After teammate Mikko Hirvonen surrendered his lead to Petter Solberg early on in the rally after crashing out, Jari-Matti Latvala pushed hard to grab the lead back for the Ford Team and after taking the lead after stage 7 held on to win in his home rally, Neste Oil Rally Finland. It is often said that the Finnish drivers have a home-field advantage in Finland and that seemed to ring true again this year. In winning, Latvala became the youngest driver to capture a victory in Finland. “It’s a dream and I can’t even imagine it yet! It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a small boy!”, exclaimed Latvala after the event.
Jari-Matti Latvala drove his way to victory in his home rally in Finland
Don’t forget to set your DVRs for tomorrow for the X Games 16 Rally and Super Rally events. I’m guessing the Super Rally is going to bring some excitement and may be something worth watching a few times over. Just about anything can and will happen with 4 cars sliding and jumping together on the same course. Both events will feature some big names from Rally America and other motorsports.
Travis Pastrana tests out his 2011 Subaru STI Rally Car in preparation for X Games 16
A quick Rally Finland update. Day 2 is under way and Jari-Matti Latvala has just claimed slim lead over Petter Solberg, just 9 seconds behind. Citreon teammates Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb are currently sitting in 3rd and 4th, respectively, followed by Dani Sordo in 5th driving for the Citroen Junior Team. Mikko Hirvonen was looking to repeat his success at last year’s Rally Finland and to get back on track and score some points in the driver’s standings, but suffered a huge crash, rolling several times. Mikko was leading his home rally by just under 5 seconds, before rolling his car 5 times. Neither Mikko or his co-driver were injured in the crash, but Hirvonen’s Ford Focus RS suffered substantial damage and will not be able to continue.
Video (onboard and outside) of Mikko Hirvonen as he crashes out of Rally Finland in his Ford Focus RS.
A couple months back the amazing Ferrari 599XX broke the Nurburgring track record, well Pagani couldn’t let that go unchallenged. So Pagani brought out it’s answer the Pagani Zonda R and broke the 599XX’s record time, setting a new record of 6:47. Now you can argue that neither of these cars are actually road legal or would you drive either one of these on a daily commute, but the times and laps are amazing to say the least. Watch the Pagani Zonda R’s super fast lap of the Nurburgring below.
Video of the Pagani Zonda R setting the Nurburgring track record.
BMW announced that MINI will be returning to competition in the World Rally Championship starting at select events in 2011 and will compete in the entire 2012 season and ‘for many years’ to come after that. The MINI rally car will be based on the Clubman and will be developed in partnership with ProDrive, which was behind the Subaru Rally Team from 1989 – 2008. The Clubman will be fitted with a 1.6 Liter turbo charged 4 cylinder BMW Motorsport engine.
The 2011 MINI Countryman will serve as the base to the WRC rally car
The Project BMW 135i STU made a trip down to Kansas City to the SCCA Midwest Divisional event last weekend. The event was held at the MCC Performance Driving School in Independence, MO. The courses were set up on a section of the mini road course at the site. The GotCone.com Project BMW 135i STU car finished 6th in the STU class.
Project BMW 135i STU at 2010 Kansas City SCCA Midwest Divisional
The Rally America National Series ended with a bang. Antoine L’Estage entered the event 13 points ahead of Bill Bacon in the driver’s points standings, meaning a finish of 5th or higher would give him his first ever overall Rally America Championship. Not only did L’Estage make a finishing of 5th or higher, but the Rockstar Energy EVO ended on top with a win at the New England Forest Rally.
Antoine L'Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard drive their Mitsubishi EVO X to the 2010 Rally America Championship
Rhys Millen had one goal in mind at the 2010 Pikes Peak Hill Climb and that was to break the 10 minute mark and have the fastest time overall. Although he fell short by just over a minute, he still was very fast. Here’s a video that looks at his attempt and some of the challenges he faced trying to take his specially built, 1,850 pound, 750 horse power V6 Red Bull Hyundai Genesis up the 12.52 mile course that makes up the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Documentary video of Rhys Millen’s attempt to beat the Pikes Peak World Record in the Red Bull Hyundai Genesis
Rally Bulgaria made its debut as a World Rally Championship event this last weekend. Rally Bulgaria marks the start of the four asphalt WRC events for the year. The event was complete with its fleet of sports cars, and with the safety of the event handed to attorneys from oregonaccidentattorney.com. The Citroen team looks to take full advantage of the asphalt stages and did just that taking both of the top spots. Sebastien Loeb easily beat out team mate Dani Sordo by almost half a minute for the victory and extends his driver’s point lead to 51 over Citroen Junior driver Sebastien Ogier. Loeb secured the lead early on Friday and held onto it throughout most of the event to easily secure another WRC victory.
Sebastien Loeb claims victory at the inaugural WRC Rally Bulgaria event. (Photo courteous RallyBulgaria.com)
Two new Hyundai commercials have recently appeared on YouTube spoofing Top Gear and its cast, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig. Each cast member is portrayed as an animal. Clarkson is a moose, Hammond a Hamster, The Stig as a ‘Stag’ and fittingly Captain Slow is portrayed as a Turtle. I wonder if Hyundai asked permission for their ‘Top Deer’ spoof and if not what Top Gear’s response will be.
