[WRC] Rally Italia Sardegna 2020

[flykas]

Really interesting weekend. Same fight between Ogier And Neuville as two years ago and Neuville won again. I was hoping that Ogier would take this one, but I guess now things are more interesting for the future. And can someone explain Suninen's phenomenon? As I see it, when he beat everyone by 12s it wasn't just because of the road position because there were guys going after him. Man, that was impressive and wonder why didn't it last.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Looks like Hyundai got away with one. A fine as a penalty is poor enough for an intraction of the rules, but this is even a suspended fine.

Mind you, Toyota got away with their over-sized rear wing last year.

[AnttiL]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-...0-rally-italy/

On the Cala Flumini stage that was the exact same 8.73 miles in length in 2016 – when the older generation cars last ran at the front of the WRC – as it was in 2020, who do you think was quicker? The quickest overall time in 2016 from Thierry Neuville or the fastest Rally2 in 2020 from Mads Østberg?



Neuville posted a 9m08.1s on the first pass and got that down to an 8m53.0s on the second. As for Østberg, he set a time of 9m06.2s first thing on Sunday – 1.9s faster than Neuville in ’16 – and a 8m53.1s on the second pass, just 0.1s shy.

[meh]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-...0-rally-italy/

Interesting to compare them and R5 definitely is quicker now than in 2016, but the main parameter should be road condition? In 2016 it was in June, now in October. Maybe road was enough more damp and packed go give more grip?

[AnttiL]

Interesting to compare them and R5 definitely is quicker now than in 2016, but the main parameter should be road condition? In 2016 it was in June, now in October. Maybe road was enough more damp and packed go give more grip?

Well the progression with the current WRC cars was only slight from last year (actually from 2018), so I wouldn't say the road was considerably faster this year.

WRC
2020 Ogier 8:23.2
2019 Mikkelsen 8:34.8
2018 Neuville 8:28.9
2017 Lappi 8:46.9
2016 Neuville 8:53.0

RC2
2020 Østberg 8:53.1
2019 Østberg 8:58.4
2018 Veiby 9:09.9
2017 Camilli 9:18.2 (second run cancelled)
2016 Lappi 9.03.8

In 2016 Lappi was 5th on the stage on the Skoda R5, beating Ogier, Sordo and Tänak in WRC cars!

[denkimi]

Mind you, Toyota got away with their over-sized rear wing last year.

Not just last year, they got away with it for 2 and a half year before anyone noticed it was illegal.

[tommeke_B]

That was actually a mistake by FIA, for having the wing homologated as it was.

[dimviii]

some interesting stuff from Adamo.Also a big bravo to Dirtfish for bringing this info out.

What was going on? How could the man who’d already won twice here be so far out to sea with the set-up. Had the changes made to the i20 to speed it up on fast gravel compromised it on the slower stuff?

“That’s a simplistic answer,” was team principal Andrea Adamo’s straight answer. “If I would say that, then I would also be stupid in respect of the job done by my engineers. This is not a Formula 1 car and we are not running in Monte Carlo with the Monza set-up. We are just modifying many things. And, don’t forget, for certain stages it’s easier to set the car up for Estonia than it is for Sardinia.

“There have been many differences in the stages this morning. The first stage was technical, twisty and the second one was faster and both with different surfaces. The best compromise has not been found.

“And let me say one more thing, if I may be permitted. If I check the stage times it’s not really that [Neuville’s car] doesn’t work; if I’m not wrong in the last stage it was one-two [for Hyundais] and if it didn’t work, it would not have been like this. Of course, I say it like this, sometimes Thierry is more Italian than me. Emotions can take control of him. We have to modify the set-up for his needs, I’m not worried about this.

“We modified a lot of the car this summer and I feel we still have a lot of things to unlock that are new and we have to understand exactly what we have to put to make it work perfectly for everybody.”

But still, here’s the thing, in search of the best compromise, Neuville reached out to Sordo and the dampers he was using to help him find the feeling himself. He’d tried it the Sordo way in shakedown, but it didn’t work. In service after SS4, he was willing to give it another shot.

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/how-s...-win-in-a-row/

[SubaruNorway]

Interesting to compare them and R5 definitely is quicker now than in 2016, but the main parameter should be road condition? In 2016 it was in June, now in October. Maybe road was enough more damp and packed go give more grip?

Cala Flumini is a bit of an unique stage though, not a lot of places where the WRC gets to stretch It's legs with it being so narrow and twisty. Conditions in the powerstage was much better coming down the hill this year, looked like they had put some better gravel on it maybe.
When you saw the difference between WRC and R5 at the fast section in Erula-Tula with the tricky bump on the left hander and jump by the windmills you clearly see why WRC is so much better to watch

[EstWRC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaIbT8yT-Os
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFMQn36RMYw