MOTORSPORT: Rally champions set for overseas competition

Intercontinental Rally Challenge beckons Australia's ace couple
Now four-time Australian champions, husband-and-wife rally team Simon and Sue Evans are looking to compete in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge next year -- and are set to do one round, and perhaps two, of that series this year.

They are almost certain to compete in the ninth round of this season's IRC in the Czech Republic in a fortnight, possibly another in Scotland in mid-October and are close to securing an eight-round IRC deal for next season.

They have been invited to drive a Super 2000 Peugeot 207 for the French 2C Groupe Combronde Team in the Czech asphalt event on August 28-29.

"It's 95 per cent there," Simon Evans told this week's Auto Action magazine. "We are looking at doing a deal for the second last round in Scotland too."

Evans said he was ready for the challenge of rallying in Europe -- and that he did not see his age, 38, as any barrier.

While keen to contest the whole IRC next year, including the famous Monte Carlo Rally, Evans said he and his wife would commute to events from Australia rather than move the family to Europe.

The world's second major rally series, behind the World Rally Championship, the IRC -- promoted by Eurosport -- is ostensibly for customer teams rather than works entries.

Indeed, Peugeot Sport boss Oliver Quesnel has threatened to withdraw the French manufacturer's support for the IRC if Czech manufacturer Skoda continues to field factory entries next year.

The Peugeot 207 has not been a match for Skoda's Fabia this year. The entries are largely financed by importers in Britain and Belgium.

"For me the IRC is for the importers and privateers," Quesnel said. "If next year there is still the Skoda official team I won't stay ... if there is an official manufacturer then it is finished for me."

The Evans' tested for 2C Groupe Combronde late last year.

After winning Rally South Australia in late June they received an email from the team inviting them to drive in the Czech event.

A fortnight ago the couple won the ARC round in Queensland -- and were quicker than all the international competitors in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship round run over the same course in the Mary Valley and on the Sunshine Coast.

That clinched a fourth national title for them, with one ARC round remaining -- in Victoria, around Warragul, east of Melbourne in mid-November.

Simons Evans said 2C Groupe Combronde had been surprised by his speed when he tested with it last December.

"They didn't realise Australians were so quick -- they thought Chris Atkinson (Australia's former WRC star, now driving a Proton in the Asia-Pacific series and occasional IRC rounds) was the only quick one," Evans said.

He said the Europeans appreciated experience, results "and that you don't crash cars".

It was "the right time now" to go overseas.

"You have got to have everything coming together at the right time," Evans said. "With our results from winning in Queensland and with the championship all tied up, it's the right time now.

"Rallying needs a maturity to do it. It's an extremely challenging sport. It's not about being the fastest all the time. It is more of a mind game -- and that's why you see people have extended careers in motorsport.

"It's about whether you want to do the rest of the stuff that comes with it, because it's not just about driving the car."

The husband and wife have been driver and co-driver for almost 12 years now.

Driving a Formula 2 Volkswagen, they won their class in the ARC in 1999 and the 2000 Asia-Pacific championship. Then they campaigned a Subaru WRX in the ARC, winning the Rally of Melbourne in 2003.

Joining Neal Bates' Toyota team, they led the ARC in 2004 until a crash in Tasmania in which Simon broke his leg, but they took the title the next two years.

In 2008 they campaigned a new Super 2000 Toyota while Bates won the title.

Then in 2009, after Toyota's withdrawal, they blitzed the series in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and this year have continued that domination in a Subaru Impreza.

Despite the lack of manufacturer participation now, Evans is still a strong advocate of the ARC -- particularly because of the varying conditions of the rounds in the various states.

"I think the championship is doing well for the time, because at the time it is really tough to go racing in Australia," he said. "I think it goes around in circles -- manufacturers choose to do other forms of motorsport for a while."

Sue Evans said she does not get nervous co-driving her husband.

"Never," she said. "I get excited because I love the speed and the role that I play in getting him through the trees.

"In 11 years I've seen an enormous change in Simon's driving style -- a tidy up! He always had this raw, aggressive speed and was able to throw cars around with no fear whatsoever of what he was doing. It was like he was connected to the car.

"But he was rugged, messy, wild and would take unnecessary risks. Once we got involved with Toyota in the factory team that was unacceptable, so we worked on that.

"Sometimes being neat is faster -- and that took a long time for Simon to understand."

Ambrose's future still up in the air
NASCAR this weekend is at Michigan International Speedway and, despite his first Sprint Cup podium of the year at New York's Watkins Glen road course last weekend (and victory in the second-tier Nationwide Series), Australia's Marcos Ambrose still does not have a confirmed drive in America next year.

Speculation continues that he will join Richard Petty Motorsports with support from Ford after he departs his Toyota drive with JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of this season.

"I (still) haven't locked in my plans yet for 2011," Ambrose said. "I seriously looked at going home to Australia, but I still have business here in NASCAR.

"I have to exhaust all my options here in America first. It was a difficult decision to leave the team (JTG Daughterty), but I had to jump off the cliff to see what's out there.

"It's a high-risk venture, but I had to break free to evaluate myself and see why I can run so well on road courses, but not as well on ovals.

"I really enjoy running at Michigan (a 3.22km high-banked oval), but unfortunately results have never really gone our way. This sport is so unpredictable, it could just be our weekend.

"After Michigan we're off to Bristol, which is one of my very favourite tracks, and then we return to the Nationwide Series in Montreal (a road course).

"We'll be looking for another win there for sure -- we've always been in a position to win in Montreal, but the races haven't worked out in the end.

"Even though Watkins Glen was a great weekend for the team, it still didn't feel nice (finishing third). I want to win so bad in the Cup Series, and this past weekend was one of the best chances for us.

"We had such a good race car and solid pit stops, but after our last pit stop something went wrong with the car. Somehow we lost the balance -- I don't know if it was because the different set of tyres or what.

"We were right there with (winner) Juan Pablo Montoya before that. We were neck and neck in the middle part of the race and I don't know what happened at the end.

"I'm still proud of our performance and proud that we have never finished outside the top three in the three times we've been to the Glen.

"All in all, last weekend was a good one considering I haven't locked in my 2011 plans. I'd like to stay in NASCAR and finish what I started.

"My girls (Adelaide and Tabitha) are getting older, and Tabitha is starting school this year, so it would be nice to stay here for a little while longer because we love America, but we'll wait and see how it all plays out."

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