It is getting more and more serious - Supplementary Regulations is online now, 302 km of tarmac special stages.
https://rally-croatia.com/en/competitors
Looks like it will be my first and probably last WRC start almost on home soil :)
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It is getting more and more serious - Supplementary Regulations is online now, 302 km of tarmac special stages.
https://rally-croatia.com/en/competitors
Looks like it will be my first and probably last WRC start almost on home soil :)
Good luck with it :)
The majority of the stages you can see via google street view and few photos are here:
https://pl.motorsport.com/wrc/news/w...route-51916498
http://https://youtu.be/cMEV1e9iPuY
This is the area and type of road which will be driven as powerstage. But we can say pretty different than friday and saturday stages, also second sunday stage is different configuration.
Erik Cais will probably start with Fiesta Rally 2 Mk2.
Hehe, you made the same mistake as Colin Clark in Dirtfish's latest video (or Colin reads the forum). Spain was a mixed surface rally, the last completely pure tarmac rally was Germany 2019 :)
I've inspected the route through maps and a bit of street view and the roads seem quite fast especially on Friday and Saturday. At times it almost looks like 1000 Lakes Rally on tarmac, with bends going over crests in forest. Not many junction turns or hairpins. Hopefully they don't put a lot of chicanes onto the route. Maybe a bit of same as parts of Baumholder, where you also have fast-flowing roads over crests. Then there is one stage on Sunday with 20 hairpins and the power stage is a quite narrow road, could be from Monte or Germany's countryside stages.
I would say here's a good example. Use the up arrow to "go over the crest".
https://www.google.fi/maps/@45.54580...7i13312!8i6656
The character is also similar to Barum, which also has jumps on tarmac. Based on google street view the roads in Croatia look wider and smoother. However, the street view images are often 10 years old and roads deteriorate or get maybe repaired and it's difficult to estimate road width from different lenses.
Google street in Croatia is from 2013, I think. However, the region of Zumberak where friday and saturday stages are going to take place has extremely low population and density is one of the lowest in country. That's why I'm completely sure that there were no major changes on the roads. Maybe they deteriorated a bit but I assume that's all.
Street view images have a time stamp nowadays on bottom right corner. Those roads Antti linked have been photographed in September 2011.
That section looks very nice. Very Zlin-like indeed. In a post-pandemic world this looks like a good choice for a rally journey.
Yes, close to the capital, easy accessible roads, pure natural environment...The only problem is COVID and I doubt that Croatia will allow spectators based on the current situation. We are currently on of the best in Europe but who knows what will happen in a month or so.
Croatian asphalts are usually smoother and more slippery than Czech ones (extremely slippery when wet). Also I think that Czech stages are usually more changeable in everything (asphalt, character of the road etc.). Croatia will be I think more fuent, flowing and rhytmical than Barum and probably slower and more technical.
Try to join Rally Croatia if Covid-regulations let me go 🤔
Moreover some 🇦🇹 Austrian pilots 🇦🇹 :
Hermann Neubauer - Fiesta WRC3
Luca Waldherr - Fiesta 2WD
Andreas Aigner - Fabia WRC3 (budget not yet clear)
and maybe some more coming 🤪
https://youtu.be/Hq8_pTMoVkM
Some sections of this road will be included in the SS 20 and powerstage
And this is essentially SS19+21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf3RwhPmvfA
I'd say it's the only twisty mountainous stage of the whole rally. It has like 20 hairpins.
Yes, but the downhill part is different as on this link - the road is wider (for two way traffic, because uphil is narrow) with less turns and pretty steep on some parts - in opposite direction (uphill) is used for hillclimb races (link below), so some high speed sections are expected on this downhill.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psq85Y_Im8k
superspecial cancelled and numbers rising a little https://dirtfish.com/rally/rally-cro...special-stage/
Makes sense, as Sordo will definitely do the next two events after Croatia (maybe even 3 if he does Kenya).
Breen will do Estonia and Finland, (and I also reckon he will go to Ypres). Sordo will do Chile and Spain, and then we'll see what happens for Japan.
Will be interesting to see how Breen does on his first tarmac rally in the i20 WRC car.
Croatia's bumpy narrow tarmac should suit his Irish rallying background.
Maps are online: https://rally-croatia.com/en/spectat...ramme-and-maps
Indeed, it might be quite crucial for his future since he has no good result in any tarmac rally in WRC. (5th best). He needs to show he can do well on other rallies than fast gravel/snow. Tarmac is one step, slower gravel next.
The i20 certainly looks very different on tarmac than in 2018/2019 so he might have a decent chance to do well.
Onboards of all the stages https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUx...Aq4jSmQ/videos
Recce starts today :D
Watched SS1-4. Very fast. Jumps. When the downforce disappears, it’s gonna be a big hit.
I had a look to some of the stages.
They seem to be decent tarmac stages, fast, flowing and technical with a variety of corners.
Also I can see beautiful scenery with character.
I am really looking forward to enjoy rally Croatia.
Eric Cais will probably miss Croatia because of post-covid
SS10 is very twisty, SS9 has also more bends and the SS17 has all those hairpins, SS18 is very tricky narrow...interesting rally, although I think the Friday stages are too fast...
Over all it feels like a dangerous rally for the fast WRC cars/drivers.
Spectators allowed?something about ?Thank you
https://itgetsfasternow.com/2021/04/...ia-rally-2021/
Route preview. Friday stages are mostly fast, Saturday and Sunday add more twisty sections in. There's resemblance to many established tarmac rallies but also unique features.
I have always been afraid of these tarmac rallies driven on rough surfaces between the trees. Especially with these new cars, it will be super fast and when the downforce disappears, it's a big hit. They can't possibly put haybales in front of all dangerous trees...