Of course they have to back him up.
Like I said above, there is not a chance on this planet that they would still be experiencing the same fault that they did twice in the past.
Printable View
no too sure if these were posted already, but a few comparative vids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESjN8j2a0iI
neuville, loeb, mikkelsen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIwxj3gYPVk
tanak, meeke, latvala
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXoA1o8qv30
ogier, neuville
So everyone in the media, rally journos and experts, were all taken in by this lie by Ogier. Only you somehow found it wasnt true. So where is YOUR evidence ?
And did you see the decisive PS ? Neuville absolutely threw the i20 over the finish. He held nothing back and still lost time to Ogier.
Why nobody asks if maybe Neuville held a little back the whole weekend or just saturday and sunday.. I mean what if last year's sweeping the road will be also huge at this year's event. Then Neuville will definetly have better start than Ogier. He also say it loud that secnd place in Monte is not tragic and that will come to handy on next event.
He also said, that he would have wanted to win it and then consoled himself with Sweden start position ( quite logical and may prove handy). This is also supported by the fact, that position no. 3 was over 2 minutes behind pretty much half of the event, while they two were chasing tenths.
This Ogier blaming is getting more andmore ridiculous and when someone like Neuville fuels it (against whom the whole world quite often is), it should be considered even more ridiculous.
Eddie, firstly, I am not the only one who thought he was bluffing... Neuville also said it. Secondly, stuff like this goes on all the time in all sorts of sports and certainly in motorsport. People bluff, make stuff up etc. etc.
I don't have evidence, of course I don't... if I did, the whole world would, because I would be one of the last to know.
Yes, you're correct, Neuville gave it everything on the last stage, because he didn't believe Ogier!
Finally, if the car was as bad as he said, do you honestly think he could set the times he did? - Like you said, he still beat Neuville on the last stage... when he's driving a WRC car to the absolute limit, but with a throttle he knows may stay 20% open... come on, he would have definitely left a little in reserve so he didn't have a horrendous accident if he really did know there was an issue.
Of course I may be wrong, but this is just my opinion.
This stuff happens in the amateur world too. I remember when Stig Blomqvist was doing the American Rally Series for a half a season. I don't remember the rally, but it was an early one. He was only ahead by a few seconds before the final stage. He opened his hood and his co-driver (wife I think) spilled some water on the manifold... the leading drivers who was behind them at the time control saw the steam and Stig told them they have a leaky head gasket... Stig ended up winning that stage by 16 secs.. lol. Old trick by and old wise man... he was in his 60's.
I'm not suggesting who's right or not, just for the record Ogier seemed to make some repairs (and this is written somewhere) on the car before that stage. On the other hand he also seemed almost equal to Neuville on the first pass, so this stage seemed more to his liking/car.