BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally

[WRC2006]

Is my computer faulty or is Atkinson in 1st place?

No, it is Loeb in 5th place!!!

[WRC2006]

And Atko keeps its lead for another stage :) great to see a subaru in front (at least until they go back to their usual places)



Haaaaaa!!!!!!!!LOL

[jonkka]

Normalization has begun :eek:

[jonkka]

or, has it? :eek:

[WRC2006]

You made my day Guys!!!

[Mauri A]

Bosse 20 secs faster now that Atko in first run.

[grugsticles]

I think im in a dream... Atko-Petter.... 1-2?
Are you SERIOUS?!?!


Net question.... why?

[WRC2006]

Marcus need 0:00.2 to close the gap if not to lead the rally

[swordsman]

Where is Petter?

[jonkka]

Latvala and Henning are having a fight :eek:

[White Sauron]

1. Petter and Chris were helped by road positions in the morning
2. Petter's GPS is off
3. Why is Mikko slower than Sordo?

[WRC2006]

Where is Petter?


I think this is a new startegy for him not showing his time so Chris couldn't increase his gap on him.

But we will see him at the end. The same happened during the SS6

[Mauri A]

Where is Petter?
Could we send some money to Dave to buy a working GPS for Petter?

[WRC2006]

Already Chris lost 0:03.4 in the first split,

Can we say bye bye to him?

[jonas_mcrae]

what happened to duval? crashed?

[WRC2006]

Could we send some money to Dave to buy a working GPS for Petter?


I have got £1 here...

[White Sauron]

Loooooooooooooooooook at Sordonen!!

[ZequeArgentina]

Morning Zeque, it´s nice to see you have woken up!
Hi Mauri, yep I wokeat 7:30 amand surpringly noticed Akto and Peter on top!! Hope it last!!!

How is the restoration going on?

group N carsare going quite fast considering ype f surface, mitsus and subaru are quite tuff in current group N form, the problem is tyres (punctures). I guess same will happen next next with mousse ban

[jonas_mcrae]

he is indeed quite fast

[teufel]

Why do i have the feeling that if Gronholm wins ALL the rallys till the end, WRC would turn, suddenly, MUCH more interesting ?


I just find Marcus a more interesting person, and we have seen him also deep down, he's more human in my eyes than Seb, who hardly makes mistakes. That's all.
And if Bosse would win all rallies, it would be boring just like if Seb does it. I would like to see 5-6 driver before every round with realistic chance of being winner, not just two, like now...

[animrallye]

Where is Petter?
No split for Petter since this morning :rolleyes:

[jonkka]

Both Citroens pass Hirvonen :eek:

[WRC2006]

Of course he has to save the time he lost in previous stage

[teufel]

Wonderboy drives extremly well today! :up:

[WRC2006]

The restoration is going well at the moment

[Mauri A]

I have got £1 here...
What is £ ?. We use €€€€ :s in the civilised world!

[WRC2006]

What is £ ?. We use €€€€ :s in the civilised world!

I thaught that Prodrive and Dave are based in Queen's Land?1111

[mdesign]

any problem with hirvonen? he showed a bad pace :(
In the other and Sordo did a very god stage time :)

[WRC2006]

What is £ ?. We use €€€€ :s in the civilised world!

I thaught that Prodrive and Dave are based in Queen's Land, isn't?!!!

[WRC2006]

For how long Petter will stay in front of Loeb?

[Mauri A]

I thaught that Prodrive and Dave are based in Queen's Land?1111
So that´s the reason Dave has not the right currency and can´t buy the proper gear!

[ZequeArgentina]

The restoration is going well at the moment

Sorry, my mistake, I tried to meant "the Alexander Lloyd restauration"

[jonkka]

One stage?

[teufel]

maybe 2 stages...

[Mauri A]

Sorry, my mistake, I tried to meant "the Alexander Lloyd restauration"

Both restorations, Subaru and Lloyd are going well!!!

[WRC2006]

So that´s the reason Dave has not the right currency and can´t buy the proper gear!



Proper Gear or GPS?!

[teufel]

on ss9 Marcus will sweep again it will be a new stage for them today

[Mauri A]

on ss9 Marcus will sweep again it will be a new stage for them today
There is no SS9.

[WRC2006]

on ss9 Marcus will sweep again it will be a new stage for them today

Cancelled

[teufel]

There is no SS9.

oops, you're right, i've read it has been cancelled

[WRC2006]

The Dream of Subaru 1-2 is over now!!!

[jonas_mcrae]

petter still hanging on to the pace

[jonkka]

Hanninen takes PWRC lead? :eek:

[COD]

Hänninen indeed takes the lead it seems. K.Sohlberg found a shorcut between last split and stage end if we believe the results as he was over a minute faster than Sordo there!

And the money donations for the working GPS should go to ISC-T, not the teams

[WRC2006]

The SS8 is on

[teufel]

Hanninen takes PWRC lead? :eek:

I think his time should be +1.42, not +0.42..., just like Sohlbergs +26. But who knows, they are fast guys!

[ZequeArgentina]

Hanninen takes PWRC lead? :eek:

looking at the splits there is something wrong with hanninen times, he was loosing 1min 9seconds in 4th split, but ended the stage only 42 seconds back to Sordo (he should have gain 27 seconds to Sordo in last split, not reassonable)

[WRC2006]

I think at the end of this stage, Chris will be eaten already by Loeb?!

[jonkka]

Hirvonen back in the hunt :eek:

[WRC2006]

Sordo is on fire

[jonas_mcrae]

dani pushing again, cant hope to see him live in action in catalunya!

[jonkka]

It'll be interesting day tomorrow too!

[jonas_mcrae]

Nice fight between... the top 5!!

[jonkka]

Sub-second differences between 2nd-3rd-4th-5th-6th! :eek: :eek:

[Skiptracer]

If Sordo plans on driving this fast on tomorrow's stages, he may well end like Latvala on Sardinia :rolleyes:

[Glee]

Sordo is on fire

Oohh. You mean speed-vice, I taught that you meant Duval-vice

[jparker]

If Sordo plans on driving this fast on tomorrow's stages, he may well end like Latvala on Sardinia :rolleyes:

Well, he did the same in Argentina and Sardegna, but didn't end anywere near Latvala :)

[COD]

At least M.Baldacci and Sohlberg have got wrong times on SS7

[Viktory]

I hope it stays this close the whole rally :) Most interesting fights for a pretty long time.

[Schultz]

Have the splits stopped for everyone?

[jparker]

oops, you're right, i've read it has been cancelled

Does anyone know when the "environment" decision to cancel SS9 was taken? Before Bosse won Sardegna or after?

[HaCo]

What a big big shame for Duval! He should better keep his money instead of throwing it out of the windows for such a junky car. The car is worth nothing!!!

[Skiptracer]

Well, he did the same in Argentina and Sardegna, but didn't end anywere near Latvala :)

Not really the same in Sardinia, as far as I can remember... He wasn't fast until the last day, when everything was already decided. :p :

Anyway, this is really amazing. 2 seconds between 2nd and 6th spot. :eek:

[jparker]

Not really the same in Sardinia, as far as I can remember... He wasn't fast until the last day, when everything was already decided. :p :

Anyway, this is really amazing. 2 seconds between 2nd and 6th spot. :eek:

What are you talking about? He had fight with Henning to the very last SS.
The point is, Sordo can be fast as long as Citroen let him do that.

[animrallye]

Does anyone know when the "environment" decision to cancel SS9 was taken? Before Bosse won Sardegna or after?
:confused: :confused: :confused:

[ZequeArgentina]

What is happening? no times for SS8

[jparker]

Pos No Driver-CoDriver/Vehicle G/C Stage No Driver-CoDriver/Vehicle G/C Stage Diff 1st 11LOEB Sebastien - ELENA Daniel
CITROEN C4A/89:25.6 3GRÖNHOLM Marcus - RAUTIAINEN Timo
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:19:16.0 0.024HIRVONEN Mikko - LEHTINEN Jarmo
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/89:25.9 7SOLBERG Petter - MILLS Philip
SUBARU Impreza WRC 06A/81:19:24.3 +8.332SORDO Dani - MARTI Marc
CITROEN C4A/89:26.4 8ATKINSON Chris - PREVOT Stephane
SUBARU Impreza WRC 06A/81:19:25.0 +9.043GRÖNHOLM Marcus - RAUTIAINEN Timo
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/89:26.7 1LOEB Sebastien - ELENA Daniel
CITROEN C4A/81:19:25.7 +9.759LATVALA Jari-Matti - ANTTILA Miikka
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/89:27.2 4HIRVONEN Mikko - LEHTINEN Jarmo
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:19:26.3 +10.368ATKINSON Chris - PREVOT Stephane
SUBARU Impreza WRC 06A/89:28.3 2SORDO Dani - MARTI Marc
CITROEN C4A/81:19:26.7 +10.777SOLBERG Petter - MILLS Philip
SUBARU Impreza WRC 06A/89:30.4 10SOLBERG Henning - MENKERUD Cato
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:20:01.2 +45.2810SOLBERG Henning - MENKERUD Cato
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/89:31.7 9LATVALA Jari-Matti - ANTTILA Miikka
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:20:04.3 +48.395STOHL Manfred - MINOR Ilka
CITROEN Xsara WRCA/89:40.2 5STOHL Manfred - MINOR Ilka
CITROEN Xsara WRCA/81:21:01.9 +1:45.91016WILSON Matthew - ORR Michael
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/89:52.2 19KOPECKY Jan - SCHOVANEK Filip
SKODA Fabia WRCA/81:21:52.6 +2:36.61111PEREZ COMPANC Luis - LUIS DIAZ Jose
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/89:53.0 11PEREZ COMPANC Luis - LUIS DIAZ Jose
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:21:59.1 +2:43.11219KOPECKY Jan - SCHOVANEK Filip
SKODA Fabia WRCA/89:55.7 18WILKS Guy - PUGH Phil
FORD Focus RS WRC 05A/81:22:18.0 +3:02.01315VOVOS Aris - ''EL-EM''
SUBARU Impreza WRC S11A/810:05.9 16WILSON Matthew - ORR Michael
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:22:29.6 +3:13.61412VILLAGRA Federico - PEREZ COMPANC Jorge
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/810:06.8 12VILLAGRA Federico - PEREZ COMPANC Jorge
FORD Focus RS WRC 06A/81:23:03.7 +3:47.7

[ZequeArgentina]

Now I see them, justs pits and partially WRC were frozen.
Probably best 1st day all year round, first 6 in 11 seconds, anyone can win, everything can happen!!

great day.

as I mentioned, PWRC is a question of steady and reliable pace, fast ones one after another are falling down (except Arai and Hanninen).

[animrallye]

48,88 km for the first stage tomorrow :p

[ZequeArgentina]

that stage is expectedto change everything. I expect one or 2 or the top 6to get down ofthe fight, puncture, an off, everything can happen

[jparker]

that stage is expectedto change everything. I expect one or 2 or the top 6to get down ofthe fight, puncture, an off, everything can happen

Yes, it's a win all or loose all kind of dilemma. It must be a nightmare for team strategy makers. Exciting day tomorrow :)

[janneppi]

Does anyone know when the "environment" decision to cancel SS9 was taken? Before Bosse won Sardegna or after?
The decision to cancel the stage was taken before the rally began.
Hmm, i actual read it first Bosse Von Sardegna, as if it was a name, not that Bosse won. :D

[jparker]

The decision to cancel the stage was taken before the rally began.

Thanks janneppi, it's good to know.

[L5->R5/CR]

I just find Marcus a more interesting person, and we have seen him also deep down, he's more human in my eyes than Seb, who hardly makes mistakes. That's all.
And if Bosse would win all rallies, it would be boring just like if Seb does it. I would like to see 5-6 driver before every round with realistic chance of being winner, not just two, like now...



I'd like nothing else than for Marcus to be able to dominate and win the championship and then be able to retire. It would make the season more meaningful to me than to see the Loeb-inator take a fourth championship.

[White Sauron]

The destiny of the championship depends not on gravel rallies, but on whether Marcus is able to stay ahead of Sordo on tarmac. if not, Dani's 2nd places will help Loeb beat Gronholm.

[COD]

Best day of WRC this year I must say. And a good battle in PWRC as well, as they have had all season. Hopefully tomorrow will be as exciting. The 49km stage is a massive one tomorrow, but sometimes even the long stages don't provide big differences on the best drivers. Sometimes it's other things than the length of stage that make the difference.

The forums have really slow and unreliable today. Have they employed Matt Wilson to drive the server? :D

[Harde]

Damn I lost electricity for almost the whole day and missed the action :(
It`s a shame that Aava and Rauam retired, but fortunately they`re goin to continue tomorrow. Gonna be an interesting battle between the top 6. And it`s nice to see that Subaru have their speed up again

[klm-607]

The destiny of the championship depends not on gravel rallies, but on whether Marcus is able to stay ahead of Sordo on tarmac. if not, Dani's 2nd places will help Loeb beat Gronholm.

Marcus has greatly improved his Tarmac skills over the past couple years, but I just don't know if he'll be able to beat Loeb &/or Sordo on their favorite surface. I'm hoping he can, but it'll be a very tall order for him.

[koko0703]

I'm delighted to see 2 Subaru's in top 3 although I think it is largely because of their faverable running position. Let's see how Leg 2 will unfold for Subaru's. 2 cars in top 5 with one on podium would be a good result going into summer break.

[Roy]

Sub-second differences between 2nd-3rd-4th-5th-6th! :eek: :eek:

Great! And only 10.7 for first 6! This is what the sport needed! Competition, more fast cars!
Tommorow I can't watch. I have important thinks to do. I read your comments ;) and check the result later.

Enjoy! :wave:

[Maui J.]

Yep! There's hope for the WRC after all. Great battle up front and PWRC. Hope the Subies can't continue the fight. They need a good result.

[Xeroid]

If they have cancelled SS9 for 'environmental' reasons does that mean SS13 is also cancelled ?

What do they mean, 'environmental' reasons anyway ?

More interesting event btw but I see Loeb is on the move back up. Faster Marcus, faster !

[Xeroid]

Huh ??
I just checked greek site it puts Agii Theodori as SS10 and 14. but WRC site says Agii is 9 & 13 ..??
WTF is going on there and where/what is SS9 ?

[pantealex]

SS9 and SS20 cancelled, name of stage is "imittos"
running order for saturday: http://www.acropolisrally.gr/common/pdf/leg2start.pdf (for you to see who is missing after SS10)

[jparker]

Does anyone know how rough SS10 is?

[jparker]

1 LOEB Sebastien / ELENA Daniel
“Tomorrow is the most important day. We will see what happens, after the long SS. Today SS4 was very rough and difficult. Tomorrow: Full attack.”

2 SORDO Daniel / MARTI Marc
“It’s a big fight between six drivers, which is good for the championship. The fact that we set a fastest time is good for our moral. We saw that we can be fast also in gravel. The car looks great and tomorrow we’ll go flat out.”

3 GRONHOLM Marcus / RAUTIAINEN Timo
“It’s surprising how close everyone is. The first two stages of the loop were ok but the last one wasn’t nice. The rocks cause terrible noise in the car and every time you believe that something will break. I wouldn’t put my tractor in there. :) We have no option but to go flat out tomorrow.”

4 HIRVONEN Mikko / LEHTINEN Jarmo
“Fells like we lost traction at the second loop. We are happy with the set up and the tires, but we have to find what happened. Tomorrow there is a 48 kilometres stage in the morning. We need to be awake because if you sleep you may lose the rally. If you want to win you must take risks”.



So, "Full attack", "Flat out", ".... must take risks". I like that :D

[Skiptracer]

What are you talking about? He had fight with Henning to the very last SS.


And that's what I said. He was one of the fastest on the third leg, when Marcus and Miko were already defending their lead. Take a look at his performance on the previous days...

For me, when your ride is a C4, and you fight Henning until the end of the rally, you're not being "fast". You're doing the minimum acceptable. You weren't expecting him to fight Gardemeister or Stohl, right? ;)

[CDL_wrc]

Does anyone know how rough SS10 is?

Just download the SS10 Spectators' Guide from
http://www.acropolisrally.gr/common/includes/show_image_media.php?media_id=915
and you can see by yourself.

My comment: Hardest by far, determinative SS, reminding oldest touch Acropolies from 80's...

[CDL_wrc]

btw description and spectators' access routes for all Acropolis Special Stages can be found at :
http://www.acropolisrally.gr/en/show.php?cat_id=40&page_id=938

[jparker]

And that's what I said. He was one of the fastest on the third leg, when Marcus and Miko were already defending their lead. Take a look at his performance on the previous days...

For me, when your ride is a C4, and you fight Henning until the end of the rally, you're not being "fast". You're doing the minimum acceptable. You weren't expecting him to fight Gardemeister or Stohl, right? ;)

Read your initial post, then read your last one, and then try to figure out what are you talking about. Just don't reply. It's off topic and I don't really need to know.

[jparker]

Just download the SS10 Spectators' Guide from
http://www.acropolisrally.gr/common/includes/show_image_media.php?media_id=915
and you can see by yourself.

My comment: Hardest by far, determinative SS, reminding oldest touch Acropolies from 80's...

Are you serious? And that's after what we've heard about SS8?
Also, is that new stage?

[CDL_wrc]

Are you serious? And that's after what we've heard about SS8?
Also, is that new stage?

Well, I am serious, but let me explain in detail:

1.Extract from the official 2007 Acropolis Rally Guide 2:

* The first 12.71 km, up to box 15, page 99, are the same as SS 9/12
Kineta 2006.
* The next 5.83 km are new. The new part joins the 2006 Kineta at box
26, page 103, coming from the opposite directon.
* The next 13.63 km, from box 26. page 103 up to box 36, page 105 are
the same.
* The remaining 16.71 km are new.


2. A detailed look at SS altitude graph, proves following:

Start @210m, Km 3 @380m, Km 5 @280m, Km 11 @550m, Km 13 @400m, Km 19 @900m, Km 22 @ 570m, Km 25 @750m, Km 30 @450m, Km 37 @750m, Finishing Km 49 @ 270m.

That means a continuous uphill and downhill.


3. Surface :

Continuous changes from soft gravel with stones below it, to very hard stoned surface, then some flatout crests and again the same.....

4. My opinion :
Drivers have to find an optimum between bringing the car to the ss finish and making a competitive ss time which will at least be not worst than the ss time of their rivals...
In other words : a DOUBLE daylight nightmare, 1st pass at 09:03' (that means temperatures around 21oC) and 2nd pass at 15:19' (that means temperatures around 30oC maybe more)...

Now you can decide how serious the game is....

I hope I was helpfull.
Have a nice day !

[jparker]

I hope I was helpfull.
Have a nice day !

That was a lot more then helpful, thanks for sharing all these details.

[pino]

48,88 km for the first stage tomorrow :p

Loeb will win that stage and all will be bored again :p : Great 1st day anyway, I don't remember last time I saw anything like that in WRC ;)

[jonkka]

The destiny of the championship depends not on gravel rallies, but on whether Marcus is able to stay ahead of Sordo on tarmac. if not, Dani's 2nd places will help Loeb beat Gronholm.

Loeb still have win (reminds me of McRae vs Makinen in 1997 RAC) and with the cracks that have appeared in his armor lately, I am beginning to have doubts. Loeb has failed to score twice already this year with only half of the season gone. But also, it depends on how big step 07 Focus will be and to which direction.

[jonkka]

What do they mean, 'environmental' reasons anyway ?

Local population objected.

[White Sauron]

started?

[jonkka]

Aye, underway

[White Sauron]

and again no splits...( Damn, why??? For the most interesting stage, and we can't follow..

[jonkka]

zone.ee got splits, see there

[White Sauron]

zone.ee got splits, see there

give me please your link, because from mine I can't see anything on zone.ee...

[jonkka]

Except for Latvala and Stohl, it seems... :eek:

[jonkka]

here you go:
http://www.zone.ee/wrcmasters/analyzer.php?rally=8&stage=10&results=1&jwrc=

[jonkka]

Anyone know what happened to Aava?

[White Sauron]

here you go:
http://www.zone.ee/wrcmasters/analyzer.php?rally=8&stage=10&results=1&jwrc=

Oh, Kiitos... Damn, I counted it as 9th stage, that's the prob...

[jonkka]

zone.ee is better than pri.ee because it has flashing SS number at the bottom when stage goes live (provided you're looking at the different stage than the live one)

[jonkka]

Hirvonen already past Loeb. Will that speed hold?

[jonkka]

No, Mikko in probs at split two... :eek:

[White Sauron]

Oh Mikko...

[jonkka]

Hopefully it's only a spin and not anything drastic...

[jonkka]

Petter faster than Loeb? Wow... :eek:

[Jaanus]

Anyone know what happened to Aava?

He broke rear shock absorber.

Read more here:
http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/motorsports/e/07wrc/gr/0708gr_leg1.html

[jonkka]

Thanks Jaanus

[jonkka]

Mikko still in full speed, good. Marcus slightly slower than Petter, Subaru is still going strong. Extremely nice!

[MHjerpe]

Sothl ? Latvala ?

[White Sauron]

Loeb!!!

[jonkka]

And no third split for Loeb? Hmmm... :eek:

[jonkka]

But 4th so he's still in

[HaCo]

And no third split for Loeb? Hmmm...

He cut a corner, not passing the split point...


:D :D :D :D :D

[jonkka]

Villagra seems out, no more splits after 4th

[jonkka]

He cut a corner, not passing the split point...


:D :D :D :D :D

That would be clever one

[White Sauron]

He cut a corner, not passing the split point...


:D :D :D :D :D

LOL))

But serious, seems after this stage there will be 3 out of 6 drivers left battling for the victory. Or maybe even less.

[jonkka]

Just wait, tyre game will heat up towards the end of the stage. Whose rubber will last best?!

[White Sauron]

Just wait, tyre game will heat up towards the end of the stage. Whose rubber will last best?!

Hirvonen')) He's just now saving the rubber.

[jonkka]

Or using too much lube? :eek:

[jonkka]

I think that Seb is playing the waiting game, I would have expected him to be faster so I suppose he will speed up towards the end. Or the other will be forced to slow.

[Mauri A]

Or using too much lube? :eek:
Or out?

[jonkka]

Missing split is too common to jump to that conclusion but it's possible.

[jonkka]

Nah, there he is.

[jonkka]

And is not... drives me crazy...

[jonkka]

Kopecky missing 8th split too...

[jonkka]

And Mikko is back... now you see him, now you don't...

[pucky54]

looks like Petter found the right set-up, he was missing yesterday

[Skiptracer]

The Subarus are doing well...

[jonkka]

But has Loeb now reversed the trend, instead losing more to Petter he gained 0.7s?

[jonkka]

And Latvala next on the finishing line, what'll his time be?

[Mauri A]

Close fight between Arai and Hänninen.

[jonkka]

Incredibly small gaps for such a long stage?

[jonkka]

No sign of Latvala?

[jonkka]

almost three minutes...

[jonkka]

Sordo looks set to get 4th

[jonkka]

Forum works again - after the drama has unfolded.

[jonkka]

I have to say again, incredibly small differences for such a long stage. Marcus was very fast and Petter just held the second place. In Gr.N, Hanninen and Arai had exactly the same time!! After almost 49km's?!?

[noel157]

Atko go off? Lost nearly 2 mins on SS10.

[leno]

gronholm loeb and p solberg were really fast on the longest ss

[Buzz Lightyear]

Atko go off? Lost nearly 2 mins on SS10.


flat tyre, and wheel near off... mmm..

[Buzz Lightyear]

hivonon went off 5km in...

[jonkka]

That's bad. Hopefully they can fix that in 15m remote service.

[GigiGalliNo1]

splits link thanks?

[noel157]

Thanks Buzz. As you say MMM...

[Mauri A]

hivonon went off 5km in...
Who in b..... h... is hivonon?

[jonkka]

Who in b..... h... is hivonon?

some greek

[jonkka]

Sordo?

[KKS]

Dani?

[jonkka]

The same

[Buzz Lightyear]

oh dear.... papa frequlin will not be happy.

[ste898]

Finally a proper rally with some interest and competition!!!!!!!

[jonkka]

No, he will not. But papa Wilson is delighted.

[Buzz Lightyear]

Sordo appears to have tranmisson problem.

[jonkka]

Again?

[jonkka]

And now where is Henning?

[jonkka]

Forum works on-and-off (mostly off).

[jonkka]

And there is time for Henning, all is well...

[animrallye]

Is it my connection or the forum works only 2 minutes each hour :confused:

[leno]

great rally i m happy whit this one :D

[Peugeot206WRC]

Yep, great rally.
Hope Loeb can catch up the point gap in the next half of the season.

Congrats to Gronholm and to Munchis scoring their first team point this year :D

[leno]

if subaru is cometitive wrc become interesting to watch again

[Simmi]

Shame we couldnt be here to talk about it but it sets the summer break up quite nicely.

[MikeD]

Yep, great rally.
Hope Loeb can catch up the point gap in the next half of the season.

He might be 11 or 13 points behind after Finland. There is no room for a single mistake for the rest of the season. It was a costly mistake in Sardegna.



Congrats to Gronholm and to Munchis scoring their first team point this year :D

Great to see Munchi's take their first points.

PS: There is a german/austrian motorsport site claimimg that OMV and Stohl are dropping out of WRC leaving Kronos with no drivers and sponsors for the rest of the season. Let's wait and see if it's true. Has anybody else read the same?

[White Sauron]

Also it's the first time after 2003 when someone else then Loeb is leading the champ in the mid-season.

[raybak]

Good to see Gronholm leading.

[Fischer]

Marcus is leading with 9 points, but there are four tarmac rallies coming up.

Looking at Loeb's record on tarmac, Grönholm is going to have a hard time winning the title.

[jonas_mcrae]

great rally, the forum sucked all weekend...

[N.O.T]

Great win for Gronholm that came by driving and thats good to see !!!

Good to see Solberg also on Podium...

Pictures coming up soon...some good action from friday and saturday

[MikeD]

Pictures coming up soon...some good action from friday and saturday

Hope you have some good ones of Vovos and Duval?

[ste898]

Great win for Gronholm that came by driving and thats good to see !!!

Good to see Solberg also on Podium...

Pictures coming up soon...some good action from friday and saturday

Yes great win for Marcus.........shame Subaru dropped away it would have been better for Petter to keep second but they need to do a lot more work!!!

[COD]

PS: There is a german/austrian motorsport site claimimg that OMV and Stohl are dropping out of WRC leaving Kronos with no drivers and sponsors for the rest of the season. Let's wait and see if it's true. Has anybody else read the same?


Haven't read it, but like Carlsson, Stohl must be really disapointed on the Kronos Citroen's performance. Maybe they are trying to put pressure on Kronos and Citroen so that they would get newer parts.

[ste898]

Yep, great rally.
Hope Loeb can catch up the point gap in the next half of the season.

Congrats to Gronholm and to Munchis scoring their first team point this year :D

What on earth would you want that for!!!!!!!

It is great to see finally someone else leading the championship and maybe just maybe the WRC can be interesting again!!!!!!

[Peugeot206WRC]

What on earth would you want that for!!!!!!!

It is great to see finally someone else leading the championship and maybe just maybe the WRC can be interesting again!!!!!!

Isnt it interesting now?
If he dont catch up the points its not getting interesting when Gronholm wins the WRC this year.
Dont understand how you think.

Hope Loeb wins anyway.

[ste898]

Isnt it interesting now?
If he dont catch up the points its not getting interesting when Gronholm wins the WRC this year.
Dont understand how you think.

Hope Loeb wins anyway.

It was interesting on Friday with Subaru in the race too but when it is Loeb Loeb Loeb every race people switch off.......but hopefully now there will be wins for Subaru and hopefully again Marcus or Miko for the 2nd part of the season

No more wins for Loeb in 2007 would be fantastic!!!!

[MikeD]

No more wins for Loeb in 2007 would be fantastic!!!!

You are such a bitter little weirdo!

[Simmi]

I wonder what the odds would be on Loeb not taking a win. I fancy him to win in Germany and Finland.

[White Sauron]

Well. Honestly, I don't believe Subaru can win this year...

Look:

Finland: Gronholm is a clear favorite, esp with a more powerful engine of the Evo2 Focus, then go Hirvonen and Loeb, and only after them Solberg has a chance.
Germany: Loeb, Gronholm and Sordo
New Zealand: Again Gronholm, Hirvonen and Loeb, and with Subaru's problems with suspension it will be difficult for their drivers to handle that surface...
Spain and France: haha, you still believe someone other than Loeb or Gronholm or maybe Sordo can win it?
The same goes to Ireland. The only chances for Subaru is Japan, because in GB they have no chances again because of their suspension...

[MikeD]

I wonder what the odds would be on Loeb not taking a win. I fancy him to win in Germany and Finland.

On paper I see Gronholm as favorite to win Finland and GB whereas I have loeb as favorite for all 4 tarmas events.

I think New Z and Japan can go both ways and maybe even with Solberg winning one of them.

For me the big question will be if Sordo can take second place in at least 3 of the 4 tarmac events? ... And can Gronholm perhaps go through the entire championship without a DNF?

I have calculated a little back and forth and each time I end up with a championship with a margin of only 5 points between MG and Loeb.

[ste898]

You are such a bitter little weirdo!

I think you should shut your stupid mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[N.O.T]

Hope you have some good ones of Vovos and Duval?

Vovos once he realised he could not challenge anything was very very spectacular....!!!! Duval seemed to struggle with the skoda...kopecky seems to be more confident with the car

[N.O.T]

here is a small sample of my pics...larger version in a few days

[N.O.T]

vovos was the previous one ...now Loeb

[Finni]

Finland: Gronholm is a clear favorite, esp with a more powerful engine of the Evo2 Focus, then go Hirvonen and Loeb, and only after them Solberg has a chance.
...

Is there some information that Ford's evo has more powerfull engine to the current one?

[N.O.T]

latvala

[N.O.T]

Araujo was very good to see also...

[MikeD]

here is a small sample of my pics...larger version in a few days

That's a great picture. looking forward to the bigger version.

[N.O.T]

if you want any driver specifically please pm to send you his fotos in large formats.

[N.O.T]

and finally the winner marcus...as i said previously larger formats available in few days..thanx for the comments

[White Sauron]

Is there some information that Ford's evo has more powerfull engine to the current one?

Yes, they said smth about engine's update.

[Corny]

this was quit an interesting rally.. I hope there's more to come like this!

[COD]

Interesting rally indeed, first one after Norway. Best thing was that Subaru has closed the gap to Ford and Citroen. Although that was not good news to Mikko, as his slow speed begins to show because of that.

I wonder when OMV and Stohl will chage the car, allready during the break?

[Roy]

WoW! This is rally!

- Close leaderboard at the end of Leg 1
- Spactcelair long Stage!
- Great to see Subaru's WRCar get faster.
- Historic point for Munchi's! :p

[klm-607]

Finally!! A "REAL" fight for the Rally win & podium positions!!! More, more, more!!! C-ya' in Finland Loeb!! LOL!!!!!

[Brother John]

PS: There is a german/austrian motorsport site claimimg that OMV and Stohl are dropping out of WRC leaving Kronos with no drivers and sponsors for the rest of the season. Let's wait and see if it's true. Has anybody else read the same?

The future from KRONOS!
http://www.berndcasier.com/ :p :

[Buzz Lightyear]

do you think tyre wear was a problem??

[ZequeArgentina]

Hey N.O.T., last year you sent me great picures of Ligato and Pozzo, which I sent to them (only Pozzo thanked it).

Do you have pictutes of Munchi´s team and Pozzo again?

[kleisj]

Very interesting rally as many said.
When I got back last night from the service park I was in a very positive mood even if I missed the first leg cause of heavy workload.

I went on Saturday to see Ag. Theodori 1&2 from different places each time.
Sunday we went to Assopia 1&2 in different places again each time.

In Ag. Theodori 1 we were at the 34rth km of the stage where road changed from gravel to tarmac for 1 km approximately. Loeb was visually faster than everyone else. He passed by impressively fast on the very edge of limit. At the same point Atkinson left for us some mouse from his punctured tyre for souvenir.
In Ag. Theodori 2 we were in a very nice downhill spot followed by a right and a left hairpin at the 10nth km of the stage. Very fast approach and braking on the limit to flick for the hairpin. Gronholm was great to watch. Solberg, Latvala also. Loeb at the limit again. And the rest were more than good enough. Kopecky impressed us very much. I think he must get a works car again to show his true potential. This guy was driving a car which was slow when it was a works car in 05. But even now he was very fast and spectacular and managed to finish 7th! Also the PWRC drivers were nice to watch. Great stuff. Vertunov passed very impressive at this spot like he was driving a WRC!

3rd leg. Assopia 1. Again in a high speed downhill left hander followed by a bit slower right turn at the 13nth km of the stage. Loeb was in a real hurry there!!! But in general I can't pick who was best actually. Latvala, Hirvo, Gron, Peter, Kopecky and ofcourse were flat out. All of them were great to see. Sordo, Atko, Wilson, Henning, Vovos were impressive as well. In Assopia 2 we were 300 meters before the end in a high speed spot. Fast right to fast left downhill a bit followed by a jump and then uphill towards flying. Latvala, Hirvo, Loeb, Solberg Kopecky were the most spectacular.

In general it was GREAT to see that in Leg 1 we had such an immense competition with many drivers being so close. 2nd leg the lead had gone away but the fight of Peter and Seb was very interesting as well.
Great to see Subaru and specially Peter to be competitive able to push Seb and Marcus. Very promising performance. Also Atko was there too prove his point. Nice performance from him 1st day.
Gron was in a class of his own. He put his foot down and used the long stage to build up a nice safe gap. Loeb couldn't do something about it. And he tried. On 3rd leg he didn't give up. U could see him pushing on the limit.

Gron, Loeb, Latvala, Hirvo, Peter, Atko, Kopecky were my favourites from the one's I've watched. Not that the rest left me unimpressed.
And many PWRC guys were very professional and nice to watch. Thumbs up for them even that I missed the JWRC guys...!

Generally was a good rally to spectate. The down side is that with the repeated stages you don't have a wide choice as 2-3 years back. 1 or 2 max stages a day.
I prefered to stay in the same stage but from different spots each time.

Service park was nice. The SSS was nicely designed but not good for the spectators. Far away from the crowds is not the spirit of a super special stage. Last year OAKA sss was much better.

I have some pics to upload as soon as I have the films printed.

Now I m sad that I have to wait for another year...!

[Kakuke]

My galleries:
http://www.martinrauam.com/?id=gal&g=4
http://www.motorsport.ee/?id=gallery&n=568

[Roy]

Ford 60th win?

http://www.wrc.com/page/News/BreakingNewsDetail/0,,10111~1032884,00.html

The win on Sunday was a special won for Ford, given that they have done so well on the Acropolis in the last eight years. It was also the 60th win for the Blue Oval at this level, something Wilson himself didn't know.

“I didn't realise it was the 60th, but it's a special moment. It's six times in eight years that we have won here and a pretty good record for us,” he added.
http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~4~id~149025.htm

Or 59th win?
http://www.rally-live.com/wrc/en/stats/victoires_constructeurs.shtml

[COD]

My galleries:
http://www.martinrauam.com/?id=gal&g=4
http://www.motorsport.ee/?id=gallery&n=568

I really love your pictures, because you have captured so much more of the "feeling" in the rally than just rallycars on stages. keep up the good work! :up: