Pictures from New Zealand

Glen, Sara and Josh from New Zealand met with Petter and Phil after shakedown, took a lot of photos and emailed them to us via Viki. You can read his story in the forum.

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Meeting with Petter in Germany

Hans Van Gils, a belgium member of PSSC, got to meet with Petter during Rally Germany. Read his report.

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6th in Germany

Rally Deutschland is completed, and Petter ended up 6th overall. –Today the car is fun driving, is what Petter several times today. But – Petter and the team gave us some exciting hours today. On SS16 he reported back clutch-problems, and we were all crossing our fingers that he would make it back to the servicepark for the days only service – only 10 minutes. Normally the team needs 13 minutes for a gearbox change and clutch, today they did it in 10 minutes! Petter was at the timecontrol only 20 seconds late (and got a 10 seconds penalty). Later on SS19 Petter had to face another challenge – a cow was standing in the middle of the stage and luckily Petter managed to get around the animal. Gardemeister, who was ahead of Petter in the overall-list, got problems with a tyre on SS18, and Petter passed him and managed to end up 6th overall.

Sebastien Loeb is the winner of this rally, with Duval close on 2nd place. Hirvonen started the day with a wrong tyre choice and couldn’t keep up the speed as much as he wanted, while Grønholm went off the road on SS19 and lost time.

Petters team-mates both retired from the rally today. Pons with engine failure on SS15, the first stage of the day, and Chris made a mistake under braking, hit a wall, and damaged the car on SS16 – forcing him to retire.

Rallye Deutschland Overall

1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen
2. Francois Duval, Citroen +20,3
3. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +1.19,1
4. Marcus Grønholm, Ford +1.36,5
5. Jan Kopecky, Skoda +3.07,0
6. Petter, Subaru +3.14,7
7. Toni Gardemeister, Mitsubishi +3.37,5
8. Jari Mati Latvala, Ford +5.29,3
11. Henning, Ford

Rallye Deutschland Leg 2

Leg 2 in Rallye Deutschland is completed, and Petter is in 7th position. Sebastien Loeb is again in the lead, after yesterdays winner Duval had a spin at the first stage of today and lost time. Petter had to struggle with steeringproblems on the first stages of today, but after major changes to the suspension and steering during midday service, Petter said the car was better to drive. Henning, who started the day under SuperRally-regulations, hit a rock on SS13 and damaged the suspension.

Rallye Deutschland continues with 5 stages Sunday.

Overall classification Leg 2

1. Loeb, Citroen
2. Grønholm, Ford +37,8
3. Duval, Citroen +50,4
4. Hirvonen, Ford +55,5
5. Kopecky, Skoda +2.48,7
6. Gardemeister, Mitsubishi 2.51,4
7. Petter, Subaru +3.07,1
8. Pons, Subaru +4.16,4

Safety-crew

Being first on the road today was probably the best starting position. Every car that goes through the stage drags mud and stones on to the road when they are cutting cornes. This makes the road very slippery for the cars coming behind. If it rains, small “lakes” will occur on the stage, not helping on getting the grip. The road conditions can change dramatically in only a few minutes. Due to these changes, the teams bring gravelcrew or safety-crew for tarmacrallies.

Bruno Berglund and Terry Kaby is Petters gravelcrew, since Petters first rally for SWRT. Gravelnotes is crucial on tarmac-rallies, since the speed is so much higher than on gravel. Bruno and Terry drives through the stages only 2 hours before Petter and Phil starts. Bruno brings with him Phils pacenotes for the stage, and marks any changes with a red pen. Ex. Mud in the road, more water, gravel, etc. They hand over the new notes before Petter and Phil starts the stage, and Bruno also explains to Phil what he saw on the stage. Phil then uses the new pacenotes, and Petter knows that this is correct for the conditions.

Rallye Deutschland – Leg 1

Petter is holding 9. position after Leg 1 of Rally Deutschland is completed. Surprisingly, Duval from Belgium is in the lead. But Sebastien Loeb is pushing hard in 2nd position, only 1,3 seconds behind. Loeb struggled with too soft tyres on the second loop through todays stages, the team expected more rain. Henning had an accident on SS5, according to wrc.com he lost a wheel, and had to retire from the rally. On SS3, another Norwegian, Andreas Mikkelsen had to retire. Chris went off the road on SS2, got stuck into a vineyard and lost more than 8 minutes.

The day started perfectly for Petter and Phil, and they were 5th fastest on the first stage. “My best tarmac-stage for a long time” he said at the stage finish. On the next stage he had a really fast time on the first split, but then the brakes started to trouble and they lost time. On SS5 Petter hit a rock and damaged the car on the left front and lost a lot of time on SS6.

Rallye Deutschland continues with 6 stages Saturday.

Overall classfication Leg 1

1. Duval, Citroen
2. Loeb, Citroen +1,3
3. Grønholm, Ford +17,4
4. Hirvonen, Ford +22,7
5. Gardemeister, Citroen +1.04,2
6. Kopecky, Skoda +1.26,6
7. Pons, Subaru +1.37,2
8. Latvala, Ford +1.40,7
9. Petter, Subaru +1.50,7
15. Chris, Subaru +8.19,4