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Esapekka Lappi denies his breakthrough WRC victory at Rally Finland last month will alter his approach to this week's Rally Germany.

The 26-year-old Finn scored his maiden win at championship level on home ground, but is keeping expectations in check with a modest goal for the upcoming all-asphalt challenge.

"Winning in Finland won't make any difference to my approach in Germany: I'm going from my strongest event of the year to one that is definitely outside my comfort zone," he said. 

"It's my first asphalt rally in a World Rally Car, but actually I find that the Yaris WRC is even easier to drive on asphalt than it is on gravel, because it really feels like a racing car." 

A former Finnish karting champion, Lappi is no stranger to racing on asphalt, and he impressed on the WRC's German counter last year when he won the WRC 2 category in a Skoda Fabia R5 and finished seventh overall. 

"The aerodynamics and the potential of the car is so big that the tyres are the limiting factor: there's more power than grip, so you have to drive very cleanly and gently to keep the life in the tyres," he explained. "If we can stay out of trouble in Germany then I think we have a chance to finish in the top five and score some points. That's my goal." 

Toyota Gazoo Racing Team boss Tommi Mäkinen emphasised that on only the second pure asphalt event for the Yaris, the main objective was to further develop the car and evaluate the latest batch of technical upgrades.  

He said: "It is going to be interesting to see how the improvements we have made to the car since Corsica now work in the different conditions of Germany. The asphalt development is still going on as there were some new things we tried in our pre-event test this week, especially with the dampers."

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Asphalt ace Dani Sordo aims to use next week’s Rallye Deutschland (17 - 20 august) as a launch pad for a strong run to the end of the WRC season.

Sordo has not finished on the podium since May’s Rally de Portugal following troubled runs in Italy and Finland.

A return to the Spaniard’s favoured asphalt should suit the Hyundai Motorsport driver as he eyes a strong end to the campaign to boost the Korean squad’s title bid in the manufacturers’ series.

“We’ve had some highs and lows in recent events, so I’m aiming to build up some consistent and competitive results in the coming rounds. I’m in a positive frame of mind and ready to hunt down another German podium,” he said.

Sordo has an enviable record in Germany. He scored his only WRC win there in 2013 and has stood on the podium seven times. Only once has he failed to finish in 12 starts.

His knowledge of the unique stages will give him an advantage, but with rain forecast throughout the event he may not enjoy the consistent grip on which he thrives.

“Germany is a nice event with some tricky roads. The wider 2017-specification WRC cars will be a challenge on some of the narrower vineyard roads, and we’ll also have an eye on the weather,” added Sordo, who was third at the last asphalt encounter in Corsica in April.

After a disappointing team performance at the previous round in Finland, principal Michel Nandan is targeting a reprise of last year’s double podium in Germany.

“We don’t automatically assume we will be able to repeat that sort of performance, especially with the competition in this year’s championship, but that’s certainly our aim,” he said.

source: wrc.com

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Mads Ostberg has pulled out of this week's Rally Germany because of an ongoing technical problem with his car.

The Norwegian was due to join the hotly-contested WRC 2 class in Germany, but withdrew his entry on Sunday (13th) a week after his Ford Fiesta R5 suffered power-steering failure at a warm-up event in Poland.

Ostberg and Swedish co-driver Patrick Barth were leading the European Championship Rally Rzeszow when the unit failed. 

"It was scary because it happened suddenly when we went into a very fast corner." Mads explained. "Without the power assistance the steering effectively became almost locked, and I just about managed to wrestle the the car through the corner at nearly 180 km/h. We didn't manage to fix the steering and had to withdraw." 

The Fiesta, run by Ostberg's family-owned Adapta team, is two generations older than the latest R5 model and cannot be fixed in time for this week's WRC clash. 

"We can update mechanicals, but there will be issues with the software that we can't change on such short notice. We cannot control 100 percent that this will not happen again, until we have further updates. We have chosen not to start in Germany," Mads said. 

A no-show in Germany will delay Ostberg's appointment of a permanent replacement for co-driver Ola Floene, after the two parted company last month. 

Ostberg has organised trials with three contenders. He was co-driven by Torstein Eriksen at Neste Rally Finland, while Barth partnered him at Rally Rzezow. It was planned that Sweden's Emil Axelsson would call notes for Mads in Germany. 

Ostberg said: "Torstein did a great job in Finland and Patrick delivered on the stages we drove in Poland. Emil was the third candidate, and now we must find another solution to continue the evaluation process. The three guys are all possible candidates for a permanent seat." 

Mads' next championship appearance will be at Rally Catalunya - Rally de España in October.

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Sebastien Loeb is being lined up to test Citroen’s C3 on gravel after the nine-time world champion gave the french manufacturer valuable data on asphalt on Tuesday.

The 43-year-old linked up with long-time co-driver Daniel Elena on Tuesday to test the 2017-specification C3 in both wet and dry conditions in the Moselle region of France.

The duo provided plenty of useful feedback and Citroën Racing team principal Yves Matton confirmed they could now conduct a similar evaluation exercise on gravel.

With the remaining 2017 WRC events in Spain, Great Britain and Australia featuring loose-surface stages, Loeb’s input could give Citroën the performance boost it needs to end a disappointing season on a positive note.

“For the moment, nothing is decided but I think it will be interesting to have him on a gravel test session,” Matton told wrc.com.

“We will see if it is possible. He is quite busy with his rallycross programme and his cross country events.”

Speculation about Loeb being lined up to make a WRC return has gathered momentum since news of the Frenchman’s planned asphalt test broke at Neste Rally Finland last month.

Although Matton ruled out a competitive WRC return this season, he didn’t discount the possibility of Loeb resuming his distinguished WRC career at a later date.

He said: “There is no chance to do any rallies for him for the moment in 2017. I think we have to see what his plans are first. I think the only next step that we can see for the moment is a gravel test.”

In the meantime, the data that Loeb gathered yesterday could be used to boost Citroën’s asphalt performance as drivers Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Andreas Mikkelsen prepare to do battle at the upcoming ADAC Rallye Deutschland (17-20 August).

“What he [Loeb] did this morning was quite interesting and it was quite helping us also if we have some raining conditions in Germany due to the lack of feedback we had during the Germany test in rainy conditions,”Matton said.

“Now we have to see the weather forecast for next week to see if we can use what he did this morning. But his feedback is really interesting and his technical knowledge helps us a lot.”

source: wrc.com
 

         

 

 

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