World Rally Championship

2014 Rallye Monte Carlo

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    Polishboy808
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    Finally, the WRC season is upon us. In less than a week, all the crews will head to Valence for the start of the 2014 season, and with one of the busiest off seasons of any racing series, this is one to be excited for. The Monte Carlo Rally usually offers enough excitement as is, but with all but Volkswagen changing their driver line up, this is may be one of the best rallies in recent years. This is also the first year in over a decade of the events running that Nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb will not be contesting the Monegasque event. The Frenchman made only four starts last year, including Monte Carlo, which he won.

    Here are the new team lineups.

    Volkswagen Motorsports:
    With an incredible first season that resulted in their drivers winning 10 of the 13 rounds, and finishing 1st and 3rd in the championship, Volkswagen Motorsports will want to follow up their debut with another championship. While they are the only team to keep all of their drivers as they were last season, an engine overhaul and various suspension improvements are aimed to capitalize on the strong base they debuted last year. They are still the favorites for the championship, with Frenchman Sebastien Ogier leading the effort, and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala expected to provide another good points haul. Volkswagen Motorsports II is back as well, with Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen aiming at gaining more WRC experience.
    Car 1: Sebastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia
    Car 2: Jari-Matti Latvala, Miikka Anttila
    Volkswagen Motorsports II:
    Car 9: Andreas Mikkelsen, Mikko Markkula

    Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
    The loss of Loeb from the team last year hurt the team more then they had expected. Mikko Hirvonen’s second year with the ex-champion team came to a disappointing conclusion at the Wales Rally Great Britain, the Finn rolling the car, and finishing 4th in the championship. His teammate Dani Sordo didn’t fair much better, finishing 5th in the standings. 2014 sees Ford and Citroen swap leading drivers, with Mikko going back to M-Sport, and Mads Østberg joining Citroen. Dani Sordo has also left the team, and is headed to Hyundai, being replaced by Kris Meeke, who started several rallies with Citroen last season, but crashed out of all of them.
    Car 3: Kris Meeke, Paul Nagle
    Car 4: Mads Østberg, Jonas Andersson

    M-Sport World Rally Team
    Hoping to sees some improvements after a mixed season last year, M-Sport has signed on an all new team. Russian Evgeny Novikov has announced that he will not contest this years WRC, but is hoping to make a few occasional starts in preparation for a new deal next season. Mads Østberg has left for Citroen, and M-Sport’s star driver Thierry Neuville, who finished second in the standings last year, has left the team to join Hyundai. Returning after two years at Citroen is Mikko Hirvonen, who also hopes a change will see him up front again. Alongside him are the only two rookies for the season, Welsh driver Elfyn Evans, and Polish Ex-Formula One driver Robert Kubica. Evans ran several WRC2 events last year, finished on the podium 3 times, including a win in the last round at home. Kubica’s debut WRC2 season last year saw him win the championship, winning 5 of the 7 round he nominated for points. Entering as a privateer for the fourth year in a row is Czech driver Martin Prokop. He is the only driver to contest the championship on Pirelli tires.
    Car 5: Mikko Hirvonen, Jarmo Lehtinen
    Car 6: Elfyn Evans, Daniel Barritt
    RK M-Sport World Rally Team
    Car 11: Robert Kubica, Maciek Szczepaniak
    Jipocar Czech National Team
    Car 21: Martin Prokop, Michal Ernst

    Hyundai Shell World Rally Team
    The biggest unknown for next year is Hyundai’s new factory effort. The brand new i20 will contest all rounds of the championship, however the team have been quick to play down any chances of emulating VW’s debut season last year. Still, with rising star Thierry Neuville and a consistent pair of hands in Dani Sordo, this team may prove to be the dark horse in the race. Sordo is expected to share the second car throughout the season with Finn Juho Hanninen, and Australian driver Chris Atkinson. Its nice to see a manufacturer put in as much effort as Hyundai has with this team. Testing began nearly two years ago, and they have been making changes to the car ever since.
    Car 7: Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul
    Car 8: Dani Sordo, Marc Marti
    Additional Hyundai Entries
    Car ?: Juho Hänninen, Tomi Tuominen
    Car ?: Chris Atkinson, Stéphane Prévot

    And to keep us entertained before the event, all teams have been busy testing their new cars in various conditions in preparation of the difficult race ahead. Below are videos of each team testing.

    Hyundai: (expected Livery: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gd_fkXxCRHU/Uqeep3AQYbI/AAAAAAAANjk/dZbC4xvZj0Y/s1600/Hyundai%2Bi20%2BWRC%2B2014%2BFront%2BSide%2B2.jpg)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWlb9PxvzBA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u0VZpsRc5M
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igB7L3qL-B8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MUQqg1MmzQ

    Volkswagen: (Livery same as last year)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7bhud-envw
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwt9Wzbqybg
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxg7Y-mpmU8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_IYwr1kGkw

    Ford: (M-Sport Livery: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BdpB0z6IIAAKj31.jpg:large)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z18ehEeGPQ
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzayPOXFsDg
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pq4EsHIK4U
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7seb1xOMi48
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSJN4hV4CnM

    Citroen: (Livery same as last year)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsw2lN1ETvE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDYVTN6LXhM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJQnnAKtlk

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