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EVENT: 51st Rallye de France Tour de Corse WRC Round 13 of 16; JRC round 7 of 7
DATE: 12-14 October 2007
WHAT'S NEW IN CORSICA IN 2007?
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On the first and second legs, there will be loops of three rather than two stages, so the average lengths of stages will be shorter.
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Several new stretches of road have not been used within recent memory of the top drivers.
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The rally stretches further south than in recent years, going down to Sartene.
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Like Catalunya, the event reverts to an autumn date, but this year's events follow on successive weekends.
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The route for Shakedown has been shortened, as recent road works have made some parts too fast.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT CORSICA?
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This will be the final round of the FIA 2007 Junior Rally Championship.
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This event has been held every year since the start of the FIA World Rally Championship, although the 1973 edition was severely shortened because of snow.
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The headquarters used to alternate between Ajaccio and Bastia in the north of the island. The "Tour" factor was truly applicable in the years up to 1995, when the event travelled all round the island, often with rest halts in the three main towns (Ajaccio, Bastia and Calvi). The event finally settled at Ajaccio.
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Traditionally, this is the definitive asphalt rally, on account of the natural mountain roads. Over the years, these roads have been improved. Nowadays they are wider, less bumpy and generally smoother, but the challenge of the roads on the island remains largely unchanged.
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Like Germany, this is a rally where suddenly changeable weather can create havoc with tyre choices. The fact that both Friday and Saturday now consist of loops of three (rather than two) stages is expected to increase the difficulty of making correct tyre choices.
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The very first Tour de Corse was won by the all-lady crew Gilberte Thirion and Nagide Ferrier.
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Never again. . . Since then, especially before the World Championship standardized regulations, a wonderful array of cars was seen on the event. The widest variety of prototypes was in 1972, the final year that Group 5 cars were admitted.
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The transfer between Catalunya and Corsica for rallies on successive weekends is proving more complicated than when these rallies were run the other way around. This is because of the limits on working hours for truck drivers. After working on Sunday at the Spanish rally, they have to drive the team trucks from Salou to the required transit ports at Toulon or Marseilles. When the calendar had Corsica first, the drivers' work finished for the day as soon as the trucks were loaded on the boat at Ajaccio, alongside the service park. This year, teams have to bring replacement drivers down to Spain to overcome this. There is a further problem with the recce cars, which are required for use first thing Tuesday morning in Corsica, but which are still being used as safety cars in Spain on Sunday.
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"Beg, Borrow or Steal," edition 3. Among the series of books by Maurice Louche about leading French motorsport events is one which covers the Tour de Corse in its first 30 years. Images, especially those taken in the formative years of the Tour de Corse, are wonderful.
TYRE SPECIFICS
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Number of sets expected: 6.
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Number of different tread patterns allowed: 2.
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Number of tyres which can be used during the event (including Shakedown): 42.
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Number of tyres which can be nominated for use on the event: 65.
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Maximum stage distance to be covered on the same set of tyres: 62.14km (stages 1-3 and 4-6).
EVENT SPECIFICS
Route
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Total distance: 1117.20km.
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Number of stages: 16.
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Number of different stage venues: 8.
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Maximum number of times the same stage roads are used: normally twice, but about half of stages 1+4 is run in the opposite direction, as stages 14+16.
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Stage distance: 359.32km.
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Stage surfaces: asphalt.
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Longest stage: 31.81km (stages 14+16).
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Highest elevation on stage: 920 metres at the end of stages 7+10.
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Central Service Park: Ajaccio Port
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Shakedown Stage: 5.45km long, on the western outskirts of Ajaccio. For Shakedown, there will be a subsidiary service park at Santa Lina.
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Ceremonial Start: 1900 Thursday 11 October from Place Foch, Ajaccio.
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Official Start: 0800 Friday.
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Superspecials: none.
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Stages in darkness: none.
Restart times
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Friday (6 stages, 124.28km) at 0800 from the Port.
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Saturday (6 stages, 112.94km) at 0800 from Place de Gaulle.
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Sunday (4 stages, 112.10km) at 0745 from Place de Gaulle.
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Finish from 1402 at Place Foch.
TEAM NEWS
CITROEN TOTAL WORLD RALLY TEAM (M)
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A second successive rally where Loeb hopes to achieve a hat-trick of wins! His home event has many happy memories for the reigning World Champion: his first-ever world rally (1999), his first World Rally Car on a world rally (2000) and clinching his first world title (2004). As this bulletin closed for press on Sunday 30 September, Sebastian Loeb (Citroen C4) beat his team-mate Danni Sordo (Citroen Xsara) to win the Cork "20" International Rally in Ireland.
BP-FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM (M)
OMV KRONOS CITROEN WORLD RALLY TEAM (MT)
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Good memories in Corsica for Manfred Stohl, who twice won Group N on this event (1998 and 2000).
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Francois Duval is due to drive car 6 again.
SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM (M)
STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM (MT)
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Happy hunting ground also for Latvala. Two years ago, he won the Group N/PCWRC category on this event, his first major award on a world rally. In addition to Latvala and Solberg, the team are making non-championship entries for Wilson and Bettega.
SUZUKI WORLD RALLY TEAM
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World debut for the Suzuki SX4 WRC. One example has been entered, to be driven by former Peugeot driver Nicolas Bernardi. Special authority was granted by the FIA for entry here and at Wales Rally GB, on condition that the team is not eligible for World Championship points this year. The team operates outside the M and MT category rules.
MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM (MT)
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The Munchi's team is not here. This weekend sees the penultimate round of the Argentine national championship, which Munchi's driver Federico Villagra is leading. It is possible for him to clinch the title on that event, rather than wait until the final round, which is one week after Wales Rally GB. His closest rival is Marcos Ligato.
NEWS
WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
JUNIOR RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
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This is the final round of the series. At the start of the year, drivers nominated which six of the seven rounds they would enter, and all points count towards their score.
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FFSA (the French federation) has nominated two Guest entries in the JRC. They are 28-year-old Arnaud Augoyard and 23-year-old Thomas Barral. Augoyard won the 2005 Renault Clio cup in France; Barral won the same series in 2006. Both have been active in the French gravel championship during 2007. Bonato continues to run under the colours of the FFSA, but is entered by PH Sport.
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRIES
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Where do all the old World Rally Cars go? Two important places - France and Ireland! On the recent Mont Blanc Rally, Peugeot 307WRC cars took the top three places, a Celica GT-Four (pre-WRC!) was fourth and two-wheel drive Peugeot 306 Maxi kit cars were fifth and sixth! On the Tour de Corse, there will be two Peugeot 307s and three 206s, one of which is to be driven by Dominique Savignoni, the former co-driver for Francois Delecour and other top French drivers. Unfortunately, none of the top French championship drivers are expected to take part on this event.
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New co-driver for Toni Gardemeister is to be Tomi Tuominen, replacing Jakke Honkanen, who announced his immediate retirement from the sport at the end of Rallye Deutschland.
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World Championship debut for Alex Bettega in a World Rally Car. Alex started the season at the wheel of a Fiesta Super 1600, as a prize drive for winning the inaugural Fiesta ST trophy. This car proved unreliable, and eventually a deal was done to swap the remaining three promised rallies in the Fiesta for one in a Focus WRC! This event is very emotive for Alex, as this was where his father died during the 1985 Tour de Corse.
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No fewer than 35 entries come from Corsica, four of them with World Rally Cars. Last year, Corsican driver Marc Valliccioni won Group N with his Mitsubishi.
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Welcome back to the World Rally Championship, Brice Tirabassi! The 2003 FIA Junior World Rally Champion makes his comeback to rallying at Sanremo and then comes to Spain. He has been absent from rallying for over a year. He is to drive a Peugeot 207 S2000.
REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
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European Rally Championship (ERC). There are two events still to run, Elpa Rally in Greece and Antibes in France. Elpa will be held on 5/7 October, the same time as Catalunya, and will run its first leg on asphalt stages, then gravel for the second leg. Before Elpa, no fewer than nine drivers were statistically capable of winning the ten-round series.
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Second-placed Dimitar Iliev is the only potential champion who has remained exclusively with orthodox Group N cars through the season. The others have driven exclusively or partly with Super 2000 cars.
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International Rally Championship (IRC). Luca Rossetti scored his second IRC victory of the season, when he won on home ground at the Sanremo Rally in his Peugeot 207 S2000. S2000 cars took the top four places. Enrique Ojeda only finished sixth, but increased his championship lead, with fellow Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz now second, seven points behind. The penultimate event in the season is Rallye du Valais, on 25-27 October.
EVENT HISTORY
Recent winners
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2006 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara WRC (95.26 kph).
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2005 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara WRC (95.01kph).
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2004 - Markko Martin/Michael Park, Ford Focus RS WRC (92.39kph).
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2003 - Petter Solberg/Philip Mills, Subaru Impreza WRC (91.62kph).
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2002 - Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi, Peugeot 206 WRC (91.10kph).
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2001 - Jesus Puras/Marc Marti, Citroen Xsara WRC (92.14kph).
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