Meanwhile, in Sweden...

Perhaps WRC should consider a special ballast reward for anyone named Sebastien...

Drifting

Sebastien Ogier, 2014 Rally Poland.  
Have a nice Sunday!

Need a midday pick-me-up?

No wonder navigators don't look out the window...

Ogier scores first win for the VW Polo R WRC

Sebastien Ogier gave VW their first WRC victory for the Polo R in just their second outing.  For Sebastien Loeb instead, Rally Sweden will remain somewhat of a "bête noire" (or should it be a bête blanche?),  his only winwas  in 2004 and it was obviously one trophy  he hoped to score in this his final abbreviated season.

2013 Rally Sweden:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time/Gap
 1.  Sebastien Ogier     VW                  3h11m41.9s
 2.  Sebastien Loeb      Citroen                + 41.8s
 3.  Mads Ostberg        Qatar M-Sport Ford   + 1m24.5s
 4.  Jari-Matti Latvala  VW                   + 1m30.6s
 5.  Thierry Neuville    Qatar M-Sport Ford   + 5m06.4s
 6.  Juho Hanninen       Qatar M-Sport Ford   + 5m43.1s
 7.  Martin Prokop       Czech Ford          + 11m25.4s
 8.  Henning Solberg     M-Sport Ford        + 11m42.7s
 9.  Evgeny Novikov      Qatar M-Sport Ford  + 13m04.7s
10.  Yazeed Al Rahji     Yazeed Ford         + 16m27.0s

On a side note, Petter Solberg won the historic portion of the rally in a rwd Ford Escort MKII with his wife Pernilla as navigator and ...mechanic!

Rally Sweden: Flying Frenchies

Day two of Rally Sweden and it's still the battle of the Sebastiens, with Ogier in the VW Polo R WRC  leading Loeb in the Citroen by 30 seconds.   Can Loeb conquer the one rally he has not dominated in his incredible career in this his final run at it?

More highlights from the rally so far.



Colin's crest

Rally Sweden

...How it went is, shocker, Sebastian Loeb is leading after the first Special Stage. Rally Sweden is on of only four Loeb will take part of this season, others being Monte Carlo, Argentina and France. In fact, Sweden is one of the few rallies Loeb has not dominated in his career.

UPDATE: Perhaps Loeb's Swedish jinx are catching him out again, as of FRiday evening Ogier has caught him and gapped him by 10sSeconds

7th Monte Carlo win for Loeb

Surprising probably no one, it was the semi retired Sebastien Loeb who took victory at the 81st edition of the Monte. It is Loeb's seventh win of Monegasque classic.   Behind Loeb, the next rising star, Sebastien Ogier and a great first result for the Volkswagen Polo R WRC on it's first outing.

The rally, characterized this year was by brutal weather and road conditions, was shortened on the final day because of safety concerns.
Aside from the massive crowds standing, in darwinian rally fan tradition, pretty much where they could be mowed down at any moment, a group of spanish fans had to be rescued after falling down an embankment stopping the race.



The final day saw some high profile retirements, Ford's Evgeny Novikov and Juho Hanninen and VW' Jari-Matti Latvala were all victims of the dreaded Col de Turini. Check out Latvala's brutal crash.





With his 7th win at the Monte Carlo Rally Loeb, who will only compete in 4 WRC events this year, further cements his position as arguably one of the best racing drivers of all times.
 (more videos after the jump)

Monte Carlo Rally, 11 minutes of Pure Sound

Two clips thanks to Axis friends Andrea and Master: The top is fresh from Special Stage 1 at the Monte where Sebastien Ogier debuted the VW Polo WRC.

Below is an older clip from practice. OK, first off, Loeb arrives to work in an Aventador...  Then, just look at how he rips on those tree lined roads, it's just breathtaking, no fancy editing and multiple takes needed!

Battle of the Sabastiens!

Apparently, if your name is Sebastien, you have a 60% chance of being faster every time but, how does it work if you pit two Sebastiens against each other?

2013 Montecarlo Rally,  the last one ever for  Sebastien Loeb, the first for the "other" Sebastien, Ogier, in the new Volkswagen Polo WRC.

Stage 1 and it's a narrow victory for Ogier,  3.7 seconds over Loeb.   Predictably, this just serves to make Loeb mad and he proceeds to give Ogier 10 seconds on Stage 2 and 19 seconds on stage 3.

Overall the four stage first leg ends with Loeb ahead of Ogier by a fairly massive 1:20 and  1:46 in front of third place Hirvonnen.

Long rally,  brutal weather, lots of snow,and as it turns out,  embarrassing timing and scoring issues for the FIA and the ACM

 

Monte Day 2: Loeb in control, Ogier crashes hard!

(Photo: AGENCE S PRESSE/Andre Lavadinho)


The Monte Carlo Rally used to be a snow race but global warming has pretty much turned into a straight tarmac rally.

Thursday,  Sebastien Loeb consolidated his lead while Mini's Dani Sordo, who Spanish papers say took a 30% pay cut in order to get the seat, moved into 2nd followed by Petter Solberg in a Ford.



Sebastien Ogier crashed his Skoda hard, a scary accident that luckily resulted in just a minor injury to his navigator, Julien Ingrassia.



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