Martin Semerád top Pirelli Star Driver on Rally GB

gb semerad action Martin Semerád top Pirelli Star Driver on Rally GB

2009 PIRELLI STAR DRIVER
RALLY OF GREAT BRITAIN REPORT

The sixth and final round of this year’s inaugural Pirelli Star Driver scheme finished in Cardiff this afternoon, with all five of the drivers having tasted Rally GB at its best with ever-changing grip levels and weather conditions. There had been concerns from purists that moving this event forward six weeks could water down what is usually a tough and uncompromising end to the season. They needn’t have worried, the last three days have been as challenging as ever in the Welsh forests. Britain’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship draws to a close the first season of the all-new WRC-based young driver development programme. The five drivers involved have all made significant progress through 2009, none more than Martin Semerád, who ends his season on the highest of highs with his best ever result on a round of the World Rally Championship. The Czech Republic driver was 14th overall and first of the Pirelli-backed Mitsubishis home.

Pirelli Star Driver report
This was the strongest showing yet for the five Pirelli Star Drivers, with Jarkko Nikara (Finland) leading Group N and all of the Production Car World Rally Championship runners on the first day, before sliding off the road on the second day. Czech Republic driver Martin Semerád picked up where Nikara left off and completed his best ever result on a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, belying his lack of experience of Wales and its wet conditions to take third in PWRC. Semerád did, however, endure one heart-stopping moment on the final morning, when his Lancer slid off the road on an exceptional muddy surface. He got the car back on the road and continued to 14th overall. Nikara returned on Sunday via SupeRally and registered 35th place overall.

All five Ralliart Italy-tuned Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Xs made it to the finish of this final round of the WRC, with only Jon Williams (South Africa) suffering a significant technical problem when his car broke its gearbox on Saturday afternoon. Williams returned, however, to deliver his British co-driver George Gwynn a much-appreciated finish on his home round of the Championship. The African-English partnership ended the event 15th in Group N.

Mark Tapper (New Zealand) and Nicos Thomas both completed the route in 17th and 23rd overall respectively. Tapper did suffer car failure on the event – but he was grateful that his problem came on the recce, when his standard Mitsubishi suffered overheating issues. That didn’t spoil his enjoyment of an event which he says was the closest of anything he has done this season to his home roads on the North Island. That was not something Thomas was saying. The Welsh stages couldn’t have been more different to his native Cyprus. But, after five consecutive non-finishes, Thomas only had eyes for Sunday afternoon on this rally – and he made it.

The drivers
Car 61: Nicos Thomas/Angelos Loizides
Nicos Thomas said: “I found it quite difficult to adapt to these conditions. This was the first time I had driven the car in rain like this; coming from Cyprus we tend not to see too much weather like this. From the start of the event, the one thing I wanted from this rally was a finish. I haven’t finished an event this season, so to do that on the final round was absolutely crucial. It felt like the car was missing some power on the first day, which meant we weren’t really able to do the right times – but that wasn’t so important. Like I said, I wanted to finish. The team changed the suspension on the second day, which helped to get rid of some of the understeer the car was suffering from. I enjoyed the stages on the first day, they flowed and ran quite nicely, but there were a few more rocks around on Saturday. In the end, I was very happy to make the end of the rally; that was fantastic news for me.”

Car 62: Jon Williams/George Gwynn
Jon Williams said: “Never having competed here – or in these kind of conditions before – I was really hoping that I would be able to get a few runs at shakedown to get a good idea of how the car was running and how it would work on the rally. But then the turbo blew on the second run at the stage, which meant our test for the event was over a bit earlier than expected. I think the blown turbo might have caused us some trouble during the event as well; we were down on power through the first day, we just had no power and the anti-lag system wasn’t working. The team thinks that some of the turbo might have gone into the catalytic converter, so that, the ECU and the anti-lag was changed at the end of day one. The first day was tough for me, though. You need to have the confidence in the car and you need to know you have the power there to keep you on the road if you get into a slide. We had a pretty big moment on the stage before lunch on Saturday: there was a fast right into hairpin left and I got it wrong. Luckily there was a gate and we spun through the gate. We’d been having some noise from the front of the car at that point – and then the gearbox went on the first stage out of service which was so disappointing. I was going from fourth to fifth gear when it broke. We were back on Sunday and got the chance to drive those stages which was good, but I really wanted a good finish on this event for George [Gwynn, co-driver]. I can’t believe the year is over now. I can’t believe the places I’ve been and the events I have done. It’s really given me something to build on for next year.”

Car 63: Jarkko Nikara/Jarkko Kalliolepo
Jarkko Nikara said: “While I was in the recce I was already starting to enjoy these stages. They are fast and flowing and quite like home. I didn’t really know what to expect from this rally – I’ve never been to Wales before. I did the McRae Stages last year, but that’s in Scotland and couldn’t compare with these roads. As soon as we started, I was comfortable and able to push quite hard. We set the fastest Group N time on the first stage, which was quite a long stage – I was really happy for that. After that, I stayed close to [Eyvind] Brynildsen to chase for the Group N win. The first stage on Saturday morning was not so good for me. I was about two thirds of the way through when I missed my braking coming to a junction. The car went straight on and up onto a bank. It was stuck, the bottom of the car was on the bank and the wheels had been lifted off the ground. There was no way I could move. Some spectators came and tried to push the car and lift the car, but there was no chance to move it. After we had all of the other cars had come through, then the tow truck came in and pulled us straight out. After that, I was able to get straight back in the car and drive back to service. There was no damage on the car at all. It was so disappointing. The car was really good for this event, we were not having any problems, so this was very frustrating. Okay, we still managed to get out to the stages on Sunday, but we could have had a good result here. It was going to be tough to beat the Super 2000 car, but we were trying. Sunday was okay, the roads were quite nice, but this wasn’t quite the perfect way to end our season as Pirelli Star Drivers.”

Car 64: Martin Semerád/Bohuslav Ceplecha
Martin Semerád said: “This has been a fantastic event. I found it hard to get any rhythm on the first day, but I really liked the stages, they seemed to have a good base and good grip. Things started to improve for me on Friday afternoon and they carried on through Saturday. It sucked driving in all that rain in the morning, that wasn’t very good. But when it cleared up a little bit it was better. The roads weren’t quite so good on Saturday, we found there were more rocks around, not so smooth as the first day. I really enjoyed the night stage, that was a real challenge in the conditions, particularly as the roads were a bit slippier on the second run through. But from then on until the end of the event, we were really fixed on finishing the event. We’d got into a good position and I didn’t want to give that up. Fourth on a Production Car WRC round was what I’d been looking for and this a really good time to get it – it means we end the year on a high. The car has been perfect during this rally – the only issues we’ve had from time to time have been in keeping it on the road in some of the conditions, but otherwise it’s been a very good rally for me.

Car 65: Mark Tapper/Jeff Judd
Mark Tapper said: “The event didn’t get off to the best possible start for me when our recce car started overheating mid-way through. We had to swap our Lancer for a right-hand-drive standard Ford Focus, which wasn’t ideal. The actual rally started pretty well and we were running second for second with Martin [Semerád] until we slid off the road on the second run through Hafren. We went off the road and the car bellied out on top of a bank. I knew straight away we wouldn’t get back on the road, so I didn’t try – the spectators were coming. It felt like an eternity, but it was about 30 seconds before they gave us a shove and got the car back on the road. I don’t know what happened on the first stage on Saturday morning, but we dropped 45 seconds to Martin [Semerád], it was down to the driving. Okay, the conditions weren’t great, but I think it might have been something to do with the notes; this was the first stage we’d done with the normal recce car and I think they might have been a bit too cautious in places. We had a small problem with the turn-in on the car in the morning, this was related to the front anti-roll bar being broken. We were getting a lot of oversteer from the car through the morning, but once we got that sorted out, it was all okay.

The other quotes
Phil Short, Pirelli Star Driver Supervisor said:
“This was the most encouraging rally out of the six events the Pirelli Star Drivers have tackled this season. We had all five cars still running at the end of the first day and only one mechanically related retirement for the rest of the event – when the gearbox on Jon Williams’ car failed on Saturday afternoon. As we have come to expect, Jarkko [Nikara] was the driver who was setting the pace on the event – and he set a very good pace. He was really the only driver able to hold a candle to [Eyvind] Brynildsen in the race for the overall Group N result, despite Brynildsen being in a lighter and more purpose-built Super 2000 car. Unfortunately for Jarkko, he made a mistake on Saturday morning, which cost him any chance of the result. He returned for more fireworks on Sunday. The other guys drove very well – particularly Martin [Semerád]. This rally really showed the way Martin has developed through the season. All of the drivers have learned a great deal through this year; they’ve learned a professional approach to managing themselves in, on and after rallies. It has, at times, been a character-forming season, but after studying the data across the span of the year, the retirement rate we have experienced has reflected the average percentage finishing rate on Production Car WRC rounds. It’s very pleasing to see that all five drivers have progressed this year and that they all have plans for next year, whether they are in the World Rally Championship or on domestic rallies. It was unrealistic to expect all of the Pirelli Star Drivers to come out of the scheme and go straight into factory drives. What we have been able to do is showcase the talents of these guys and I think we have uncovered one very special driver in Jarkko. It’s been a pleasure to work with these young drivers and watch them progress over the course of the season; it’s incredible how quickly the time has flown by – it seems like only yesterday that we were starting our training in Edinburgh.”

Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Manager said:
“I’m very happy with this result. The performance of the drivers and of the cars has been very good. There’s no doubt that this has been a tough learning year, but this was a new and complex project and we have to be happy with the progress we have made.”

The results
14th Martin Semerád (CZ)/ Bohuslav Ceplecha (CZ) 3h 43m 40.3s (4th in Group N)
17th Mark Tapper (NZ)/Jeff Judd (NZ)   3h 45m 10.4s (6th in Group N)
23rd Nicos Thomas (CY)/ Angelos Loizides (CY) 3h 55m 48.5s (11th in Group N)
28th Jon Williams (ZA)/George Gwynn (GB)    4h 02m 44.2s (15th in Group N)*
35th Jarkko Nikara (FIN)/Jarkko Kalliolepo (FIN)   4h 08m 12.1s (21st in Group N)*
* Continued under SupeRally regulations