Honestly, I don't think anybody would notice.....Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
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Honestly, I don't think anybody would notice.....Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
Two championships. In the link below you can see the WRC career of Marcus. He won the championship in his first full WRC season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
http://www.juwra.com/gronholm_marcus_starts.html
Marcus was the king.
Oh, I think he meant championships won against Loeb and that number is plain zero. Loeb had his first full season in 2003 and Marcus won his last title in 2002. So technically Petter is the only one who has beaten Loeb in a title race. In 2002 Loeb skipped 5 rallyes.Quote:
Originally Posted by OldF
So if anyone is comparing Hirvonen/Grönholm vs. Loeb, according to the results they have been both as unsuccessful. But Marcus was by far the greater opposition to Loeb, providing very hard resistance and pushing Loeb to his limits. Plus Marcus is 2xWorld Champion.
Petter beat Seb after Citroen team orderQuote:
Originally Posted by cali
If there had been a like tag I'd have pressed it. The point I was mostly trying to make was that Marcus came into WRC as a factory driver at a much more mature phase of his life and had actually a wealth of experience by the time he did, including 24 WRC events (hardly 'very few' - 2 seasons worth!).To judge JML or Meeke against that career is specious. As you so rightly say, for all his talent Marcus never totally got the better of Loeb and didn't have to do his maturing in the spotlight or gain experience, he already had enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by cali
As the great Paul Simon said (and I'm sure NOT will disagree with that description ;) ) 'A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest'
Odds that Loeb could have beaten Petter in GB 2003 is not really in his favor. Petter won it also in 2002, and in 2004 when Loeb was fighting hard. Actually in 2004 he made everyone's eyes pop by taking more than 10 sec on Loeb over 10km in one of the last stages, to snatch the win. At the time the Impreza was fast.. And Loeb has evolved as a driver, he was not always superior on every surface, and in fact still isn't, though quite hard to beat.Quote:
Originally Posted by AP-Racing
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsp...addon-in-Spain
Interesting by-note that Paddon is thought to be testing a WRC and S2000 car with a view to using one on WRGB. This would add even more interest to the other first -timers stepping up in class.
I thought that Paddon is in an R4 Subaru.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
He said in Salou at the Rallytravel Auction that they are working on a project for WRGB, with factory support. This week everything is being decided.
What sort of items did the auction there? Would like to go and buy some stuff!Quote:
Originally Posted by MartijnS
Bonnet of Ken Block in Argentina, replica helmet of Loeb. Gloves of different drivers, drivingshoes, some vip tickets for the service. Collection of glasses of JM Latvala. Hats, t-shirts etc. Possibly more which i dont remember ;)
So jealous!! I want the Latvala glasses and some gloves. What sort of prices were they?Quote:
Originally Posted by MartijnS
Helmet 1000 euro. Glasses 350 or something, gloves dont know, around 150-200 i think. Bonnet 475.
Seb was leading after 4th SS, but after Sainz retire, Frequelin told to slow down and just finish the course. It's a known fact about it and at that time was a note on wrc.com. Guy said at the time - Seb is still young and will have a chance to win. A victory is important for us CitroenQuote:
Originally Posted by bretddog
Watch this thread if interesting
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=450847
Quote:
Originally Posted by Francis44
Sad, sad... ;(
According to L'Equipe from yesterday, Miko Hirvonen could replace Sébastien Ogier at Citroën Racing 2012 :confused:
But maybe I'm late and you all have heard of this rumour :mark:
german rallye magazine says the same with ogier and hirvonen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AP-Racing
Loeb lead by 4 seconds at ss3, that's supposed to indicate anything? In 2004 he lead until the penultimate stage, when Petter made a joke out of him. Petter won more than half of all ss's in GB from 02-04, he had pretty firm control in those conditions. That Loeb was told to stay on the road is quite obvious. But he would have lost out in any case..
Loeb won 3 events that year, all on tarmac. 38 out of his 71 points were on tarmac. He simply did not yet have the speed and confidence on the lose surfaces yet at that time. All but the tarmac, he was just slower. In fact, while Petter won one tarmac event, Loeb never finished any non-tarmac rally in front of Solberg over the whole season. The fastest man won, plain and simple.
So to think Seb could have done it in GB, is pretty poor speculation.
I also agree that Solberg would have won either way that year in GB, but If Loeb was pushing him then he could also have an accident..."what ifs" do not create champions though...
The fact that they have the same age and how they evolved after that year shows the difference between a true rally legend and a true rally champion...
Petter was let down a lot by Subaru dont forget, the car realy wasnt competitive in their later years. Then a lack of manufacturers meant he couldnt get a factory drive. All the while, PSA worked tirelessly to improve the Citoren Total team, and Sebastien Loeb flourished.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
Loebs talent is undoubtable, but his career has been so much smoother than Petters. If only Subaru had been bothered to build a better car, Loeb might not have been an 8(?) time world champion!
And if Petter would bother to improve his skills maybe a team would pick him up instead of someone else.....
Maybe its who the teams were developing at the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
It probably would have worked out badly if he went to citroen a few years ago (But was there anyone on this forum, honestly, expecting Ogier to be as good as he has been?), but I dont know why they diddnt give him a seat back when Subaru left and he started expressing an interest as a private driver.
At the end of 2008 I think most people lost any faith in Solberg. He was consistently lacking winning pace since middle 2005 and in quite a few rallies in the later years Atkinson was ahead of him. It has to be said that these were rallies where the Subarus couldn't do better than 5-6 place.
Really wonder how Atkinson would have done in 2006-2008 in a different car. Solberg would have been fighting with Loeb and Gronholm for rally wins.
+1 I am one of these people. My appreciation of Solberg reached its peak in 2004-5 when he put up a valiant challenge to Loeb. Around 2005 he was offered the second Citroen seat that later went to Pons & Sordo. I can understand why he turned it down; his career would have been rooted!! Even if he took it I don't think he would have been allowed to fight for wins with Loeb and Gronholm unfortunately.Quote:
Originally Posted by ridder
Maybe Chris learned to live within the limits of the later Imprezas while Petter pushed way to hard.
I am not sure anyone has a clear idea of why Subaru and Mitsubishi went downhill so fast in the last part of the naughties; but it was quite pathetic how bad the last 2 Impreza WRC were, don't even mention the Evos....
I have a feeling that Chris will probably never drive full time in the WRC again as its all about the Benjamins now. The closes indication we have of his current WRC speed is Ireland 2009.
I would also like to add:
I think that if Petter goes to VW he could possibly still struggle to get wins, how can VW guarantee that the Polo will be everything that people have talked it up to be? It remains to be seen if VW can replicate its Dakar successes in the WRC or if they will be a bit disappointing like the BMW and Mercedes F1 efforts.
Thanks.
We would just have to be patient with VW and their drivers, whoever they are. I don't think many people expected the MINI to be as good as it is already, either, even for a car that's still not finished. VW's not supposed to be serious until 2013 so it's interesting we get to see it at all next year, unlike the C4 and DS3 development.
I didn't expect this:
http://translate.google.com/translat....ewrc.cz/ewrc/
I would really like a WRC Rallye du Valais :D
Yes, I did, you can look at the posts from the past, especially those before season 2010.Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
Me too, I was an Ogier fan since 2008 MexicoQuote:
Originally Posted by Tomi
I thought Ogier wasn't anything special, didn't seem that good in his winning J-WRC season. Totally wrong.
I had a feeling he was going to be good also, but to match Loebs pace so early in his WRC career? That took me by surprise!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomi
Yes he has been a revalation. I did not think much of any of the drivers in the Citroen Junior Team during the 2009 season expect for him. I was really worried that Mr Zimbabwe of Mr Russia would end up in the second Citroen seat for awhile there. I would say that it will be unlikely that any of the current young drivers in customer cars will end up in a M1 team (unless they change the 2 car rule). I think that VW, Citroen, Ford & Mini have in their best interest to take up the Tanaks, Mikkelsens, Kruudas, Neuvilles asap. It would be nice to have drivers to earn things on merit again, if you get my drift.Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
Here is more on the "WRC Rallye du Valais": 2014 World Championship - Rallye du Valais
A press conference on the topic is under way right now.
I just looked at the 3D maps. Such a great event! http://www.riv.ch/fr/le-rallye.html?...ad=57:carte-3d
Rallye du Valais starts today at 4 p.m. Results will be here: Rallye du Valais 2011 - Results - Rally-Base
There was some snow during recce (last year also on stages) plus they put some more gravel roads in the rally than usually.
I personally find Valais stages as absolutely awesome. Here one of my favorite onboards :)
Onboard Rally du Valais 2009 Th. Neuville - N. Klinger Citroen C2R2 Max - YouTube
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
When it was in the IRC in 2008 and was the first Live event for Eurosport – I thought it was a fantastic event. Great stages, awesome scenery – what more do you want? I’d rather have Valais in the WRC than another dry, dusty gravel Rally….
That was really excellent... Great rhytm. :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Good question. Personally I'd like to see Ireland back (especially in it's 2007 form)...Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
The only problem is that everything was very expensive on that region (I think I visited it in 2009), but there are always many solutions. It is not too far to drive to France (for accomodation) or you can always use your tent :-)
My uncle lives in that region :DQuote:
Originally Posted by bluuford