Probably, even the website is down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
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Probably, even the website is down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
If Hirvonen cant find any new inspiration, and decides to quit, then M-Sport is short of one lead driver.Quote:
Originally Posted by EightGear
If Meeke contioues his show of form, Citroën will want to keep him, and Wilson could be very interested in aquiring him.
That could result in a low scale bidding war (neither Citroën or M-Sport has a lot of money to shell out on one driver), and this could be decided by the eventuality of a long term agreement.
Now the problem is that Citroën is very unsure about a future in the WRC after 2015, and M-Sport is also unsure. Hmmm....
One thing You can say tough is that Mr Wilson is very lojal to his favorite drivers (Hirvonen, Latvala etc), and this could be a plus for Meeke.
Tough he is certainly high risk, Meeke brings in excitment in the championship, and would be the kind of driver M-Sport needs, also to atract heavy sponsors.
Tideman, is at aprox the same level as Evans, both in speed and experience (tough faster in some rallies), and would be to inexperienced to take on a lead role.
The same goes for Lappi, and the other talents. Tough very good, it is a long way up to fighting for podiums in the WRC as a lead driver should.
what about Jan Kopecky, do any of you think he deserves a chance in the WRC?
Yes, I think that already for more than 5 years that Kopecky deserves a chance in the WRC. He is for sure as good as Mikkelsen which he proved in the IRC and he dominated the ERC last year.
Can't really remember any major flashes from his Fabia WRC years and I doubt he'd be a podium contender now.
Comparing Kopecky to Mikkelsen is not fair to any of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza
Mikkelsen, at his best, is on a completly different level than Kopecky.
Remember rally Poland in 2009? If I remember correctly, this was the first rally for Andreas Mikkelsen in a WRC car since he - due to the financial crisis of 2008 - had to put his WRC efforts on a hold. He was driving a Skoda Fabia WRC, not by any means the fastest car in the field. And he started right of the bat setting fourth and fifht times.
A truly incerdible drive, wich says something about Mikkelsens ultimate potential.
Unfortunatly the team around Andreas has not been able to work in such a way that they have been able to let him fulfill his potential as fast as expected, and they have made some strange desissions regarding codriver etc, something that has lead to more inexperienced drivers like Neuville, Meeke etc being able to steal the limelight some what. But in the end - in my mind - he has a lot greater ultimate potential than Kopecky.
But its a "little" frustrating seeing that a talent of Mikkelsens calibre is adjusting both his driving style and other things to go slower with higher risk, in stead of faster with lower risk, but that is anoter story all togheter.
Kopeckı is strongly connected with Škoda and will stay there. Anyway he is an asphalt specialist who isn't that fast on gravel (and even sometimes on wet or very dirty asphalt). His problem is also that he doesn't drive WRC events so he doesn't know them. He is too old for any team to buy him a learning season or two. On the other hand it's not true that Mikkelsen is clearly better. When both had absolutely same cars Mikkelsen beat Kopeckı in IRC 2011 only due to special IRC rules. With WRC point-scoring system Kopeckı would clearly win (only 8 of 12 events counted plus double points from the last rally). 2012 Kopeckı did only half of the events Mikkelsen did.
Here their battles...
2012 (both same works cars)
Canarias - Kopeckı 1., Mikkelsen 2.
Circuit of Ireland - Kopeckı 3., Mikklesen 2.
Corsica - Kopeckı 2., Mikkelsen 5.
Targa Florio - Kopeckı 1., Mikkelsen 2.
Barum - Kopeckı retired from 1st place (engine failure), Mikklesen 8.
2011 (both same works cars)
Monte Carlo - Kopeckı 8. (epic Škoda tyre fail), Mikkelsen crash
Canarias - Kopeckı 2., Mikkelsen 6.
Corsica - Kopeckı 2., Mikklesen 6.
Yalta - Kopeckı 3., Mikkesen 4.
Ypres - crash for both
Acores - Kopeckı 3., Mikkelsen 2.
Barum - Kopeckı 1., Mikklesen 5.
Mecsek - Kopeckı 1., Mikklesen crash
Sanremo - Kopeckı 4., Mikkelsen 2.
Scotland - Kopeckı 5., Mikkelsen 1.
Cyprus - Kopeckı 2., Mikkelsen 1.
Anyway Hänninen usually beat them both...
Regarding the record of Kopeckı he was twice fifth overall and won three stages overall. Take into account that he was driving private Fabia WRC (in that time his car had circa 100 Nm less torque than contemporary opposition - Fabia had approximately 640 Nm and 340 Hp). Anyway it's all a history, too much time passed.
Catalunya 2006 5. (between Bengue and Duval), Deutschland 2007 5. (between Grönholm and Solberg)
The negative trend of Andreas actually started in 2011.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
To understand what Andreas is capable of You really should look at what he was capable of in a Subaru Group N car, and what he managed in the wake of this (his WRC drive in Poland in 2009, his S2000 Hankook etc).
But I agree that Kopecky can be very good at tarmac.
last time out I was in finland and i got a chance to speak to Henning Solberg (in the hotel) and he told me his brother will be comming to the WRC next year, now today I've heard in World Rally Radio Colin Clark said that there was a rumour that Petter might be back next year, do any of you think it can happen?
That would be a big surprice, he has his own team, leading worldrx and is the biggest favourit to win the first worlchamp ever. Witch team and new codriver, but maybe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
it will be a hard one for him i think:)
one off outings with Citroën maybe?
Have to be GB in that case, with phil mills in the other seat:)
Petter will be highly satisfied with one RX championship win. Then he can go back to WRC a couple of yrs just to cultivate his connections for his son Oliver who wants to be a future rally star.
and to get a win- since he hasn't won for what would be 10 years!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
Is it possible to do a comeback after 2 yrs and win? With vw and ogier/latvala in the game?
In normal situations, no, but could he have won in Germany with the 2 VWs and Meeke retiring? Maybe!Quote:
Originally Posted by skarderud
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by pettersolberg29
It isn't bad that he is staying with Škoda, but I really hope he can do than a good ERC programme with the Fabia R5 in the next years. Not only the Barum Rally, but a fight for the ERC championship. This year he is doing the Asia Pacific championship, but only a few people are following this championship. I know that this market is very important for Škoda, but maybe they can give more support to Gaurav Gill and than let Kopeckı drive in the ERC 2015. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
I don't think that Kopeckı is too old for WRC. Meeke and Bouffier are 3 years older and gets a chance this year and Hänninen is a bit older than Kopeckı too. All this drivers had little experience in the WRC in world rally cars before this year.
Facebookpage is still up, but not much info.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
Car is sold to Turkey: http://www.ewrc-results.com/carinfo.php?cid=14&car=931
I hope for a full ERC program for Kopecky next year too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza
Sorry for this message, but I think you'll appreciate it. Today has been released (both on the App Store and Google Play) the brand-new interactive edition of Rally Emotion magazine, after many months of behind-the-scenes work and efforts.
The maiden English-written edition has interesting views about WRC and rallying in general, with a long interview also to Oliver Ciesla about WRC future and, alongside all the old editors, is now enriched by new international contributors like Juha Piironen (Finland), Becs Williams (UK... well, Wales!), Keiko Ito (Japan) and Hans Erik Naess (Norway)!
It's available both in English and Italian, hope you'll enjoy!
http://www.rallyemotion.it/la-rivista/
A silly innocent question, what is the size of the wheels of the current WRC cars?
https://motorsport.hyundai.com/en/i20/main?goSec=2
If you scroll down to "The Two Faces of i20" heading, and if you press on the side view of the car, you will notice the difference between the WRC and the production wheel size? I wonder what is that size?
The rim size is listed as 8 x 18 for asphalt, 7 x 15 for gravel.
http://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/ne...rn-to-the-wrc/
Pirelli tyre size - asphalt 235/40/18 and gravel 205/ 65/ 15 - the tyres look bigger than in the past because the cars are smaller than the focus, xsara, 307 etc
road car i20 likely 175/70/14 etc
Too early for him. If you want to ruin his career. He should do full season in R5 car or smt similar and learn all the events. I belive he has never driven Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Monte Carlo, GB, Sardegna.. that is more than half of the events. He surprised me a littel bit positively in Germany, but it was his third start in Germany as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
Edit: and someone mentioned Lappi as potential future.. I have seen him twice live now (last time in Rally Estonia).. and I was very dissapointed. He is very far from the top drivers.
What are Msport's options for 2015 - keep Hirvonen on for another year, see if they can get Hanninen or Ostberg, take a chance on Tanak or some-one else?
Msport does not have any options, it is a business, whoever pays... drives.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeakiwi
Apparently Malcolm told journo's in Germany that Tanak is the man to replace Mikko.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeakiwi
Twitter:
Quote:
Colin Clark @voiceofrally
And here's something else to think about for 2015. What is the chance of a second Citroen team with Kubica & Chardonnet? Reasonable i think!
No point of kubica sadly, he is fun and spectacular, but he should test dtm or something.
Mr clark hinting about petter and kris in Citroën next year?
Pretty sure it was just him thinking out loud about possible line ups, rather than actual fact :)
Colin Clark @voiceofrally:
Nearly end of August, so here's my 1st 2015 prediction. M-sport Elfyn & Ott, Citroen Petter & Kris, Hyundai Thierry, Hayden, Dani. VW as is.
Interesting prediction Colin.
So no Mads or Mikko anywhere?
Citroen Petter & Kris,
Wo is Petter?
are you going to miss them ?
Not a bad prediction at all. Mikko to RX and Mads realizes he can´t reach the very top.
How about Pontus Tidemand? At M-sport?
according to what i heard from brother Henning, it sounds true in CitroenQuote:
Originally Posted by sindroms
Petter should be better than Hirvonen these days. I hope Sordo with a full drive!
It's time they allow the teams to score with the best 2 cars instead of the nominated cars. It would allow more drivers in the teams and also more local specialists.
yes how about you let them have 3 driver nominated for scoring points-like it was back in 2003,too much money needed!Quote:
Originally Posted by HaCo
No, what will happen is that they will dress one of the tourist/customer cars in official colours and use that...Quote:
Originally Posted by HaCo