Pontus and Kalle for Wales GB - organisers announced today: http://walesrallygb.com/news/4230.php#.W5erW5MlNE5Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
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Pontus and Kalle for Wales GB - organisers announced today: http://walesrallygb.com/news/4230.php#.W5erW5MlNE5Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
Camilli drives Polo in Spain https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc-2/news/20...6--51-51-.html
And Kopecký does Spain so no direct fight for the title at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Other than TurkeyQuote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Yes but that's absolutely not enough for a worthy championship if You ask me. Also nothing against Tidemand but they could have sent him to at least one asphalt. In the end it looks like if škoda bosses just play a puppet theatre.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Who could have imagined that both of them would get a double puncture in the same stage with another puncture for Pontus in another stage. Sometimes the reality is wilder than the imagination...
Let's see if that was the end of surprises but I guess it wasn't.
It's a rally of punctures. Nearly everyone from the top drivers had at least one puncture - Kopecký, Tidemand, Tempestini, Kajetanowicz. I think Ingram was the only exception.
And Heller, who struggled with power steering issuesQuote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
A short video from WRC2 - Tidemand overtakes Kopecky and then Kopecky overtakes Tidemand on a special stage :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV0bcRIi8j4
WRC2 rules are best six of seven scores count right? But it looks likely Kopecky and Tidemand will both only do six, so no dropped scores..
Tidemand is entered for Wales, and is rumored to do Catalunya with VW Polo.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Tidemand has to retire Turkey. https://twitter.com/MotorsportSkoda/...30709802446848
Quote:
#RallyTurkey #SKODA #WRC2 Having consulted technical stewards of the FIA, @ Pontus Tidemand is not able to re-start under Rally 2 regulation for safety reasons. Additional structural damage was discovered when the car was inspected at service, safe repair cannot be carried out.
Maybe that's the real reason to retire him in Turkey, level the playing field with Kopecky again.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Sorry but that is ridiculousQuote:
Originally Posted by RS
I just find it rather hard to believe the chassis was irrepairably damaged as the result of a puncture.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
And if Tidemand is entered for WRC2 in Spain and Kopecky doesn't go to Oz, they will not have 'exact same chances of WRC2 title' as Skoda promised.
Maybe he had a crack in the rollbar leading from the strut tower, like Řstberg had in Finland one yearQuote:
Originally Posted by RS
Yes, it was that after the damper was broken and was going thru bonnet. He had also double puncture on last stage of the day. So in total 4 punctures on two stagesQuote:
Originally Posted by SubaruNorway
Skoda gives their drivers equal 6 drives each. It's up to Tidemand's own relations to get an extra drive from VW?Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
But it's just a ridiculous thought that they realized mid-rally that their drivers will have unequal chances of the title and thus retired one of themö
I thought it may have been a factor once he had to retire from day one, like 'oh well, he's got another chance' but probably not i suppose, especially given the nature of this rally.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
They said on the BT Sport broadcast yesterday that if Kopecky wins today he would win the title. That would be the case if each just had their six Skoda rounds but unfortunately we're not going to know until the entry lists for Spain and even Australia come out. I hate the dropped score system.
Great result for Chris Ingram on Rally Turkey. Perfect tactics paid off with a WRC2 podium on debut.
Great season from Kopecky. Five WRC2 starts, five wins. Six starts in Czech National Championship, six wins (one of them also ERC). 100% wins.
And 19 podiums in a row since the Tour de Corse in April 2017 (power steering failure) :)
Maybe someone will be interested in seeing Kajto's video report from day 2. He was 4th in WRC2 at the finish line of Rally of Turkey, but without all the power steering problems he would have had a chance to win this category. Actually, this rally was so strange, that each of the top 4 drivers (Kopecky, Tempestini, Ingram, Kajto) had a chance to win at some point :)
Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyMIDMjAkV8
Not very understandable with google translator but an article and an interview with Kopecký after the finish: https://sport.idnes.cz/jan-kopecky-t...motorsport_tof
The article mentions that Tidemand may still appear in Catalunya despite what was claimed by Škoda. Let's see...
Not much in the interview. He basically said he didn't enjoy this weekend at all.
Of course Pontus will be there, if he will drive the 2nd Volkswagen Polo GTi R5Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
The question is if he is entered to WRC2 or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by rp
So championship could be decided by what box VW decide to tick on the entry form. What a mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
First Pontus will need to score at least 8 points in Wales.
According to original plans, Pontus and Jan were set to do different events before Turkey. Turkey was planned as only one event where both drivers will start. On this event, which nobody of them did in the past, should be decided, who will be the champion...
so if Pontus will entry as wrc 2 at Germany will be something against skoda will?Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
Is it open secret that Pontus’ definitely starts with Polo in Spain or is it just speculation?
They said there would be 2 and previous speculation said Pontus and Petter, but now they confirmed Camilli..
:)Quote:
Originally Posted by dimviii
Would be weird marketing strategy from VW to put the car further in running order and out of TV broadcasts...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
I guess they never expected Kopecky to do so well this year, and that championship would be wrapped up by now, leaving newly crowned WRC2 Champion free to drive the Polo in Spain.
Skoda can't complain if VW go ahead and enter Pontus in WRC2. They've been trying to manipulate what driver of theirs wins which championship since 2011, when they desperately tried (and failed) to get Kopecky to win the IRC title.
something like that they must be thinking.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
You're talking rubbish. Mikkelsen and Kopecký were both doing the whole championship and they both did all events. Kopecký did better in the season than Mikkelsen but Mikkelsen won by 1,5 points thanks to the rules which gave higher coefficient to the last two gravel events and due to the fact that the worst three events didn't count. This rule meant that Mikkelsen got away with 3 crashes without any point loss while Kopecký lost 27 points which simply didn't count.Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
Well, Ogier did drive his VW Fabia season outside WRC2 (better testing opportunies), so they have used that strategy before.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Also Henning was running outside WRC2 in Turkey and got plenty of PR-time, bad starting place only first day, after that speed order.
My prediction is still VW in WRC2.
Henning in Turkey and Kalle in Monte are probably the only times a non-WRC2 driver has gotten so good coverage. Kalle was about the only competitive R5 left and Henning was up to top ten.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
Nah you seem to be a bit confused.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Mikkelsen was a Skoda UK driver, a team funded by the British importer and run by an Italian team. Not a part of the factory team, which was Jan and Juho. Mikkelsen was a huge huge outside bet for the championship up to the last round.
I'm talking about Skoda being so desperate for their own Czech driver to win the series, that they restricted Juho when he could've blitzed the series and taken back to back IRC titles. But they pissed about and neither driver won the title. Juho was by far the fastest driver on most of the rounds he entered, dominating Monte till the snow came and the bad tyre choice, winning Canaries, Yalta and Azores and taking 3rd in Barum, before having his entry pulled for Sanremo at the last minute - despite being on the entry list.
They gave Jan the whole season to get the job done and clinch the title, but Hanninen was needed as insurance policy for them as Kopecky wasn't convincing. Then Juho got drafted back in for the last two rounds after missing Sanremo. But he initilally struggled in the wet conditions in Scotland compared to 2010 and made a mistake in Cyprus, while Mikkelsen dominated both events and took the title. Leaving Skoda motorsport without one of their two contracted drivers winning the series. Kopecky finished runner up for the third time in the series. They wanted him to win that title, when giving Juho one or two extra events probably would've meant back to back titles for him. But they wanted Jan to win IRC and for Juho to have his SWRC crown. It was obvious at the time.
Yes and no. Škoda UK paid but Mikkelsen had works car and works service. You can check Yourself that Andreas and Jan actually used the same chassis at some occasions through the 2011 season (No. 48)Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
That shows that You don't know what Jan's position in Škoda has always been. He has never ever been a priority driver in the team. In fact it was the opposite. Yes, Juho was not given the whole IRC 2011 but that was not done to help Jan win but to take as many titles as possible. They did the very same thing with other drivers in all following seasons. That's why Jan, Sepp or even Esapekka drove APRC. In fact for them the best outcome was Andreas winning due to his way bigger marketing value.Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
If You think that Škoda UK was a competitor to Škoda Motorsport You are wrong. It was just another works car painted in Union Jack. The Italians really didn't have 6 different and mostly brand new bodyshells for Andreas for two seasons. In fact it was all works cars and most of them were brand new cars built for Andreas, used by him for 3-4 events and sold to privateers. The only time when Andreas actually used Škoda Italia car was for small or show events like Goodwood Festival. Also for Škoda it had higher marketing value to have Andreas as winner due to the British and Norwegian market. There was near no marketing value in Jan (sadly).Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
If they were pushing Jan for victories they would never threat him as they did in WRC2. 2018 season is the first ever when they let him drive a near whole season (actually only 6 of 7 possible events so still not maximum possible). In previous seasons they gave him only 3-4 events each time even when he was winning one after another in 2015. The reason was likely still the same - Jan's victory has no marketing value because there is nothing to gain from WRC2 on Czech market. Winning Czech events is enough for that (and that's why they keep sending Jan to win Czech titles again and again despite I know very well that he doesn't like that).