seems an 1-2 for Citroen at power stage
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seems an 1-2 for Citroen at power stage
Ahhhh win no. 6 in Monte. Loeb is just the greatest!
Congrats MINI and Petter Solberg. Nobre. & Novikov with the one point! Delecour was a legend too!
The start of the year for Loeb and Citroen was ideal...now the pressure is on Latvala and Ford...can they handle it ??
i doubt it...
WRC.com is showing times again?
LOL, the ghost of NOS
Congrats to Loeb for a steady drive without 1 mistake at these conditions.Maximum points for him.
Bravo to Novikov for his first power stage point,and his driving all these 5 days.
Mikko drove well ,when tarmac wasn t tricky,not so good even for his first rally with Citroen.Was waiting more from him.
Petter the same as always,sometimes fast,sometimes less fast,but always with a mistake.
Ogier must focus at gaining experience,and not trying to demonstrate if he is fast.Everybody knows it.Gaining experience will be more usefull next year.
Henning and Mathiew every rally and slower.Campana much better than previous rally,definetely an improovement.
Sordo very good rally for him at finish even his exit at the bridge.Tanak a bit dissapointment,waiting much more from him,at least when he had the right tyre choice.
Rool on Sweden,a rally that Jari can drive well,but from his stupid mistake he is going to compete with plenty of anchos.
What the hell are they doing at Ford? Petter got to power stage with snow tyres for a 0.000000001% chance of an upset and sacrificed points for the driver's championship. -insert facepalm here-
+1 if you ask here,half of forumers will tell you that Loeb have ruined the sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by awake27
SOLBERG P. / PATTERSON C. (st. č. 4) Wrong tyre choicehttp://www.forum-rallye.com/public/s...lt/branle2.gif
Congratulations to all drivers who are arrived. I hope Evgeny will keep the lesson that when he softens his driving, it is a good result at the end. ;)
Congratulations to all drivers, especially to Seb Loeb, who has taken another well deserved win. Latvalla was a serious treath, but not for very long. Due to his mistake, he is now under a lot of pressure allready. Great rally by Sordo and also Petter, pitty about his wrong tyrechoice. Ogier was blindingly fast but also made unnecessary mistake, wich could have ended much worse if you ask me. Bring on Sweden, where i expect a very nice battle for victory. :)
This rally was boring. Bring on sweden!
Maybe he only had those tires left? Indeed strange choice elseQuote:
Originally Posted by awake27
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
A rally is always boring when one's favorite driver/team can't win it ;)
It was boring. The standings were already made on the first day. The only real thing that happened after the first day was the accident of Ogier. Do you have seen the time differences?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom206wrc
It was boring 'cos action of 3 days was put in 5 days.
HE is the (old)man of the Rally....Quote:
Originally Posted by René
I wonder how things have turned out if this would have been very snowy Monte Carlo?? Well, maybe next year....
Congrats Sebastien & Daniel. And congrats Sordo for bringing Mini second to finishline, hopefully Prodrive get the finance into balance.
I guess youre right, I gave up watching after jari matti crashed!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom206wrc
Congratulations to Loeb and to everyone who finished! :)
Expecially to Louise Cook, 2nd in PWRC! :D
Well done to Loeb on the win, was never in doubt really!
I had been looking forward to the new season for ages, but it was a bit of a dull rally in the end with big gaps between the drivers (After Petters tyre cock up) and only a few incidents to liven things up occasionally.
But still I am 99.999999% certain that I will be going to the Monte next year, it has to be done!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOjB8...ayer_embedded#!
Rasta Rally Team
Novikov the first-timer and Delecour the old-timer were the positive surprises of this event for me. Plus nice to see Petter back "alive" and at home in the Fiesta, and not so nice to see JML put the extra pressure on himself for the following events by cocking it up right away in the first event.
If anything is boring, that is the poor tarmac-performance of the current Finnish 'top drivers' in WRC.Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
After so many years in WRC(8-10?) it is unacceptable...
Here is the time to give chance for other talents in works' cars, and forget the 'gravel-boys' ;)
Or bring in specialists for different surfaces! Why dont they do that anymore?Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertS
Turini by night!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ZPiKI4CnuE8
Am happy for Dani to be up there an hope it will bring back some sense to BMW to pump in more cash for prodive to have proper and stable drivers.
The main threat is a 'complex' driver, who is fast everywhere - tarmac, gravel, snow all the same. Probably the next main threat is a same guy from France.Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp
If you want to win, you need a same talent.
I remember for a great Finnish driver, who was really fast on tarmac too, especially in MC...
This is not impossible.
If drivers like Hirvonen and Latvala can not learn to drive fast and reliable on tarmac after 8-10 years in WRC, something is fundamentally wrong with them...
Do you really compare Hirvonen with Latvala on tarmac? Latvala is way faster than Hirvonen.Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertS
I am talking about a long period. Check their stats on tarmac...some nice stage-results does not counts...Quote:
Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza
Obviously I compare them with Loeb(Ogier), Makinen, Sainz...Quote:
Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza
Is it possible that he was a live transmission :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3-QTvKSRVI
Sad for PG who had 25 SWRC points in the bag, OTH delighted for Craig B who has a hell of a head's start on what would be one of his least familiar events. Looking forward to Breen v Paddon on gravel.
Hopefully JML will reflect on this event and realise he should have come for 18 points (maybe 21) and would have got them!
Wow. For a three-minute video, I expected more than twenty seconds of actual rally action. Everything else was just filler.Quote:
Originally Posted by tolis
Mini test team 2012?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jafry
It was common practice in the past years. Ford used gravel-specialists. On tarmac too :DQuote:
Originally Posted by tfp
The Good
Petter Solberg
Could well say he was the star of the rally. Petter Solberg is back and hungry. His body language has completely changed and he is very refreshed without the pressures of finding money. Adapted to the car very quickly, as good, if not better than Hirvonen did. The smile on his face said it all, as did the fastest times. The time on SS2 though being the highlight when driving on super soft tarmac tyres in the snow and icey stage and still coming second behind Latvala. Outpacing Sordo on tarmac is another plus!
Yves Matton
Hats off to Yves. First rally as the director of Citroen Racing and first win. Considering he has the 2 drivers who’ve been fighting each other for years, his ability to accommodate Mikko into the team has been great. His ability to manage all the information coming to his drivers has meant that Citroen formulated the best tyre/setup strategies across the event apart from SS1/2.
Evgeniy Novikov
The toughest rally on the calendar and the driver touted as most likely to crash. First Monte, so to finish is a fantastic result. The best thing about his 5th place, is how he went about it. Kept the car on the road the whole time, was faster through day 2 and day 3, and backed off and consolidated on day 4 to keep position. Hopefully more of the same in Sweden, pending on tactics he could end up anywhere from 3rd to 7th if he drives for points. Bravo Evgeniy!
Pierre Campana
Was happy when he got the drive, and had big shoes to fill with Meeke not having the $$s to contribute to his drive. Drove a rally similar to Novikov’s, except drove strongly on day 3 and 4, after having taken the first two days cautiously. 7th is a great effort, and I hope Mini will find the means to develop his skills a bit more.
Francois Delecour
The old master still has it. Amazing drive from someone out of a WRC drive for 10 years. If he had more seat time, he’d still be a force in the championship. A dew 2nd fastest stage times to his name is great when you consider he would have beaten most of the Loeb, Sordo, Solberg and Hirvonen quartet. Hopefully finds the funds to do at least the tarmac rounds, though I’m doubtful it will happen.
Sebastien Ogier
The Skoda is a good car, and well suited the cooler conditions (note S2000 performances in snow), and although the weather unpredictability evens out the power difference, Ogier still did very well in a car he doesn’t too well, nor really needs to get to know all that well. Could well have contributed to his off, but its good to see he’s not just settling for class wins.
Eurosport
Given the circumstances, they did amazingly well to get their equipment and staff to the Monte with 10 days notice. Working with Rally Radio was great, use of simulcam refreshing, however little over used, but not as annoying as Virtual Spectator. Show format (recaps of previous days) may have been due to lack of footage due to minimal cameramen at rally, thus limited shots available.
The Bad
Jari-Matti Latvala
Took a big hit in the psychological battle for the WRC title. Crashing on day 1 certainly should not be on the script of Jari-Matti. It’s a 4.5 day event and he had the lead. Strategically as anyone knows, anything can happen over the other 3.5 days, so he could have eased into second, and then with an inspired tyre choice got Loeb under pressure, or fallen back and consolidated second. Instead was pressured into pushing and now has a big fat 0 point to his name when all his rivals have points. Will take him a few rallies to catch up and needs a podium minimum in Sweden.
Mini WRT
Very poor management leading into the Monte Carlo, having to get a paid driver into their second car due to budget concerns. Luckily Campana was available and had Monte experience. Otherwise Araujo or another fringe driver would have driven. Hopefully they can turn the issue around and get a sponsor onboard.
Proton
What could have been a very promising weekend turned into somewhat of a nightmare for Proton. Basso out on the first stage, I’d start having doubts about his temperament sooner or later when there are a few other fast tarmac drivers around. PG’s engine failure again casts doubt on whether the cars are reliable. Twice in 2011 Atkinson had mechanical failures, along with the IRC failures. Need to really get their act together soon.
The Ugly
[i]Matthew Wilson[i]
The Go Fast Rally Team… …. … hmm… Honestly, he is a disgrace. If I had just sponsored his car, I would be livid with his attitude and performance. He is completely indifferent to those around him and indifferent to competition. Start of day 2 he was asked of his plans. His response was ‘To test some settings on the car”. This is the standard response. His 7th year in the WRC, and 4th Monte Carlo Rally, his performance should have been much better. Novikov, Tanak and Campana all outpaced him by miles despite only having 1 or 2 Monte (IRC) starts between them.
Louise Cook
She isn’t ugly in looks, but performance wise, just horrid. She shouldn’t be at that level, and is just making everyone aware of her gender, and giggling to get her places. No one can be so pig headed to take hard compound tarmac tyres to the Monte. You are hard pressed to find road temperature to suit the mediums, let alone hards. Conditions were for soft, super soft, or winter tyres. If she didn’t have the budget for anything else, she shouldn’t have been there. Someone needs to calculate whether she would have been better off doing Rally 2 the whole time (if it was available).
Giandomenico Basso
The Monte is a very long rally. You essentially can strategise and wait for a day or two before making your move. Crashing on the first stage is ridiculous and is a performance similar to Mikkelson last year. As a team manager I’d be furious. Driving far too fast for what was required to get the job done.
[quote="RobertS"]
I remember for a great Finnish driver, who was really fast on tarmac too, especially in MC...
This is not impossible.
QUOTE]
Mr Toivonen?
No tpf: RobertS is refering to Tommi Mäkinen.
...for the 'King of the Monte' Mr. Mäkinen :s mokin:Quote:
Originally Posted by tfp