2014 World Rally Championship

[NaBUru38]

Neuville had his Hyundai drink beer to finish the race!

Standings after Mexico:

1. Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen), 63
2. Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen), 60
3. Mads Østberg (Citroën), 32
4. Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen), 24
5. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford), 20
6. Bryan Bouffier (M-Sport Ford), 18
7. Kris Meeke (Citroën), 17
8. Mikko Hirvonen (M-Sport Ford), 17
9. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 15
10. Ott Tänak, (M-Sport Ford) 10
11. Martin Prokop (Czech Ford), 10
12. Benito Guerra (M-Sport Ford), 8

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Neuville had his Hyundai drink beer to finish the race!

I saw that - nobody has any water but there's plenty of beer to pour into the car

[kurski]

The Helsinki Battle will open the rally week in Finland. WRC Legends will challenge the current WRC stars on July 26th. Østberg, Neuville, Hänninen, Ogier, Latvala challenged by Markku Alén, Juha Kankkunen, Marcus Grönholm, Tommi Mäkinen

[NaBUru38]

That sounds interesting! WIll it be a double-circuit or simply a stage?

[cg7aa]

I've been very impressed with Evans' consistency. He's managing to keep it on the road and avoiding costly mistakes! Mexico was a bit brutal for some but he kept it goether.

I want to see Kubica do well but that super-special unforced error was just odd. Surely, it was in his head that it's tarmac and he's on gravel tyres but he still missed his braking point. How? Not concentrating or just thinking he could bend at the laws of physics momentarily?

I would like to see what Protasov can do in a WRC car in the near future.

[AndyS]

Originally Posted by cg7aa

I've been very impressed with Evans' consistency. He's managing to keep it on the road and avoiding costly mistakes! Mexico was a bit brutal for some but he kept it goether.

Indeed, he's been very impressive so far. Driving with a lot of maturity for someone so young.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by cg7aa

Not concentrating or just thinking he could bend at the laws of physics momentarily?

He didn't concentrate enough to bend physics rules?

[Alex Langheck]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113005

Interesting news; and Sarrazin testing the car – one of the best ‘all rounders’ currently in Motorsport. Not sure about Motorsport Italia running it; don’t think they’re quite on the same level as Oreca in Sportscars.
So no entry until possibly 2017 – with the new regs, whatever they are. Toyota would like hybrids – but I wouldn’t want to have a crash in one of them in the middle of nowhere…

[NaBUru38]

When I expanded Sarrazin's article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, I was amazed by his diverse curriculum: podium at the F3000 Monaco GP, three Petit Le Mans wins and overall podiums at Le Mans and Sebring, overall podiums at Monte Carlo Rally and Tour de Corse...

[pettersolberg29]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

When I expanded Sarrazin's article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, I was amazed by his diverse curriculum: podium at the F3000 Monaco GP, three Petit Le Mans wins and overall podiums at Le Mans and Sebring, overall podiums at Monte Carlo Rally and Tour de Corse...

Genuinely believe he is one of the most talented all round drivers of modern times. Also had a F1 race in Brazil, and competed top 5 in a lot of rallies. A truly underrated driver.

[FIRE]

Manufacturer drivers have been ordered not to speak to television crews in Portugal in the latest escalation in the dispute between the World Rally Championship teams and promoter.
The teams are not happy that they were denied television footage by the WRC Promoter last night and decided unanimously to instruct their drivers and co-drivers not to give interviews to the WRC television crews.
AUTOSPORT understands that in order to get footage from Friday, the teams were required to sign a contract with the promoter. This contract is at the centre of the dispute.
...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113294

[NaBUru38]

Wow, that is ugly.

[Starfish Primer]

Is still Red Bull the promoter?

Anyway the rally has been a carnage. The most conservative drivers (Hirvonen, Otsberg, Sordo) and Ogier are the only survivors. Mikkelsen again is dissapointing.

[Starfish Primer]

Sordo out (Transmission). Al-Attiyah and Ketomaa difference is 10 seconds for the WRC 2 lead.

The WRC webpage is terrible for me. The design is complicated and getting info is painful. The Android app crashes continuosly.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

The WRC webpage is terrible for me. The design is complicated and getting info is painful. The Android app crashes continuosly.

Agreed, it's very messy and can be hard work to find what you want. I followed the event on and off it seemed to be very punishing on the cars but there were a lot of driver errors too. Kubica still following the "quick until he crashes" trend that we've seen from him.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

Anyway the rally has been a carnage...

You can say that again, it should have been called the rally of the scary roll-overs. You don't necessarily appreciate how dangerous the sport is until a car leaves the road and starts heading down a a steep drop. Very scary. Very violent crashes too, there will be a lot of bruised bodies today.

Somebody mentioned Mikkelsen being disappointing, I think he decided to keep it on the road at all cost rather have another off. I remember thinking he was the next big thing year ago when I saw him in some Irish rallies. He reminded me a young Petter then, flamboyant style and fast but crashing. He hasn't really hit the stage with the bang I imagined he would. If VW were to run only two cars in the future, his position (based on performances to date) may be suspect. Come on Andreas!

On the subject of flamboyant driving, whatever happened to Gigi Galli? Post-McRae, he was the only driver who could really make the cars look spectacular on stage. I miss him.

The major disappointed for me was Meeke though. I hope his contract is more than a year). Citroen are really struggling to challenge VW aren't they? There was a time, I thought the French built the fastest rally cars. If they can't do it, Ford in their limited capacity now have no chance.

Great to see Sordo's fastest stage times at the beginning - on gravel of all surfaces. The car appear fragile though.

Cracking battle in WRC2 between Nasser and Jarri.

Regarding the WRC site, navigation could be improved somewhat. They used to have a page summarising the stage winners last year. Can I find it this year? Can I f....

[NaBUru38]

It's nice to see a WRC round where drivers struggle to finish because of harsh roads.

Standings after four rounds:

1. Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen), 91
2. Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen), 62
3. Mads Østberg (Citroën), 48
4. Andreas Mikkelsen, 36
5. Mikko Hirvonen (M-Sport Ford), 36
6. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 23
7. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford), 20
8. Bryan Bouffier (M-Sport Ford), 18
9. Martin Prokop (Czech Ford), 18
10. Kris Meeke (Citroën), 17

[NaBUru38]

WRC-2 standings after four rounds:

1. Yuriy Protasov (Ford), 60
2. Lorenzo Bertelli (Ford), 44
3. Karl Kruuda (Ford), 37
4. Jari Ketomaa (Ford), 36
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford), 25
6. Max Rendina (Mitsubishi), 25
7. Robert Barrable (Ford), 23

The category needs more Citroëns and Peugeots. Also, Fiat desperately need a new generation Punto.

[AndyS]

Caught up on the coverage last night and I really enjoyed the event. I like the rougher nature of those stages and it mixes it up a bit. A lot of them got it wrong in a big way though. The promoters really need to start to get their act together because all this bickering, mainly caused by the promoters lack of promotion, is not helping the sport progress. Teams/Manufactures need it to fully commit so that we don't just have one car/driver running off into the distance all the time. Even the team doing the running off into the distance isn't happy!

[NaBUru38]

M-Sport could parachute their WRC drivers into ERC. They need to sell their new cars.

[Starfish Primer]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

WRC-2 standings after four rounds:

1. Yuriy Protasov (Ford), 60
2. Lorenzo Bertelli (Ford), 44
3. Karl Kruuda (Ford), 37
4. Jari Ketomaa (Ford), 36
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford), 25
6. Max Rendina (Mitsubishi), 25
7. Robert Barrable (Ford), 23

The category needs more Citroëns and Peugeots. Also, Fiat desperately need a new generation Punto.

R5 has very limited evolutions, so manufacturers are reluctant to release the cars now. They want to overkill with testing to be sure they have a competitive package.

[NaBUru38]

This homologation thing hurts teams. They should be allowed to buy a road car and modify it within certain rules. It would be much cheaper for them.

[kurski]

Vauhdin Maailma magazine story told that WRC should move to hybrid cars in 2017, where there could be up to several Japanese manufacturers.

[Starfish Primer]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

This homologation thing hurts teams. They should be allowed to buy a road car and modify it within certain rules. It would be much cheaper for them.

They want to avoid the S2000 arms race, a brand new latest spec S2000 goes to half a million euros.

[cg7aa]

The dreaded vote of confidence? I really hope not.

http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/april...1--12-12-.html


So just what the nature of the 'dispute' between the teams and the promoter in Portugal?