|
The first weekend of April saw an action packed Motorsport calendar. The World Rally Championship was hosted on the Algarve in Portugal, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in Kenya and the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship from Brands Hatch, all provided high quality action.
A hot and dry Algarve greeted the World Rally into Portugal, and at the same time they welcomed back a pair of WRC favourites. Prodrive returned with a privately entered Subaru Impreza with no other than Marcus Gronholm at the wheel, a move which would surely prove beneficial to the sport as a whole. When Gronholm retired from full time driving and left Ford, his seat was awarded to Jari-Matti Latvala. The young Finn set about showing why he was chosen, with a string of fastest stage times. His lead was soon cut short, as his car rolled over a safety fence and down a substantial embankment. The car was destroyed, and luckily both Latvala and his co-driver Miikka Anttila were not seriously hurt in the accident. Mikko Hirvonen ended the day in the lead, and would have hoped to stay there to claim his first victory of 2009. He failed to do so, as a combination of blistering pace from Sebastien Loeb, as well as quickly degrading tyres saw the pair swap positions. Marcus Gronholm was running well and was holding second for much of the opening day, but a roll on day two saw him retire. For all the Gronholm fans reading this, fear not there is some strong suggestions that he will return again this year. Loeb closed out the rally to claim yet another victory, with Hirvonen in second. Dani Sordo third and yet another strong performance from Petter Solberg in fourth.
The Intercontinental Rally Challenge moved to Africa for the Safari Rally in Kenya. Many of the leading drivers and teams opted not to travel to the notorious car breaking event, meaning that the field would comprise of a high number of local drivers. With this in mind it was probably likely that the eventual victor would be a Kenyan, and this held true. Carl Tundo took the win ahead of expatriate Alistair Cavenagh. Mitsubishi dominated proceedings with a clean sweep of the top eight. The majority of drivers did not enter the event, and the overall standings remain as before, with Freddy Loix leading from Sebastien Ogier, Sebastien Ogier, Giandomenico Basso, Kris Meeke and Nicolas Vouilloz.
Moving to Brands Hatch in Kent for the BTCC, VX Racing duo Matt Neal and Fabrizio Giovanardi locked out the front row in qualifying, but both made poor starts in the first race. They were passed by the typically rapid starting BMW pairing of Colin Turkington and Robert Collard. Their lead was short lived as Neal and Giovanardi passed to secure the first two places, with Turkington third and Collard fourth. Young VX Racing driver Andrew Jordan drove well, until his Vauxhall Vectra lost drive late on as he was aiming for a podium finish. The second race saw Collard secure the first victory in the BTCC for the Motorbase prepared Airwaves BMW team. He drove to perfection through the race, and deserved the top step of the podium. Turkington claimed second with Neal third. Turkington's team mate Stephen Jelley claimed his highest ever finish, as he took fourth. BTCC newcomer Jonathan Adam drove an exceptional race from near the back of the grid to claim 9th overall. As per the previous seasons, the grid for the final race of the meeting is determined by a draw to see how many of the top 10 from race 2 are reversed. The draw revealed all ten would be reversed, handing Jason Plato a golden opportunity to shine in the Chevrolet Lacetti from pole position. Up until very close to race day he had been without a drive, until RML presented a chance to drive one of their Lacettis from last season's World Touring Car Championship. The race began well for Plato as he led youngster Jonathan Adam from the line, with the two fighting for position at the front. Adam went on to wine the race, but with great controversy surrounding it. As the battling pair entered Paddock Hill bend, Adam simply braked too late, and touched Plato. Plato's car was fully sideways and he saved the car with a display of miraculous car control, and claimed second. However the stewards would later issue Adam with a 4 second penalty to promote Plato to first and drop Adam to second. Taking third was Matt Neal, as he completed a solid opening weekend, in his quest for a third Championship Trophy. His team mate Giovanardi faired poorly in races two and three. The Italian suffered a puncture in the second race and dropped well back, and in the final race he suffered an accident which was a result of a tussle between Rob Collard and Stephen Jelley.
Next on the calendar is the V8 Supercar event at Hamilton in New Zealand, running from the 17th to the 19th of April 2009.
Results
Rallying
WRC
Final Positions (Top 8)
1. Sebastien Loeb
2. Mikko Hirvonen
3. Daniel Sordo
4. Petter Solberg
5. Henning Solberg
6. Mads Ostberg
7. Federico Villagra
8. Khalid Al Qassimi
Driver Standings
1. Sebastian Loeb 40 Pts
2. Mikko Hirvonen 30 Pts
3. Daniel Sordo 23 Pts
4. Petter Solberg 14 Pts
4= Henning Solberg 14 Pts
6. Matthew Wilson 8 Pts
7. Jari-Matti Latvala 6 Pts
8. Chris Atkinson 4 Pts
8= Federico Villagra 4 Pts
10. Sebastien Ogier 3 Pts
10= Conrad Rautenbach 3 Pts
10= Mads Ostberg 3 Pts
10= Khalid Al Qassimi 3 Pts
Manufacturer Standings
1. Citroen Total 64 Pts
2. BP-Ford 40 Pts
3. Stobart Ford 27 Pts
4. Citroen Junior 11 Pts
5. Munchi's Ford 11 Pts
IRC
Final Positions (Top 8)
1. Tundo/Jessop
2. Cavenagh/Haji
3. Rose/Patel
4. Anwar/Sheikh
5. Alex Horsey/Doig
6. Mitchel/Challen
7. Hans/Gitau
8. Peter Horsey/Sassoon
Driver Standings
1. Freddy Loix 13 Pts
2. Sebastien Ogier 10 Pts
2= Giandomenico Basso 10 Pts
2= Kris Meeke 10 Pts
5. Nicolas Vouilloz 8 Pts
6. Stephane Sarrazin 6 Pts
7. Jan Kopecky 5 Pts
8. Alejandro Cancio 4 Pts
9. Frederic Romeyer 3 Pts
9= Rafael Tulio 3 Pts
10. Luis Tedesco 2 Pts
10= Olivier Burri 2 Pts
Manufacturer Standings
1. Peugeot 36 Pts
2. Abarth 14 Pts
3. Mitsubishi 8 Pts
4. Skoda 5 Pts
Touring Cars
BTCC
Race 1 Final Positions (Top 10)
1. Matt NEAL
2. Fabrizio GIOVANARDI
3. Colin TURKINGTON
4. Robert COLLARD
5. Adam JONES
6. Jason PLATO
7. Stephen JELLEY
8. Harry VAULKHARD
9. Dan EAVES
10. Martyn BELL
Race 2 Final Positions (Top 10)
1. Robert COLLARD
2. Colin TURKINGTON
3. Matt NEAL
4. Andrew JORDAN
5. Stephen JELLEY
6. Gordon SHEDDEN
7. Adam JONES
8. Dan EAVES
9. Jonathan ADAM
10. Jason PLATO
Race 3 Final Positions (Top 10)
1. Jason PLATO
2. Jonathan ADAM
3. Matt NEAL
4. Colin TURKINGTON
5. Gordon SHEDDEN
6. Dan EAVES
7. Adam JONES
8. Robert COLLARD
9. Harry VAULKHARD
10. Martyn BELL
Driver Standings
1. Matt NEAL 38 Pts
2. Colin TURKINGTON 32 Pts
3. Robert COLLARD 22 Pts
4. Jason PLATO 16 Pts
5. Jonathan ADAM 14 Pts
6. Adam JONES 12 Pts
6= Fabrizio GIOVANARDI 12 Pts
8. Stephen JELLEY 11 Pts
9. Gordon SHEDDEN 10 Pts
10. Dan EAVES 10 Pts
Manufacturer / Constructor Standings
1. Vauxhall / VX Racing 62 Pts
2. Ford / Team Aon 50 Pts
3. Honda / Team Dynamics 40 Pts
Team Standings
1. VX Racing 53 Pts
2. Team RAC 42 Pts
3. Airwaves BMW 40 Pts
4. Cartridge World Carbon Zero 24 Pts
5. RML 21 Pts
6. Team Dynamics 11 Pts
7. Tempus Sport 5 Pts
8. Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed 2 Pts
Independent Standings
1. Colin TURKINGTON 37 Pts
2. Robert COLLARD 31 Pts
3. Jason PLATO 26 Pts
4. Adam JONES 21 Pts
5. Jonathan ADAM 16 Pts
5= Stephen JELLEY 16 Pts
5= Gordon SHEDDEN 16 Pts
8. Dan EAVES 15 Pts
9. Harry VAULKHARD 10 Pts
10. Martyn BELL 6 Pts
Independent Team Standings
1. Airwaves BMW 39 Pts
2. Team RAC 37 Pts
3. RML 29 Pts
4. Cartridge World Carbon Zero 24 Pts
5. Tempus Sport 16 Pts
|
Latest
