Massive apologies!!!!

Well, it’s been nearly two months since I last graced Remote:Service with a post.

What with finishing university, and graduating with First Class Honours might I add, I’ve been very busy trying to find employment in the wonderful world of journalism, on top of having two holidays in the past month and having to recover from the infamous Staffordshire University Annual Journalism Party.

This search has so far proved very unsuccessful so for the time being all my efforts will be focused on bringing Remote:Service back up to scratch.

What are Citroen playing at?

We’re in the middle of a recession and motorsport has supposedly been hit hard.

Budgets have been capped and drivers, teams and events are struggling to find sponsorship, so why is Citroen continuing to develop the C4 WRC HYbrid4?

So Citroen want a Hybrid World Rally Car under their flashy gazebo do they? Very impressive but wake up guys, it's not going to happen.

The car, which had it’s first competitive test following Rally Portugal, is a partially-electric version of the WRC C4.

Apparently Citroen Racing had a desire to build a competitive yet innovative car and they’ve certainly done that.

The car has an Internal Combustion mode, behaving exactly like one of Citroen’s regular petrol C4 WRCs. An Electric Mode can also be used on road sections and in service parks to quieten the car down. Finally there is a Boost Mode which uses both the petrol engine and an electric motor to give an extra 300 Nm of torque.

Yeah, that’s all well and good, I’m very impressed with all your hard work Citroen, give yourselves a pat on the back.

It’s only a concept car at the moment but Citroen have said they are preparing for the likelihood of environmentally-friendly technologies being mandated in the World Rally Championship in the future.

Right, so if in the future the use of hybrid technology ever becomes legal Citroen will be able to react straight away.

That’s great guys, preparing for the future shows fantastic organisational skills but I just don’t understand where you’re coming from.

Last month rallying had bit of bad news…Max Mosley announced Super2000 cars would replace the World Rally Car format in the WRC from 2011.

Did Citroen not get that memo?

I love the idea of the electric mode – as well as being almost silent on non-competitive roads it’s environmently friendly so it will hush the critics.

Sure it has potential to be great but I just don’t see the point of developing a clever World Rally Car when there’s no chance of it ever seeing the light of day. Surely Citroen should be concentrating on building a brand-spanking new Super2000 car if they want to continue their dominance in rallying.

In my eyes it’s just showing off, plain and simple.

Another one for the girls…..

Remote:Service’s regular readers should know by now that whenever there is a post about Petter Solberg, what follows is a celebration of his loveliness.

So here you go!

In the days when he used to smile all the time, how I miss those days

Ok, so this isn't my definition of "hot stuff" but it makes me chuckle - Petter enjoying the Jordanian way of life

Petter Solberg’s fighting talk

Fighting talk from Petter Solberg

Remote:Service’s favourite blue-eyed boy has come out fighting, telling wrc.com “A fight for third is my goal as soon as I’m on a rally, if I can’t do that there’s no point in driving.”

That’s a bit extreme isn’t it Petter?

We’re all well aware that Petter is a tad melodramatic, he’s not nicknamed ‘Hollywood’ for no reason, but this seems to be a bit OTT even for him.

Let’s think about it logically – he’s fourth in the standings at the moment, nine points behind Dani Sordo, nine points is nothing, right?

Well actually it is.

Dani is about as consistent as rally drivers come and although Petter can boast more stage experience, Dani is driving a much better car so I would be very surprised if Petter is able to keep up with him on all of the remaining events this season.

He’ll have to drive to the absolute limit if he’s to keep up with the pace and we all know what happens when Petter pushes to the extreme…flashback 2004….

I’m not for a second saying Petter shouldn’t have dreams but he’s got to be realistic about his chances.

After Subaru’s shock exit last year we saw a glimmer of the old Petter Solberg magic….Without a drive for 2009 he pulled a privateer team together within a month. He even turned down the offer of a full-time drive in the Courage-Oreca team for the 2009 Le Mans Sportscar series.

Does he really want to give it all up now when he’s poured so much into getting his career back on track?

He’s shown he’s the most dedicated rally driver out there and if he keeps on consistently finishing rallies as he is now I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets picked up by a manufacturer team next year.

A miracle might happen and he might finish this championship in third place, but he’s got to be careful – pushing too much and having goals beyond his reach can only end in a fall from grace.

Exclusive Mikko Hirvonen interview!

Finally, it’s here! Ford’s number one speaks to Remote:Service!

A few days ago I posted the transcript of the interview here….well now you finally have the audio to go with it.

Anyway, here it finally is in all it’s glory. Please bear in mind that this is only a snipet of the original interview, some of his other answers would be irrelevant now.

Oh and apologies for all the background noise, I was in a busy media centre at the time. If you need the transcript to read as you listen just click here

So we now know he loves British rally fans, result!

It’s also interesting to listen how he rated his 2009 championship chances before the season had even begun…..hmmmm after one third placed result and three second placed results so far this season I wonder if he’s still feeling as optimistic about his chances now?

Bringing the WRC to the people: the Citroen Road Show

The Citroen Total World Rally Team have wowed the crowds in a pre-Rally Argentina roadshow, good on them I say.

Seb and Dani headed over to Argentina early to drive the specially-created 300m stage and wrc.com reports that over 50,000 people flocked to the streets of Buenos Aires to watch the so-called Citroen Road Show.

After watching that video all I can say is WOW!

A bit of crazy driving from the King of Cool there, I’ve never seen Seb do that before!

Now, if he can put that much excitement into his regular stage driving the WRC will certainly liven up a notch or two…somehow I think that’s unlikely though as far as old Seb’s concerned.

Wales Rally GB future, a clearer view on what’s going on

Wales Rally GB is in jeopardy and the official WRC website hasn’t even reported on it yet.

All the other stories out there are cram packed full of way too much information and I don’t know about you but I’m confused!

So here’s Remote:Service’s understanding on the matter.

As I’m sure it did for you it came as a bit of a shock for me when last week the Welsh Assembly Government announced it was to end it’s £2.2million a year sponsorship for Wales Rally GB…..but when I thought about it a bit more, although it is unfair, it does kind of make sense.

We all know that the FIA have implemented this daft rotational system – some rallies are in the calendar, some rallies are out and this means that WRGB doens’t have official WRC status in 2010.

In 2006 when the Welsh Assembly agreed to support WRGB until 2011 this rotational system wasn’t in place. Every WRGB until 2011 had WRC status but that is no longer the case so surely they have every right to pull the plug.

I’m no solicitor but surely this denotes a bit of a change in the original contract – an event minus WRC status isn’t the type of event the Welsh Assembly agreed to sponsor is it?

As I mentioned in last week’s Rally Round-up the chief excutive of the company which runs WRGB, International Motor Sports Ltd’s Andrew Coe is now planning to sue the Welsh Assembly Government for breach of contract when surely he should be taking the matter up with the FIA.

The funny thing is the 2010 calendar hasn’t even been finalised yet and won’t be until it’s approved by the World Motor Sports Council later this year – WRGB might still play a part in 2010!

As I said I’m far from being a solicitor and I don’t know the ins and outs of this contract so Remote:Service is not taking any sides….I just think it’s important that fans are kept in the loop about what’s going on with one of the most popular events in the series.

It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Rally round-up 13th April to 19th April

• The future of this year’s Wales Rally GB is in doubt after the Welsh Assembly Government withdrew it’s £2.2million a year funding. WRGB is not an actual WRC event in 2010 and the government told the BBC the rally without WRC status was not the type of event it was willing to sponsor. The contract was due to last until 2011 and WRGB Chief Organiser and Chief Executive of International Motor Sports ltd Andrew Coe now plans to sue for breach of contract.
• With just a few days until Rally Argentina the countdown has begun. The entry list list boasts 59 registered crews but only ten of these are World Rally Championship cars, a poor showing. See here for more details.
• J-WRC driver Michal Kosciuszko is heading to Argentina looking to move into the lead of the championship. He’s going into the event level on points with Martin Prokop but only three cars have been entered in the J-WRC category so it shouldn’t be too hard a task for him….Three cars, I know, how pants is that?
• Details of Rally Russia, the fifth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge have been revealed over on Crash.net. The event is due to take place between the 9-11 July and stages are already being prepared. Last year some drivers complained stages were too demanding on cars so organisers are clearly getting ready early this time.
• Somehow Conrad Rautenbach has landed a drive in the French PH Sport operations. Crash.net have reported that the former African champion who now drives for the Citroen Junior Team will compete in the IRC Sata Rally Acores next month. Driving a Peugeot 207 this will be his IRC debut and the first time he has driven a S2000 car competitively. Conrad’s plan is to gain experience of S2000 machinary, well, we all know that will depends on how long he can keep the car on the road and past results how he’s not that good at that at all.
• Fans on Rallyforum are voicing concern over the future of the Tour de Course, one of the most famous rounds on the WRC calendar. The reports aren’t confirmed yet but like the saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire.

Race of Champion memories

Seen as though all our Race of Champion dreams have been dashed I thought I’d post a few videos of happier times.

Enjoy.

Mattias Ekstrom (a fairly good rally driver don’t you know) beats Micheal Schumacher to the Champions title…nice to see Michael taking it so well.

The McRae tribute in 2007, great to see all the drivers showing their support like that.

Our Sebastien beats David Coulthard to the Champion crown, simple proof that rally drivers do it better….but I suppose it’s not that difficult to beat Coulthard is it?

Race of Champions 2009….in Beijing? Absolute pants

Well it’s been announed that the 2009 Race of Champions is going to be held in the Bird’s Nest, Beijing of all places.

Don’t believe me? Well just take a look here my friends.

It’ll be the first international sports event to take place in China’s national stadium since the 2008 Olympics.

The thing that’s worrying me is the organisers claim to have moved the event because of a fall in spectator tickets being bought.

Right so moving the event half way across the world is going to boost spectator numbers is it?

I admit, Wembley and the Stade de France might not have been as spectacular looking as the Bird’s Nest but they were central locations to motorsport fans all over the world.

How is the average loyal European motorsport fan going to be able to afford to get to the ROC now?

Loyalty to your sport is one thing but having enough money to follow it that far is another thing entirely and this is where the organisers are going to lose out.

Maybe they were thinking that holding the event in such a stadium would attract more TV viewers and this is what makes me laugh the most….

The ROC attracted a primarily European audience. Broadcasted live at a prime time on Eurosport fans could sit down late on a Saturday afternoon and watch motorsport to their hearts content into the early evening.

If Eurosport still plans to broadcast it live us Europeans will have no other option than staying up until the early hours if we want a piece of the live action, that’s not really going to boost viewing numbers is it?!

Plus, it’s the end of a motorsport season, all the drivers will be tired and after months of travelling the globe all they’ll be wanting to do is spend time with their families. All these drivers are based in Europe…how many of them are going to want to hop on another ten hour flight?

I would love to meet the person who came up with this fantastic plan, it’s absolutely pants in my eyes and a real kick in the teeth to dedicated motorsport fans.

Rant over, well maybe not, this one’s going to annoy me for a while.

Daft people, why don’t they think things through?!