Rally-eMag January 2014 / News
9/40
This month’s wrap up
Ford dominates in Sweden
ERC NEWS
Images: M-Sport
Traditionally the Jänner Rally is the first important rally on the international calendar. It was also
the season’s opener for the FIA European Rally
Championship. In this issue of Rally-eMag you
can read about the exceptional performances of
winner Robert Kubica and his opponents. About
a month later the ERC contenders travelled to
Latvia for the Rally Liepãja. In next month’s issue we’ll come back to this action- and snow filled
rally. We can already tell you that Esapekka Lappi
in his Skoda was the winner.
There is bad news for the next round the Sibiu
Rally Romania. It was due to take place at the
end of February but the Romanian meteorological institute forecasts heavy snowfall in the high
altitude stages, making it impossible to run a safe
event. The organizers are now working on a new
rally on an all-asphalt route of 220 kilometres –
including a stage on part of the Transfăgărășan
highway! If ERC promoter Eurosport Events and
the FIA Rally Commission agree the new event
would be run from 9-11 October.
Image: Timo Anis
In Sweden Fords make up half the starting field in the WRC class. Apart from the
usual drivers Hirvonen, Evans, Kubica and
Prokop, there are a whole lot of other drivers who make the trip to
Karlstadt in an M-Sport
backed car. The first
one will be Ott Tanak
who starts his WRC
comeback in Sweden in
a WRC. Later on in the
season he will continue
in an R5 of the same
brand. But in Sweden
a full spec Fiesta RS
WRC. On the starting list we then find he
Pole Solowow. A former
WRC legend is next on
the list: Henning Solberg. For this event he
secured enough sponsorship to do what he
wants most: driving a rallycar on snow. Next
to him we find Ilka Minor, who is between
jobs now that Evgeny Novikov is not in the
WRC anymore, Pontus Tideman will try his
Images: M-Sport WRT
luck in a Fiesta WRC too. Peugeot ERC factory driver Craig Breen has no ERC duties in
early February and so found himself some
money to drive a Fiesta!
The other teams
At Hyundai as expected Juho Hänninen is
behind the wheel of the second i20 WRC. At
Citroën Khaled Al Qassimi is doing his first
stint in the team. For the rest we only find the
regular drivers in the factory teams.