Sebastien Loeb has been voted the best loved French sportsman, according to a l’Equipe survey.

Edox watches have been awarded the title of Official Timing Partner for the world rally championship.

Finnish driver Matti Rantanen is to drive a number two Munchi’s team car on Neste Oil Rally Finland (30 July - 2 Aug), as teammate to Federico Villagra. Last year he finished the event seventh overall, highest non championship driver. Full entry details due to be posted 30 June.

Olivier Quesnel, Citroen Racing’s Director, was not fazed by Sebastien Loeb’s mishap in Greece. “He normally makes one mistake a year”. Oh dear, spoke too soon... It was unusual for Sebastien Loeb to run under SupeRally rules. His previous instance was in Jordan 2008 after his celebrated head-on collision with the C4 WRC of Conrad Rautenbach

Former rally driver Mikael Ericsson, winner of two world championship rallies in 1989, came over from Sweden to drive one of the zero cars on the Rally of Poland.

The FIA is considering ordering that normally-aspirated 2-litre Super 2000 cars cannot be homologated after the end of 2010, so that from 1st January 2011 (1/1/11!) all such cars will be fitted only with 1.6 turbocharged engines. Considerable attention is now being paid within the FIA to how this fits in with the future World Rally Car plans, the proposed wider bodywork cars and the extent to which the “Mark 2 World Rally Cars” integrate with cars for privateer motor sport.

The two Citroen Total cars had strange windscreen stickers, written in Chinese language alongside the usual word CITROEN written in normal language. This was to promote the launch of a new range of Citroen cars in that country.

Beata Bublewicz, a lady member of the Polish national Parliament and the deputy minister for Sport, attended the Poland Rally to wish the organisers well. Her father was the late Marian Bublewicz, a five times national Polish champion, who died at the wheel of his Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4 on a winter rally in the country in 1993. One of Marian’s regular co-drivers had been Grzegorz Gac, Rally Poland’s general manager.

It was lucky the rally moved up to the Mazurian lakes district of north Poland. When the rally was being held in the new area, the Lower Silesia area around Wroclaw where the Polish Rally used to be held was suffering severe flooding.

3mmm
photo 1: Citroen - Loeb
photo 2: Mikolajki