Rally Finland latest

[x_dt]

After SS15:
1 M MÄRTIN (Ford) 0.0
2 R BURNS (Peugeot) +13.1
3 C SAINZ (Citroen) +1:06.5
4 P SOLBERG (Subaru) +1:12.8
5 C MCRAE (Citroen) +1:35.0
6 S LOEB (Citroen) +1:49.6
7 T MÄKINEN (Subaru) +2:23.1
8 J TUOHINO (Ford) +2:54.7
9 S LINDHOLM (Peugeot) +3:09.7
10 J PYKÄLISTÖ (Peugeot) +3:33.4

Gronholm out after SS14
McRae was ahead of Sainz/Solberg but picked up a 1 minute penalty for starting SS14 1 minute early.

[alfasud]

On worldrallynews.com the latest stage update is saying that in SS16 "MCRAE (Citroën), Rolled heavily. More when known". Hopefully they will update this later.

http://www.worldrallynews.com/events.../cls16gb.shtml

[429CJ]

One of the stages Märtin had 145 km/h average speed.

[GoMarkko]

I've always told you that Markko is the fastest. I think with 5 rallyes still left markko can take the championship as well.

[R]

Originally posted by alfasud
On worldrallynews.com the latest stage update is saying that in SS16 "MCRAE (Citroën), Rolled heavily. More when known". Hopefully they will update this later.

Worldrallynews is now saying "crew OK", which is the main thing.

Burns in SS17: "Has front wheel bearing trouble and is nursing the car back to service. The item is heavily worn and engineers hope / think it will hold together." (Source: Worldrallynews.com)

Too bad. I was hoping he could make it a close contest. He lost 56 seconds on that stage.

Subaru have **** tyres... not good, but Petter is now only 5 tenths off second place.

[DavidStHubbins]

I absolutely KNEW that McRae would crash after the penalty! SHame for him as he was going well up to that point but completely inevitable. Can't stop himself.

Burns = lameass, why is he still leading the championship... CHANGE the points system. If he wins the title it will be because he was not even in the top 5 this year.

I hope Markko wins the title if Gronholm doesn't. NOT Burns please god

[Yoong Montoya]

Originally posted by DavidStHubbins
NOT Burns please god

I bet a lot of F1 fans were saying that about Piquet in 1987 and Prost in 1989.


Burns did win the 2001 title in a similar way. He only won one rally but was consistent enough elsewhere. And it was under the old 10-6-4-3-2-1 points system

Why did they change the points BTW? Surely the old system was good enough? F1 and WRC should be seperate events.

[Adam43]

Originally posted by DavidStHubbins
Burns = lameass, why is he still leading the championship... CHANGE the points system. If he wins the title it will be because he was not even in the top 5 this year.

I agree that the new system has a lot to be desired, but it is hardly Burns' fault. I don't think he is driving for points, and even if he is, so what, it means he is clever enough to see there is a way of winning from it. Also he has been trying and succeeding to make progress towards the lead today until problem hit.

I hope Gronholm wins it, but I'm up for Sainz, Solberg, Martin or Loeb too!

[DavidStHubbins]

I didn't say he was driving for points!?

He just aint as fast/good as Gronholm and is not worthy of being champion this year. I would put Gronholm, Martin, Solberg, Loeb and maybe even McRae above him.

[Dani Filth]

LOEB .... pretty good in Finland ... can't wait for the tarmac rallies

[x_dt]

For the record; the current driver points table:
1 Richard BURNS 49
2 Carlos SAINZ 44
3= Marcus GRÖNHOLM 38
3= Petter SOLBERG 38
5= Sébastien LOEB 37
5= Markko MÄRTIN 37
7 Colin MCRAE 28
8 Tommi MÄKINEN 18
9 Harri ROVANPERÄ 16
10 François DUVAL 11

and under the 10-6-4-3-2-1 points system:
1 Marcus GRÖNHOLM 36
2 Richard BURNS 33
3 Carlos SAINZ 32
4= Sébastien LOEB 29
4= Markko MÄRTIN 29
6 Petter SOLBERG 27
7 Colin MCRAE 17
8 Harri ROVANPERÄ 10
9 Tommi MÄKINEN 9
10 François DUVAL 4

The new points system definitely makes a difference...

[429CJ]

Ari Vatanen, EU politician, 51, faster (10th) than the works Huyndai driver Armin Schwarz (11th)

[Yoong Montoya]

Originally posted by x_dt
For the record; the current driver points table:
1 Richard BURNS 49
2 Carlos SAINZ 44
3= Marcus GRÖNHOLM 38
3= Petter SOLBERG 38
5= Sébastien LOEB 37
5= Markko MÄRTIN 37
7 Colin MCRAE 28
8 Tommi MÄKINEN 18
9 Harri ROVANPERÄ 16
10 François DUVAL 11

and under the 10-6-4-3-2-1 points system:
1 Marcus GRÖNHOLM 36
2 Richard BURNS 33
3 Carlos SAINZ 32
4= Sébastien LOEB 29
4= Markko MÄRTIN 29
6 Petter SOLBERG 27
7 Colin MCRAE 17
8 Harri ROVANPERÄ 10
9 Tommi MÄKINEN 9
10 François DUVAL 4

The new points system definitely makes a difference...

Well, under the old system, Burns is only 3 points behind Gronholm. And the title contenders are more or less as close as well. If Burns continues to finish consistently and maybe win a couple of rallies, he could probably become champion under the old scoring as well. He has been close to winning a couple of times this season only for problems to hit. So he has had bad luck as well hasn't he?

[Kalevi]

Originally posted by 429CJ
Ari Vatanen, EU politician, 51, faster (10th) than the works Huyndai driver Armin Schwarz (11th)

On the Ouninpohja (SS14) stage we saw Ari waving goodbye to crouds with one hand out of the side window while steering with the other: still went faster through the stage than the Hyundai boys and Duval.

[Kalevi]

Here's a nice picture of Markko Märtin jumping big on the Ouninpohja stage.

BTW that sign of 40 is on the forty meter mark - not feet . Think he jumped 57 meters there. That's Rally Finland.

[DavidStHubbins]

Originally posted by Yoong Montoya
If Burns continues to finish consistently and maybe win a couple of rallies, he could probably become champion under the old scoring as well. He has been close to winning a couple of times this season only for problems to hit. So he has had bad luck as well hasn't he?

What strange world do you live on Yoong Montoya?!! The enigma of ten-tenths. I think you are really a computer, maybe HAL from 2001 - DON'T HURT ME!

Seriously though, the only time Burns has come close to winning is when his team-mate Gronholm has had reliablity trouble, and usually other drivers having badluck too. That is the only time he gets close to winning.

The only real bad luck Burns has had is being less talented than Gronholm who I HATE to see being behind Burns in the championship due to this stupid new points system. :confused: