Mexico Citroen Tactics

[paddocknews]

Ogier slowed down on the penultimate stage. Team orders? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtt99BhQAzo

[MrJan]

Surely if Citroen wanted to do team tactics then they would just do like Ford did, or like they have done in the past, and stop one driver?

Sounds like a bit of a paranoid notion TBH, better staart fashioning that tin foil hat ready for when we get 'visitors' :

[pettersolberg29]

Valmacher - not team orders. Seb just wanted to be 3rd on the road on Sunday to give him a better chance of beating Petter. Almost worked a charm.

[Mirek]

But that is not from saturday but from the penultimate stage of the rally according to the time.

[bretddog]

No..... this is indeed the penultimate stage..

wow, I didn't expect that. Will this be to push Petter up on the starting order in Jordan?

[TMorel]

Having seen his reaction I doubt that Petter was faking his joy so I dont believe he would have known that Seb II had to been told to slow, all this does is humiliate Petter - or is that their tactic, to unsettle him mentally after all, the works team must have known the footage would get out.

[AndyRAC]

Mmm, it very strange to slow on the penultimate stage - is there something going on? Citroen do a favour for Petter in return for what....???

Personally, I don't like all these tactics, I just want to see drivers flat out driving. It might not be as bad if there were 3-4 other Works teams.

[pettersolberg29]

That is bizarre then. Sorry - I assumed it was the last stage on Saturday.

[bretddog]

Remember in Citroen, everything is done for Loeb, and for Loeb only. I feel quite positive this was done to slow Petter down slightly for day 1 in Jordan, and also to have Ogier behind him, meaning they may be able to control to get the starting order Petter - Ogier - Loeb on day 2. Obviously there are other drivers that will probably get into that picture, but nervertheless, they may see Petter as the biggest threat next to Mikko, so this tactic actually makes sense. It's a fair trade, to pull Ogier down to 3rd, for having a better chance for Loeb on the next victory. It's just one scenario that could occur, but I think that is enough for them to make this tactic. They play the odds, simply. But this is way more tactic than I enjoy to see.

[pettersolberg29]

Just had a look at the splits from SS21 and Ogier only lost 1.1s on the last split. Petter said he was flat out and really good on the last bit, so I figure that something is wrong with that data. Maybe the picture is from the last stage on Saturday and the tmes have been pasted on from SS21?

Or am I just an optomistic and ill-informed Petter Solberg fan who can't accept it?