[WRC] Arctic Rally 2021

[Tom K]

Yes

[AnttiL]

Is the road order getting changed already after friday (62 km)?

yes. Confirmed by Clerk of the Course on twitter.

In Turkey last year they did a shorter Friday leg to determine the starting order.

Estonia was an exception because they only ran a super special on Friday.

[Susiraja]

Dunno but Toyota should have the data if someone, with Hänninen having driven the event.

Also, yesterday there were reports about gravel pulling up already on the recce. Remember that the roads have already been rallied on a month ago. The surface in the summer time is more coarse than in Jyväskylä, because these roads don't have normal traffic compacting it daily. That's why you might see the gravel quicker.

I don't know how the WRC cars eat the tyres. However some years back in the Finnish Championship Arctic there was a big difference whether you were driving on snow/ice or if the ruts already had gravel on it. Even an R2 Peugeot started to loose studs after a 20km fast stage from brand new tyres. One R5 driver said that they already had very different tyre wear compared to the front runners who didn't suffer from the gravel. Interesting to see how it is now with the WRC round with the tyre wear.

[AnttiL]

One minute gaps for WRC2 and WRC3 is not good

[mknight]

One minute gaps for WRC2 and WRC3 is not good

Well I wonder how many non-WRC(1) drivers actually drive full two stages today with all the "less experienced" WRC cars in front.

[meh]

What is the chance that late-runners can drive any stage with proper speed.

I think some cars will find their way to snow-bank and then may block the road. For WRC3 drivers it's already win, when they can drive stage with competitive pace

edit: noticed finally, that mknight made the same point

[AnttiL]

Well I wonder how many non-WRC(1) drivers actually drive full two stages today with all the "less experienced" WRC cars in front.

If Bertelli is in a snowbank 10 minutes into the stage, all the WRC2 cars have already started the stage, so they can only prevent the WRC3 from starting until the road is cleared. Maybe they will use the splits to make up notional times?

[PLuto]

If Bertelli is in a snowbank 10 minutes into the stage, all the WRC2 cars have already started the stage, so they can only prevent the WRC3 from starting until the road is cleared. Maybe they will use the splits to make up notional times?

If all WRC2 cars will be affected by Bertelli or Tuohino in a snowbank, it is better to give them same time than making some "random" notional times according to splits...

[mknight]

If all WRC2 cars will be affected by Bertelli or Tuohino in a snowbank, it is better to give them same time than making some "random" notional times according to splits...

Lots of potential issues either way.

What if a WRC2 goes into a snowbank while already in the stage in that situation? His time loss wouldn't count?

Similarly if you cancel all WRC2 times you get WRC3+national cars possibly beating them (again depending on what time you get) and you get back to typical last years mix-up where WRC2, WRC3 and other R5s are completely mixed in standings. Add to the road running order issues for Saturday and Sunday (WRC2 will start first) and its a big mess.

[er88]

Have to say I am worrying about stage cancellations/ big delays due to cars in snow banks. It's a worry with the top drivers who will be driving at incredible speeds, but even more of a worry with the likes of Bertelli back in a wrc car after a while away. If the wrc2 are running at minute intervals, it will be hard to manage them behind if there's a problem in the stage.