Confirmed: https://www.skoda-motorsport.com/en/...-rally-stages/Quote:
Originally Posted by Walach
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Confirmed: https://www.skoda-motorsport.com/en/...-rally-stages/Quote:
Originally Posted by Walach
Fabia RS aero - the key points:
https://www.wrcwings.tech/2022/07/06...cs-key-points/
Shakedown and SS1 of Rally Bohemia today with Mikkelsen as zero car in the new Fabia. Hopefully someone will be taking some unnoficial timings..
No official debut in Finland though.. maybe Barum instead?
How does the new Fabia look, sound and compare with the old one in Bohemia?
A good video to compare them: https://youtu.be/k9BkTCOFpCYQuote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
And another: https://youtu.be/dR8kr-mmX3c
Spectacular driving by Mares in particular.. the twisty bit through the town is a good place to compare. The old Fabia is super agile (remember Kopecky's Deutschland SSS win?)
New one you can see the extra size, on the other hand it looks tighter in body control. Both look powerful from low revs but Kopecky says the power delivery in the new one is instant, even from below tickover revs.
Any direct comparison is nice at this stage and what you say is correct re body control. The size of the RS is apparent too.. it looks as big as the Focus WRC in the video.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Another great video from Bohemia which i already posted in Czech Rally News: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RUc6nEqXFPA
Fiesta updates
https://twitter.com/msportltd/status...IieeMQXU3DazUA
Will watch Huttunen’s times in Estonia with interest. Watching onboards from Latvia the car looks kinda heavy/lazy compared to other Rally2s.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Nothing really important...Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Well, lets wait and see on the Fiesta rear suspension upgrade. This has been the problem issue area for the Mk2 since the start. Hopefully they have found the root cause, and fixed it.
Fastest on the superspecial (SS1) which was quite a good test of agility.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Actually this kind of stages say nothing about the car ability. Huttunen is pretty good on them. Let’s see tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Huttunen lost 24.4s to Mikkelsen/Kaur on the first stage...would love to hear if there was an issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
After 3 stages Huttunen is only 8th in WRC2. It doesn't look very promising.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
A good compilation of Mikkelsen at Rally Bohemia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h1-HuzdOt8
If his last event in the old car was Rally Estonia, that powerstage was a nice way to finish!
I think it was not his last event in the old car...Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Interesting! it would be quite risky switching to the new one whilst fighting for a title.. even the Fabia S2000 and R5 didn’t win on their international debuts IIRC.Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
Might be safer to put some ‘extra’ drivers in the new car this year (Kopecky/Meeke in Spain would be good to see for example)
Question is what is more risky for Greece?
New car with likely not as good reliability and not optimized settings or old car with possibility for engine failure?
(If they identified the cause of the engine failures and it's not something that can't be fixed then old car is safer pick).
For Catalunya or Japan new car might be preferred as Mikkelsen likes the turn in on the new car on tarmac better. If they decide to go to NZ, new car might be noticably faster, but probably unlikely to be shipped all the way there in time.
I think they identified the cause of the engine failures and I presume it was a dodgy batch of parts or incorrect assembly of something. Kajto made it through Safari ok!
I agree the new car ought to be at it’s best on a fast and smooth rally like Spain or NZ. Old car still seems to be performing pretty well though, Mikkelsen surprised me with his speed in Estonia.
I wonder what Toksport think as it could affect them too if the new car is used and has issues ?
The old Fabia Evo is still winning so it would make sense to see out this season with it for those with Championships at stake.
I think that Mikkelsen might struggle to beat Rossel in Catalunya with the old car (if they go for that rally). He reportedly doesn't like how it understeers on smooth tarmac.
Supply issues causing delay to Fabia RS debut, plus Fabia Evo issue solved:
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/skoda...uction-issues/
This is nothing new. Original plan for debut in Finland was postponed many weeks ago...Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Yeah and if I remember well, Skoda boss told it is Greece ... at best depending on the supply issues.Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
M-SPORT PLEASED WITH FIESTA UPGRADE DESPITE ESTONIA RESULT
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/m-spo...stonia-result/
Fiesta aero update and comparison to the Rally2 trends.:
https://www.wrcwings.tech/2022/07/25...fiesta-rally2/
Regarding new Fabia, J.Porter says earliest Catalunya and even that is not certain.
Think he also said "at this level" (WRC)Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
At the end he said that yes.
But before Spain the only good and obvious choice is Barum, which might be too early.
Barum as zero car again seems likely. I doubt Kopecky would swap to the new car until the title is wrapped up.Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Has it even been homologated yet?
You'd think with the time it's taken producing the new car Skoda would've timed the full competition launch better.
The publicity at their home rally of Barum as the part of the Czech championship and a round of the ERC would've been a great platform.
Well a year ago Hyundai was late (twice delayed I think), and when finally competing the car was both unreliable and slow. Took at least half a year to be competetive.
Surely something Skoda wants to avoid.
Actually I wonder which recent R5 was both competetive and reliable when released?
Polo wasn't reliable
C3 wasn't competetive besides smooth tarmac.
Other than the recent fuel related issues with some examples of the existing car you would expect the Fabia once again to be the class of the field. I had heard some drivers preferring the E1 to the E2 handling wise however results speak for themselves.
They know what they are doing and you only have to look at ewrc results to see which car is winning weekend after weekend. Ford other than in the UK, MSports home market and in the Canary Islands are way behind leaving Hyundai and VW to pick up the pieces.
Have a look at the first 12 cars in the Italian gravel championship :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal yet again
https://www.rallylink.it/pdf/classifiche/2022/cirt.pdf
It is not that easy when your suppliers, supplier is backlogged and cant supply any one.It is just how things are at this point.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Creating a good R5/Rally2 car seems really difficult due to the cost restrictions and requirement for many ‘off the shelf’ parts to be used. Especially considering that the spec is largely locked in apart from a few jokers being allowed you’d think the manufacturers would put more effort into properly testing their cars prior to homologation, but only Skoda seem to bother. They certainly did more testing with the new Fabia than Hyundai (and maybe the others too) did with their Rally1 cars.Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
At " normal" slow to medium gravel Fabia seems clearly best and it is the most allround for combined championships.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
On other specific surfaces it's not so clear to me. Polo still seems to be great on smooth and fast gravel/snow. C3 on tarmac (specially smooth one). Fiesta on wet/slippery tarmac. Maybe not enough starts for new i20 to judge.
honestly, italian gravel championship is not that much of a reference...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z