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.

One HANs device please, HOW MUCH????

Sebastien Loeb has this week given the HANs device a big thumbs up over on the offical WRC website.

Yes you're safe, but you're also bankrupt

Our world champ has rated the Head and Neck Support device as being the most significant safety feature introduced to the WRC since he began competing.

Seb told wrc.com that although he found the device uncomfortable when he first started wearing it he doesn’t even think about it now and feels strange and ‘too loose’ without it.

I recently went to a marshals training day where I tried one of these little gizmos on and couldn’t believe how light it was. Sure it’s tight round your neck and shoulders and does feels a bit claustrophobic at first but you definitely feel secure.

I’m neither a rally driver or codriver myself but thought I’d have a quick look at how expensive these things are out of interest.

Prices ranged from about £500 to £1500 but for a top-notch HANs device you’d have to fork out £5000!

I know, it’s extortionate!

If motorsport bodies are to introduce this safety feature to all levels of rallying I don’t know how the average rally driver competing for fun is going to be able to afford it especially when the sport is already so expensive to compete in.

Saying that though Jari-Matti’s accident has shown us how important these features are so maybe I shouldn’t be putting a price on safety.

£5000 though……

Petter better?

The plot thickens on this story and I’m still not sure what to believe.

Earlier this week I wrote this post.

Unconfirmed reports from a Norwegian newspaper (see here) were stating that Petter had contracted Legionella during Rally Cyprus.

The funny thing is no one else was reporting it, no not even the WRC website.

Yeah, I was a bit confused too.

Well another Norwegian site is now reporting that Petter’s condition is improving, he’s had treatment and will be competiting in Rally Argentina next weekend.

Oh well, at least we know he’s better, sort of and hopefully the man himself will be able to shed some light himself on what’s been going on come next weekend.

Anyhoo, he was testing an Abarth S2000 last week so things can’t be that dire.

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.

Settle an argument

Well, there’s an argument going on over on rallyforum.

Apparently there aren’t any charismatic drivers in the WRC any more and there haven’t been since the likes of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.

I think these people need to take a minute to look in the dictionary, this is what they’ll find.

cha·ris·ma

a. A rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.

b. The quality or power of an individual to attract, influence, or inspire people [Greek kharis grace, favour]

I don’t like to admit it as I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of Colin but he did attract a hell of a lot of fans, but what about Petter????

I know his days of winning are long gone and almost forgotten but when he was at the height of his success the crowds around the Subaru service area were wonders to behold. You had to be there at least 2 hours before the car came in to service even to be in with a chance of getting an autograph.

I think he had that ‘rare personal quality’. The jumping around, screaming and shouting and pure excited passion commanded the devotion of thousands of people (or maybe just thousands of crazy Norwegians).

Perhaps though, could it be that it isn’t charisma rallying is lacking and this void is down to a distinct lack of head to head fights. It was the old ‘fueds’ that made for fantastic interviews where drivers experessed real fight.

Where are the likes of Burns v McRae, Makinen v the rest of the world???

You certainly don’t get what those guys had with Loeb and Hirvonen.

Dare I say it but perhaps we need a bit of the Bernie Eccleston magic to inject a bit of excitement back into the WRC……

The end is near….

If rumours are to be belived Max ‘the useless one’ Mosley is to get his way when new turbo-free techicnal regs are expected to be approved on March 17.

Oh dear. I know a lot of people are all for these new rules, they’re cheaper and supposed to be safer. If he wants to make things cheaper why can’t the wonderful Max turn his attention away from Formula One and give WRC a look in for once?  How much time has he actually spent working on this proposal? If he’s not out there promoting his beloved F1 he’s off doing, well, you know what.

WRC cars are supposed to be WRC cars not Super 2000. I mean have you actually listened a Super 2000 car?? Has he ever listened to a Super 2000? Obviously not. I’m just be being picky but nothing compares to the sound of a Ford spluttering and popping on a start line, it’s what makes them stand out, now they’ll just sound like any other car out there.

It’s one bad thing after another these days.

Are Prodrive planning for the future??

It’s not Marcus’s return that’s interesting me. Far from it.

He’s clearly using the opportunity to have a bit of fun. He’s said he doesn’t hold any expectations and doesn’t have any predictions of good results, but does Prodrive in the long run and what are their real motives behind this entry?

Marcus was linked to a 2009 drive with Subaru before the Japanese manufacturer pulled out of the WRC but Prodrive director Richard Taylor has said that talks with Marcus continued after December’s announcement and this week an agreement was reached for the Finn to drive in Portugal.

But why???

Unless a some top secret contract was signed Prodrive had no ties with Marcus, they don’t owe him anything so why does he have a drive? I just don’t get it.

Can Marcus turn this....

....in to this?

The history of the Impreza WRC2008 is one we all know well and one we Subaru fans would quite happily like to forget. It’s performance was poor, it struggled to finish rallies let alone keep up with the other cars. Worst of all gone were the days of the beautiful Impreza, it was god awful and looked like an old man’s car!

Why is there then now a ‘latest specification’ of it?

The car, which has already been tested in Norway, is an evolution of the 2008 model used on Wales Rally GB by Solberg and Atko and Taylor has said that although Prodrive isn’t allowed to homologate the 2009 car fully, they can put together the best specification of the car they possibly can. “It’s a one-off event this time but we’ll see if he likes it,” he added, referring to Marcus’s outing.

For me, it is that quote that is the most telling. Could it be that Prodrive are considering entering a privateer M2 team or are just using a former world champ and a famous rally as a marketing tool to drum up support for it’s customer operations?

It will definitely be interesting to see what Marcus can do with this car in comparison with Petter – if he does well, he’s the returning hero and I’ll have to realise that Petter has just lost his sparkle. But if he doesn’t, it confirms the belief that the car is just, well, crap.

If Marcus does manage to tease some raw speed out of the car could Prodrive find some short-term funding and run a team? I don’t know, I really don’t, there are far too many questions surrounding this piece of news.

There is certainly far more to this ‘outing’ than Marcus just having the retired rally driver’s ‘itch’ but yet again it’s a case of sitting back and waiting to see if anything emerges from it. Only time will tell.

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