2008 Rally New Zealand - official thread

Just some thoughts about Latvala-Hirvonen comparison. People tend to say that Hirvonen is slower than his younger compatriot, while Latvala himself is a new generation of talent, much faster than even Loeb, judging by his raw speed. But it's not the first time that I notice Latvala is actually fast only when he's helped by better road position. And while he's in the same conditions as Loeb and Hirvonen, he loses to both of them. Combined with his inconsistency... He doesn't impress me at all on gravel anymore...

Nice to see Hirvonen in the lead after the first day. Loeb must finally push in the next days. Good day for Duval, 5th place is excellent. P. Solberg is again very disappointing. It seems Andersson is faster than Gardemeister, why is Gardemeister too slow this year? Or had Garde problems in this day?

I am going now to work.

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Originally Posted by Minke

yea.. I noticed that.. I'm thinking that Citeron did that on purpose so that the FOrd guys couldn't watch his split times and thus play road position games...

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Actually they are not allowed to do so. Only thing they can do is connect it little bit "loosely": I remember that it was in the rule book that all P1 and P2 drivers should have GPS tracking system connected all the time (to give split times for wrc.com). But I don't think that Loeb played tactics. second on the road is not much better than first.. and to hope claw back 30 sek from Hirvonen is a bit tall task even for Loeb :-)
More realistic is the possibility that on the first stage, when Loeb went off, he damaged his car a little bit and therefore some electrical problems appeared such as starter was not working and GPS was lost.

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Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza

Nice to see Hirvonen in the lead after the first day. Loeb must finally push in the next days. Good day for Duval, 5th place is excellent. P. Solberg is again very disappointing. It seems Andersson is faster than Gardemeister, why is Gardemeister too slow this year? Or had Garde problems in this day?

I am going now to work.

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Gardemeister went off on the first stage, hit a bank and got puncture and damaged a car a little bit. On the afternoon stages he was nearly as fast as Andersson.

Loeb was indeed lucky not to roll and not to damage the car:
http://demand.global-mix.net/?o=gmuk...wmv&.wvxg=

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Originally Posted by bluuford

Loeb was indeed lucky not to roll and not to damage the car:
http://demand.global-mix.net/?o=gmuk...wmv&.wvxg=

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What quick work at the wheel. That's why he' 4 times world champion and the rest are nobodys :)

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Originally Posted by Daniel

What quick work at the wheel. That's why he' 4 times world champion and the rest are nobodys :)

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you dare call the rest "nobodys"? I wouldn't.

Slowing behind is one thing, losing 30 seconds is another. With the speed of competition right now 30seconds is a very big gap. One would not stop in the beginning of the stage unless he can foretell what will happen during the stage.

If Loeb does it ion purpose he could go to Hirvonen and said: I think you are too slow so I gave you some times to make it more interesting.

It's really amazing how calm and collected Elena is all the time, it's like nothing happens around him except his notes.

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Originally Posted by bluuford

Loeb was indeed lucky not to roll and not to damage the car:
http://demand.global-mix.net/?o=gmuk...wmv&.wvxg=

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That's what I call pretty greedy cut :D