It's more about who manages to drive slow enough today, conditions are really bad
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It's more about who manages to drive slow enough today, conditions are really bad
Strange they had a stream on FB for Free Practice but nothing for the Qualifying in which driver's actually score points for the Championship. They really need to sort this, especially with the advent of All Live on WRC.
Petter on top in Q2, followed by Timmy and Kevin. Bakkerud fourth, Johan fifth. Ekstrom (who won Q1) all the way down in 7th. Renaults down in 10th and 11th.
It will be dry tomorrow so hopefully we'll get a better picture of how things stand this year.
Top 12 after day one:
1. Petter SOLBERG 45 50 95
2. Mattias EKSTRÖM 50 37 87
3. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON 42 39 81
4. Andreas BAKKERUD 38 40 78
5. Kevin HANSEN 32 42 74
6. Janis BAUMANIS 39 35 74
7. Timmy HANSEN 26 45 71
8. Robin LARSSON 35 36 71
9. Jérôme GROSSET-JANIN 37 34 71
10. Guerlain CHICHERIT 36 33 69
11. Sébastien LOEB 40 27 67
12. Niclas GRÖNHOLM 28 38 66
Qually points: http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/re...ercar/esp/2018
Qualified for semi-finals:
Solberg, T.Hansen, Kristoffersson, Ekström, Bakkerud, Grönholm, Larsson, Baumanis, Timerzyanov, Grosset-Janin, Chicherit, K.Hansen.
If this result stands the judges seem to be hell bent on destroying this season as well. What bullshit.
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Ekström was half a car lenght ahead...
and Petter didn´t brake.
No need for penalty.
He was nowhere near half a car ahead, and they both braked before the corner.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
Video here: https://www.facebook.com/fiaworldral...4481592564325/
Ekstrom pushed Petter a hell of a lot harder than Petter pushed Ekstrom back in Latvia. And Petter got DQed there so I expect nothing less this time.
And there it is, Ekström is DISQUALIFIED.
http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/ar...n-opener-after
First guy to the corner chooses the raceline. And Ekström was first.
However it´s horrible placing such fence in the inside of first corner.
Ridiculous...VW has the stewards grabbed by the balls...
You are both wrong. Race line is ok, but it isn't a free pass. The rules are NOT ment to be interpreted so that if you're 2 cm ahead you can push whoever is alongside you into whatever stationary object you see. Ekströms move was considered a "dangerous maneuver" and rightfully so. Petter turned right and braked but had nowhere to go.
https://i0.wp.com/parcferme.no/wp-co...0%2C1067&ssl=1
Ekstrom isn't obliged to open the door. Solberg was always going for a disappearing gap.
There was supposedly a meeting before the race about this and the drivers were warned.
Anyway was looking forward to an interesting final and then in the first corner the driver that lead all weekend is out and the one stays in the lead is likely to get disqualified. Instantly killed any excitement.
Ekström was off the track with all 4 wheels, that's a bit more than just closing the doorQuote:
Originally Posted by macebig
Happy with the DQ but having that tyre barrier on turn 1 was a bad design and an accident was probably inevitable at some point. Pity it came in the Final.
OK.
It took 5 hours for judges to make that decision, seems to me that it was not clear case.
I´m ready to admit that it was right decision.
Having a Monster-sponsored Championship and a Monster-sponsored Team (PSRX VW) does make it a bit tricky when a Red Bull car clashes with them.. ;)
However I don´t like Petters explanation. Saying he was happy it wasn´t a concrete barrier at the place, says very much how much you need to explain your side of the fault.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Got back from Spain late last night, so only just got round to catching up on the forum! Real mix of conditions over the two days, wet and incredibly slippery loose surface on Saturday versus a dry and fast track on Sunday.
Very tough call for the officials with regards to the incident in the final. Ekstrom was marginally ahead, but I personally think he was too pushy: Solberg had the inside line and was travelling at roughly the same speed, but Ekstrom put his car inside the white lines, so he must have known that any car inside of him was being forced well over them.
That said, I think it was a poor bit of track design and I am honestly surprised that there wasn't more then one car that collected that tyre barrier. Solberg was dominant for a large portion of the weekend and he at least deserved a podium, was a real shame to see his weekend end like that. He gave the Polo a damn good thrashing in the final though!
Fantastic drive from Nitiss in the European Championship. My first impression was that Marklund was going to be the pace setter again, but Nitiss was great in the wet on Saturday afternoon and again in the dry on Sunday.
Apparently the dates for GRC have now disappeared, maybe they killed the championship quicker than we thought?
It's dead for the year if not completely. Subaru jumped to the competing America Rallycross Championship like they bailed on Rally America a few years ago to go with the new American Rally Association.
Subaru's been doing very well in the US as their cars are getting bigger and blander. I'm kind of surprised they still bother to focus on sponsoring performance at all, here.
https://jalopnik.com/ugly-lawsuit-do...bal-1825327602
GRC has a trail of unpaid bills. No 2018 season. Not looking good for future years.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Here are links to 2 articles
http://autoweek.com/article/racing/r...l-unpaid-bills
https://jalopnik.com/ugly-lawsuit-do...bal-1825327602
I am normally very sceptical of Jalopnik articles (especially concerning rallycross) as they tend to be inaccurate and/or based on questionable sources.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregor-y
Given that seems to be quoting actual legal documents though, that seems pretty damming.
It's normally a bunch of softball nostalgia and comment seeking articles, but every now and then there's a decently sourced piece.Quote:
Originally Posted by tbtstt
He was visibly shaken after the race, and they did carry quite a bit of speed even into the first corner. Then considering it's only been 7 months since he had to be removed from his car by medical personell and taken to the hospital with broken bones I can understand that he feared the worst when hurtling towards the tires with his wheel turned to the right and his middle pedal to the floor, to no avail. He was looking ahead to the first corner, his braking point and so on, with an S1 right next to him. I guess he didn't consider the possibility of Ekström turning into him and crashing him into the first stationary object along the track. I wouldn't either. Timur maybe, and perhaps Bakkerud, but not Ekström.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
..and who would blame them? With only one other team signed up for GRC 2018 and the abondonment of the cars they have invested in, it's only logical to withdraw and go to a series that welcomes them and their machinery with open arms.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregor-y
I think Subaru also got pretty tired of being run off the track by the GRC owner's son Austin Dyne and always getting away with itQuote:
Originally Posted by tomhlord
From what has been said thus far I think there will be more GRC horror stories coming out over the next few months. It seems the divisions within the series have been growing for some time.
Forgive the double post, but I just uploaded some pictures from the opening round of the Championship in Barcelona. Few of my faves:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/864/41...0b41fb61_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/952/26...6536d385_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/971/27...c5e4d2fa_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/872/27...c0fa3d40_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/959/41...fb24ed0f_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/943/41...5a093718_b.jpg
Loads more pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/229616...57692943651242
If any of you are interested!
I see that Pucher is back with Topi and Andrew Jordan for a select few events (GB, Germany and something else I think), guess he's regretting having a whinge at IMG and heading over to GRC!
Pucher is pretty vocal on Facebook: he is still insisting that the GRC Europe Championship is coming in 2019.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Could be a possibility to see Sordo in WRX, maybe in a Renault Megane.
Will be interessting.
Times are in for Montalegre free practice and the fastest guy this weekend is...
*drumroll*
Petter Solberg!
Followed by:
Kristofferson
I'll-crash-you-if-I-can-Ekström
Timmy
Loeb
Kevin Hansen
Baumanis
Timur
Grönholm
Chichi
Bakkerud
Disappointing pace from Andreas.. But he only did 9 laps, most of the others did 20. Maybe some technical issue?
Top 5 Q1
Top 5 Q2
1. Sébastien LOEB 1 02:41.054 50 2. Mattias EKSTRÖM 2 02:41.266 45 3. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON 3 02:42.559 42 4. Guerlain CHICHERIT 4 02:42.792 40 5. Andreas BAKKERUD 5 02:43.144 39
1. Timmy HANSEN 1 02:39.635 50 2. Sébastien LOEB 2 02:39.669 45 3. Mattias EKSTRÖM 3 02:40.044 42 4. Petter SOLBERG 4 02:40.552 40 5. Andreas BAKKERUD 5 02:40.554 39
http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/result/por/2018
Lovely conditions...
[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Db9RMv8WAAEqY1f.jpg[/img]
Well quite an eventful end to the racing in Portugal. EKS and Peugeot both looked stronger than PSRXVW in qualifying, but poor strategy from EKS left the door wide open for Kristoffersson in the semi-final. Good recovery from Solberg as well (helped by the Eriksson/Baumanis contact), thought he had thrown his chances away when he stalled on the line.
Has Chichiret got a lot better, or is the Prodrive Megane really, really, quick? I thought Grosset-Janin would be the quickest guy in GCK, but Guerlain seems to be doing well, him knocking Ekstrom out was the biggest surprise of the weekend.
I think that Chicherit benefited from circumstance rather than legit pace. He managed to get some clear races in qually and then the Hansen/Ekstrom/Bakkerud scrap in the semi so basically gave him a bye to the final....that said, the Prodrive Megane is definitely quick and I think could have been competitive with the right driver. Interesting to note that the manufacturer is GCK,rather than Renault, so possibly a falling out?
EKS really shot themselves in the foot, although looked to me that Ekstrom got a nudge wide in the semi-final (rubbing's racing and all that). All the f**king about on the first corner was what allowed Petter back into the race. Entertaining weekend, weather looked horrible at times.
I don't think there was ever any mention of Renault manufacturer endorsement for GCK was there? The designation doesn't surprise me, OMSE and MJP (and possibly others) have branded their Fiestas as manufactured by themselves (rather than Ford) in the past.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Yeah, EKS left the door wide open for Johan. The Eriksson/Baumanis contact definitely played into Solberg's hands. It wasn't clearly shown on the TV coverage, but I think Eriksson and Baumanis traded more paint during the rest of the race as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Second weekend that Timmy Hansen has fallen short at the last hurdle as well. The results don't really show it, but at present I think the Peugeot Sport 208 is the quickest car out there.