Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2017 [May 18-21]

[steve.mandzij]

(a few others can be as fast as him but no one is faster)

Disagree. Latvala, Neuville, Tänak, Meeke and even Paddon have been faster. Consistently mistake-less, not so much.


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[EstWRC]

You can think Tanak mistake was just bad luck, to me it came from Ogier pressure. If he didn't crash at SS12 he would probably do it later. It's not easy to have a 4 times WRC champion attacking you, stage after stage.

to be factual, it wasnt a crash and where did i say it was bad luck? i have openly admitted it was a mistake from him but it is just beyond me how you or anyone can be so sure it would had happened anyway.

it seems portugal winning the eurovision song contest has given you a real confidence boost.

[Rally Power]

Besides Ogier and Tanak it’s also fair to talk about others drivers that made a fantastic show in Portugal (actually almost all manu drivers impressed me at the stages I’ve been; even Lefebvre a couple of times!). Sordo attacked since SS1, using a style and pace like we haven’t seen for a long time. Despite car problems, Paddon was amazing during leg one and it was great to have him at the top again. Lappi did a remarkable debut. He looked faster than Hanninen and improving every day. Despite second leg mistake, he was even more impressive on last day. Overall, 3 top 5 times are remarkable for a guy that was driving a ’17 WRC for the first time. Also a mention to Greensmith, Loubet, Astier, Solans and ours Pedro Antunes: some of them suffer problems, others didn’t finish, but they all showed a fantastic pace on this amazing rally. Great stuff, it'll be hard to wait a full year for next RdP!

[Rally Power]

to be factual, it wasnt a crash and where did i say it was bad luck? i have openly admitted it was a mistake from him but it is just beyond me how you or anyone can be so sure it would had happened anyway.
it seems portugal winning the eurovision song contest has given you a real confidence boost.

Did we win eurovision?!? No over confidence EstWRC, just having rally past in mind. Like Sainz said on RBTV, things will come easier for Tanak after the first win!

[cali]

Did we win eurovision?!? No over confidence EstWRC, just having rally past in mind. Like Sainz said on RBTV, things will come easier for Tanak after the first win!

What's Eurovision?

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[jparker]

I had great experience at Rally Portugal, and enjoyed every single moment, starting from Lousada SSS up to Fafe2.
Only issue for me was getting to spectators points, narrow unpaved twisting roads full of cars hours before the stage.
Well, with so many visitors I guess there is no other way around.
I have not been in Finland yet, but I think Portugal is the most crowded rally event. I have not seen so many people at rally event ever before.
Anyway, great experience, highly recommended for all rally fans.

[EstWRC]

Did we win eurovision?!? No over confidence EstWRC, just having rally past in mind. Like Sainz said on RBTV, things will come easier for Tanak after the first win!

lets hope it comes soon, im losing my patience

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I had great experience at Rally Portugal, and enjoyed every single moment, starting from Lousada SSS up to Fafe2.
Only issue for me was getting to spectators points, narrow unpaved twisting roads full of cars hours before the stage.
Well, with so many visitors I guess there is no other way around.
I have not been in Finland yet, but I think Portugal is the most crowded rally event. I have not seen so many people at rally event ever before.
Anyway, great experience, highly recommended for all rally fans.

Glad you enjoyed it watching a Ford win.

[jparker]

Glad you enjoyed it watching a Ford win.

No kidding. You should consider becoming my sponsor for the remaining WRC rounds.

[mknight]

My argument is that they would lose it all next year. The factory teams can do more to improve their cars with the bigger budgets and Ogier as it seems pretty surely would be gone. Tanak's contract is running out as well. So they might well not be in for the fight of any win (like they were for years before this season). Whereas if they start throwing up some money (not even a lot by a company like Ford's standards) they could be the ones to beat.

This is very important point.

When Fiesta WRC came in 2011 it was without a doubt as fast as DS3, most likely even faster. After all Latvala had more stage wins than Loeb and Hirvonen almost won the title. After a while M-sport just couldn't keep up with the development. First DS3 got better, then even Hyundai.

Imo it was most apparent last year, specifically looking at Østberg who was top 3-4 start of the season and was nowhere near in second half. Even when I am not his fan the drop was just too much.