so you get rid of SupeRally and make it MORE expensive for the teams to compete?Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanvv
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so you get rid of SupeRally and make it MORE expensive for the teams to compete?Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanvv
Well if factory that earns billions/year can not put one more car on start list but they can take the car to the rally and lease it to some rich guy for 150 000€, then maybe they're not interested enough for the sport. FIA/Richards/Wilson are responsible for bad decisions. That's my opinion.
SR is not healthy thing for sure but there are pros and contras - if sometimes we are live on a WRC round travelling 1-2K km's it's very painfull to see on the 2nd-3rd day less WRC cars without super rally. At the time when it was 20-25WRC at the entry list it was not so painfull but today's time we are happy to have 15. Same for local spectators, same for joung talents in WRC car they can collect less km without SR.
It worked pretty well when it was that way before. Besides, teams didn't HAVE to run 3 cars - Subaru usually didn't do so.Quote:
Originally Posted by rallyfiend
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rally Hokkaido
I think I tend to doubt that's the main reason... leg points would be very important for the championship and would be a pretty good incentive. Besides, the car would still run the stages and show the sponsors. Not sure if they would still get points for manufacturer's championship or not... but even if not, there's plenty of incentives to continue (+ to test other setups for next rallies, which was common when a driver was far back).
But, with only 1 or 2 manufacturers/official cars, there's a higher probability to be much faster than the privates (sometimes even a matter of minutes in just a few stages), and the Super Rally allows them to return the next day and pretty much compensate for the 5min time penalty.
In some rallies, the top 3~4 factory drivers are separated by only seconds, but then the rest of the top 10 is like 10~15min away... this means, if one of the top drivers crash/quit and return in super-rally with 5min penalty*, there's still a considerable probability to be, at least, 4th or 5th in the end of the rally... and that's 12 or 10pts / + manufacturers points(I think). Sometimes in extreme cases, even with 5min penalty, they might not even loose a place...
* And since the service area is never that far from the stages (standard current format favours a close central location), then the probability of missing stages is also reduced, compared to the old marathon format.
The ERC system is much better, drivers who drive fast, stay on the road and fight for the lead are rewarded in the end by the points they deserve. Those who return in Super Rally will still be part of the show and will have the incentive of doing "damage control" by trying to get Leg points going faster, and that way they also have less to loose, meaning they can risk a bit more.
I think WRC can easily adopt it in the next few years, specially when more manufacturers join the championship, and with the intention of the FIA to allow longer rallies to provide a bit more endurance and unexpected drama, this will be great for everyone.
I don't think one more car is such a burden. The more expensive part is the program itself and cars development. Besides 3rd driver would be usually junior, so he wouldn't need millions of salary.Quote:
Originally Posted by rallyfiend
When we have only two works teams I don't think adding two cars makes really a difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanvv
Well, if I take for example some Rallies this year when both Ford drivers retired at day 1, the team still would have very good chance to fight for a podium spot with the third one. I think it makes some difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by DonJippo
When You mention Ford. It's funny to see how they are proud on the record of million events finished on points in a row. Such record under superally rules with recent number of manufacturers is totally meaningless. As a rally fan I feel like someone is trying to fool me when I see such headlines...
so true!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
What is the weather for the rally?
Freezing cold, but the forecast is to warm up... june - july
Always difficult to predict, it's almost a week before the first day of the event... ;) Except that indeed it is cold (danon you are a genius!), it's impossible to predict conditions now, I think. I hope weathermaster Bluuford will provide us some update when the start of the rally is getting closer? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by boroka
Exactly! The teams can't predict what it's going to do 2 hours before the stage, never mind now!!!
for the moment it was too warm to have lot of snow. But next week lot of snow is predicted in France, and not so high in moutain. We have to see if it will stay as this or change ...
About the weather, Sordo wrote yesterday on Facebook that It's expected a lot of snow, so the tyre choice will be a mess :D .
Besides, after his last of testing on ice and some snow, he added that the car is amazing (he compared it implicitly with the Mini). Reading between the lines, he knows he's a strong candidate to win.
Consani is out: Stéphane Consani bien absent au Monte-Carlo
Shame... :( S. Consani would've been a good contendor for the 2WD-fight...
Inside information that he will ignore team orders?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kielder
What team orders?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Exactly. As Loeb doesn't compete for the title there should not be team orders in his favour... :)
I think that they will do that on Power Stage if Loeb has a big enough gap, to let Sordo and Hirvonen get the points.
"Outside information" that there won't be team orders. Inside information that Loeb is faster than anyone (well, this first part is outside too), so if he can he can keep Loeb at least a tenth of a second behind in Thoard on Thursday 18 of January they can have a chat...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Oooh, those pinstripes on the front and rear make me want to vomit.
If its lots of snow, the fight for the podium is totally different when its just wet tarmac.
loeb is of course the favorite, but if its snowy, Mads can be hard to get, if Ford don't mess up the tirechoice as usual...
i'm hoping for challenging conditions, then its more exiting :)
snow on tarmac is compeltely different than snow on gravel. lots of people must retire for Mads to reach the podiumQuote:
Originally Posted by skarderud
Lots? Not to many, Mads had developed quite well on tarmac last year.
The Turini three hours ago (from Julian Porter's Twitter account):
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAVYAuwCMAAeSVb.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAVZTt0CYAAf_K8.jpg:large
The first teams arrived...
Photos here -> Le Parc de Valence s'installe
http://www.rallye-sport.fr/wp-conten...3/img_8687.jpg
http://www.rallye-sport.fr/wp-conten...3/img_8692.jpg
Another photo of Julian Porter.
5 km of snow and Ice at the Sisteron stage :)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAZVHqyCUAAqEfN.jpg
Next stage dry again, so 59 km stage and 5 km of that full of snow :)
It is good you wrote the explanation. Some people just repost the picture and make us imagine it is all a snowy tale over there.
It can and for sure it will change till the start.
Julian Porter @The_Rally_Guru
SS11-33.19 kms, it has 17kms of snow/slush in it, really difficult stage. First 13 kms is clear as is the last 2kms, the rest, bloody scary!
SS11 is St. Jean en Royans. That stage was decisive in last editions with always crazy weather (last year the last third was pure ice with heavy rain on it; a year before it was that famous sudden heavy snowfall). You don't need to know what is there now. It changes in half an hour from dry to complete snow etc. and even info from gravel crews might be completely inaccurate. The stage itself is in my opinion most boring of all RMC stages but with the weather of Vercors mountains... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by makinen_fan
Bad weather is expected for the rally, very low temperatures and some snow, for sure not a boring weather ;)
The stage which turned around the 2011 Monte. Everybody thought Delecour was mad for picking snow tyres - and Skoda messed it up, costing Hanninen the win. Classic Monte tyre choices.....
We haven't had a very snowy WRC Monte for quite a while, I wonder if that is to change.