CAFÉ RACER 76

Rally Finland, étape 1 : Le match VW est lancé / a slender advantage for VW

Pour la quatrième fois consécutive depuis l’Argentine, deux Volkswagen Polo R WRC/Michelin ont bouclé la première étape en tête. Jari-Matti Latvala devance Sébastien Ogier de 4s5. Kris Meeke (Citroën) est troisième à moins de 10 secondes.

Dans le second passage de Lankamaa (ES3, 23,44 km), Jari-Matti Latvala et Sébastien Ogier ont signé le même temps, à 125,7 km/h de moyenne sur des pistes creusées d’ornières par endroits. Et sept pilotes ont amélioré le record détenu depuis 11 ans par Marcus Grönholm…

Ceci témoigne du niveau très relevé du WRC actuel et de l’intensité de la bagarre entre les deux pilotes Volkswagen. « Il fallait réagir car Jari-Matti avait remporté les deux 1^ères ES », racontait Ogier ce soir. « J’ai été assez prudent en début de rallye, je me méfiais des éventuelles flaques d’eau. Demain, on va attaquer, c’est sûr. Battre les Finlandais chez eux n’est jamais facile. »

Jari-Matti Latvala a maîtrisé son sujet aujourd’hui, malgré une petite chaleur à l’arrivée de la Superspéciale, Harju : « Dans le dernier droite en descente, il y avait un ballot de paille à l’intérieur. Je savais qu’il ne fallait pas prendre corde, mais j’avais oublié le ballot. J’ai freiné un peu tard et j’ai touché à l’avant-droit, mais sans conséquence. » Le Finlandais n’a perdu que 8/10^e dans l’aventure et reste leader du rallye avec 4s5.

Kris Meeke figure sur le podium provisoire depuis la 1^ère spéciale. Le pilote Citroën Racing dit avoir un bon feeling sur ces spéciales. « Il a toujours été très rapide ici », rappelle l’ingénieur Citroën Didier Clément, « l’an passé, on s’en souvient, mais aussi en Citroën C2 ».

En revanche, son équipier Mads Ostberg n’a jamais semblé très à l’aise avec sa DS3 WRC aujourd’hui. Le Norvégien pointe à la 7^e place, à 3s7 de son compatriote Andreas Mikkelsen (VW, 6^e). Les Finlandais Mikko Hirvonen (Ford, 4^e) et Juho Hanninen (Hyundai, 5^e) sont séparés par 7/10^e de seconde. « C’était très bien dans les deux 1^ères ES, mais la voiture était trop basse pour l’ES3 », a déclaré Juho.

Thierry Neuville, Robert Kubica et Hayden Paddon complètent le top-ten. En WRC-2, le leader Ott Tanak a perdu près de 5 minutes dans l’ES3 (crevaison). Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta R5) est donc en tête avec une avance relativement confortable de 35 secondes sur Karl Kruuda (Ford). Eyvind Brynildsen (Ford) n’est qu’à 1s2 de l’Estonien. En WRC-3, Martin Koci (Citroën DS3 R3) a signé deux meilleurs temps et devance Stéphane Lefebvre de 27s5. Demain, la journée est chargée avec 9 spéciales au programme du côté de Jämsa.

For the fourth time in a row since Argentina, there are two Michelin-equipped Volkswagen Polo R WRCs sitting on top of the leaderboard after Day 1. Jari-Matti Latvala is 4.5s clear of Sébastien Ogier, while third-placed Kris Meeke (Citroën) is less than 10s behind.

The second visit to ‘Lankamaa’ (SS3, 23.44km), saw Latvala and Ogier post identical times, at an average speed of 125.7kph despite some deeply rutted portions. Meanwhile, seven drivers bettered the stage’s record that has been held for the past 11 years by Marcus Grönholm, a good indication of the performance of today’s WRC machines.

The anticipated battle between Volkswagen’s two stars has got off to a flying start. “I needed to respond after Jari-Matti won the first two stages,” related Ogier this evening. “I was quite cautious to begin with because I was concerned about coming across standing water. I intend to push tomorrow, but it’s never easy to beat the Finns in their own back garden.”

Latvala ended the day in front, despite a scare towards the end of the ‘Harju’ super-special. “There was a hay bale on the inside of the last downhill right-hander. I knew I couldn’t cut the corner but I forgot the hay bale. I braked a little late and there was impact at the front-right. Happily, there was no damage.” The Finn only dropped eight-tenths to Ogier who completed the day with a deficit of 4.5s.

Meeke has had a footing on the podium since SS1 and the Citroën Racing driver says he had a good feeling. “He’s always been fast here,” notes his engineer Didier Clément. “Not only last year but also in the Citroën C2.”

In contrast, the Ulsterman’s team-mate Mads Ostberg appeared unhappy in his DS3 WRC this afternoon. He is provisionally seventh, 3.7s adrift of fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (6^th, VW). Finns Mikko Hirvonen (4^th, Ford) and Juho Hanninen (5^th, Hyundai) are split by just seven-tenths of a second. “I was fine on the first two stages but my car was a little low for SS3,” commented the Hyundai driver.

Thierry Neuville, Robert Kubica and Hayden Paddon round off the top 10.

The early WRC-2 pace-setter Ott Tanak dropped almost five minutes with a puncture on SS3, handing first place to Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta R5) who enjoys an overnight gap of 35s over Karl Kruuda (Ford), with Eyvind Brynildsen (Ford) a further 1.2s down.

In the WRC-3 fight, Martin Koci (Citroën DS3 R3) posted two fastest times to go 27.5s clear of Stéphane Lefebvre.

Friday’s busy programme features nine stages in the Jämsa region.

"Wheels & Waves '14" by YAMAHA Italia

MOTO GUZZI V7 STONE BY VENIER CUSTOMS

Moto Guzzi V7 Stone customized by Stefano Venier.

You don’t see many customs based on brand new motorcycles. It’s usually a good few years before the grinder is fired up and the sparks begin to fly. So this machine is something of a rarity: it’s a V7 Stone tweaked by Stefano Venier into a scrambler, and destined to do battle with the potholes and taxi cabs of New York City.

“The bike went straight from the store to the shop,” says Venier. “The idea was to build a Moto Guzzi scrambler, a really fun theme to work on.” The client was inspired by Venier’s NTX-based ‘Tractor 75’—a big hit with our readers a year ago—and he’s now got a bike that could almost be Moto Guzzi’s own interpretation of a scrambler.

The look is purposeful thanks to Continental dual sport tires and a black LSL headlight. ‘Tractor 02’ is also practical, and configured to be comfortable for two people. The seat is a little longer than usual and Venier has extended the rear frame by 30mm.

It’s the complete opposite of the usual shortened rear subframe, but the proportions work exceptionally well—with a kicked-up seat unit echoing the curve of the hand-made aluminum tank. The side panels are fabricated from aluminum too, and the spoked wheels are from Guzzi’s own V7 Racer.

Venier has removed the standard plastic valve covers, and installed vintage replacements. He’s also fitted strong head guards above the cylinder fins, to better protect the wide V-twin from mishaps. The mufflers are Norton Commando replicas: “I like the contrast of dual sport tires with the classic-style exhaust,” says Venier. “Elegance against roughness.”

Venier prefers muted colors, so for the V7 he’s employed two cool and glossy shades of grey with a simple gold stripe. The bars are Renthal motocross spec, but narrowed to make it easier to filter through traffic. Perched above the headlight is a Legendary Motorcycles GPS speedo, which works without a transmission sensor. “It’s not a small speedo, but it’s very functional to use.”

Like all Venier’s creations, the V7 is classy and amazingly well finished. It’s the kind of bike that Moto Guzzi itself could build if it wanted to go head-to-head with the hugely successful Triumph Scrambler.

Would you be tempted?

Images by Alex Logaiski. Head over to the Venier Customs website to see more of Stefano’s work, or follow his news via his Facebook page.

Get down and dirty with these 10 off-roaders for sale

1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 by FJ Company

The urban jungle has spawned SUVs of all sizes and all species; but it’s away from the roads that the real 4x4 roughnecks get down to business. We’ve found 10 dirt-ready off-roaders in the Classic Driver Market…