The 2009 China Rally Championship

2009 National Rally Championship (CRC) race calendar:
First event
Jiangsu Jiangning
June 12-14

Second event
Beijing Huairou
July 3-5

Third event
Guangdong Fogang
August 14-16

Fourth event
Fujian Shaowu
September 18-20

Fifth event
Zhejiang Longyou
November 13-15



The Maxxis Tires Team has arrived in Nanjing for the start of the 2009 CRC, and have introduced a new tire:





I hope the ones on the cars are a little bigger!


The cars have also arrived:



Well we can't see what they've got from that picture so here is part of the competition registration sheet:



As can be seen, there are three MG3 cars entred, the top two driven by experienced drivers, the bottom by a "rookie". but there is something else there - looks like "NJ114020" although it's partly obscured, it is registered as a "NAC MG" and vehicle codes starting "NJ" are all Nanjing vehicles but this car wasn't announced at the Maxxis tires press conference before they left home - could there be a surprise in store?

Special Stage 1 goes to Suzuki, just!

The mystery car, now we can see it's name, is an "NJT140ZR" - presumably a 1.4L NAC MG ZR.

I'm glad I just spotted the column with the model number. I had thought I would need to be reading the Chinese and was gearing up for some shang spotting followed by a session of nim jue noticing! (at least two variants of shang-starting names spotted in column four!)

Mind you, do only some cars have two drivers and some have one? The great Finnish leader Marshal Mannerheim trekked from Russia to China by horse as a young Russian cavalryman in 1904-06 - I think if he had just looked at the interrent he would have seen Chinese names like Marko Jussi and Juha Salo and could have saved himself the trip, confident in the knowledge that ethnic Finns do originate from China...

(Juha Salo b.1976 seems to be a three-time Finnish rally champion, can't find Marko Jussi...)

You will find the Finish drivers drive all round the world, and the first to finish is very often a Finish driver!

Here is the Salo Racing website http://www.saloracing.net/index_en.html , although it doesn't seem to have been updated yet this year, lots of links on it from last year though.

Hmm, just found some Nanjing Morris Antifreeze!

patpending wrote:(Juha Salo b.1976 seems to be a three-time Finnish rally champion, can't find Marko Jussi...)

Jussi Välimäki | Website: http://www.jussivalimaki.com/

mce wrote:

patpending wrote:(Juha Salo b.1976 seems to be a three-time Finnish rally champion, can't find Marko Jussi...)

Jussi Välimäki | Website: http://www.jussivalimaki.com/

Thank you / Kiitos.

I expect that Marko is the first name of another driver TBH. (Estonian Markko Martin does make this kind of thing tricky!)

EDIT aha!

HongyunHonghe rally team driver Jussi Välimäki and his co-driver Marko
Sallinen took leadership after 600 metres of intense rallying.

onlty 600 metres? Blimey, they're good!

On that site, the first language is not English, but I note:

Without its' far location of Island of Taiwan, its' (Nanjing) still the capital of it.

Is Nanjing the ancient capital of Formosa /Taiwan? Does it have anything to do with gearboxes? (often autotranslated as "Taiwan")...

mce wrote:Jussi Välimäki | Website: http://www.jussivalimaki.com/

Thanks mce, nice site and the news report of the rally is the most detailed I've seen


Pat - not sure why "Taiwan" gets in the translation, think it must mean "Region" in this case. As you know Nanjing was the capital of China and is still the capital of the region which includes the Jiangning hills where the rally is taking place.

An MG3 SW at the opening ceremony at the Jianglang Tangshan Hot Springs super short special stage:



Seems to be a lack of action shots at the moment, but with the stage being only 600m long and completed in just 51 seconds by Li Tao in his MG3 maybe there wasn't a chance to get any!

The 4th MG driven by Jiang Wei Ze is entered under his own name so is presumably an independant/private entry.

Results of SS1 are now typed up at: http://sports.sina.com.cn/f1/2009-06-12/23404429852.shtml

Windy wrote:The 4th MG driven by Jiang Wei Ze is entered under his own name so is presumably an independant/private entry...

yes, nothing on Google.

He's the equivalent of the driver of the green ZS in the BTCC (Jason Hughes?)...and a mystery man...

patpending wrote:

Windy wrote:The 4th MG driven by Jiang Wei Ze is entered under his own name so is presumably an independant/private entry...

yes, nothing on Google.

He's the equivalent of the driver of the green ZS in the BTCC (Jason Hughes?)...and a mystery man...

Well he is now the top MG driver

We seem to have lost the two leading Maxxis cars


2009 National Rally Championship, the first phase of station Jiangning results

1 16 Hongyun Honghe Rally Team Jussi Valimaki Marko Sallinen of Finland / Finland N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:07:53.0 **:** 1:07:53.0

2 5 million woo car convoy southeast of David Higgins Ieuan Thomas UK / British N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:08:39.6 **:** 1:08:39.6

3 3 Guizhou Braun team Juha Salo Mika Stenberg Finland / Finland N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:09:33.2 **:** 1:09:33.2

4 7 Subaru Rally Team Australia's Dean Herridge Chris Murphy / Australia N4 Subaru STI 1:09:48.1 **:** 1:09:48.1

5 1 Guizhou Braun team Anthony Mcloughlin Liu Cao Dong China / Australia N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:10:37.3 **:** 1:10:37.3

6 17 Red River Rally team Hongyun Chen Hua Tang Po Lin (female) China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO8 1:14:19.0 **:** 1:14:19.0

7 Subaru Rally Team 8 micro-Lee Douglas Pickering China / Malaysia N4 Subaru STI 1:14:52.1 **:** 1:14:52.1

8 12 team FCACA Shanghai Qiang Han Han China / China N4 Subaru STI 1:15:18.8 00:10 1:15:28.8

9 21 Team Maxxis tires杨志兴Xin Guo of China South China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:20:25.4 **:** 1:20:25.4

10 31 FAW - Volkswagen Golf team陈德安Yang Qing Lu Ming China / China FAW S3 VW Golf 1:20:31.5 **:** 1:20:31.5

11 67 FAW - Volkswagen Sagitar team张云东Li Jing of China / China FAW-Volkswagen S4 Sagitar 1:20:44.9 **:** 1:20:44.9

12 41 Shanghai Volkswagen Rally Team Red Bull Skoda Bin Huang of China / China Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda S2 anatase crystal 1:21:01.5 **:** 1:21:01.5

13 20 Maxxis tires hook Fan Wen South China team in China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO6 1:19:00.0 02:10 1:21:10.0

14 Subaru Rally Team 14 29 Ye Yin Ming-chuan名贤Tabata of Japan / Japan N4 Subaru STI 1:21:29.8 **:** 1:21:29.8

15 15 Jimmy潘宏宇speed of a fleet of China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO10 1:21:59.2 **:** 1:21:59.2

16 70 vehicles made in Changchun Ji Wang Dongjiang Rally team胡云飞China / Shanghai Volkswagen Polo N2 China 1:22:58.2 0:10 1:23:08.2

17 32 FAW - Volkswagen Golf team Qing Yang Wei Qin law邓宏晖China / China FAW S3 VW Golf 1:23:12.5 **:** 1:23:12.5

18 Changan Suzuki 18 56 Chi-Yong He Yong Gan team-bin China / China Changan Suzuki S1 Swifts 1:23:42.2 **:** 1:23:42.2

19 45 odd谢春旭team Ruixing梅建邦Feiteng China / China S2 Chery A3 1:23:06.3 01:20 1:24:26.3

20 4 million in the South East Automotive Team Fan Fan Yu Wei Fangjun China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:24:26.9 **:** 1:24:26.9

21 57 Changan Suzuki team Yong Chi Hsieh Jiang Yang Jiang China / China Changan Suzuki S1 Swifts 1:22:50.8 2:10 1:25:00.8

22 18 Hongyun Liu Sheng Xu Honghe Rally Team China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:24:38.5 00:40 1:25:18.5

23 6 million in the South East Automotive Team Yu-liang Wu Yuh Ko auspicious Chinese / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 1:15:42.7 10:00 1:25:42.7

24 2 Guizhou Braun team waves Wang Jianlin Mao China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO8 1:25:45.0 **:** 1:25:45.0

25 87曹晓东way曹晓东dawn of China / China S2 Dongfeng Peugeot 206 1:26:25.9 **:** 1:26:25.9

26 50 Yiwu Jin Jia杨兴民Rally Team China / China S2 DYK Cerato 1:27:15.2 **:** 1:27:15.2

27 35 Zhongce tires Chaoyang Peng its popular YE Bing Rally Team China / China S3 Dongfeng Honda Civic EXI 1:28:11.9 **:** 1:28:11.9

28 51 Rally Team金斌斌Yiwu Zheng Zhong-Jun of China / China S2 DYK Cerato 1:29:18.1 **:** 1:29:18.1

29 82 high-performance rally team Lei Li Yu Zhang承磊China / Chinese N2 Toyota AE111 1:29:27.0 **:** 1:29:27.0

30 Chengdu 30 78 Si Bao Xin-Feng Yu Rally team together Chiang Chin Music China / N2 China FAW-VW Jetta 1:29:44.0 **:** 1:29:44.0

31 72 Chongqing Lifan 320 Wen Fan Rally Team严强China / Chinese S1 Lifan A320 1:31:06.9 **:** 1:31:06.9

32 73 Chongqing Lifan 320 Rally Team Liu Jing (female)庞颖(female) China / Chinese S1 Lifan A320 1:31:21.0 **:** 1:31:21.0

33 Changan Suzuki 33 80 Xu Yang Yong-Chi team (female), Jing-Jing Wang (female) China / China Changan Suzuki S2-day language 1:31:24.0 **:** 1:31:24.0

34 Shanghai Volkswagen 34 43 Red Bull Skoda Rally cars Li Ke Wang Wu Jing China / China Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda S2 anatase crystal 1:31:39.3 **:** 1:31:39.3

35 64 financial Fun Rally convoy peak velocity Daming Li Yang Fu China / Chinese N2 Honda EK4 1:31:54.4 **:** 1:31:54.4

36 88 Jiang Wei Jiang Wei Ze Ze许亦斌China / Chinese S1 Nanjing MG NJT140ZR 1:32:04.2 **:** 1:32:04.2

37 84 Racing Club East郝志宏Ding Yu of China / China S2 DYK Cerato 1:32:31.3 **:** 1:32:31.3

38 86徐梓Yong Yong Long徐梓Mao-wei of China / China S2 Dongfeng Peugeot 206 1:32:47.2 **:** 1:32:47.2

39 95 Racing Club East of Li-jun Yang童喜China / Shanghai China S1 China普杰士达1:33:09.6 **:** 1:33:09.6

40 54 Linglong Racing Tire Yan-Xia Gao woman (female) Wu Xiu (female) China / Chinese Yuet Ling S2 southeast DN7150 1:33:57.1 **:** 1:33:57.1

41 Chongqing 41 76 Lotus洋人街youth team Zheng Zhang Li Bing of China / Chinese youth Lotus S2 Star European 1:34:11.3 **:** 1:34:11.3

42 53 Linglong car tire woman team Connaught Zhang (female), Zhang (female) China / Chinese Yuet Ling S2 southeast DN7150 1:34:39.4 **:** 1:34:39.4

43 Ben Ray 43 89 Racing Club夏珊Jiangping (female) China / Chinese S1 MG Nanjing MG3 1:35:02.5 **:** 1:35:02.5

44 Chongqing 44 74 Lotus洋人街youth team Xue-Qiang Long Wei Zheng of China / Chinese youth Lotus S2 Star European 1:35:09.0 **:** 1:35:09.0

45 90 Infiniti team Nanjing Wen Chen Yongshun Huaying孙喜民China / Chinese N2 Honda EK4 1:35:27.0 00:10 1:35:37.0

46 69 Racing Club Beijing Dong Liang Qing Yang白宝辉China / China FAW S3 VW Golf 1:25:44.6 10:00 1:35:44.6

47 81 Changan Suzuki team Yong Shen Chi-hui Fan Jiping China / China Changan Suzuki S1 Swifts 1:36:36.2 **:** 1:36:36.2

48 93 Racing Club Ben Lei YANG Guo-xiang Zhou Shen a Chinese / Chinese Dragon Chinese S3 Jili 1:37:56.7 **:** 1:37:56.7

49 Wuxi 49 38 Racing Athletic JJ Yuan Quan松魏明China / China, Changan Ford S3 Fox 1:38:28.3 **:** 1:38:28.3

50 24 Wuxi JJ Shen team sports car after the soldiers Chen Jiang China / Shanghai Volkswagen Polo N2 China 1:39:51.5 **:** 1:39:51.5

51 Tires 51 34 Zhongce popular Chaoyang Jiang Tao Xiang Wang Rally Team China / China S3 Dongfeng Honda Civic EXI 2:04:57.0 **:** 2:04:57.0

Jussi Välimäki first! that's the effect of pat good wishes! (though I did say he could let an MG win if he felt like it!)

EDIT I see his guestbook is powered by "plopcrew.net"...

I like the entry names.

Could the Guizhou Braun team be piggy-backing on recent Formula 1 success or just taking the advice of Le Mans winner Alex Wurz to have a shave?

and the 5 million woo car convoy southeast of David Higgins... I want that T-shirt...

Congratulations to Jiang Wei Ze for flying the MG flag and beating the Maxxis team, currently it looks like the Suzzuki team won the S1 class, but note the "Special Note" at the end!!!


CRC Jiangning formal results standing


1 16 Hongyun Honghe Rally Team Jussi Valimaki Marko Sallinen of Finland / Finland N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:01:12.3 **:** 2:01:12.3

2 5 million woo car convoy southeast of David Higgins Ieuan Thomas UK / British N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:01:48.6 **:** 2:01:48.6

3 3 Guizhou Braun team Juha Salo Mika Stenberg Finland / Finland N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:02:37.5 **:** 2:02:37.5

4 1 Guizhou Braun team Anthony Mcloughlin Liu Cao Dong China / Australia N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:05:40.8 **:** 2:05:40.8

5 8 Subaru Rally Team Douglas Pickering Li Wei China / Malaysia N4 Subaru STI 2:11:59.1 **:** 2:11:59.1

6 12 team FCACA Shanghai Qiang Han Han China / China N4 Subaru STI 2:12:00.0 00:10 2:12:10.0

7 20 Maxxis tires hook Fan Wen South China team in China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO6 2:17:57.0 02:10 2:20:07.0

8 31 FAW - Volkswagen Golf team陈德安Yang Qing Lu Ming China / China FAW S3 VW Golf 2:20:37.2 **:** 2:20:37.2

9 21 Team Maxxis tires杨志兴Xin Guo of China South China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:21:12.3 **:** 2:21:12.3

10 67 FAW - Volkswagen Sagitar team张云东Li Jing of China / China FAW-Volkswagen S4 Sagitar 2:21:56.6 **:** 2:21:56.6

11 4 million in the South East Automotive Team Fan Fan Yu Wei Fangjun China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:21:49.8 00:10 2:21:59.8

12 15 Jimmy潘宏宇speed of a fleet of China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO10 2:22:00.8 **:** 2:22:00.8

13 Shanghai Volkswagen 13 41 Red Bull Skoda Rally cars Bin Huang of China / China Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda S2 anatase crystal 2:22:02.5 **:** 2:22:02.5

14 32 FAW - Volkswagen Golf team Qing Yang Wei Qin law邓宏晖China / China FAW S3 VW Golf 2:22:14.7 **:** 2:22:14.7

15 29 Subaru Rally Team名贤Tabata wild Yin Ming-chuan Japan / Japan N4 Subaru STI 2:22:55.1 **:** 2:22:55.1

16 10000 South East 16 6 car convoy Yu-liang Wu Yuh Ko auspicious Chinese / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO9 2:14:24.4 10:00 2:24:24.4

17 2 Guizhou Braun team waves Wang Jianlin Mao China / China N4 Mitsubishi EVO8 2:33:43.6 **:** 2:33:43.6

18 50 Yiwu Jin Jia杨兴民Rally Team China / China S2 DYK Cerato 2:34:24.2 **:** 2:34:24.2

19 35 Zhongce tires Chaoyang Peng its popular YE Bing Rally Team China / China S3 Dongfeng Honda Civic EXI 2:34:30.1 **:** 2:34:30.1

20 87-way曹晓东dawn曹晓东China / China S2 Dongfeng Peugeot 206 2:33:45.5 01:00 2:34:45.5

21 57 Changan Suzuki team Yong Chi Hsieh Jiang Yang Jiang China / China Changan Suzuki S1 Swifts 2:34:10.4 2:10 2:36:20.4

22 43 Shanghai Volkswagen Rally Team Red Bull Skoda Li Ke Wang Wu Jing China / China Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda S2 anatase crystal 2:37:04.3 **:** 2:37:04.3

23 Chengdu 23 78 Si Bao Xin-Feng Yu Rally team together Chiang Chin Music China / N2 China FAW-VW Jetta 2:37:42.0 **:** 2:37:42.0

24 82 high-performance rally team Lei Li Yu Zhang承磊China / Chinese N2 Toyota AE111 2:39:01.1 **:** 2:39:01.1

25 69 Racing Club Beijing Dong Liang Qing Yang白宝辉China / China FAW S3 VW Golf 2:30:48.3 10:00 2:40:48.3

26 73 Chongqing Lifan 320 Rally Team Liu Jing (female)庞颖(female) China / Chinese S1 Lifan A320 2:42:08.0 **:** 2:42:08.0

27 51 Rally Team金斌斌Yiwu Zheng Zhong-Jun of China / China S2 DYK Cerato 2:41:31.6 2:00 2:43:31.6

28 Changan Suzuki 28 80 Xu Yang Yong-Chi team (female), Jing-Jing Wang (female) China / China Changan Suzuki S2-day language 2:43:54.5 **:** 2:43:54.5

29 88 Jiang Wei Jiang Wei Ze Ze许亦斌China / Chinese S1 Nanjing MG NJT140ZR 2:44:16.7 **:** 2:44:16.7

30 86 Long徐梓Yong Yong Mao Wei徐梓China / China S2 Dongfeng Peugeot 206 2:44:46.7 **:** 2:44:46.7

31 Chongqing 31 76 Lotus洋人街youth team Zheng Zhang Li Bing of China / Chinese youth Lotus S2 Star European 2:45:01.9 **:** 2:45:01.9

32 64 financial Fun Rally convoy peak velocity Daming Li Yang Fu China / Chinese N2 Honda EK4 2:45:14.0 **:** 2:45:14.0

33 93 Racing Club Ben Lei YANG Guo-xiang Zhou Shen a Chinese / Chinese Dragon Chinese S3 Jili 2:48:19.0 **:** 2:48:19.0

34 90 Infiniti team Nanjing Wen Chen Yongshun Huaying孙喜民China / Chinese N2 Honda EK4 2:48:13.7 00:10 2:48:23.7

35 Chongqing 35 74 Lotus洋人街youth team Xue-Qiang Long Wei Zheng of China / Chinese youth Lotus S2 Star European 2:47:44.8 01:00 2:48:44.8

36 72 Chongqing Lifan 320 Wen Fan Rally Team严强China / Chinese S1 Lifan A320 2:47:49.6 01:10 2:48:59.6

37 Ben Ray 37 89 Racing Club夏珊Jiangping (female) China / Chinese S1 MG Nanjing MG3 2:49:23.6 **:** 2:49:23.6

38 53 Linglong car tire woman team Connaught Zhang (female), Zhang (female) China / Chinese Yuet Ling S2 southeast DN7150 2:48:23.6 01:10 2:49:33.6

39 54 Linglong car tire woman team high Yanxia (female) Wu Xiu (female) China / Chinese Yuet Ling S2 southeast DN7150 2:50:33.5 01:20 2:51:53.5

40 84 Racing Club East郝志宏Ding Yu of China / China S2 DYK Cerato 2:52:57.9 **:** 2:52:57.9

41 Wuxi 41 38 Racing Athletic JJ Yuan Quan松魏明China / China, Changan Ford S3 Fox 2:56:34.1 00:20 2:56:54.1

42 Tires 42 34 Zhongce popular Chaoyang Jiang Tao Xiang Wang Rally Team China / China S3 Dongfeng Honda Civic EXI 3:09:40.2 **:** 3:09:40.2





Special Note: As the Changan Suzuki car racing team seized a number of issues that may exist, S1 group results (1.4L) group temporarily invalid results.

Special Note: As the Changan Suzuki car racing team seized a number of
issues that may exist, S1 group results (1.4L) group temporarily
invalid results.

Was it Suzuki who were up to tricks last year? If so, they sound like a mixture of the FIA and Dick Dastardly!

patpending wrote:Was it Suzuki who were up to tricks last year? If so, they sound like a mixture of the FIA and Dick Dastardly!

It was them that kept complaining about the MGs getting their engines disasembled etc!

Don't know why they have been seized, could just be a random inspection, then again...

Excuses! (Although I did wonder why the time sheets were rapidly shrinking!)

June 15, 2009, the first Rally in the 2009 China Rally Championships finally came to an end, for the first time held in Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Jiangning territory. At the first mountain track, is a very hard dangerous path, although in this Competition achieved a record number of 90 car entries, far exceeding the 2008 record of 75.

Although the country's economy hit by financial crisis, the major car manufacturers and car enthusiasts or people pursued the fun of speed and passion. But as the track is too narrow, and with a particularly large number of radical corners, many well-known drivers in the first phase of the first day of the race where on the regret, and ultimately the number able to finish was less than 50%!

The Winner was of course a Finnish driver, I think this is Jussi Välimäki:

The Winner was of course a Finnish driver, I think this is Jussi Välimäki:


Yes, that's him, "powered by Pat's good wishes" - the one on the left...

BTW what's the timetable for this series - when's the next round?

EDIT guess where I found this? Yup, here: http://www.mguk.org/china-news-f3/crc-the-chinese-rally-championship-t117.htm

2009 National Rally Championship (CRC) race calendar:

First event
Jiangsu Jiangning
June 12-14

Second event
Beijing Huairou
July 3-5

Third event
Guangdong Fogang
August 14-16

Fourth event
Fujian Shaowu
September 18-20

Fifth event
Zhejiang Longyou
November 13-15

patpending wrote:BTW what's the timetable for this series - when's the next round?

EDIT guess where I found this? Yup, here: http://www.mguk.org/china-news-f3/crc-the-chinese-rally-championship-t117.htm

Some web sites are invaluable, must add that one to my favourites

patpending wrote:Second event
Beijing Huairou
July 3-5

Date was wrong - they are about to get going!



The second leg of the 2009 National Rally Championship at Beijing Huairou stage will soon be starting, the competition has attracted a total of 80 competitors from throughout the country to participate in the racing.

The Huairou leg has a total of 10 stages with 573.53 kilometers in total, including a stage of 174.01 kilometers of the mountain asphalt track on China's "Autumn Mountain" in addition to gravel stages meaning that preparatory work is most important.

Source: http://www.ourracing.com/Article/ChinaRace1/ChinaRace5/200907/10982.shtml

I hope that Jussi Välimäki won't mind me quoting:

http://www.jussivalimaki.com/

14.6.2009 - Jussi Välimäki took tasty opening victory in China

Opening round for Chinese Rally Championship series was driven in
surroundings of Nanking Jiangning. Two intense rally days included 11
special stages of hard action, ruled by Flying Finn Jussi and his
co-driver Marko Sallinen with HongyunHonghe rally team Mitsubishi
Lancer Evolution IX rally car. Finns tackled fastest special stage
times into first seven special stages of eleven in very hot conditions.
Eventually season 2005 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship winner and
season 2007 Finnish Rally Champion was 36,3 seconds faster than David
Higgins and 48,9 seconds faster than Juha Salo who suffered medical
issues during the rally.

Välimäki secured his second ever Chinese rally victory in final four
special stages of first rally day and in second day he concentrated on
securing his lead. First Chinese Championship rally victory Välimäki
took in 2005 when he won the final event of the season and secured the
Championship for Honghe rally team. Välimäki thinks this victory is a
fresh restart for his international rally career. And also the victory
is one highlight of his long career.

- This was a perfect start for Championship series which includes five
events. My only goal in the series is to secure the Championship title
for highly known and appreciated HongyunHonghe rally team. At the end
of final stage I pushed medal to pedal and showed what I'm made of,
told Välimäki who best managed the action which was driven in hot +37c
heat.

- In Sunday I drove without any risks and secured the victory. However
after Sundays' second stage my heart was about to stop because on
transit section two spark plugs of my engine started to have a
malfunction. Eventually I was able to crawl back to service park where
HongyunHonghe team mechanics fixed the problem. Final two stages of the
rally I just enjoyed rallying, Välimäki continued.

Välimäki dedicated the victory for his team, its' rally car builder and his co-driver.

- HongyunHonghe rally team made superb job during the weekend and part
of my success is dedicated to their hard work. Big part of my success
is dedicated to RaceTorque which is a professional motorsport company.
This was the maiden run for their build group-N Mitsubishi Lancer
Evolution IX and I haven't never-ever been rallting with such excellent
group-N rally car. Furthermore my co-driver Marko Sallinen deserves my
big thanks because once again he made absolutely outstanding job and
had no mistake during the weekend, not even this was his first-ever
Chinese language experience, shared Välimäki his thanks.

In Chinese Rally Championship the foreign rally drivers doesn't rally
for personal Championship points. They collect points for their team.
Naturally as Välimäki took victory his HongyunHonghe rally team took
leadership in the series as there are still four events to be driven.
Välimäki said this victory was sweetest he had faced in a long time.

- My performance here in China was very spectated thing by media. In
China rallying is hard sport and business where fortunately money
between teams and drivers goes in right way. Due my victory
HongyunHonghe rally team got lots of earned media time and I got boost
for my international rally career, Välimäki tells.

Next round for Chinese Rally Championship series is to be driven in July in the region of Peking Huairou.

Final results Nanking Jiangning rally
1. Jussi Välimäki & Marko Sallinen, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, 2:01:12,3
2. David Higgins & Thomas Ieuan, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, +36,3sec
3. Juka Salo & Mika Stenberg, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, +48,9sec

patpending wrote:I hope that Jussi Välimäki won't mind me quoting:...

To go with these articles, we will need some lessons in Finnish pinyin spelling of Chinese names!

Finnish = English (Meaning)
Nanking = Nanjing (Southern Capital)
Peking = Beijing (Northern Capital)

News update thanks to www.ourracing.com :

Subaru Rally Team Australia's Dean Herridge is out of the rally and in quarantine with HINI influenza.

Weather conditions are ideal for the competition although the weather forecast is for rain, but in the morning of 9 July the situation is still cool and fine. The weather should create good conditions for the drivers to give full commitment.

As far as today's six stages are concerned, the drivers have to find a good rhythm, the speed of the racing in some places is very quick, on both sides are continuously the cliffs and rocks, if a crash event occurs during the race drivers are very likely to encounter great injury. China racing Net will then bring us the first day of competition reports!

Windy wrote:To go with these articles, we will need some lessons in Finnish pinyin spelling of Chinese names!

Finnish = English (Meaning)
Nanking = Nanjing (Southern Capital)
Peking = Beijing (Northern Capital)

Yes, I checked that the Finnish spelling is still the "old" pinyin also.

In German, the capital of China is also still pronounced "Peking".

Interestingly on the site (flash site so I can't link direct) under "videos" you can see videos of 1) his car 2) Jussi speaking to camera.

Is that a great big "hon" on the engine cover of his Evo? If the next character is "da" I think we should know!

Stages 4 & 5 incar are now live in välimäki website (check average speed.....):
http://www.jussivalimaki.com/jussicam.php

mce wrote:Stages 4 & 5 incar are now live in välimäki website (check average speed.....):
http://www.jussivalimaki.com/jussicam.php

After all the mud and gravel of the last few CRC events, that must have been a wonderful drive - great roads and fantastic senary - very good videos from the jussicam

There is an MG on that packed grid somewhere:


Jussi Välimäki enjoying life yet again:


Huairou:


See http://www.jussivalimaki.com for more.

Todays Results: http://www.ourracing.com/Article/ChinaRace1/ChinaRace6/200907/10989.shtml
(I have failed to cut and paste a translation!)

mce wrote:Stages 4 & 5 incar are now live in välimäki website (check average speed.....):
http://www.jussivalimaki.com/jussicam.php

Thank you!

We know pace notes are read out in advance, and I see that Marko is reading the notes maybe four seconds ahead - he says "silta" (bridge) at 2:22 on one stage and they cross it at 2:26.

If he needed to say "Watch out for that squirrel/mouse/spider/mosquito" at any point, I'm sure I'd understand immediately.

Until then, I'll leave the rally driving to the experts.

What a great tip, mce!

Kiitos jussicamista! (? - I don't mean to be rude!)

If I'm reading the results correctly then David Higgins has taken the lead with Jussi in third, although Jussi did complete todays stage 0.2 seconds faster than David Higgins!
The MGs are not doing so well, although it is only the Suzukis ahead of them in class S1 now.

"– Our only goal was to gain the victory, but we were forced to burry our hopes on after first two stages. We made perfect setup for our test stage which was driven in karting track. However the setup didn't work at all on top speed special stages and therefore we lost lots of time on two first stages. When we found the correct setup for tarmac I was able to push exactly the same time as my fellow top competitors did, Välimäki. "Event photos by Jani Kekoni (media):
http://www.plopcrew.net/galleria/huairou2009.php

Thanks, mce.

Some awesome photos there from plopcrew.net!

Yes, that must be a "Hon" on Jussi's engine but not spelling "Honda", spelling "HongyunHonghe" (though the spelling is different on the outside of the car)

Here are "HongyunHonghe rally team driver Jussi Välimäki and co-driver Marko Sallinen" (Jusso, the driver, is on the left of this LHD car) (though how he can see through that red protective cover is beyond me )

...at least the MGs got onto the same camera...

Watching some JussiCams now and thinking "I should be able to understand more Finnish than "Friday"."

Houairou JussiCam 1: the feeling of driving through China with Finnish music and lots of meadows by the side of the road is like driving through Finland.

02:15 - 03:00 - landing by plane in modern China at a huge airport - Beijing?

At 07:00 we can see the issues of Australians(?) working with Chinese - and a barked cry of "No Finnish here!"

Then Finn to Chinaman "Are you absolutely sure what you are doing?"

At 10:00 Jussi is in a RHD limousine! but then we see him at the Great Wall of China...now we know that is the only tourist trap you can see from space...

...and is that an MG7 in the garage at 13:35 ?

Don't tell me China is the only country where Juss needs a special (International?) driving licence...

Nanjing JussiCam 2: wrong stage. - the road footage at the beginning of this is obviously a normal day in China, but it reminds me of Mad Max!

Now I found Houairou JussiCam 2 - at about 07:00, he is trying the kart track, and suddenly I can understand everything he says! Either my Finnish is now perfect, or he is speaking English to Marko...

The rest of JussiCam 2 is the trials on the kart track but Jussi does try some headbanging to Dizzzeee Rascal...

Houairou JussiCam 3 shows the trials and tribulations of getting the exact timing for a special stage from about 07:00 - followed immediately by launching into another!

I do wonder what "thirteen" and "fourteen" are in Chinese.

Also, don't play these live camera shots within hearing of a Finnish granny!