Ride along with Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen as he pilots his Citroen WRC car through Stage 10 of the 2013 Neste Oil Rally Finland. He is absolutely flying through the woods. This footage is a pretty nice insight into a world class driver piloting a world class rally car.
Check out this fan-made tribute to the speed and determination of the World Rally Championship:
2012 marks the end of full-time competition for the most successful rally driver the world has ever seen, Sebastien Loeb. He finished this season with his ninth consecutive championship as well as winning gold in the X-Games Rallycross. This is a tribute video to Loeb’s career in WRC made by a dedicated fan.
The 2012 World Rally Championship season wrapped up in Spain over the weekend. Catalunya also marked the end of Ford being a full works sponsor of a WRC team. Ford announced their decision to withdraw last month citing the slow European economy. They will still be providing technical backing to Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport team who helps field several Ford Fiestas at multiple levels of the sport. The team put together this video looking back at some of their best moments through the eyes of the mechanics, staff and drivers.
There’s big news coming out of the World Rally Championship here at the end of the 2012 season. Sebastien Loeb has won his 9th World Championship and Ford will be withdrawing as a title sponsor next year due to a slow European economy. Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport team will continue to campaign Ford Fiestas at the highest level with technical support from Ford. Jari-Matti Latvalla has announced that he will be leaving the Ford team next year to join Sebastien Ogier on the Volkswagen factory team that should be debuting their Polo WRC next year. Ogier has been helping develop the car this year and racing in a Skoda Fabia Super 2000 car.
Putting all of that aside for now, here’s what makes rally fun to watch. This is on-board footage of Jari-Matti Latvalla competing in the Lahti Historic Rally in a Ford Escort MK2. The car has a traditional H-pattern transmission and is rear wheel drive only. A flamboyant modern rally driver in a historic car makes for some excellent action. Sit back and enjoy: