Rally

Saturday morning at the Rally Portugal, there was excitement in the air as the top of the leader board displayed a name that wasn’t Sebastien Loeb.

The Citroen driver had won every World Rally Championship event this year, but that feeling wouldn’t last as Loeb rose from third place to finish the day on top. 

Sunday, Loeb showed why he is the five-time WRC champion as he pulled away from the field and added to his record victory total which now stands at 51. 

Mikko Hirvonen tried his best to challenge his Citroen rival, but conceded defeat early in the morning when the gap between them became insurmountable. The BP Ford team decided to play it safe and settle for second place points.

"It was incredibly dusty this morning," said Hirvonen. "I started the day thinking a win was possible, but the dust hung in the cool air and I realized after the opening stage that in those conditions I had no chance of catching Loeb. 

"I hoped to win here but it wasn't meant to be.  I think second place was the maximum I could achieve.  Eight points is good for me because many drivers scored zero.

"It's frustrating to see Loeb on top again, but I'm not giving up on the championship title just yet—we are only a third of the way through the season. I go to every event hoping to win and without him I would do that! 

"The car was excellent here and I really enjoyed the rally, although it was tough yesterday when I had to clean the road at the front," he added.

Loeb’s teammate, Dani Sordo's super claimed a strong third place, which moved him into fourth in the points standings and added to Citroen’s lead in the all important Manufacturer’s Championship

Privateer Petter Solberg Team again outperformed better funded, factory drivers to finish in fourth. This marks the third time that Solberg has finished in a top six position out of four rallies.

Matthew Wilson looked like he was once again set for a points paying finish, but crashed off course and was forced to retire on the final gravel stage. This opened the door for his Stobart Ford teammate Henning Solberg to claim fifth spot.

One interesting result that came out of the Rally Portugal was that for the first time three Norwegians finished in the top six of the WRC event. 

This was due to Mads Ostberg's fine, sixth-place result in his privateer Subaru. The other two Norwegians in the top six being the Brothers Solberg (Petter and Henning).

The next round of this year's championship will take place in Argentina, starting April 24.

Pos  Driver             Car         Time
 1.  Sebastien Loeb     Citroen     3h53m13.1s
 2.  Mikko Hirvonen     Ford        +    24.3s
 3.  Dani Sordo         Citroen     +  1m45.4s
 4.  Petter Solberg     Citroen     +  2m44.6s
 5.  Henning Solberg    Ford        +  5m46.3s
 6.  Mads Ostberg       Subaru      +  6m20.8s
 7.  Federico Villagra  Ford        + 12m59.5s
 8.  Khalid Al Qassimi  Ford        + 18m21.7s

Photo and quotes Courtesy of: WRC, BP Ford Rally Team

Sebastien Loeb must have felt a little out of place over the first day and a half of the WRC Vodafone Rally Portugal.  The five time champion is usually found at the top of the leader board but entered Saturday in third place.  By the end of the day the situation was back to what has become the norm in 2009 as Loeb will be taking a comfortable lead into Sunday, the final day of the Rally of Portugal.

The Citroen driver started the day with a 20-second morning deficit and by the end of Saturday had turned it into almost a 27second lead over Mikko Hirvonen in his Ford Focus.
 
"A very good day for me," said Loeb, "we were pushing hard all day and the feeling with the car is very good. What's important is that we have a good lead for tomorrow. Road position can play a big part tomorrow, but I'm very happy with today - I couldn't have expected better. I've tried to increase my lead as much as possible."

Hirvonen did his utmost to keep in touch with Loeb today. The BP Ford World Rally Team driver hasn’t accepted defeat yet and hopes to close the gap when Loeb starts first on Sunday,

"A gap of nearly 27sec is a lot but I won't settle for second," said Hirvonen.  "I hope Loeb will struggle with the conditions, as I did today, because I'm not counting on him having a problem.  It has been a hard day for the tires.  The roads were warm and abrasive, especially this afternoon, and perhaps I braked too aggressively because my front tires were totally worn at the end of the last stage.

"First on the road wasn't easy.  The surface was very loose this morning.  Even this afternoon when we repeated the special stages I was still sweeping a little because the cars lower down the order take different lines and so the clear path that developed was dirty again.  Tomorrow's stages are technical and hopefully there won't be any dust hanging in the air.  My only option is to attack and drive flat out," he added.

Early rally leader, Dani Sordo is now nearly a minute behind his teammate, Loeb in the second Citroen, but still maintains a comfortable margin in third over fourth-placed Petter Solberg in his privateer Citroen.

Stobart Ford’s Matthew Wilson finished the day in fifth, followed by his team-mate Henning Solberg just a slim 0.9 seconds behind.

Leading positions after day two:

Pos Driver                    Car       Time
 1.  Sebastien Loeb       Citroen  2h56m15.6s
 2.  Mikko Hirvonen        Ford      +   26.8s
 3.  Dani Sordo             Citroen   +   56.4s
 4.  Petter Solberg         Citroen   + 1m59.6s
 5.  Matthew Wilson        Ford      + 3m22.9s
 6.  Henning Solberg       Ford      + 3m23.8s
 7.  Even Novice             Citroen   + 4m59.4s
 8.  Meds Oostburg        Subaru   + 5m00.2s
 9.  Conrad Rautenbach  Citroen   + 6m50.6s
10.  Federico Villager       Ford      + 9m35.1s

Photo and Quotes Courtesy of WRC and BP Ford Rally Team

Mikko Hirvonen currently leads the pack after day one of the Rally of Portugal.

Dani Sordo in his Citroen had been in the lead at the mid-day service, but amazingly he committed the same blunder his teammate Sebastien Loeb had made in the morning and went off on the first corner of the Ourique stage when it was re-run at the start of the loop.

Hirvonen made a move to the front of the field as Sordo’s off cost the Citroen driver 20 seconds. The Ford driver will be first on the road tomorrow as he has established a 15s lead over the recovering Sordo.

"It's great to be leading and I will give everything tomorrow to try to retain that," Hirvonen said. "I don't know if my lead is big enough to offset that disadvantage, and I think start order will play a big part over the next two days, but I have defended my lead from the front before so it can be done," he continued on.

"This morning my pace notes were a little slow for these roads," Hirvonen also said. "I think that was a carryover from the previous round in Cyprus where the stages were much slower."

It wasn't a happy birthday for Latvala. The Finn, who is 24 today, took full advantage of his lower start position to set the fastest time through the morning's opening two tests to build a 10.6s lead.

However, Latvala crashed heavily in the following stage, his Focus RS plunging over a roadside barrier and rolling down a hillside, eventually coming to rest 150 meters from the track.

Video footage showed the car rolled almost 20 times. Incredibly both Latvala and Anttila escaped without serious injury thanks to the strength of the car.

Loeb made progress after his error this morning while running first on the dusty surface. He improved his position on the leaderboard from seventh to third, but is 18s behind leader Hirvonen.

After over a year away, Marcus Gronholm ran second on his return to the World Rally Championship, until losing 20s on the final stage of the day. That dropped Gronholm in his Prodrive Subaru to fourth, only 8s behind Loeb, and should benefit from a better starting position tomorrow.

Petter Solberg completes the top five in his privately run Citroen Xsara, maintaining a 42-second deficit, while pulling clear of the skirmish for sixth.

Improving his pace, as the leg progressed, Sebastien Ogier has now moved past his Citroen Junior's teammate, Evgeny Novikov and Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson to break into the top six.

Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg was hampered by brake problems this morning, but was on pace for the repeat loop and caught Novikov, and is just 0.1s behind.

Leading Positions After Day One

Pos  Driver                Car             Time
 1.  Mikko Hirvonen    Ford            1h24m12.6
 2.  Dani Sordo          Citroen        +15.0s
 3.  Sebastien Loeb    Citroen        +18.0s
 4.  Marcus Gronholm Subaru        +25.9s
 5.  Petter Solberg      Citroen        +42.2s
 6.  Sebastien Ogier    Citroen        +1m04.0s
 7.  Matthew Wilson    Ford            +1m14.6s
 8.  Evgeny Novikov    Citroen        +1m33.7s
 9.  Henning Solberg   Ford            +1m33.8s
10.  Mads Ostberg      Subaru         +2m42.1s

Photo and Quotes Courtesy of BP Ford World Rally Team

After visiting Cyprus during its previous round, the World Rally Championship heads to Portugal for the fourth event of the season. The first pure gravel rally of the 2009 season, the Vodafone Rally de Portugal was an IRC event last year, but has returned to the WRC calendar in 2009.

One of the world of rallying's classic fixtures, the Rally Portugal has been the scene of some of the most memorable moments in the history of the sport.

The Vodafone Rally de Portugal returned to the WRC in 2007 in the Algarve region in the south. The event takes place in the hills above the town blending fast, open roads with more technical sections on hard, abrasive gravel roads.

Undefeated so far in 2009 Sebastien Loeb will be looking to build on his streak. For teammate Dani Sordo, the proximity of Spain will be an additional source of motivation.

As the current WRC points leader Sebastien Loeb will be starting first on day one, he is ideally positioned to comment on the road conditions.

"The stages this year are very good," he said. "They are wider than two years ago and a little harder so hopefully, they will not be so rough. They are also quite difficult, with lots of blind crests and corners, which make it very challenging and good fun to drive," he continued. "I hope for a good fight here this weekend and that I am not at too great a disadvantage running first on the road."

The Ford team enters the Vodafone Rally de Portugal with a revised engine for their Ford Focus.

The newly-homologated power plant available to drivers Mikko Hirvonen and teammate Jari-Matti Latvala includes an electric water pump and a lightweight flywheel. The drivers have reported an improvement in engine performance from the upgrades during a comprehensive testing program

"The engine upgrades are another step forward," said Hirvonen. "Although the nature of the regulations means huge steps forward are impossible to achieve, there is more power and a bit more response and that will all help."

This event also hosts the return of former Champion, Marcus Gronholm, to WRC competition driving a Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRC2008.  This will mark 25 years of WRC competition for Prodrive.

More than 52 percent of this year’s stags are new, including two all-new stage venues. The drivers will tackle 18 stages in total with a competitive distance of 361.36 km. The rally will be based at Estadio Algarve which will host the service park.  The stadium complex is also the site of a Super Special Stage that will be run at the start of the event on Thursday and closes the rally on Sunday afternoon.

Photo and Quotes Courtesy of: WRC, Citroen Sport, Ford World Rally Team

The best rally teams in North America will be faced with a new challenge as they arrive at the 2009 Olympus Rally in Aberdeen, Washington for Round Three of the Rally America championship April 18-19.

Last year, the Olympus Rally was temporarily held in the dry eastern part of Washington State, which made for a very fast Rally.

The Rally returns to its roots in coastal Washington’s tree-lined roads around the ocean-side community of Aberdeen.  America’s finest rally drivers will take to the tight, tree-lined course mountain roads with intimidating drop-offs for round three of the Rally America Championship on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19.

"Pomeroy was a great location for the Olympus Rally in 2008, but we're glad to be back near the Olympic and Capital forests," stated Olympus Rally chairman Steve McQuaid recently.

“The springtime weather in Washington is extremely unpredictable at this time of year and everything from warm sunshine to blinding snow is certainly a possibility.”

The legendary Olympus Rally has a very rich history but is a relatively new event in the Rally America calendar, being added to the series calendar in 2007.  The Olympus Rally started in 1973 and was a stop on the World Rally Championship calendar from 1986 to 1988.

Rally racing legends including Rod Millen, Juha Kankkunen, and the American rally legend John Buffum are just some of the famous names that have taken the win at this event.

There is a tie for the lead in the Rally America point standings entering the Olympus Rally.  Surprisingly, neither is competing in the all-conquering Subarus, but in two different versions of the Mitsubishis EVO. 

NOS Energy’s Andrew Comrie-Picard in his Mitsubishi Evolution IX and Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust, driving a Libra Racing-built 2009 Mitsubishi Evolution X, are tied at 31 points each.

The two Subaru Rally Team USA drivers, Red Bull’s Travis Pastrana, and Monster Energy’s Ken Block have each emerged victorious in the first two races in the Rally America Championship, but find themselves tied for second place in the standings with 23 points. 

Third place in the championship is another tie, just one point back, between Andi Mancin and Bill Bacon, both behind the wheel of Mitsubishi Evos.

Matt Johnson and Dave Mirra, both driving Subaru WRX STIs will be challenged by Piotr Wiktorczyk with his Mitsubishi Evolution. They will battle it out for the win in the new Super Production class.  

As is the case with most Rally America events, expect representatives of various car manufacturers such as Subaru, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Ford, Mazda, and Volkswagen at the Rally Olympus, especially with local teams providing a strong turnout in the two-wheel drive class.

Photos and Quotes courtesy of Rally America.

The entry list for the Rally Portugal is fairly extensive, with 74 entries in the race. Making headlines is the one-off return of Marcus Gronholm to the WRC from his retirement. He will be participating in a 2008 Subaru Impreza WRC run by Prodrive, the company that ran the Subaru World Rally Team.

Also making news is the return of the Adapta World Rally Team. Adapta, which lent Prodrive Gronholm's car (his livery is different), will be led again by Mads Ostberg who will be piloting a similar 2008 Subaru Impreza WRC.

The Merksteijn Motorsports team returns as well, with two cars, a 2006 Ford Focus WRC and a 2007 Ford Focus WRC driven by father and son Peter and Peter Jr Merksteijn.This makes the WRC-class 18 cars strong providing a larger field than the three previous events this year.

Rally Portugal – Entry List:

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC M
2. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC M
3. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC M
4. Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC M
5. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC MT
6. Henning Solberg Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC MT
7. Evgeny Novikov Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC MT
8. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC MT
9. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford Focus WRC MT

11. Petter Solberg PS WRT Citroen Xsara WRC A8
12. Sebastien Ogier Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC A8
14. Khalid Al Qassimi BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC A8
15. Marcus Gronholm Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRC2008 A8
16. Mads Ostberg Adapta Subaru Impreza WRC2008 A8
17. Peter van Merksteijn Jr Ford Focus RS WRC 06 A8
18. Peter van Merksteijn Ford Focus RS WRC 07 A8

132. Bernard Sousa FIAT Abarth Grande Punto S2000 P
134. Gianluca Linari Subaru Impreza STi P
136. Eder Valdez Subaru Impreza P
137. Frederic Sauvan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
138. Gabor Mayer Subaru Impreza P
139. Thomas Prive Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
140. Andis Neiksans Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
144. Jaromir Tarabus FIAT Abarth Grande Punto S2000 P
145. Patrik Flodin Subaru Impreza N14 P
146. Patrik Sandell Skoda Fabia S2000 P
147. Armindo Araujo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
148. Gaurav Singh Gill Subaru Impreza N14 P
149. Eyvind Brynildsen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
150. Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza N14 P
159. Bruno Magalhaes Peugeot 207 S2000 P
160. Ricardo Moura Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P

61. Nikos Thomas Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X N4
62. Jon Williams Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X N4
63. Jarkko Nikara Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X N4
64. Martin Semerad Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X N4
65. Mark Tapper Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X N4

32. Michal Kosciuszko Suzuki Swift S1600 J
33. Simone Bertolotti Suzuki Swift S1600 J
34. Luca Griotti Renault Clio J
35. Yoann Bonato Suzuki Swift J
36. Hans Weijs Citroen C2 S1600 J
37. Kevin Abbring Renault Clio RS J
39. Alessandro Bettega Renault Clio J

66. Rene Kuipers Ford Focus RS WRC 06 A8
67. Dennis Kuipers Ford Focus RS WRC 06 A8
68. Adruzilo Lopes Subaru Impreza N4
69. Andreas Mikkelsen Subaru Impreza N4
70. Vitor Pascoal Peugeot 207 S2000 N4
71. Fernando Peres Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N4
72. Pedro Meireles Subaru Impreza WRX N4
73. Ott Tanak Subaru Impreza WRX N4
74. Ricardo Teodosio Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N4
76. Hermann Gassner Jr Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N4
76. Barroso Pereira Subaru Impreza WRX N4
77. Francisco Barros Leite SEAT Leon FR TDi A8
78. Luis Cardoso Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII N4
79. Pedro Rodrigues Subaru Impreza WRX N4
80. Luca Hoelbing Subaru Impreza ST N4
81. Xavier Villepreux Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N4
82. Rui Breda Lousado Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII N4
83. Paulo Freire Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MR N4
84. Manuel Coutinho Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI N4
85. Josef Petak Citroen C2 S1600 A6
86. Michael Honda Citroen C2 S1600 A6
87. Joao Fernando Ramos Renault Clio RS N3
88. Manuel Inacio Renault Clio R3

89. Patrick Anglade Ford Fiesta ST N3
90. Craig Breen Ford Fiesta ST N3
91. Denis Grodetskiy Ford Fiesta ST N3
92. Majed Al Shami Ford Fiesta ST N3
93. Bader Al Jabri Ford Fiesta ST N3
94. Ahmed Al Mansoori Ford Fiesta ST N3

95. Tom Cave Ford Fiesta ST N3

M - denotes Manufacturer entry.
MT - denotes Manufacturer Team entry.
P - denotes Production Car WRC entry.
J – denotes JWRC entry

Sebastien Loeb is one day away from notching his 50th World Rally Championship victory.  The Citroen C4 driver ended the second day of the WRC Rally Cyprus with an overall lead to 49.8 seconds through unpredictable conditions that started muddy in the morning.   

Erratic overnight rain created difficult driving conditions, with damp and soggy roads on morning stages, and dry and dusty surfaces in the afternoon.
Loeb remained untouchable in the mud but the situation changed for Loeb in the afternoon when dry roads left the Frenchman struggling for grip.

Then Loeb had to back off the pace on both afternoon stages when he experienced brake problems.
 
“We tried to fix them after the previous stage but we still had problems with the balance and their temperature on this one,” Loeb explained after SS11. “The brakes reached 600°C at the rear and 200°C at the front so we had to drive very smoothly to keep the temperature down.

"Then, one kilometer from the end, we spun and stalled on a hairpin and I had to reverse to get going again. So okay, two very difficult stages in the afternoon, we lost some time, but we’re still in the lead and that’s the most important thing for the moment.”

Spaniard Dani Sordo in a Citroen slipped a spot to third place which allowed Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford moved up to second position.

Norwegian Petter Solberg in a Citroen Xsara was fourth, amazingly setting the fastest times in the 10th and 11th stages.

Jari-Matti Latvala's Ford Focus crashed off the road in the second stage, as the Finn was then running fourth in the overall line-up.

He was then forced to run for a kilometer for help to get the car out of a ditch.

Leaderboard after day two
1. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA)                         Citroën C4               3h33m43.8s
2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen (FIN)                 Ford Focus RS          +49.8s
3.D Sordo/M Marti (ESP)                         Citroën C4               +1m36.0s
4. P Solberg/P Mills (NOR)                       Citroën Xsara           +1m51.9s
5. M Wilson/S Martin (GB)                        Ford Focus RS           +5m13.7s
6. S Ogier/J Ingrassia (FRA)                    Citroën C4               +5m42.8s
7. E Novikov/D Moscatt  (RUS)                 Citroën C4               +6m22.8s
8. C Rautenbach/D Barritt (ZW)               Citroën C4               +7m23.5s
9. F Villagra/J Perez Companc (ARG)         Ford Focus RS          +9m00.9s
10. K Al Qassimi/M Orr (UAE)                   Ford Focus RS          +9m29.6s
23. H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR)           Ford Focus RS           +32m09.7s

Photo and Quotes Courtsey of WRC

Domination is the word of the day at the World Rally Championship Cyprus Rally. Sebastien Loeb continues with his total domination of the sport by winning five of the six stages and taking a 41.8-second lead into leg two.

Even the afternoon rains could slow the Citroen driver. He ended the day with what should prove a large enough lead to hold off any potential when he will have to run first on dusty gravel roads.

"I was a bit too careful in the rain in some places," said Loeb. "It's the last stage of the day and I didn't want to make any mistakes as I have a good lead. I didn't take big risks. Tomorrow we'll have to clean the road but if it's raining maybe it will not be so bad. I don't know what we'll see tomorrow, but I'll try to continue like this."

Loeb’s teammate, Dani Sordo finished the day in second place maintaining Citroen's one-two formation.

Mikko Hirvonen bounced back from a poor performance in the morning and is somewhat content having minimized the time loss to the leaders in the afternoon. The Ford Focus driver will be hoping to take advantage of a cleaner road surface tomorrow, but isn't confident about his chances of closing on Loeb.

"The afternoon was good, we lost maybe 14 seconds to Sebastien, which is acceptable," he said. "But in the morning we just didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to drive in these conditions with gravel tires. It's going to be really tough," he admitted.

"Especially if it rains, Sebastien will be in a really good position for tomorrow. It's going to be difficult to catch him."

Hirvonen’s teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala is just 8.6s behind Hirvonen in the second Ford.

All alone in fifth is independent driver Petter Solberg in his Citroen Xsara. Last year’s Junior World Rally Champion, Sebastien Ogier kept close to Solberg early in the day but after stalling his Citroen at the starting line and then a spin later on SS4 he dropped to over 30 seconds behind in sixth place.

Evgeny Novikov has pulled away from eighth-placed Matthew Wilson in the Stobart Ford rounding out the points paying positions.

Stobart Ford driver Henning Solberg had an inglorious end to his participation in the Cyprus Rally. On their way to the first stage of the event a pickup truck swerved in front and collided with the Ford Focus.

Henning attempted repairs on site to no result and had to retire from the Cyprus Rally.

Leading positions after day one:

Pos  Driver              Car      Time
 1.  Sebastien Loeb      Citroen  1h37:46.3
 2.  Dani Sordo          Citroen   +   41.8
 3.  Mikko Hirvonen      Ford      + 1:00.2
 4.  Jari-Matti Latvala  Ford      + 1:08.3
 5.  Petter Solberg      Citroen   + 2:27.1
 6.  Sebastien Ogier     Citroen   + 3:03.0
 7.  Evgeny Novikov      Citroen   + 3:16.0
 8.  Matthew Wilson      Ford      + 4:25.9
 9.  Conrad Rautenbach   Citroen   + 4:35.3
10.  Federico Villagra   Ford      + 5:02.

This is the first in a series of articles called WRC Tribute to provide information about the WRC whether it is cars, drivers, events, brands, or eras.

The Lancia Stratos is first because of the impact it had on rally racing.

In the early 1970s, Lancia proposed entering rally racing with a car built uniquely for that purpose.

Prior to the Stratos, existing cars were modified for sport use but no car had been designed purely for competition. The Stratos would forever change the rally racing world.

Designed by Bertone designer Marcello Gandini and first revealed as the Stratos Zero concept car in 1970. The car was low to the ground and wide, resembling supercars such as today's Lamborghini LP640 and Ferrari F430. The 1971 Stratos HF prototype would serve as the production model and featured three different engines: Lancia's Fulva and Beta 4-cylinder engines and a Ferrari V6 borrowed from the Dino sportscar. Lancia opted for the Ferrari V6 for both the street and rally cars.

To meet homologation requirements (certain number of street cars to be produced to qualify for rallying) for the World Rally Championship (WRC), Lancia had to produce 400 Stratos for consumers. In 1973 Lancia did fulfilled the requirement making them eligible to race the Stratos in the 1974 WRC season onwards.

The Stratos rally car used the mid-mounted Ferrari V6 engine that was in the consumer model, but was modified from 190 bhp to 280. Although Ferrari replaced the Dino's V6 in 1974, it provided Lancia with 500 engines which the Stratos rally cars would continue to use.

The Stratos won its first race at Lancia's (and Fiat's) home event the Rally Sanremo with driver Sandro Munari besting Fiat's Giulio Bisulli by eight seconds. Munari repeated his success at the next event in Canada. Teammate Jean-Claude Andruet won the Rally Tour de Corse (France), providing Lancia with a Manufacturer's Championship in the first season of competition in the WRC.

Lancia returned in 1975 to defend its title and did so with the addition of Swedish driver Bjorn Waldegaard. Munari won the first event of the season, once again beating out two Fiats for the victory.

Waldegaard pulled off a stunning victory in the next round winning his home event over countryman Stig Blomqvist. Waldegaard went on to win the Rally Sanremo and third driver Bernard Darniche won the Tour de Course by half a second to provide the Stratos' fourth win of the season. This was more than enough for a second consecutive Manufacturer's Championship, once again over parent company Fiat.

The Italian-squad showed they meant business when at the Rally Monte Carlo Rally it was an all-Lancia podium with Munari, Waldegaard, and Darniche finishing on the podium together for the first time. Munari went on to win the third event of the season, the Rally Portugal.

The Lancia crew did it once more in Finland at the 1000 Lakes Rally when Waldegaard won, Munari finished second, and Italian Raffaele Pinto finished third. The next event, the French Tour de Corse saw Munari and Darniche finishing one-two, making it Lancia's third consecutive Tour de Corse victory. Lancia's performance was utter dominance as they claimed their third consecutive Manufacturer's title.

Munari won the Monte Carlo in 1977 making it three consecutive victories for Lancia at the event. However due to conflict with parent company Fiat who wanted to have a more successful program and win the Manufacturer's Championship (which they did), Lancia did not compete to its fullest extent and only finished on the podium twice during the rest of the season.

Munari however, still edged out former teammates Waldegaard and Darniche for the FIA Cup for Drivers (now the WRC Driver's Championship).

Lancia did not see success in 1978 'til late in the season, when Markku Alen won the Rally Sanremo providing the Italian-make with their first victory since the Monte Carlo Rally in 1977.

Tony Carello would go on to win the Spanish Rally. The two victories, however, would not be enough to place in the top five in the Manufacturer's standings and once again marked a disappointing season for Lancia and the Stratos.

The Stratos continued to win in 1979, despite being an aging machine. Darniche returned to the wheel of a Stratos and won the first event of the season, the Rally Monte Carlo. The Stratos won again in Rally Sanremo with Antonio Fassina driving and in Darniche again in France. The three victories was enough for third place in the Manufacturer's standings—however, they were all privateer victories, as Lancia's factory team was not as successful.

The Stratos finished once on the podium in 1980 and won its last event at the 1981 Tour de Corse with Bernard Darniche once again piloting it to success.

The sleek and very "alien" Stratos (aptly named) had a profound impact on rallying. Not only was it extremely successful, but the rear-wheel drive supercar displayed the success a brand had when it built a car for rallying purposes. Since then, manufacturers have either created cars for rallying (such as the Audi Quattro or Subaru Impreza) or heavily modified cars (Peugeot 307), following in Lancia's steps.

The Stratos is by some still considered one of the finest designed rally cars to this day, and not many can disagree that it is one of the best rally cars of all time.

Seven stages, seven victories: Such was Peugeot UK driver Kris Meeke's day at the Rally Internacional de Curitiba at the conclusion of the first day. The U.K. driver completed the nearly 10-kilometre seventh and the day’s final stage in a time of 3:55.2, creating a perfect finish to as close to a perfect day one can have in Rallying.

"It's been the perfect day for me. I've really enjoyed myself driving this car over these fantastic roads. I have to say that this is one of the best rallies I have ever driven on.” Said Meeke.

“It's amazing how when you have a good feeling with the car, everything just comes easily. The contrast with Monte Carlo could not be greater: I think Monte Carlo was the most difficult rally I have ever done. Here, I'm feeling very confident.”

The only real challenge to Meeke’s perfect streak happened during the last stage when Anton Alen in his Fiat-Abarth Grande Punto took second place only 0.3 seconds behind.

Meeke’s performance left no doubt who was leading. The real action was for second place. It was at end of the final stage of the day that factory Abarth Grande Punto driver Giandomenico Basso nipped Nicolas Vouilloz in his Peugeot Belgium 207 S2000. 

The two drivers both enjoyed a clean runs the entire day with no problems, but in the end it was Basso who overhauled the reigning IRC champion. Both are looking forward to continuing their dual on the final day of the rally tomorrow were they will start the day separated by just 0.3 seconds.

Extremely strong was delivered by Argentinean driver Alejandro Cancio driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Cancio set times that were never out of the top six and concluding the day with a third-fastest time on the final stage of the day which landed him in fourth place.

For finishing second in January's opening round of the IRC in Monte Carlo Peugeot Belgium's Freddy Loix was rewarded with the uninviting assignment of sweeping it clean for all the following competitors.

He consequently lost a lot of time sliding on loose gravel and ended in fifth place overall, 18 seconds behind Cancio.

Rounding out the point-scoring places was The Paraguayan Victor Galeano in sixth, ahead of the top two Brazilian competitors Oswaldo Scheer and Paulo Nobre in their Mitsubishis.

The hard and compacted surfaces of Brazilian gravel roads claimed their share of victims today.

Anton Alen impacted his factory Abarth Grande Punto with a rock on a first gear corner towards the end of third Special Stage, which punctured his left rear tire and also damaged a suspension joint.

Alen, who had been running in a strong second place, made emergency repairs on the side of the road.  The Finn then lost time having to drive slowly through the next stage.

Back at the service parc, his mechanics repaired the car to full health and Alen was able to return to his previous pace, setting the aforementioned time on the final stage of the day.

Marcos Ligato from Argentina was running in an admirable fifth place until SS4, when he picked up a tire puncture that he did not stop to change. Regrettably, the rubber from the flailing tire damaged the radiator of his Mitsubishi, which ended his day.

The top three places for the IRC’s 2WD Cup are all being claimed by local Brazilian drivers led Rafael Tulio in a Peugeot 206 S1600. Luis Tedesco is second, just over a minute behind in a Fiat Palio S1600. Peugeot's Marcos Tokarski is third in this fiercely contested category.

IRC RESULTS AFTER SS7, RALLY INTERNACIONAL DE CURITIBA (BRAZIL)

1 Meeke/Nagle    Peugeot 207 S2000    50m47.0s
2 Basso/Dotta    Abarth Grande Punto S2000    +48.6s
3 Vouilloz/Klinger    Peugeot 207 S2000    +48.9s
4 Cancio/Garcia    Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9    +1m03.6s
5 Loix/Smeets    Peugeot 207 S2000    +1m22.5s
6 Galeano/Fabiani    Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9    +2m31.6s
7 Scheer/Rocha    Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9    +5m36.6s
8 Nobre/Paula    Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9    +7m03.6s
9 Tulio/Valandro    Peugeot 206 S1600    +8m22.2s
10 Alen/Alanne    Abarth Grande Punto S2000    +9m32.9s

Quotes and Photo courtesy of the IRC.