2007 Rally China - official thread

[GigiGalliNo1]

Rally China starts on the 9th, this weekend coming up.

The regulars in the S2000 class are not competing - "With the IRC manufacturers' title effectively decided in Peugeot's favour, Peugeot and Abarth have decided not to compete in China."

Well it looks like it ill give a chance for other Drivers to be the top guys. Does anyone have an entry list?

Any favorites to win the rally? My bets are on Jussi Valimaki performing very well after competing in the APRC. :)

[Tom206wrc]

Good question...entrylist ??? :confused:

[HaCo]

This rally is part of Asia Pacific Rally Champion. This is great! :D

[Mirek]

According to the rally guide first leg start order will be published on friday 11:00 local time. Both Peugeot Espagna and Abarth are not going to China.

[LazioCenturion]

]According to the rally guide first leg start order will be published on friday 11:00 local time. Both Peugeot Espagna and Abarth are not going to China.
An entrylist is not anywhere on the website that I can decipher. (Hint: hold you mouse over a link and it displays the document's name in English)

To follow up with Mirek, there will be no Peugeots or Abarths making the trip. In, fact it does not appear any of the IRC regulars will be there.

Of course you have a big fight in the APRC for the Manufacturer's title (Subaru leads 74-72). Jussi and Kastuhiko Taguchi will lead the way for Mitsubishi while Cody Crocker (wins his second title by starting this weekend) will head the Subaru attack.

In addition you will have David Higgins and Martin Rowe (former BRC champs) who are looking to aid their respective team's push for a championship, plus all the Chinese Locals as they fight for the drivers championship. Japanese driver Hideaki Miyoshi (3rd in IRC at Safari Rally Kenya) will also been in the fray.

Now for my personal editorial: I think having China as the final round of the IRC season was totally STUPID!

Why you ask? Due to the distance (farthest event by quite abit over Kenya) of travel and political situation, many teams would be hesititant to go race. Add on that the rally was subject to confirmation until just recently, plus they moved the event up from the last weekend in November.

Okay so there are not many IRC boys going to be there. Not a big deal, unless its the final round. What would have been a cool fight to see the Peugeot team mates Vouilloz and Garcia-Ojeda fight for the championship instead is a nothing event. Its basically just an APRC event (which is fine because I love the APRC), so why put it as the finale of your "up and coming" rally championship?

[J4MIE]

Well the only real way around it would be to have a similar rule to the WRC in that all participants must enter all rounds of the championship...not sure if that would be popular...

Anyway, I seem to remember over the past few years that it is very difficult to get any information about this event. Seems to be the case again this year? :s

[Fleur]

Well the only real way around it would be to have a similar rule to the WRC in that all participants must enter all rounds of the championship...not sure if that would be popular...

Anyway, I seem to remember over the past few years that it is very difficult to get any information about this event. Seems to be the case again this year? :s


Tell me about it!! And I am competitng in it..
At this stage there are no IRC contenders on the entry list, though 3 drivers have indicated they may enter for this event... We will see if they do when the cars arrive at the start.
Rallying in China is extremely strong, with large entry numbers and a good number of overseas drivers competing. This round sees Juha Salo join the GT radials team in place of Richard Mason.
In the APRC field there are 7 entries, namely:
Cody Crocker
Jussi Valimaki
Katsu Taguchi
Yanigasawa
Rifat Sungkar
Brian Green
G. Gil
Then the oversea drivers in the chinese championship include:
David Higgins
Martin Rowe
Dean Herridge
Juha Salo
Plus a few Japanese drivers have entered this event.
I will try to get an entry list of sorts up here for you asap :)

[GigiGalliNo1]

Well it is a big disadvantage lets say if the rally China round will be run earlier in the IRC calendar next year and none of the IRC contenders (S2000) guys would have ever done China! Its like Loeb and Solberg not doing recce in Jordan for next year!

Even though it might cost, and the championship is all wrapped up from the previous round, still would be a great IRC round.

I think it should have been compulsory to compete. Have the rules where you have to compete or be disqualified with points or something rather like WRC, forgot what happens when someone/team doesn't compete in a WRC round. (?)

[Daniel]

News flash!!!!! Peugeot and Abarth aren't going to compete in China!

:p

[GigiGalliNo1]

lol

Do you like the IRC? You opinion Daniel?

[Daniel]

lol

Do you like the IRC? You opinion Daniel?
Not particularly fussed to be honest :) At the end of the day it's a second rate championship and doesn't interest me much because of that :)

[GigiGalliNo1]

ahhhh ok :) wat about the cars? same thing?

[Daniel]

ahhhh ok :) wat about the cars? same thing?
Cars sound nice. Much better than Group N :)

[HaCo]

About sound, just listen to this great sound in the valey...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IXRlJc8Jc
or this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zoiz2Xg4F4

:D :D :D

[GigiGalliNo1]

IRCSeries.com

"Mitsubishi driver Katsuhiko Taguchi leads the China Rally after the opening superspecial stage on Friday night. The MRF team driver holds an advantage of just over a second from local man Lang Xu in another Mitsubishi. Taguchi´s team mate Jussi Valimaki is third - just two-tenths of a second behind Xu. ..."

1 Katsuhiko TAGUCHI/Mark STACEY (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1m48.3s
2 Lang XU/Yu HUANG (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1m49.6s
3 Jussi VALIMAKI/Jarkko KALLIOLEPO (Mitsubishi Lancer) en 1m49.8s

[GigiGalliNo1]

IRCSeries.com

"This will add yet another interesting dimension to the fight for overall honours on Rally China, round nine of the WRC."

Hahaha WRC, round nine hahaha :D :D :D :p

[GigiGalliNo1]

So does that mean Mitsubishi will score more points in the round?

[GigiGalliNo1]

Anyone got results from day one? :(

[Wim_Impreza]

What a poor service from a IRC rally. Even on the official site, there are only the results from the SSS. Only 24 cars on the entry list too, not good.

Today I hope we will know more about the results, stage times, possible retirements... Curious if Taguchi, who took a WRC point in Japan, is leading now and what the Britains David Higgins, Martin Rowe and Finnish guy Jussi Välimäki can do.

[Wim_Impreza]

This should be the standings after SS3: http://images.sport.org.cn/File/2007/11/10/0948538954.pdf

[HaCo]

Here is the results table:
http://www.fasc.org.cn/zt/2007_CRC_06/bulletin/2007-11-10/143854.html

China is like Safari I guess, but even worse. There is no tv time for China :(

[GigiGalliNo1]

SS1 was on Friday, thats why. Strange and leg 1 is on sat, today and 2 on sunday... shame about no S2 cars! :( Still, a slightly interesting rally..... lol

[GigiGalliNo1]

Higgins leads over Rowe:

"A constellation of champions are at the front of the China Rally at the end of leg one: former British and American Champion David Higgins leads former British and Production Car World Champion Martin Rowe. ...

Incredibly, both the British drivers come from the tiny Isle of Man: home of the world-famous motorbike TT races. Higgins, in a Mitsubishi Lancer run by the WY team, made steady progress through the field during the nine special stages that made up the opening day's action. He overhauled several of the established favourites, such as Mitsubishi driver Lang Xu, to hold a 44-second advantage over Rowe overnight.
"China Rally is never an event where you can take things for granted," he pointed out. "With the surfaces being as they are, there can be quite a few hidden rocks. Hit one of those, and your rally is over."
With just six stages left to make up the difference tomorrow, totalling 95 competitive kilometres, Rowe has a mountain to climb. Nonetheless, the Englishman is determined not to give up. The Mitsubishi driver has to keep on pushing, as the similar car of Lang Xu is just eight seconds behind him.
Former Asia-Pacific Champion Jussi Valimaki, who won the title in 2005, has been forced to retire his Mitsubishi - so victory should go to Higgins if he steers clear of problems or mistakes. Tomorrow's action consists of similar stages to those seen on day one, with challenging gravel roads that are characterised by spectacular scenery.
The winner is expected on the finish ramp at Rong Chang Square in Longyou tomorrow at 15:30."

[HaCo]

These are results afther SS16: http://images.sport.org.cn/File/2007/11/11/1508238971.pdf

The subaru's don't appear in the IRC results, it's a pitty, I hope it will change for next year!

[GigiGalliNo1]

Ahhh Higgins won the round congrats! :p

[PLuto]

These are results afther SS16: http://images.sport.org.cn/File/2007/11/11/1508238971.pdf

The subaru's don't appear in the IRC results, it's a pitty, I hope it will change for next year!

Yes, it will change :rolleyes:

[Paul.G]

Anyone found any photos of Higgins?

Thanks,
Paul

[GigiGalliNo1]

I was so close to heading out there after Japan, but didn't :(

[HaCo]

This night, 15minutes of China on Eurosport. Tomorrow 2x in the day 15 minutes on Eurosport 2.

[GigiGalliNo1]

well here's some stuff bout Rally China:

http://www.aprclive.com/

[jonas_mcrae]

Did anyone watched the coverage from Eurosport? It was OK, some good in car and quite good coverage for the first stages. but the rally seemed to be a very technical one(at least the first day). Very very very narrow stages and no space for cars to gain any speed or momentum it was tight corner after tight corner and then some more corners and then some hairpins! LOL The second day seemed better, but really didnt like the location of the first day.

if they are going to do it again I hope they cancel the stages on the first day or change them to some other location.

[Fleur]

Did anyone watched the coverage from Eurosport? It was OK, some good in car and quite good coverage for the first stages. but the rally seemed to be a very technical one(at least the first day). Very very very narrow stages and no space for cars to gain any speed or momentum it was tight corner after tight corner and then some more corners and then some hairpins! LOL The second day seemed better, but really didnt like the location of the first day.

if they are going to do it again I hope they cancel the stages on the first day or change them to some other location.

Actually, the best stage of the rally was on Sat, the 24km one. The stages on Sunday, one was hairpin after hairpin up a hill, then hairpin after hairpin down the hill. The other was very rough.
But, a challenge, and isn't that what rallying is about??