MOTORSPORT: WRC a three-make fight

Citroen and its eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb won – it was the driver’s 68th victory in the WRC and sixth on “The Monte”, even though it had not been part of the WRC since 2008.

MINI was second with Spaniard Dani Sordo and Ford third with Norwegian Petter Solberg in the 2003 world champion’s return to the Blue Oval in a Fiesta.

Citroen recruit Mikko Hirvonen, the Finn who was runner-up to Loeb in last year’s championship with Ford, set three fastest stage times mid-rally on his way to fourth in his debut with the French manufacturer. Hirvonen would have challenged Solberg harder for the final podium position if not for a spin on the last day.

Fifth was 21-year-old Russian Evgeny Novikov in a Ford Fiesta in his debut in “The Monte”, which became the WRC season opener again after several years as part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The Ford factory team’s remaining Finn, Jari-Matti Latvala, set a lightning pace at the start of the event before rolling into retirement.

French veteran Francois Delecour took sixth in another Ford. And Sebastien Ogier, the Frenchman who could not co-exist with Loeb at Citroen last year and is awaiting Volkswagen’s new entry next season, excelled in a VW-run Skoda Fabia.

Ogier had the Super 2000 car as high as fourth against the World Rally Cars before a massive crash which left his co-driver Julien Ingrassia with arm injuries.

Apart from the 25 points for victory, Loeb gained three bonus points for winning the final 5km “power stage” – giving him a perfect start to his quest for a ninth title. The French legend’s only complaint was that the five days of “The Monte” was too long.

Sordo’s second place for MINI was sensational – and much-needed, with the manufacturer’s Prodrive-run team fielding only one full-time entry in its first full season with the modern incarnation of a marque that won “The Monte” three times in the 1960s.

Sordo had damaged his suspension on the second stage but drove flawlessly after that to finish 2¾ minutes behind Loeb.

“We hit a bridge on the second stage, but we were lucky, and after that we did an incredible choice of tyres,” Sordo said.

Solberg was delighted to be on the podium at his first outing back with Ford but, after a bad tyre choice on the second day, ran out of time to challenge Sordo harder, finishing almost half a minute behind the Spaniard.

The Norwegian won four stages to Sordo’s one, while Loeb won nine – six of them in the first seven contests.

Solberg has been given a suspended ban from next month’s Swedish Rally, plus a fine and a reprimand, for being clocked at 106kmh overtaking a slower car on a transport stage.

World Rally Championship driver standings after first round - 1. Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen DS3) 28 points; 2. Dani Sordo (Spain, MINI John Cooper Works) 18, 3. Petter Solberg (Norway, Ford Fiesta RS) 15, 4. M. Hirvonen (Finland, Citroen DS3) 14, 5. Evgeni Novikov (Russia, Ford Fiesta RS) 11.

WRC team standings - 1. Citroen 37 points, 2. Mini 24, 3. Ford 15, 4. M-Sport (Ford) 14.

Ferrari revealed recently it had been developing a similar system to stabilise an F1 car’s ride height under braking.

Autosport has reported that the Lotus system was mechanical and that because it was part of the suspension system it originally was deemed legal because it could not be classified as a moveable aerodynamic device.

However, that interpretation has suddenly changed.

The U-turn reeks of politics by teams left behind on the development, perhaps even Ferrari if it had not perfected its system two months out from the new start of the season in Melbourne.

Andrew Benson, chief F1 writer for the BBC website, has stated: “The device has been outlawed on the basis that its primary function is to improve the car’s aerodynamics.

“The new system has been designed to keep the car’s ride-height as constant as possible during braking because any changes have a significant effect on the airflow over and under the car and consequently its performance.

“The ride-height of an F1 car moves only a few millimetres, but the more it can be kept at its ideal level the better the car’s performance.

“The device is operated via a hydraulic cylinder on the front suspension that reacts to braking forces.

“It controls the length of the push-rod - the suspension arm that stretches from the springs and dampers on the top of the car’s chassis to the bottom of the wheel upright - in response to braking forces. The brake calliper also moves.

“In doing so, the system limits the amount the front of the car dips during braking.”

Benson’s full report on the ban can be viewed here.

“Mark is one of the best,” Mateschitz said.

“His age [35] is relative and he’s one of the physically best prepared drivers.

“With a new No.1 mechanic at his side this year he will certainly not make life easy for Sebastian [Vettel, the 24-year-old world champion of the past two years].”

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has consistently and publicly backed Webber, but the key decision-maker in that camp is low-key Austrian ex-F1 driver Dr Helmut Marko, who is Mateschitz’s trusted motorsport adviser.

Meanwhile, Horner has highlighted that the two young drivers in Red Bull’s second team, Scuderia Toro Rosso – Australian Daniel Ricciardo and French rookie Jean-Eric Vergne - are “both Red Bull Racing drivers on loan to Toro Rosso to develop them”.

However, Horner said there were “no guarantees” either would graduate to RBR when a vacancy arises – most likely when Webber’s time is up.

Webber indicated late last year that he may well want to continue beyond this season and Horner has appeared supportive of that, although Marko is likely to have the ultimate say.

That speculation has gone up a notch now, with a report quoting a couple of Chrysler executives – one in the US, Ralph Gilles, the other the company’s Australian chief, Clyde Campbell – expressing some enthusiasm for the idea.

However, the statement in our December 1, 2011, report that “any new badge in V8 Supercar racing is more likely to involve a team putting a bodyshell over the new generic chassis rather than full manufacturer-funded participation” still seems the most likely route.

There is talk that V8 Supercars Australia is dangling a substantial cash bonus out to the first team that brings another manufacturer to compete against the Holdens and Fords.

While the talk of a Chrysler 300C V8 Supercar has gathered steam, it ought be remembered that early hype – almost two years ago - about the likelihood of one or more German manufacturers has come to nought and that the more hi-tech DTM series – the German Touring Car Championship – remains the sedan racing priority for Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

Meanwhile, Ford – which averaged a win only once every seven races in last year’s V8 Supercar Championship – has dropped its Australian motorsport manager post since the sudden departure of the last person to hold it, Chris Styring, on the eve of last season’s Sydney finale.

Ford’s Australian motorsport sponsorship will be merged with its general marketing.

And about 10 V8 Supercars Australia staff have been retrenched, including its motorsport manager with responsibility for the Car of the Future, Adam Perry, and the man who managed the birth of the Townsville 400, Kim Faithful.

“We never like to lose staff but this is a necessary step in V8s’ continued growth,” V8SA, now 60 per cent-owned by private equity company Archer Capital, said in a statement.

Waltrip’s glory days in American stock car racing were from the late 1970s until the late ’80s, between the heydays of the sport’s two seven-time champions, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

Among the other four Hall of Fame inductees recently was another colorful former champion, Cale Yarborough.

A Scene Daily feature on Waltrip’s place in the sport can be viewed here.

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