Rally Italia Sardegna 2015

[dimviii]

Camilli
The second stage ends prematurely for us ... We are forced to give in SS9 for mechanical cause. We are really disappointed ... We were brought up to the 3rd place after signing a WRC2 Scratch time in our class before giving up. We hope to start in Rally 2 tomorrow to continue our learning!

[Lundefaret]

Every WRC driver except Ogier should be spectators for at least one rally, and see for them selves how different his lines is compared to the others. This is just... Mrphhhh....!

Meek of in the first corner. (He is the most charismatic guy in the whole of WRC, he is smart, he can be brilliant, but oh how he f**cks up.)

Mads out of it. (Set up problems on the first loop again (and probably som technical problems), he must learn to lower his treshold on the set up from test to the rally proper.)

Mikkelsen with his normal outer rear end misshap. (The dire combination of non optimal pace notes and a hack for late braking is dangerous for the outer rear wheel. He can drive the most perfect lines when on it, but he is easy of it. This is a guy that could easily challenge Ogier on every rally if he got his shit togehter. He is a huge talent.)

Latvala with his usual outside rear puncture. (Hmmm... Well, at least he is trying. The best wheel man in the whole of the WRC, but oh so high risk. A small adjustment on his exits would scare the shit out of Ogier, but who will tell him?)

Sordo... (Well, he is fast when his car is "to understeered" and slow when his car is perfect. Maybe he should start taking notice? If he suddenly unlocks the mystery of why he as a tarmac specialist is so fast on the loose stuff, he could be a steady top performer. But thats not likely to happen.)

Kubica... (Well. Well. His WRC rallying has to be one of the longest ongoing and most public suicide attempts in modern history.)

Neuville on and off... (Finland 2013. I was sure we had a new challenger. Damn sure. But Nose End First-Professor Olav Bodilsen said that, although Neuville was fast, and driving proper Nose End First lines, he had seen some things that made him believe that Neuville was not conscious of how and why. Well, that turned out to be the truth. Now clearly outperformed by Paddon, AND Sordo. Well whats the secret: On low grip surfaces You try to hard Neuville.)

Haydon Paddon has shone a light on the WRC during this rally, hope he keeps it up. He represents a hope hanging on by a shoe string, that the master Ogier can be challenged.

So what should the drivers learn from this:

Lesson 1) If You try to go as fast or faster that Ogier by turning in earlier, and/or going on the throttle earlier in a combination with an earlier turn in, than Ogier: You will be punished.

And how do we stop this French dominance?

We outlaw the Auto de Junes. When only one country in the world do a proper talent scout job within motorsport, and back the winners all the way to the WRC, only one country can become World Champions.

[EightGear]

Every WRC driver except Ogier should be spectators for at least one rally, and see for them selves how different his lines is compared to the others. This is just... Mrphhhh....!

Meek of in the first corner. (He is the most charismatic guy in the whole of WRC, he is smart, he can be brilliant, but oh how he f**cks up.)

Mads out of it. (Set up problems on the first loop again (and probably som technical problems), he must learn to lower his treshold on the set up from test to the rally proper.)

Mikkelsen with his normal outer rear end misshap. (The dire combination of non optimal pace notes and a hack for late braking is dangerous for the outer rear wheel. He can drive the most perfect lines when on it, but he is easy of it. This is a guy that could easily challenge Ogier on every rally if he got his shit togehter. He is a huge talent.)

Latvala with his usual outside rear puncture. (Hmmm... Well, at least he is trying. The best wheel man in the whole of the WRC, but oh so high risk. A small adjustment on his exits would scare the shit out of Ogier, but who will tell him?)

Sordo... (Well, he is fast when his car is "to understeered" and slow when his car is perfect. Maybe he should start taking notice? If he suddenly unlocks the mystery of why he as a tarmac specialist is so fast on the loose stuff, he could be a steady top performer. But thats not likely to happen.)

Kubica... (Well. Well. His WRC rallying has to be one of the longest ongoing and most public suicide attempts in modern history.)

Neuville on and off... (Finland 2013. I was sure we had a new challenger. Damn sure. But Nose End First-Professor Olav Bodilsen said that, although Neuville was fast, and driving proper Nose End First lines, he had seen some things that made him believe that Neuville was not conscious of how and why. Well, that turned out to be the truth. Now clearly outperformed by Paddon, AND Sordo. Well whats the secret: On low grip surfaces You try to hard Neuville.)

Haydon Paddon has shone a light on the WRC during this rally, hope he keeps it up. He represents a hope hanging on by a shoe string, that the master Ogier can be challenged.

So what should the drivers learn from this:

Lesson 1) If You try to go as fast or faster that Ogier by turning in earlier, and/or going on the throttle earlier in a combination with an earlier turn in, than Ogier: You will be punished.

And how do we stop this French dominance?

We outlaw the Auto de Junes. When only one country in the world do a proper talent scout job within motorsport, and back the winners all the way to the WRC, only one country can become World Champions.

I believe Rallye Jeunes is gone now, or at least Citroen has stopped supporting it. I could be wrong though.

[dimviii]

[stefanvv]

Every WRC driver except Ogier should be spectators for at least one rally, and see for them selves how different his lines is compared to the others. This is just... Mrphhhh....!

Meek of in the first corner. (He is the most charismatic guy in the whole of WRC, he is smart, he can be brilliant, but oh how he f**cks up.)

Mads out of it. (Set up problems on the first loop again (and probably som technical problems), he must learn to lower his treshold on the set up from test to the rally proper.)

Mikkelsen with his normal outer rear end misshap. (The dire combination of non optimal pace notes and a hack for late braking is dangerous for the outer rear wheel. He can drive the most perfect lines when on it, but he is easy of it. This is a guy that could easily challenge Ogier on every rally if he got his shit togehter. He is a huge talent.)

Latvala with his usual outside rear puncture. (Hmmm... Well, at least he is trying. The best wheel man in the whole of the WRC, but oh so high risk. A small adjustment on his exits would scare the shit out of Ogier, but who will tell him?)

Sordo... (Well, he is fast when his car is "to understeered" and slow when his car is perfect. Maybe he should start taking notice? If he suddenly unlocks the mystery of why he as a tarmac specialist is so fast on the loose stuff, he could be a steady top performer. But thats not likely to happen.)

Kubica... (Well. Well. His WRC rallying has to be one of the longest ongoing and most public suicide attempts in modern history.)

Neuville on and off... (Finland 2013. I was sure we had a new challenger. Damn sure. But Nose End First-Professor Olav Bodilsen said that, although Neuville was fast, and driving proper Nose End First lines, he had seen some things that made him believe that Neuville was not conscious of how and why. Well, that turned out to be the truth. Now clearly outperformed by Paddon, AND Sordo. Well whats the secret: On low grip surfaces You try to hard Neuville.)

Haydon Paddon has shone a light on the WRC during this rally, hope he keeps it up. He represents a hope hanging on by a shoe string, that the master Ogier can be challenged.

So what should the drivers learn from this:

Lesson 1) If You try to go as fast or faster that Ogier by turning in earlier, and/or going on the throttle earlier in a combination with an earlier turn in, than Ogier: You will be punished.

And how do we stop this French dominance?

We outlaw the Auto de Junes. When only one country in the world do a proper talent scout job within motorsport, and back the winners all the way to the WRC, only one country can become World Champions.

Ogier may talk too much about this and that, but at the end of the day he is doing his perfect job after all. No matter how fast he has been. Other drivers probably should not pay too much attention about his talks and do their job in the best possible way they could. Paddon did that excellent today....

[kirungi okwogera]

Every WRC driver except Ogier...

All good points Lundefaret. I'm not sure if I can see/analyze driving style in as much detail but it sounds about right from what I do see.

I disagree with Rallye Jeunes FFSA needing to be banned - I would rather other countries did a "proper talent scout job". Motorsport (not just rally) has for a long time always been based on money/access to money/family name, and for a long time that was enough for success, and even if only one country is investing in getting talent from a larger pool of people than the moneyed classes, it means an improvement in the overall quality of drivers. I'd rather see one country with a semi-meritocracy in motorsport than no countries. If that means French WRC champions for a while then I can live with that.

Speaking of that - Paddon is showing that a guy without much money (and therefore without much consistent training, time to test, etc.) can excel even from outside France. I'm really impressed by his pace, obviously in the morning with the sweeping advantage, but in holding it consistently when he wasn't the only person benefiting from roadcleaning, and indeed holding it through the afternoon when he didn't have much advantage. That seems like less of a fluke than a newcomer randomly winning the occasional stage.

While it felt to me that it was sooner than I thought he would perform so well (and more sudden, not much buildup) I think it is no coincidence that his (basically) one-year anniversary in a WRC car is showing him to jump from 7-8th positions to higher contention - this is an established pattern with frontrunners who don't have the advantage of five year plans. We shall see though.

[AP-Racing]

[nafpaktos]

I wonder if it will be wise to put him in a WRC car for a few events already this year. Looks like he isn't ready yet.

totally agree

[kirungi okwogera]

Ogier may talk too much about this and that, but at the end of the day he is doing his perfect job after all. No matter how fast he has been. Other drivers probably should not pay too much attention about his talks and do their job in the best possible way they could. Paddon did that excellent today....

I remember in Paddon's NZ national rally days, he'd sometimes say at a midday stop "we decided not to get splits or find out even where we were in the standings" - always when he had built up a huge lead and demolished the rest of the field. Maybe he's trying that technique again?

[N.O.T]

I remember in Paddon's NZ national rally days, he'd sometimes say at a midday stop "we decided not to get splits or find out even where we were in the standings" - always when he had built up a huge lead and demolished the rest of the field. Maybe he's trying that technique again?

no splits allowed this year in the car for everyone.