FIA VOLUNTEERS WEEKEND
This weekend, 24-26 May, the FIA celebrates volunteers days in motor sport and they fall on the Rally Liepaja days.
Volunteers are invisible people, spending most of their personal time so that we can race. The FIA recognizes this important contribution and thanks the volunteers for their hard work and dedication to the competitions safety.
Most often spectators and fans can see volunteers at races, when they work as security marshals at the special stages (the very people in bright vests with whistles, reporting that the race car is approaching); during the technical inspection, helping to mark the units or inspect the equipment of drivers; or working in parc ferme, helping crews to navigate or gently move out of a small enclosed area.
We also want to express our gratitude to these wonderful people,who love motor sports so much that they are ready to spend time at competitions in the conditions of the scorching sun, dust or in cold winter days – thank you!
This man was spotted at the Rally Liepaja service park at work.
Link to FIA website
I arrived at the Canary Islands in advance to acclimatize and practice a little bit in making notes at the local roads that were not included into the rally route. Before the rally I spent three days with Alexey Lukyanuk training in the Baltics. There were some interesting asphalt sections and we had a very productive time.
The first special stages of the rally on Thursday showed that Alonso and Remennik were excellent sparring partners; this pair of crews exchanged shots for a few tenths of seconds and changed each other as leader of the standings. Luis Pimentel, who also had to take part in the rally, was not allowed to start by the technical commissioners due to problems with the fuel tank in his Subaru Impreza.
After Sergei Remennik received a penalty, returning to the race according to the Rally2 rules, Alonso kept a comfortable advantage at five Saturday special stages, but won only the SS “Tronqueira” that completed the rally, while Remennik was faster at all the other special stages. The weather conditions caused additional difficulties on Saturday – there were rain, fog, wind and sun simultaneously or in different combinations. The average speeds of overcoming the special stages and the pace of driving decreased, and the gravel sections of the route turned into a raid range with large ruts, sharp stones and liquid mud.
Sergey Remennik, driver, “Almost everything that could happen this weekend with our car, in principle, happened. It all started really cool – we won both the qualification and the first day from Alonso, giving him a victory at one special stage. I was expecting an interesting fight with him, but it turned out to be a struggle with a car and a competition who could even reach the finish line – we both had problems. And this stupid situation with an electric system, because of which the car didn’t start on Friday night; and we didn’t know where to look, because we hadn’t encountered this before… That is, we still had 40 seconds left before the “SSS Marquez” start, and that was enough! Punched tyres are complete nonsense, we slightly crushed the hood – it doesn’t affect the speed at all; while the car is driving, the time is not lost, but then it didn’t want to start. Hi to penalty minutes and restart the next day. On Saturday Alonso gave us a day because he was in no hurry.
Marina Danilova, co-driver, “The Saturday morning section didn’t frighten us, I can’t say that there was a lot of fog. It was in places, but it didn’t prevent reading the notes and understanding how you move along the track – you still feel the turns with your body, so the reduced visibility didn’t bother. This is my second joint participation with Sergei, I liked the race. The negative point is that we had so much troubles; it seems their amount should be enough for the season – the tyres, the electric system, the transmission – everything. Part of the troubles could have been avoided, for example, a blow; and the problem with the power steering was its consequence. Well, punched tyres are a coincidence, we watched the onboard. In general I liked the rally, I didn’t like the rain, but the rally was good!”
The first racing step of the season was troublesome, but the crew received points for the second place at the end of the event and is looking forward to the next round of the FIA European Championship. A break of a little more than a month comes, and the Rally Islas Canarias will be held from 2 to 4 May.
The day turned out to be nervous for the Argentinian, and it even seemed that everything was lost: having punctured a tyre at the first special stage of the day and hit the car on the road fence, he lost half a minute about the result of Sergei Remennik. Then the gap increased to seven minutes – this was facilitated by another wheel puncture, at the same time the grip did not sustain and a problem with the drive shaft was discovered.
Sergey Remennik, driver, “The day started very well, even my overly optimistic ride on the finish kilometers of the special stage on the volcano couldn’t spoil it. There was a fairly simple and wide turn, where the car slid to the shaft and hit with the rear part, and there was a wall about two meters high, we stuck into it. We were thrown back to the road in the right direction; we drove on, just slowed down a bit. During the day service mechanics repaired this damage. 
On Saturday the crew will take the opportunity to start with the rally2 system, getting the penalty time for the missed special stage to their result.
Sergei Remennik, driver, “It was cool! Let me explain: it doesn’t matter how many participants are around you – ten or one Alonso, in any case there are always one or two real rivals. We drive with him, we exchange impressions after each special stage, we rejoice; and have you seen the parallel race? I won three tenths from him! Today is such a “warm-up” day: after the first special stage we were the leaders, at the second one Juan Carlos won back, at the third – we were ahead a little bit. The first section of the rally has passed and we win only 0:00.4 minutes. Tomorrow morning we will go to the start of the second day and as if this was nothing, everything is all over again – that’s cool! Emotions overwhelm me precisely from this rivalry, and of course we both would like to win”.
Marina Danilova, co-driver, “It’s good to return to the “big” rally after the Russian Championship – there’s a lot of interesting things, especially when viewed from the organizer’s point. For example, yesterday’s city show – it’s interesting because the result is not scored, but participation in it is mandatory. I think this is correct, otherwise how can you show the racers to the spectators (and how else can you motivate them to drive)? Russian rallies are understandable: you have already driven them at least 25 times and you know not only all the special stages, but also the liaisons. But here it’s different, you need to track all the roads in order not to go somewhere wrong. The special stages for the co-driver haven’t been complicated today; there will be a lot of reading tomorrow”.
What’s next: Friday’s action features seven stages over 91.55 kilometres including two runs of the iconic Sete Cidades volcano stage with Pico da Pedra is up first from 09h53. Both Sete Cidades stages, plus the SSS Marques, will be broadcast live on RTP Açores and the
At this race Russia will be represented by three crews, one in each racing category: Dmitry Myachin and Alexander Gorlanov will start in Peugeot 208 R2; Sergey Remennik and Marina Danilova will represent the Production car class and compete for points in Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for the Russian Performance Motorsport team; the current European Champions Alexey Lukyanuk and Alexey Arnautov will fight for the season title and for the points in the overall standings. Lukyanuk and Arnautov have changed the team and the car this year, and in the Azores they will have a new challenge – guys will spend the race in the Citroen C3 R5, prepared by the SainteLoc Racing team together with Citroen Racing. This year the Russians will have a new car and they will have to get used to new tyres: there will be tyres from Michelin instead of the usual Pirelli.
Alexey Lukyanuk, Citroen C3 R5 driver,: “We were looking forward to the first kilometers in the new car and with the new team. Although the team and the car are unknown, the race is familiar and the co-driver is the same. This is our fourth time here at the Azores; the organizers have changed the track a little this year, adding a couple of new special stages, and also shortened or lengthened the old ones. Today we’ve had gravel tests, talked to an engineer, got acquainted with a new car. However we couldn’t go through the test plan fully, because the spare parts ran out – the shock absorber tank mount cracked from the bottom, the spare parts would arrive only tomorrow, and during that time we managed to drive about 30-40 kilometers. I like the car; of course, there are differences from the Ford I used to, but there are a lot of pleasant things, a very light steering wheel, different pedals, an engine that allows you to drive at lower revs, very convenient gearbox and handbrake levers. Well, in general, it’s just a new car in every sense! Feelings are good, but only the race will show us what we can do together with Citroen”.
Sergey Remennik, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo driver, “In general, the plan for 2019 season is as follows: we have a budget for four rounds; we will drive these first races; we will see how the new “united” class is going, how competitive we are among the participants and, having assessed our chances, we will decide on the second half of the season. It will be the third visit to the Azores Rallye for me, and I temporary change the co-driver. As it once happened, Mark is busy on the main work and will not be able to distract for the racing week. I decided that I would continue cooperation with Marina Danilova. I’m very glad that she confirmed her participation and we will go in the same crew, because she is a high-class professionall!
It should be noted that the Prototypes are allowed to participate only in the overall standings of the Russian Rally Championship, where drivers can score points; at the Russian Cup events the crew in such a car does not get any points – they can participate in the rally along with the rest of the drivers, not interfering in the fight for the series title.
Sergei and Mark finished the first day of the race with an advantage of 14.6 seconds over their closest rival Denis Rostilov (only at the first special stage they won 27.4 seconds from him), but during the four special stages of the second racing day the situation has changed – Denis Rostilov celebrated a victory, and Sergei Remennik became the runner-up with a 2.2 second lag! On the first day this pair of rivals broke away from the closest pursuer Igor Smirnov for 1:11.2 minutes, and on the second day increased this gap to 2:03.2 minutes at the finish of the rally!
Sergey Remennik, driver, “On the first day of the rally it was interesting and fast – wide roads for maximum speed with jumps. On the second day it seemed to be slower, but it wasn’t. The second day tracks were slightly looser, narrower than the day before, with many places where acceleration-braking took place. We seemed to get used to the car, but you won’t try everything and take unnecessary risks during the race. In the course of the rally we tried to understand the
At this point every rally fan asks the question, “What’s next?” We confidently say that the story with Prototype will continue! But not in the closest sporting plans. After all, the new season in the FIA European Rally Championship starts very soon – the 54th Azores Rally will open the European performances program for the crew of Sergei Remennik and Mark Rozin on 21-23 March.
Would you like to get acquainted with a sports car? The “Prototype” class car, built by the Latvian sports team Prospeed based on the Ford Fiesta:
Sergei Remennik, driver, “The prototype is awesome! But there are a lot of unusual things, for example, with braking and gear changes on time. If we compare it with the vehicles we know, the Fiesta is much lighter, its base is shorter; it is more nimble, it has completely different inertia and aerodynamics – and here it is necessary to change the ways of driving. Of course, this is much more interesting sports equipment than the usual Mitsubishi Lancer. The prototype is “screwing” right in some turns, and the brakes are very tenacious!
