KJD Mk1

iTrader: (3)

Drivers expect tough Cyprus event



This week's Cyprus Rally is likely to provide the toughest challenge of this year, according to the World Rally Championship's leading drivers.
Heavy rain is expected to hit the Mediterranean island tomorrow, making the opening day's six asphalt stages tougher than expected and potentially further damaging the gravel roads which will make up days two and three over the weekend.
Ford's Mikko Hirvonen admitted the final day of this third round of the series will provide a major sting in the tail.
"This is going to be a really tough event," he said. "Yes, probably the toughest of the year. If you want to beat Sebastien [Loeb] you have to be perfect in every corner and, believe me, there are a lot of corners to be perfect on in this rally.
"The concentration and focus has to be absolutely perfect right up until the final corner of the last day - and that 40km stage (SS13 Anadiou) is going to make the last day really tough. Anything can happen."
Citroen's Dani Sordo posted fastest time in this morning's asphalt shakedown stage, but it's his fellow C4 WRC driver Sebastien Loeb who is expected to set the pace on tomorrow's opening day.
Loeb said: "I will go flat out, there's nothing else for me to do. It can be tough if it does rain. We didn't test this tyre (the gravel-specification Pirelli) on wet asphalt, so it will be interesting."
Loeb added that a potential 50th world championship win on this event was not going to distract him from the job in hand. "Sure," said the Frenchman, "it would be a nice gap, but this is just another rally for me."
Today's weather around the event's Limassol base was 20 degrees and cloudy, but that is expected to dive with the onset of rain tomorrow.
While service remains at sea level near the port, the stages take the driver high into the Troodos mountains, where temperatures dived as low as one degree on the recce.
Hirvonen - and his Ford Focus RS WRC 08 - sported a comic relief red nose for the day's shakedown test and press conference.

KJD Mk1

iTrader: (3)

Shakedown times:

1. SORDO. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:33.0
2. P. SOLBERG. Citroen Xsara. 3:33.3
3. OGIER. Citroen C4. 3:34.0
4. LOEB. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:34.5
5. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:34.7
6. NOVIKOV. Citroen C4. 3:35.1
7. HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:35.3
8. RAUTENBACH. Citroen C4. 3:35.8
9. H. SOLBERG. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:37.3
10. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:37.3
11. Al QASSIMI. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:41.5
12. VILLAGRA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:43.1
13. ARAUJO Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. 3:45.7
14. CAMPEDELLI. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. 4 3:47.3
15. AL-ATTIYAH Subaru Impreza N14 2009. 3:52.7
16. NEIKSANS. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. 3:52.7
17. GILL Subaru Impreza WRX STI. 3:53.2
18. SANDELL. Skoda Fabia Super 2000. 3:53.7
19. SEMERĄD. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. 3:56.4
20. THOMAS Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. 3:57.7
21. ARAI. Subaru Impreza WRX STi. 4:02.6
22. LINARI. Subaru Impreza WRX STi. 4:05.2
23. PROKOP Citroen C2 S1600. 4:20.1
24. SAUVAN. Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. 4:22.8
25. KOSCIUSZKO. Suzuki Swift S1600. 4:30.9
26. VALDEZ LOPEZ. Subaru Impreza WRX STI. 5:06.6

RED2

kevs reminder service nice one

Scoobyski

Me mum and dad live Cyprus and i fly out to istanbul tomorow(1 hr from cyprus) wish i had known! Doh.

S.P.Developments

Cyprus Rally 2009 Results after SS2

1. LOEB/ELENA (Citroėn C4 WRC) 27:35.2 min
2. SORDO/MARTĶ (Citroėn C4 WRC) + 17.2 s
3. HIRVONEN/LEHTINEN (Ford Focus WRC) + 19.3 s
4. LATVALA/ANTTILA (Ford Focus WRC) + 28.6 s
5. OGIER/INGRASSIA (Citroėn C4 WRC) + 39.1 s
6. SOLBERG/MILLS (Citroėn Xsara WRC) + 43.8 s
7. PROKOP/TOMĮNEK (Citroėn C2 S1600) + 1:00.8 min
8. KOSCIUSZKO/SZCZEPANIAK (SUZUKI Swift S1600) + 1:09.1 min
9. NOVIKOV/MOSCATT (Citroėn C4 WRC) + 1:09.6 min
10. WILSON/MARTIN (Ford Focus WRC) + 1:09.7 min

From a service park near you...

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

For upto date info check out the link below,

FxPro Cyprus Rally 2009 Official Website

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

1. Sebastien LOEB (F)CITROEN C4 48:44.
2. Dani SORDO (E)CITROEN C4 49:06.9+22.53
3. Mikko HIRVONEN (FIN)FORD FOCUS RS WRC 08 49:26.4+42.04
4. Jari-Matti LATVALA (FIN)FORD FOCUS RS WRC 08 49:30.8+46.45
5. Petter SOLBERG (N)CITROEN XSARA 50:03.7+1:19.36
6. Sebastien OGIER (F)CITROEN C4 WRC 50:12.9+1:28.57
7. Evgeny NOVIKOV (RUS)CITROEN C4 WRC 50:46.2+2:01.88
8. Matthew WILSON (GB)FORD FOCUS RS WRC 08 50:47.6+2:03.29
9. Conrad RAUTENBACH (ZW)CITROEN C4 WRC 51:09.3+2:24.91
10. Federico VILLAGRA (AR)FORD FOCUS RS WRC 08 51:18.2+2:33.81


Regards, John

KJD Mk1

iTrader: (3)

Loeb commands Cyprus day one



Sebastien Loeb has totally dominated the opening day of the Cyprus Rally - winning five of the six stages and taking a 41.8-second lead into leg two.
He backed off slightly as rain fell this afternoon, but believes he is in a good position for Saturday, when he will have to run first on dusty gravel roads.
"I was a bit too careful in the rain in some places," said Loeb. "It's the last stage of the day and I didn't want to make any mistakes as I have a good lead. I didn't take big risks.
"Tomorrow we'll have to clean the road but if it's raining maybe it will not be so bad. I don't know what we'll see tomorrow, but I'll try to continue like this."
Dani Sordo is maintaining Citroen's one-two formation. The Spaniard lost time to the chasing Mikko Hirvonen on SS4, before re-establishing a 19s cushion thanks to a stage win on SS6.
Although Ford driver Hirvonen was disappointed by the one minute deficit to Loeb, he was relatively satisfied with his afternoon performance, having minimised the time loss after a poor morning.
"The afternoon was good, we lost maybe 14s to Sebastien, which is acceptable," he said. "But in the morning we just didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to drive in these conditions with gravel tyres."
Hirvonen will have the advantage of a cleaner road surface tomorrow, but isn't confident about his chances of closing on Loeb.
"It's going to be really tough," he admitted. "Especially if it rains, Sebastien will be in a really good position for tomorrow. It's going to be difficult to catch him."
Jari-Matti Latvala is just 8.6s behind Hirvonen in the second Ford.
Petter Solberg now runs a lonely fifth in his Citroen Xsara after sparring partner Sebastien Ogier (Citroen Junior) lost time with a startline stall and then a spin on SS4. The Junior champion remains sixth, ahead of his team-mate Evgeny Novikov, who has pulled away from eighth-placed Matthew Wilson (Stobart Ford).
In the third Citroen Junior car, Conrad Rautenbach has narrowed the gap to Wilson to just 9.4s, while Munchi's Ford's Federico Villagra reclaimed 10th from works Ford driver Khalid Al-Qassimi in today's final stage after a day-long battle between the pair.
Armindo Araujo has maintained his half-minute cushion over nearest Production rival Patrik Sandell, ahead of Simone Campedelli and Nassar Al-Attiyah.
Martin Prokop is on course for Junior WRC victory, leading the class by three and a half minutes due to rivals Michal Kosciuszko and Aaron Bukart hitting trouble earlier in the day.
Leading positions after day one:
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1h37:46.3 2. Dani Sordo Citroen + 41.8 3. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1:00.2 4. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1:08.3 5. Petter Solberg Citroen + 2:27.1 6. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 3:03.0 7. Evgeny Novikov Citroen + 3:16.0 8. Matthew Wilson Ford + 4:25.9 9. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen + 4:35.310. Federico Villagra Ford + 5:02.0

KJD Mk1

iTrader: (3)

Loeb claims 50th WRC win in Cyprus


Sebastien Loeb has clinched the 50th victory of his incredible World Rally Championship career by holding off Mikko Hirvonen in Cyprus.
Petter Solberg completed the podium, and was overjoyed to take his outdated Citroen Xsara to third in only his second event as an owner/driver.
Despite being highly disgruntled about having to use gravel tyres on Friday's asphalt stages, Loeb vowed to make an early break and established a one-minute lead by half-distance.
Although Hirvonen managed to reduce the gap to just 27.2 seconds by the finish, he could not stop the Citroen driver continuing his domination of the 2009 championship.
"It's incredible. I remember when I beat the record of Carlos (Sainz) and Colin (McRae)," said Loeb. "Now 50 is a really a big number, a nice number. I'm really happy with what we are achieving at the moment, but it's not finished, we're not stopping yet."
It was another frustrating event for Ford, as Hirvonen lost a lot of time on Friday while struggling to adapt to the gravel tyres on tar, and Jari-Matti Latvala lost 20 minutes in a ditch on Saturday morning.
Hirvonen picked up speed once the event switched to gravel, taking second place from Citroen's Dani Sordo and closing on Loeb, but it was too late to challenge his nemesis for victory.
"I think we lost it on Friday," said Hirvonen, who is now eight points adrift of Loeb in the standings. "At least we managed to take some time back on these two days.
"If it had been dry, it might have been different. We are definitely a lot faster on gravel now so hopefully we can have a good fight in Portugal."
Solberg also got quicker and quicker as the event progressed, moving up from an early sixth place to catch and overhaul Sordo for third on the penultimate stage.
"I was so happy to win the first stage in Norway but this is just amazing," said the delighted Solberg. "I'm really, really happy."
With Solberg not registered for manufacturers' championship points, Citroen ordered Sordo not to fight too hard to hold on to third.
"We saw they were faster than me and from the middle of the (penultimate) stage I decided to slow down because I preferred to take fourth and the points for the manufacturers' championship," said Sordo. "Better to slow down than to not get the points."
The fight for fifth came to a dramatic end when Citroen Junior's Sebastien Ogier crashed out less than a kilometre from the finish. Ogier had recovered from a Saturday roll to take fifth from Stobart Ford driver Matthew Wilson when the Briton stalled on the penultimate stage.
But Wilson fought back by setting the joint fastest time on the final stage of the rally, and Ogier went off while trying to respond.
"I couldn't have gone any faster," said Wilson, who upheld Stobart honour this weekend after team-mate Henning Solberg had a collision on the road section prior to SS1.
"I tried as hard as I could. That stall in the second to last stage cost us 10s so the plan was just to go for it. The pressure obviously got to him."
Conrad Rautenbach therefore moved up to sixth place in the remaining Citroen Junior car, with Evgeny Novikov having crashed the squad's third C4 this morning.
As Citroen Junior's weekend fell apart, Federico Villagra (Munchi's Ford) and Khalid Al Qassimi (Ford) were able to pick up the final points.
There was heartbreak for long-time Production class leader Armindo Araujo when his Ralliart Italy Mitsubishi developed gearbox problems with two stages to go, denying Araujo his first win and allowing Patrik Sandell to take a second straight victory for Red Bull Skoda.
Nasser Al-Attiyah looked set to challenge Sandell but his charge was slowed when his Subaru started to overheat this afternoon, leaving him third behind Araujo.
Martin Prokop took an easy Junior WRC win. Only three cars made the trip to Cyprus, and Prokop's rivals Michal Kosciuszko and Aaran Burkart both hit trouble on Friday morning.
Leading finishers:
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 4h50:34.7 2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 27.2 3. Petter Solberg Citroen + 1:49.4 4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 2:26.3 5. Matthew Wilson Ford + 6:41.0 6. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen + 11:11.9 7. Federico Villagra Ford + 13:18.5 8. Khalid Al Qassimi Ford + 13:44.1 9. Patrik Sandell Skoda + 19:36.610. Armindo Araujo Mitsubishi + 19:54.9

valley commando

iTrader: (1)

glad to see peter back to his self again good on him