Wales Rally GB 2017

[Ucci]

Congratulations to Ogier, Evans, the whole M-Sport team and Malcolm Wilson!

Yes, yhey did it. Private team "destroyed" factory teams.
Malcom-enjoy; as the future doesn't look so bright for the M-Sport.
Seb and Julien-no comment needed. Simply (by far) the best duo in WRC. And as somebody mentioned-the smartest. Showed again, that rally is not just flat out all the time.
And now time to celebrate.

[doubled1978]

Just back from WRGB, and it was a good watch I must say. The 2017 cars certainly do what they intended in terms of spectacle.

A few points I noted.
Positive.
Evans - Clearly had more grip than the others, but used it perfectly. Faultless everywhere we saw him.
Neuville - Was ON it everywhere, other than 1st pass through Hafren when I believe he had a technical issue, he was notably pushing harder than everyone else. Great to watch.
Latvala - Very good, in a car that wasn't at its best for much of the event, he was always good driving where we saw him.


Negative.
Paddon - I like Paddon, and I think he is fast. But he seemed to be beaten in the mind and was just not quick on this event.
Sordo - Why did they enter him? Was pointless if the intention was for him to beat Ogier.

[mknight]

Obviously well done to M-Sport and Ogier, but all has been said about that already

Comments on rally GB:

Evans - very well done, as Ogier said in Argentina even if tires give you an advantage you still have to drive yourself. That said it does seem like the advantage was quite big, notably watching the Saturday TV stage the difference in grip between the DMACK fiesta and other fiestas was apparent. Again a problem with comparing cars on different tires, you never know how much is it the drivers and how much the tires.

M-Sport - yes they achieved all their goals but their performance was imo a bit worse than expected. On Saturday and Sunday they were clearly behind Hyundai, doesn't quite agree with the "advanced" pre-event assessment by D. Evans and C. Clark, especially considering this was their home rally.

Hyundai - as a team/car very good, did pretty much maximum they could hope for under normal circumstances, somehow typically weak Friday. In term of drivers Neuville and Mikkelsen had very much same times whole Saturday and Sunday (check 2/3rd leg standings). Neuville should imo be actually applauded for the foggy stage. Yes self-centered comments as usual, but here I am talking about performance/results not about personalities. He took it safely and didn't risk anything (which seemingly can't be said of Ogier) and re-took the 2nd place on Sunday without trouble, Evans was too far ahead anyway.
Paddon disappointed again... sure could be some lack of confidence after getting dropped for Spain, but he has been driving this car for a year now and clearly it was a fast car on this rally.

Btw. Haven't seen it talked about much but Sordo had the "old" pre-catalunya aero while Neuville/Mikkelsen/Paddon had new aero.

Citroen - performance wise I'd say they did quite well. Wet slippery gravel and no testing and still both Meek and Breen had some decent times. Very good times on dry gravel (PS). Without some mistakes Meeke would have been at least partly involved in the fight for 2-6. Compared with how Citroen fared here with DS3 recently I wouldn't say this was any worse. Also for second rally in a row Meeke showed consistency which only deserves applause. Note that in this rally only 2 cars retired which is unusually low, with normal retirement rate like we have seen in other rallies Meeke would have been around 4th.

Toyota - surprisingly the clear losers of this rally. Without Latvala's push in the fog they could have ended with best placed car on 6th or even 7th place. Weird since in the wet in Poland they were one of the fastest, aero probably didn't help much here and was getting clogged with mud.
Sad way to (probably) end wrc career for Juho. In a way it was quite typical for him, car/driver not going well for decent top times so he goes for extra push and crashes right after posting a good time.

[steve.mandzij]

WRGB made me begin to doubt if Paddon can really bounce back from his tremendous nosedive in form. He was constantly at Sordo's pace, a driver who is arguably over the hill by now. It's a fact that Paddon's spectacular style, much like Ostberg's and old Latvala's, is slower than the rest, but he shouldn't have been so far off the pace.

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[Rallyper]

Obviously tyres played the big role. With equal drivers capacity it will be seconds on every stage having advantage of tyres. No doubt. Evans had big advantage however he managed it the way he should.

[EstWRC]

Congrats to the whole M-sport team and drivers!!! What a season it has been for them, unbelievable, almost like a fairy tale or dreamlike. They took everything this year.

And finally Dmack gets its win! They deserve it also so much.

Now it would be perfect if Tänak gets 2nd in the championship in australia but i think the gap to Neuville is too big. And it isnt that important actually.

Fords pace yesterday was worrying, Ogier and Tänak were clearly suffering and lacked pace when the conditions were more wet. If it was dryer then they were good. Toyotas were disappointing, they were so strong in the middle of the season on gravel but now in spain (gravel) and wales the speed hasnt been the best.

[steve.mandzij]

Toyotas were disappointing, they were so strong in the middle of the season on gravel but now in spain (gravel) and wales the speed hasnt been the best.

Well, to be fair, Latvala retired on the third stage, and the only two Toyotas left were Hanninen and an inexperienced Lappi. I think their gravel pace in Spain was a huge what if. More worrying was their performance on low traction surfaces like Wales.

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[dimviii]

nice video,watch first plan with Neuville,as well at 0,25 ,amazing spot.
https://youtu.be/JyfXUJyOZKo

[dimviii]

Ott Tänak‏
Congratulations Teammate @SebOgier You are a True Champ
And very well deserved title for @MSportLtd family!

krismeeke.com‏*@krismeeke
Congrats @SebOgier and #JulienIngrassia! You may not agree.. but I believe your best title so far! Also for @MSportLtd #Respect

Miki Biasion‏*@MikiBiasion1
Congratulations @SebOgier. Really the top. Regards Miki. @WalesRallyGB @OfficialWRC #worldrallychampion

[dimviii]

https://www.fia.com/news/wrc-i-was-d...me-elfyn-evans