Well, 1 min 11 sec quicker than FT Larsen in Fiesta, says something ... but not everything.
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Some extra info then: like Andre said, Pedro Meireles has always owned the cars he runs, althouhg he usually outsources other teams to service them during events or tests; through the last decade he has been among the CPR favourites, getting the title in 2014 with a Fabia S2000. This year he looked a bit less motivated than usual, but the Polo will certainly boost him up!
Paulo, the older brother, was a top national contender in the 90’s (vice-champ in 95), runing an ex-factory Golf Rallye and still was quite active in the mid 00’s on a Polo S1600. Last seasons he has only done a couple of events per year, most of the time runing rented cars (by Portuguese or spanish teams). With a Polo R5 at home, he may be tempted to do some events more!
Oliver Solbergs season with VW Polo R5 will start in "Rally Alūksne" (LAT, 18.-19.01.)
Some interesting news from PSA which may shed some light for the future of the R5 class.
The next 208 GTI is now confirmed to be full electric only, so will the next gen DS3/C3 Racing/performance hot hatch. So maybe this means the C3 wil stick around for a good few years. Renault on the other hand will use the 1.8 petrol engine with a mild hybrid configuration for the next Clio RS (they dont have much problems with the Co2 fleet emissions because of the ZOE), so will they finally make a R5 car?!
Is it known what the hot Opel Corsa will have? Maybe PSA will push Opel instead for R5. Wasn't there some article a while ago about PSA considering Opel for rallying post-2020?
Is it? The 208 EV expected in Geneva is a basic version based on the DS3 Crossback power train; for now this eGti talk (would it still be named Gti?) is just a rumour. Besides, there’s no sport version on the C3 range and that didn’t prevent PSA to make a WRC and a R5 car of it.
The new 208 will use a different platform (EMP1) than the C3, which may explain why they’ll take some time to get a 208 R5 replacement. Btw, this new EMP1 platform (also called CMP, allowing using petrol or electric engines) will also be taken by the Gen 6 Corsa, from 2020.
Yes ofcourse! Sorry I didnt before but is was not so easy while on the phone.
https://www.largus.fr/actualite-auto...5-9568392.html
Pretty interesting interview on the future strategy of PSA.
Thanks for the link. It seems PSA future strategy isn’t totally decided and it may evolve according to EU future rules. I still can’t get how they’ll launch the 208 without a top ICE version, especially once that 208 sporty EV won’t be ready before the end of 2020 and they got the 1.6 Pure Tech immediately available.
Anyway, if they want to keep their involvement in rally they must get ASAP a R2 car (maybe around the 1.2 Pure Tech), before deciding on their future R5. Probably in March (Geneva show) we’ll know more about all this.
Have anyone seen any news on the Proton homologation?
Postponed again?
https://cbmediasweden.se/proton-tillbaka-i-wrc/
In swedish, but seems proton will do WRC2 in 2019?
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Proton planning some APRC events and selected WRC2.
Also the Iriz is the only R5 homologated in RHD - useful for the Asian market and Ireland.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwuGGuMXQAAz0xr.jpg:large
Homologated in LHD too?
Is it normal to homologate, specified with side of the steering wheel?
Why should that matter?
It doesn't matter but you have to have it as homologated. That means if the company homologates the car with a steering wheel on the left you can not put it on the right unless the manufacturer homologated both options - and people in UK or in some Asian countries are used to drive on the left like all of us did before Napoleon decided to change it just for the sake of the change.
If my German translation is correct, it doesn't sound like Hyundai are ready to write off their i20 R5 just yet: https://www.rallye-magazin.de/wrc/ar...dai-teamchefs/
New one planned for 2021? Unfortunately doesn't mention if the factory have any plans to run the current one this year.
Yes, they continue with the R5 programm. Adamo basically says that the main issue of the current car is that it was developed in very short time with just a few people (only four at the beginning while now the customer department (R5 + TCR) has sixty people. Despite that he is confident the car is competitive after new modifications done during last year. He says the engine is the strongest point of the car (as most of us noticed I think). The new R5 car will come in 2021.
I know some German. Andrea Adamo says that he is happy with the progress they made with Hyundai i20 R5 last year (although the car was developed in very short time with limited team of workers). He says that last year they have developed and homologated many new things. Performance of the car has been improved, which can be seen in victories in Italy, Eastern Europe and in good results in WRC2. They want to homologate new things for i20 R5 also this year. Homologation of the current model lasts until end of 2020. In 2021 a new model should be introduced.
Homologation of any FIA car is valid for at least 7 years if not prolonged. Therefore it's not true that the current homologation lasts till 2020.
It's not about interpretation. The minimum time the homologation is valid is granted so that those who bought the car can also use it and not throw it away after two years.
EDIT: It may be a misunderstanding - Adamo may have meant that in 2021 they are finally free to homologate major jokers of the current homologation which is frozen until 2020.
I don't understand it too, but this sentence clearly stands in the article - "Bis Ende 2020 läuft die Homologation des i20 R5, erst danach soll ein komplett neues Fahrzeug folgen." Maybe something was lost in translation from Italian :)
'Homologation' is probably the incorrect word used here, maybe he meant 'the end of the life cycle of the current model' which makes a lot more sense.
What do you know of the challenges with the C3 ?
Are they more or less the same as for the WRC, or very different?
Veiby was not impressed when he drove it, and quickly moved on.
He is not that impressive driver also...
From results, it seems similar. Seems to work very well on French tarmac (Bonato in France, Lefebvre in Condroz) and certain conditions but when it's outside that window (wet mud, snow) it struggles. Ostberg will show what the car is properly capable of hopefully and may help 'open' that window. Hopefully a couple of other good drivers have outings in it this year to show more (Lefebvre, Breen, Lukyanuk). Bonato's pace at MC will be inconclusive either way.
Condroz isn't any typical French asphalt. It's very high speed, bumpy and very dirty event with a lot of mud on the roads.
Apparently the small window of a optimal use explanation was only valid for the WRC car. The R5 suffered from some minor reliability issues but it looked competitive in all surfaces, although it was mainly driven by 3rd class drivers (no offense). Having Ostberg is a really boost for the program.
The launch of new Ford Fiesta R5 is postponed until July - says Richard Millener.
“We’ve done about 10 or 12 days testing at the moment, and have the same amount again still to do."
“The idea is that it will be released with July homologation, so hopefully from Finland onwards we’ll be seeing some new cars appear.
“That is the next big step for us, because that’s where we were making the budget which allowed us to go rallying in WRC. It is all linked together, so it’s really important that the R5 is successful as well.”
More about it at:
https://rallysportmag.com/feature-ri...al-at-m-sport/
I don't know if this has been brought up but I just noticed something interesting.
There is no chassis number 13 of the polo, the Skoda, the two Citroen or the Hyundai... However the Peugeot and the Fiesta both have chassis number 13 (and they are both faring relatively well).
This must for be the same reason large cruise liners don't have lifeboat number 13 and some buildings don't have floor number 13.
Who thought superstition was a thing in rallying.