[WRC] News & Rumours 2018

[NoFear85]

Is this “news and rumors” or who is the best/slowest/worst driver of the season? Stop with off

[stefanvv]

Is this “news and rumors” or who is the best/slowest/worst driver of the season? Stop with off

I know who they are, but that's not news indeed.

Sorry, but I prefer Altavista.

I prefer astalavista.

[dimviii]

Okay, maybe we'll put the whole article, huh? Stéphane Prévot: "Neuville has the pressure, I do not see him champion!"
Olivier de Wilde
Published on Friday 02 November 2018 at 11h19- Last updated on Friday 02 November 2018 at 12h23
Stéphane Prévot, quadruple winner of Condroz, former teammate of Bruno Thiry, shoulder this weekend Vincent Verschueren.
Real regional stage, Stéphane Prévot will take, Saturday, the start of the Rally Condroz for the 19th time. This year's Belgian champion Vincent Verschueren (Skoda Fabia No. 46), the Hutois is aiming for a fifth win after the four recorded alongside Bruno Thiry in 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Stephane, which was the most beautiful?
"Certainly the first with the Subaru Winfield: a kid's dream come true, we've dominated from one end to the other and it's certainly the one I've most celebrated. remembering 2001 with the Skoda Octavia at the end of a breathless sprint against Larry Cols' 206. We were more or less tied at the start of the last stage, and the funniest one will be the one celebrated at the wheel in 2002. RACB President John Goossens had died on Friday and we were told there would be a minute of silence and no champagne on the podium, not very happy for a win at Condroz, so Bruno told me I was going to remember that success, we had a 6 minute lead over Snijers, and from that moment my driver offered to take the wheel of the 206 WRC for the last special stage. was trained on the forward links to get used "You should have seen the heads of the people on arrival."
When was your most distant memory of Condroz?
"1979 with the arrival of Hannu Mikkola A world champion in Huy Wow I could not believe it I had gone to see him at the Grand Place a few steps away from home. I went for the first time in special, I was very impressed by the victory of Jean-Louis Dumont's Porsche Belga, I was 11 years old and I was already reading the map ... "
How do you end up with Verschueren?
"We've already played the Rallye de Wallonie twice, the last time in 2015 and it was pretty good, he told me at the time that his dream would be to do the Condroz with me. had contacted at the beginning of the year to support him during the season but I already had other commitments in rally-raid and the United States.After East Belgium, I sent him a message telling him a victory in Huy was worth as much as a title he had last year, and five days later, he called me to offer me the tub of Véronique Hostens who decided to anticipate a He's retired and offers me his place, he's a great guy and we have chances to win. "
In which language do you give the notes?
"In English because his French is very average and my Dutch is catastrophic."
What do you think of the 2018 course?
"It's a little better than 2017. There are more kilometers in the Condroz, and with Wallonia it's the most beautiful route in Belgium, because this year Spa was pitiful and the atmosphere is incomparable. As soon as the reconnaissance is over, there are people on the stages, at the Cabane, at the Strée quarry, and in the dry, and according to the forecasts, we are not going to see an anthology. it is not very complicated, but the fight will be more intense, with very tight gaps. "
Is spectator safety still a problem for Huy?
"The organizers have made tremendous efforts, it has nothing to do with twenty years ago, when the public formed a hedge and strayed about twenty meters in front of you. It was crazy, but there was no risk of zero, of course, but everything was done to limit the danger with big loopholes and an audience now well away from the road. "
Who do you point as the main opponents?
"This year, there are two foreign stars, WRC big names who are not at their first try at Huy since Kris Meeke will be in his third participation, while Stéphane Lefèbvre is four. will still be in the pace of Spain, they will be dangerous and fast but should be less regular than Kris Princen and I. The victory should come back to one of us 4. Adrian Fernémont showed some nice things last year here and this season, but I see it behind. "

"I am admiring Sébastien Loeb"
Prévot imagine Sébastien Loeb back with Ford in WRC in 2019.
Stéphane, your opinion on the victory of Sébastien Loeb in Spain at 44 years old?
"Fabulous!" "I'm admiring." This confirms that the experience is preponderant in rallying and that, with a few exceptions, it is useless to go and get young people and send them to the pipe. they have not already burned their wings trying to follow the tenors of the WRC? "
Who do you see sacred in a little over two weeks in Australia?
"It's quite paradoxical but I'm afraid for Ogier that the puncture in Neuville in Catalonia is a ... advantage for our compatriot.It is clear that Australia is the worst rally to open the road. And second is huge, now Thierry keeps saying that he does not have any worries with the pressure but I think it's a carapace, Ogier will be more serene, and then both can rejoice that Tanak had so much trouble at the end of the year with at least three dropouts that are not attributable to him because otherwise the championship would already be folded.To return to your question, I hope I'm wrong because it would obviously be nice and legitimate for our little rally-loving country to have its first world champion, but objectively, I think it will be for Ogier again.I must admit that the end of season Thierry Neuville is not terrible.
Is not this the year or never for Thierry?
"We said that last year, no, I do not think so because he's still young, now it's dangerous to have signed for three years, and I do not understand why he did that except for In 2019, the pair Ogier-Citroën will walk, for sure, and Tanak and Toyota will certainly be the favorites. "
We can not say that our countryman is much helped by his teammates ...
"Sure, I do not know what that Mikkelsen donkey is doing there, he's pitiful, how can they have signed a guy like this for two years?" If Hyundai loses the constructors title, it will be because of him. Thierry is alone to bring back the big points Dani Sordo has shown more beautiful things than Hayden Paddon He deserves a complete program The problem is that he is a civil servant When he has his contract in his pocket, he goes more or crumbles after a few specials. "
Imagine Loeb coming back for a full season?
"Certainly not at Citroën One of the first clauses of Ogier's contract must be to not have Loeb in the legs, I imagine that they are still in the same team, and now, instead of Malcolm Wilson, I will not let him go. He can create a surprise by offering him a ride with the help of Red Bull. "
Is not Loeb tied to PSA's life?
"What else can Citroën offer him besides being an ambassador?" Loeb does not want to spend ten months on his boat and open concessions.
Who do you think are the most promising young people in the WRC?
"The three Finns thrown by Joukki Teemu Suninen is promising even if he made a rally in Spain of m ... We will also speak about Esapekka Lappi and especially Kalle Rovanpera." Given the connections of the father, I am convinced that he has a pre-contract with Toyota for a Yaris in 2020 or before. " "The notes in a video game"
Although he has run less than usual this season, his rally program being limited to three Subaru events in the States with Kris Atkinson replacing Travis Pastrana, Stéphane Prévot worked on notes for two months. "Code Master has contacted me to translate and dictate the notes for the new Dirt Rally game that will be released in February, and players in previous editions complained about the French-language notes made with Google Translate, so I was asked to adapt Phil Mills' notes (for the original English version) and to dictate them, with 12 rallies and 28 long specials to adapt, I've been busy for two months, and recently I've been ten days in England to record my voice. "

[er88]

"Sure, I do not know what that Mikkelsen donkey is doing there, he's pitiful, how can they have signed a guy like this for two years?"


LOL, nearly spat my tea out reading that

Bit harsh though. Andreas has had a nightmare year and unfortunately it's got progressively worse, but when he signed for two years nearly everybody thought it was a good move for Hyundai. He had shown he was a good driver at VW and looked on the pace and comfortable with the i20 at the end of last season.

[the sniper]

Prévot doesn't mince his words! He was also very funny/honest on the Absolute Rally podcast, particularly about Duval, Novikov and Lefebvre...

https://twitter.com/absolute_rally/s...87641586298881

[mknight]

Prevot seems to make same mistake as steve on previous page, only looking at the last rally.
When Mikkelsen was signed for 2 years he just beat both Sordo and Paddon in GB by 1 and 2mins and was faster than each of them on Spain and AUS gravel. Wasn't hard choice for Hyundai.

This year his gravel speed is still top 4-5. 2 rallys ago he led Tänak by almost 40s. 1 rally ago he got 3 stage wins and fastest saturday leg of all drivers. Even in Spain his gravel speed was up with the others.
Tarmac is obviously a disaster.

[Lead]

Tarmac is obviously a disaster.

Its funny because Mikkelsen wasnt actually slow on tarmac in the past. He actually loved tarmac and had a good pace on tarmac events starting early from his IRC days.

[AnttiL]

And second in Germany last year with Citroen. It’s just a mismatch with the car, which is largely set up by Neuville.

[Mk2 RS2000]

Interesting to read the comments regarding Mikkelsen and making allowances for the car either being set up for Neuville or having mechanical issues considering most people making these comments were not so generous to Paddon when he faced similar issues last year. I guess the difference is that Mikkelsen talks about the car issues in public where as Paddon didn't.

[mknight]

Interesting to read the comments regarding Mikkelsen and making allowances for the car either being set up for Neuville or having mechanical issues considering most people making these comments were not so generous to Paddon when he faced similar issues last year. I guess the difference is that Mikkelsen talks about the car issues in public where as Paddon didn't.

The obvious difference is that Paddon has been driving Hyundai for a while and was very much competetive in 2016. It did not seem very likely that the concept and behavior of the car changed so much from 2016 to 2017. Also Paddon has never really been terribly slow in it, just a few places slower than before. In Mikkelsens' case the difference on tarmac from C3/Fabia/VW is on completely different level.

In either case it does seem that adapting the car to other drivers is not a priority at Hyundai. Will likely cost them manu title this year (last year they lost it on reliability (Sordo and Paddon cars) ).
Btw. at Toyota it also starts to look a bit similar with regards to Latvala and Lappi comments.