What will the Solberg Brothers do in 09 ? [Archive] - Page 4

Viking

26th January 2009, 20:54

Maybe I'm pessimistic but I think more in top 8 or in worst case top 10...

In Norway I see only Loeb, Latvala, Hirvonen and Henning in front, maybe Sordo but he hated the rally last time. Petter starting down the order on day one might also be good for him.

Tomi

26th January 2009, 21:18

“Okay, I know many people think I’m crazy for doing what I’m doing. Would Marcus Gronholm, Tommi Makinen or Colin McRae have done what I’m doing now? - I don’t think so,” he added. :up:

http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=3667&desc=Petter%20Solberg%20confirms%20Citroen%20comeb ack

offcourse not, why would they have?

swordsman

26th January 2009, 21:18

Tomi

26th January 2009, 21:22

Sorry guys, I just don't believe the Xsara will be very much on pace.
Why is that? When Garde and Tuohino had citroen customer cars, the cars was fast.

Tom206wrc

26th January 2009, 21:24

In Norway I see only Loeb, Latvala, Hirvonen and Henning in front, maybe Sordo but he hated the rally last time. Petter starting down the order on day one might also be good for him.

Don't forget young Russian Evgeny Novikov ;)

26th January 2009, 21:26

Why is that? When Garde and Tuohino had citroen customer cars, the cars was fast.

????? Cars maybe, drivers...

Viking

26th January 2009, 21:34

Don't forget young Russian Evgeny Novikov ;)

In my crystal bowl I see..... him using a snow shovel :D

Xsara Fan

26th January 2009, 21:42

In my crystal bowl I see..... him using a snow shovel :D

Trust me, you`ll be surprised by Novikov`s performance... ;)

Viking

26th January 2009, 21:54

Even Loeb were stuck (twice) in his first Rally Norway ;)

Fischer

26th January 2009, 22:19

Will Atkinson drive Norway in C4?

bluuford

26th January 2009, 22:59

Will Atkinson drive Norway in C4?
No.

Rautenbach, Oiger, Novikov, Sordo and Loeb
Citroen has only capacity to run five C4-s for one event.

bluuford

26th January 2009, 23:04

Trust me, you`ll be surprised by Novikov`s performance... ;)

I think I wont be surprised. I have seen him in 7 Estonian rallies. He can be extremely fast, even the fastest but.. I will be surprised when he wont use the help of spectators or shovels to get off the snowbank and back on road ;-) If there is much snow then Norwegian winter roads are bit to narrow for him to use fully his most spectacular driving style.

Iskald

27th January 2009, 07:45

I think I wont be surprised. I have seen him in 7 Estonian rallies. He can be extremely fast, even the fastest but.. I will be surprised when he wont use the help of spectators or shovels to get off the snowbank and back on road ;-) If there is much snow then Norwegian winter roads are bit to narrow for him to use fully his most spectacular driving style.

Lots of snow and big snowbanks on the roads in Norway right now.It will be a real proper winter rally - and the roads will posssibly be too narrow for Novikovs liking...

A.F.F.

27th January 2009, 08:12

Excellent news. :up:

Daniel

27th January 2009, 08:35

Why is that? When Garde and Tuohino had citroen customer cars, the cars was fast.

Got to love the good old "They gave me a crap car" argument don't you Tomi? :D

Viking

27th January 2009, 08:52

Stohl and Carlsson used that one :)

27th January 2009, 08:58

Got to love the good old "They gave me a crap car" argument don't you Tomi? :D

As I recall, Tuohino was whingeing about that Xsara at the time so Tomi's post somewhat puzzled me.

That was also some years ago, so I suspect the top cars are a fair bit quicker than the Xsara now.

swordsman

27th January 2009, 08:59

Stohl and Carlsson used that one :)

True they did but also every sucker that's a bit deeply into the rally business know it was true :) It's not a very well kept secret at all that they got screwed by Kronos and Citroen.

Viking

27th January 2009, 09:20

This is part of the babelfish translation of story on French rally website: WRC is Free
As announced, Solberg confirms it, it will take part in the rally of Norway at the wheel of Xsara of 2006. It is pH which will make roll the car, Norwegian will find Fx Demaison, French engineer with whom it could worked at Subaru. A press conference will be given to the day before it rally to introduce in detail the team and her partners.

So, Xsara Fan are you saying that only pH Sport will not be involved or that Francois-Xavier Demaison won't be chief engineer, as well?

Petter will run his own team based in France and François-Xavier Demaison will as I understand be chief engineer.

Rally Hokkaido

27th January 2009, 09:38

Petter will run his own team based in France and François-Xavier Demaison will as I understand be chief engineer.

Thanks for this news. It's as I expected. Petter has planned his 2009 season very carefully. Unlike all the customer drivers mentioned in the above posts, he will not be relying on the condition of the supplied car nor the level of preparation by any contracted team. He is building his own team to avoid these uncertainties. And his choice of FX as chief engineer is an excellent start!

noel157

27th January 2009, 09:54

Petter will run his own team based in France and François-Xavier Demaison will as I understand be chief engineer.

With that news can we assume that the Xsara will be replaced with a C4 as the season progresses?

Barreis

27th January 2009, 10:04

Citroen should pay him if they want him in c4..

Tom206wrc

27th January 2009, 11:01

Petter will run his own team based in France and François-Xavier Demaison will as I understand be chief engineer.

If his team is based in France, I don't see him running in any Focus(old or recent spec.)during season as there are none in that country :s

Finni

27th January 2009, 13:32

Sorry guys, I just don't believe the Xsara will be very much on pace. Of course I hope I'm wrong. Probably I'll be totally right or totally wrong, since Petter doesn't have much to lose and just can go flat out to challenge :) Fun for spectators - as well as him, for sure! :)

Last time when Xsara was in the hands of Loeb it was pretty fast, year 2006. C4 was at best marginal improvement. Realistically, neither Ford nor Citroen has not done any noticeable improvement since the time when Xsara was competitive. We can maybe speak about 0.05-0.1 sec/km improvement since then. I would say that in the hands of Loeb Xsara would be still winner car. Also in 2007 Duval beated Grönholm with it. When Duval stepped up to Ford he was not at all better.

Finni

27th January 2009, 13:37

I don't believe the Sub(even S14) is superior to the old Citroën when both equally driven... :rolleyes:

What "even S14". S14 was slower than previous model and all previous models from years 2006-2007 were slower than 2004 and 2005 Imprezas. Those old Imprezas could be near to 2006 year Xsara because with them Petter was able parallel Marcus in his last Pug years. And Pug was still very fast 2006 with mediocre drivers.

Tomi

27th January 2009, 13:40

Got to love the good old "They gave me a crap car" argument don't you Tomi? :D

Sure, it will be fun, migh come some amusing changing setting stuff while the car is at park ferme as well :)

Xsara Fan

27th January 2009, 14:06

Last time when Xsara was in the hands of Loeb it was pretty fast, year 2006. C4 was at best marginal improvement. Realistically, neither Ford nor Citroen has not done any noticeable improvement since the time when Xsara was competitive. We can maybe speak about 0.05-0.1 sec/km improvement since then. I would say that in the hands of Loeb Xsara would be still winner car. Also in 2007 Duval beated Grönholm with it. When Duval stepped up to Ford he was not at all better.

I talk about 'C4 WRC vs Xsara WRC' comparison with PH-Sport guys. They tell me (with smile): "It`s absolutely the same cars with different bodyshells".

swordsman

27th January 2009, 14:20

Last time when Xsara was in the hands of Loeb it was pretty fast, year 2006. C4 was at best marginal improvement. Realistically, neither Ford nor Citroen has not done any noticeable improvement since the time when Xsara was competitive. We can maybe speak about 0.05-0.1 sec/km improvement since then. I would say that in the hands of Loeb Xsara would be still winner car. Also in 2007 Duval beated Grönholm with it. When Duval stepped up to Ford he was not at all better.

Sure it was, true - and of course it CAN be fast. But - even if some people here doesn't believe it - I talked to Kronos/Citroen mechanics several times during the 2007 season and got the info the parts were not even close to the same for Stohl as for Duval or Loeb in 06. That's just what they said, but of course they may have lied :)

A.F.F.

27th January 2009, 14:23

As I recall, Tuohino was whingeing about that Xsara at the time so Tomi's post somewhat puzzled me.

That was also some years ago, so I suspect the top cars are a fair bit quicker than the Xsara now.

That was at NORF. The car and the whole rally was a struggle for Tuohino.

Xsara Fan

27th January 2009, 14:24

Petter will run his own team based in France and François-Xavier Demaison will as I understand be chief engineer.

Some info from Petter...
http://www.glomdalen.no/rally/article4080173.ece

Finni

27th January 2009, 14:55

Sure it was, true - and of course it CAN be fast. But - even if some people here doesn't believe it - I talked to Kronos/Citroen mechanics several times during the 2007 season and got the info the parts were not even close to the same for Stohl as for Duval or Loeb in 06. That's just what they said, but of course they may have lied :)

Of course if Petter gets some undergraded car then "Xsara" is not competitive. However Petter is quite different from Stohl and little boys. He might actually get pretty much same car as Loeb got. I guess it's matter of negotioting.

That's interesting and possible scenario that those Xaras were substantially slower. However, Duval was very fast with Kronos-spec in Germany.
---------

As to Janne Tuohino he has never been lightning fast and in recent years he has been second rate driver. Just watch Tunturi rally results and last year's struggling with Subaru Impreza.

JFL

27th January 2009, 15:00

Of course if Petter gets some undergraded car then "Xsara" is not competitive. However Petter is quite different from Stohl and little boys. He might actually get pretty much same car as Loeb got. I guess it's matter of negotioting.

That's interesting and possible scenario that those Xaras were substantially slower. However, Duval was very fast with Kronos-spec in Germany.
---------

As to Janne Tuohino he has never been lightning fast and in recent years he has been second rate driver. Just watch Tunturi rally results and last year's struggling with Subaru Impreza.

Very true! I also think thats why it took so "long" before deal was signed. I guess it would'nt take that long to get a low spec Xsara! Let's wait and see!

Tomi

27th January 2009, 15:06

Offcourse he has the best possible car, it will just be interesting to read where the problem is if the results dont come.

Viking

27th January 2009, 15:07

From what I understand Petters car is now here:

http://www.reigersuspension.com/index.php?page=main&id=1

swordsman

27th January 2009, 15:32

Of course if Petter gets some undergraded car then "Xsara" is not competitive. However Petter is quite different from Stohl and little boys. He might actually get pretty much same car as Loeb got. I guess it's matter of negotioting.

That's interesting and possible scenario that those Xaras were substantially slower. However, Duval was very fast with Kronos-spec in Germany.
---------

As to Janne Tuohino he has never been lightning fast and in recent years he has been second rate driver. Just watch Tunturi rally results and last year's struggling with Subaru Impreza.

Duval didn't have the "common" kronos spec car then according to them

Tom206wrc

27th January 2009, 15:54

There's another "problem" for Petter, the Xsara was hardly developped around Pirelli tyres !!! :rolleyes:

In 2007 only Gigi Galli used that combo, and struggled...

Unlike the whale, rather successfully developped for Pirelli in 2006(and after, with Paolo Andreucci)...

Sulland

27th January 2009, 16:04

Viking

27th January 2009, 16:49

Yes, but neither the Whale or the Xsara have been developed with the new heavy Control Tyres, have they ?

actually I think the "old" tyres with mousse were more heavy, but the control tyres is stiffer, Reiger will sort it out :up:

pettersolberg29

27th January 2009, 17:00

You know Petter is testing Le Mans cars? Well with his Prodrive links, perhaps this is a possibility. From autosport.com about Aston Martin's Le Mans 24 entry:

"The Charouz driving squad of Stefan Mucke, Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge will be retained by Aston Martin Racing for the Le Mans effort and a full LMS campaign.

The trio will also be joined by Briton Darren Turner, who has won the GT1 class with Aston Martin Racing for the last two years, and Harold Primat. A sixth driver is expected to be announced shortly.

Richards added that AMR have filed three entries for the 24 Hours, but that plans for a third car are far from finalised.

"We have the first test at Paul Ricard at the beginning of March, we will enter two cars in each of the Le Mans rounds, and we will have a test programme throughout the year," he said.

"There is the hope that we will run a third car at Le Mans, and we have actually entered three cars, but the third car is not yet a certainty."

Could Petter be the sixth driver, or the third car driver?

Psycho!

27th January 2009, 18:15

actually I think the "old" tyres with mousse were more heavy, but the control tyres is stiffer, Reiger will sort it out :up:
I think that the Greek driver Aris Vovos told in Acropolis that the new tyres were 4Kg heavier each, but I am not completely sure...

Iskald

27th January 2009, 19:27

You know Petter is testing Le Mans cars? Well with his Prodrive links, perhaps this is a possibility. From autosport.com about Aston Martin's Le Mans 24 entry:

Could Petter be the sixth driver, or the third car driver?

Petter will be testing Oreca LMP1 car, with a possibility to join the Oreca Le Mans squad. Nothing has been mentioned about Aston Martin.

Daniel

27th January 2009, 19:34

I think that the Greek driver Aris Vovos told in Acropolis that the new tyres were 4Kg heavier each, but I am not completely sure...

how much does a mousse weigh though :)

Viking

27th January 2009, 19:37

I think that the Greek driver Aris Vovos told in Acropolis that the new tyres were 4Kg heavier each, but I am not completely sure...

Could be, but mousse were 6kg on each wheel, at least the Pirelli pudding.

Viking

27th January 2009, 19:41

how much does a mousse weigh though :)

Mousse (IPA: /muːs/) is a form of creamy dessert typically made from egg and cream.....now you made me hungry :D

Psycho!

27th January 2009, 20:30

Could be, but mousse were 6kg on each wheel, at least the Pirelli pudding.
4 Kg plus from 2007.Also, bear in mind that Pirelli had to use more material to make them stronger and more puncture resistant.Actually, Vovos had a year or so to drive a proper WRC car and told that the difference with the new tyres was significant and the times were slower...

Daniel

28th January 2009, 08:29

Mousse (IPA: /muːs/) is a form of creamy dessert typically made from egg and cream.....now you made me hungry :D

I don't like mousse :p :

Sturla

28th January 2009, 08:54

http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/01/27/sport/motorsport/petter_solberg/4572188/

Petter tested the Oreca car half a day yesterday, full day test today. He said he was extremly happy of how it went. He was competitive against the other drivers already.

Tom206wrc

28th January 2009, 09:40

I really hope Solberg will run Le Mans :D

JFL

30th January 2009, 17:41

Movie of Petter driving the LMP1
http://www.vgtv.no/?id=20949

Tom206wrc

30th January 2009, 17:49

Back to Henning !!!! ;)

He's doing OK at the moment in Ireland, seeing the terrible road conditions and the fact that he's not a tarmac expert...4th overall isn't bad :)

Let's see how it'll evolve tomorrow and sunday, but more interesting will be next round, at his home in Norway :rolleyes:

Jimmy Magnusson

31st January 2009, 11:59

Well, if things are like in Ireland I would expect Petter to be top four by now. I mean, Henning is +5min after the leaders in 4th. I know he will be much faster in Norway, but with some attrition I think Petter could sneak a good result in.

JFL

31st January 2009, 12:03

If it does'nt work out in RN, I think Petter will do this. Good old smile back to his face, and very competetive in his first try!
http://www.vgtv.no/?id=20949 english comment in the end of the tape..)