[WRC] Rally Catalunya

[dimviii]

Here I am back from a long Spanish journey between Granada and Salou, and I am sure you are looking forward to my opinion on this rally! I will not fail to return to it in this column.



It had been a while since I had taken the time to write. I chained the rallies to prepare for the end of the season, with the Vosges Grand Est, the Rally di Alba in Italy, the Rally Ciudad de Granada but also the "pleasure" operations like the Haut-Var, the Vesoul Mecanic Show or even our participation in GT4 with Sébastien Loeb Racing at Le Castellet. No time to get bored !



Let's go back to what interests you: Catalonia! After a good warm-up on the ground in Granada the week before, we arrived in full form in Salou with Daniel. The weather, or rather the apocalypse, has calmed us a bit during the reconnaissance. The good news was that the race would be under the sun, the worst was that the advantage of starting tenth on the road the first day would be partly wiped out by these heavy rains ...



However, at the price of a big attack during the second loop in particular, we head for the first night! A big surprise for Daniel and me who put us in the best conditions before attacking the asphalt. A surprise because, before the rally, I did not think I could have this pace on earth against our rivals. But very quickly, I felt really comfortable with the car and I was able to let go like at the big time by doing a special anthology Friday night. I gave everything from the first to the last meter! It had been a long time since we had not held such a pace on 38 kilometers!







Without necessarily thinking of the victory, on the road leading us to Salou in the evening, we told ourselves that there was something to do this weekend. Last year, we were out of the day "earth" in poorer posture and we had won. We were optimistic and over-motivated to sign at least one podium. At least …



The result was much more complicated than expected ... We never managed to sign any good time on the asphalt. As much in the first round on Saturday, I knew where I could win, I was not more crazy than that. Even if we had taken a little too much for my taste. But we were still second at midday. So we start on the second lap with the big attack. I felt good in the car and really, I drove very hard. At least as strong as last year. No ... stronger than last year! And at every stop point, the verdict is brutal! A stop point that would quickly become my worst enemy of the weekend ... In special, I took a lot of fun, attacking the limit and being satisfied with my driving. But the more the rally advanced, the more I dreaded to see our time on the board. And all without having any explanation ...



Am I a land pilot? Perhaps ! But I do not think I have lost all my abilities on the tarmac. And the lack of pure performance, especially in the 'sinuous', was screaming. Very quickly with the team, we understood that something was wrong ... but we did not manage to put our finger on it before the end of the rally.



When I think about it, we should have gone home Friday night and spent the weekend quietly with family! More seriously, I know that the team will analyze everything to try to understand and I, for my part, I will watch all the cameras on board when they will come out on WRC + to compare ... There are clearly specials where I do not even know where to win the smallest second.





Despite all this, we still finish fourth. This is not the result we expected after the first day but it is so. We played our role of teammate for Hyundai Motorsport while being ambushed just in case. There was no need, Thierry & Nicolas and Dani & Carlos had a great race. This is a great result for the Hyundai Motorsport World Constructors Championship. We're going to cross our fingers so that 'guys' finish work in Australia! I also wanted to welcome Ott and Martin to the closed circle of 'World Champions'! That they profit, the first title is special. I still remember the last kilometers on the Tour de Corse in 2004 ...



On our side, the season is over in WRC. And if everything was not perfect, with good and bad, which is probably explained by the lack of driving and knowledge of the terrain compared to our opponents, we are really happy with Danos to have made the meet this team. We feel really good at Hyundai and that's the big plus point of the year. I understand that many pilots want to come here (laughs)!



1336/5000
With a partial program and a rally every two months or more, we can not hope to win all the rallies. I take the risk of being criticized and I assume it. I think I have nothing to prove in rally and our only two goals in taking part in this part-time program are to bring our experience and our help to Hyundai to win the title 'constructors' but also to take a maximum fun to drive these WRCs. I am aware of how lucky I am to be able to ride the i20 WRC Cup and enjoy every second at the wheel.



As announced recently, we will be able to close this season at the Var Rally with the team which, I hope, will come back from Australia with the title in their pocket! After the Vosges Grand Est and Haut-Var, this is a third opportunity to drive in France in front of our supporters and it's great. My winter will also be animated with two races in the Andros Trophy in Sébastien Loeb Racing! And then, the time to discuss our six rallies in 2020 with Hyundai Motorsport will arrive quickly ... very quickly!



Good week to all and go to Sainte-Maxime at the end of the month,

Seb. "

https://www.sebastienloeb.com/rallye...ents-partages/

[gorganl2000]

Dimvii, i just finished reading that on his website and was bout to post the link, but you beat me to it...lol
anyways, its quite interesting he felt he was doing good times and was yet 10+ secs off the pace in some cases...i wonder if this is why they were looking at a gearbox change at some point...but anyways, as Loeb mentioned in the article, i don't think he has forgotten how to drive on tarmac/asphalt and its clear he's still very competitive on his less favored surface (gravel), but as to why he's so off the pace on tarmac is still to be seen. He's had a few outside (nonWRC) rallies now on tarmac to try to learn the car, yet the pace isn't quite there.

There must be something(s) that can be found in the Hyundai car data and on-board comparisons between these 3 drivers which could give him some pointers as they all drove the same asphalt stages all weekend. I really hope he finds the missing pieces and is able to properly challenge on tarmac again, just as he has been able to on gravel this year

[EstWRC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2jq1yxIAYU

[Devillersvideo]

amazing spot at 0,16 min. Nice video mate!

Thanks
I hope to see again a lot in 2020 ^^

[Atob WRC]

Hello all!

Here our video from the Rally!

Enjoy!!!

https://youtu.be/cUSeernSgCE

[cali]

My small selection of photos

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

[EstWRC]

Tänaks onboard of power stage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZDBb14RanE

[bomber21]

A short clip I took during Rally Catalunya 2019:

Ogier, Latvala and Suninen in Riudecanyes roundabout
https://youtu.be/8e7J1NNK6E8

[AL14]

Some short clips I took during Rally Catalunya 2019:

Tanak returns to service park as a World Rally Champion
https://youtu.be/gp9wXsST3yk

Ogier in Riudecanyes roundabout
https://youtu.be/JQxCHtaaaR4

Latvala in Riudecanyes roundabout
https://youtu.be/oqKDmBrDbEM

Suninen in Riudecanyes roundabout
https://youtu.be/9oSFe8JHsCI

Kajito almost caught Guerra in SS3
https://youtu.be/g0wbStTvm3k

I miss NOT in these moments

[EstWRC]

I miss NOT in these moments

i really missed him when there was this drama about Ogiers wife posting on twitter