Giraudet Goes with Duval
After facing the difficult decision whether he should codrive for his long time partner Spyros Pavlides or his more recent colleague Eyvind Brynildsen, French codriver Denis Giraudet was now decided to accompany neither on the Wales Rally GB. Instead he will go with Francois Duval. Giraudet is a close friend and near neighbour of Patrick Pivato who was injured in Duval's accident in Rally Japan, and was instrumental in giving support to his colleagues in the hours immediately after the crash. Pivato meanwhile was finally repatriated from the Higashi-Tokushuki Hospital in Sapporo to his native France on 11 November, 12 days after the accident.

Wales Worry for Wilks
Trouble in the British Rally championship threatens to spill over in to the Wales Rally GB. The British federation has still not decided whether Wilks should be excluded from the previous event, the Yorkshire Rally Trackrod (28 September) on account of an homologation offence. Currently Wilks is provisionally excluded. A decision has been promised by the federation before the start of the rally. The team has stated if the exclusion stands, they have lost the chance of both the British drivers and the manufacturers' title. They would then withdraw from the Wales Rally GB, on which the two final rounds of the British championship will be held. The dual status of the Wales Rally GB for both World and British championships has long been considered unfortunate, and the BRC promoters have promised it will not happen next year. Currently one of the two Higgins brothers is in line to be British champion, with Wilks an outsider if he is takes part There is another joker in the BRC championship trail. Certain foreign drivers registered themselves for the championship at the beginning of the year. Although they have not been seen recently in the series, they will contest the WRGB. These are Patrik Flodin, Eyvind Brynildsen and Juho Hanninen. They could return to gain points which one of the championship leader might have wanted to have.

Jean-Joseph Faces Retirement
Simon Jean-Joseph., the FIA's European Rally champion in 2007, fears that he will be forced to retire as rally driver, following his jet-ski accident while on holiday in his native Martinique. Damage to an eyebrow means he still has no vision out of his left eye. He told journalists at Rallye d'Antibes that his first objective in life is to regain full health. He would like to return to active rallying and in any case to stay in the sport. His last rally for the former Ford works WRC driver was at Rally Russia this year. Since his accident, Sebastien Ogier has taken over the programme.

Mohammed Bin Sulayem is FIA's Sport Vice President
The FIA's General Assembly made a series of appointments made on 7th November, principally that of the American Nick Craw to become Deputy President for Sport, and Mohammed Bin Sulayem as Vice President for Sport. Sulayem was FIA Middle East Rally regional champion for a remarkable fourteen times before his retirement from active motor sport. As a rally driver his success were centred on the Middle East. He also entered many world championship rallies winning Group N in Spain and Argentina, but without much success on other events. Since his retirement he has worked hard to promote motor sport and other motoring issues in his home state Dubai, including the Desert Challenge cross country event, as the President of UAE's motorsport federation. Privately he is internationally respected as a super car collector and acquiring purpose-made high performance versions of SUV cars. In his political position, he was credited with marshalling votes to support the FIA President Max Mosley during his difficult days in 2008.

IRC Defers Calendar Announcement
Hopes to finalise a new qualifying round in Brazil have led to a delay in announcing the IRC programme for 2009, which was expected to be released this week. Already the series is known to incorporate new events in Monte Carlo, Azores, Japan and Scotland. This year there was only one event outside Europe (China) to justify the series title name Intercontinental. There are also hopes that Renault, Opel and Skoda will join the existing manufacturers competing in the series. It is reported from Austria that Skoda meanwhile had a worrying accident a fortnight ago in their country, when test driver Juho Hanninen crashed heavily into trees. It is believed that a new type of that steering was the cause.

3mmm
photo 1: Pivato being transfered in France
photo 2: Bin Sulayem and Max Mosley