[WRC] Rally Sweden 2024

[becher]

im sorry guys that i will come back to the topic of neuville's issue but something just came into my mind.. If there was really some strategy, then why they didn't get a penalty before brattby? Everyone knew that it will be a big struggle.. then they would benefit even more.

I think if the names where reversed, nobody would accuse Evans of "dirty" tactics.

[denkimi]

what about the conditions is unworthy?
Different conditions will always happen in sports that happens outside, part of the deal.

Whats the point of even having a competition if the results are only depending on the starting position of the competitior? Why even race if drivers or cars have hardly any influence on how fast they go?

I've seen many rallies and they are hardly ever fair. I have seen the occasional backmarker making a great tire gamble and getting way up front.
But i have never seen results like these, where there is no connection between the skill of the driver and the times they put on the board.

Once bertelli goes faster than Evans and neuville, it's just not a competition anymore. A spectacle, sure. Lots of drama, great to see for some, like american wrestling. But when it's not about the skill of the competitior it's not a serious sport.

[focus206]

I don't like this disparity of conditions either, but as something exceptional and not the rule, I can accept it. It's a natural condition of the road, at least not something created for artificial entertainment. Who would have thought Lappi, Katsuta and Oliver with a Rally2 in the top 3 after Day 1.
I highly doubt Neuville/Hyundai would deploy unsportmanlike tactics for such a small gain in the second round of the championship, bonnet or no bonnet. Neuville is still in no man's land and will have to think about the Rally2 cars tomorrow.

[Mirek]

I've seen many rallies and they are hardly ever fair. I have seen the occasional backmarker making a great tire gamble and getting way up front.
But i have never seen results like these, where there is no connection between the skill of the driver and the times they put on the board.

Obviously you didn't see many rallies. Ogier was fourth overall in Monte Carlo driving a Fabia S2000 before he crashed. Prokop (!) in S2000 won a stage in Sweden. Ogier finished 5th overall in S2000 in Sardinia (and won a stage overall). Those are just several examples. If you check that Monte Carlo 2012 you can see that in stages like Burzet a 4th car was about a minute down in stage in both passes. Things like that keep happening all the time through the history of rallying.

You know the Jänner Rallye in Austria? It used to be part of ERC for few years. Everytime there was snow some local guys with historic Evo III or similar cars were winning the first stages simply because they were starting an hour after the top guys. And you now what? It's normal there.

[Morte66]

Will Pajari be adjacent to Linnamae in the road order, or are they somehow in different categories?

Found it, they're adjacent. https://www.wrc.com/c/calender/ANhw?...a-0bc750952fce

That could be a good battle.

[dimviii]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/was-n...tactical-ploy/

[Corcaíoch]

What a first (proper) day of a rally! I know there are mixed views on just how much the conditions should play a role in a rally but you can’t say it’s not interesting or exciting. I probably would have prefered a Rovanpera v Tanak battle over the weekend but it certainly has opened the door to many other interesting possibilities

I don’t post here often so apologies for the incoming (very long) rant but I was buzzing watching the rally today but hadn’t much time for reading posts here or other coverage online. I’ve been reading and watching back some coverage of today and reading back over some stuff I missed here and I’m left somewhat flat to be honest.

It’s repeatedly said that the WRC needs more excitement, more interesting “stories” to tell and more variety to help attract more viewers and new fans. Well today alone we had:
• 2 World Champions crashing out on the same stage
• One driver in contention for his first ever win
• One driver in contention for his second ever win
• At least one driver in contention for his first ever podium
• Solberg, by far the most social media savy rally driver out there, currently on the podium, in his home rally, in a Rally 2 car – this alone is a “giant-killing” story worthy of attracting attention. (if you wanted to look at it that way)
• Linnamae, a relatively unknown driver to your average WRC fan (not to those on here obviously) winning the Brattby stage in a Rally 2 car
• Neuville maybe playing dirty to try to gain an advantage
• “Proper snow” and winter conditions that many people have been criticising the lack of in recent years
• Korhonen 8th overall on what I think I read online was only his 3rd time competing in a Rally 2 car on a WRC event (open to correction on that)
• And probably a number of other stories worth telling too

Granted, today was an exceptionally different day, but I think it again shows the problem isn’t necassarily the lack of stories to tell, lack of excitement or lack of variety but far more the failure of the promoter and the sport’s media to properly showcase and tell these stories. Also in spite of all this some people seem almost determined to focus almost solely on the negatives.

Rovanpera comfortably leading, Tanak in 2nd a Lappi 3rd would have been a far more predictable and “normal” rally but with regards promoting the sport “The Solberg Story” – can he hold on, can he fight off the Rally 1s, how high can he finish, etc. is a story that would attract lots of attention in my opinion. I understand not all serious WRC fans would appreciate the story but this is the sort of media spin and push that draws attention and would help more to draw new viewers than the more predictable rally that some others would have hoped to see.

[COD]

Conditions yes, but without rally1 cars, who would really care or know about the difference if all of them were in Rally2 cars…

[Jarek Z]

People have been complaining that modern rallying is boring. But when finally something exciting and unexpected is going on, they... still complain! Can one explain it?

I agree with Mirek and Corcaíoch. Thank you for your posts, guys.

[bearclaw]

Obviously you didn't see many rallies. Ogier was fourth overall in Monte Carlo driving a Fabia S2000 before he crashed. Prokop (!) in S2000 won a stage in Sweden. Ogier finished 5th overall in S2000 in Sardinia (and won a stage overall). Those are just several examples. If you check that Monte Carlo 2012 you can see that in stages like Burzet a 4th car was about a minute down in stage in both passes. Things like that keep happening all the time through the history of rallying.

You know the Jänner Rallye in Austria? It used to be part of ERC for few years. Everytime there was snow some local guys with historic Evo III or similar cars were winning the first stages simply because they were starting an hour after the top guys. And you now what? It's normal there.

...or Hermann Gassner sen. won a 30km stage at Monte 2001 in a Group N Proton ahead of the WRC. It was a crazy stage. And as you said, it's sometimes normal and logical in rallying...