After the service park in SS 3 Barchetta - La Porta 1 (23.24 km) Craig Breen continue to set the best times with 6.4 seconds faster than Bryan Bouffier. At the beginning of the stage is wet with rain. In SS 4 Taverna - Pont de Castirla (15.28 km) Craig Breen lost the rally. He hits a bank and with a puncture delay almost a minute and half. The stage winner is Robert Kubica who moved to first position overall. Jan Kopecky finished the stage second with delay of 0.8 seconds.
After the second service park in SS 5 Barchetta - La Porta 2 Craig Breen continue to set the best stage times. Breen was faster by Bouffier with 5.7 seconds. In this stage Robert Kubica retired after a engine problem with his Citroen DS3. The stage was canceled due too a fire in the car of Lorenzo Bertelli.
In SS 6 Erbajolo - Pont d'Altiani 2 Jan Kopecky takes the stage win with 0.1 seconds by Craig Breen. After the Kubica retired and Breen mistake, Jan Kopecky moves to the top.
Kopecky: The weather here was incredible, the beginning was dry, then it became damp and we couldn't see, where is the water and where not.
Breen: I think we can by happy with today, we showed really good speed.
Delecour: The exhaust manifold has broken again.
Bouffier:  I tried to drive well and I expected to be more wet. Tomorrow we will try.
Result after the end of Day 1:
1. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) 1:28:49.0
2. B. Bouffier (Peugeot 207 S2000) +3.6
3. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) +39.8
4. S. Sarrazin (Mini John Cooper Works S2000) +54.0
5. F. Delecour (Peugeot 207 S2000) +1:59.0
6. J. Maurin (Ford Fiesta S2000) +2:08.6

There are to run 5 stages tomorrow.
 

Craig Breen finished the first stage of Tour de Corse with 11.5 seconds advantage by Robert Kubica. The first stage Le Fangu - ND de la Serra is with a distance of 27.53 km. Bryan Bouffier is third in the stage while Jan Kopecky delay with 22.2 seconds at fourth position. It is interesting to see the comments of Breen and Kopecky for the tyres in this wet stage.
Breen after the stage: The car was moving all over the road, we had soft tyres and it was difficult.
Kopecky: Difficult, we have hard tyres, only two soft in the boot. We will change it.
Kubica:  We have small problem with the brakes, half of the stage we had to be careful on brakes.
In SS 2 Erbajolo - Pont d'Altiani 1 (24.57 km) Breen is again at the top as Kopecky finished second at +3.4 seconds.
D. Oliveira: Very very bad, we did a lot of mistakes.
Kopecky: This stage was fully dry, great grip.
Breen: The car was moving a lot. But I think it was really good loop.
Results after SS 2:
1. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) 31:52.0
2. R. Kubica (Citroen DS3 S2000) +19.5
3. B. Bouffier (Peugeot 207 S2000) +25.3
4. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) +25.6
5. S. Sarrazin (Mini John Cooper Works S2000) +36.8
6. F. Delecour (Peugeot 207 S2000) +56.0

There are 4 stages to run to the end of Day 1.
 

San Marino Rally no longer on 2013 ERC calendar

The 2013 FIA European Rally Championship will total 12 rounds following confirmation that the San Marino Rally will not form part of this year’s calendar.

Scheduled to run as round seven from 11-13 July, the event’s inclusion on the ERC roster had always been subject to the signing of an agreement between the rally organisers and the ERC promoter Eurosport Events.

Despite extensive efforts to ensure that the rally remained on the ERC schedule, the event organisers have informed Eurosport Events that they are not in a position to sign the agreement for financial reasons.

With no replacement rally planned, drivers will now count their best four scores from the first six rounds and their best four results from the last six rallies.

“We have tried everything to find a number of solutions to keep the San Marino Rally on the ERC calendar but, unfortunately, this has not been possible with the new management of San Marino’s motorsport federation,” said François Ribeiro, Motorsport Development Director, Eurosport Events. “We regret the idea of losing a compact gravel event in Italy, but the cut in public funding went beyond expectations.”

The revised ERC calendar for 2013 is as follows:

01 :International Jännerrallye (Austria) / Asphalt/snow / 3-5 January 2013
02: Rally Liepāja-Ventspils (Latvia) / Gravel/snow / 1-3 February 2013
03: Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés (Spain) /Asphalt / 21-23 March 2013           
04: SATA Rallye Açores (Portugal) / Gravel / 25-27 April 2013
05: Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse (France) / Asphalt / 16-18 May 2013
06: GEKO Ypres Rally (Belgium) / Asphalt / 27-29 June 2013
07: Sibiu Rally (Romania) / Gravel / 25-27 July 2013
08: Barum Czech Rally Zlín / Asphalt 30 August-1 September 2013
09: Lotos 70th Rally Poland / Gravel / 13-15 September 2013
10: Croatia Rally / Asphalt / 26-28 September 2013
11: Rallye Sanremo (Italy) / Asphalt / 10-12 October 2013
12: Rallye International du Valais (Switzerland) / Asphalt / 7-9 November 2013

In the last third day of Sata Rallye Azores 2013 Jan Kopecky keeps the distance with Craig Breen all the time. Jan wins the first stage Graminhais 1 for the day with 2.6 seconds advantage to Breen. Kopecky explains:  I think they should shorten the stage. We had heavy fog during the race, there is fog also now, we don't know where do we go. It's crazy.
The local Ricardo Moura is the fastest is SS 14 Tronqueira 1 with a distance of 21.33 km followed by Breen and Kopecky within 2 seconds. The fog in Azores continue in this stage. In the next two stages Jan Kopecky is the fastest man as continue to extend his overall lead to Breen to 20.8 seconds ahead the service break. Due too the bad weather Sao Bras / Vila Franca 2 stage was cut to 6.14 km.
After the service break in the next two stages Jan Kopecky extends his rally lead with another 6 seconds.
Breen: We need to be clever. I tried to push in the morning, but now we can't do anything stupid.
Kopecky: We are trying our best. It's the best way to not make any mistake. This stage was very tricky, but I'm happy with our speed.
Magalhaes: We have to get to the finish. We changed the suspension and now I see what setup we should use from the beginning of the rally.
In the last rally stage Tronqueira 2 21.33 km Kopecky finished with new stage win.
Kopecky:  I'm very happy, because it's my first win on gravel. I have to thank to Skoda. We missed the corner where I crashed in 2010, I said OK, and in next corner we were heavily wide.
Breen: We came to the finish, we have the podium, second place is great.
Moura: Great, I want to thanks to all our team. We had only short time to prepare everything, but the team managed it. We still can improve, but we are happy to be here.
Kubica: Difficult weekend for us, especially today. It was tricky. We were lucky and unlucky, but it was big experience.

Final Results:
1. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2:26:32.2
2. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) +32.2
3. R. Moura (Skoda Fabia S2000) +58.8
4. B. Magalhaes (Peugeot 207 S2000) +2:37.6
5. J. Ansian (Peugeot 207 S2000) +3:27.4
6. R. Kubica (Citroen DS3 S2000) +9:19.1
 

Bernando Sousa restart the day 2 after the service park with stage win of SS Coroa da Mata 2. Craig Breen is second in the stage and Jan Kopecky third.
In stage 10 Batalha Golfe 2 Kubica finished first ahead Bruno Magalhaes at +0.5 seconds. In the next SS 11 Feteiras 2 with a distance of 7.54 km the problems for Kubica continue. He rolled in the stage as finished with new huge delay of 4:09.0 minutes.
Kubica explains: We had big understeer in one corner and rolled. There is a problem with front left suspension.
The longest stage SS 12 Sete Cidades 2 23.97 km is cancelled due to bad weather condition.
Results after SS 12:
1. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) 1:05:11.9
2. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) +13.1
3. B. Magalhaes (Peugeot 207 S2000) +33.9
4. R. Moura (Skoda Fabia S2000) +35.5
5. B. Sousa (Ford Fiesta S2000) +36.1
6. J. Ansian (Peugeot 207 S2000) +2:01.0
7. J. Raoux (Peugeot 207 S2000) +4:06.2
8. R. Kubica (Citroen DS3 S2000) +6:10.4

There are 7 stages to run tomorrow.

 

Robert Kubica lost Sata Rallye Azores 2013 in stage 8 Sete Cidades 1 with a distance of almost 24 km. In fog, rain and mud conditions Kubica lost 1:46.2 by the local driver Bernardo Sousa.
The day start with fog, mud, rain and new stage win for Kubica at SS 5 Lagoa 2 (7.91 km). Kopecky follow him at +1.3 seconds. In the next SS 6 Batalha Golfe 1 (7.86 km) Kubica keeps the first place with new stage win. His overall advantage to Kopecky was 11.1 seconds. In SS 7 Feteiras 1 (7.54 km) Jan Kopecy wins the stage followed by Ricardo Moura at +5.3 seconds and Kubica at +6.2 seconds. In this stage is reporting for punctures for Kubica, Breen, Sousa and intercom problems for Kopecky.
In the last stage ahead service break Kubica who lost the leader position comment:  It was very difficult stage. We couldn't see anything. 80% of the stage was like that, we are happy to be here.
Kopecky: Very difficult, in one place there was so much mud that we had big understeer and hit a bank.
Breen: Very difficult, zero visibility on some places. We have to gain the confidence on this rally.
Results after SS 8:
1. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) 46:11.5
2. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) +16.4
3. R. Moura (Skoda Fabia S2000) +19.0
4. B. Magalhaes (Peugeot 207 S2000) +19.3
5. B. Sousa (Ford Fiesta S2000) +30.1
6. R. Kubica (Citroen DS3 S2000) +1:04.5

To the end of Leg 2 there are 4 stages to run.
 

After the end of Day 1 and 4 Stages, the Polish driver Robert Kubica is at the top in Sata Rallye Azores 2013.
The first stage of the rally was cancelled due too bad weather conditions. In the second stage the distance was cut to 6.14 km due too wet, fog and mud roads.
The second position for the stage is for Craig Breen at +2.2 seconds by Kubica. In the third stage Lagoa 1 with a distance of 7.91 km the stage win is for Kubica followed by Jan Kopecky. Kubica describe the stage: Very tricky stage, lot of tarmac sections and I never drove with gravel tyres on it. Very difficult, with driving, with pacenotes, everything.
In the last stage for Leg 1 SSS 4 Grupo Marques 1 2.2 km Kubica again is at the top.
Results after the end of SS 4:
1. R. Kubica (Citroen DS3 S2000) 11:13.5
2. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) +9.7
3. R. Moura (Skoda Fabia S2000) +10.5
4. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) +11.7
5. B. Sousa (Ford Fiesta S2000) +13.6
6. J. Ancian (Peugeot 207 S2000) +18.8

There are 8 stages to run tomorrow by all 19 stages for the rally.
 

Jan Kopecky wins the first stage for Day 2 Maspalomas 1 while Kubica is second at +1.1. The stage is dry with fog at same places. The start delay with 8-minutes as the stage is shorten with 4.68 km.
In the next SS 10 San Bartolome de Tirajana 1 with a distance of 21.36 km Kubica out of the rally.
Kubica explains his rally exit: “It was a shame but unfortunately we were in a high-speed downhill section. It was a quite fast corner but easy flat out. It was not very heavy braking but quite big braking into a third-gear corner. Unfortunately when I hit the brakes I lost the rear of the car and I had to reduce the pressure otherwise I would spin and the road was very narrow. Then I just didn’t manage. I was completely sideways before the corner. Not completely but quite a lot of sideways. I tried to do the corner but I hit the barrier. I didn’t reduce enough speed but I hit the barrier with the rear-left corner. Then with the front we dived into the barrier. It’s a shame but unfortunately this can happen. Yesterday was a very positive day for us with a lot of positive experience. Today is the complete opposite but we have to take a step forward and take out the experience. Unfortunately today was a negative experience but it’s part of driving.”
Jan Kopecky wins SS 10, as in the next SS 11 Kopecky is second at +0.3 by Luis Monzon.
Jan Kopecky wins the next 3 stages to the end as all rest drivers have not a chance to close the Czech top driver.

Overall Results:
1. J. Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2:24:30.9
2. C. Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) +1:52.4
3. L. Monzon (Mini John Cooper Works S2000) +3:18.9
4. A. Aigner (Subaru Impreza R4) +6:50.8
5. G. Bonnefis (Renault Megane RS) +8:31.0
6. G. Antxustegi (Suzuki Swift S1600) +9:21.6