2007 Rally of Great Britain - Preview

[ianwilly]

1. BP-Ford

Newly-crowned world rally champion BP-Ford aims to add the drivers' title to

its second- consecutive manufacturers' success in the FIA World Rally

Championship in Wales next week. Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen have

their sights set on celebrating their 150th WRC start by securing a third

world title on Rally GB (29 November - 2 December) on their final event

before retiring from the sport.

Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen: "It will be difficult to win the title but

I have a chance and have to make the most of that opportunity. What

happened in Formula 1 is a good example. With two races left, Kimi

Raikkonen had a big gap to make up to win the title - and succeeded. That's

a big spur for me because for Finland to win both the Formula 1 and the WRC

titles would be something special for my country."

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "All we can do is to try to finish in front

of Loeb and do our best to help Marcus. The roads in Wales will be fast and

slippery and after my win in Japan last month, I feel confident in those

conditions. The uncertain weather is the biggest concern on this rally.

Some stages will be held entirely in the dark and if it rains or is foggy

then it will be extremely tricky."

2. Citroen Total

This emblematic fixture, which was known for many years as the RAC Rally,

has also

tended to be one of the toughest events on the WRC calendar and has lost

none of the

ingredients that helped forge its legend. For rally fans, it still conjures

up pictures of cars

opposite locking through muddy stages as their lights struggle to pick out

the road ahead

in thick fog.

Its end-of-year slot also means it has often been decisive in the outcome of

one or both

world titles. The different cities that have hosted the event over the years

have frequently

been the scene of the sort of celebrations that Cardiff can expect again

this time round,

and Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena go to Wales with a real chance of

securing a

fourth consecutive crown.

To succeed, the Citroën duo knows what it has to do. on paper at least!

Should Marcus

Grönholm win in Wales, Seb and Daniel, who have a six-point advantage over

their

Finnish rival, will need to pick up at least four points if they are to join

Tommi Mäkinen

(champion in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999) in the record books as World

Champions four

times in a row.

Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "We lead by six points, so we won't need to win

at all costs. Should Marcus win, we will

have to finish in at least fifth place to make sure of the title. That would

put us equal on points

but we have more wins to our name. We will consequently need to find a pace

that permits

us to finish inside the top-five. I don't enjoy driving to finish but, given

the importance of the

stakes, it's only logical."

Dani Sordo/Marc Marti: "Above all, I will be looking to finish. It will be

important for my experience to contest all the

stages. We won't be under any particular pressure, so I will also try to

enjoy myself with the

C4 WRC and post some decent times compared with our rivals who have more

experience

of the event. I will also keep a close eye on how things are going for

Sébastien and Daniel

and lend a helping hand to the Citroën team effort if that proves

necessary."

3. Subaru

Two weeks after Rally Ireland, the last asphalt round of the 2007 FIA World

Rally Championship, the Subaru World Rally team will head to Wales for the

final rally of the season, and the team's second 'home' event. Wales Rally

Great Britain is one of the classic events of the WRC calendar, and the

varied nature of the gravel roads, coupled with the traditionally unsettled

Welsh weather, also make it one of the toughest. Celebrating its 75th

anniversary this year, Wales Rally GB gets underway on Thursday 29 November

with a ceremonial start in the capital city, Cardiff, before moving 65

kilometres west to a brand new rally base at the SA1 waterfront complex in

Swansea.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "Rally GB is the final round of the championship

and we have always gone well there, so we'll be pushing as hard as ever for

a good result. If it's typical Rally GB weather, wet with lots of mud on the

stages, then those are the conditions I think we can go well on. It's the

team's home event so they have lots of experience of the tricky conditions,

and we are testing this week to work on setup. Phil lives close by so we

always get lots of support."

Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: "This year I have more experience of driving

on slippery and icy surfaces going into Rally GB, whereas last year it was

new and I had a lot to learn. Testing this week is going well and I hope to

find a set-up that will work on the rally. It's especially important to find

good stability on the fast and slippery gravel. Rally GB is the last of the

season so we will push for a good result and hope to finish the year

strongly."

Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo: "I am looking forward to GB next week. Okay, like

Ireland it will be difficult and slippery, but we have some testing planned

and I have more experience of driving in Wales so I hope we will have a good

weekend with no problems. I finished fifth in Wales last year, but this will

be my first time with the Subaru World Rally Team. It is the team's home

rally, so I hope we can have a good finish to end the year."

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

The Wales Rally GB from November 29 to December 2 will be the last run to

the FIA Rally World Championship this season for the OMV Kronos Citroen

World Rally Team. Following a rather up-and-down year what is left is to

take care of a conciliatory WRC-finish on the British isle. And the signs

point in that direction since Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor scored points

each time during the last four years (7th, 8th, 5th and 2nd). In 2006 they

possibly completed the best rally of their career when finishing in second

place.

Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor: "We will attack right from kilometre one on. This

rally suits me very much as is generally known. I scored points here four

times in a row and last year we were even able to put pressure on eventual

winner Marcus Grönholm for quite some time. Also, I have nothing to lose

anymore this year."

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team are just one event away from

capturing a podium position in the FIA World Rally Championship for

manufacturers as they head to Swansea for Wales Rally GB; the final round of

the 2007 WRC season.

After a stunning performance from all three crews in Ireland last week, the

Stobart team now move one point ahead of works manufacturer Subaru. If

results stay the same this would be an amazing performance by somewhat of a

young team in just its second full year of competition.

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "I will be going flat out on this rally I

promise you. All the Ford guys will be going hard, firstly for Stobart to be

number three in the manufacturers' championship and secondly to help Marcus

[Grönholm] win the drivers' championship; this is very important. I am very

happy to be back on roads that I know and if we can show the same speed as

Japan I think we can do very well, because in Japan I had only seen those

roads for the first time. I will try my best on this event and drive as fast

as I can here. The roads can be difficult at GB but this is my seventh time

here so I know what to expect from them. The Focus has been great all year

and I have had an especially good felling on gravel."

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "This is going to be a very exciting

event and one where I think I can do well. I have competed on this event

every year since 2002 and finished every time so my experience of GB is

already quite good. Marcus [Grönholm] has the chance of winning the

championship in Wales and I will try and help him as much as possible. The

conditions can be very slippery especially if it is wet because as more cars

pass across the stages it starts to break the surface and make things very

muddy. It will be interesting to see if we can keep ahead of Subaru and I

know it is something all the team, and especially Henning competing against

his brother's team, will be very excited to achieve. I will try and do as

well as possible here and for sure I want to get into the top-five but it

would be a great thing to get on the podium for the second event in a row."

Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr: "This is a pretty special event for me and the

whole M-Sport team as it is essentially our home rally and the final event

for 2007. It has been a great year already and hopefully we can finish off

in style here in Wales. I have done this event more times than any other so

it will be a good to come into it with a bit more experience under my belt.

The conditions can be very difficult here when the roads start to turn into

mud and if it is wet then it will be very challenging. Again we are going to

approach this event with the goal of getting through each stage and getting

the maximum number of experience miles in the car, but I think it will be

good for my confidence to know we have done this event two times previous."

6. Munchis Ford

Wales Rally GB will be another brand new challenge for both Munchi's Ford

World Rally Team drivers when they tackle the final round of the FIA World

Rally Championship in a few days. While it will be a totally new experience

for both Luis Perez Companc/Jose Maria Volta and Federico Villagra/Jorge

Perez Companc, they will be on their preferred gravel surface from start to

finish, apart from 1.1 kilometres when crews head to the Millennium Stadium

in Cardiff for the hugely popular indoor special stage.

Luis Perez Companc: "This is my first time at this rally and I have heard

both good and bad things about it. One thing for sure is that it will be

very fast with the difficult weather conditions of rain, fog and of course

mud. The stages should be similar to those in Japan and we had an excellent

result there. This suited me very well and so hopefully we can have another

performance like that on Rally GB."

"We will have a similar strategy to Japan but will probably start with more

caution as it will be our first time on these roads and we just need to make

sure our pacenotes are working at race speed. I have a very good feeling and

high confidence after the last rally and generally I am quite happy with how

the year has gone for us. We had a change of driver in the middle of the

season and I think this made us stronger as a team and helped us all to

achieve more experience of the rallies and the rally car. For sure this will

help us in the future."

Federico Villagra: "We had a fantastic result in Rally Japan so I think my

confidence on gravel is quite good at the minute. If things are feeling good

in Wales then we will try to push and aim for a good result again to finish

off the year. The stages will be similar to Japan and although this is my

first time on the roads, I have heard that they are very good to drive on.

The only thing I am concerned about is the weather. This rally is well known

for rain and mud and for sure these conditions will make it very difficult

to drive. It has been a good year for the Munchi's team so far and we have

managed to score both manufacturer and driver points and to finish most of

the events. I think this will be the same plan for Rally GB; the important

thing for us will be to finish without any problems, get experience of the

roads and have a good set of pacenotes for the next time we do the rally."

7. CRT Skoda-Kopecky

CRT-Skoda come fresh from running Carlos Sainz at last weekend's Rally

Shalymar where the former world champion took a dominant win behind the

wheel of the Fabia WRC. This weekend they will be back with regular driver

Jan Kopecky on what will quite probably be his last WRC event behind the

wheel of the Fabia WRC05.

__________________________________________________________________

Event statistics

* Since 2003, the official name of the event has been Wales Rally GB, but

many still refer to it as the

RAC Rally. This will be the 75th edition of this event which has always

counted towards the world rally

calendar.

* The rally takes place in Wales and is based in its capital, Cardiff which

hosts all the event's facilities,

including the Media Room, Rally HQ and the super-special. The single service

park in Swansea is

65km from Cardiff.

* The time difference between Wales and CET is one hour. When it is 8pm in

Paris, it is 7pm in

Cardiff. The local currency is the Pound (£1 = ?1.3). Distances are given in

miles (1 mile = 1.6km).

* The total length of the 2007 event is 1,271.94km, including 359.54km

divided into 17 stages (9

different).

* In accordance with the regulations, the C4 WRC of Seb and Daniel will have

a new engine following

their retirement in Japan. The engine in the car of Dani and Marc has

already contested the New

Zealand and Japan Rallies. The chassis of the two cars are not linked with

any other events, nor are

the subframes or steering racks: four of each (one per car, plus two spares)

are authorised. They

can be used freely on either C4 WRC.

* Tyres - the quota per driver is 60 tyres, of which 38 may be used (event +

shakedown). Barcode

lists and pattern choices had to be nominated by Friday November 23.

* Recce is scheduled for Tuesday November 27 (between 08.00 and 15.00 -

SS1/4, SS2/5, SS3/6

and SS7/10) and Wednesday November 28 (between 08.00 and 19.00 - all the

other stages). Two

passes are authorised at a maximum speed of 80kph, and in an order and at

specific times dictated by

the organisers.

* Shakedown takes place on Thursday November 29, between 08.00 and 12.00 and

uses the same

3.90km stage as in 2006, near Penllergaer Forest, 18km north of the service

park.

* The start ceremony will take place on Thursday November 29 in Cardiff's

Cathays Park, in front of

Cardiff City Hall. It is scheduled to start at 19.30.

* Leg 1 (Friday November 30): 306.80km, including 140.80km divided into 6

stages (3 different).

Cars leave the service park at 09.10. SS1 (Port Talbot 1, 17.41km), SS2

(Resolfen 1, 25.08km) and

SS3 (Rheola 1, 27.91km). Regroup (12.52, 15 minutes). Service A (13.07, 30

minutes). SS4 (Port

Talbot 2) and SS5 (Resolfen 2). Regroup in Glynneath (15.43, 17 minutes).

SS6 (Rheola 2). Service B

(17.36, 45 minutes). Last car due into parc ferme at 21.00.

* Leg 2 (Saturday December 1): 504.50km, including 104.48km divided into 7

stages (4 different).

Cars exit parc ferme for Service C (08.00, 10 minutes). SS7 (Crychan 1,

19.56km), SS8 (Epynt 1,

13.76km) and SS9 (Halfway 1, 18.37km). Regroup (12.34, 15 minutes). Service

D (12.49, 30 minutes).

SS10 (Crychan 2), SS11 (Epynt 2) and SS12 (Halfway 2). Regroup in Cardiff

(18.37, 15 minutes).

SS13 (Cardiff Super-special, 1.10km). Service E (20.10, 45 minutes). Last

car due into parc ferme at

midnight.

* Leg 3 (Sunday December 2): 460.64km, including 114.26km divided into 4

stages (2 different).

Cars exit parc ferme for Service F (06.25, 10 minutes). SS14 (Brechfa 1,

28.89km) and SS15

(Trawscoed 1, 28.24km). Regroup (10.18, 10 minutes). Service G (10.28, 30

minutes). SS16 (Brechfa

2) and SS17 (Trawscoed 2).

* The finish ceremony takes place on Sunday December 2 in Cardiff's Cathays

Park in front of

Cardiff City Hall. It is due to start at 15.10.

* Note: the big change concerns the new service park which moves from

Felindre for a new seafront

location near Swansea City Centre. The route itself changes very little

compared with the 2006 event.

SS1/4, SS3/6, SS7/10, SS8/11, SS9/12 and SS14/16 are identical. For the

third year running, the

super-special takes place inside the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The

principal differences concern

SS2 (new start) and SS15/17 (opposite direction compared with last year).

__________________________________________________________________

Event Schedule

Thursday 29 November: Ceremonial Start

Start Cathays Park, Cardiff 19.30

Friday 30 November: Leg 1 Swansea - Swansea

Start Swansea 09.10

SS1 Port Talbot 1 17.41km 09.53

SS2 Resolfen 1 25.08km 10.41

SS3 Rheola 1 27.91km 11.39

Serv A Swansea (30 mins) 13.07

SS4 Port Talbot 2 17.41km 14.10

SS5 Resolfen 2 25.08km 14.58

SS6 Rheola 2 27.91km 16.23

Serv B Swansea (45 mins) 17.36

Finish Swansea 18.21

Total 140.80km

Saturday 1 December: Leg 2 Swansea - Swansea

Serv C Swansea (10 mins) 08.00

SS7 Crychan 1 19.56km 09.38

SS8 Epynt 1 13.76km 10.21

SS9 Halfway 1 18.37km 10.54

Serv D Swansea (30 mins) 12.49

SS10 Crychan 2 19.56km 14.47

SS11 Epynt 2 13.76km 15.30

SS12 Halfway 2 18.37km 16.29

SS13 Cardiff 1.10km 19.00

Serv E Swansea (45 mins) 20.10

Finish Swansea 20.55

Total 104.48km

Sunday 2 December: Leg 3 Swansea - Swansea

Serv F Swansea (10 mins) 06.25

SS14 Brechfa 1 28.89km 07.46

SS15 Trawscoed 1 28.24km 08.33

Serv G Swansea (30 mins) 10.28

SS16 Brechfa 2 28.89km 12.09

SS17 Trawscoed 2 28.24km 12.56

Finish Cardiff 15.10

Total 114.26km

Rally total 359.54km