Originally Posted by
mknight
-Don't quite get what the "opening" is for? It's not like it's warmer than Sardinia or Turkey, maybe a bit more humidity.
-Not sure how eager teams will be to mount massive bars to the front as it will have big impacts on balance
Don't see why WRC2/3 tires should be different.
Note that in Sardinia afaik the only one out of the top 4 WRC2 (Hutunnen, Østbeg, Bulacia, Fourmaux, and Gryazin + Mikkelsen but they drove only a few stage) with a puncture was Østberg on one stage. That's hardly any drama.
In Portugal afaik it was Østberg and Suninen with one each, Lappi, Solberg, Bulacia etc. didn't have any.
Historically R5s get a lot of punctures though, in Turkey it's usually at least one each.
From the little of what I have seen of Safari stages the problem is typically huge bumps/terrain on the road. Not necessarily big stones.