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Stobart gears up for season opening spectacle
New crews, new colours and a new challenge for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team as they head to Rallye Monte-Carlo for the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship’s season opener.

This becomes the third season in which the Stobart outfit will contest the WRC as a privately-backed manufacturer team. Nominated to score points in Monte-Carlo is newly signed Italian star Gigi Galli and his co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini while François Duval/Eddy Chevaillier step into the fourth position in the Stobart camp, for this event, as the second nominated point scorers.

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud will again contest the event for the Stobart team, however, not as nominated point scorers on this occasion. Despite his illustrious career in the WRC which has earned the Norwegian over 50 WRC starts this will be just his third attempt at the dual-nation event.

Also continuing his quest with the team is British rally sensation Matthew Wilson who has been reunited with fellow countryman Scott Martin for the 2008 season. This will also be Wilson’s third attempt at Rallye Monte-Carlo as the 20-year-old looks to improve on his solid effort from last year’s event where he finished top-placed Stobart driver.

This year the event has reverted back to traditional stomping ground, for the fourth and final day on Sunday, in the hills surrounding Monaco. The final 2.7 kilometre test will be a circuit around the Monaco precinct which visually is one of the most spectacular stages on tour as it runs alongside the famous Monaco harbour covering many sections of the Formula1 track.

Weather conditions are set to play a huge role with expected snow likely, less than one week from competition. Competitors can expect the challenge of snow, ice, wet and dry tarmac all on a single stage as each team bolts on a set of new Pirelli tyres; the Italian company supplying rubber in 2008 as part of the FIA’s newly-formed controlled tyre regulations.

Crews will launch into competition on Thursday night as they take on day 1 in complete darkness. The event will then continue from its Valence base, some 400 kilometres from Monte-Carlo, until Sunday when it will return south for conclusion. In total Rallye Monte-Carlo will offer some 365 kilometres of competitive distance.

For all 15 rounds of this year’s championship each Stobart crew will use the latest specification Ford Focus RS WRC07 car as the team looks to improve on their fantastic result from 2007 which saw three podium finishes and three events as overall leaders.

This Sunday sees the official unveiling of the all-new green and blue livery which is sure to turn heads come stage 1 of Rallye Monte-Carlo next Thursday evening. The unveiling will be made at the WRC’s official 2008 launch at the Automobile Club de Monaco.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team driver Gigi Galli said:
“Coming into this event I feel a bit “rusty” because in the last few months the only thing I’ve been driving is a digger I used to finish my mother’s house, it’s been fun but nothing to do with WRC cars! Joking apart I believe it’ll take a little time to find the right feeling with the car and the right pace again but then when we find the right feeling we will increase our pace and we’ll adjust our targets. Rallye Monte-Carlo is renowned for sudden changing conditions and being the first round of the season it keeps pressure on drivers quite high. Driving a car that won the last two manufacturers’ titles make us proud. We are also proud to be part of a team that, despite being young, has done very well already. I’m really looking forward to working with the team and it will be great to be part of such an impressive set-up.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team driver François Duval said:
“I am happy to be back in a world rally car on a WRC event as this will be my first event since Corsica last year. It is also good to be back in a Ford Focus WRC which, in the past, has brought me some good results. The last time I competed on Monte-Carlo was in 2006 where some of the route was similar to this year especially on Sunday so I think this will help a bit.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team driver Henning Solberg said: “I am ready for this rally, we will be trying our best here. My plan is to start with the same pace as in Ireland last year and then go from there. We will also go with the same set-up as we had in Ireland because I really liked it and the car felt good. I’m looking forward to driving the new 07 Focus but my experience of the roads in Monte-Carlo is not great because this is only my third time here. It will be great if there is some snow on the roads, the more the better for me. We will go out there and see what sort of pace we have from the start but hopefully by the end of the rally I can finish in the points to start off the season.” Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team driver Matthew Wilson said:
“Well it’s a new year, new car and a new co-driver and I’m looking forward to getting things underway in Monte-Carlo. For me this event will be more of a lesson as I get used to the 07 Focus and Scott [Martin] reading the notes. It’s not the easiest rally in the world so we’ll be looking to get round without any problems and have a decent finish with a straight car before getting on to Sweden which is an event I really enjoy. Sunday will be a difficult day as I have only covered these stages once in 2006 but it’s great to see the traditional tests back on rally route. This event will be a challenge but I just can’t wait to get back in the car and start the season off.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team Principal Malcolm Wilson said:
“It’s really exciting to see the Stobart team with such a strong line-up for their first event with both Gigi and François nominated for points. The team is further strengthened by Henning and Matthew who both put in strong performances on their last tarmac event in Ireland. This will be the first time the team competes with its striking new livery and it is also the first occasion where three Stobart liveried cars have competed on a round of the World Championship.”

Champion Ford geared up for tough start on Rallye Monte Carlo
Just 53 days after ending its FIA World Rally Championship winning season with victory in Britain, back-to-back manufacturers' champion Ford launches its title defence on the legendary Rallye Monte Carlo (24 - 27 January). Much is new for 2008 in the Blue Oval squad with a new team identity, a striking new colour scheme for its all-conquering Focus RS World Rally Car and an exciting new driver line-up which blends youth and experience.

The newly-named BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team heads into the opening round of the 15-event series with the same-specification Focus RS that lifted the 2007 title. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who finished third in the drivers' championship last season after winning three events, will be joined by fellow Finns Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, who have been promoted to the official works team after two years in the privately-entered Stobart VK M-Sport line-up. At just 27 and 22-years-old respectively, both have youth in their favour but also have plenty of experience with 70 and 52 WRC starts to their names.

Once again based in Valence, Rallye Monte Carlo is essentially an asphalt event on technically straight-forward roads but unpredictable weather can make it devilishly difficult. Drivers can face dry roads, streaming wet asphalt and treacherous ice, with the threat of snow on higher ground. They can often encounter all on the same stage as the route climbs and descends inhospitable mountain cols, switching from southern facing roads sheltered from extreme weather to exposed northern ones.

The rally can be won or lost on a good or bad tyre choice. Each group of speed tests can contain stages which offer vastly different conditions and must be tackled on rubber chosen more than three hours before the action begins. There is no perfect choice for such weather, especially with new regulations restricting the options available. Frequently the secret for success is selecting compromise tyres which lose least time in the 'wrong' conditions.

This is Hirvonen's fifth Rallye Monte Carlo and with forecasts suggesting wintry weather is likely in the mountains, he knows how tough the event could be. "Monte Carlo is all about the weather. If it is dry and mild then it is like any other asphalt event. If there is snow and ice then conditions can change quickly and nobody can predict what might happen. In such conditions the only safe thing to predict is that the stages will be unpredictable. It's the biggest challenge in the championship.

"I can't wait to get started again. I will begin every rally thinking about winning, but if I can't do that then second place is where I need to be. It will be difficult for me to take on Marcus Grönholm's role in the team but I feel ready for it. I learned much from him during the last two seasons and now it is time for me to move on and show that I too can fight for the drivers' title," he concluded.

Latvala comes into the team on the back of a superb end to the 2007 season, when he claimed his first podium in Ireland and won a string of special stages in Britain, and he is ready for whatever the rally offers. "I think it will be snowy and icy but rallying is about challenges and in such difficult conditions, if I drive well, then I can gain big time advantages over the others. Driving in the dark is also hard but that's another challenge and that's what makes this sport so exciting.

"The new tyre regulations mean I have to get used to Pirelli's rubber, driving without the puncture-resistant mousse and not having the same options as we have had in the past. I've used the new tyres during testing and I could feel they were harder. The ban on mousse means drivers can't cut corners as much as before for fear of puncturing so I will need to be careful going into bends. I learned how to drive like that in the Production WRC so I hope that experience will be useful," added Latvala.

Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi will drive a third official car on his Rallye Monte Carlo debut. The 35-year-old will renew his partnership with co-driver Michael Orr, the pair having won the 2004 FIA Middle East Rally Championship together. "My concern is how I will adapt my driving to the snow and ice. I've never competed in those conditions before so I will need to take it easy. At high altitude, where it can be icy, even just cruising is fast! I need to adapt to that but until I experience it and have a few moments to understand the pace, I will not have a proper idea of how to approach it.

"Michael and I have been talking regularly by telephone. We have many ideas, including changes to my pace note system to ensure more accurate distances and braking points. We know each other well and now Michael has been in WRC for three or four years, he has developed his experience and pace further. This means he will be able to help me develop my notes and pace," added Al Qassimi.

Team News
* The team will completed its pre-event testing in France. Hirvonen and Latvala tested for two days in the north-west of the Ardèche region before Christmas. They returned last week for additional work in the south-west of the region.

* The team's new tyre partner, Pirelli, will have two tyres available for the rally. For dry asphalt the soft compound PZero will be available, designed for damp and wet conditions or dry but cool temperatures. In more wintry conditions the Sottozero 'Snow' will be used and drivers can opt whether to fit studs or not. This has been specifically designed to deal with variable road conditions. Under new regulations, each tyre will be available in only one pattern, construction and compound. Each car can carry two spares and drivers can mix studded and unstudded rubber in their choice of six tyres for each group of stages.

SWRT out to seize opportunities in Monte Carlo
Rallye Monte Carlo heralds the return of the World Rally Championship with one of the most unpredictable events of the year. In its 76th running, this four day rally is a notoriously tricky combination of snow, ice and demanding routes which often produces some surprise results.

Crews will leave the service park in Valence, near the river Rhône in south-east France, for three of the four days of competition until the finish of Saturday’s stages, at which point the WRC contingent will decamp to a second service park location in Monaco, opposite the Automobile Club de Monaco headquarters.

The asphalt roads twist and flow through the breathtaking but notoriously tricky mountain stages of the region. A welcome inclusion of the Alpes Maritimes region on Sunday will see crews tackle the spectacular Col de Turini and finish the rally with a high-speed blast around the harbour section of the famed Monaco Grand Prix circuit.

The 365 kilometres of competition starts on Thursday evening with two night stages. There is no gentle start to the year: the opening stage is just shy of being the longest of the event at over 28 kilometres.

The weather in January in Monte Carlo will be typically cold, and this year the rally has been scheduled one week later in an attempt to ensure the snow that the rally just missed last season. In the first rally in which the teams will use the Pirelli championship control tyre, there will be three options: the DS soft slick tyre, the snow WX tyre without metal studs, and the WX tyre with studs that provide extra traction on icy sections.

The team’s driver lineup remains unchanged; Petter Solberg will commence his tenth season alongside co-driver Phil Mills in one of the most established pairings in the WRC. Rallye Monte Carlo will be the duo’s 122nd rally on the world stage together.

In the second Impreza will be Chris Atkinson and co-driver Stéphane Prévot, who started together in Argentina last season. Spanish duo Xevi Pons and Xavier Amigo are missing from the entry list however, their negotiations with the team still ongoing.

Entries
The Subaru World Rally Team have entered two Impreza WRC2007s for Rallye Monte Carlo. Petter Solberg / Phil Mills will drive car number five and Chris Atkinson/ Stéphane Prévot will be in car number six. Petter and Phil have competed on these roads seven times. Chris, on his second visit, had his best finish of fourth overall in 2007 courtesy of three stage wins.

Team quotes
David Richards, Subaru World Rally Team Principal: “Monte Carlo Rally has often turned out to be a lottery, where the weather has thrown up some opportunistic and historic victories, and if we can snatch those chances, who knows? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if either of our drivers climbed the podium. It’s one of those events where anything can happen.”

Paul Howarth, Subaru World Rally Team operations director: “Monte Carlo is an event that is all about tyres. This year there will be a lot of snow and stages run in the dark, so consistency and optimizing the grip level on the changeable asphalt will be crucial to a good result. There are a lot of competitive drivers this season all bidding for top spots, so it will be a measure of pushing for pace without throwing it away in the opening round.”
Driver quotes
Petter Solberg: “It is important to get into a rhythm straight away and settle into a pace you feel comfortable with. With no anti-deflation mousse you can’t take risks in the stages as a puncture could finish your rally. There will be a lot of snow I think and Monte is always tricky anyway so it won’t be easy, that’s for sure. It will be about who can make the most of their tyres and adapt to the conditions fastest, but if someone manages something special with them people will follow quickly.”

Chris Atkinson: “It’s going to be an interesting event for sure. It’s raining here in Monaco so I’m sure it’s snowing in the stages already. I’ve never done this event with a lot of snow so it’s new for me. Both times I’ve run this rally we’ve had good results, but I don’t underestimate how much of a challenge it is. Although the tyre choices aren’t wide because we only have one slick and a winter tyre, it’s going to be important when we choose to take each one, and we have to watch out for punctures. I’m definitely looking forward to starting the season again now though.”

Between the rallies
For the Subaru World Rally Team drivers, the off-season was filled with a mixture of testing and media commitments, time with family and friends and preparations for this season. In early January, Petter and Chris took part in an asphalt tyre test near Lyon, France in preparation for Monte Carlo, followed shortly followed by two days in Sweden.

January also saw the return of Estonian Markko Martin to the Subaru World Rally Team in the role of official test driver. Martin, who won the Bettega Memorial Rally aboard a works-supplied and run WRC2007 in December 2007, will commence testing before the end of the month.

Citroën ready for the 'off' on the road to Monte Carlo
A year after making its competition debut with a resounding one-two finish on the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally, the Citroën C4 WRC is poised to tackle the World Rally Championship's longest-standing event for the second time. For the first round of the 2008 season, Citroën Sport has entered two cars for four-time World Champions Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and their Spanish team-mates Dani Sordo/Marc Martí.

In the course of its long history, the Monte Carlo Rally has emerged as the world's most famous rally. Last year's event saw the return of legendary stages like Saint Jean en Royans, Burzet and Saint Bonnet le Froid, and this year's menu features the comeback of yet another classic: the Col du Turini. Should snow make an appearance, the setting will be ideal!

"I'm obviously dreaming of a white Monte Carlo, with real wintry conditions," says Sébastien Loeb. "The route focuses on three different regions, so the stages will be very varied. Thursday evening's tests are wide, fast and smooth. Those in the Ardèche are more technical, narrower and occasionally bumpy. Last year, the conditions were particularly dry but it should be fun if we get snow and ice this time round! I am delighted to see that the Col du Turini and some other classic stages in the southeast corner of France are back. That said, the challenge of having to contest the final day's four stages with the same tyres could well turn out to be quite delicate."

The stage conditions encountered on the Monte Carlo Rally have always been one of this fixture's main difficulties. The asphalt tests take place to a mountainous backdrop, with numerous high mountain passes to cross, and competitors constantly switch from shade to roads that are more exposed to sunshine. In the course of a single stage, it is consequently by no means rare to come across portions of clear asphalt and other parts that are covered in ice and/or snow, so tyres frequently play a decisive role.

"We will have the choice between three types of tyre," explains Citroën Sport's Technical Manager Xavier Mestelan-Pinon. "If the conditions are dry, the only option we will have will be the soft compound dry weather tyre. If it snows, our crews will be able to choose between studded and non-studded snow tyres, depending on the temperature and how much snow they expect to find. The Monte Carlo Rally promises to be a particularly tough rally because, like the other teams, we have no real hindsight following the work we have put in with our cars running on Pirelli tyres. As far as the evolutions to the C4 WRC are concerned, we will have a new engine – the 'EW' – for the Monte Carlo Rally, as well as some aerodynamic evolutions at the front."

"We will take a measured approach to the start of our 2008 WRC campaign," points out Citroën Sport's new director, Olivier Quesnel. "The switch to a single tyre manufacturer will be the principal change for the first round of the championship and, as always in such cases, we will need time to adapt. We have done as much work as we can to amass as much data as possible concerning the tyres we will have for the Monte Carlo Rally but we are aware that we still have a great deal to learn. The Monte Carlo Rally has always been a challenging event, not only because of its stages but also because it is the first round of the season. It will be especially difficult this year because of the tyre factor with which we will have to come to terms on the event itself. The competition promises to be extremely fierce, too, but I have every confidence in our technical staff who have worked hard to make the Citroën C4 WRC even more competitive. I also believe that Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Martí form a very strong line-up and I know they will be looking to start the year with a repeat of their exploit of last year. Our objective for 2008 is to win both the Manufacturers' and Drivers' world titles, so a top result would obviously be a first class omen."

Rally Details:

Monte Carlo Rally WRC