[IRC] Cyprus Rally 2011

Woo hoo, brilliant drive from TH - so who would make a better Citroen no 2. Neuville or Hirvonen?
If anyone is interested I'm currently auctioning a signed Neuville and Gilsoul poster on e-bay - Very pleased to have a spare and a shot I took at Ypres 10 signed by him. I remember looking at the provisional results at Ypres last year and he was standing next to me, totally un-hassled. Think he might be very much a centre of attention from now on. :champion:

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Originally Posted by Juha_Koo

Come on, Neuville has only driven seven gravel rallies and he has very limited experience in WRC. You really think he could manage Citroen's second seat?

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More than Juho can manage a VW second seat, I would venture. However, SWRC would give him another year's experience of WRC rounds (as Tanak has done this year).

bravo to Neuville for his blitzspeed.In a ss without championship points risk, he was faster than Juho.In first half of the year if somebody had to tell me something like this i wouldn t give even 10% chances.Rallying magic strikes again.
Extreme progress through the year for Neuville on both surfaces.
Juho seems that he has toped his progress,and from know he hasn t got any more to give.Afraid that is not enough for making the next step in wrc.On the opposite Mikkelsen and Neuville seems that they haven t toped their progress.
Kopecky 0,6-0,7 sec km/h slower.No comment.

ps Mirek feel free to discuss :p :

I have nothing to add as I agree with You.

I can discuss. I think that Juho lost his speed due to his step into SWRC. In IRC you must push from beginning till the end, in SWRC it is more about tactics (longer stages, less number of tyres, less number of services, less number of rivals, superally etc.).

Some new photos from Cyprus by Josef Petru - Autosport

http://www.autosport.cz/img/clanky/b...91032e8bd4.jpghttp://www.autosport.cz/img/clanky/e...9b25938a67.jpghttp://www.autosport.cz/img/clanky/1...eab67a239a.jpg

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Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza

Hirvonen has never improved since Grönholm retired from the WRC. Hirvonen hasn't shown flashes of speed and he had 3 or 4 times teamorders in his favour this year. I don't know why he must be in this topic.

Kopecký has shown the speed on tarmac, there weren't teamorders in his favour and a 2nd place on gravel in Cyprus with another codriver isn't bad in my opinion. With all points systems in the past, Kopecký would be the logical champion.

Which bad sportsmanship do you mean?

Now we have an IRC champion who crashed much more than the other title contenders.

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I brought Mikko up because Kopecky is a similar sort of driver - going for points but rarely showing flashes of real pace this year. And in my eyes, the quickest drivers i.e. Loeb and Mikkelsen deserve the titles. The bad sportsmanship I mean is that Kopecky had the cheek to say that Andreas has got 'lucky' in the last two events at the final stage end, which is completely out of order. And it doesn't matter if Andreas crashed more - he was the fastest and in my opinion its the fastest driver who deserves to be champion. Its not like he never finished rallies - he won 2 and came a very close 2nd in Azores and San Remo.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

It was a puncture on Troják not a problem with his car.

You also keep playing with word luck. But why is someone who doesn't crash lucky and someone who crashes all the time unlucky? It may be a question of luck if it happens accidentally but if You crash/puncture in half of the events and the other one doesn't crash at all, it has nothing to do with luck but just with driving style and overall attitude. Kopecký is the guy for whom first target is to finish. For Andreas first target seems to be being the fastest. We saw that this brings very different results under different rules (just compare how Pons became SWRC champion and Mikkelsen became IRC champion). For IRC it's definitely better to risk as You have plenty of jokers to spent but still we are all human and someone just doesn't want to risk as much as the other. Now Andreas would have to step further and also find consistency because to success in WRC this flat out style can't work. Let's hope he is able to improve reliability. Speed is no question.

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Puncture, sorry. But the point remains as not all punctures are due to driving style but instead can be bad luck if massive rocks are dragged into unnoticeable areas in front of him. Kopecky has been lucky to see other drivers have incidents and for him to avoid them. Yes skill is obviously involved too as crashing isn't a skillful thing, and some punctures are due to dangerous driving style. But in my view Andreas has been unlucky with punctures, and maybe inexperienced with accidents, which took away massive points in Hungary and potentially Monte Carlo. I think I just beleive the fastest driver is the deserving champion - be it Hanninen, Neuville or Andreas, but Kopecky was undoubtedly not the quickest this year. For him to win through consistency isn't the same as a driver winning through sheer pace.


Congratulations to Neuville as well by the way. What a load of potential there is there.

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Originally Posted by PLuto

I can discuss. I think that Juho lost his speed due to his step into SWRC. In IRC you must push from beginning till the end, in SWRC it is more about tactics (longer stages, less number of tyres, less number of services, less number of rivals, superally etc.).

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First of all, I don't think Juho has lost his speed. The youngsters (Tänak, Mikkelsen, Neuville to a degree) have only caught up on him.

Juho took the SWRC title and could've taken the IRC title as well if not for a major mistake. Juho won 3 IRC rounds this year. Is SWRC really a regressing series, I don't believe so. It's clear that the field is far narrower than in IRC, but Hänninen vs. Tänak battle takes from the winner the same amount of dedication than the IRC battles. What I think could've effect Hänninen's performance this year is outside pressure - namely VW - but this is purely guessing. It's a different mindset to drive for a future seat than to drive only for victory of a rally or series. And even with his mistakes on the second half of the season, Hänninen should be considered as one of the unproven, but definitely fast, all-around, hugely experienced, PR friendly driver - someone who should have a place in this sport. And that is not anything taken away from the three abovementioned youngsters: generations change and those all are very potential guys to go pro in this sport, all with natural way of approach to take progress.

Also, in addition, 2011 IRC season was awesome. Great rallies, great battles, many great drivers. I can only hope this series takes on in the future too with new drivers coming into mix while the best leave for WRC.

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Originally Posted by Hartusvuori

Juho took the SWRC title and Also, in addition, 2011 IRC season was awesome. Great rallies, great battles, many great drivers. I can only hope this series takes on in the future too with new drivers coming into mix while the best leave for WRC.

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Agree 100% - the IRC is still going strong even if its becoming a Skoda championship, but hopefully Neuville, Bouffier and Wilks can get even more involved next season.

Watching Neuville was just fantastic :) Ever since I saw him live in Hungary on the absolute limit, I just know he is the next big thing :) Don't forget- Neuville didn't even start his first rally when Mikkelsen was going WRC and Irish tarmac in WRCs !