Citroen WRT vs Ford WRT

[julkki]

There seems to be a lot of discussion about the current differences between the Citroen and Ford right now. Four events done and a pessimist would say that title challenges are finished. Citroen seems to have upper hand, quite clearly actually.

But what do you think? What makes the difference right now? Is 2009 spec C4 WRC clearly a better car than 2009 spec Focus WRC? Or are the Citroen drivers (Factory and Junior team) more superior compered to the Ford drivers (Munich and Stobart too)?

Mikko and Jari-Matti seems to lost some pace compared to Citroen. They have losted paced compared to last year or even 2008, espacially Latvala. Wilson has been slow always, so speaking of equipment in his case is inrellevant.

But what about Henning? I think that he had more pace in 2009 than now.

Reporter asked in Sweden 2010 from Marcus about the difference between his current Focus WRC compered to 2007 spec. He was actually suprised that how similar that car was and there wasn't really bigger deveploment to better or worse.

[Ghostwalker]

i think its more driver related then car related and that the Citroen drivers just have been more consistent then Fords ditos.
Add to that a fast privateer Citroen (Petter) who have been taking points off the Ford boys.

Citroen have Loeb, Ogier, Sordo and Räikkonen and privateer Petter
(even if his his points doesnt count as factory points). That is 4 drivers all capable of finishing on the podium and 1 driver capable of top 5 (Kimi).

What drivers does Ford have? Hirvonen, Latvala, Wilson and Henning.
How reliable are they? JML and MH have done quite many mistakes this year
i dont why, perhaps they are feeling the pressure with the new points system? Wilson is, as you said, always slow and i dont know about Henning,
lack of motivation?


But look at last year, Loeb dominated the first half but then he had a couple of unusual errors and Hirvonen was able to take the lead.

[N.O.T]

every single driver in the citroen team is far better than its counterpart in the ford team. About the cars i think they are pretty much equal...its the drivers that make a difference.

[Francis44]

I agree, all drivers have one wheel and 4 tyres, perhaps there's some difference in cars but nothing that would justify 1 minute loss.

[Finni2]

My guess is that Citroen is slightly better car at some stages. On fast staff Ford is as good.

[jacko]

okay, we are here the wise guys but everybody on this planet beside family Wilson has to agree that Mr. Wilson made some tactical and general errors.
First it started with the follow-up with Marcus.
Everbody saw how good Loeb was, he's exceptionnel, on the level (or even higher) of Marcus, Juha, Tomi, Carlos, Colin. To beat this guy (when Marcus retired) they had to hire Duval the whole season beside Hirvonen and to ring Latvala later on.
And with Petter become free for 2009 they had another chance after Latvala was doing it bad back in 2008. Even 2010 they could hire Petter, now is Petter a problem for Ford like early said here.
Latvala is fast, good but it takes way too long for steady results. It was better to get him in one of the Stobart car and working on everthing a bit and play a good support role.

They already lost this season before it even started, like last year but they had the luck with the suddenly problems by Loeb.

And then the other Ford teams; what in the hell are sponsors thinking too support a Matthew Wilson who is really the slowest driver i've ever seen, it's pathetic and in his latest interview it was said it was a ten (!) year program..
It must be the Business 2 Business why Stobart is willing to pay the car for his son.
Then H. Solberg, many good international sponsors but he's driving for 3 years far from top drivers, he was interesting back in 2006 & 2007 but now it's nothing, hopeless, pathetic also too see. He's driving in nobody's land and will be catched by Raikkonen before the end of the season...
Villagra in the Munich car, why? With PG (or Pozzo if it must be an Argentine driver) in the car they had more attention for sure.
Block in the Monstor car is a complete commercial concept, i can accept that.

You need more drivers capable to catch and attack Loeb otherwise he will never make a mistake.
So hire PG directly and give Duval a fast car for the tarmac rounds and bring Meeke in the Stobart car next year.

Mr. Wilson and Ford are very good for the rallysport, thumbs up but the bad results is there own fault, simply.

About Loeb & Citroen; they are making the most out of it, the rivals making mistakes and beside Ford, from 2006 there was nobody else.

[N.O.T]

To beat this guy (when Marcus retired) they had to hire Duval

i stopped reading after this .....

[jens]

And then the other Ford teams; what in the hell are sponsors thinking too support a Matthew Wilson who is really the slowest driver i've ever seen, it's pathetic and in his latest interview it was said it was a ten (!) year program..

10 years? LOL! Is this serious? :

[JFL]

I have the feeling that Henning Solberg can do mucher better if given the opertunity.. It seems that he's paying to much for his seat in this team.. No testing at all, and not the top spec car.. And he is also afraid to destroy the car.. He even told that he could'nt afford to loose any more rear bumpers.. So thats how tight his budget is.. Mathew Wilson on the other hand is testing with the M1-boys..
Is Henning paying for his joyride? Just asking..

[Langdale Forest]

10 years? LOL! Is this serious? :

Last year Malcolm said that Matthew would be champion in 5 years time, so if he cannot win in 5 years he will give him another 10 years.