European Rally Championship

Apr142015 by Nika Štremfelj22 Comments

Premrl says he could have been better

The second rally, which was considered the Mitropa Cup, took place at the well-known Lavanttal Rally, which takes place every year in the vicinity of Wolfsberg, Austria. As many as 95 crews registered for the rally, but only 77 showed up at the starting ramp. The great atmosphere and lots of spectators in the service zone was a nice start to the rally. Summer weather prevailed on Friday, which heralded a great start to the rally. In the afternoon, there were 4 speed trials, which were later taken by Grega and Gregor, who took 11th place overall, 3rd place in the Mitropa Cup, 3rd place in the RC3 group and was first among the Slovenes. That was a great prospect for Saturday’s second part of the rally. On Saturday morning, everything pointed to great weather and thus a great end to the rally. In the morning, the racers had 4 speeds first

Apr132015 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

100 km / h on narrow Irish roads

European Rally Championship, Rally

This year’s third rally for the European Championships, the rally across Ireland, was special because of its fast and narrow speed trials. Rok Turk also reached high speeds with the Peugeot 208 R2, and his co-driver Blanka Kacin read the notes at a fast pace. Their average speed on 215 kilometers of speed trials was 91,9 kilometers per hour, and on one of the speed trials their average speed was as much as 101,1 kilometers per hour! https://youtu.be/aI9SjhFDXcE

Apr62015 by Blaž Štremfelj4 Comments

7th place for Rok Turk in a rally in Ireland

European Rally Championship, Rally

Jumps and turns, fast sections of roads and rapidly changing weather conditions were definitely a big challenge for Rok Turk, who took part in the rally for the European Championship in Ireland last weekend. Together with co-driver Blanka Kacin, they bravely tackled speed trials, gained new experience from kilometer to kilometer and achieved ever better times with the Peugeot 208 R2 in the strong competition of ERC3 class race cars. On Friday morning, in addition to them, there were 21 crews of the ERC3 class at the start and the fight for the best possible rankings and points for the European Championship lasted until the last speed test the next day, when the final rankings were decided by seconds. Rok and Blanka achieved an excellent result after 215 kilometers of speed trials, as they finished the rally in 7th place in Ireland

Mar252015 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Rally around Ireland a new challenge for Rok Turk

European Rally Championship

Narrow and fast roads, speed trials with many turns and jumps, are the main features of the rally across Ireland. On the first weekend in April this year, Rok Turk is also going to the Irish Rally for the European Championship (ERC), where he and co-driver Blanka Kacin will have the starting number 208 on their Peugeot 2 R45. Before leaving for Ireland, Rok passed a two-day test. together with the OPV team with which they are preparing the race car, they were mainly looking for the right settings for the fast sections that await them in the north of Ireland. "Given that the average speeds on the speed tests are around 100 kilometers per hour, I mainly tested the settings for fast sections, where it will be important to have a calm car and be on the ideal line at all times. There will also be many turns where the next these

Jan72015 by Blaž Štremfelj18 Comments

Bad luck for Rok Turk and the premature end of the inaugural rally of the season in Austria

European Rally Championship, Rally

The introduction to the new racing season did not go according to plan for Rok Turk and his team. At this year's first rally for the European Championship, he and his co-driver Blanka Kacin had to park their Peugeot 208 R2 by the road in the first speed test, as the car's engine failed a few kilometers before the finish line. The Jänner rally, which took place in the vicinity of the town of Freistad in the north of Austria, awaited the team with real winter conditions - low temperatures and snow and ice at the speed trials. After Sunday's qualifiers with some minor technical problems with the new car, Rok remained optimistic: "I quickly got used to the road conditions and racing with winter tires with studs for better grip. The feeling was real and also the introductory speed test.

Nov292014 by Blaž Štremfelj384 Comments

Will the Fabia R5 be able to emulate the successes of the VW Polo?

European Rally Championship, Rally, WRC

After Škoda introduced the latest Fabia model a few months ago, it has now put on display the Fabia R5 concept, a rally special with a 1.6-liter turbo engine and a five-speed sequential transmission. When completed, the Fabia R5 will replace the Fabia S2000, one of the most successful rally cars on any basis in various categories. The Fabia S2000 was introduced in 2009 and, believe it or not, served as the basis for Volkswagen’s WRC program, which became simply invincible, which is now also expected of the Fabia R5 in the lower rally categories.

Mar302014 by Blaž Štremfelj23 Comments

Breen winner of the ERC Rally Acropolis

European Rally Championship

Craig Breen celebrated at the legendary Acropolis Rally, which was the third rally of this year’s ERC European Championship season. The Irishman, who competed in the all-new Peugeot 208T16, earned the prestigious Colin McRae Flat Out trophy with an excellent ride, and dedicated the victory to Gareth Roberts, his best friend and co-driver, who lost his life in a tragic rally accident in 2012. He also remembered the late Frank Meagher, the last Irishman to win one of the rallies considered the European Championship. Bryan Bouffier (Citroen DS3 RRC) and Kajetan Kajetanovič (M-Sport Ford Fiesta) were breathing down Breen's collar. In the category of two-wheeled racing cars, the Russian Evgenij Šuhovenko won, and Vitelij Puškar won the Cup of Production Racing Cars.

Sep282013 by Blaž ŠtremfeljNo Comments

Humar with a win back in the fight for the championship

European Rally Championship, Rally

Aleks Humar returned to the fight for this year's title of national champion with an excellent run and victory at the Croatia Rally, which was also considered the European Championship. In Croatia, Idrijčan was caught in the rain at the second speed test, where he spun and lost some time. But in the sequel, Humar had no real competition. Already after the first day, he gained an enviable advantage over competitors, which allowed him to control the advantage over Jani Trček, Asja Zupanc, Rajko Žakl and Darko Peljhan on the second day of the rally, despite the failure of the brakes before the last round of speed trials. another third victory this year, with which he and his co-driver Florian Rus reduced the gap in points against the leading Trček. This is now only 17 points left, which means that T will have to

May282013 by Blaž Štremfelj74 Comments

Limit the number of tires in the ERC

European Rally Championship

The organizers of the European Rally Championship ERC have reduced the number of sets of tires available to racers. So far, the consumption of tires has not been limited, so the best or wealthiest teams could use any number of new tires, which for racers and teams with a smaller budget meant that they are even further away from the top. From the Ypres Rally onwards, racers will be able to use 20 tires for each rally, and four more will be available for training and qualifying. The organizers also banned additional incision of the profile on the tires. Francois Ribiero, the sporting boss of the promoter of the ERC Eurosport Event, said this was a necessary move to prevent a headless increase in costs. "The ERC rules around tires have been very wasteful. We still want open competition between tires,

May182013 by Blaž Štremfelj1 How

Bouffier winner of Corsica

European Rally Championship

Bryan Bouffier is the winner of the ERC Rally in Corsica. This is only his second win after a surprising win at Monte Carlo in 2011. It is also Peugeot’s first win in an international race since Thierry Neuville won the IRC Rally in Sanremo in 2011. Bouffier fought for the win with Jan Kopecky, who in the last test he decided to settle for second place. Even if Kopecky wanted to fight for the victory, he was not allowed to do so by his Škoda, which "proposed" on three cylinders in the last stage. Craig Breen and Stephane Sarrazin battled for third place. The latter was better. Francois Delecour was fifth. Robert Kubica took the lead at the beginning, but once again the Pole had to resign. This time he was stopped by a problem with the fuel supply on his Citroen.