S.P.Developments

With the pre-event recce now complete, the drivers have at last had a chance to see the stages that form this weekend’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal. Although they competed on the event two years ago, this year’s rally features new stages over fully half of the competitive distance and the drivers were even more complimentary of the roads that form the fourth round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship.

Reigning champion and current leader Sebastien Loeb will be first on the road on day one and is therefore ideally placed to comment on the roads. “The stages this year are very good,” he said. “They are wider than two years ago and a little harder so hopefully, they will not be so rough.
“They are also quite difficult, with lots of blind crests and corners, which make it very challenging and good fun to drive. I hope for a good fight here this weekend and that I am not at too great a disadvantage running first on the road.”
Citroen Total World Rally Team team-mate Dani Sordo was a little more concerned about the disadvantage of an early road position; “The stages are very good but there is a lot of loose gravel on top so it could cost us time on the first loop. But they are very good stages for the drivers.”

Henning Solberg, fourth in the championship and also on the road for the first day, was even more enthusiastic about the Algarve roads that form the stages for the event; “For me, the stages here are perfect. Very technical and challenging; I like them a lot. I think the second run through will be rougher, so you must be more careful but the new stages, in particular, are fantastic.”
Another driver ideally placed to comment on the nature of the stages is Martin Prokop. The Czech driver is competing in both the FIA Production car World Rally Championship and the FIA Junior World Rally Championship this year and is driving his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EvoIX in Portugal.
“The stages this year are very nice and fast, a little faster than in 2007 I think, so it will be a good event. I think for me, it will be difficult to fight with the local drivers; I think with so many crests, jumps and blind corners on the stages, local knowledge will certainly help.
“I think it will also be a very good event for the Juniors. There are not so many slow corners, so the faster stages mean that they will be able to keep the speed up and not lose too much time in the slow sections.”
At the other end of the field is 17 year-old Welsh driver, Tom Cave. Tom will be running as the last car on the road in his Group N Ford Fiesta but is not fazed by the prospect. “The stages here are very nice; flowing and have a great rhythm. They are also quite technical in places and I think it will be a very demanding rally, both on the car and physically. I think the stages on Friday are rougher than those for the rest of the weekend but they are proper rally stages. This is what rallying is all about.”
The teams will now make their final preparations for the event tomorrow morning, when they tackle the pre-event shakedown, the last chance to fine-tune their cars ready for the start of the rally, which sees the first of two runs round the Algarve Stadium superspecial stage tomorrow evening (Thursday).

Good luck to young Tom cave, he is in for a time of his life.

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

When Marcus Gronholm drives over the start ramp for Rally Portugal today, it will be 25 years since Prodrive first competed at the 1984 Qatar Rally. Then, a Prodrive-prepared Porsche 911 SC RS, driven by Saeed Al Hajri, won on its debut and went on to bring the Rothmans Porsche Rally Team the Middle East Rally Championship title.



Qatar was the first of 129 rally wins for Prodrive, with victories coming with four different manufacturers in the Porsche 911, the MG 6R4, BMW M3 and for the last two decades with the Subaru Legacy and Impreza.


Prodrive has competed in a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) every year since 1984, taking its first win at the Tour de Corse in 1987 when Frenchman, Bernard Beguin, drove a Group A BMW M3 to victory. Since then, Prodrive has won three WRC manufacturers’ and three drivers’ titles, all with Subaru, and has helped turn the likes of Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg into world champions.


In 1987 Prodrive started circuit racing with BMW in the British Touring Car Championship, winning titles in 1988, 1989 and 1990, before taking further titles with Alfa Romeo in 1994 and Ford in 2000. Since 2003, Prodrive has continued touring car racing, this time with the Ford Performance Racing team in the Australian V8 Supercar series.

In recent years, Prodrive has also concentrated on sports car racing, firstly with a privately-backed Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello, which took Le Mans GTS class honours in 2003, and most recently with Aston Martin Racing, with the DBR9 taking GT1 class titles in 2007 and 2008. This weekend the company debuts the new Aston Martin LMP1 car in Barcelona, at the first round of the Le Mans Series, and will head to Le Mans in June to challenge for outright victory in the 24 hour race.


From its origins in a small business unit at Silverstone running the Porsche 911s, Prodrive today is a multinational business employing nearly 800 people in the UK, Australia, Thailand and China. While it roots are in motorsport, more than half the company’s £100 million turnover now comes from its activities in the mainstream automotive sector. Today it is working on programmes ranging from innovative electric and flywheel hybrid technology for future vehicles, to the design and assembly of high performance cars for Ford Australia. Its client base now includes businesses in the aerospace, marine and defence sectors.

- For detailed information on Prodrive’s 25 year history please click here
- For high res images from the last 25 years please click here and choose the History gallery
- For the latest news, quotes and images from Rally Portugal please go to www.prodrive.com/wrc

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

Shakedown is a 5.5 km stage just to the north of the service park at the Estadio Algarve, Faro.


09:15 : After the first runs through the 5.5 km stage, Gronholm is provisionally the quickest, setting a time of 3:17.0, 0.1 secs quicker than Mikko Hirvonen, but there is still plenty of time to go.

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest at this morning’s pre-event Shakedown test for Rally Portugal.
The five-hour test session took place on a 5.03km gravel road at Vale de Judeu, 11km from the Service Park at the Algarve Stadium. Weather conditions were dry throughout with clear skies and a temperature of 20°C.
Latvala made three passes through the stage in his Ford Focus RS WRC, recording a best time of 3min 08.1sec on his final attempt. “The car feels really, really good and I’m confident with the set-up I have found,” said Latvala. “The engine improvements seem to be working well too, so I’m feeling really positive.”
Defending World Champion Sebastien Loeb was seventh fastest, but said road cleaning made it difficult to read too much into the times. “I only did two passes fairly early on and the road got faster as the session went on,” he said. “When I did my passes I was the fastest and the car felt good, so it’s okay for me.”
Citroen Junior Team driver Conrad Rautenbach crashed mid-way through the session but is confident his C4 WRC will be repaired in time for this evening’s Super Special Stage.
“We altered the car before the run and it felt good, so were pushing on a bit,” explained Conrad. “But I was carrying too much speed on a right-hand corner, cut it a bit too much and clipped a tree stump. It was a big impact. It pushed the damper through the top mount and threw us off the road. We were lucky not to roll. It doesn’t look too bad, though, hopefully the guys can sort it.”
There was worse luck, however, for Portuguese P-WRC star Bernado Sousa who crashed his Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 ahead of his rally debut with the car.
“It happened when I touched a rock on the inside of a right-hand corner,” Sousa told wrc.com. “The steering-arm broke and on the next corner we drove off the road and into a gravel bank. I’m okay, but my co-driver Jorge has gone to hospital for checks because he has some pain in his shoulder. The car is badly damaged and as far as this rally goes, it looks bad. Even if they can fix it, I won’t compete if Jorge can’t do it with me. It’s so disappointing. This event has been full of bad luck for me - we even broke down on the recce.”
A crash later in the session for fellow Punto driver Jaromir Tarabus means it’s unlikely either of the two Abarth cars will make the start.

Here are today’s top 15 shakedown times:
1. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:08.1
2. P. SOLBERG. Citroen Xsara. 3:08.2
3. HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:10.5
4. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:11.9
5. NOVIKOV. Citroen C4. 3:12.2
6. H. SOLBERG. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:12.4
7. LOEB. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:13.1
8. SORDO. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:13.3
9. OSTBERG. Subaru Impreza WRC2008. 3:13.6
10. VILLAGRA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:13.7
11. OGIER. Citroen C4. 3:14.0
12. GRONHOLM. Subaru Impreza WRC2008. 3:17.0
13. Al QASSIMI. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:19.4
14. SANDELL. Skoda Fabia Super 2000. 3:24.9
15. NIKARA. Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX. 3:27.9

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

So mature for a lad of his age

51. Tom CAVE 2:29.40.0 +19.8


Regards, John

S.P.Developments

Day one of Rally Portugal features six special stages in the hills north of Faro on the Portuguese Algarve, a total of more than 136 kilometres. Sebastien Loeb will first on the road at 10.15 am with Marcus Gronholm running 12th, nearly half an hour later.

9.22 am: Prodrive Impreza WRC2008 comes in for first service. The car receives new tyres for the first three stages of the day, before returning to service at lunchtime.
SS2: On his first full competitive stage for more than 18 months, Marcus sets an incredible second fastest time on stage two, just 4.9 secs behind the Ford of Latvala. Marcus is now in third place overall, 6.5 seconds behind rally leader Latvala and just 1.5 secs behind the second placed Citroen of Daniel Sordo.


Mads Ostberg, in a near identical Prodrive Impreza WRC2008 to Marcus, set the 10th fastest time, 33 secs behind Latvala, putting him in 11th place 38 secs off the leader.


In the Production World Rally Championship, Nasser Al Attiyah, in a Prodrive Impreza N2009 driving for the Barwa World Rally Team, was second fastest on stage two and is now second overall less than 10 seconds off the leader.

SS3: Marcus has continued his impressive pace. He sets the third fastest time on stage three, just 6.1 seconds off stage winner, Latvala, and only 0.5 seconds behind Sordo. This keeps Marcus in third place overall, 12 seconds off the lead and just 2 seconds off second place.


Mads Ostberg has some brake problems and drives cautiously through stage 3, more than 43 seconds down on the leader Latvala.

Nasser Al Attiyah wins stage 3 by 14 seconds and takes the overall lead in the PWRC by more than 23 seconds.


SS4: Marcus moves up to second place overall after Latvala crashes out on stage 4. Marcus is now just 3.2 seconds behind Sordo, but lost several seconds at the beginning of the stage after he was told by a marshall that the stage was stopped for emergency vehicles. He was then told the stage was in fact open but was not given enough time to prepare for the start.

SS5: Marcus is fourth fastest on stage five, a repeat of stage two, the first stage of the day. With the stage having been run before, the surface is much cleaner for all competitors leading to some much closer times. Mikko Hirvonen sets the fastest stage time and with it takes the overall lead in the rally, just 3.8 seconds ahead of Marcus.



Mads Ostberg with his brakes fixed at service sets the ninth fastest time on stage 4 and maintains his tenth place overall.



Nasser Al Attiyah is again fastest on stage 5 and extends his overall lead in PWRC to 55 seconds.

SS6: Marcus is fifth fastest on stage six, the penultimate of the day, but just eight seconds off the fastest time. This keeps Marcus in second place overall 7.5 seconds behind the leader Hirvonen.

Mads Ostberg is again ninth on stage six and retains his tenth place overall.

Nasser Al Attiyah damages his steering and has to retire. Hopefully he will be back tomorrow under super rally rules.

SS7: On the final stage of the day Marcus catches and then passes a slowing Al Qassimi and loses a lot of time. He finishes the day fourth overall behind Hirvonen, Sordo and Loeb, but in a strong position to attack on day two.

Mads Ostberg sets an eighth fastest time on stage seven to maintain his tenth place overall.

Click here for the end of day one press release


Taken from the Prodrive site, more updates to follow.


Regards, John

S.P.Developments

Update after SS4: Latvala out!

After setting the fastest time on Friday’s first and second stages, rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out of the competition on the third.

The Finn’s Ford Focus RS WRC went off the road at high speed, 9km from the start line, and rolled several times before coming to rest in a ravine, more than 150metres from the road.

Latvala and his co-driver Miikka Anttila were unhurt in the crash, which Latvala described as the biggest of his career.

Latvala’s exit promoted Citroen Total driver Dani Sordo into the rally lead, and Marcus Gronholm into second. “It’s all going okay,” said Sordo. “The stages are quite difficult to drive, but my car feels comfortable to drive. I’m happy.”

Gronholm completed the stage 1.2sec slower than Sordo - to lie 3.2sec behind in the overall standings - but said he could have been quicker without confusion on the start line following Latvala’s crash.

“At the start the organisers told us the stage was cancelled - then all of a sudden they said ‘No it’s not - Go!’ he said. “We weren’t ready, and struggled a bit to get the car going. After that it was okay, but we could have done a better time.”

Sebastien Loeb took his first stage win of the rally and moved up to fourth place, 22.7sec off Sordo’s lead.

Behind Loeb, in fifth, Petter Solberg said he was enjoying driving his Citroen Xsara WRC, but was losing out to the newer, more powerful cars of his rivals. “I’m noticing it on the very fast stuff,” said Petter. “When it’s twisty and narrow we’re going well. We’ll keep on trying.”

Henning Solberg and Mads Ostberg rounded off the morning loop of stages reporting brake problems. A damaged rear brake pipe meant Ostberg completed SS4 using only the front brakes on his Impreza, while Henning Solberg said his Ford Focus had nothing at all.

Taken from WRC.com

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

Marcus Gronholm off early in ss8 sounds terminal, high water temp, no oil pressure, damaged radiator.

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

Young Tom Cave ended day in 60. T. CAVE 22:06.6 +8:00.0 off the lead.

Regards, John

S.P.Developments

SS8: Early in stage 8, Gronholm goes off the road hits a tree and rolls his car. He gets it back on the road, but has sustained too much damage to continue.

Taken from statement off Prodrive Website.

Regards, John