ERC news in brief

Latvia entries fill up

With Rally Liepāja-Ventspils, round two of the new-look FIA European Rally Championship, less than one month away, entries for the snow event continue to roll in.

Flying Finn Jari Ketomaa will pilot a Ford Fiesta RRC, Hungary’s János Puskádi will be at the wheel of a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000, while local hero Raimonds Kisiels will rely on a MINI John Cooper Works S2000.

Other expected frontrunners include Romania’s Marco Tempestini in a Subaru Impreza R4 STI and Ukraine’s Vitaliy Pushkar (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X), plus numerous drivers from Latvia and neighbouring Lithuania. Meanwhile, model Inessa Tushkanova will provide added intrigue.

Rally Liepāja-Ventspils takes place in Latvia from 1-3 February.

ERC champions don’t always get it right

Krzysztof Hołowczyc, winner of the FIA European Rally Championship in 1997, experienced an abrupt end to his Dakar Rally bid with the X-raid MINI team earlier this week.

The Polish ace, who was contesting his eighth Dakar, retired from the cross-country event on Monday following a heavy landing going a sand dune during a stage.

Although the incident didn’t appear to be too significant, the severity of the landing left the 50-year-old, a former European Parliament member, with cracked ribs. He was taken to hospital in Lima where he has been recovering.

Rally Poland forms part of the ERC schedule in September. Hołowczyc last won the gravel event in 2005 having triumphed previously in 1996 and 1998.

The rising stars of the ERC: #01, Jan Černý

Jan Černý might not have reached the finish of the International Jännerrallye – differential failure on the final stage put paid to those hopes – but he certainly impressed on his debut in a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000.

The 22-year-old, the winner of the 2012 FIA ERC 2WD Championship crown, was on course to score ERC points on the back of a short pre-event test and was running in the top five when brake issues dropped him back.

The undoubted highlight for Černý in Austria was his capture of the third-fastest stage time on Friday morning’s St Oswald test. He is trying to raise the funds to contest more ERC rounds in 2013 with his family team.

My Jännerrallye. By Stig Blomqvist

Former world rally champion Stig Blomqvist made his annual International Jännerrallye appearance at the age of 66. Finishing a highly creditable 12th overall and fourth in the ERC Production Car Cup, Blomqvist said he relished the experience.

“I had a lot of fun for an old man,” said the legendary Swede. “The stages were quite slippery but I don’t take things so seriously these days: it’s nice to see old friends and feel a bit of competition but that’s about it. It’s a bit like Monte Carlo as the conditions are changing all the time and you need to get the tyres right: certainly it isn’t easy.”

Sadly ERC fans probably won’t get another glimpse of Blomqvist in action this year: “Apart from the Safari and the Midnight Sun Rally in Sweden I’m not sure what else I’ll be doing this year.”

Strong turn out of media in Austria

It wasn’t just fans of the FIA European Rally Championship that visited the International Jännerrallye in great number.

A total of 290 media representatives were accredited for the Freistadt-based event. These included 84 journalists, 135 photographers and 71 working in television and video production.

There was representation from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Close finishes no problem for Kopecký

There was high drama on the International Jännerrallye last week with just 0.5s between winner Jan Kopecký and runner-up Bryan Bouffier.

But close finishes are nothing new for FIA European Rally Championship leader Kopecký. On the Canon Mecsek Rallye in 2011, previously a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Kopecký won by a margin of 0.8s. And he repeated the feat on last year’s IRC-counting Targa Florio-Rally Internazionale Di Sicilia.

However, the ŠKODA Motorsport driver hasn’t always had it his own way when it comes to close finishes. Back in 2011 on Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés, which forms round three of this year’s ERC, Kopecký’s then team-mate Juho Hänninen beat him by 1.5s.

Five things we loved about the Jännerrallye

The new-look FIA European Rally Championship got off to a thrilling start with the 30th running of the International Jännerrallye last week. Here are five things we loved about the Austrian spectacular.

1: Half a second… now that’s close!

Talk about a close finish. Just 0.5s separated Jan Kopecký and Bryan Bouffier after 18 stages and almost 250 kilometres of timed action.

2: Legends lapped it up

Rallying legends Stig Blomqvist and François Delecour were both in action and showed plenty of speed aged 66 and 50 respectively.

3: An epic Production

It wasn’t just the battle for top honours that thrilled the fans lining the route. The ERC Production Car Cup was also a close affair with Beppo Harrach beating Kajetan Kajetanowicz by 1.1s.

4: Rising stars shine

Jan Černý and ERC 2WD Championship category winner Hannes Danzinger were among a number of rising stars to impress the 120,000 fans that visited the rally.

5: You don’t need snow to have a good time

It might not have been the snow rally many had hoped for but the changeable weather conditions certainly made the outcome of this year’s Jännerrallye hard to predict. And the scenery was also just as spectacular even without a coating of snow.