RALLY NORWAY 13 -15 FEBRUARY 2009 FIA PRODUCTION CAR (FOR DRIVERS) ROUND 1 OF 8

1. EVENT SUMMARY 7. FASTEST STAGE TIMES (SEASON) 2. DRIVER QUOTES 8. SPRINTER STANDINGS (EVENT) 3. RESULTS (EVENT) 9. SPRINTER STANDINGS (SEASON) 4. RETIREMENTS (EVENT) 10. DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 5. LEADERS (EVENT) 11. CO-DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 6. FASTEST STAGE TIMES (EVENT) 12. WHAT IS THE PRODUCTION CAR WRC? 13. NEXT ROUND

1. EVENT SUMMARY

Sandell takes Skoda Fabia S2000 to debut P-WRC victory

Swedish driver Patrik Sandell and co-driver Emil Axelsson scored the first P-WRC victory in their new Skoda Fabia S2000, on the first round of the 2009 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship, Rally Norway. It was the first outing of the Czech manufacturer’s new car in the WRC and the first victory for a S2000 car in the history of the P-WRC. Second on the podium was Norwegian driver Eyvind Brynildsen in his Mitsubishi, followed by Martin Prokop (CZ, Mitsubishi) who finished third.

Sandell made a perfect start to the rally in his Skoda Fabia RS S2000 on its debut appearance in the WRC. He set the pace and stayed out of trouble on day one, unlike many of his rivals who fell by the wayside as conditions posed challenges. Sandell finished the day with a lead of over two minutes over next best-placed Armindo Araújo (P, Mitsubishi).

Early on the first day Sandell’s main challengers were fellow Scandinavians Andreas Mikkelsen (N, Subaru), Patrik Flodin (S, Subaru) and Brynildsen, all of whom went off the road. Mikkelsen was challenging for the lead until he approached a junction too fast in SS8; Flodin went off the road into a ditch on SS5 and Brynildsen, being the next driver on the road, took measures to avoid spectators who were watching Flodin, costing him seven minutes in a ditch on the other side of the same piece of road. An official decision was made at the end of the day, however, revising Brynildsen’s stage time and pushing him back up the order. Day two therefore started with Brynildsen in second, ahead of Araújo and Prokop.

Sandell took the first stage on day two (SS10) a little too carefully and his two minute lead was rapidly slashed when he dropped 37.7secs to the stage winner, so he had to quickly pick up his speed to fight off his Scandinavian rivals whose pace was like lightening. But the Skoda driver won the next three stages in response.

Behind the Sandell-Brynildsen lead, another battle ensued between the leading non-Scandinavians – Araújo and Prokop. A gap of just under half a minute was Araújo’s advantage overnight into day two but Prokop reduced his deficit to the Portuguese to just 0.8secs on the first stage alone. By the end of SS11, the Czech driver had captured third place, despite battling with centre differential problems throughout the morning’s group of stages.

Eager to make up for lost time, Andreas Mikkelsen (N, Subaru) was back on the pace after his off-road excursion on SS8 and by SS16 he had worked his way back into fourth. Sadly, a mistake leaving his ignition on overnight proved costly. He incurred a 1min 10sec penalty for arriving late into day three’s morning service, so he started the day in sixth. His day only worsened as two punctures (on S18 and SS19) couldn’t be rectified with just one spare tyre, and the Norwegian Guest Driver was forced into retirement. His demise eased the pressure for Prokop, who was happy to finish without a Norwegian chasing him. And Araújo was happy to take home five points to kick start his championship.

On only his fourth WRC event, Latvian driver Andis Neiksans (Mitsubishi) found the first few stages tricky as he only has minimal experience on snow. But his cautious approach paid off as he flirted with fifth position through day one, jostling with the more experienced drivers. He held sixth through day two and after Mikkelsen’s retirement he defended his adopted fifth position on the final day, despite dropping about five minutes on the final stage stuck in a snow bank.

Jaromir Tarabus (CZ, Fiat Abarth) had a difficult start to the rally as he had a handbrake problem on SS3 when the engine cut out each time he used it. He also had to slow for an accident on SS5 and he hit a snow bank which blocked his air filter and lost all tyre grip by the end of the day, costing about half a minute in total. He reached seventh at best but still managed to defend his position despite a damaged gearbox on SS11. Things improved with a new gearbox, his only real problem being a lack of power in his S2000 car on the fast straights on the final day, to eventually score three points for sixth.

Flodin has proved himself to be one of the fastest drivers in the P-WRC but he dropped right down the order after a few mistakes early on, despite winning eight stages throughout the event. He approached a junction too quickly on SS5, went into a ditch and took seven minutes to rejoin the road, dropping from third to 13 th position. He only took one spare tyre by mistake for the afternoon’s group of stages on day one and paid the price when he lost all grip on the front tyres by the end of SS6. Then on SS12 he went into a ditch which again cost another seven minutes before he could rejoin the road. He stayed out of trouble until the final stage of the rally when he landed on a snow bank after a sixth-gear jump, resulting in a 360 degree spin and a damaged front left corner and radiator. Remarkably he still managed to reach the end of the rally in seventh.

Frédéric Sauvan (F, Mitsubishi) stopped on the road section before SS3 to change a puncture, incurring a 10-second penalty arriving at the next stage late. He had a spin in SS4 then he was stopped by marshals following an accident mid- stage, only to go off the road just 100m before the end of the stage, losing a couple of minutes. A blocked air filter reducing engine power after a spin on SS7 also cost time before the end of day one and a mistake on SS11 cost 40 seconds when he forgot to close the bonnet locks after changing the air filter on the road section. He hit a snow bank on SS16 and a spin on SS18 both cost about 15 seconds, but he stayed out of trouble to score his first P-WRC point for eighth on his fifth WRC event.

Entered into the rally by the event organisers, Bernd Kollevold (N, Mitsubishi) had a difficult start to the rally as he went off the road on SS2, lost another 40 seconds on SS3, had a spin on both SS4 and SS5 costing 30 seconds. His next woe was a fuel feed problem which plagued him throughout the rest of the day and worsened on day two. He thought the problem was as a result of the fact that his car normally runs on a bio-ethanol mix in the Norwegian Championship and that it had reacted with the official WRC fuel which he’s never used before. By day three however, the car was much improved and he eventually finished in ninth.

Martin Semeràd (CZ, Mitsubishi) went off the road half way through SS5 which cost 30 seconds but it was an off-road excursion on SS8 that was really crippling as it took spectators 10 minutes to help get his car back on the road, only to finish the stage with a front right puncture and his wheel knocked out of line. Having lost so much time, the P-WRC’s youngest competitor continued to simply gain experience and reach the finish. The final day was problem-free until the last stage when he beached himself in a snow bank. It took about 18 minutes to rejoin the road and the Pirelli Star Driver dropped from eighth place to finish his first WRC event in 10 th .

Gianluca Linari (I, Subaru) went off the road on SS2 where he broke the radiator and then went off the road three times on the next stage. Things improved in the afternoon on day one with a stiffened suspension but an off road excursion on SS8 cost 15 minutes for spectators to help him back on to the road. A spin in SS11 cost another minute or so, and aware that he could not challenge the speed of the frontrunners, he opted to stay safe to finish in 11 th .

Bernardo Sousa (P, Fiat Abarth) made his first mistake on the opening superspecial stage where he was stuck in a snow bank for over a minute. He spent the next few stages gaining confidence in the snowy conditions but engine failure on SS7 prevented him from continuing.

An incredibly disappointing start to the rally for Toshi Arai (J, Subaru) saw the Japanese change an engine even before the event had begun, albeit with a 5-minute penalty. But a similar electronic control failure happened on the road section after SS2, truncating his rally fairly quickly.

2. DRIVER QUOTES 1st – Patrik Sandell, Skoda Fabia RS S2000: “It’s the first time in a new car, with a new team and the first ever Skoda victory in the WRC so it’s an amazing feeling! I was a bit nervous after our spin on SS18 but we’ve been pushing all day. We’ve had no problems all weekend so a big thank you to team for their good work. But I know I can drive fast on snow – now we need to find some good settings for gravel and tarmac as they will be a bigger test for us.”

2nd – Eyvind Brynildsen, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX “The last stage was so long I couldn’t wait for the finish! To be honest, I had a really small hope at midday today that if Patrik made another mistake on the long stage there was a slight chance I might be able to win but after that we lifted off a bit. We knew Patrik was going to be fast here and to finish behind him even feels like a victory. I’m very happy and very lucky to score my first podium on my home event, especially after all our bad luck last season.”

3rd – Martin Prokop, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX: “I’m very happy with this weekend and everything we did was right and we made no mistakes. We just had a few problems yesterday but I wasn’t ready to fight with the locals here as they are too fast. Before the rally I expected fourth or fifth so I’m really happy with a podium.”

3. RESULTS (EVENT) *subject to scrutineering and routine fuel analysis POS CAR# DRIVER CO-DRIVER CAR TIME POINTS 1 46 Patrik Sandell (S) Emil Axelsson (S) Skoda 3:49:43.6 10 2 49 Eyvind Brynildsen (N) Denis Giraudet (F) Mitsubishi +44.1 8 3 31 Martin Prokop (CZ) Jan Tománek (CZ) Mitsubishi +2:56.7 6 4 47 Armindo Araújo (P) Miguel Ramalho (P) Mitsubishi +3:57.0 5 5 40 Andis Nieksans (LV) Peteris Dzirkals (LV) Mitsubishi +10:39.9 4 6 44 Jaromir Tarabus (CZ) Daniel Trunkát (CZ) Fiat Abarth +12:49.5 3 7 45 Patrik Flodin (S) Göran Bergsten (S) Subaru +20:17.5 2 8 37 Frédéric Sauvan (F) Thibault Gorczyca (F) Mitsubishi +35:04.4 1 9 60 Bernt Kollevold (N) Veronica Engan (N) Mitsubishi +44:12.8 0 10 35 Martin Semeràd (CZ) Bohuslav Ceplecha (CZ) Mitsubishi +49:22.2 0 11 34 Gianluca Linari (I) Andrea Cecchi (I) Subaru +54:55.3 0

4. RETIREMENTS (EVENT) CAR# DRIVER CO-DRIVER CAR STAGE REASON 33 Toshi Arai (J) Glenn Macneall (AUS) Subaru SS2 Engine 32 Bernardo Sousa (P) Jorge Carvalho (P) Fiat Abarth SS7 Engine 59 Andreas Mikkelsen (N) Ola Floene (N) Subaru SS19 Puncture

5. LEADERS (EVENT) CAR# DRIVER CAR STAGE 46 Patrik Sandell Skoda Fabia S2000 SS1-23

6. FASTEST STAGE TIMES (EVENT) CAR# DRIVER CAR WINS STAGES 46 Patrik Sandell Skoda Fabia 8 SS1, SS3, SS8-9, SS11-13, SS15 45 Patrik Flodin 8 SS2, SS10, SS14, SS16, SS18-19, SS21-22 59 Andreas Mikkelsen Subaru Impreza 4 SS4-7 49 Eyvind Brynildsen Mitsubishi Lancer 2 SS20, SS23 31 Martin Prokop Mitsubishi Lancer 1 SS17

7. FASTEST STAGE TIMES (SEASON) CAR# DRIVER CAR N CY P RA I GR AUS GB TOTAL 46 Patrik Sandell Skoda 8 8 45 Patrik Flodin Subaru 8 8 G Andreas Mikkelsen Subaru 4 4 49 Eyvind Brynildsen Mitsubishi 2 2 31 Martin Prokop Mitsubishi 1 1

8. SPRINTER STANDINGS (EVENT)

Total Total Total

SS TOT SS TOT SS TOT DRIVER AV DRIVER AV DRIVER AV 1 Sandell 166 23 7.22 6 Araujo 81 23 3.52 11 Semerad 18 23 0.78 2 Mikkelsen 119 19 6.26 7 Arai 7 2 3.50 12 Tarabus 10 23 0.43 3 Flodin 141 23 6.13 8 Neiksans 74 23 3.22 13 Sauvan 7 23 0.30 4 Brynildsen 134 23 5.83 9 Kollevold 27 15 1.80 14 Linari 1 23 0.04 5 Prokop 101 23 4.39 10 Sousa 10 7 1.43 The P-WRC Sprinter Standings are an unofficial method of ranking drivers based on individual stage performance. To calculate the Sprinter Score, drivers are awarded points for each stage classification (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1) and the total points are divided by the number of stages completed by the driver. This average score gives an indication of the drivers’ relative performance against his opponents on special stages, while limiting the impact of time loss due to technical problems on stage and penalties incurred.

9. SPRINTER STANDINGS (SEASON) CAR# DRIVER CAR N CY P RA I GR AUS GB TOTAL 46 Sandell Skoda 7.22 7.22 45 Flodin Subaru 6.13 6.13 49 Brynildsen Mitsubishi 5.83 5.83 31 Prokop Mitsubishi 4.39 4.39 47 Araujo Mitsubishi 3.52 3.52 33 Arai Subaru 3.50 3.50 40 Neiksans Mitsubishi 3.22 3.22 32 Sousa Fiat 1.43 1.43 37 Semerad Mitsubishi 0.78 0.78 44 Tarabus Fiat 0.43 0.43 37 Sauvan Mitsubishi 0.30 0.30 34 Linari Subaru 0.04 0.04

10. DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 2009 FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (FOR DRIVERS) * subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA POS CAR DRIVER CAR N CY P RA I GR AUS GB POINTS # 1 46 Patrik Sandell (S) Skoda 10 10 2 49 Eyvind Brynildsen (N) Mitsubishi 8 8 3 31 Martin Prokop (CZ) Mitsubishi 6 6 4 47 Armindo Ara újo (P) Mitsubishi 5 5 5 40 Andis Nieksans (LV) Mitsubishi 4 4 6 44 Jaromir Tarabus (CZ) Fiat Abarth 3 3 7 45 Patrik Flodin (S) Subaru 2 2 8 37 Frederic Sauvan (F) Mitsubishi 1 1 9 G Bernt Kollevold (N) Mitsubishi 9th 0 10 35 Martin Semerad (CZ) Mitsubishi 10th 0 11 34 Gianluca Linari (I) Subaru 11th 0 12 32 Bernardo Sousa (P) Fiat Abarth R 0 13 33 Toshi Arai (J) Subaru R 0 14 G Andreas Mikkelsen (N) Mitsubishi R 0

11. CO-DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 2009 FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (FOR DRIVERS) * subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA POS CAR DRIVER CAR N CY P RA I GR AUS GB PNTS # 1 46 Emil Axelsson (S) Skoda 10 10 2 49 Denis Giraudet (F) Mitsubishi 8 8 3 31 Jan Tomanek (CZ) Mitsubishi 6 6 4 47 Miguel Ramalho (P) Mitsubishi 5 5 5 40 Peteris Dzirkals (LV) Mitsubishi 4 4 6 44 Daniel Trunkat (CZ) Fiat Abarth 3 3 7 45 Goran Bergsten (S) Subaru 2 2 8 37 Thibault Gorczyca (F) Mitsubishi 1 1

11. WHAT IS THE FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP? The FIA P-WRC is a support championship to the WRC, open to drivers or teams using near-standard road cars. This season a diverse selection of drivers represent at least 14 countries in a season, covering Asia-Pacific, Europe and Australasia, and P-WRC TV footage during 2008 was aired by 51 channels covering 214 territories. The Mitsubishi Lancer and Subaru Impreza Group N cars have set the scene of some epic battles for victory and Super 2000 cars are now challenging the Group N cars for P-WRC honours. In 2009, P-WRC crew head to Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Australia and GB. O 12. NEXT ROUND

CYPRUS RALLY www.cyprusrally.com.cy 13 – 15 MARCH 2009 FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (FOR DRIVERS) ROUND 2 OF 8

For more information visit www.wrc.com . Contact Ellie Storey, [email protected] , +44 7909 908805