First pictures: New Ford in `06 livery.
Ford of Europe officially unveiled the all-new Ford Focus RS World Rally Car in its 2006 livery Thursday at the Bologna Motor Show. To see images of the new Focus in its ’06 livery – just go to www.crash.net, click on the WRC channel and then under ‘Pictures and Video’, select ‘Latest Pictures’ – 8 images are currently displayed on page 1. Pictures courtesy of Ford.
Galli: GB is fast – and I think quite difficult.
Mitsubishi’s Gigi Galli has revealed that he will adopt the same strategy on the Rally GB this weekend as he did in Germany – namely to be patient and learn as much as possible by completing the whole event. Galli has never previously competed in Wales, although the Italian has undertaken the recce twice, once with Pirelli in 2003 – and once for his own experience in 2004. It will therefore be another steep learning curve for the 32-year-old. “For me, I will have the same attitude [in GB as] I had in Germany, nothing more, nothing less,” he confirmed.
Kresta: Finland like F1 in the forests!
Ford’s Roman Kresta has admitted that he found the pace on the Rally Finland ‘just incredible’. The Czech, who was competing on the event for the very first time, adopted a risk-free strategy throughout as he concentrated on learning the characteristics of the technically difficult Finnish stages. After going off the road and losing further time with hydraulic problems on the opening two legs, the 29-year-old climbed from 30th at the end of leg two to 23rd at the finish. “At last I’ve had a good day Sunday! I just drove to finish,” he noted.
Skoda: Event `waiver` good news.
Skoda team manager, Joan Sureda has welcomed the announcement by the FIA at the end of last month, that they and Mitsubishi can miss three events in 2006, if they so choose. Skoda was understood to be unhappy about having to take in 16 events again next season, as they thought it would quite simply overstretch their budget. Confirmation then that they can now choose to only do 13, should ensure they compete, something that is a boost for the WRC in light of the decision by Citroen and Peugeot to pull out at the end of this season.
Pons gears up for Xsara debut with new co-driver.
Production Car WRC competitor, Xavier Pons will make his debut with the OMV backed Kronos Racing squad next weekend, when he drives a Citroen Xsara WRC on the Acropolis Rally. Greece is Pons’ first event with the team, after agreeing a deal late last month to contest six ‘senior’ WRC events, in addition to those he is already committed to contesting as part of the PCWRC.
Panizzi: New active differential helps a lot.
Mitsubishi’s Gilles Panizzi has hailed the team’s latest electronic gizmo – their ‘active centre differential system’ that they will use for the first time in Mexico this week. Panizzi, who returns to action after sitting out the Swedish Rally, when Gigi Galli drove the second car, is more a fan of asphalt events, however the Frenchman likes competing on the gravel in Mexico, and did so for the first time last year, when he finished eighth. “I did two [test] days and maybe 350 test kilometres and I continue to say the car is getting better and better,” said Panizzi.
Skoda appoints new team manager.
The Skoda ApexF1 World Rally team has revealed that a new face will be joining the outfit in 2005, when Joan Sureda takes over from Antonio Rodriguez as team manager. Sureda, like Rodriguez, will be familiar to many people from his days as assistant team manager at SEAT Sport. Sureda is no stranger to the current WRC having been a regular competitor, co-driving for Ferran Font and, in 2002, Paco Roig. Skoda meanwhile also announced that Armin Schwarz will have a new co-driver next year.
Citroen C4 WRC – technical specifications.
Main technical specifications for Citroen’s new C4 WRC – the successor to the Xsara WRC. Engine: Turbo-compressed, developed from the XU7JP4 engine Position: transversal, inclined 25 ? towards the rear Number of cylinders: 4 in line Aluminium engine block Capacity (cm3): 1998 Maximum power (hp/revs/min): 315 at 5 500 Maximum Torque (mkg/revs/min): 58 at 2750 Chassis:
Peugeot ‘disappointed’, but will not appeal.
Peugeot Sport has confirmed that they will not appeal, following the exclusion of Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera from the Cyprus Rally, in which the former finished first, while the latter was fifth. According to a statement released by the outfit while they are ‘disappointed’, they now wish to focus on the forthcoming events, the next of which, is the Acropolis Rally next weekend. A team statement read:
First pictures: Ford Focus RS WRC 04.
The Ford Rallye Sport team today [Friday] unveiled the Focus RS World Rally Car 04, after it successfully completed the FIA homologation process this week. The car, which will make it debut later this month on the Propecia Rally New Zealand, in the hands of Markko Martin and Francois Duval, is an ‘evolutionary’ development of the Focus RS WRC 03, which finished one-two last month in Mexico. To see images of it, just go to Crash.net, click on the World Rally channel and then under Pictures, select ‘Latest Pictures’ – four are currently displayed on page 1.