[WRC] Rally Portugal 2023

lol @ Sordo: "what they do the kids, the others?"

whoa, stage win for Loubet :) (and leading the rally)

Nice one Loubet! Although the gap should be bigger

Taka has some problem with alternator, lets hope that its not any serious.

Rossel had smoth and very good lines.

Fourmaux on a mission looking at the splits... either that or M-Sport have made a big step with the Fiesta Rally2...

Suninen with a great time

All new Skodas behind Citroen, Ford and Hyundai :D

Meeke 10s down

First impressions from Rally2 field:
* top3 with different cars and no Skodas in top3
* a bit surprised that Mikkelsen is a bit away from pace, but maybe needs some warm-up after long competition pause
* Virves lost 50sec...

kudos to the heli guys.. proper footage!!!

I think Mikkelsen is playing it safe, he has enough experience here to know where and when to push. Only thing for him to do is to control the gap to lead pack (specially Suninen).

EDIT: Bulacia wth the great time on SS1

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Originally Posted by JRodrigues

kudos to the heli guys.. proper footage!!!

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Yeah, what a view. Already thinking that need to go there just for watching around and making pictures.

Seems stage for "pilots" as well (Rovanperä, Tänak, Lappi)

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Originally Posted by JRodrigues

kudos to the heli guys.. proper footage!!!

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Indeed, superb!

Góis looks similar to last year, the cleaning effect isn't as pronounced as Lousã. Arganil should be the same as this one. I hope Loubet can keep it up, and Evans can avoid too much time (and confidence) loss...

Ott is on a huge push in here!

Tänak!

Góis is a stage where men are separated from boys. Max speed on 6th and slipping through those fast corners demands full confidence...

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Originally Posted by Rallyper

Góis is a stage where men are separated from boys. Max speed on 6th and slipping through those fast corners demands full confidence...

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That is what I referred as "pilots" stage.

Seems that Tänak made proper statement here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by meh

That is what I referred as "pilots" stage.

Seems that Tänak made proper statement here.

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And that is while he was struggling with rhythm a little

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Originally Posted by Rallyest

And that is while he was struggling with rhythm little

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It seems that he's got a wooden racehorse at least, and not a wooden donkey :laugh:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lead

I think Mikkelsen is playing it safe, he has enough experience here to know where and when to push. Only thing for him to do is to control the gap to lead pack (specially Suninen).

EDIT: Bulacia wth the great time on SS1

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Looks like later Rally2 cars have a slight advantage as first ones have to re-sweep after the Rally1s. Mikkelsen's time not too bad compared to Solberg. Maybe expect better times from the Skodas on SS2 which looks faster.

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Originally Posted by ouvreur

It seems that he's got a wooden racehorse at least, and not a wooden donkey :laugh:

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Wooden horse on steroids

Fourmaux with superb time!

So far so good for all the m-sport guys, lets hope it stays that way

SS2:
* Tänak with proper statement
* A bit surprised that Neuville and Lappi are not on pace compared to similar starting position
* Sordo delivered again, probably made good decision with 2 spares
* Katsuta drives well but seems to carry some problems (run fast away from both stage ends)

Rally2:
* Epic time from Fourmaux
* Mikkelsen found speed as well

Katsuta has not started the stage and based on map he is not at the start line.

* https://twitter.com/DirtFishRally/st...70981376704512

Shame for Katsuta, delay on time control/not started on time.

"Better morning than expected", not complaining but so unusual to see Tänak so positive :D

I expected Neuville and Lappi to rule today and am surprised they are that slow

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Originally Posted by Rallyest

"Better morning than expected", not complaining but so unusual to see Tänak so positive :D

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but right after finishline he said to Martin that something is really disturbing (häiriv).

Lappi again doesn't know why the time is bad. Did they get the car setup wrong again?

Afternoon will be amazing. Last year was difference between first and fifth place just 5,7s after morning loop, but in the Afternoon it was more than a minute.. So let's see!

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Originally Posted by EstWRC

I expected Neuville and Lappi to rule today and am surprised they are that slow

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Same, really surprised, Neuville was so confident before the rally talking about winning it to redeem the Croatia crash, but cant see that happening right now, still a long way to go though

SS3:
* Rovanperä found improvement from setup and won the stage from 2nd on the road
* Quite good run from Evans as well
* Surprised than Neuville and especially Lappi are so lost - and they feel they did well and got surprised at the stage end how much they lost
* Sordo doing his job well - but he is not fully using his road position or Rovanperä and Tänak just doing superb job
* Sad that Taka retired (for today), show'd some good times
* Loubet seems to have something on fire

One Ford down, one remaining

I dont think that this is rally end for him

What is on behind the right rear wheel? i dont understand what were they cooling or estinguisining, no visible smoke or fire

I think that there is exhaust somewhere, or maybe cooling breaks. I dont know, I hope its going to be okay

Loubet still at the stage end. Would be quite bad to loose 2 of 8 WRC cars with first 3 stages for technical reasons.

edit: Loubet moving away!

Great morning in performance terms for M-Sport, leading WRC & WRC2 ! :)

Poor Friday for Neuville with a deficit to make up. Nothing changes.

Problem for Katsuta but no-one is jumping on Toyota for being unreliable...