The Rally Times - Magazine

DISCOVER MORE AT WWW.MONSTERENERGY.COM Ott Tänak was serene at the front of the field after the second day of the World Rally Championship's Arctic Rally, winning three Saturday stages. Ott Tänak mastered Saturday's second leg of the Arctic Rally Finlandand carries a substantial lead into Sunday’s finale. The Estonian driver won three of the six superfast snow and ice speed tests in his Hyundai i20 to add to Friday’s opening leg double. Tänak's triumph was in contrast to the unfortunate disappointment suffered by World Champion Sébastien Ogier. The championship leader buried his Toyota Yaris into a snowbank 200 metres from the end of the closing test and plunged off the leaderboard as he battled for 20 minutes to dig it out.

WWW.WRCTHEGAME.COM Sami-Joe has picked up where he left off in 2020, storming to the top of the leaderboard in the opening round of the 2021 eSports WRC Championship, presented by Toyota Gazoo Racing. The Lebanese teenager in this season standings, two points clear of Seventh is representing Seventh Gear eSport Gear, who also benefitted from Mihalo Club, completed the Rallye Monte–Carlo finishing in sixth. Rounding out the table challenge with a nice time of 15:18.454, in third spot was Williams eSports. nearly six seconds clear of the two-time champion Nexl. Driving for Race Clutch, The Williams team looked sharp on debut, Nexl was joined on the podium by team occupying three of the top ten spots with mate Izamusing, who was a further 12 Botti Jr eighth, Joona P ninth and Josh seconds back from Sami-Joe. fox tenth. It was a dominant weekend for Race ARTICLE SOURCE: WWW.WRC.COM Clutch, with 4 drivers finishing in the top- five to assure them top billing in the team

\"FIF LIN ATDOUBT O U T — Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae was the fastest, most committed and most spectacular rally driver of his generation. A helicopter accident cut short his adrenaline filled life in 2007, but what a life it was. Colin Steele McRae was born on 5th 1991 when he was signed by the Prodrive of August 1968 in Lanark, Scotland. team, then he campaigned on the Subaru The son of the five-time British Rally Legacies in British Rally Championship. Champion Jimmy, racing was in young Success followed immediately as Colin Colin’s blood. claimed the national title in 1991 and 1992. Although initially competing on bikes, the young C. McRae traded two wheels His one-off appearances characterised for four at the age of sixteen when he his career in the WRC in 1993 and 1994, started club-level rallying in a Mini. He but in 1995 Colin McRae was making continued honing his skills against faster history. Between McRae and teammate and more fancy machinery in the Scottish Carlos Sainz, the pair won five of the Rally Championship between 1986 and season’s eight rallies in the now-iconic 1988 (which he won in the latter year). GC8-generation of blue and yellow State Express 555 branded Subaru Impreza He started competing in the single World WRX STIs. McRae became first British Rally Championship (WRC) from the year and the youngest ever WRC champion – of 1987, but McRae’s big break came in the latter a record that still stands today.

SUBARU IMPREZA 555 While McRae earned the WRC crown in How will McRae be remembered? His 1995, Prodrive Subaru team continued motto – “If in doubt, flat out” – ties its meteoric success by going on to claim in with his fast but inconsistent style. the WRC constructor’s titles in 1996 and He often stayed flat out where others 1997 as well. McRae finished as runner dared not – an unrelenting approach up in the 1996 and 1997 WRC drivers’ which cost him another two WRC titles. championships and third place in 1998. This is precisely never-say-die nature of After parting ways with Subaru, between the revered Scotsman – always fearless, 1999 and 2006 McRae drove for Ford, always sideways, always on the limit – Citroën and Skoda. His final victory was that made him mesmerising to watch. attained at the 2002 Rally of Kenya. True little wonder his middle name was But his ever-competitive spirit saw him “Steele”. venture into participating in the Dakar rallies of 2004 and 2005 and even the ARTICLE BY BRAAM PEENS. 24 hours of Le Mans in 2004, where he WWW.SUBARU.CO.ZA finished third in class in a Ferrari 550.

WWW.FIA.COM WRC PROMOTER TO RUN WORLD RALLYCROSS WITH THE FIA FROM 2021. The World Rally Championship (WRC) Promoter Group has signed a deal to promote the FIA World Rallycross Championship from this year, in an agreement with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The WRC Promotor and the FIA will This year, the new all-electric FIA RX2e collaborate to run the 2021 World RX Championship will be launched before season, and are working on finalising a the sport’s top RX1 cars are switched to multi-year promoter agreement for the electric power from 2022. German-based company to hold media and commercial rights for the series. \"Our respective teams are working on a long-form agreement, look forward to A statement released by both the FIA commencing work on the 2021 cham– and World Rally Championship Promoter –pionship and to the move of the sport have said the WRC’s commercial rights towards a bright, more sustainable and holder since 2012: “has committed to greener future.\" investment in the world championship and in particular the development of \"We have worked extensively with the the future electrification of rallycross.” company as the promoter of the FIA World Rally Championship for a number “We are pleased to be aligning with of years and we anticipate they will bring WRC Promoter as we build towards a the same energy and dynamism to the ground-breaking electric future for the promotion of rallycross.” FIA World Rallycross Championship”— said Peter Bayer, Secretary General at FIA. ARTICLE SOURCE: WWW.WRC.COM

GROUP B RALLY WHAT IS GROUP B AND WHY WAS IT BANNED BY THE FIA IN 1986? Group B was the World Rally Championship's most famous era and produced the most spectacular cars. ARTICLE SOURCE: WWW.WRC.COM Group B welcomed some of the most However, disaster struck when the Ford spectacular rally cars the world had RS200 of Joaquim Santos lost control ever seen. Boasting a four-wheel-drive during the next speed test and collided and in some cases over 500 brake with a crowd, killing three and injuring horsepower. Sources said that a Group over 30 spectators. B car could accelerate from 0–96km/h on a gravel road in just 2.3 seconds. Along with a WRC event in Italy, Henri Toivonen’s Lancia Delta S4 left the road In 1982 Audi wheeled out its brand-new and plunged down a mountainside before Quattro and enjoyed immediate success. bursting into flames. He and his co-driver Other manufacturers cottoned on to the Sergio Cresta were killed instantly. Quattro’s success and the fight for the World Rally Championship became more Following on from this tragedy, the FIA heated than it has ever been. has announced that it would ban Group B after the end of the season, deeming The battle resumed as a list of rallying them simply too fast to compete safely. royalty took the stages across the globe. Hovewer, The short-lived Group B era Names including Toivonen (Lancia), Alén has acquired legendary status among (Lancia), Röhrl (Audi), Salonen (Peugeot) rally fans and automobile enthusiasts in all set out to challenge for the title. general, even until this day.