Wales set for rally showdown

Dec 2 2008 Robin Roberts

IT'S going to be the clash of titans.

Citroen and Ford will go head to head this weekend on the final round of this year's World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB.

After 14 rounds of WRC events just 11 points separate series leader Citroen Total from their arch rival BP-Ford.

The French manufacturer's leading crew, Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, secured the driver's championship in Japan just over a month ago but the team could not tie up the constructors' trophy, which has won for three seasons, and Loeb has never won the British round.

This will now, once again, go to the wire and the final round Wales Rally GB, which starts and finishes in Cardiff but includes service parks in Swansea and Mid-Wales.

Citroën Total is particularly fired up as it bids to seal the championship double. C4 WRCs have been entered for the five-time World Champions and their Spanish team-mates Dani Sordo/Marc Martí.

Two other C4 WRCs have been entered to contest the British round. They will be in the hands of Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior and of the recently-crowned Junior World Champions Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia, and both will be prepared and run by PH Sport with the support of technical staff from Citroën Sport.

Nobody will want to round off the season 2008 in style more than Loeb, who said, "I've hardly had time to catch my breath since Japan.

"The Wales Rally GB is an event I enjoy. The atmosphere is always very special, especially on the stages run in semi-darkness. The terrain is also highly specific, and never easy. The muddy conditions can produce differing levels of grip from one corner to the next, while other portions can be impressively fast and technically challenging, especially given how little grip there is when there is grip!"

He added, "It's a rally I've never won - for a variety of reasons - and I would dearly like to win it one day. That probably won't be our priority this time round, however. Winning the Manufacturers' title is important for Citroën and we will do all we can to make that happen.'

In the BP-Ford camp, Hirvonen has the experience of winning Wales Rally GB last year but if the team is to snatch the manufacturer's trophy in a last gasp it knows nothing less than a fourth 1-2 finish of the season from Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila will suffice.

Both Finnish pairings have good records over the fast forest roads in Wales. Hirvonen won last year while Latvala finished fourth in 2006 and posted a string of special stage wins last year while recovering from a first day time loss.

Twenty-eight-year-old Hirvonen, who identified the weather as the trickiest aspect, likened parts of the rally to his home event in Finland. "Some parts of the rally are very fast, even quicker than in Finland. The difference is that the fast parts here don't last long because there are usually hairpin bends that bring the speeds down again.

"The nature of the roads changes more than in Finland," said Hirvonen, for whom this will be his sixth Rally GB start."Last year was probably the toughest Rally GB I have ever driven. Driving in darkness in fog and rain was incredibly difficult. Night driving makes the rally even trickier, because this is the only round where we drive in the dark apart from Japan and Monte Carlo."

Although the rally remains based in south Wales, major changes take competitors back to the classic mid-Wales forests of Hafren and Myherin for the first time in eight years. As a result the Brechfa Forest tests have been dropped.

The new mileage forms the bulk of the opening day, with two short spectator friendly tests at Walters Arena in Rheola Forest completing the action.

Saturday mixes the long Resolfen test in the Vale of Neath with the traditional tests further north, run in the opposite direction to 2007, before a modified stage inside Cardiff's spectacular Millennium Stadium. The final day is based solely in the south. Over the whole of the event, crews tackle 19 stages totalling approximately 230 miles or 349km in a total route of 950 miles 1,428km.

Since its inception in 1932 the rally has been run 63 times; this year's event will be the 64th edition. Enforced stoppages have included World War Two, Suez Crisis in 1957 and Foot and Mouth ten years later.

For 2008 Wales Rally GB has become the first round of the World Rally Championship to offset all its carbon emissions, including all spectator travel. The event has been awarded CarbonNeutral event status, confirming that the event's carbon footprint is now 'net zero'.

As part of this groundbreaking initiative, 36,000 batteries will be saved from landfill thanks to a new sponsorship deal between Varta and Wales Rally GB. All 4,500 of the volunteer marshals and rally officials will be provided with Varta's new wind-up Dynamo Light which was launched in September.

Apart from the headline battle at the front of the event between the giant works teams, Wales Rally GB is also a story of individual championships and effort.

Only last week, the Mitsubishi Motors UK Rally Team learned its objection to a technical exclusion in the Yorkshire round of the Tesco 99 Octane in September had been overturned and top driver Guy Wilks can bid for the British title in Wales, along with fellow driver and home favourite Gwyndaf Evans.

He will go onto the event's starting ramp in Cardiff city centre for the 20th time on Thursday night.

'It would have been such a disappointment for the whole team not to have had the chance to compete in the Rally GB', said Evans. 'For me, it is great to have the opportunity to compete in this event for the 20th time - especially as it's on my home ground. It will be a tough event, but rest assured I'll be trying my hardest to provide the best result possible for the team. They deserve it.'

Fellow Welshman Tom Cave is the youngest ever driver in the event when he starts, aged 17 years and 18 days after passing his driving test last week. He competed on Latvian events which allowed him onto competitive stages so long as his co-driver Gemma Price did the linking road sections.

The teenager from Aberdyfi said, 'Our objective for Wales Rally GB is simple; to bring our Group N Ford Fiesta ST to the finish. To complete the event on my first attempt, on the same stages as the best drivers on the world, would be an incredible feat for me and a perfect culmination of two years of competition in Latvia.'

You can keep up to date throughout the event with a dedicated radio station. Wales Rally FM, broadcasting on 87.7 FM promises listeners even more informed comment and innovation 24 hours a day from 07.30 on Thursday 4th December, with news from Shakedown and the Swansea Service Park, concluding at around 18.00 hours on Sunday 7th with a round-up of Wales Rally GB results and the final placings in the FIA World Rally Championship.

Reporting live from Rally HQ in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium will be Sky News presenter Jon Desborough and Matt Burt, Editor of Motorsport News, Britain's only weekly Motorsport newspaper.

Access to all 19 special stages is by ticket. Buy tickets in advance for the best value for money by calling the ticket hotline on 0844 847 2251, online via the official website: www.walesrallygb.com or in person from Ticketline, 47 Westgate Street, Cardiff, CF10 1TL.

RALLY GB 4-7 December 2008

Thursday 4 December : Ceremonial start

Start Law Courts, Cardiff 18.00

Friday 5 December: Day 1

Start Swansea 06.00

SS1 Hafren 1 19.10km 09.08

SS2 Sweet Lamb 1 5.11km 09.32

SS3 Myherin 1 35.34km 09.53

RSZ A Builth Wells (15 mins) 11.48

SS4 Hafren 2 19.10km 13.16

SS5 Sweet Lamb 2 5.11km 13.40

SS6 Myherin 2 35.34km 14.01

SS7 Walters Arena 1 2.29km 17.06

SS8 Walters Arena 2 2.29km 17.17

Serv B Swansea (45 mins) 18.47

Finish Swansea 18.57

Total 123.68km

Saturday 6 December: Day 2

Start Swansea 07.15

Serv C Swansea (15 mins) 07.25

SS9 Resolfen 1 30.68km 08.18

SS10 Halfway 1 18.57km 09.47

SS11 Crychan 1 14.86km 10.13

Serv D Swansea (30 mins) 12.13

SS12 Resolfen 2 30.68km 13.21

SS13 Halfway 2 18.57km 14.50

SS14 Crychan 2 14.86km 15.16

SS15 Cardiff 0.99km 18.15

Serv E Swansea (45 mins) 19.23

Finish Swansea 20.18

Total 129.21km

Sunday 7 December: Day 3

Start Swansea 06.50

Serv F Swansea (15 mins) 07.00

SS16 Rheola 1 27.96km 07.55

SS17 Port Talbot 1 20.09km 09.03

Serv G Swansea (30 mins) 10.00

SS18 Rheola 2 27.96km 11.10

SS19 Port Talbot 2 20.09km 12.18

Serv H Swansea (10 mins) 13.03

Finish Law Courts, Cardiff 14.56