WRC ADAC Deutschland Rallye 2018

[HaCo]

The performance of TN is a bit confusing. I was very surprised by his time this morning, I think he would have gone passed both Latvala and Sordo on both vineyard stages. These stages were also ok for him on Friday compared to Sordo and Latvala.
The other type of stages he was under performing.
Both Sordo and Latvala did exceptional well on Panzerplatte stages, why they got passed him.
I really wonder why the performances of Sordo and TN are so different in the same car, the one is fast on Panzerplatte, the other in the vineyards.
Not to talk about Mikkelsen, but I’m under the impression he has similar issues as TN, and Sordo, but he could not find a good feeling on any tarmac surface with this car.
I fear Spain for many reasons for TN, but first check Turkey, it will be hard for everyone.

[AnttiL]

Neuville had a diff issue, forcing him to use the diff with Corsica settings, which didn't suit this rally as well.

[HaCo]

Neuville had a diff issue, forcing him to use the diff with Corsica settings, which didn't suit this rally as well.

Really, when was this mentioned? Very interesting!

[AnttiL]

Really, when was this mentioned? Very interesting!

At the end of the rally press conference.

Coming here on Friday morning I could tell straight away that the speed was there, but suddenly I got a gearbox issue and I had to change to another setting, which makes things much more complicated for us to push hard and I struggled from then on with the pace. On Saturday it was a little bit better compared to the first day and it worked a little bit better with the changes, so today I felt a bit more comfortable. But we were never really on the pace to match the speed Ott was going, and even Seb. I knew that I was last in the battle for the championship in this race but consistency paid off. Seb made a bit of a mistake. Ott was constantly strong and feeling comfortable so we tried to finish the race, but at the end of the Power Stage I made a mistake and lost important points.

Q:
Talking about that differential change: obviously you had a problem on Friday and you changed the diff, but what wasn’t working?
TN:
I had to use my Corsica diff, which is much more open and I was locking my wheels all the time. I lost efficiency on the workings. Dani [Sordo] was going really fast and I was not able to match his times. But today we worked on the settings and I felt a lot more comfortable, so I could have made some good points on the Power Stage, but I was a little bit too optimistic.

https://www.fia.com/news/wrc-tanak-i...-tough-weekend

[HaCo]

Thanks for sharing!

[Integrale]

First time I went to Rallye Deutschland. I went to Finland last year so I feared being underwhelmed a little by the spectacle in Germany, but luckily my preparation paid off. Looking at the big spectator areas, the organisers seem to think that people like to see wide 90 degree corners, hairpins and jumps. And my impression was that the marshalls were very strict and only wanted you to spectate in those areas. Common sense about safety was lacking sometimes and that was a bit frustrating. On Panzerplatte we didn't want to stand behind a yellow banner (it was on the outside of the braking zone), which resulted in an absurd discussion. Zuruck! This morning we went up, down, up and down the vineyards again to get to a spot I wanted to see, being sent away by different marshalls in different directions. This was 30 minutes before the first car. A bit too much, I think. /rant

I saw brave drives by Sordo, Lappi and Ogier. Neuville seemed fast and neat too, but the times weren't. We were at Evans' spot when he went off on Romerstrasse, it was a bit weird actually. It looked like a small off, turn around and get on with it, but no. This morning I was surprised Evans taking a lot of risks, all over the place where we stood.

We ended up at the spot where Ostberg crashed. They actually damaged a sitting bench on that corner (next to the tree). Funny moment was when him and his co-pilot 'repaired' the bench, put it upright and went to sit on it side by side. Big applause from the spectators there.

[steve.mandzij]

And I believe in extra terrestrials. Surely that's always Latvala's goal, but he must be more realistic now.

If anything it suggests Toyota is still behind him, and that he might be staying.

[mknight]

If anything it suggests Toyota is still behind him, and that he might be staying.

Might also be "good luck in the future" statement before leaving, impossible to tell.

[Rally Power]

Nice rally! Congrats to Tanak, Jarveoja and Toyota. There’s no doubt that Tanak is on a peak form and did an outstanding job but we should also praise Ogier effort. He was the only one pressing Tanak and in the middle of such a fight mistakes tend to happen; it was Ogier making one as it could have been Tanak. Neuville was lucky to keep his advantage but the championship fight is far from closed. Bring on Turkey!

Congrats also to Skoda and their drivers; Kopecky pace, especially after the puncture, was exceptional and Rovanpera driving evolution on tarmac is fantastic.

[Rally Power]

IMHO Citroen is not so much clear failure as Skoda and Seat were in their days, Citroen has shown us glimpses of speed. But obviously their driver lineup is weakest at the moment. Lets see if Loeb can show us something and if he can post top times again, then this may convince Ogier to give it a try (...)

Amen! I try to be optimistic believing that Citroen can be competitive without one of the top 3 drivers, but realistically that’s almost impossible. Besides their skills behind the wheel Ogier, Neuville or Tanak are also driving forces at any team and that’s what Citroen desperately needs.