda rivals slim. Rumors surfaced that Peugeot BeLux might pull Abbring's entry for the rest of the season but those were quickly laid to rest by the Dutchman "Absolutely not, we will do the full championship as planned, it's just that I have to skip one event and we felt this would be the best event to skip." Reassuring words, after Peugeot had already stated that Abbring's win in the previous rally, the Rallye de Wallonie, had come exactly at the right

time both for Abbring and the team.

Without their Dutch rival the Belgian front-runners Verschueren and Princen were left to duke it out between themselves. Both drivers use the same equipment - Skoda Fabia R5's - thus it would truly be a case of 'may the best man win'.

From the get go it's abvious that the two are very evenly matched. Verschueren storms through the opening stage to open up a 3,8 second lead but the gap hardly increases after that. Both drivers take stage wins and although Verschueren holds on to the lead, it never stretches to over 5,5 seconds.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will do the full championship, as planned" Kevin Abbring on the rumors that his season might be cut short.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

Spa memories On the thirteenth of fifteen stages it all goes wrong for Verschueren. He cuts a corner a bit too tight with disastrous consequences. "There was nothing I could do really. We approached the corner at high speed and I had to keep my right wheel in the line laid out be the others although I felt it was a bit too deep. But had I gone off that line, I would have ended up on the loose gravel and skidded off. We ended up too deep in the ditch and we hit a big rock." It was a minimal mistake, with maximum consequences. The impact with the rock thrust the shock absorber up through the bonnet of the car. Verschueren knew immediately it was end of story for him.

Not only did it end his aspirations of taking the win at the Sezoensrally, the fact that Kris Princen was right behind him put a dent in his title ambitions too. If Princen would just hold on, he could take maximum points from the event while Verschueren scored none.

It didn't seem like too hard a task for Princen. After Verschueren's exit he found himself in the lead with his nearest rival, Polle Geussens far behind.

But Princen found himself in a similar situation in Spa a couple of rallies ago. That ended with a trip to the hospital after Princen crashed on the final stage. But there would be no last-stage drama at the Sezoensrally. Princen cruised home to secure his second win of the season and close the gap to Verschueren in the championship to just eight points.

Just past the halfway point of the season it's all wide open again. Although it seems likely that Verschueren and Princen will decide who can spray the champagne at the end of the season, Kevin Abbring is still hanging on and with a good result in Ypres could be right back in the thick of things.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

BRC

Muilwijk and Muilwijk were the fastest of the spectacular BMW's. They piloted their E46 version of the M3 to a solid seventh overall and edged out their nearest BMW rival Truyens and Willekens by nearly two minutes.

Polle Geussens is really starting to get to grips with R5 machinery. In a steady run the young Belgian survived the slippy conditions to finish in a very strong second position ahead of their Irish rival, Stepehn Wright, who rounded out the podium by taking third.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

sezoens rally

Round five of the BRC

Final results

drivers Standings

1.

Princen–Kaspers

Skoda Fabia R5

1.38.27,4

1.

Vincent Verschueren

Skoda Fabia R5

64

2.

Geussens–Cuvelier

Ford Fiesta R5

+1.14,0

2.

Kris Princen

Skoda Fabia R5

56

3.

Wright-Smeets

Ford Fiesta R5

+2.54,1

3.

Bastien Rouard

Citroen DS3 R3T

42

4.

Langenakens-Delvaux

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+3.40,0

4.

Benoit Allart

Skoda Fabia R5

38

5.

Allart-Fernandez

Skoda Fabia R5

+4.17,4

5.

Guillaume de Mevius

Peugeot 208 R2

35

6.

de Mevius-Louka

Peugeot 208 R2

+10.14,1

6.

Kevin Abbring

Peugeot 208 T16

32

Polle Geussens

Ford Fiesta R5

29

7.

Muilwijk-Muilwijk

BMW M3 E46

+10.54,6

7.

8.

Vanbellingne-Vanrijkelen

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+4.28,2

8.

Franky Boulat

BMW E36 M3

29

9.

Monnens–Declerck

Ford Escort Mk2

+12.02,9

9.

Pierre Vauterin

Peugeot 208 R2

26

10.

Truyens-Willekens

BMW M3 E36

+12.34,2

10. Jelle Vermeire

Ford Fiesta R2

21

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

BRC It's been Fredrik Ahlin's season so far. The Swede made a successful switch to the Skoda Fabia R5 and has so far won the opening two rounds of the championship. As we head to Scotland for the third round of the championship, the local drivers are more eager than ever before to show that the British pack a bit of punch themselves too. words: Steven van veenendaal Images: Andy Crayford / Crayford Media

BRC Welcome to scotland The Scottish rally was open to both MSA BRC competitors and those vying for glory in the ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship. It resulted in a field of no less than fourteen R5 rally cars to do battle on some classic stages through the Eskdalemuir and Ae forests.

It promoted Fredrik Ahlin into the lead, a place he found himself in so often already this year. David Bogie had clocked the fastest time on the opening stage though and continued to do so most of the morning.

He steadily chipped away at Ahlin's lead.

On Friday night the rally kicked off with a short opening leg, consisting of just two stages. The conditions would make them tricky enough though. In typical Scottish fashion fog descended over the stages and the second run through was held under the cover of darkness.

Ahlin was not to be outdone by his CA1 Sport team mate and logged a couple of stage wins himself too yet couldn't prevent Bogie from getting the better of him and on stage seven Bogie leapfrogged Ahlin to snatch the lead.

With just three stages remaining it seemed Bogie would continue on course to land the victory but that would have been without taking into account the resilience of the Swedish championship leader. Ahline immediately pounced back and overhauled Bogie again on stage eight. In true ping-pong fashion Bogie responded and got the better of Ahlin again to take a Cave's good fortune was short lived though. On the lead of the slightest of margins into the final stage, just first stage of Saturday morning he set out to increase 0,1 second separated to the going into the final stage, his lead but instead collided with a solid rock that the second run through the 13 kilometer Ae test. Bogie ripped off a wheel and ended his rally right then and had blitzed Ahlin by over 5 seconds on the first run there. through, could he do it again?

Welshman Tom Cave adjusted to the conditions best and racked up two early stage wins in his Hyundai i20 R5. He opened up a rather sizable ten second lead as well, with Ahlin in second and Scottish ace David Bogie in third, a further ten seconds behind.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

Who knows?

We'll neder find the answer to that quiestion. The age such a hard rally and to head into the final stage of the old adagio 'To finish first, you first have to finish' was event with a gap as close as that is pretty amazing to be in effect in once again. honest” said an elated Bogie. “It was tough on Fredrick not to battle to the end and the conditions have been As reporters clamored around the final stage finish area so hard on everyone this weekend it really could have to witness the outcome of the exciting battle first hand, gone either way. The hardest part for me was seeing only one of the two cars actually made it there. Awaiting him parked up in the stage. Those last few miles were Ahlin's arrival first, there was a bit of a shock when Bo- the hardest I’ve ever done but it’s good to win at home gie was the first to come through, explaining that Ahlin and for the BRC points”. indeed had stopped in the stage.

Osian Pryce had been on the pace for most of the vent So what had happened to the Swede? About halfway and despite not being able to really challenge Ahlin and through the stage a rock hit the car head on and pierced Bogie he positioned himself nicely in third, ready to the radiator. There was no way for Ahlin to continue move up a notch should one of the two up front make and the Swede could do nothing to prevent Bogie from a mistake. He was rewarded with second and eighteen taking home glory. Even worse, while Ahlin had been points to go with it. eyeing maximum or near maximum points all weekend long, his final stage problems meant the Swede would Marty McCormack claimed the final podium spot after go home empty handed. At the same time, Osian Pryce, trailing Keith Cronin by just under six seconds going Ahlin's closest rival moved up from third to second to into the last stage. Some set-up changes allowed him to nab a solid points haul from Scotland really push and set times up there with the best of them, easily enough to overtake Cronin on the final stage Up front it made no difference for David Bogie who was when the M-Sport driver suffered a last minute penalty delighted to take victor on his home event. "It’s been and missed the podium.

Pirelli International rally Final results

Round three of the BRC drivers Standings

1.

Ahlin–Torstein

Skoda Fabia R5

1.29.28,0

1.

Fredik Ahlin

Skoda Fabia R5

55

2.

Pryce–Furniss

Ford Fiesta R5

+39,4

2.

Osian Pryce

Ford Fiesta R5

33

Tom Cave

Hyundai i20 R5

22

3.

McCormack–Moynihan

Skoda Fabia R5

+49,5

3.

4.

Bogie–Rae

Skoda Fabia R5

+1.06,8

4.

Rhys Yates

Ford Fiesta R5

18

5.

Edwards–Garrod

Ford Fiesta R5

+1.50,6

5.

Matt Edwards

Ford Fiesta R5

18

6.

Yates–Williamson

Ford Fiesta R5

+2.19,8

6.

Martin McCormack

Skoda Fabia R5

15

7.

Stephenson-Windress

Ford Focus WRC '06

+6.15,8

7.

Keith Cronin

Ford Fiesta R5

12

8.

Preston–Roughead

Skoda Fabia R5

+7.35,4

8.

David Bogie

Skoda Fabia R5

12

9.

Anderson–Whittock

Skoda Fabia R5

+8.42,3

9.

James Anderson

Skoda Fabia R5

10

10.

Laffey–Loudon

Ford Fiesta R5

+10.38,6

10. Tom Preston

Skoda Fabia R5

7

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

DRC

ELE rally Disappointment for the fans as Erik van Loon was forced to withdraw his Subaru WRC entry from his home event due to business obligations. Afterwards, those fans had to admit that a lack WRC power might not be a bad thing at all. It resulted in four drivers fighting tooth and nail over every stage and resulted in a finish that even by Formula 1 standards was very close. words & Images: Dre Galiart

DRC

Flat out from the word go!

There was little about tactics on the opening Friday night. Bob de Jong was clear "We are going to push, we are not going to wait around for the rest to open up a lead", as was Jasper van den Heuvel "How we are going start? Flat out. But I think the others will do so too!"

Bob de Jong seems to have lost touch a bit the leaders after the opening night but he is very much awake on Saturday's first stage. The Citroen pilot blasts through the stage to take his first stage win and make it four different stage winners.

The front-runners new what they were up for, playing it safe early on was no option. Van den Heuvel is quickest of the mark but Kobus is right behind him and loses just 2,3 seconds on the two opening special stages. That's when Piet van Hoof turned up the heat. The nestor of the four sets the fastest time on Somerlo and leapfrogs Kobus. After the first loop the first four drivers are separated by just ten seconds.

That's quite unique as we have to go back to 2015 to find the last time there were four different stage winners in a Dutch championship event. There is a buzz of excitement at the service park, who is going to win? We haven't seen rallying this close for a long time in The Netherlands.

From that moment on van Hoof takes charge. He wins four of the next five stages to move into the lead. His On the second loop it's Kobus who turns it up a notch. lead increases to just under ten seconds as we head toHe doesn't take a his first scratch as van den Heuvel wards the final stages of the rally. It's a bit of a cushion lucks out when one of the chicanes stretched a bit and but will it be enough? Van Hoof is not a fan of the inhe can go quicker, but on the next stage Kobus can cap- dustrial complex stages that still lie ahead... italize on his Skoda power and rack up his first stage win. The final stage of the day goes to van Hoof again. While van Hoof charges, de Jong falters. He punctures He had to push after a small mistake cost him twenty and loses forty seconds. His challenges is over, we're seconds earlier, without it he would have been leading, down to three remaining musketeers. now he's just in hot pursuit.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

"We are going to push, we are not going to wait around for the others to open up a lead" - A feisty Bob de Jong moments before

the rally start.

Top: Bob de Jong was fast, especially on Saturday morning, but a puncture cost him his chances.

Bottom: The experienced Jan de Winkel put in another strong performance in the two-wheel drive class.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

DRC Down to the wire On the first pass through 'St. Oedenrode' van Hoof expects to lose time to van den Heuvel, but instead he manages to further increase his lead. Is this the final blow for van den Heuvel? It doesn't seem likely as the Barnevelder still oozes confidences and polishes up his math skills. "I made a small mistake and now the gap is ten seconds with three stages to go. Well that just means I have to be five seconds quicker twice and then just one second once, right?" Sounds imple enough.

Van Hoof is a little less confident. "It hasn't been like it was in the past, he was always much quicker on these stages, we're both fighting hard." But when two dogs are fighting over a bone... Kobus might be the thrid to take it home "We are still going for the victory. Sure we lost touch a little but I still have a few tricks up my sleave..." Alright then, three stages to, three eager drivers, game on!

On the first stage, Son, van den Heuvel goes 3,9 seconds faster than van Hoof, on the next he nibbles away another 2,2 seconds. It's not exactly like he predicted, but with one stage to go, he can smell victory. Van den Heuvel needs just 3,4 seconds and knows that on the previous run through the rally closing 'Son' stage he was 3,9 seconds faster than van Hoof.

the rally be a mere 0,3 seconds. Probably the closest finish ever in the Dutch championship. Despit the disappointment of losing out on the final stage, van Hoof is honest when he says "The mistake we made on Friday cost us dearly. Without it we would have won. Jasper's specialty came right at the end and he had nothing to lose. I have to be honest I hadn't hoped to lose the rally by 0,3 seconds, but I had a great weekend and I think it must have been great for the spectators to witness this fight."

Van den Heuvel of course is challenging for the championship so he did have something to lose, but when a rally win is on the line, there's only one thing on van den Heuvel's mind. "Wow, that last time through 'St. Oedenrode', it was on in every corner! I knew that I made three small mistakes on the first run through 'Son', so if I could fix those I would be save. Well, I fixed one and a halve and that was just enough" Kobus is less enthusiastic at the finish. "I gave it my all and was flawless through the final two stages, but the gaps were huge. Those Evo's are just more powerful.

Still, we had a good weekend, I enjoyed the technical stages."

Despite finishing fourth, de Jong was happy. "We The Mitsubishi drivers leave it all out on the final stage would have been much closer without the puncture, but and at the end of it... van den Heuvel wins the stage and that's how it goes sometimes, we all drove on the limit."

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

Results of the ONRK*

ELE Rally

drivers Standings

Final results

1

H. Kobus

Skoda Fabia R5

78

2

R. Mandel

Ford Fiesta R5

30

+18,1

3

B. de Jong

Citroen DS3 R5

25

Citroen DS3 R5

+1.12,8

4

J. Grahn

Ford Fiesta R5

22,5

Ford Fiesta R5

+4.51,7

5

C. Riedemann

Peugeot 208 T16

21

Andersen-Petersen

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+7.03,0

6

C. Brugger

Ford Fiesta R5

20

7

Parren-Coumans

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

+7.03,3

7

C. Jensen

Renault Clio R3

19

8

Fernandes-Beck

Peugeot 207 S200

+7.21,8

8

C. Mohe

Renault Clio R3

17,5

9

vd Marel-vd Marel

Opel Adam Slam R2

+8.19,7

9

A. Oeberg

Subaru Impreza WRX

16,25

10

Vossen-van Barschot

Ford Fiesta R5

+8.27,6

10

H. Bakkenes

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

16

1

vd Heuvel-Bakker

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

1.39.18,3

2

van Hoof-Jacobs

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV

+0,3

3

Kobus-de Wild

Skoda Fabia R5

4

de Jong-Degandt

5

vd Heijden-Schop

6

*Van den Heuvel entered the National championship, these results ar for the open championship.

Rally-emag / May/June 2017

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