WRC Poland, Assen MotoGP, Norisring DTM and more
Live Text
Sort by
WRC - Poland: Ostberg is third to complete the stage and does so 5.6s slower than Ogier.
"Conditions were totally different to what they were on the recce," says the Norwegian at the finish.
"Conditions were totally different to what they were on the recce," says the Norwegian at the finish.
WRC - Poland: Latvala arrives at the finish having lost 11.6s to his team-mate - almost a second a kilometre. Problems for the Finn?
"Quite a bad start. I dunno, I didn't really have the confidence," he says with a huge dollop of honesty.
"Quite a bad start. I dunno, I didn't really have the confidence," he says with a huge dollop of honesty.
WRC - Poland: Ogier completes the 14.54km stage in 6m54.0s.
WRC - Poland: And Latvala is 8.2s down by the second split.
WRC - Poland: Ogier sets a benchmark first split time of 2m14.3s. Latvala is 2.5s slower.
WRC - Poland: VW team-mate Latvala sets off as well.
Football is being talked about far too much in the service park –especially at VW, where the Germans are preparing to be beaten by America tonight (maybe).
To mark the occasion, and to show what a bright and vibrant team VW is, they all wore their own football shirts for a photoshoot earlier today.
They are also using a special football-themed service tarpaulins this weekened
Lights out
WRC - Poland: Ogier is onto the stage and Rally Poland has begun.
WRC - Poland: AUTOSPORT’s rally guru DAVID EVANS is considering himself fortunate to be in Mikolajki for the start of the event.
There were times when he genuinely feared he would still be sitting in traffic on the outskirts of Warsaw on Sunday afternoon...
The drive from Poland’s capital north to Mikolajki is one of about 150 miles.
It’s a town-through-town kind of a trek, but the last 25 miles are through the open fields and countryside with great, great roads. It’s a bit like a flat Finland.
Quote
WRC - Poland: Talking of Latvala, the Finn has talked emotionally about the last time he was here in Poland in 2009.
For those who don’t remember, he was on target to deliver second place behind Hirvonen (which would have been the perfect one-two for Ford) when he cut just about the final corner of the stage a bit too fine, smashed the suspension on his Focus RS WRC and retired in the superspecial.
"At that moment," Latvala told AUTOSPORT, “I thought my career was over. I thought I was finished. That was the worst time of my life, my career. But, as I cried at the side of the car, something happened – the photographers stopped taking the pictures and started to clap for me.
“That was a boost, that was some nice support. I have forgotten nearly everything about that moment now, it is in the past.”
WRC - Poland: Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest in this morning’s 4.70km shakedown test close to the rally’s Mikolajki base. He will be desperate for an issue-free weekend to keep his championship hopes alive after losing a half-minute lead last time out in Sardinia.
Latvala quickest for VW in shakedown
Latvala quickest for VW in shakedown
WRC - Poland: To mark the occasion, Kubica’s M-Sport prepared Fiesta sports a special livery in Poland.
“As this is my home event, I thought it would be nice to show the Polish national colours on my Fiesta RS WRC,” he said.
“Together with our partners, we have come up with a one-off design for this special event.”
Quote
WRC - Poland: One man on that top six list is local hero Robert Kubica, whose race-winning exploits in Formula 1 made him a national hero and Polish rally fans worship the ground that he walks on.
He has dismissed any idea that his experience of the stages might hand him an advantage. The Pole tackled the rally last year as part of the European Rally Championship, but retired his Citroen DS3 after a wheel came off, but he held second for much of the opening day.
“For me, It will be a completely new rally,” he said.
“Perhaps I know about 10km of the gravel stages from last year. Of course, the conditions were different and the weather was changeable.”
He has dismissed any idea that his experience of the stages might hand him an advantage. The Pole tackled the rally last year as part of the European Rally Championship, but retired his Citroen DS3 after a wheel came off, but he held second for much of the opening day.
“For me, It will be a completely new rally,” he said.
“Perhaps I know about 10km of the gravel stages from last year. Of course, the conditions were different and the weather was changeable.”
WRC - Poland: The current drivers’ championship order also defines today’s running order, with leader Ogier first into the stages.
WRC - Poland: And here's the current championship standings after six of 13 rounds:
1 Sebastien Ogier 138
2 Jari-Matti Latvala 105
3 Mads Ostberg 66
4 Andreas Mikkelsen 63
5 Mikko Hirvonen 40
6 Elfyn Evans 3
(25 for a win, 3 for powerstage win)
Full season statistics on Forix
WRC - Poland: Three stages make up today’s schedule, including one in the dark. Here is the itinerary with UK start times:
SS1 Milki 1 (14.54km) 3:40pm
SS2 Kruklanki (17.24km) 4:40pm
SS3 Mikolajki Arena (2.50km) 7:05pm
SS1 Milki 1 (14.54km) 3:40pm
SS2 Kruklanki (17.24km) 4:40pm
SS3 Mikolajki Arena (2.50km) 7:05pm
WRC - Poland: There are 24 stages in total for 2014, covering 362.48km and they have been likened to those in Estonia and Finland for speed, but without the stomach-churning jumps found in the latter country.
Bravery and concentration will be needed through each of the double-dozen tests, as will perfect pace notes, given none of the crews will be familiar with the route and stages.
Bravery and concentration will be needed through each of the double-dozen tests, as will perfect pace notes, given none of the crews will be familiar with the route and stages.
WRC - Poland: Only a handful of the top category drivers sampled Rally Poland’s roads when it last appeared in the championship five years ago - winner Mikko Hirvonen among them - and they won’t find too much they remember this time around as there is only one stage that is being used in the same format, and that is the Mikolajki Arena super special which is being run every day.
WRC - Poland: First established in 1921, Rally Poland is one of the world’s oldest rallies, but has only been part of the WRC calendar on two occasions in 1973 and 2009.
WRC - Poland: But we focus our attention today on what’s going on in Poland as the seventh round of the 2014 World Rally Championship is due to properly get underway in about 15 minutes.
What else is happening this weekend?
Well, there’s the Norisring DTM and European F3 event, an IndyCar double-header in Houston, plus British Touring Cars from Croft, World Rallycross from Finland, United Sportscar’s Watkins Glen Six Hours, Formula Renault 3.5 in Russian and Auto GP at Imola.
Phew!
Well, there’s the Norisring DTM and European F3 event, an IndyCar double-header in Houston, plus British Touring Cars from Croft, World Rallycross from Finland, United Sportscar’s Watkins Glen Six Hours, Formula Renault 3.5 in Russian and Auto GP at Imola.
Phew!
MotoGP - Assen: We will be bringing you live two-wheel updates throughout the weekend, including Moto2 and Moto3 race coverage on Saturday morning.
MotoGP - Assen: We have already had two practice sessions in Assen and the Espargaro brothers have been setting the pace.
Pol Espargaro lead first practice
Aleix Espargaro sets record pace in FP2
Pol Espargaro lead first practice
Aleix Espargaro sets record pace in FP2
There is no need to check your calendar because today is definitely Thursday and not Friday, which may come as a disappointment to many of you wanting the weekend to arrive.
And no, we haven’t accidentally flipped the ‘on’ switch on a day early as MotoGP and the World Rally Championship are both in action today.
And no, we haven’t accidentally flipped the ‘on’ switch on a day early as MotoGP and the World Rally Championship are both in action today.
Good afternoon and welcome to AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live.
By: Dan Cross, Matt Beer, Marcus Simmons, Glenn Freeman, Andrew van Leeuwen, Sam Smith, Kevin Turner, David Evans, Mark Glendenning, Charles Bradley, AUTOSPORT staff
Published:
Lap:
