Loeb against endurance rallies

Where does he say he is against endurance rallies, and where does he say he wants shorter rallies? The way I read it he is against those endlessly drawn out timetables like at the Monte Carlo this year. He is actually in favour of more endurance, because putting a full rally in two days means constant action and less room for mistakes and less servicetime.

Unless they drastically increase the length of WRC rallies I'm also in favour of stricter time schedules. When following a rally it's kind of boring to follow 3 morning stages, then hours of coffeebreak, finally in the afternoon the same 3 stages repeated and then somewhere in the evening after more dinnerbreaks some silly superspecial. That is a full day rallying but in the end not a lot happened.

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Originally Posted by tommeke_B

It's a bit strange that only Loeb has comments on these long events. It's like he doesn't enjoy it anymore and wants to be at home as much as possible...

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Like I said earlier I think he will calling it quits after his 10th world championship win is a great number to stop with it, though that 10th one could maybe one of the most difficult one if Ogier can control his temper and if the Polo is very fast! :D

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Originally Posted by Franky

I don't think that 4 hours of sleep will be safe, when you are driving lots of long stages very fast.

And I think we can't bring any kind of analogy with circuit racing because those endurance races are totally different. In Le Mans one driver drives max 4 stints in a row. I can't remember how long the stints were in minutes. Those guys go in circles for ever, in rallying you see one turn usually once or twice. So the conditions are very different.

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This talk about safety is in my opinion very exaggerated. Have a look on real marathon rallies. Amateur motorcyclists in Dakar often sleep two-three hours per day for two weeks and their driving is way more exhausting than that of car drivers.

WRC wants to show itself to the public as a kind of adventure but it can hardly be farther from that when drivers do basically a normal working period per day, sleep in hotels, have fancy motorhomes in service park etc.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

This talk about safety is in my opinion very exaggerated. Have a look on real marathon rallies. Amateur motorcyclists in Dakar often sleep two-three hours per day for two weeks and their driving is way more exhausting than that of car drivers.

WRC wants to show itself to the public as a kind of adventure but it can hardly be farther from that when drivers do basically a normal working period per day, sleep in hotels, have fancy motorhomes in service park etc.

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And when had we a Dakar without deaths during it?

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Originally Posted by MartijnS

For me 3 days of rallying, just as it is now most of the rallies is fine! Friday, Saturday,Sunday..I don't see why everything should be done within 48 hours.
Monte Carlo makes no sense imo..way too long event and too big timegaps between the stages.

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What he said :)

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Originally Posted by Sulland

Once upon a time rallies were endurance, like Monte carlo classic and Safari rally omongst others.

My feeling is that the calendar should have 2 endurance rallies, due to the fact that a world champion should also master that kind of 'Classic' events, that require a different kind of tactics than todays 'sprint' rally format, with 'full gas' from start to finish!

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On the other hand, 2 endurance events would give variety, and I'm sure if its only 2 events a year, Loeb wouldnt mind that :cool:

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Originally Posted by MartijnS

For me 3 days of rallying, just as it is now most of the rallies is fine! Friday, Saturday,Sunday..I don't see why everything should be done within 48 hours.
Monte Carlo makes no sense imo..way too long event and too big timegaps between the stages.

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Originally Posted by dimviii

http://www.ewrc.cz/images/2012/news/loeblezicispici.jpg

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Dimvii, love all the behind the scenes pictures you get, I've still got the one of Novikov saved on my computer :D

I think a mix of events is a good idea. Last year's Rally Jordan demonstrated that you can have a sprint event and it can work. At the same time, I think endurance events are a good idea, so long as they're actual endurance events and not a case of everyone standing around and doing nothing for hours on end, as was the case at Monte Carlo this year. If there were fifteen rallies on the calendar, then I think five sprint events, five conventional events and five endurance events would work just fine.

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Originally Posted by DonJippo

And when had we a Dakar without deaths during it?

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No WRC event lasts two weeks and no drivers do it on motorcycles. So the safety level just from that is way higher. The point was that two days of driving with little rest can't be a big problem for safety. It is only a problem of comfort. In my opinion it is nothing in terms of safety compared to the nature of the roads in Finland (or in my country) for example.

bit of an update - from the printed version of Autosport -Bullet points from the article:-
1.The championship organisers are adamant that a greater element of endurance will be brought in to the championship.
2. Rally cars could go all day without service.
3. These will be implemented in 2014.
4. Todt says that this year the rule will change to split rallies into two defined patterns, Classic rallies will have a total stage distance of between 300 and 400kms whilst endurance rallies will be between 400 and 500kms with 6 classics and 6 endurance rallies making the championship.

In another section it refers to an imminent conflict in Portugal with the drivers against night stages with potential for dust. Michelle said she understands their concerns but its important that rallying becomes more challenging. "Drivers will have to use their brains more for something that is challenging"

I predict a conflict between Jean Todt / Michelle Mouton on the FIA side versus the paddock club service park set. This is going to run for a bit but from what I have been told the FIA President is a determined (opinionated) individual who gets his way. I think FIA will win, but at what cost?

I’ve predicted a ‘war’ since Jean Todt was elected and made it clear he wanted the WRC back on track. What is best for the WRC isn’t always the best for the Manufacturers. They’ve ruled the roost for the past 10+ years, and look were that has taken us. Their moaning over last years RallyGB route shows how out of touch & clueless they are about were the sport is.
Time for Jean Todt/ FiA to have more of a say – if the Manufacturers don’t like it – go circuit racing!! Maybe he has other interested Manufacturers in line, if the current ones don’t like his plans.

However, whilst I want to see more night stages – I’m not sure having them on dry, dusty gravel Rallies is a great idea. Maybe only have them on Tarmac/ winter-wet gravel events??