Last weekend was Rally Australia and was an interesting battle on so many different levels.
As well as being round 10 of the World Rally Championship, in which Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen were locked in an intense battle to become World Rally Champion.
Five Kiwis made the trip across the ditch. As part of his Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) campaign that has been largely backed by the Pirelli Star Driver campaign, Mark Tapper took a Reece Jones Rallysport Evo 9 across the ditch. Also running in the PWRC as stand in drivers were Richard Mason (WRX) and Stewart Taylor (Evo 9).
Hayden Paddon was another Kiwi taking an Evo 9 over the Tasman, chasing the same Asia Pacific Pirelli Star Driver scholarship that Tapper was the recipient of this year. The Star Driver prize was based on a points system over the first nine special stages, with five for a stage win, four for second etc. as well as several pre rally tests. Paddon was up against 3 of Australia’s greatest rising talents plus the best China could offer for the winner takes all prize.
Rounding out the Kiwi contingent was Trevor Taylor in his state of the art Evo 10.
The event was being run on roads that had never been rallied on before around the border between New South Wales and Queensland on the East Coast of Australia, meaning nobody had the advantage of local knowledge.
By the time the crews returned to the first service halt after special stage 9 (they were rather short stages), Tapper had already retired the Mitsubishi after rolling the car and loosing all of it’s coolant. On the positive side, Paddon had well and truly scored the most points in the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship, now there was just a nervous wait before the judges released their decision the following day. Such was Paddon’s pace over the morning that he was leading group N and sitting 10th overall. Right there with his was Richard Mason, holding down eleventh, second Group N and leading the PWRC, showing that Kiwis really can fly. Stewart Taylor wasn’t disgracing himself either by holding down a points scoring position in the PWRC, not a bad effort considering it is only his second rally back after a nasty heel injury.
Up front, Citroen played a master tactical move. With the road position for the following day being decided before the days final two tarmac super special stages, they did not put new rear tyres on their cars, meaning that they lost just enough time on the afternoons gravel stages to not have to run first on the road, meaning the slippery loose gravel would be swept away for them. Then, once the road position was decided they would gain time with the more worn tyres providing more grip on tarmac (The blocks on the tyres are more worn down so flex less which gives more grip).
By the end of day two, Citroen had this time slowed on the last gravel stages to put Mikko Hirvonen first on the road for the final day, then on the tarmac stages Loeb moved ahead, albeit by 0.1 of a second, and Dani Sordo in the second Citroen drew level. With the gap at three points in the fight for the World Championship in Hirvonen’s favour, Sordo had a very important role to play in giving his team-mate (Loeb) the best chance of winning the championship for the sixth time.
Also announced on the second day was the fact that Paddon had secured the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship for 2010, a huge boost that gives him six fully funded rounds of the World Rally Championship in a PWRC car, a prize valued at around 500,000 euros (Over NZD$1 million). Now to round out his stellar season, he goes to the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship in Nelson needing to finish ninth on one leg to defend his 2008 championship, but there will be more about that event in a post later in the week.
After a day long battle, Mikko Hirvonen couldn’t keep up with Loeb and his superior road position. For a while it looked like Dani Sordo might also beat Hirvonen, something that would have all but ended Hirvonen’s title chances with the next round being on Tarmac, a surface both Citroen drivers love and Hirvonen is not so fond of. However more drama was to come when both Citroen drivers were handed a one minute penalty for an incorrect sway bar link, something the team bosses are describing as an “Administration error” and “not performance or reliability enhancing”. Call it what you like, it means Hirvonen took the win and his lead in the championship is five points instead of one.
Of the Kiwis, Paddon was top, ninth overall, first group N and one of the big talking points of the rally. There is no doubt that at just 22 years of age, he has a big future in the sport.
Second of the PWRC runners, third group N and 11th overall was Richard Mason, continuing his trend of finishing on the PWRC podium at every attempt.
Stewart Taylor also impressed with fifth amongst the PWRC runners and 14th overall, seven places better than his father Trevor.
Until next time.
Cheers
Blair
]]>Well day one of Rally Wairarapa has been and gone with Hayden Paddon taking a fairly dominant victory despite a puncture that reduced his winning margin to 15 seconds over local driver Richard Mason with Emma Gilmour rounding out the top three.
In finishing fourth, Geof Argyle did enough to not only win the Open class for the leg but wrap up the championship and Ben Hunt took out the Fiesta Sporting Trophy and outright two-wheel drive honours. He and Patrick Malley were locked in a great battle until Malley hit a bridge, costing him four minutes and the resultant damage meant he had to cruise for the days last two stages. The expected challenge of Aaron Cook never came, he chased brake problems until retiring his new Honda Civic half way through the day.
Cheers
Blair
]]>Top seeded of the two-wheel drives and surely the favourite to be the quickest is Aaron Cook, although the car he will be running is a mystery. It will be either his trusty Honda Jazz (with Integra Type R running gear) or his new Civic. Unfortunately event reports have done nothing more than confuse me with it said at different times that the Jazz and then the Civic will be used???????
Chasing him hard will be pretty much the whole Fiesta brigade, Patrick Malley won last year from Ben Jagger. Ben Hunt, Dominick Unterberger and Daniel Harris are all rookies to the event and Harris will also have to get used to new co-driver Paul Fallon so that will certainly be an interesting battle.
Throw into the mix Reg Cook’s Nissan Micra, Matt Sumerfield’s Diesel Skoda Fabia, Tony Foster’s hotrod Fiesta and series debutant Campbell Wilson in a Toyota Corolla. Although they are unlikely to challenge for outright victory they will be sure to keep the others on their toes.
Will keep you up to date throughout the event.
Cheers
Blair
]]>Next weekend is the Rally Wairarapa and it is shaping up to be the most interesting round of the national championship to date.
Last year it was the opening rally of both the New Zealand Rally Championship and the season. Based in Masterton, it is of course Richard Mason’s home event and he had won every Rally Wairarapa staged. But last year the non-NZRC entry of Andrew Hawkeswood took a comfortable victory, then wound everyone up at the prizegiving.
As Hawkeswood took the microphone to make is victory speech, he told the crowd he would need his help. He then said “Knock Knock.” “Who’s there?” replied the crowd. “Richard.” “Richard who?” “Exactly”………….
This year Hawkeswood is part of the open class in the NZRC and Mason is running the same car as last year, so the battle will be resumed, Hawkeswood keen to keep the trophy and Mason sure to want to regain it.
But neither of them will have it easy. Hayden Paddon ran here last year debuting his Left Hand drive Evo 9, something that he is now used to but last year it was new to him and caused a few problems. This year Paddon is leading the New Zealand Rally Championship and has won the last two rounds so watch out for him.
Geof Argyle is going to what is the closest to being his ‘home’ event and barring disaster, is sure to wrap up the open class 4wd and will be another in contention on the fast Wairarapa roads.
After running an older and now sold Evo 8 over the first 3 NZRC rounds, Chris West is now behind the wheel of one of Ralliart New Zealand’s Production World Championship Evo 9 for this event so will be sure to be on the pace.
Along with Mason, Emma Gilmour will fly the Subaru flag. So far she has cemented her standing as New Zealand’s fastest woman and has been snapping at the heels of the leaders so who knows?
Then there are a few ‘dark horses’ in Glenn Inkster, Sloan Cox, Matt Jansen, Stephen Barker and Keiran Hall.
Then there are the two-wheel drives but we will save them for next week.
Cheers
Blair
]]>Back from Rotorua now, it was a good weekend but my role was changed to placing the arrows out at least an hour before any stages started so unusually for me I don’t have much info to share!
What I can tell you is that the new Nissan R35 GTR has taken it’s first victory on New Zealand soil in the hands of Tony Quinn, edging out local boy Dean Sumner in his Evo 9 and Stace Hopper took out third in his widebody Impreza.
In the classics Brent Emerson’s Holden Commodore took out the win. PJ Johnston lead early in his awesome Ford RS200 until a hydraulic failure in the clutch system ended his event after stage five, having already opened up a 2 minute lead. Second place went to Tony Butler took second in his Holden powered Cheetah, unfortunately that means that the general not only won the classics but took a 1-2, not so good for a blue oval fan like myself.
Many of the favourites in both the Modern and Classic competitions copped massive time penalties for speeding in the H.I.S. speed restriction zones. At one minute per km/h over the 50 km/h limit, the penalties were definitely steep and possibly the worst affected was Barry Kirk-Burnand, a ten minute penalty dropping him from second to ninth in Classic.
The third round of the Northern Rallysprint Series is being held in Rotorua this weekend, hopefully an entry list will be out later in the week and I’ll have some more news on that later in the week.
Cheers
Blair
]]>Whangarei was a fantastic event, the Kiwi’s proved that they are a force to be reckoned with. Hayden Paddon showed the way home with a convincing victory despite being first car on the road. Having said that, Richard Mason was even further in front until his turbo expired four stages from home.
Cody Crocker took yet another second on New Zealand soil and Brendan Reeves took third in Emma Gilmour’s Impreza, a fantastic effort in a new car. Brendo could have battled all afternoon on Sunday with Crocker but lost about 30 seconds in the smoke from Mason’s turbo, smoke that lingered for about 20 minutes!
The Fiesta battle was another interesting one, Daniel Harris was finally showing the real pace he showed last year in his Evo 3, until he left the road in spectacular fashion on day one, leaving the victory for the leg to Patrick Malley. Malley got stuck in third gear fro day two, making it very easy for Ben Jagger to take victory on home soil.
The open class was another great battle, Geof Argyle taking yet another win, but this time both Glenn Inkster and Stephen Barker (In his third different car for the third event of the season!) finished second and third respectively on both legs, both guys having a change of fortune that will hopefully stay with them, although Argyle is all but over the finish line as far as wrapping up the championship.
This weekend is Targa Rotorua and if the weather holds off it should be a cracker event with around eight or nine cars that can win the event. Clark Proctor has entered (although whether or not he makes it will be anyones guess, the car still has plenty to be done on it) and last year was leading this event by about four minutes when the bearings stopped playing ball. Tony Quinn, fresh from victory in Targa Tasmania, will be there or there abouts in the latest version of Nissans supercar, the GT-R. PJ Johnston is dragging the indecently quick RS200 group B supercar out and if it can last the distance will be on the pace. Last event winner Jason Gill in his Evo 9 will be quick and it will be interesting to see how Dean Sumner goes in his group N car. Gavin Riches will be tough to beat in his 911 GT3 RS and then there is a brace of Evo’s and Impreza’s that will be competitive, especially if the rain can’t keep away. Included in this bunch are the Hopper’s, Stace and Leigh, Malcolm Smith, the Giddy brothers and Kevin Deane.
It will be neat to check out some of the cars competing, the beauty of Targa being anything goes. Where else can you see a P6 Rover swapping times with a De Tomaso Pantera, and BMW M3’s?
The roads in the area are very fast and flowing and outside of Taranaki are surely some of the best Tarmac roads in the country, but they can also be very treacherous in the wet. The forecast is offering plenty of wet for Friday (Just documentation etc.) lightening slightly for Saturday with showers for Sunday, heres hoping it stays dry and that unlike last year, seven cars don’t leave the road on the first stage!
Until (hopefully) Saturday night.
Cheers
Blair
]]>My name is Blair Bartels and welcome to my blog. Basically I will be going to as many motorsport events as possible and keeping you up to date with as much of the news/gossip as i can get my hands on. Also you can post comments or ask questions within the comments section which I will be more than happy to answer.
This weekend I am off to Whangarei for the Rally Whangarei which doubles as the third round of the New Zealand and Asia Pacific Rally Championships, so the action should be hot. The roads up there were, until 2005, used as part of our round of the World Rally Championship and were voted amongst the best and most enjoyable in the world championship so the drivers and co-drivers are in for a real treat.
Last years winner, Chris West, will be unlikely to repeat his win having down-graded from an Evo 9 to an Evo 8 and has struggled with pace in the last two rounds. My bet is with last years Runner-up who won the year before that at the tender age of 20, Hayden Paddon. This year though, he is running as part of the APRC as well as NZRC so he will start a less than ideal third on the road.
A bit of an unknown will be the speed of the Evo X’s. At the last round, Sloan Cox’s team were talking about winding up the boost which would give them a bit more grunt (Although having been for a ride in that car, it has plenty!), Kingsley Thompson’s model is belived to have been fitted with a Modena (top of the line) Dogbox for this event after running with synchros so far. The big unknown over here will be the speed of Gaurav Gill in the MRF prepared version.
Others to watch will be Cody Crocker and Emma Gilmour in the motor image team, Aussie Brendan Reeves and Kiwi Richard Mason all in Subaru’s.
Don’t hesitate to ask any questions, I will do my best to answer them, and any feedback would be most appreciated!
Cheers
Blair
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