[WRC] Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2018 (18/21-May)

[sonnybobiche]

Five hours is bending it.

SS4 (27 km) started at 10:53
130 km of liaison
Regroup at 13:25
Service in at 13:40
Service out at 14:14
Refuel
76 km of liaison
SS5 starts at 15:25

So the biggest gap is the 2 hours from the end of SS4 to the regroup, but that long liaison and entering the city probably takes all that time.

Hence, there's far too much liaison between the stages. This has been a problem for many years, but hopefully now they have some incentive to actually fix it.

I was watching a classic rally the other day, I think Tour de Corse '85. Over 3 days, it was 1100 km of competitive stages and something like 500 km of liaison. That is the correct ratio, I think. What we have now must be hellishly boring for the drivers.

[mknight]

Any word if Latvala can join tomorrow?

After first section best Toyota is on 11th outside of points! That's a disaster for manu. champ as well.

[jparker]

Well, That only means they have placed their oil cooler in the wrong place, or their protection is not good enough.

Anyway, it shouln't happen. A big rock may damage the suspension, but nothing else.

I agree with you. Engine and related parts should be well protected, and should withstand even bigger rocks and impacts.
TGR definitely need to sort this out.

[er88]

Any word yet on the different tyre choices for the afternoon loop?

[dimviii]

FRI 11:47 - LATVALA UPDATE
Kaj Lindström has also given an update on Jari-Matti: " We got a message that the right-front suspension is broken and he can’t continue. The damper is broken but we should be in a better position compared to Argentina because it sounds like it is just the damper. He said it was just a hole he went over and it broke the damper. We’ll have to check the on-board to make sure how it happened.”


FRI 11:43 - TÄNAK
WRC All Live caught up with Ott Tänak in the service park: “Obviously we have an engine issue, we had to stop on the stage and it wasn’t possible to continue. Basically we had a leak in the radiator after hitting a rock. It was interesting, a spectator point with lots of loose rocks. I don’t believe we will be back because the engine is broken.”

[dimviii]

Any word yet on the different tyre choices for the afternoon loop?

#Tyre info - Day 1 afternoon:

Citroën/Suninen: 5 Michelin LTX Force H4
Lappi/Evans: 4H+1S
Ogier: 3H+2S
Neuville: 6S
Mikkelsen/Paddon: 3S+2H
Sordo: 5S

[dimviii]

TGR_WRC
Update: Unfortunately car #8 has to be retired from the rally and will not take any further part in the event. #RallydePortugal

[er88]

Interesting that Citroen have put all 3 crews on the same tyres, instead of hedging their bets and covering more bases. Must be pretty confident

[N.O.T]

Are you suggesting that their job is to remove rocks from the stage?

yes... hey are there for the safety of the brazilian spectators and competitors. IT IS THEIR JOB.

[KKS]

Completely different tyre choices by Citroen and Hyundai