Rallye WRC Monte Carlo 2019

[dimviii]

discuss
----------------------------------------


interview in a Belgian newspaper this morning from Neuville (Sudpresse):

*

And yet, he said he had accelerator problems!

No way ! I did not believe that story for one second. And as Nicolas said, it is now easy to interpret what Ogier said: when he is not the fastest, he always has excuses. And when he has a real problem, he slams his door and goes away without answering questions.

Nicolas Gilsoul draws a balance sheet more than positive. Of course, he would have preferred to win and have dinner with the prince. "When you find yourself at the start of the last stage with 4 tenths behind the leader, you tighten your harness twice and of course you believe it. We left very quickly. But, unlike Ogier who had hardened his car, we were perhaps set a bit too soft in suspensions. The tires quickly overheated. But we did not make a mistake. "No regret, then. It would not even be fair to claim that Friday's mistake cost them the victory. "Yes, we could say that, but we would have lost much more than 19 seconds if the first stage of this second stage had not been canceled. So in the end, Ogier did not steal it. "But the Frenchman has been tricky again. Did the Belgian crew really believe in their accelerator concerns? "Are you kidding or what? As soon as he does not have the best time, he has a problem. We know him. When he has a real worry, he slams his door and says nothing. The truth is, we both drove 110% and got hot on the buttocks. "At the end of the day, there's only one winner.

[Rally Power]

Yep, Ogier throttle issue turned into a big (and funny) debate on the French forum (lots of Belgians there). 3 main theories: a) it was a total bluff and Ogier is a first class comedian; b) it was a tiny issue that mostly affected Ogier mind; c) it was a serious problem and thanks to the team instructions Ogier and Ingrassia managed to fix it. Hard to believe on the first one; a mix of the others sounds more reasonable…or not.

[PLuto]

Can somebody be so kind to explain to me how the hell M-Sport has 14 manufacturer points after this rally?! All of their three drivers retired and only Greensmith scored 6 but the official site claims that they have 14 for 6th and 7th finish which they don't have. Am I missing something or?

Here you can see it more precisely - http://www.autosport.cz/souteze/bodo...?id=131&sk=592

[er88]

After SS14 he said the car is fine. Also, I think he talked about the suspension being too soft, rear diff too stiff. But anyway, Tommi needs to tell Jari-Matti to stop thinking about settings and just drive, just like in Sweden 2017.

People on this forum started worrying for Jari before the rally had even started, after hearing him talking about Tanak's set up and how he is going to learn from it . They had reasons to be concerned!

Hopefully he can just focus on the driving and get a good result in Sweden.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Yep, Ogier throttle issue turned into a big (and funny) debate on the French forum (lots of Belgians there). 3 main theories: a) it was a total bluff and Ogier is a first class comedian; b) it was a tiny issue that mostly affected Ogier mind; c) it was a serious problem and thanks to the team instructions Ogier and Ingrassia managed to fix it. Hard to believe on the first one; a mix of the others sounds more reasonable…or not.

Neuvile and others really believe Ogier just made it up about a problem. Seriously, a 6-time WDC would do this to have an excuse if he didnt win ???

Imagine the bad press this would be for Citroen... their car caused the loss.

They wouldnt want that and especially if wasnt even true !

[BigWorm]

Well he said it was a small issue and since his time loss to others didn't really drop nor did his stage positions improve (many expected the C3 to perform better in Sunday's conditions) so I think he probably had a small issue.

In the end, Neuville reported brake problems on the final stage. His tyres were probably not in best shape so it probably was a fair fight anyway.

[rhm]

Here you can see it more precisely - http://www.autosport.cz/souteze/bodo...?id=131&sk=592

Yeah, it's a bit ridiculous that you get manufacturer points for 6th & 7th when you finish 11th (+17:56.8) & 20th (+29:34.6) overall.

Don't even know why they award manufacturer points for the top 10, there are only 8 crews that can win points.

[Winner]

discuss
----------------------------------------


interview in a Belgian newspaper this morning from Neuville (Sudpresse):

*

And yet, he said he had accelerator problems!

No way ! I did not believe that story for one second. And as Nicolas said, it is now easy to interpret what Ogier said: when he is not the fastest, he always has excuses. And when he has a real problem, he slams his door and goes away without answering questions.

Nicolas Gilsoul draws a balance sheet more than positive. Of course, he would have preferred to win and have dinner with the prince. "When you find yourself at the start of the last stage with 4 tenths behind the leader, you tighten your harness twice and of course you believe it. We left very quickly. But, unlike Ogier who had hardened his car, we were perhaps set a bit too soft in suspensions. The tires quickly overheated. But we did not make a mistake. "No regret, then. It would not even be fair to claim that Friday's mistake cost them the victory. "Yes, we could say that, but we would have lost much more than 19 seconds if the first stage of this second stage had not been canceled. So in the end, Ogier did not steal it. "But the Frenchman has been tricky again. Did the Belgian crew really believe in their accelerator concerns? "Are you kidding or what? As soon as he does not have the best time, he has a problem. We know him. When he has a real worry, he slams his door and says nothing. The truth is, we both drove 110% and got hot on the buttocks. "At the end of the day, there's only one winner.

Did Citroen not have the same problem last season?
That was the first thought I had when I heard the complaint from Ogier.
Breen and Mads complained about it at stage end a few time towards the end of last season? or am I gone mad?

Found quote from Breen SS10 in Aus
(11 - Breen Craig / Martin Scott): The throttle was sticking open, every time I pressed the brake it was nosing the car on. Really, really horrible I don't know what the hell it is. Try and get it fixed before the next one.

[AnttiL]

Yeah, it's a bit ridiculous that you get manufacturer points for 6th & 7th when you finish 11th (+17:56.8) & 20th (+29:34.6) overall.

Don't even know why they award manufacturer points for the top 10, there are only 8 crews that can win points.

Like I said, otherwise they wouldn’t Rally2 and we would complain about low number of cars in the last days of the rallies

And technically there could be more teams...

[T16]

Neuvile and others really believe Ogier just made it up about a problem. Seriously, a 6-time WDC would do this to have an excuse if he didnt win ???

Imagine the bad press this would be for Citroen... their car caused the loss.

They wouldnt want that and especially if wasnt even true !

Eddie, it's called mind games. Ogier making statements about his car lacking performance are to get Neuville to push less, because his main rival can't push. He wasn't making excuses up in case he didn't win.