Francois Delecour

[RAS007]

Does anyone know what the current situation is with Delecour, regarding his ERC campaign? At the start of the season, there was a big announcement that he would be teaming up with Kronos for a full out assault on the ERC, and doing the Romanian Rally Championship as well. Since then, things seemed to have cooled off a little bit; there was talk of how the Romanian Championship was the priority and not ERC. Then, he did an ERC round in a Munaretto car, that wasn't really up to standard and/or set up all wrong. ( I remember a lot of talk about gear ratios being all wrong and/or no testing time etc.) Why was there no Kronos car available? Is he still planning to do the remaining ERC rounds with Kronos? Was his car for Corsica run by Kronos? Thanks in advance if anyone knows!

[Mirek]

It was Munaretto car again.

If You remember Kronos ****ed up things in Jänner rally too (not enough wet tyres), so maybe that has something to do with the change too (or maybe just money).

[Jarek Z]

I don't know what Delecour's plans are, but I think that in current situation of the rally world and considering his age, he should be happy with what he has now. There are many drivers, who had to quit their rally careers due to lack of funding. Delecour is not that fast anymore, but I'm very happy to see him in ERC. I was a great fan of him in his Ford days in the nineties, but I don't think he is able to win any ERC round anymore.

What I don't like about modern TV reports is that they don't show anything from the past. Look at the Tour de Corse example. Why didn't Eurosport show any footage how Delecour won this rally in 1993? To me rallying (as well as sport and motorization in general) is not about here and now only, to me history is beautiful as well and Eurosport shoud use it in their TV reports. Instead of boring helicopter footage or instead of showing how a rally car cruises to the time control after a flying finish (it's hard to believe, but during Tour de Corse they really had a camera showing cars cruising on the liaison section after a finished stage, how idiotic is that?)

Maybe I'm strange, but I'm showing you some historical photos from Delecour's days at Ford:

[tommeke_B]

It was Munaretto car again.

If You remember Kronos ****ed up things in Jänner rally too (not enough wet tyres), so maybe that has something to do with the change too (or maybe just money).

While Kronos is distributor of Michelin tyres in Belgium...

[WUff1]

Well at the start of the season he told he had the fundings for approximately 10 ERC-rounds, now he said his appearance at Tour de Corse was just some financial luck of the last minute. ´Till Tour de Corse he did only Jänner and Latvia, so probably his fundings have been diminished ... Or he made ERC only second priority, because he realized he could hardly fight for podiums - let alone wins - anymore.

[RAS007]

It was Munaretto car again.

If You remember Kronos ****ed up things in Jänner rally too (not enough wet tyres), so maybe that has something to do with the change too (or maybe just money).

Yes, I do remember now. Thanks for the reply. Looks like maybe it is over for Kronos/Delecour partnership....I hope not.

I don't know what Delecour's plans are, but I think that in current situation of the rally world and considering his age, he should be happy with what he has now. There are many drivers, who had to quit their rally careers due to lack of funding. Delecour is not that fast anymore, but I'm very happy to see him in ERC. I was a great fan of him in his Ford days in the nineties, but I don't think he is able to win any ERC round anymore.

What I don't like about modern TV reports is that they don't show anything from the past. Look at the Tour de Corse example. Why didn't Eurosport show any footage how Delecour won this rally in 1993? To me rallying (as well as sport and motorization in general) is not about here and now only, to me history is beautiful as well and Eurosport shoud use it in their TV reports. Instead of boring helicopter footage or instead of showing how a rally car cruises to the time control after a flying finish (it's hard to believe, but during Tour de Corse they really had a camera showing cars cruising on the liaison section after a finished stage, how idiotic is that?)

Maybe I'm strange, but I'm showing you some historical photos from Delecour's days at Ford:

Yes, I have been a Delecour fan since the early 90's also (see my username ), and am really happy to see him in ERC. Although, as WUff1 points out above, perhaps the Kronos deal has gone south either due to funding or the fact that Delecour knows that he cannot fight for wins (I think podiums are possible ). Either way, it is great to have him still so actively involved, and still pretty much on the pace. Thanks for posting the pictures, I have always loved the Mobil 1 Escort, probably my favourite of all the Escort Cosworths. Couldn't agree more on the total lack of sport history/perspective given by modern rallying coverage; maybe they are afraid people will realize how s h i t e the sport has become....

[Jarek Z]

Couldn't agree more on the total lack of sport history/perspective given by modern rallying coverage; maybe they are afraid people will realize how s h i t e the sport has become....

Who knows? You may be right. Unfortunately we have to be happy that at least the official ERC intro has some references to the great ERC history.

[Jarek Z]

Yes, I have been a Delecour fan since the early 90's also (see my username )

Yes, I saw it By the way, does anybody know what happened to the RAS team? They don't exist anymore, do they?

[Barreis]

It says on this page from this book about RAS ford...
Ford Escort RS Cosworth and World Rally Car - Graham Robson - Google Knjige

[cosmin_sb]

Delecour win again the Romania Championship with 2 rounds before final. In fact he won all the rounds this years ( he won tulcea rally but after that was DQ)