Rallye Azores (Portugal) (J) - 15-17 May 14

Breen determined to re-launch his Championship attack in the mid Atlantic.

Posted: May 15, 2014 4:44 PM

After the heartbreak of suffering a technical failure during round four of this year’s FIA European Rally Championship “The Circuit of Ireland Rally”, Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen is very much planning to get his 2014 campaign back on track this week as the championship moves on to round five at the ERC Sata Rallye Azores, the Portuguese round of the championship.

Based on the largest island of São Miguel from May 15th – 17th the rally will feature seventeen tough stages that will cover nearly 220Kms of sandy gravel roads that wind their way through the island’s world famous volcanic scenery.

It will be Craig’s second time to compete on the rally as he was runner up there last year behind the wheel of a Peugeot 207 S2000 after successfully battling the mud and severe weather conditions on what essentially was a learning exercise as he settled into his new team. Craig and his co-driver Scott Martin will start the rally as the number one seeds in their Peugeot 208 T16 and as the rally is a month later this year Craig says he’s really looking forward to it because the date change means that the rally shouldn’t be affected by the torrential rain like last year which saw stage cancellations and very difficult driving conditions.

Fifty-six crews will contest this year’s ERC Sata Rallye Azores which is celebrating its 49th running and it will kick off with an exciting but non-competitive short asphalt course along Ponta Delgada’s seafront and surrounding streets on Wednesday evening to showcase what the fans can expect over the following three days. On Thursday (15th) the rally takes up the usual ERC format with free practice before a 3.22km qualifying stage in the morning where the fastest driver in qualifying will earn the right to be first to select their starting position for the opening three stages of Leg 1 later on that evening. The Leg restarts on Friday morning and will see the crews tackle eight challenging stages that will test their strength and that of their cars as they will have rallied almost 44km through the difficult terrain before returning to the mid-day service in Ponta Delgada at 3pm before they repeat the loop of four stages again.

Leg 2 on Saturday (16th) although only having six stages with a mid-day service will be every bit as challenging as the previous day as it will feature four stages in excess of the 20km each that will allow little margin for error due to their tight and twisty nature before the crews return to Ponta Delgada’s seafront where the winners will take to the podium for the victory celebrations.

Craig will have plenty of competition for the rally win as the large entry list consists of a number of ERC regulars including Craig’s Dutch Peugeot Rally Academy team-mate Kevin Abbring, Vasily Gryazin, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Bruno Magalhães. Bernardo Sousa and local hero Ricardo Moura will join Magalhães amongst the home entries and for sure they will be on a charge to defend home honours.

ERC STARS GEARED UP FOR AÇORES LIVE TV SPECTACULAR

Posted: May 15, 2014 4:24 PM

Live television coverage, spectacular stages through stunning countryside, plus an entry list brimming with ace drivers and rising stars will combine to make next week’s SATA Rallye Açores one of the highlights of the all-action FIA European Rally Championship season.

Based on the archipelago’s largest island of São Miguel in the mid-Atlantic, the event takes place for a 49th time from 15-17 May and counts as round five of the ERC plus round three of the new-for-2014 ERC Junior Championship.

Covering a distance of 216.64 kilometres, the rally’s 17 timed tests criss-cross breath-taking scenery and lush countryside, and are characterised by their sandy surface and narrow and undulating nature. And because the stages are often no wider than the width of a car, there is simply no margin for error, particularly on the sensational Sete Cidades stage in the northwest of the island, which includes a charge along the rim of a volcanic crater lake.

Changeable weather is also a factor due to the ocean climate with conditions switching from sunshine to showers and patches of fog thrown in for good measure.

Four stages will be shown live simultaneously on Eurosport and RTP Açores: the two runs of the 23.90-kilometre Sete Cidades test on Friday 16 May and the two passes of the 21.30-kilometre Tronqueira stage on Saturday 17 May. Furthermore, both passes of the 7.46-kilometre Feteiras stage on Friday will be streamed live on the official ERC website, Fiaerc.com.

The live coverage will be broadcast as follows (all times are Ireland / UK): Friday 16 May

11:30hrs-12:00hrs: LIVE on Fiaerc.com (SS5 Feteiras 1, 7.46 kilometres)
12:00hrs-13:00hrs: LIVE on Eurosport (SS6 Sete Cidades 1, 23.90 kilometres)
17:30hrs-18:00hrs: LIVE on Fiaerc.com (SS9 Feteiras 2, 7.46 kilometres)
18:00hrs-19:00hrs: LIVE on Eurosport (SS10 Sete Cidades 2, 23.90 kilometres)

Saturday 17 May

12:00hrs-13:00hrs: LIVE on EUROSPORT (SS13 Tronqueira 1, 21.30 kilometres) 18:00hrs-19:00hrs: LIVE on EUROSPORT (SS17 Tronqueira 2 (21.30 kilometres)

Let the (City) Show begin

Before the competitive action gets underway, all drivers will take part in the popular City Show on Ponta Delgada’s main promenade. The City Show uses on all-asphalt stage but is purely for fun, with the ERC stars encouraged to put on a spectacle for the thousands of fans who line the route.

ERC aces go for ‘pole’ position

Twelve drivers will have ERC or FIA priority status for SATA Rallye Açores, which is decided according to their event results. As on all rounds of the ERC, the priority drivers will take part in two runs of Free Practice before getting one shot at the Qualifying Stage. The results of the Qualifying Stage will be used to determine the starting order for leg one, with the fastest driver earning the right to choose his starting position first followed by the next fastest driver and so on until all priority drivers have made their selection. The Free Practice and Qualifying Stage will use a 3.22-kilometre course, Remédios-Lagoa. Free Practice begins at 09:00hrs local time on Thursday 15 May with the Qualifying Stage getting underway at 11:05hrs. The start selection ceremony is scheduled for 12:45hrs at the Portas do Mar in Ponta Delgada.

ERC stars out in force

With ERC title leader Esapekka Lappi not including SATA Rallye Açores on his event schedule for 2014, Irishman Craig Breen will be bidding to reduce the Finn’s championship advantage at the wheel of his Peugeot Rally Academy 208T16. Breen, winner of the Acropolis Rally in March, trails Lappi by 29 points and will be gunning for a top score. However, team-mate Kevin Abbring will also have his sights set firmly on victory having suffered misfortune on the previous two rounds.

Vasily Gryazin and Kajetan Kajetanowicz are both podium finishers in their Ford Fiestas and are set to impress, while Bruno Magalhães makes his second start of the ERC in 2014 on the rally he won in dramatic fashion in 2010. The multiple Portuguese champion had been due to switch to a 208T16 but will stick with the Peugeot 207 S2000. Jaroslav Orsák and fellow ŠKODA Fabia driver Antonín Tlus?ák will fly the flag for the Czech Republic, while Robert Consani and Jean-Michel Raoux will do likewise for France. Following his ERC debut in Greece earlier this season, Giacomo Costenaro returns in his 207 S2000.

Local heroes target island glory

Azorean Ricardo Moura is armed with a Ford Fiesta R5 for the first time as he aims to emulate his SATA Rallye Açores podium of 2013. The experienced local ace showed last year how quickly he can adapt to new machinery after claiming third place in his ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 first time out. Bernardo Sousa, who hails from the island of Madeira, was in the fight for a podium finish last year only to crash out. He’ll be one to watch in his Fiesta Regional Rally Car.

Breen is the ERC Gravel Master

The European championship top spot might no longer be his – for now at least – but Craig Breen will start SATA Rallye Açores as the leader of the ERC Gravel Masters, a new initiative from ERC promoter Eurosport Events for 2014 to reward surface specialists competing in the ERC. After the first scoring opportunity of the year on leg two of the Acropolis Rally in Greece in late March, Breen has earned 48 points, which is one more than Bryan Bouffier and 20 more than Kajetan Kajetanowicz. ERC title leader Esapekka Lappi is fourth on 16 points with Jaromír Tarabus next up on 10 points. Sepp Wiegand, Vasily Gryazin, Bruno Magalhães and Robert Consani also feature in the standings. All 17 stages in the Açores will count towards the ERC Gravel Masters classification and Breen will carry a special ERC Gravel Masters decal on the sides of his Peugeot 208T16 to differentiate him as the current ERC Gravel Master. As well as the ERC Gravel Master accolade, there is a separate ERC Asphalt Master award, while the ERC Ice Master prize went to Robert Kubica earlier this season.

A fine ERC Production

While there will be serious competition ahead in the battle for outright victory, there will also be a close fight for ERC Production Car Cup success with championship leader Vitaliy Pushkar a hot favourite for honours in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X R4. The Ukrainian claimed a last-gasp class win in Greece in late March and will again face opposition from rapid Czech Martin Hudec, currently 12 points behind in the title chase. A number of local drivers will also be in contention for honours including Adruzilo Lopes and Ricardo Teodósio.

ERC Juniors on a charge

Eleven FIA ERC Junior Championship competitors will be hoping to build their experience and showcase their talents on SATA Rallye Açores. They include category newcomers Fabio Andolfi and Guillaume Dilley, title pacesetter Jan ?erný, podium finishers Risto Immonen and Alex Parpottas, stage winners Andrea Crugnola, Chris Ingram, Aleks Zawada and Stéphane Lefebvre plus promising RACB National Team driver Gino Bux and Napoca Rally Academy’s Florin Tincescu. ERC Junior is a new initiative for 2014 and drivers must be born on or after 1 January 1989 to be eligible. They must also use R2-specification cars and Michelin control tyres. All ERC Juniors will be eligible for the ERC 2WD Championship, which has 27 drivers competing in Açores. They include Henrique Moniz and ERC Ladies’ Trophy contender Ekaterina Stratieva. A file containing pre-event quotes from all ERC Junior drivers will be available at Fiaerc.com.

Q&A: Ricardo Moura

The reigning Azorean and Portuguese rally champion will make his debut in a Ford Fiesta R5 when the ERC comes to his home island. Despite his lack of knowledge of the new-generation car he’ll be chasing back-to-back podiums.

Coming from São Miguel, this really is your home round of the ERC. What’s your target?
“Like last year I have a car that can win the rally but I don’t know if I will be capable of winning. But it’s not the target to be honest. The target is to try to finish on the podium again.”

You mentioned your car, how much experience do you have of the Ford Fiesta R5?
“We did just 50 kilometres of testing early this week after the car arrived in Portugal on Sunday afternoon. Now it’s scheduled to do the test on Monday [in Açores]. Okay, we don't have experience with the car but we hadn’t last year with the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000. We will have to use the maximum of our time on Monday to get the car how I want it for me.”

What were your impressions of driving the car?
“I felt really, really good with the car. The car has very good handling, really good suspension. The way of using the gearbox is really good, really smooth. I was not really, really impressed with the engine I must say but still you have a turbo like in the Group N cars I was driving for a long time. It’s just a way of finding a compromise of how to drive the car in the smartest way. The car is really good but you need to understand how to drive it fast.”

Why switch to the Fiesta R5, why not stick with the Fabia S2000?
“We sold the Fabia in February, but we had an agreement with one of our sponsors who bought the car but let us use it on the first three rounds of the Portuguese championship. We looked at buying another ŠKODA but we couldn’t find any in good condition versus the price. We went to M-Sport to see how things are working there. They are working in the correct way with the car, with the development and I must say I am really happy. The R5 is the car for the future and it’s also an unbelievable experience because I am doing rallies since 1999 and this is my first new car.”

One of the most famous stages of the rally is Sete Cidades, which will be shown live on Eurosport and RTP Açores. What’s it like driving around a volcano crater lake?
“To be honest, I’m from the island so I am not as impressed as the other drivers that come here. There is no room for mistake, that’s the thing about this stage. Of course it’s amazing and I would like it if this time we could have a bit of luck with the weather [after the fog and rain last year].”

FIVE FACTS

*The Açores archipelago, which lies approximately equidistant between Lisbon and New York in the Atlantic Ocean, consists of nine islands formed from a series of volcanic eruptions. São Miguel to the southeast, where the rally is based, is the biggest at 747 km2, while Corvo, to the northwest, is the smallest at 17km2.

*Known as the Green Island due its lush and fertile landscape, São Miguel is famous for its changeable weather with sunshine one minute and rain the next.

*Ricardo Moura might be a multiple Azorean champion but he’s never won his home event, which ran for the first time in 1965 and takes place for a 49th time this season.

*The same can’t be said for Fernando Peres, whose tally of wins is a record. However, when it comes to the record number of starts he trails Franco Horacio, who has taken part 23 times.

*Azorean menus are big on fish and seafood with barnacle a particular delicacy. It wouldn’t be unheard of to start a meal with a dish of local mashed red peppers and cheese.

THREE DRIVERS, TWO 208T16s AND ONE 208R2 FOR THE AZORES 208 T16 / PEUGEOT RALLY ACADEMY

Posted: May 15, 2014 10:03 AM

This weekend will see the Peugeot Rally Academy tackle what is being described as the toughest round of this year’s European Rally Championship. Craig Breen, who is provisionally second in the championship standings, is targeting more podium success in the Azores, while Kevin Abbring will be hoping to put an end to the spell of bad luck that has been chasing him recently. After sitting out the trip to Northern Ireland, Lefebvre is back in the squad for the Sao Miguel Island-based event in his 208 R2.

The Azores…A challenging but spectacular rally

After the all-asphalt Circuit of Ireland, the itinerary of the Rallye Açores features 216.64km of competitive action divided into 17 gravel stages.

The narrow, sandy and hilly tests leave little room for error, while the Sete Cidades stage - which runs along the perimeter of a volcanic lake to the northwest of the island - will be particularly interesting for the Peugeot Rally Academy’s trio.

Meanwhile, the maritime climate tends to deliver fickle, fast-changing weather that can switch from fog to rain to sunshine in an instant, making the trip to the mid-Atlantic isle one of the season’s most unpredictable, if spectacular shows.

The 208T16: hungry for a third win

The 208 T16’s first major international outing in Greece saw the Peugeot Rally Academy claim the car’s maiden victory which was followed last weekend by another success on Italy’s Targa Florio. This time it was Paolo Andreucci who showcased the new machine’s winning ability.

Indeed, the 208 T16 is getting better with every event and the teething troubles that hampered its progress in Ireland have been resolved by the French outfit’s technical squad. As a result, the objective of Breen and Abbring on the Rallye Açores is to add another strong performance to the 208T16’s burgeoning record.

Craig Breen: targeting for a front-running role

Along with his co-driver Scott Martin, Craig Breen is second in provisional Drivers’ standings.

Adapting quickly to the Portuguese stages will be one of the keys to success this weekend and the Irishman will be eager to take advantage of the 208T16’s potential to recover the championship lead.

Kevin Abbring: the speed is there

While gravel is his favourite surface, the talented young Kevin Abbring has shown that he is at home on any type of stage since his European Rally Championship debut. Despite the technical problems that have unfortunately spoiled his runs so far, the Dutchman is fully focused on his objective which is to convert his speed into a top result.

With co-driver Sebastian Marshall sitting alongside him in the 208T16, he is still in a strong position after emerging as a surprise of the early part of the season.

Stéphane Lefebvre: back in the 208 R2

The youngest member of the Peugeot Rally Academy is back for his third outing in the new European Junior Championship. He is a member of this year’s FFSA Equipe de France line-up and, in 2013, won a budget to contest four rounds of the 2014 FIA ERC. After traveling to Latvia, he missed the journey to Ireland but returns to the series particularly fired up ahead of the Rallye Açores which he has already contested once and which he particularly enjoys.

Stéphane is a strong all-rounder with a particularly tidy and efficient driving style. Along with this co-driver Thomas Dubois, he is also a determined hard worker and uses the video films taken in recce to maximum effect in order to play a front-running role.

Also of note is Jan Cerny’s first class start to the year. He is currently on top of the provisional Junior ERC leaderboard and will be challenging for his third win of the season in his 208 R2 in the Azores this weekend.

Driver quotes:

Craig Breen:
“I can’t wait to for the start of the Rallye Açores. I’ve already done it once before and it’s a great event. Sao Miguel is a magnificent island and its sandy stages are an added challenge, not to mention the weather which can really influence the final outcome. Last year, there was a great deal of rain and fog, so we’re hoping for drier conditions this time. The Circuit of Ireland turned out to be a difficult rally for my co-driver and me but we have every confidence in Peugeot Rallye Academy’s ability to bounce back from the problems we encountered at the last round. It will be important to score points in the Azores and we have every intention of hitting the ground running!”

Kevin Abbring:
“I’ve never been to the Azores before and I am looking forward very much to competing on what I’ve been told is an extremely beautiful island. The stages are technically challenging and apparently call for a clean, tidy driving style. I have no idea what the grip is like and how it can change but the occasional portions of asphalt will help when it comes to managing our tyres. There are some narrow parts and many places that can catch you out easily, so there is no room for error. I am sure it’s going to be an entertaining rally.”

Stéphane Lefebvre:
“The Rallye Açores is a great event which I like very much. In 2013, I was on top in the two-wheel drive class, so I’ve got a fond memory of that. The weather can be a tough parameter so it’s important to be able to adapt and work hard to be at your very best. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel on the 208 R2 on an FIA ERC event.”

Seeded Entry List

Posted: May 9, 2014 12:14 PM

Rallye Azores (Portugal) (J) - 15-17 May 14 - SEEDED ENTRY LIST

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Posted: May 6, 2014 12:32 PM

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Posted: March 24, 2014 11:02 AM

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