2017 National Rally Champions [Archive]

focus206

3rd October 2017, 21:15

(any correction is welcome)

FIA Middle-East: Nasser Al Attiyah (Qatar) - Ford Fiesta R5
Czech Republic: Jan Kopecky - Skoda Fabia R5
Ireland (tarmac): Sam Moffett - Ford Fiesta R5
Latvia: Kalle Rovanpera (Finland) - Skoda Fabia R5
Lebanon: Roger Feghali - Skoda Fabia R5
Lithuania: Janis Vorobjovs (Latvia) - Mitsubishi Mirage RS Proto
Netherlands: Hermen Kobus - Skoda Fabia R5
Norway: Eyvind Brynildsen - Ford Fiesta R5
Poland: Filip Nivette - Skoda Fabia R5
Russia: Stanislav Travnikov - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
Scotland: Euan Thorburn - Ford Fiesta R5
Serbia: Vladica Rabrenovic - Renault Clio R3
Sweden (Group A): Thomas Thunstrom - Citroen DS3 R5
Sweden (Group N): Jacob Jansson - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4 (I've included this in the list because as far as I know there's no overall champion in Sweden, but if there was, it would be Jansson)

Rally Power

3rd October 2017, 22:53

Wow, great job focus206! I had no clue there were already so many champs; only suggestion would be to add codrivers names, as we unfairly tend to forget them.

focus206

3rd October 2017, 23:12

Wow, great job focus206! I had no clue there were already so many champs; only suggestion would be to add codrivers names, as we unfairly tend to forget them.

You're right, we shouldn't forget them. The point is that quite some times in history the co-driver champion wasn't the driver champion's co-driver (when the driver champion would change co-driver, or when a co-driver would work with different drivers throughout the season and in the end have enough points to be champion), so it would be very difficult to have a list of co-driver champions as well, considering that for many countries finding certain years' driver champion is already very difficult!

dupanton

4th October 2017, 06:57

In the Netherlands, there are 2 championships. Kobus won the "Open" championship, which also contains some foreign events and you don't have to be dutch to score points. Then there is the real "National" championship. That was won by Jasper Van den Heuvel (Mitsubishi Evo X).

The Belgian co-driver champion is already known: Veronique Hostens. She is the codriver of Vincent Verschueren on all but 1 rally this year.

electroliquid

4th October 2017, 07:12

Baltic Rally Trophy: Benediktas Vanagas/Agnė Vičkačkaitė-Lauciuvienė (Lithuania) - Škoda Fabia R5

focus206

7th October 2017, 20:48

Iceland: Fylkir Jonsson - Subaru Impreza WRX STi N12
Romania: Bogdan Marisca - Ford Fiesta R5
USA (American Rally Association): Travis Pastrana - Subaru WRX STi
USA (Rally America): Arkadiusz Gruszka (Poland) - Mitsubishi Mirage RS Proto

Mirek

7th October 2017, 21:07

Central Rally Trophy (if anyone is interested in it) - Ondřej Bisaha (Cze) - Ford Fiesta R5

Rally Power

7th October 2017, 21:53

Swiss: Sebastian Carron – Ford Fiesta R5

focus206

9th October 2017, 14:21

Bulgaria: Tihomir Stratiev - Peugeot 208 R2
Paraguay: Gustavo Saba - Skoda Fabia R5

pantealex

10th October 2017, 08:33

Finland:

SM1 Teemu Asunmaa - Jonne Halttunen, Skoda Fabia R5

SM2 Eerik Pietarinen - Juhana Raitanen, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9

SM3 Miika Hokkanen - Jukka Pasenius, Ford Fiesta R2T

SM4 Joonas Lindroos - Pasi Kilpeläinen, Honda Civic Type-R

Teams: Hannu´s Rally Team (Asunmaa and Mikko Lehessaari - Reeta Hämäläinen, Skoda Fabia R5)

focus206

15th October 2017, 17:39

Estonia: Georg Gross - Ford Fiesta WRC
Greece: Socratis Tsolakidis - Skoda Fabia R5
Hungary: Norbert Herczig - Skoda Fabia R5
Italy: Paolo Andreucci - Peugeot 208 T16

focus206

21st October 2017, 21:56

Germany: Fabian Kreim - Skoda Fabia R5
South Africa: Guy Botterill - Toyota Etios R2
Spain: Ivan Ares - Hyundai i20 R5

Mitropa Rally Cup: Hermann Gassner (Germany) - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4

focus206

22nd October 2017, 18:01

FIA Africa: Manvir Singh Baryan (Kenya) - Skoda Fabia R5

Slovakia: Pavel Jr Valousek (Czech Republic) - Ford Fiesta R5
Turkey: Burak Cukurova - Skoda Fabia R5

focus206

29th October 2017, 14:24

Slovenia: Rok Turk - Peugeot 208 T16

ESTR

30th October 2017, 13:15

Slovenia: Rok Turk - Peugeot 208 T16

Div 1: Simon Mlinar (VW Polo)
Div 2: Grega Premrl (Citroen DS3 R3T)
Div 3: Aleš Zrinski (BMW M3 E36)

Mirek

5th November 2017, 15:07

We can add now

Belgium: Vincent Verschueren - Škoda Fabia R5

CWJ

5th November 2017, 16:25

Guys I thought all the time rallying is teamsport, so how come drivers are champions alone always?

Mirek

5th November 2017, 16:41

Honestly, are we able to track every single national event in Europe and make a mega table with list of co-drivers on every single one of them? Without that it's near impossible to have an idea. Even to have the overview about the leading drivers in each country requires a lot of effort.

focus206

6th November 2017, 09:55

Guys I thought all the time rallying is teamsport, so how come drivers are champions alone always?

You are welcome to try to figure out the co-driver champion for each country and list them. As I said in a previous post and as Mirek said, figuring out national driver champions for each country (especially for some countries) is already hard enough.

focus206

6th November 2017, 10:08

Croatia: Krisztian Hideg (Hungary) - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX R4
Denmark: Ib Kragh - Citroen DS3 R5
Japan: Norihiko Katsuta - Subaru WRX STI
Northern Ireland: Jonathan Greer - Citroen DS3 R5

Barreis

6th November 2017, 10:26

Croatia: Krisztian Hideg (Hungary) - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX R4
Denmark: Ib Kragh - Citroen DS3 R5
Japan: Norihiko Katsuta - Subaru WRX STI
Northern Ireland: Jonathan Greer - Citroen DS3 R5

Hideg drove also with fiesta r5 and fabia r5

NoFear85

6th November 2017, 20:50

AFAIK Croatian champion is Juraj Sebalj - Evo IX/i20 R5

focus206

6th November 2017, 21:23

AFAIK Croatian champion is Juraj Sebalj - Evo IX/i20 R5

Hmm what is your source? If I translated correctly, here it says it's Hideg:
http://rajdy.autoklub.pl/news/do-trzech-razy-sztuka,80574
It even gives the final classification of the championship: 1. Hideg 122,25, 2. Šebalj 91, 3. Szilágyi 61, 4. Siladić 60,5, 5. Dobrila 45, 6. Kodelja 41.

CWJ

7th November 2017, 08:31

As I said in a previous post and as Mirek said, figuring out national driver champions for each country (especially for some countries) is already hard enough.

This is a rally specialist forum. If we cant do, it would be very poor. And it just makes no sence to honor /name only the driver. Even if the codriver only run 90% of the events, it should be a team being named champion.

Belgium: Vincent Verschueren - Veronique Hostens
Germany: Fabian Kreim - Frank Christian

focus206

7th November 2017, 10:10

And it just makes no sence to honor /name only the driver. Even if the codriver only run 90% of the events, it should be a team being named champion.

It doesn't make sense listing the codriver like that, in my opinion. The championships are called "Driver championship" and "Codriver championship" (when there is one), not "Crew championship". Are you aware that Hostens and Christian won the codriver championships of Belgium and Germany, or you just listed the drivers' respective codrivers?
I'll make an example. Let's say Ingrassia missed a couple of rallies this season, Ogier still wins the championship, but Nicolas Gilsoul is the codriver champion. How would you list it? "WRC: Sebastien Ogier - Julien Ingrassia"? I would find that a bit disrespectful towards Gilsoul. No one is trying to take away merit of codrivers, we all know they're part of the crew.
And by the way yes, it's a rally specialist forum, but rally championships are not only from Belgium, Germany and France. Finding info on championships of let's say Iceland, Uruguay, Belarus and China, is not easy at all.

mArvAlcao17

7th November 2017, 11:08

Time to start this year list...

Great Britain: Keith Cronin / Mikie Galvin - Ford Fiesta R5

France: Yoann Bonato / Benjamin Boulloud - Citroën DS3 R5

Is it OK to put some sub-category champions?

Rally Power

7th November 2017, 12:23

Guys I thought all the time rallying is teamsport, so how come drivers are champions alone always?

You’re right CWJ and the question was already raised, but it makes sense to see this topic as a work in progress. Focus, Mirek and others guys (including myself) are now mainly sharing the champ name as soon as we know it, but anyone can eventually add codrivers names, like you already did in Belgium and Germany cases. A few weeks more and we’ll certainly be able to gather all the shared info, fill the gaps and make a proper roll, like it’s usually made.

Mirek

7th November 2017, 12:30

I can add Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland where it is easy due to the fact that the winning crews stayed same through the whole season (and I know that since it's close for me). But I have no idea about most of other countries.

Czech Republic: Jan Kopecký / Pavel Dresler (Fabia R5)
Slovakia: Pavel Valoušek / Veronika Havelková (Fiesta R5/Focus WRC)
Poland: Filip Nivette / Kamil Heller (Fabia R5)

Rally Power

7th November 2017, 12:48

Is it OK to put some sub-category champions?

IMO is OK to put every info you got, as long it’s correct info. We’re doing it for fun and to know a bit more of how the sport is doing in other countries.

CWJ

7th November 2017, 18:19

I can add Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland where it is easy due to the fact that the winning crews stayed same through the whole season (and I know that since it's close for me).

Perfect, thats just what I mean a rally forum needs to be capable of :)

Are you aware that Hostens and Christian won the codriver championships of Belgium and Germany?

Yes, just simply by championships website.

And: I know what you mean ... for my personal understanding it's just better to name the most participating codriver than no codriver. Amen.

focus206

7th November 2017, 19:34

for my personal understanding it's just better to name the most participating codriver than no codriver. Amen.

You can list them if you'd like, I'll keep listing drivers only. I don't feel like listing codrivers that might not be champions nor I really have time to reasearch, as some basic info about some championships is already hard to find.
By the way - the fact that the driver champion keeps the same codriver for the whole season, that doesn't mean his codriver is the codriver champion. 95% of the times it does, but there's always a chance someone else codrove for more than one driver, ending up with more points in the codriver championship. Especially when coefficients and class points (things that I really dislike) are involved. But when it's possible to find the codriver championship standing, then no problem.

Barreis

7th November 2017, 23:52

Hmm what is your source? If I translated correctly, here it says it's Hideg:
http://rajdy.autoklub.pl/news/do-trzech-razy-sztuka,80574
It even gives the final classification of the championship: 1. Hideg 122,25, 2. Šebalj 91, 3. Szilágyi 61, 4. Siladić 60,5, 5. Dobrila 45, 6. Kodelja 41.

he meant from the croatian drivers. but there is no more open croatian championship, just croatian championship and hungarian hideg has our (croatian) FIA licence. that means he's croatian champ.

electroliquid

8th November 2017, 11:27

pantealex

8th November 2017, 13:47

electroliquid

8th November 2017, 13:57

I did see many Mitsubishi Lancer champions, those countries have poor cars...
Evo9 isn´t even eligible to WRC events, too old car.

It's like being stuck, 10 year ago leaders in Baltics drove Evo9, and in Lithuania they still drive those cars...Most of this years national champions used N4 evos.

But, Evo9 still good for ERC, isn't it?

focus206

8th November 2017, 14:11

It's very sad, because from all here mentioned national championships, only in Lithuania champion drove nonhomologated car - Mirage Proto. Janis Vorobjovs is great driver, but that show how poor championship we have, with kinda crappy cars...

I follow many national championships around the globe, in my opinion Lithuanian one is not THAT bad... this year there were also a couple of Fabia R5 with Butvilas and Vanagas. If we look at Latvia and Estonia, their championship entry lists are also dominated by N4 Lancer Evos, with the difference being the drivers (in case of Latvia with talented Rovanpera and Gryazin). You can easily find some European national championships on the Lithuanian level and some worse than that, trust me.

electroliquid

8th November 2017, 14:22

I follow many national championships around the globe, in my opinion Lithuanian one is not THAT bad... this year there were also a couple of Fabia R5 with Butvilas and Vanagas. If we look at Latvia and Estonia, their championship entry lists are also dominated by N4 Lancer Evos, with the difference being the drivers (in case of Latvia with talented Rovanpera and Gryazin). You can easily find some European national championships on the Lithuanian level and some worse than that, trust me.

Well, you are right, we don't need to go far to find worse championship - Belarus championship is bad, but that's another case...Latvian championship was very good, but now there are only few Latvian crews left, and without foreign competitors it would be poor.
Butvilas drove only one event, but still counts :) Another problem is that our Evos isn't N4 - it's monsters with A group engines, sequential gearboxes, and cut shells, basically what proto cars is, but with original bodies.
Bit of OT - from here are you?

focus206

8th November 2017, 14:29

Well, you are right, we don't need to go far to find worse championship - Belarus championship is bad, but that's another case...Latvian championship was very good, but now there are only few Latvian crews left, and without foreign competitors it would be poor.
Butvilas drove only one event, but still counts :) Another problem is that our Evos isn't N4 - it's monsters with A group engines, sequential gearboxes, and cut shells, basically what proto cars is, but with original bodies.
Bit of OT - from here are you?

Croatia, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, even Netherlands are in the same class of Lithuanian championship more or less; championships of Belarus, Serbia, Ukraine, Iceland and Bulgaria are worse... well, it's not easy to "rate" the level of a championship anyway :D
I didn't know those Lancers were group A+, since when?
And I'm from Italy.

electroliquid

8th November 2017, 14:39

Croatia, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, even Netherlands are in the same class of Lithuanian championship more or less; championships of Belarus, Serbia, Ukraine, Iceland and Bulgaria are worse... well, it's not easy to "rate" the level of a championship anyway :D
I didn't know those Lancers were group A+, since when?
And I'm from Italy.

From around 2014 most of leaders converted Evos into A+ cars, basically when R4 kit for Evo became popular. This year only Vaškys and Šiugždinis drove with N4 Evos. https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/2017/55-lithuania/?cat=4377#points
LARČ1 - R5, S2000, RRC/ LARČ2 - N4/ LARČ3 - A+ (L8 national class) Example: http://rallycarsforsale.net/ads/mitsubishi-lancer-evo-x-r4/ And this one is not far from homologated car.

Barreis

8th November 2017, 15:26

electroliquid

8th November 2017, 18:00

oh, now we have r5 cars in the croatian championship more and more but without foreign crews we would be in really bad condition

I feel you, bro. Hope Croatia get WRC event, we had one near, now your time ;)

OldF

9th November 2017, 17:48

From around 2014 most of leaders converted Evos into A+ cars, basically when R4 kit for Evo became popular. This year only Vaškys and Šiugždinis drove with N4 Evos. https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/2017/55-lithuania/?cat=4377#points
LARČ1 - R5, S2000, RRC/ LARČ2 - N4/ LARČ3 - A+ (L8 national class) Example: http://rallycarsforsale.net/ads/mitsubishi-lancer-evo-x-r4/ And this one is not far from homologated car.

Partly same kind of cars also allowed in Finnish rally championship.

http://www.rallism.fi/content/en/1/10090/FRC.html

FIN R 4WD (part of SM1 class) cars are basically group A cars with expired FIA homologation. The WRC cars must be homologated 31.12.2002 or earlier and S2000 with expired FIA homologation. If using normal pump fuel the restrictor size is 35 mm and with E85 fuel 34 mm. The WRC and S2000 cars must be in their original homologation specs.

FIN N 4WD (part of SM2 class) cars is group N cars (R4 homologated parts also allowed) with expired FIA homologation or some modifications are made that’s not allowed in group N. The expired homologation can’t be more than 5 years old. If older homologation the cars are transferred to FIN R4 WD. For cars with expired homologation replacement from parts from the manufacturer can be used although the parts are not homologated. Non homologated brakes can be under certain conditions. If using normal pump fuel the restrictor size is 34 mm and with E85 fuel 33 mm.

FIN R 2WD (part of SM4 class) cars follow mainly the group A regulation with some national exception / freedom. Engine NA-engine up to 2000 cc.

WUff1

11th November 2017, 19:54

Austria:

Raimund Baumschlager (14th title), VW Polo WRC (first two rallies with Fabia R5)
2WD: Julian Wagner (younger brother of Simon Wagner), Opel Adam R2

focus206

13th November 2017, 16:12

Chile: Cristobal Vidaurre - Citroen DS3 R3
Wales (Welsh Forest): Callum Black - Ford Fiesta R5+

Euro Rallye Trophee: Andreas Konrath (Germany) - Opel Kadett GSI 16v

Rally Power

18th November 2017, 19:11

Portugal: Carlos Vieira/Jorge Carvalho – Citroen DS3 R5

focus206

19th November 2017, 17:22

Australia: Nathan Quinn - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
Ukraine: Ruslan Topor - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

FIA Nacam: Ricardo Trivino (Mexico) - Citroen DS3 R5

PLuto

21st November 2017, 13:50

European Rally Trophy - Yagiz Avci

focus206

23rd November 2017, 15:26

Brazil: Ricardo Malucelli - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

Rally Power

23rd November 2017, 22:13

Luxemburg: Yann Munhowen/Steve Lanners – Subaru Impreza N12

In a quick check, from Europe it’s only missing Belarus, Bosnia and Cyprus.

focus206

24th November 2017, 00:18

Luxemburg: Yann Munhowen/Steve Lanners – Subaru Impreza N12

In a quick check, from Europe it’s only missing Belarus, Bosnia and Cyprus.

Indeed, Cyprus has the last round of the championship next week-end. I don't follow Bosnian championship, while Belarus' championship is the most difficult to find info about in Europe.

Rally Power

24th November 2017, 19:41

http://ptm-autosport.com/2017/10/15/finish-also-in-sarajevo/
Apparently, very few competitors this year at Bosnia champ’ship; no idea if the title was attributed.

electroliquid

25th November 2017, 08:52

...while Belarus' championship is the most difficult to find info about in Europe.

Yes, Belarus, is very interesting country itself and has quite tricky championship, this year it was 3 events in rally championship and 4 in rally sprint, one will be 9th of December. Although I don't find any points table, only points per place table in regulations. But in Belarus you never know which place and why you had, few years ago some Lithuanian crews compete in Belarus, and some championship events was in Lithuania, then it was bit easier to find. From competitors who done rallies there, I heard that some of locals drive on winter studded rally tires in December on gravel-mudish roads, and some foreign crews get penalties from nothing, then going down in start order, after way slower guys, and when they asked why - stewards say ok we will see about it, when rally is over - penalties dropped, because it was for nothing, but you time is bad, because catch slower guys in front.
In next year calendar for Belarus I found that it will be 1 rally event, and rally sprint cup from 6 events.

focus206

25th November 2017, 16:05

Yes, Belarus, is very interesting country itself and has quite tricky championship, this year it was 3 events in rally championship and 4 in rally sprint, one will be 9th of December. Although I don't find any points table, only points per place table in regulations. But in Belarus you never know which place and why you had, few years ago some Lithuanian crews compete in Belarus, and some championship events was in Lithuania, then it was bit easier to find. From competitors who done rallies there, I heard that some of locals drive on winter studded rally tires in December on gravel-mudish roads, and some foreign crews get penalties from nothing, then going down in start order, after way slower guys, and when they asked why - stewards say ok we will see about it, when rally is over - penalties dropped, because it was for nothing, but you time is bad, because catch slower guys in front.
In next year calendar for Belarus I found that it will be 1 rally event, and rally sprint cup from 6 events.

Interesting, thanks for the insight. Those 3 events of this year's championship are listed on ewrc-results: https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/2017/?nat=78
Based on the results I could guess this year's champion is Sergey Solntsev on a Fiesta ST, but we'd need a confirmation to be sure...

focus206

26th November 2017, 19:55

Barbados: Jeffrey Panton (Jamaica) - Ford Focus RS WRC 06
New Zealand: Andrew Hawkeswood - Mazda 2 AP4
Uruguay: Guillermo Arrieta - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

FIA Asia-Pacific: Gaurav Gill (India) - Skoda Fabia R5
FIA Codasur: Gustavo Saba (Paraguay) - Skoda Fabia R5

Munkvy

26th November 2017, 21:26

New Zealand: Andrew Hawkeswood - Mazda 2 AP4

First championship win for an AP4 car. And I wonder when the last time was that an NZ championship was won without the winner actually winning any of the events?

focus206

6th December 2017, 12:09

Cyprus: Simos Galatariotis - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4
Thailand: Wittaya Ruegchan - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

focus206

10th December 2017, 22:34

Argentina: Marcos Ligato - Chevrolet Agile MR
Canada: Antoine L'Estage - Subaru WRX STI

focus206

18th December 2017, 21:11

Malaysia: Roduwan Rashid - Subaru Impreza WRX STi GC8
Mexico: Emilio Velazquez - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

focus206

21st December 2017, 22:07

Madagascar: Ndrianja Rajemison - Subaru Impreza WRX STi N12
Uganda: Christakis Fitidis (Rwanda) - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

Lousada

24th December 2017, 17:47

Bosnian Championship: Miho Gerh / Drazen Komarica
They were the only team that was classified. The others did not compete in enough rounds to classify in the final results.

Bosnian Cup: Driver: Goran Rabasovic, Co-Driver Dejan Golic.
Rabasovic used multiple co-drivers which is why Golic, the navigator of second-placed driver Dejan Krcevinac, is the co-driving cup winner