Horse Hit By Speeding Rally Car

The horse is sent flying by the impact with the car.

The from within the car just before making contact.

Argentine Rally contestant Federico Villagra was coming over a verge in his Ford Focus when three native horses wandered into his path.

The car hit the first horse in the hindquarters and sent it spiralling into the air but narrowly missed the other two animals.

"I was surprised that some horses crossed … (one) hit the windshield and flew over the car," Villagra was quoted by the Los Andes newspaper as saying.

The surreal footage of the incident is corroborated by an in-car camera that demonstrates how quickly the incident occurred from the occupants' perspective.

The driver and navigator can be seen working together as their car accelerates out of a corner and up a small hill, where they catch the briefest of glimpses of the horses before the bonnet and windshield are smashed in by the force of the impact.

The duo are clearly shocked by the incident but keep driving, even though the soundtrack suggests the engine and other mechanicals have been badly damaged.

They still managed to finish the stage, losing only 30 seconds.

Villagra later told reporters he was "fortunate" to have come out of the crash unscathed.

Wild horses are a common hazard for rally drivers in the north of Argentina.

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Crash ends Raikkonen's WRC debut

Kimi Raikkonen has competed in three non-championship rallies this year

Kimi Raikkonen's debut in the World Rally Championship came to an end after the former Formula 1 champion crashed out of stage 19 of the Rally Finland.

The Finn was 15th overall when he rolled his Abarth Grande Punto off the road on Saturday's final stage.

He and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were unhurt, although they narrowly missed the car of Mads Ostberg who had gone off at the same point moments earlier.

The damage to Raikkonen's car prevented the Ferrari driver returning on Sunday.

Raikkonen has appeared in three non-championship rallies this season, and a four-week break between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 21 August has allowed him to step up his involvement.

In a disappointing F1 season, Raikkonen has won just 10 points in the drivers' championship and 54 behind leader Jenson Button.

But his speed in the second-tier Super 2000 machine impressed as he climbed up to third in the category before his error ended his race.

Raikkonen's compatriot Mikko Hirvonen secured a victory for the home fans coming home 25 seconds ahead of title rival Sebastian Loeb.

World champion Loeb, who lost more than 10 seconds after damaging his rear tyre in a pothole on a hairpin on stage 15, now trails Hirvonen by three points in the overall standings.

Raikkonen was not the only F1 driver at the Finland Rally with Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel watching from the sidelines.

"I've plenty to do in F1, but who know maybe one day I will compete in the WRC - I wouldn't mind doing some drives in the future," Vettel told the World Rally Championship website.

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2010 Rally GB could leave Wales

Sebastian Loeb in the Wels

The British leg of the 2009 World Rally Championship will again be held in Cardiff but ongoing money problems mean it may then leave Wales' capital.

The decision by the Welsh Assembly Government to withdraw £2.2m funding per year now seems set to be resolved with Rally Great Britain in the courts.

The Motor Sports Association stepped in to underwrite this year's costs.

The assembly government said it was still willing to discuss the future of the event with its organisers.

Cardiff has been the headquarters for Rally GB since 2000.

But the chief executive of its organisers - International Motor Sports (IMS) Ltd - Andrew Coe says that despite its many assets the financial stand-off cannot be allowed to threaten the event's world standing.

"It would be disastrous to lose the UK's round of the World Championship," Coe said.

"Wales has some of the world's best stages and forests here... and it would be a great shame to lose this event.

"So it's incumbent upon us to find a solution. It's possible it could still be in Wales but we need to keep our options open clearly.

"Unfortunately it is in the hands of lawyers and I can't really comment any more about where the situation will go."

The assembly government had an agreement to provide the rally with £2.2m annually for three years from 2008/9 as the principle backer.

But in April it withdrew the funding saying the rally had been downgraded as it was not on a provisional World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar for 2010

However, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile - the world motor sports' governing body - has since confirmed that next year's UK leg will continue as part of the WRC calendar.

Despite that news, Rally GB and the assembly government have not been able to amicably restore their previous arrangement.

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to resolve the issues... but we're proceeding with the event anyway, the event will happen," Coe said.

"We're funding the event in effect through the governing body of UK motor sport, the Motor Sports Association, and we hope that at some point in the future the issues with the Welsh Assembly Government will be resolved.

"It's a very important event. Apart from Formula One, the World Rally Championship is the senior motor sport championship in the world.

"It would have been a very retrograde step for the UK and for Wales to have lost this event because of a commercial problem between ourselves and the Welsh Assembly Government."

The Welsh Assembly Government responded with the statement: "The legal position is that the former sponsorship agreement was terminated earlier this year by the assembly government and proceedings have been launched by IMS Ltd.

"The case will be vigorously contested by the assembly government.

"We can confirm that there have been without prejudice discussions between rally organisers, IMS, and the assembly government and that it was expected that the parties would be able to make a joint announcement of a new arrangement.

"Unfortunately, and somewhat to the assembly government's surprise, no such announcement can now be made since IMS has apparently decided that it no longer wishes the without prejudice discussions to continue.

"The Welsh Assembly Government from the outset has stressed that the door is always open for without prejudice discussions with IMS, and this remains the case."

The 2009 rally will start in Cardiff on 22 October and run until 25 October, taking in stages that encompass the forests of south and mid Wales.

READ MORE - 2010 Rally GB could leave Wales

Bumper entry for Neste Oil Rally Finland

A season record 124 crews are on the seeded entry list for the Neste Oil Rally Finland, round nine of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, which gets underway on Thursday 30 July.

The number of cars comfortably exceeds the 75 which took the start of Rally Portugal - the second most popular event of the season so far.

Rally Finland's bumper entry includes 18 World Rally cars, the complete Junior World Championship field, the five Pirelli Star drivers and nine Fiesta Sporting Trophy international entrants. Drivers representing 25 different nationalities are taking part.

In the WRC competition all four manufacturer teams have registered. Topping the seeded entry list is Finn Mikko Hirvonen of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team. He and his compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala are the team's two point's nominated drivers, while Khalid Al Qassimi will drive a third Ford Focus RS WRC for the squad.

The manufacturers' championship leading Citroen Total team will run C4 World Rally Cars for its two drivers Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo, while the French firm’s Junior team will run three more - two for nominated points scorers Sebastien Ogier and Evgeny Novikov and a third for Conrad Rautenbach.

The Ford powered Stobart VK M-Sport squad will run Focus RS WRCs for regular drivers Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg.

Two Finnish drivers have been drafted into the Munchi's Ford Team for the rally. Full time driver Federico Villagra and one of the stars of last year's event, Matti Rantanen, are points nominated, while Mattias Therman will drive a third car.

Norwegians Petter Solberg (Citroen Xsara) and Mads Ostberg (Subaru Impreza WRC) are the two highest seeded privateer drivers. Meanwhile a handful of local drivers are also contesting the WRC class in privately entered cars and could well surprise a few of the full time WRC stars. Watch out for Jari Ketomaa (Subaru Impreza) Jukka Ketomaki (Skoda Octavia) and Jouni Arolainen (Ford Focus).

Rally Finland counts as the seventh, and penultimate, round of the Junior World Rally Championship and is one of only two rounds this year (like Italy) to have attracted entries from all of the registered drivers. Ten drivers are chasing J-WRC points in Finland, including a "Wild Card" entry for Finn Kalle Pinomaki. There are also nine Ford Fiesta Sport Trophy International contestants and five FIA Pirelli Star Drivers, headed by local favourite Jarkko Nikara

The highest profile guest driver in Finland is Ferrari Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen who will make his make his debut at World Championship level.

Like on his earlier rally outings the Finn will be driving an Abarth Grande Punto Super 2000 and will be co-driven by Kaj Lindstrom. Further spice to the production category will be come from Anton Alen (son of Finnish WRC legend Markku) in another Abarth Super 2000 and last year's P-WRC class winner Juho Hanninen in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

Estonian Urmo Aava will make his WRC return after his last outing on Rally Norway in February. In Finland he will drive a privately entered two-wheel drive Honda Civic Type-R R3.

READ MORE - Bumper entry for Neste Oil Rally Finland

Raikkonen to race in world rally

Former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen is to compete in the World Rally Championship in his native Finland at the end of the July.

Ferrari's Raikkonen has appeared in three non-championship rallies this season and will be behind the wheel of a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto.

His co-driver, Kaj Lindstrom, said: "The roads used for this rally are so fast but he's very talented."

The rally is staged three weeks before the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

Raikkonen, who won the F1 title in 2007, will be competing against the likes of championship favourites Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen.

Event spokesman Simon Long said: "It's superb news for the championship and hugely exciting that he'll be competing at Rally Finland."

In a disappointing season for Ferrari, Raikkonen has won just 10 points in the drivers' world championship, 54 behind leader Jenson Button.

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