Henning out!

Weirdly, not many WRC news websites have picked up on this yet, well, except the WRC website but if they were slow on the uptake something would be a bit wrong.

Anyway, the big news is that Henning Solberg is out of Rally Cyprus already – he retired even before he got to the first stage on the road section from service.

What are these people thinking???? Maybe the driver was a Citroen fan…..

Apparently he crashed into the back of a truck which pulled out in front of him after indicating left but then turning right into Henning’s path.

I wonder how insurance details are dealt with in situations like this??? A Ford Focus RS WRC v a Toyota pickup, hmmmm.

Luckily no one was hurt but Henning was forced to pull out of the rally and we’re left waiting for news on whether the car is able to re-enter under SuperRally.

With Rally Cyprus being a mixed surface event it promised to be an exciting one from the off and it certainly is that. He’s a nice guy is Henning Solberg, just doesn’t have the best of luck sometimes does he, bless him.

Weekly round-up 16th Feb to 22nd Feb

All the important news from last week in a slightly more condensed version.

• Petter Solberg could be stepping up to a Citroen C4 as early as Rally Portugal in April.

• According to Autosport two manufacturer team cars were tampered with on Rally Norway. Local drivers Henning Solberg and Mads Ostberg had their damper settings interferred with, Henning’s the night before Shakedown and Ostberg’s the night before the final leg of the rally – I’ve been to a Parc Ferme before and have been shooed away by a big, burly security guard. During the night there are at least two of these scary security staff on the gates, if this was sabotage then what were these guards doing at the time?

• Max Mosley headed off to Paris this week to chair a WRC marketing seminar to further the debate about the future of the WRC – yes, shock horror, he’s actually taking an interest in the WRC for once.

• The Ford boys jetted off on a six day test straight after a ‘disappointing’ Rally Norway. Both Jari-Matti and Mikko were testing in Sardinia in anticipation of Rally Cyprus, with two days testing on asphalt and four days on gravel Mikko said it was important the team get the right car set-up for driving on asphalt stages but with gravel tyres and suspension, a set-up never used before so it will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Current driver standings – courtesy of wrc.com

														Total
1.	S. LOEB	10	10											20
2.	M. HIRVONEN	6	8											14
3.	D. SORDO	8	4											12
4.	H. SOLBERG	5	5											10
5.	J-M LATVALA	0	6											6
6.	C. ATKINSON	4	-											4
7.	M. WILSON	2	2											4
8.	S. OGIER	3	0											3
9.	P. SOLBERG	-	3											3
10.	K. AL-QASSIMI	1	-											1
11.	U. AAVA	0	1