HomeNews IRC Rally Internacional de Curitiba Brazil 5th - 7th March 2009
IRC Rally Internacional de Curitiba Brazil 5th - 7th March 2009
Kris Meeke Wins in Brazil! TIMES! Who are the favourties in Brazil TV Coverage! FULL IRC Preview
Peugeot UK driver Kris Meeke has won the all-gravel Curitiba Rally in Brazil, round two of the IRC series. The Northern Irishman claimed all seven stages on the opening day of the rally and then controlled his advantage on the second day to end up with a 26.2 second margin over Peugeot Belgium’s Nicolas Vouilloz, who finished second. “This is one of the best rallies I have ever experienced,” said Meeke. “From start to finish, it was simply awesome. The stages are just incredible: so enjoyable to drive. I had a really good feeling with the car and the team and at the end of it we got the perfect result.” Loix now leads the championship on a total of 13 points, ahead of Kris Meeke, Sebastien Ogier and Giandomenico Basso - who are all tied for second on 10 points. Nicolas Vouilloz is third in the standings with eight points.
IRC FINAL RESULTS AFTER SS13, RALLY INTERNACIONAL DE CURITIBA (BRAZIL)* 1 Meeke/Nagle Peugeot 207 S2000 2h08m05.7s 2 Vouilloz/Klinger Peugeot 207 S2000 +26.2s 3 Basso/Dotta Abarth Grande Punto S2000 +47.9s 4 Loix/Smeets Peugeot 207 S2000 +2m32.1s 5 Cancio/Garcia Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 +5m20.0s 6 Tulio/Valandro Peugeot 206 S1600 +19m04.0s
Meeke fastest on Rally de Curitiba shakedown British driver Kris Meeke (pictured) set the fastest time on the Rally de Curitiba shakedown stage this morning, in Campina Grande do Sul just outside the Brazilian city. The Peugeot UK driver set a time of 2m24.30 on the short gravel stage, beating the factory Abarth Grande Punto of Anton Alen by just two-tenths of a second. ... Nonetheless, Meeke is fully aware that the real action only starts at 08:30 tomorrow (local time) when the first car leaves parc ferme for the first of 13 all-gravel special stages. Furthermore, the conditions encountered on shakedown stage today are more reminiscent of those that will be found on the second day of the rally on Saturday, rather than Friday’s opening leg. “It looks like an absolutely fantastic rally,” said Meeke, who ran amongst the frontrunners in Monte Carlo before crashing out. “There are some really quick bits, some exciting crests; a few slower sections: a bit of everything really, which makes it a real test. Some places remind me of New Zealand and some places remind me of Finland. There’s also a bit of Argentina in there, but with harder surfaces: I really like it. The only thing I hope is that it doesn’t rain, otherwise the surfaces will just turn into a monsoon.” Setting fastest time on the shakedown has added to the Irishman’s confidence heading into round two of the series. “I feel really fired up about this rally,” he continued. “In Monte Carlo I was caught out by a bit of inexperience, but here should be more of a level playing field. I’m just looking forward to getting out there and showing what I can do.” Peugeot Belgium’s Freddy Loix was third-quickest on the shakedown stage, which was held in warm and dry conditions, ahead of his team mate Nicolas Vouilloz and Abarth’s Giandomenico Basso.
The Intercontinental Rally Challenge will embrace a new concept with the Rally Internacional de Curitiba, which gets underway in Brazil on Friday. This event will be held at the same venue as the opening round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship – which is also promoted by Eurosport Events. ... The rally runs around the city of Curitiba, to the south of Rio de Janeiro, with the service park based in the Curitiba International circuit, alongside the FIA World Touring Car Championship paddock. The special stages get underway on Friday morning and finish on Saturday lunchtime, just before qualifying for the World Touring Car races. With this innovative timetable, rallying and racing has come together in a way that has not yet been seen before. A number of activities are scheduled to take place before the rally that will see the racing drivers get close to their rallying counterparts and vice versa. For the majority of the regular drivers, the Rally Internacional de Curitiba will also be a brand new event, marking the IRC’s first gravel round of the season and the first time that the series has visited South America. The roads contain a wide mixture of fast and flowing gravel stages, which will allow every crew to exploit the capabilities of their cars to the maximum. However, there are a number of traps to catch out the unwary, giving the local drivers a distinct advantage in terms of experience. The weather in Brazil is another factor that is sure to play a part. At this time of year, weather conditions around Curitiba are expected to be uncertain, and rain has been forecast along with warm temperatures. This makes tyre choice a vital element of success, and with no previously established data to go on, crews will have to rely on both accurate information and a little bit of luck. The first stage of the Curitiba Rally gets underway at 09:00 on Friday 6 March, after the cars leave parc ferme at the Curitiba circuit, located just outside the city centre. The competitors will contest seven stages on the opening day, with the last of those stages starting at 15:15. Day two, Saturday 7 March, will see the crews start off again at 09:00 to take in six more stages, including the most challenging stage of the rally – the 28 kilometres of Bocaiuva – which is run twice as SS8 and SS11. The final stage of the rally begins at 14:45, concluding the 234 competitive kilometres after a total of 13 tough special stages. The finish then takes place at the Curitiba circuit, just before the FIA World Touring Car qualifying session starts. For more information about the event, please visit the rally’s official website: http://www.rallydecuritiba.com.br/.
IRC places Brazil back in the map of international rally Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Poland, Finland, Australia, Spain, Great-Britain, Monaco, Kenya, Belgium, Russia, Tchec Republic and Japan. Nineteen countries. Some of them receive just one, others receive both internacional rallies promoved with the supervision of FIA. And Brazil haven’t received neither of them. It was out of this list for a long time. The wait ended in 2009. For the first time in history the Intercontinental Rally Challenge will come to Brazil. The second stage of this season is schedule for March 6th and 7th in Curitiba. It will be an historic opportunity for Brazilian fans to see some of the best rally cars of the world. There are some rumors about the models that the World Rally Championship should adopt for next year. Instead of the difference of equipment and principally of the age (the IRC is only in the fourth season) both are similar by the dimensions. They are two international rallies. This is the first race of IRC in Brazil. The other championship, WRC, have already been here in 1981 e 1982. With the introduction of Brazil in calendar, moreover, the IRC gain internationally strength and already reaches four continents, while the WRC will pass through three in 2009. It was considering the importance of the entrance of the country in the calendar that the ex-driver Marcos Marcola joined this aim with the mayor Beto Richa and with the organizer of Rally da Graciosa, Anderson Nobre. The purpose of including Brazil in IRC program was reached in last December. Witch gave a new name to the 29th Rally da Graciosa – now called Rally Internacional de Curitiba. The competition will have the presence of the main drivers of the category and official factory team. After the first stage, disputed on asphalt and snow in the European winter, with the Monte Carlo Rally, in Monaco, now the challenges will be the dust and the gravel in a competition prepared with 13 specials, divided in seven different stretches, traveled in two days. The arrival of IRC in Curitiba complements a party that includes another big class of international motorsport. In the same weekend, the city receives the World Touring Car Championship, WTCC. Both classes are promoted by Eurosport and will have their structures mounted in Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba. The promotional start will be at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday (5) in XV de Novembro street, Curitiba’s downtown. The cars leave the racing circuit for the first specials at 8:00 a.m. on Friday (6).
THE FAVORITES FOR THE RALLY INTERNACIONAL DE CURITIBA
Kris Meeke (GBR), Peugeot 207 S2000, Peugeot UK Kris Meeke, 29 years old, was born in North Ireland. Almost wasn’t out of the race in Brazil. He collides in the pillar of a bridge and flipped five times in one of the specials of rally witch opened the season, in January, in Monaco. He and his navigator, Paul Nagle, didn’t suffer anything, but the car was destroyed. The car wouldn’t have conditions to be repaired for the second stage, in Brazil, borrowed the model witch won that race – driven by Sebastien Ogier (whose won’t come to the International Rally of Curitiba).
Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA), Peugeot 207 S2000, Peugeot Team Belux Nicolas Vouilloz is 33 years old. He’s the current champion of IRC, besides Nicolas Klinger. But his history in sports is much older and started with other modality, the Mountain Bike – witch he also competes and became a professional, winning the world championship seven times between 1995 e 2002. He started in rally in 2000, disputing the French championship. In 2001, he was already in WRC. After a few years without competing with mountain bikes, he returned to compete in 2007 and currently reconciles the activity with driver profession.
Freddy Loix (BEL), Peugeot 207 S2000, Peugeot Team Belux Runner-up of IRC in 2008. Started racing in go-karts with 15 years old and have big experience in rally, because he did nine seasons in WRC, racing for Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Peugeot. Despite the long time on that championship, he never took real chances to fight for the title. Nicknamed by fans of Fast Freddy, he suffered a serious accident in Safari Rally in 1999. After that, he never had a chance to win like in San Remo Rally, in 1997, when he reached the lead and then had mechanical problems.
Giandomenico Basso (ITA), Abarth Fiat Grande Punto S2000, Abarth & C. Spa He was the first champion in IRC history, in 2006, with his current navigator, Mitia Dotta. He’s another driver with large experience in WRC, even though his best results have appeared only when he came to IRC. In the other championship, Giandomenico had more looses than successes. Last year, he won twice, in Asturias and San Remo rallies, but was not able to prevent the title assured by double French Nicolas Vouilloz and Nicolas Klinger. They ended the year in third position, behind their teammates Freddy Loix and Isidoor Smets.
Anton Alen (FIN), Abarth Fiat Grande Punto S2000, Abarth & C. Spa The family name says very much. He is the son of Markku Alen, Finland driver who won the first exhibition of WRC in Brazil, in 1979, during an extra-championship event. In that time, the father of Anton Alen was the WRC champion. At 28 years old, the son come to Brazil looking forward to repeat the history in debut of IRC. Winning for him will be not something really new, but is already a necessity. He needs a good result to increase his chances in the championship. Before coming to IRC, he also had a quick passage on WRC.
Marcos Ligato (ARG), Mitsubishi Evo 10, Tango Rally Team Marcos Ligato, 31 years old, is one of the South-Americans that could bother the European drivers. First of all, because he has a brand new car, the Mitsubishi Evo 10, that gives him some chances to race in the same rithym of the front runners. And also because he already knows the special stages of Rally Internacional de Curitiba. He won an edition of the same rally in 2000. Marcos Ligato is a driver with large international experience. He collected good exhibitions in WRC since 2001.
Oswaldo Scheer (BRA), Mitsubishi Evo 9, Intercontinental-Motul Oswaldo Scheer is the Brazilian representative in the main category of IRC, the N4. He has a lot of experience in the national rally and is looking forward to fight for a good result. Last year, he shows his skills fighting for the national title against Édio Füchter. But in the end, Oswaldo Scheer lost the chance to be the champion due to an accident in final stage.
Friday 6 March - 00h00 => 00h30 Highlights of Day 1 (Eurosport) - 00h30 => 01h00 Highlights of Day 1 (Eurosport 2) - 02h30 => 03h00 Highlights of Day 1 (Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
Saturday 7 March - 10h05 => 10h35 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport 2) - 00h00 => 00h30 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport) - 02h00 => 02h30 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport Asia-Pacific) (all times in CET)
RALLY HIGHLIGHTS
Sunday 8 March - 04h45 => 05h15 Highlights of Day 1 (Eurosport Asia-Pacific) - 05h15 => 05h45 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport Asia-Pacific) - 08h00 => 08h30 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport 2) - 08h30 => 09h00 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport) - 16h00 => 16h30 Highlights of Day 2 (Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
Tuesday 10 March - 23h30 => 24h00 Rally Highlights (Eurosport)
Foreign crews could end local dominance The seven-year run of victories by Brazilian drivers on the Rally de Curitiba could come to an end when the event hosts the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for the first time next week. ... Local hero Tino Vianna started the sequence in 2002 following a 10-year period of success for overseas pilots, including Argentines, Paraguayans and Uruguayans. But with the addition of 16 non-Brazilian drivers to the 36-car entry, it is possible that a foreign competitor could be victorious this year. Aside from Europe-based IRC regulars like Abarth Grande Punto drivers Anton Alen and Giandomenico Basso, plus the Peugeot 207-mounted Kronos Racing trio of Freddy Loix, Kris Meeke and Nicolas Vouilloz, several South American runners are expected to challenge for victory. They include Argentines Marcos Ligato and his Tango Rally Team team-mate Alejandro Cancio and Paraguayan ace Victor Galeano Tomboly, who was a participant in the inaugural Pirelli Star Driver Europe Shoot-Out in Austria last October. But Kris Meeke, one of the likely frontrunners, has played down his chances. The British driver said: “I’ve never rallied in this part of the world before and there will be lots of other drivers who I know are capable of going very well.” Oswaldo Scheer will carry Brazilian hopes at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer E9. Loix predicts caution in Brazil Peugeot driver Freddy Loix (picture) has admitted he won’t drive flat-out to win the Rally de Curitiba in Brazil next month. ... The 38-year-old Peugeot 207 Super 2000 pilot finished second on the Monte Carlo Rally last month, but is in effect the clear points leader – as neither Monte winner Sebastien Ogier nor third-placed Stephane Sarrazin is likely to contest a full season. Loix therefore has every chance of moving to the top of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers’ standings with a strong result in South America, after finishing second in the championship last year. However, the Belgian has vowed to be cautious in order to ensure he reaches the finish of the event, which will appear on the IRC schedule for the first time this year. “This kind of rally suits my driving style because the stages are quite fast with some crests and that’s what I like,” Loix said. “I can see the rally being a bit like a sprint because the stages are quite short. But my target will be to take it steady. There are six Super 2000 cars competing and it’s important to be in one of the top places at the finish.” Loix said he will also be taking into account the fact he hasn’t contested a gravel event for eight months. “I want to show that I can be quick but my last gravel event was in Russia last July where I finished fourth,” the Belgian said. “Because I have not driven on gravel for a very long time it will take me some time to find a good rhythm and it’s important not to take too many risks.” The Rally Internacional de Curitiba takes place from March 5-7, and will be immediately followed by the opening round of the World Touring Car Championship.
From the snow of Monaco to the gravel of Brazil
The first two rounds of this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge could not provide a greater contrast to each other. From the snow and ice of Monaco and the Col de Turini, the IRC competitors move to gravel on the other side of the world, where temperatures are set to be dry and warm. In order to make the transition, a number of changes need to be made to the cars ... The biggest change between a gravel and asphalt set-up is that the cars ride much higher on gravel. This is because the roads are rougher, so the cars need to be tall enough to pass over most surface obstacles, and provide enough suspension travel to absorb jumps and bumps. As a result the suspension set-up on each car for gravel tends to be a lot softer than it is for asphalt, enabling the cars to flow better over the rough roads. The tyres are also very different. Gravel tyres are tougher, in order to resist punctures, and they also feature a distinctive deeply-grooved pattern to expel dirt, dust and debris. The wheels and brakes on gravel tend to be smaller than those seen on asphalt rallies, as the braking forces are less because the cars slide more (due to the loose surfaces involved offering less traction and grip). As a result, the physical forces exerted upon the drivers tend to be smaller, thanks to the lower G-forces that are generated. However, one extra problem that the cars will have to face in Brazil is cooling. The low ambient temperatures in Monte Carlo meant that it was comparatively easy for engines and brakes to stay cool, but this will not be the case in the higher temperatures of Brazil – where it could be easy for the cars to overheat. Although there are many subtle differences between an asphalt and a gravel set-up, a skilled group of mechanics can swap a car from one configuration to another in just a couple of hours. This is will have taken place back at base, before the cars were all shipped off to South America last week.
