Thread: Rally Cyprus - revamped for '09

Lets get ready for Round 3!!


Based: Limassol
Surface: Asphalt and gravel
Most recent winner:
Sebastien Loeb



Returning to the WRC after a two year absence, Rally Cyprus has undergone a serious makeover. Once purely a hot, dusty and rough gravel rally - similar in character to the Acropolis Rally of Greece - Cyprus is now the only the rally of the year to feature a mixture of road surfaces. Day one will be contested on asphalt roads, while days two and three will continue to offer the sort of challenging gravel stages for which the event is renowned.


Cyprus is the first of four rallies this year eligible for the WRC, J-WRC and P-WRC competitions.

Petter Solberg is hoping the combination of a new engine, new dampers and some proper preparation time will enable him to put his Citroen Xsara on the podium on the forthcoming Cyprus Rally.


Despite minimal preparation time before his Rally Norway debut as a privateer, Solberg took his 2001-built Xsara to a stage win and sixth place overall. And he?s aiming for better on the mixed surface round in Cyprus which starts on 12 March.
Speaking exclusively to wrc.com, Solberg admitted his car?s existing engine had seen better days, and had suffered from a persistent misfire as well as a thirst for one litre of engine oil each day.
But with the time-consuming business of setting up his rally team now over, the Norwegian said his next focus was improving the speed of his car.
?Citroen are giving me a brand new engine - they have been very positive,? said Solberg. ?Also we have some new dampers from Reiger and, most importantly, the chance to prepare the car properly. We have a day and a half of testing before the rally. I didn?t care so much about the detail in Norway - it was lucky we got it together at all - but for Cyprus things will be different.
?I don?t think I will be happy with sixth place. I want to run without any problems and then fight a little bit higher. I?m not talking about winning here, but maybe third or fourth,? he added.
Solberg also denied that he was planning on swapping his Xsara for a C4 WRC.

Loeb leads rally, again
FRENCHMAN S?BASTIEN LOEB SLIDES INTO
COMFORTABLE LEAD IN FxPRO CYPRUS RALLY

? Ford and Citro?n teams dominate new-look Cyprus Rally; Sordo in second
? Portugal?s Ara?jo leads PWRC category; Czech Prokop ahead in JWRC section

LIMASSOL (Cyprus): Citro?n Racing?s S?bastien Loeb cruised into a 41.8 second lead over Spanish team mate Dani Sordo after six fascinating asphalt special stages of the FxPro Cyprus Rally, round three of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, held on the Mediterranean island on Friday.

The Frenchman slid his way to the fastest time on five of the six stages and now heads into Saturday?s first gravel specials of the revised mixed-surface event in pole position to claim a record-breaking 50th WRC win. All the top seeded-drivers had been forced to tackle the day?s asphalt stages on control gravel tyres that will come into their own over the next two days when the event uses traditional loose surface stages in the Troodos mountains. Cyprus has been the first mixed surface WRC round since Sanremo in 1996.

The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team duo of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala hold third and fourth overall and Norwegian Petter Solberg rounds off the top five in his privately-entered Citro?n Xsara. Frenchman S?bastien Ogier, Russia?s Evgeny Novikov, Britain?s Matthew Wilson, Zimbabwe?s Conrad Rautenbach and Argentinean driver Federico Villagra complete the top 10.

The UAE?s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi complained of brake problems on his way to 11th overall at the end of the day. He had been running in 10th place before slipping behind Villagra on the sixth stage.

Henning Solberg?s Ford Focus was involved in an accident with a non-rally vehicle on the road section to the start of the first stage. There were no injuries, but the team were unable to repair the damaged car and the Norwegian was forced to aim for restarting under SupeRally on Saturday morning.

Patches of ice on sheltered corners were prevalent at the start of the opening Panagia asphalt test, which was tackled on Pirelli gravel tyres and held in cool, bright conditions. Loeb was the class of the field and edged into a 13.5-second lead over Sordo, with Hirvonen and Latvala in close attendance. ?The grip level is changing all the time,? admitted Hirvonen. ?The roads are dry, but the surface is dusty and slippery.?

Loeb, the defending FIA World Champion, beat Sordo by a further 3.7-seconds in the Mylikouri special and extended his lead to 22.5 seconds on the third test before the return to service in Limassol. ?I worked very hard to get those times,? said Loeb. ?It was tricky to set good stage times on those tyres.?

Cloud cover and the threat of rain greeted crews to the re-run of the morning?s three stages, but it failed to prevent Loeb from increasing his lead to 36.8 seconds through SS4 and up to 44 seconds in the penultimate stage of the day. It began to rain heavily as the back-markers tackled the remaining stages, but Loeb managed to complete the final stage with a good lead, although Sordo beat the Frenchman by 2.2 seconds.

Portugal?s Armindo Ara?jo edged into an 11.5-second PWRC advantage after the opening special, with Sweden?s Patrik Sandell and Italy?s Simone Capedelli his nearest rivals. Qatar?s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah held fourth.

The Portuguese extended his lead to 29.9 seconds after SS3, as several of the leading teams complained of brake problems on the steep descents. Spain?s Eder Valdez-Lopez retired with clutch woes and Italy?s Gianluca Linari had an oil leak.

Sandell closed the gap on his Portuguese rival to 25.4 seconds in Panagia, but the Portuguese driver had been the star of the day in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and was 27.5 seconds in front after the second Mylikouri stage.

Germany?s Aaron Burkhart was forced to change a puncture on the opening tarmac stage and lost four minutes, but the Suzuki driver may well have set a top five fastest time without his delay. Benefiting from slick tyres, his JWRC rivals Martin Prokop and Michal Kosciuszko were seventh and 10th fastest overall.

The leading Juniors were seventh and eighth overall through SS2, with Prokop setting the fourth fastest time on his slick tyres, but they slipped back during the course of the day as punctures and shredding tyres cost them time. Prokop headed Sandell through the closing asphalt stages.

Tomorrow (Saturday) teams will tackle five long and demanding gravel stages, including the 28km of Pano Panagia and the daunting 30.94km of Xyliatos and 26.25km of Kourdali. Action gets underway from the service park in Limassol at 7am, with the opening stage firing into life at 08.40hrs. Cars are scheduled to return to Limassol for the final service of the day from 6.15pm.

2009 FxPro Cyprus Rally ? positions after SS6 (unofficial @ 16.45hrs):
1. S?bastien Loeb (F)/Daniel Elena (F) Citro?n C4 1h 37m 46.3s
2. Dani Sordo (E)/Marc Marti (E) Citro?n C4 1h 38m 28.1s
3. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN) Ford Focus RS WRC 08 1h 38m 46.5s
4. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)/Miikka Anttila (FIN) Ford Focus RS WRC 08 1h 38m 54.6s
5. Petter Solberg (N)/Philip Mills (GB) Citro?n Xsara 1h 40m 13.4s
6. S?bastien Ogier (F)/Julien Ingrassia (F) Citro?n C4 1h 40m 49.6s
7. Evgeny Novikov (RUS)/Dale Moscatt (AUS) Citro?n C4 WRC 1h 41m 02.3s
8. Matthew Wilson (GB)/Scott Martin (GB) Ford Focus RS WRC 08 1h 42m 12.2s
9. Conrad Rautenbach (ZW)/Daniel Barritt (GB) Citro?n C4 WRC 1h 42m 21.6s
10. Federico Villagra (RA)/Jorge Perez-Companc (AR) Ford Focus RS WRC 08 1h 42m 48.3s

Car 2 SORDO/MARTI
Changed the suspension all round and all brake discs and pads.

Car 3 HIRVONEN/LEHTINEN
Changed the rear differentials, rear anti-roll bar, suspension all round, engine and transmission oils, clutch, rear discs and steering arms. Additional underbody protection was put on for the gravel stages.

Car 4 LATVALA/ANTTILA
Changed the suspension all round, engine and transmission oils, clutch, steering arms and all brake discs. Additional underbody protection was put on for the gravel.
Changed rear anti-roll bar, suspension all round, engine and transmission oils, clutch, brake discs and steering arms. Additional underbody protection was put on for the gravel stages.

Car 5 WILSON/MARTIN
Changed rear anti-roll bar, suspension all round, engine and transmission oils, clutch, brake discs, steering arms and a front drive shaft boot. Additional underbody protection was put on for the gravel stages.

Car 7 NOVIKOV/MOSCATT
Changed suspension all round, brakes all round, clutch, anti-roll bars and a light unit.

Car 9 VILLAGRA/PEREZ COMPANC
Changed rear anti-roll bar, suspension all round, engine and transmission oils, clutch, brake discs and steering arms. Additional underbody protection was put on for the gravel stages.

Car 11 P SOLBERG/MILLS
Changed all suspension and carried out routine service.

Car 12 OGIER/INGRASSIA
Changed suspension all round, brakes and clutch.

Car 14 AL QASSIMI/ORR
Changed the rear anti-roll bar, suspension all round, engine and transmission oils, clutch, brake discs and steering arms.

Car 1 LOEB/ELENA
“It’s incredible. I remember the records of Carlos (Sainz) and Colin (McRae). It’s a dream and I’m really happy but it’s not over yet. I want 51 for Daniel because he drinks a lot of pastis!”

Car 2 SORDO/MARTI
“It’s incredible for Sebastien.”

Car 3 HIRVONEN/LEHTINEN
Mikko ran up the road to write ‘50’ in mud of Loeb’s car. He said, “If you look, we really lost on Friday. We are faster on gravel and are looking forward to Portugal.”

Car 5 WILSON/MARTIN
“It was a tough start on Friday. What a weekend! I am overjoyed with my result.”

Car 8 RAUTENBACH/BARRITT
Came out of the stage with most of the rear bodywork missing.

Car 11 P SOLBERG/MILLS
“I’m so happy. It took the team 38 hours of solid work to get the car ready because the boat was late arriving in Cyprus. I know it’s old, but Citroen should be proud of this car.” Co-driver Phil Mills said, “It’s really satisfying, I’m very happy. Everything is back for us. There will be celebrations tonight!”

Car 12 OGIER/INGRASSIA
Reported to have stopped less than one kilometre from the end of the stage.

Car 139 CAMPEDELLI/FAPPANI
Stopped in the stage. Said he could not drive any further (the car has a broken rear differential)

Car 144 AL-ATTIYAH/BERNACCINI
This was his first rally with his new co-driver. “Giovanni and I worked well together. We are a good team.”

Car 146 SANDELL/AXELSSON
“Two wins in a row – perfect! Having learnt the car and the conditions, I was confident to push more and more. We made some small changes to get more traction today, although we had no car problems at all.

Speaking exclusively to wrc.com, Solberg admitted his car’s existing engine had seen better days, and had suffered from a persistent misfire as well as a thirst for one litre of engine oil each day.

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The Cyprus rally is very exciting. The races are very fast and the roads are providing very interesting curves. Also the heat in Cyprus is a very big problem for the pilots.