No Rally is sure for this year (or even next year)
Sad but true.
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Chris Ingram feels great to be back behind the wheel:
https://www.facebook.com/chrisingram...00341408116703
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/t...W_TSPMKKpNXdrc
Μads testing in France
https://youtu.be/4ST1Wdw9kTA
The aftermath:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzvFDqzX...jpg&name=large
Bad start of the season for Tom Kristensson - first the crash in Italy and now this. He was only 5th in WRC2 until his crash on SS7.
Yohan Rossel was leading WRC3 untill SS11 when this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHQmvK2MNY8
Nikolay Gryazin was 3rd in WRC2 until SS19 when this happened:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ezzw8OyW...g&name=900x900
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzzwO-EX...jpg&name=large
Positively surprised by Østberg on tarmac. Yes Gryazin was often faster but also had a moment in every other stage. (Didn't get any real comparison with Mikkelsen).
I rate this result higher than all his WRC2 wins last year. (He won WRC2 4 times last year but wasn't the fastest Rally2 car on a single rally, sometimes also due to start position)
Ingram hits cameras:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBvTrX3tzOM
they were very lucky..
https://www.rallit.fi/jari-huttusen-...oonsa-kesalla/
Huttunen's program this year is Sardegna with old car, then Estonia, Ypres, Acropolis, Finland and Catalunya with new Rally2 car.
Well on paper WRC2 looks great this year with Mikkelsen, Østberg and Huttunen definitely trying for title and Solberg, Formaux, Lappi and maybe Suninen also likely doing enough rounds.
What I fear though is that with the scoring system it becomes more of a case of who "picks" events to avoid competition better and also who picks events that suit the car/driver. As we can see Hyundai basically dropped the start of the season waiting for new car, while Skoda seems to be doing the opposite.
We can also end up in more situations where the "scoring" driver is beaten by the "non-scoring" ones, which is essentially what was the standard in 2020.
So that a champion can be "the guy that was highest scoring (not fastest) in 6 of his handpicked events, beating another driver who got less points in different 6 handpicked events and the two barely met on same rally and both got beaten by a different driver"
Right now it's even theoretically possible to win the championship without ever meeting a main competitor on a rally (12 rounds, 6 best count). Is it still the same championship when people are competing on different rallies?
Still it is and hopefully stays much better than last year.
A bit strange - he gives a link to article which says Sardinia and writes Portugal :confused: OK, they've changed post :)
Attachment 2086
After Croatia Rally, Chris Ingram looks back on his performance:
"I really struggled to get a feeling in the car after a long lay off. Many of the WRC guys in regroup said it was the most difficult rally to choose to come back to, and was the hardest tarmac event they'd ever done.
Even still I'm not satisfied at all with results like that and we need to make progress with the car to get the confidence back and be at one again.
We will be at the start of the first round of the Portuguese Rally Championship this weekend to prepare for Rally de Portugal and to generally get some confidence back."
Bit hard on himself, but spoken like a true champion !
WRC3 highlights from Croatia Rally 2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3bn7m9NZmA
Suninen WRC2 for Portugal
So no World Rally Car debut for Huttunen in Finland. Hopefully some other rounds, but Grönholm said before the season that probably not this year. What on earth he has to do? Loubet, Veiby and Solberg have alreary driven Hyundai´s WRC and Jari had better results than others. Of course there is money behind these decisions...
I'd basically say Huttunen is getting his career destroyed by Hyundai. First by the season with i20 that wasn't competetive and broke all the time. Then they almost drop him but he stays and they "almost" let him drive WRC (he drove the one local Finish rally). Year later he does everything and wins WRC3 and Adamo talks how great he is... and then drops him from 3/4 first rallies (with engine failure after one stage on the one start) and only book him for Rally2 for rest of season. ( He could have driven some outside of points like Solberg did in Monte).
I can only think the answer to your questions is money. Huttunen cannot afford a WRC start or additional WRC2 starts like the others
probably Solberg won his seat,and they cant afford 2 young drivers.
Spanish champion Pepe López is going to compete in WRC3 with Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo managed by RaceSeven. His first event will be Rally Portugal.
source:
https://www.motor.es/noticias/pepe-l...202177528.html
https://periodismodelmotor.com/wp-co...fabia-wrc3.jpg
Mads Østberg
@MadsOstberg
·
1h
Back to work! Development testing with @CitroenRacing
#C3Rally2Family
Seems like some serious money is getting poured into WRC2 this year from most manus but also privateers. Not like it's something new though, back in 2016-2017 Skoda was testing more than some WRC manu teams.
This year:
Hyundai developing new car. Veiby did like 4 snow rallies before arctic and Solberg also did one. Now Veiby did test rally in Portugal.
Gryazin got 2 "testing" rallies and a test before Croatia, before that also testing rally before Arctic.
Østberg "testing" rally the weekend before Croatia then a development test right before recce taking new dampers with him to the rally. Now another development test a week later.
Mikkelsen had 3 day test before Croatia.
and then you have people like Lappi and Suninen who get 1-2 day test at best.
How much of that effort comes from the teams' desire to develop the car? How much comes from the backing of the drivers to make sure they are better than their rivals? I could see Veiby, Solberg and Gryazin being able to test as much as they want. Östberg and Mikkelsen probably have also some development work with the team, and also the Hyundai guys when they are developing the new car.
Well off course it's not like the they use all the money "just" to get good results in WRC2.
At the same time they adapt the development and related testing so that it fits. Like the Østberg test right before Croatia and Hyundai basically keeping their drivers from starting/getting points (Solberg in Croatia and Monte), just so they can collect points with new car.
Main point was that there is a significant amount of money directly or indirectly being used in the category.
Do you know that Andre Villas-Boas, former manager of Chelsea, Tottenham and FC Porto football clubs is going to compete in Rally de Portugal?
https://www.bbc.com/sport/motorsport/56966901
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7M6X1NLRNc
WRC - FIA World Rally Championship
@OfficialWRC
That time @MotorsportSkoda
found a saw
Carpentry saw
in the workshop...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0mx34iX...name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0mx6FmW...name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0mx7U6W...name=4096x4096
more photos of the cut fabia:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...94088007296822
Lappi is IN for Portugal
https://twitter.com/EsapekkaLappi/st...081413/photo/2
Yes, this half cut Fabia is really, really nice. And nicely done. There is also half cut engine next to it.
Is there someone doing that wrc2&3 combined standings in 2021?
Not the best source out there but: (wrc2&3)
mikkelsen 43
lappi 25
ostberg 25
gryazin 25
rossel 20
suninen 18
formaux 18
bulacia 16
kajetan 15
camilli 15
asunmaa 12
ciamin 12
lindholm 10
kaur 10
bonato 8
brynildsen 8
veiby 6
ingram 4
heikkila 4
johnston 2
pietarinen 2
zaldivar 2
ekstrom 1
keferbock 1
Interesting to think that a driver like Lappi have its wrc2 points.... AND 'wrc' points, since the WRC top class is not made for Rally1 cars Its made for the general Top10 of each round. Like an Open ClassISH.
Pepe Lopez won the first stage in WRC3 and crashed on the second one:
https://www.ewrc-results.com/media/6...gal-2021/3285/
Another Spaniard out. Solans crashed on SS5:
https://www.ewrc-results.com/media/6...gal-2021/3290/
Chris Ingram & Ross Whittock unfortunately got stuck behind Emil Lindholm in SS5 & lost over 40'. Let's hope they can get some time back. They are 4th overall tonight, but the rally is far from over !
I think that Ingram got much of his time back. They gave him exactly the same stage time as Kajto on SS5 and SS6:
https://storage.googleapis.com/downl...5935&alt=media