Rovanpera targets fourth straight WRC win at Rally Italy Sardinia

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
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emailBy RACER Staff | June 2, 2022 1:14 PM ET

Kalle Rovanpera is chasing a fourth consecutive WRC victory on this weekend’s Rally Italy Sardinia, June 2-5, as his Toyota Gazoo Racing squad bids for back-to-back wins on the fast, rough and hot gravel stages of the Mediterranean island event.

The 21-year-old Finn (main image) heads to the FIA World Rally Championship’s fifth round carrying huge momentum and confidence after taking wins on the snow of Sweden, the asphalt of Croatia and the gravel of Portugal in his GR Yaris Rally1. He already holds a hefty 46-point advantage in the WRC standings as the series approaches its halfway point.

While Rovanpera doesn’t have great memories of the Italian island due to retirements in the previous two years, his Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier – who is absent this weekend preparing to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans – won last season’s edition.
But making Rovanpera’s task less than straightforward, the championship leader will be first car on the stages on Friday, plowing a line through loose gravel which will become progressively cleaner and grippier with the passage of each car.

“Sardinia will be another tough rally,” says Rovanpera. “The stages there have been tricky for me in the past, but last year I had a better feeling, even though we had some issues during the weekend.

“If the conditions are hot and dry like normal, I think it could be more difficult for us to fight for the win from first on the road than in Portugal, but the target will be the same: to do the best job we can.

“We go there knowing that we have a good base with the car on gravel, and although we need to focus on making it even better, we are already in a good place.”

One man who won’t be worrying about sweeping the road is Hyundai Motorsport’s Dani Sordo. He’s sharing the team’s third i20 N Rally1 car with Oliver Solberg this season and starts eighth in the running order this weekend.

Sordo (below) has made his name as a Sardinia master, claiming back-to-back victories in 2019 and 2020. After finishing on the podium on his season debut last time out in Portugal, he’s getting to grips with the new-for-2022 Rally1 hybrid machinery and could be a contender once again.
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The Spaniard is joined by Thierry Neuville, currently second in WRC points, as well as 2019 WRC champ Ott Tanak in a three-pronged Hyundai factory attack.

Hyundai is yet to win in the WRC’s new-for-2022 hybrid era, but both Neuville and Tanak have scored second-place finishes. Add in Sordo’s Sardinian prowess, and maybe this is the weekend for the breakthrough? Getting things off to a positive start, Neuville topped the times in the pre-event Shakedown, the Belgian edging the Toyotas of Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi by 0.3s and 0.5s, respectively, on the 2.19-mile test stage.

Evans needs another strong result to continue getting his season back on track. The Welshman is only fifth in points after going off the road on the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally and in Sweden, although he recovered to take second at Rally Portugal last month. Starting four places behind Toyota teammate Rovanpera, with the cleaner road conditions that will bring, Evans could be the driver setting the Leg One pace.

Lappi replaces Ogier in Toyota’s third factory GR Yaris, while development driver Takamoto Katsuta will pilot a similar machine less than two weeks after Sordo denied him a podium result in Portugal.
M-Sport

M-Sport Ford fields a four-strong, hybrid-powered Puma Rally1 fleet led by Craig Breen (above), who sits sixth in the WRC drivers’ standings. Young chargers Gus Greensmith, Adrien Fourmaux and Pierre-Louis Loubet are each aiming for their first WRC podiums – a target made more attainable if they keep it on the road and avoid mistakes through the opening leg.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, reigning champ Andreas Mikkelsen is looking to regain the 2022 points lead after an engine issue for his Toksport Skoda Fabia Evo ended his class-leading opening leg in Portugal. France’s Yohan Rossel (below) is the new points leader, having now matched Mikkelsen for wins – two apiece **– in his PH Sport Citroen C3.

But for either driver to make it a third WRC2 win, they’ll need to beat a stacked field that includes Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen (who led Portugal until an error on the event’s final stage), Citroen’s Eric Camilli and three more rapid Toksport-run Skodas in WRC2 Junior leader Chris Ingram, Nikolay Gryazin and Bruno Bulacia.



The rally base has switched back across the island to the west coast town of Alghero after spending 2021 in Olbia, although the fast and narrow roads – many lined with trees and bushes – will be familiar.

After a single 2-mile stage on Thursday evening, the serious action starts Friday, with eight special stages and 83 competitive miles. Eight more stages on Saturday and four on Sunday, including the bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage to close the event, bring the total competitive distance to 191.33 miles.

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.

 

BRILLIANT BREEN CLAIMS PODIUM ON RALLY D'ITALIA SARDEGNA

SARDEGNA, Italy - With soaring temperatures and challenging conditions, Craig Breen delivered a hard-fought second position in his Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1.

It was a successful event for the M-Sport Ford World Rally team as Breen claimed his second podium of the season and Pierre-Louis Loubet exceeded the team’s expectations, with an outstanding performance challenging hard for the third spot on the podium.

Loubet, together with co-driver Vincent Landais, in the end claimed a career-best finish at the highest level of the sport, fourth overall, thanks to his wise and measured approach which is fast helping to develop his experience at the top level.

All crews were forced to battle the heat on Friday, but a fantastic start from Loubet, setting a top-three time on the opening stage of the day, just 0.8 seconds off the fastest time would set his mentality for the weekend. Breen would also see himself in the hunt for a podium from the outset delivering top-three times on the morning loop, resulting in the young pair of crews heading into Friday’s lunchtime service in third and fourth overall respectively, separated by just 1.2 seconds.

In the afternoon loop, Loubet and Breen battled on, trading near-identical times, showcasing the competitive pace of the Puma Hybrid Rally1. At the conclusion of Friday’s running, Loubet sat third, ahead of Breen by just 0.4 seconds, and 15.1 seconds from the rally lead.

Saturday would see another excellent day for Breen, shooting to second overall on the opening stage of the day and claiming M-Sport’s first stage win of the rally on Stage 12 with Loubet completing third fastest.

After a disappointing first day for Gus Greensmith, spinning on stage three and stalling the car, losing him significant time, Saturday saw a much improved effort, helping him climb back up the ranks after Friday’s setback.

As temperatures soared during the afternoon loop, Breen and Loubet would continue to show their impressive pace and with the final two stages of the day cancelled, Breen would round out the day heading the M-Sport lineup in second place while Frenchman Loubet would end up fourth overall but still in the hunt for third. Greensmith’s solid and mature approach saw him climb from 25th on Friday to end Saturday in seventh in his bid to secure precious championship points for the team.

For Breen and Loubet, the goal on Sunday’s stages was simple: bring home a strong result for the team, they would deliver. Their efforts secured M-Sport’s third podium of the season thanks to Breen, along with a career-best result for Loubet in fourth and a solid seventh position finish for Greensmith.

There was also success for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team in the WRC2 category, as Finnish duo Jari Huttunen and co-driver Mikko Lukka completed a strong weekend in their Fiesta Rally2, claiming six stage wins throughout the rally weekend, including the final power stage on Sunday.

Adrien Fourmaux started the rally off with impressive pace, building up a strong hold to fifth position by the end of Friday. His pace continued to develop throughout Saturday until disaster struck, catching a tree on the inside of a high-speed right-hand corner on Stage 17 bringing out the red flags, thankfully the crews emerged unscathed. Fourmaux’s accident ultimately led to his retirement from the event due to damage to the car.

Craig Breen, second overall, said:
“Obviously it’s been a great weekend, really happy with how everything went. It was important that we got a good result here after a couple of difficult rallies. So we’re definitely feeling better, and looking forward to Kenya now, having this good result in the bag should give us a bit more confidence.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet, fourth overall, said:
“Really happy about this weekend for only the third race with the car and the team, we can be proud about what we’ve done. Thanks to everybody, they did a fantastic job to build such a nice guy, so to the mechanics and to everyone, thank you a lot.”

Gus Greensmith, seventh overall, said:
“Obviously not a good weekend at all, really struggled to find a good feeling with the car for some reason this weekend, and could just never really find the confidence. So we spent a lot of the weekend just trying new things, looking towards Kenya, and today on the penultimate stage that was the first time I felt comfortable with the car, and the speed showed it. At least we’ve gone in the right direction, but yeah, not a great weekend.”

Jari Huttunen, third overall, WRC2, said:
“We’re quite happy. Especially on the pace, it is there, and there was a really nice feeling. I don’t know what it is, maybe back luck with the two punctures, and we lost quite a lot of time, but not really any more problems with the car, so overall we’re quite happy.

“Our next event is Estonia, it’s difficult to say now, but hopefully we can make a good impression there also, but for sure it is a bit more difficult than this event.”

Adrien Fourmaux, Retired Saturday evening, said:
“It was a disappointing end to what was looking to be a strong weekend for the team. The plan for this event was to collect some good points for the team, which we were on track to do, but unfortunately a small mistake resulted in an accident.

“I’d like to apologise to the team and thank them for their hard work over the weekend.”

Rich Millener, Team Principal, said:
"What can I say, back on the podium is a brilliant feeling. I would like to once again extend my thanks to the whole team who worked three very long days to get the cars here, and Craig and Pierre have helped deliver a result for them. I am really happy to see the pace of the Puma Hybrid Rally1 on gravel and I think this could be the start of some strong results for our young and energetic team. Congratulations also to Jari and Mikka who delivered another strong result in WRC2. I look forward to Kenya in a couple of weeks time – we have a lot of work to do before then, but bring it on!”

 

Featured Build: John Van Buskirk 2002 NB Mazda MiataFeatured Build: John Van Buskirk
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In the future, I hope to add a full cage and then a built transmission with custom gearing and a 3.9 final drive. With those additions, I may be able to call it ‘done’."

 

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Bakkerud leads Dreyer & Reinbold domination of Sweden Nitro Rallycross

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emailBy Dominik Wilde | July 31, 2022 11:00 AM ET

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with JC Raceteknik remain undefeated in the 2022-23 Nitro Rallycross season, with Andreas Bakkerud leading a 1-2-3-4-5 for the team in Sweden.

The reigning European Rallycross champion made the best start in the eight-car, six-lap final, closing off top qualifier and polesitter Oliver Eriksson, and led for the duration of the race.

It wasn’t a straightforward run to the flag though, with teammate Robin Larsson hounding him for the first three laps, until he opted for the longer joker lap on the fourth tour. Bakkerud went a lap later, but retained the lead comfortably, crossing the line 1.963s ahead of Larsson.

Four-time World Rallycross and reigning Extreme E champion Johan Kristoffersson resisted a challenge from Fraser McConnell to take third on what was a one-off appearance in the series for him.

Kristoffersson jokered at the same time at Larsson, and one lap after McConnell, who rubbed doors with him going into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap. Resolute defending from Kristoffersson meant he retained third, but McConnell continued to shadow him until the finish line.

World Rally Championship regular Ole Christian Veiby completed the DRR JC sweep in fifth, with American racer Conner Martell claiming sixth. He was the final finisher, with Kris Meeke and Eriksson both failing to finish due to punctures.

For Meeke, it compounded a disastrous weekend with software issues preventing his car from running for all of Saturday’s qualifying. Eriksson meanwhile won the qualifying battle bracket and his opening heat on Sunday, couldn’t complete the job in the main event thanks to his flat tire retirement.

 

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