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Showing posts from April, 2024

Could this be how Rally Croatia will look like in the future? - Adriatic Rally Concept

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After the end of this year's Rally Croatia, rumors started to emerge that the event organisers are exploring the idea of moving the event to someplace else in the future. The rumored locations include Dubrovnik, a location that has never hosted a rally and is known as a tourist spot, and Rijeka, the host city of Rally Croatia from 2011 to 2012. The second option sounds a lot more feasible, with the service park being close to the Grobnik circuit near Platak. That rumor, along with the one about Rally Sardegna being dropped from the calendar for 2025, made me interested in exploring the idea of another 3 nation rally, this time between Croatia, Italy and Slovenia, with the event being based in the costal city of Trieste! This concept event, combines stages in the 3 nations mentioned beforehand, effectively merging parts of Rally Croatia from when it was in Rijeka, Rally Alpi Orientali, an event that used to be in the ERC back in the early 2000s, and Rally Nova Gorica in Slovenia, ne

An inside look on last weekend's FIA meeting

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Rally Croatia was without a doubt, one of the best rallies of the season so far. The rally had 3 drivers going head to head for the overall win, with Sebastien Ogier emerging victorious after his foes, Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans, both went off and lost time on the first pass of  Zagorska Sela - Kumrovec. But as this rally was unfolding, there was a meeting in Zagreb between FIA officials, team representatives and rally officials. As mentioned in our Rally Croatia Preview episode , the goal of the meeting was for the FIA and teams to discuss what the 2025 Technical Regulations would look like, as well as discussing the proposed  Sporting Regulations with rally officials. In an interview on Cosmote TV, Rally Acropolis event director, Pavlos Athanassoulas gave us an insight of what was discussed in those meetings, and what we can expect going forwards. Athanassoulas said that there seems to be a "harmony" between the three Rally1 manufacturers on the Technical Regulations

7 Circuit Racing Drivers who went Rallying

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Jos Verstappen made headlines this week (for a good thing this time), when he announced that he would be competing in the second round of the British Rally Championship in Wales. The Dutchman, father of 3 times F1 World Champion Max Verstappen, is no stranger to the world of Rallying, as he has competed in the Belgian Rally Championship for the past 2 years. The former F1 driver finished 6th in the BRC last year, and even won the East Belgian Rally! The Dutchman has also competed in a WRC event, doing the Ypres Rally in a C3 R5 in 2022.  Jos Verstappen in the Ypres Rally 2022 ( Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool ) That got us thinking, what other circuit racers have had a go in a Rally car? So here are 7 circuit racing drivers who had a go at rallying! 1. Stephane Sarrazin  Stephane Sarrazin has driven in so many series, that it would be easier to name what series he has not raced in, rather than spending an hour talking about every racing discipline he has competed in.  Sarrazin has a