Rally Wrc Monte Carlo 2017

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Originally Posted by SlowSon

Lefevre did a good job for me. The guy is still learning and tried to gain mileage in these extreme conditions when so many others got caught. Why you don't blame Meeke for his 2374632874th crash on exit of a corner? Or Neuville that leading with a minute yesterday he went off the road about 10 (ten) times before the final crash. Massive respect to the champ for that in every turn he was trying with the car he doesn't yet know well enough, unlike others who easily give up and wait for the next rally which suits them. My driver of the rally is Breen, pushing at 100% all the time without mistakes. Toyotas are still a lot behind the rest in terms of car behaviour, and next events there will be more competitors in '17 cars and not every time 10 people will retire.

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90% agree......can't be exited over Lefebvre's pace, Breen according to my prediction, The "Master" Ogier showed his genious, now all those who were thinking that he was WC just because of Polo's top performance, are hidding like rats...
But, the season just started, everything still open....I expect huge attack from Meeke in Sweden.

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Originally Posted by SlowSon

Lefevre did a good job for me. The guy is still learning and tried to gain mileage in these extreme conditions when so many others got caught. Why you don't blame Meeke for his 2374632874th crash on exit of a corner? Or Neuville that leading with a minute yesterday he went off the road about 10 (ten) times before the final crash. Massive respect to the champ for that in every turn he was trying with the car he doesn't yet know well enough, unlike others who easily give up and wait for the next rally which suits them. My driver of the rally is Breen, pushing at 100% all the time without mistakes. Toyotas are still a lot behind the rest in terms of car behaviour, and next events there will be more competitors in '17 cars and not every time 10 people will retire.

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Did you see Lefebvre's attempt at getting back on the road on ss2? That's not a good job, that's the most stupid thing I've ever seen knocking it into gear on the rev limiter :p Average time loss to Breen must be around 20 sec a stage, not counting rally2 time loss.
And where did Neuville have 10 offs this really? He has been the most clean as far i have seen.
Breen almost knocked wheels off a couple of times.

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Originally Posted by Ucci

90% agree......can't be exited over Lefebvre's pace, Breen according to my prediction, The "Master" Ogier showed his genious, now all those who were thinking that he was WC just because of Polo's top performance, are hidding like rats...
But, the season just started, everything still open....I expect huge attack from Meeke in Sweden.

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I really hope Meeke comes to his senses in sweden. 3rd is not a bad place to be and he has to stop pushing in stupid places.

I mean, Ogier by comparison went off in a field yesterday and he knew exactly what was on the outside of the corner. He knew he could risk a push there.

Meeke on the contrary doesn't seem to have this in his notes or not think like this at all because almost all his crashes are when he push.

He seriously need to get his act together if he wants to challenge for the championship as he already started it properly on the back foot.

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Originally Posted by SlowSon

Lefevre did a good job for me. The guy is still learning and tried to gain mileage in these extreme conditions when so many others got caught.

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Lefevre:
1. He slides out on one of the first corners of the rally
2. He ruins the car when trying to get out (check the vid, seems totally his fault tbh)
3. ok on friday driving safe in tricky conditions
4. On saturday he had issues in the morning, but in the afternoon he was consistently slower that Breen in 16 car on mostly dry stages.

Meek is Meek, the consistency is just not there. Same as Latvala. Don't see that suddenly changing towards the end of their careers.
Hanninen again as he always was. Check out his onboards on WRC+, he has 4-5 big moments every stage.

Evans sure did get some fast times, but lets not forget that he first managed to loose 8 mins by driving only, without getting stuck or technical issues. Sure most of it could have been due to tires, but by that logic most his top times could also be due to the tires working better in that conditions.

Breen is driver of the rally, no doubt.

Cars:
Ford and Hyundai seems closely matched
Toyota is slower (maybe not as much as people expected but there is a clear difference). The most surprising part for me is how unstable it looks in all fast sections even though it has most extensive rear aero. Not like the drivers are known for smooth driving though.
Citroen surprisingly slow, not a single good time. Especially, considering all the "video-hype" on this forum beforehand.

Finally imagine Matton taking the call from Citroen leadership after they read the morning news on Monday.
1-2 on a french rally are 2 guys that were free for hire a month ago and that he wasn't all that interested in.

Turbo2'Rallye42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78dFGd6NLec

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Originally Posted by itix

I mean, Ogier by comparison went off in a field yesterday and he knew exactly what was on the outside of the corner. He knew he could risk a push there.

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no he didn't. drivers notes don't contain information about things that are not important to them, like scenery. he went off and was lucky that he hit nothing hard.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2xlrPJW8AErwqZ.jpg

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Originally Posted by denkimi

no he didn't. drivers notes don't contain information about things that are not important to them, like scenery. he went off and was lucky that he hit nothing hard.

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According to himself at the stage end interview, he knew. It seems reasonable to me that he'd have that in his notes but I don't speak enough French to know.

Maybe he remember without notes... That or he is lying, but you have to admit he has an amazing ability to steer clear of obstacles even on the rare occasions he goes off...

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Originally Posted by itix

Maybe he remember without notes... That or he is lying, but you have to admit he has an amazing ability to steer clear of obstacles even on the rare occasions he goes off...

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These days drivers spend hours watching footage of the stages and their own footage from the recce. On top of that you have many stages that repeat year after year and Ogier comes from Gap.

Btw. Neuville had a "don't go wide" type of note on the place he went wide.

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Originally Posted by mknight

These days drivers spend hours watching footage of the stages and their own footage from the recce. On top of that you have many stages that repeat year after year and Ogier comes from Gap.

Btw. Neuville had a "don't go wide" type of note on the place he went wide.

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I'm sure he did... The car broke traction and he was massively unlucky to hit that concrete block. Took out what looked like a toe-arm joint and that was it.