I have to give some credit to Pech too. The onboards with him, especially SS10, are very nice. Really good and dynamic driving.
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I have to give some credit to Pech too. The onboards with him, especially SS10, are very nice. Really good and dynamic driving.
Kubica's start and one moment for Pech
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=64 ... =2&theater
Question to Robert Kubica
Can you explain your tyre choice for the final stage and talk us through your drive on the stage?
RK: “I have no experience to be honest. I did see a few things yesterday and today on the stages. The only real tyre test we did was in France last week when it was raining, so similar conditions. But then I added here the Tarmac was more slippery, I was often aquaplaning in the loop before on slicks, we were driving in the night and there would be a lot of mud and my choice would be for snow tyres because we have no wet tyre. But we couldn’t use four tyres because we would be out of the tyre limit for the rally so we decided to put two stud tyres and two snow tyres and it worked out very well. But it hasn’t been an easy stage because there was a lot of fog and I clipped one of the wood sticks and one of the additional lights went out of the support cover and turned into my face. I knew there was fast section and I was trying to switch it off. But the first thing I started searching the button like it was the Citroën but then I realised I’m not any more in Citroën, I am in a Fiesta and then I don’t hear the last pacenotes from Maciej. I saw there was a field, after three times he repeated I hear it but it was too late and we had a big moment and I apologise because it was not nice. It shouldn’t happen but it’s better these things come out now than during the season. We will need to fix because when we are driving in the night I have the buttons on the steering wheel and I couldn’t see anything so we have to do some modifications to help with this. It has been a difficult stage but somehow after two kilometres I knew I had a big advantage so I was just hoping to bring the car to the finish. I was pretty confident the gap would be big enough and so it was the case.”
http://www.fiaerc.com/news
day2 part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCqRJAXVlyE
day2 part2 with RK moment with headlamp at last stage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETr5inV7JrI
Big moment of Harrach in this video at 0:54!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ANoqgKU4GQ
My summary of Jänner Rallye 2014 – seen from a local fan point of view (watching this rally since 1979 with some exceptions):
Even without Skoda and Peugeot (I think the latter weren´t even expected) a not so bad entry list as first suspected. We had champions from 3 countries and some ERC top drivers too. The absence of Skoda was equalized with M-Sport participating, but this was an one off, as we all know.
The date of the rally will be even more critical in 2015 and 2016, it comes nearer to new years eve one day every year. Finally in 2017 it would be possible to move it away to 6th till 8th january. If Jänner is then still in ERC and MMCR, we´ll see. Maybe some break in the next two years from ERC could be a possibility, who knows.
For fans Jänner is and stays very popular, Rallybase obviously was short from crashing especially on sunday (very long time to load page) – which I never observed before.
And Jänner never is a boring rally where one guy leads from the beginning and wins this rally without hard fighting. This year we saw four different leaders during the rally. Aisttal stages bring some dramatic final every year, with last minute winners and dramatic position changes in the last moment.
The lack of snow became an issue within the last years (in the last 4 years only 2012 was more snow than tarmac), but ice and mud from cutting edges make this rally still very hard for drivers every year. For viewers Jänner is an impressive rally even on tarmac/mud, as I could see these days and as many other specators I talked to stated. Maybe some stages could be done new, at least in parts, so that they aren´t too easy when there is no snow.
My summary of top- and priority drivers at Jänner:
- Kubica: very very impressive final, seems to learn tactics now – big improvement compared to his ERC appearances last year. Sad that we won´t get to see him in ERC so soon again – but think he´s a contender of Top Five in WRC this Year
Pech: Also very impressive performance – this year leaving his Austrian rival Baumschlager far behind compared to the last years, when he finished 4th and 5th. Even if he only starts in MMCR, we´ll have to watch him at Barum, where he finished also second in 2013. So he´s an European top driver at any rate.
Baumschlager: A bit dissapointed by his performance, stopped fighting on day two like last year – maybe he gets a bit old slowly?
Harrach: always fights when he´s participating at a rally. His future is uncertain, his sponsor is in financial crisis. He said he´ll do only selected rallies in Austrian championship this year. I don´t understand why he didn´t start with a rented Fiesta, like his teammate Grössing did at one Austrian rally last year. I think he could afford it, his family is a rich and famous one in Austria.
Tarabus: Very good performance, I´d expect him in top ten of every ERC rally he´s doing
Aigner: Very dissapointing start, then slowly consolidating – his future is uncertain too.
Gryazin: solid performance, like in the last ERC rallies he was doing. We´ll hear more from him I suppose
Odlozilik: OK, but probably no danger to Pech in MMCR, even with Tarabus missing this year.
Consani: Good performance, Think 9th place was very important rally for his confidence after his misluck in 2013. Change to an RC2 car was a good decision it seems.
Neubauer: Very good rally – but he´s already used to this car from Austrian championship 2012.
Tlustak: It seems to me he´s always looking for position 9 or 10 and waiting for some drivers in front of him – but at Jänner it doesn´t seem to happen for him. Think this is not his favourite rally.
Kajto: unlucky fellow of the rally – was my tipp for winning and a hard fight with Kubica till the end. Hope he can continue with R5 in ERC, he´d deserve it.
Cerny: No luck for him at Jänner too ... Last year he retired on last stage. Would be a good ERC contender I think, but he obviously lacks the money.
Great video including the off of Harrach :vader: The tree he hit probably helped him not to fall down the hill...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or93ksSyMXM
Another video with some very nice action (seeded driver by driver)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRADXsZNfk0
He was very lucky to finish, still strong performance!Quote:
Originally Posted by Raven
Marcus Gronholm rules :-) (watch Eurosport transmission)