Yes, but he lost a lot of his lead as well. I don't say he has no chance to take the title, but his lead will go down during the year, it's not easy to keep that lead.Quote:
Originally Posted by deephouse
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Yes, but he lost a lot of his lead as well. I don't say he has no chance to take the title, but his lead will go down during the year, it's not easy to keep that lead.Quote:
Originally Posted by deephouse
Attachment 2617Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
Or there's a breakdown here if you turn the on "provisional standings" slider: https://www.wrc.com/result-and-stand...ctedStage=8347
1 Evans-61Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
2 Ogier-33
3 Rovanperä- 31
4 Neuville- 29
5 Tänak- 26
It could be true. Evans have some kind excelent form on friday/morning saturday and then lose all his form in second part of saturday and sunday on many occasions, so I'm not so sure if he could pull it to the end like Neuville did. But he could surprise, maybe this two events now will give him also the confidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by dupanton
StrangeQuote:
Originally Posted by COD
It`s early. But wery good lead for Elfyn allreadyQuote:
Originally Posted by Eli
I don't get it. Did they expect McErlean or Munster to be faster than Sesks?Quote:
Originally Posted by COD
That’s a massive lead already.Quote:
Originally Posted by Krigen
Tänak for once starts the season nice and steady but still loses as much like he had retired at one event.
Well it goes for everybody basically except Evans and Ogier.
The conditions, with moderate cleaning at times and more moderate pollution at other times, left it a pretty even rally. This one was settled by car and driver, not road position, which is what I dream of before every Rally Sweden and get about one time in four. :)
Evans: It came together. He was fast, he pushed when it made sense to and not when it didn't. Evans doesn't do "fight", he calculates.
Katsuta: in a rally that suits him, he pushed a bit more than was strictly sensible at times but rode his luck and stayed on the road.
Neuville: talked about understeer more than Evans talked about his own handling problems. Came third, a good result in the circumstances. He's very well-matched with Evans when they are both happy, i.e. when Thierry's got no understeer/oversteer and Elfyn's got no hybrid.
Tanak: looked good before his engine problems. He was the one who had me worried. I think EstWRC can take this as a promising rally, despite the result. But we seem to say "promising" instead of "victorious" a lot...
Rovanpera: made the best of a bad job, this was damage limitation but at least it was competent damage limitation. Some people would have got angsty and crashed.
Fourmaux: generally, I think he "over pushes" just a little and he would get more points over a whole season if he were steadier. This is excusable in a younger driver. But the off was just stupid and he should learn from it.
Sesks: fine. I am very impressed that he got the money together, and the drive was OK too. I hope he has some newsworthy gravel rallies later in the year, and secures himself more WRC1 time.
McErlean: is here to finish rallies and nothing else. So, well done digging yourself out of the snow.
Pajari: is here to finish rallies and nothing else, so well done for slowing down after he knocked the tyre off the rim.
I can think of a couple of possibilities...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
- M-Sport has a full-time deal with McErlean and Munster. It's not like they're actually competing for the manufacturer title, so why offend the people paying the bills?
- Somebody didn't want to put pressure on Sesks.
Great drive by Evans, and Katsuta as well. This year is Evans' chance, with Kalle not finding the hybridless car to his liking. And it seems to me Hyundai is a step behind Toyota, more than it was last year.
We'll have to see when or if Kalle will find his speed again. Now Safari is always Toyota's playground, then Canarias should suit Evans again. It's in Evans' hands, he must not bin it under pressure like he has done in the past, if he wants to be champion.
OK, taking my "logical" hat off... Woohoo, Elfyn won and has more than twice as many points as Thierry in the championship. I wasn't going to watch Kenya since I don't usually like the gravel rallies, but under the circumstances...
Did Rovanpera explicitly say he doesn't like the non-hybrid cars?
Monte is his least favourite rally, and before Sweden he was quoted as not liking the Hancook snow tyres. Plus he's coming back from a half year. so there are other explanations for the slow start. But I wonder did he talk about hybrids and I missed it?
I haven't heard him say anything other than the Hankooks don't suit his driving style.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morte66
And Evans hasn't said he likes the car better without hybrid. Also the chassis is the same but less weight could make the car more responsive.
Do you know if that's the Hancook snow tyres or Hancook tyres in general?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
I have a feeling it is down to costs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morte66
https://i.imgur.com/6OYz355.png
https://i.imgur.com/T4HRlqm.png
Okay, so, I'm happy with my attendance at mi first ever Rally Sweden, beautiful event, nice organization. Let me rank the drivers..
Evans: Perfect. Consistent times, fast when needed. He looks good right now, let's see, still only 2nd round..
Katsuta: I expected him to be quick, but I thought he will crash. So good rally for him, finally stayed on the road and kept speed.
Neuville: Struggling with setup on Friday morning once again. However, the speed was definitely there, no mistakes.
Tanak: Good speed, but again, unfortunate.. Starts like every other year with Hyundai. I thought that he will be quicker on Sunday than he was, especially on PS. These points might be important later..
Rovanpera: A disappointment so far. Let's see what can he do on gravel rallies. Still one of the favourites for the title tho, I still believe him.
Sesks: Stayed on the road, faster than Pajari, great performance.
Pajari: Also didn't crash, solid speed, keep it up.
McErlean: Impressed by his speed, didn't expect him to be that fast.
Munster: Ehmmmm.. I don't know.
Looking forward to Safari. Is Hyundai going to break Toyota's dominance?
With Safari and Canaries coming, Evans is in a good position.
Tänak saying to Estonian media that they had to turn the engine down on Saturday cause they couldn’t find the exact reasons between the stages and that’s where the rally went.
To Kenya they will go with old car cause they know it’s strengths and weaknesses.
Hasn’t even seen the Hankook gravel tire yet and will get only one test day before it
Worst thing for Hyundai about Kenya is that Toyota is just a tank..Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
They could've nominated all three no?Quote:
Originally Posted by Morte66
Imagine if we'd go to Mexico next instead...& then instead of Estonia in July, Kenya...Quote:
Originally Posted by CeskyOndra
I think you’re pretty much spot on there, if I were to add a comment it would be that Evans showed some fight in that second stage today, surprised me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morte66
Katsuta, he had a few moments, but most of the guys did somewhere along the way, I actually felt a bit for him, because while there were no team orders, I bet he had everyone in his ear saying don’t crash!
The Hyundai comments from Neuville and Tanak about understeer was interesting, Fourmaux said the opposite, certainly on Friday. Was it to do with the new car development, the tyres or both? The Toyotas still look the best balanced in the fast stuff, but let’s see how Hyundai go on the gravel.
Shame Tanak had the issue with the motor, maybe he would have challenged without it.
Fourmaux learned a lesson, after the helmet balls up, he should have just taken his medicine and settled for 6th and tried to get some points today. The chances of him getting the time he lost back by driving was basically nil, so he went off for nothing.
Sesks did good, I was too hard on him on Friday, he drove well. I was surprised he held off Pajari.
Pajari was unlucky with the tyre, but drove very sensibly after that too take the experience.
McErlean did well, shame about the snow bank today, but he showed a bit more.
Munster, after the good show in MC, this was like last year.
I think people are to quick to jump to conclusions. Given that the tyre is everything (and Rovanperä said so himself) I'd guess the tyres are the bigger problem for him. It is also worth keeping in mind he performed poorly by his exceptionally high standards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
As for Evans, the whole Hybrid thing was mentioned by Dirtfish a long time ago already when comparing his performance in the 17 car vs the Rally1. Those two guys had one of their senseless conclusions completely neglecting that those cars are fundamentally different anyway.
It could be that it was the lack of Hybrid, but it's not like Evans didn't win a rally beforehand.
I hope Fourmaux learned his lesson. In fact, he should have learned that lesson years ago, in his first rallies. It's not up to some marshal to tell you to close your helmet and wear your gloves. That's what the 3 minutes between TC and start are for.
Some images from Sunday: https://www.ir7.at/content/fotos_bes...eden_2025.html
https://www.ir7.at/content/fotos/2025/sweden5/1.jpghttps://www.ir7.at/content/fotos/2025/sweden5/2.jpghttps://www.ir7.at/content/fotos/2025/sweden5/3.jpghttps://www.ir7.at/content/fotos/2025/sweden5/4.jpg
https://www.ir7.at/content/fotos/2025/sweden5/5.jpg
This is not true. People at race control are multinational. I think Nicolas is the only one French who is usually on rally control...Quote:
Originally Posted by MTA
Fourmaux got 10k euro fine for saying ,,we fked up yesterday'' at the end of PS today.
20k waiting in case of another issues in 12 months.
no words anymore about what bs that fia is doing..
That fucking FIA President should spend less time drinking champagne in the racing paddocks and more time actually improving the sports that needs support. This is insane.Quote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
Kalle was swearing many times last year and didnt get any fine.. Well done FIA
He can’t drink alcohol remember? at least not at the racing paddocks in his country. My my and we all thought that Jean Todt was horrible….all relative ey?Quote:
Originally Posted by erikli2
Hope this prince falls off the horse this year but I haven’t even heard about any contenders for FIA presidency. Worrying times.
Actually, I agree to on taking measures on the cursing in public and using profanities. We have enough general degradation and promotion of stupidity in society around us, why would we accept using swearing words publicly by our heroes, watched by millions, including children.Quote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
Size and form of fine is different matter, but to set some rules on this is correct. If you can not express your self publicly without swearing then, may be, time read some book.
What a joke...We are less than 2 years away from a crucial rule change for the future of Rallying and instead of focusing all efforts on attracting as many entries as possible,FIA spends its time policing TV broadcasts...
Yes, his words were world-changing..Quote:
Originally Posted by AndersX
Kids don't see or hear anything worse from fikfok or any other ocialmedia platform.. and they can easily be cats or unicorns and all fine :D . Rallying and any other motorsport is very intense and if somronr puts the microphone up to the face at 200bpm, then it's pure emotion and real life.
I'm sure that most kids hear 10 times worse at home than some f word from WRC or F1 live :D :D
but okay, I won't speak further about this.. turn too political.
I completely agree. If you don't mind swearing, good for you. If you don't understand how it's offensive to others, bad for you, and you don't *need* to use it then do you.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndersX
Nobody accepts it in other sports either. As I understand it too it's a new enforceable regulation for this year so no point in saying somebody else got away with it last year. Also wondering how the FIA president can improve motorsport if it's not by taking action.
If using bad language was all we had to worry about in the world today it would be a lot safer place. Yes there needs to be some form of control and regulation but going on this today we could be going back to very cold interviews at stage ends again, less said easier mended, or cheaper in the FIA's case.
So now we get the situation that everyone goes full Tänak on every interview...
I would genuinely prefer if everyone went full on Ogier.Quote:
Originally Posted by SubaruNorway
I actually have no issues with the consequence for swearing in press conferences and such, environments that are calm and collected. But don't expect it to be 100% clean when people are amped up.
Heck, even the NASCAR xFinity broadcast yesterday picked up swearing from the winning team. No mention of it at all.
Also, €10,000 fine??? These are rally drivers we’re talking about not F1..but guess it’s all about this being a warning to all drivers…Quote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
Which tells more about Tanak, Ogier or your character than you might realise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Myrvold