China Grand Rally

Après un Dakar 2015 riche en enseignements, Peugeot Sport s'attaque à un nouveau défi : le China Silk Road Rally (initialement nommé China Grand Rally). C’est avec deux équipages 100% français que le Team Peugeot Total va disputer la troisième édition de cette épreuve dont la promotion et la direction sont assurées par Hubert Auriol (63 ans, triple vainqueur du Paris-Dakar) épaulé par Gilles Picard pour le road-book. Côté pilotes et copilotes, on retrouvera le duo Stéphane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret au volant de la première PEUGEOT 2008 DKR. L’autre voiture sera emmenée par Cyril Despres, navigué par David Castera.

RENDEZ-VOUS EN TERRE INCONNUE

Après l’Afrique et l’Amérique du Sud, c’est en Asie que, pour la première fois en rallye-raid, Peugeot Sport va éprouver ses machines dans des paysages grandioses traversant la Chine d’Est en Ouest. Sable, oueds, terrains meubles, durs ou caillouteux… rien ne sera épargné aux concurrents de cette épreuve longue de près de 6000 kilomètres et qui seront amenés à gravir la plus haute dune d’Asie culminant à 1609 mètres d’altitude ! Avec de nouvelles séances d’essais et quelques évolutions sur la PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, la confiance est de mise pour ce nouveau challenge grandeur nature dans « l’Empire du Milieu ».

BRUNO FAMIN, DIRECTEUR DE PEUGEOT SPORT (AVRIL 2015)

Nous avons programmé une séance par mois d’ici au Dakar 2016. Nous sommes confiants dans le concept et dans le potentiel d’évolution de la voiture mais la complexité vient une fois encore du timing qui est très serré. Notre programme d’essais et de développement est ambitieux. Nous avons d’ores et déjà avancé sur la performance moteur mais aussi sur le poids. Nous allons travailler les suspensions dans le but d’augmenter la vitesse de passage sur les obstacles. Côté châssis, c’est la stabilité de la PEUGEOT 2008 DKR que nous voulons améliorer en augmentant la largeur des voies d’une vingtaine de centimètre et l’empattement d’autant. Cette dernière évolution majeure n’apparaitra que pour sur le Dakar 2016.

 

LE PARCOURS DU CHINA SILK ROAD RALLY EN DÉTAIL

30 août : SS1 (Xi’An - Zhongwei). 102 km. Altitude max : 1934m. Sol dur / Terre et parfois pierres.
31 août : SS2 (Zhongwei - Alxa Zuoqi). 63 km. Altitude max : 1500m. Sable 10%.
01 septembre : SS3 (Alxa Zuoqi - Alxa Zuoqi). 153 km. Altitude max : 1400m. Sable 10 %.
02 septembre : SS4 (Alxa Zuoqi - Eji Naqi). 204 km. Altitude max : 1680m. Sol Dur 70% / Sable 30%.
03 septembre : SS5 (Eji Naqi - Alxa Youqi). 272 km. Altitude max : 1600m. Dur / Meuble / Dur / Sable.
04 septembre : SS6 (Alxa Youqi - Alxa Youqi). 202 km. Altitude max : 1800m. Sablonneux / Dur / Sable et dunes.
05 septembre : SS7 (Alxa Youqi - Alxa Youqi). 237 km. Altitude max : 1750m. Oued sablonneux / dur.
06 septembre : SS8 (Alxa Youqi-Zhangye). 167 km. Altitude max : 1600m. 100% sable dunes.
07 septembre : SS9 (Matinée de repos - Zhangye- Zhangye Desert Park 14h). 2 km. Altitude max : 1600m. Dur / Meuble / Dur / Sable.
08 septembre : SS10 (Zhangye-Jiuquan). 176 km. Altitude max : 1900m. Dur / Sablonneux.
09 septembre : SS11 (Jiuquan-Dunhuang). 244 km. Altitude max : 1700m. Rapide sur sol dur / Pierres / Oued sablonneux.
10 septembre : SS12 (Dunhuang-Dunhuang). 222 km. Altitude max : 2500m. Sable 50% / Dur 50%
11 septembre : SS13 (Dunhuang-Dunhuang) . 162 km. Altitude max : 2500m. Caillouteux / Oued / Sablonneux / Pierres

Distance totale spéciales : 2205,71 kilomètres
Distance totale rallye : 5656,13 kilomètres (avec liaisons)

PALMARÈS

Vainqueur auto 2014 : Christian Lavieille (Haval)
Vainqueur auto 2013 : Zhou Yong (Haval)
(Le China Silk Road Rally est une course ouverte aux autos, camions, motos, SSV et quads.)

VIDÉOS

Résumé 2014
http://chinarally.hubertauriol.fr/haval-team-videos-lets-go-back-to-cgr-2014
Résumé  2013
http://chinarally.hubertauriol.fr/china-grand-rally-2013-videos

LA ROUTE DE LA SOIE (SILK ROAD) ?

La Route de la Soie est à l’origine un vaste réseau de routes commerciales, maritimes et terrestres qui relie la Chine à l'Occident. C’est l'un des meilleurs exemples de commerce international à travers les âges. Elle tire bien évidemment son nom de la marchandise qui y transitait : la soie. Bien que l’on trouve des traces de cette voie de communication 2000 ans avant notre ère, cette route se développe surtout à partir du IIe siècle après JC sous la dynastie Han. La soie, très coûteuse, était utilisée comme monnaie pour, entre autre, financer la guerre entre les Han et les Xiongnu, de redoutables chevaliers. Cette route fut peu à peu abandonnée à partir du XVe siècle.

Photo........

Baja Poland : Hołowczyc knockouts the competition

Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Łukasz Kurzeja (Mini 4All Racing) took a commanding lead during the first running of the 144-kilometer long special stage held at a military training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie. The stage opened Saturday's leg of this year's LOTTO Baja Poland. Four-time event winner was more than four minutes faster then Nasser Al- Attiyah in a similar car. An impressive third time was set by Martin Kaczmarski who makes his debut behind the wheel of a Toyota Hilux Overdrive.

During yesterday's draft Hołowczyc chose to be the first car on the road, expecting that his good knowledge of the military area will play into his hands. Former European Rally Champion made the right call and was in a class of its own, beating two-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al- Attiyah. Despite a severe time loose the Qatari was happy after the stage and stressed that his unfamiliarity was the main reason for loosing to Hołowczyc.

Martin Kaczmarski, who comes back to the sport after months of recovery from a back injury, turned out to be the revelation of the rally. After the stage Martin praised the organizers of LOTTO Baja Poland for preparing the rally at the highest level. Interestingly, Martin's co-driver, Tapio Suominen won the first round of this year's FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, Baja Russia, as a driver. Two Dutch drivers ended up just behind Kaczmarski. Also driving a Toyota, Bernhard Ten Brinken (with his Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul) finished fourth, ahead of his compatriot Erik Van Loon in another Mini.

Fourth driver of yesterday's super stage Marek Dąbrowski was off the pace this time and finished sixth, due to a power loose in his Toyota Hilux.

Vladimir Vasilyev, second in the FIA World Cup standings at the moment, finished behind Dąbrowski, complaining about recent lack of seat time in an off-road rally car. Ninth was, making his cross country car debut, Jakub Przygoński, who finished in front of two Toyotas of Paweł Molgo/Janusz Jandrowicz and former Baja Poland winner Alexander Zheludov/Anton Nikolaev.

Adam Małysz, co-driven by three time Polish rally champion Xavier Panseri, had his fair share of bad luck. Former ski jumping legend got lost and got a puncture what resulted in loosing 11 minutes.

Quotes after the second special stage of LOTTO Baja Poland:

Krzysztof Hołowczyc / Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing):

– I've never had a suspension like this in my life. The car is amazing. They have improved so many aspects over the last six months I've been out of the car.

Bernhard Ten Brinke / Tom Colsoul (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):

– It was good after the start but, we pushed, but later we made a mistake and lost around 1.5 minute. In general it wasn't that bad.

Nasser Al-Attiyah / Matthieu Baumel (MINI All4Racing):

– It wasn't easy. We didn't know much about the stage. We did a good job and I'm quite happy, but Hołowczyc set an incredible time.

                                      

Martin Kaczmarski / Tapio Suominen (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):

– To be honest, I'm very pleasantly surprised with the stage, it was prepared superbly. Congratulations to the organizers. The car is brilliant, co-driver even better, and the driver... well, we will know after the final results of the rally. The stage was really nice, fast and I'm really pleased.

                          

Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (MINI All4Racing):

– I've never been here. It's a new stage for me but it's a beautiful stage, very intense, twisty, with a lot of jumps. Everything was here. I've made a small mistake and lost a little bit of time but overall I'm satisfied.

Jakub Przygoński / Andreas Schulz (MINI All4Racing):

– It was and incredible stage. I really enjoyed driving here and we managed kept a good pace all the time. The car was brilliant and we had no navigation problems.

                        

LOTTO Rally Team’s Krzysztof Hołowczyc has confirmed his words that the military area around Drawsko Pomorskie is his natural environment. The Olsztyn resident co-driven by Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing) set the fastest time on the Saturday’s last stage and now has an over 6-minute advantage over two time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah competing behind the wheel of MINI as well. Before the Sunday’s rivalry, Hołowczyc has a commanding lead and targets his fifth triumph in LOTTO Baja Poland. Third overall lies Martin Kaczmarski – the fastest Toyota driver so far.

After a break in the service park located in the Rally Town in Drawsko Pomorskie, all crews once again went to the military ground for the second stage of the day. Once again, being first on the road Krzysztof Hołowczyc, who needed one and a half hours to overcome 144 kilometers in the sand and dust, took the fastest time. His result was almost 2 minutes worse than that which he obtained on the morning loop, but it was enough for gaining another scratch time. As expected, it was Nasser Al-Attiyah who crossed the chequered flag, as a second competitor with LOTTO Rally Team’s Martin Kaczmarski on the third spot.

It is interesting that 4^th place tie took guests from the Netherlands - Erik Van Loon (MINI All4Racing) and Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota Hilux Overdrive). Sixth place on the second run of section in Drawsko Pomorskie received Marek Dąbrowski and Jacek Czachor (Toyota Hilux Overdrive), who by the way have dismissed that the reason for their worse time one the first run of “Poligon Drawski" stage was caused by engine. According to Dąbrowski it was suspension that was set up inappropriately.

Seventh, this time, took Adam Małysz, who improved his previous result by more than 4 minutes, so before the Sunday’s competition, he moved up two positions. Jakub Przygoński (MINI All4Racing) is also improving his skills behind the wheel of the car and during the afternoon test he overtook the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies runner-up Vladimir Vasilyev. Baja Poland 2013 winner Alexander Zheludov (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) closes the top ten in the overall classification.

This is not the end of the excitement in this year's LOTTO Baja Poland. After Saturday's tough stages, competitors will face a double run of 65-kilometre “Dobra” test located near Szczecin. We should know the name of the winner of the eight round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies on Sunday afternoon August 30^th.

Quotes after SS3 of LOTTO Baja Poland 2015:

Krzysztof Hołowczyc / Łukasz Kurzeja (MINI All4Racing):
– We've won both stages and I'm already 6 minutes ahead of Nasser. I'm really happy and I wish to finish every day of a rally in a fashion like this. The advantage gives us a certain comfort zone, but we all know how cruel motor sport can be. Tomorrow there are two difficult stages awaiting us, so anything can happen. However the most important is the fact that, after being six months out of the car, I instantly felt at home in it. To be honest I was a little surprised when I realized that we won the first today's stage with 4 minutes over Nasser. We've drove really cleanly and I would like to thank my co-driver, Łukasz, who has kept pushing me.
                      
Nasser Al-Attiyah / Matthieu Baumel (MINI All4Racing): 
 –  I'm pleased with a quite good second place. During the second run of the stage at military training ground in Drawsko we had a puncture, that's why we've lost so much time. Given the circumstances, I've decided to focus on the points to the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies which I would like to win this year rather than victory in this event. Nevertheless tomorrow I would like to speed up and put some pressure on Krzysztof.

Martin Kaczmarski / Tapio Suominen (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
 – It was a great day for me. Espacially that this is my first cross country event after a year-long sabbatical. I equally happy and surprised with a third place. Above all, it was possible thanks to great effort of the team and my co-driver. Second running of the stage was a bit more difficult for me as I still suffer from a back pain. I'm really happy that there's plenty of Polish supporters along the stages. That helps me a lot. I'm also impressed with the organizers and how amazing stages they prepared.

Bernhard Ten Brinke / Tom Colsoul (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– The beginning of the second running of the stage was really good. We had a strong pace and as far as I know we were around second or third place most of the time. In the latter part of the stage Nasser caught up with us and used the Sentinel system. Later on he had a puncture and we overtook him. It cost us nearly a minute.

Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (MINI All4Racing):
– Second running of the stage at the military training ground for sure was more bumpy than the first one. There was much more ruts. This is the first time I'm taking part in this rally so it's not easy to be fast right away. At the end it was a good day.

Marek Dąbrowski / Jacek Czachor (Toyota Hilux Overdrive):
– We got the set-up right during the second running of the stage and it was much better then the during the first one where I think I was driving to slowly. I should have been pushing a lot more.

Jakub Przygoński / Andreas Schulz (MINI All4Racing):
– The second running of the stage was much more difficult than the first one because there was plenty of wheel-ruts. I feel more and more comfortable in the car and I'm loosing less and less to the front-runners, so there is a progression. I'm really happy and I would like to thank my co-driver.

Adam Małysz / Xavier Panseri (MINI All4Racing):
– Surely it was better then the first running of the stage, but I'm still lacking the right rhythm. W lost the momentum on the first running of the stage and it was hard to bounce back. Happily enough we had no more adventures and we're still in the fight! 

                        

6 Heures du Nurburgring : Porsche reste invaincu en qualifs ! / Porsche maintains unbeaten pole record!

Porsche/Michelin a signé sa 4e pole position de la saison grâce à Marc Lieb et Romain Dumas (Porsche 919 Hybrid N°18), devant la N°17. Les Audi R18 e-tron quattro et Toyota TS040 Hybrid s’élanceront depuis les 2e et 3e lignes de la grille de départ des 6 Heures du Nürburgring.

Dix-sept prototypes, dont six hybrides « usine » ont pris part aux qualifications LMP immédiatement après les GTE. Le thermomètre indiquait alors 23°C et malgré les nuages et quelques orages prévus dans l’après-midi, la séance allait se dérouler sur une piste sèche.

La Porsche N°18 fut la première en piste avec Marc Lieb au volant, suivie de l’Audi N°7 (Fässler). Comme ce matin lors des essais libres 3, les deux Porsche pointaient en tête du classement après le premier run, avec la N°18 devant la N°17 pilotée par Timo Bernhard (+0s199)

Alex Wurz a hypothéqué les chances de la Toyota N°2 avec un tout-droit dans l’herbe, alors que les Audi apparaissaient aux 3^e et 4^e rangs.

Puis Romain Dumas et Mark Webber se sont installés dans les prototypes de Stuttgart.

Un peu moins rapide que Lieb, Dumas est parvenu à maintenir la N°18 en pole, alors qu’un premier mauvais chrono de Webber permit aux Audi de pointer 2^e (N°8) et 3^e (N°7).

Le pilote Australien s’est repris au tour suivant pour remettre la Porsche N°17 sur la première ligne de la grille de départ. Les Porsche furent les seuls prototypes à franchir la barre des 1min37s.

Le meilleur tour de la séance a été réalisé par Lieb en 1min36s192. La Porsche N°17 a fini à 0s069 de la moyenne de la pole (1min36s473).

« On m’a dit au dernier moment que j’allais être le premier pilote sur la N°18 », expliquait Marc Lieb. « C’est bien car on a de bonnes chances d’avoir un tour clair en tout début de séance. Le team et les ingénieurs ont fait du bon boulot. Notre voiture était très plaisante à piloter. »

Les Audi ont conclu à plus d’une seconde de leurs cousines, et les deux Toyota à plus de deux secondes. La Rebellion R-One fut la plus rapide des LM P1 non-hybrides.

En LM P2, la nouvelle Gibson-Nissan de Strakka Racing a encore prouvé sa pointe de vitesse avec Jonny Kane au volant, auteur du meilleur tour au premier run. Mais son équipier Leventis n’a pu conserver la pole qui est finalement revenue à l’Oreca05-Nissan KCMG N°47 devant les Ligier N°26 et N°28 G-Drive Racing.

Le départ des 6 Heures du Nürburgring sera donné demain dimanche à 13h00.

Porsche claimed its fourth pole position from four this season thanks to the combined efforts of Lieb/Dumas (1st) and Bernhard/Webber (2nd) who were nominated to qualify the N°18 and N°17 Hybrid 919s respectively. The N°8 and N°7 Audis, and the N°1 and N°2 Toyotas will occupy the second and third rows of tomorrow afternoon’s grid.

The LM Prototype qualifying session featured a total of 17 cars, comprising the six factory hybrids, the three non-hybrid P1s and eight LM P2 machines.

For the start of the 20-minute run (which saw qualifying revert to the WEC’s usual ‘average of two drivers’ system after the more conventional ‘winner-takes-all’ procedure applied at Le Mans), the weather was as nice as it has been all weekend.

The thermometer stood at more than 23°C and the conditions were sunny, although a little cloudy – perhaps a sign of the storm that is now being predicted for later today.

Happily, the track stayed dry for the pole shootout.

Eager to get started was the N°18 Porsche which was first out of the pit lane with Lieb at the wheel, tailed by the N°7 Audi (Fässler).

In keeping with the form shown during this morning’s free practice, it was the two Hybrid 919s that emerged on top after the first round of flying laps, the N°18 car narrowly beating its N°17 stablemate (Bernhard) by 0.199s.

Wurz didn’t help Toyota’s chances when he went wide on grass and the two Audis logically appeared in third and fourth places.

The Stuttgart machines pitted after a single flyer each, allowing Dumas (N°18) and Webber (N°17) to climb aboard.

Although slower than Lieb, Dumas kept the N°18 car on top, but a poor first time from Webber allowed the Audis to go second (N°8) and third (N°7). The Australian made up next time round, though, to reassert the domination of Porsche which was the only team to lap underneath the 1m37s threshold.

The session’s fastest time remained the property of Lieb whose 1m36.192s contributed to an average of 1m36.473s for his car. The second-placed N°17 Hybrid 919 ended up 0.069s adrift...

“I learned at the last moment that I would be first out in the N°18 car,” reported Marc Lieb. “That’s good because you have a better chance of getting a clear track and ‘clean air’. The team and engineers did a fantastic job. Our car was so much pleasure to drive!”

The Audis ended up more than a second behind, and both Toyotas were more than two seconds off the pace. The fastest non-hybrid LM P1 prototype was the N°12 Rebellion R-One (Prost/Beche/Heidfeld).

In LM P2, the brand new Gibson-Nissan provided further evidence of its speed when Kane topped the class’s order early on. However, team-mate Leventis was unable to defend Strakka Racing’s advantage and Sunday’s field will finally be led away by the N°47 Oreca05-Nissan (Howson/Bradley/Tandy) which shrugged off pressure from the N°26 and N°28 Ligier-Nissans (G-Drive Racing) which came second and third.

The 2015 6 Hours of Nürburgring will start on Sunday afternoon at 1pm. There will be no warm-up session.