[WRC] Arctic Rally 2021

[EstWRC]

Please don’t start

France was strict too...

[AnttiL]

I can't remember the source anymore but I recall reading yesterday or two days ago that they will get the final confirmation from the local authorities next week.

[br21]

I believe they will make some invitations or similar for foreign people to allow to come for the rally, like it was on some events last year or on Monte.
National classes won't be allowed to participate.

[focus206]

What's the supposed difference in term of roads between Sweden and Arctic Rally? I've read about bigger, harder snowbanks, but what about the roads... tighter, faster?

[SubaruNorway]

What's the supposed difference in term of roads between Sweden and Arctic Rally? I've read about bigger, harder snowbanks, but what about the roads... tighter, faster?

There were more snow down here than in Rovaniemi for the first event this winter at least.
Faster but i feel like they are a bit bland to be honest, not a lot of special places if you know what i mean.
Maybe i will change my mind after the WRC event.

Lima in Sweden right now
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=...05071600779285

[AnttiL]

From what I've seen the Arctic Rally stages are quite angular, there are long straights and then sudden 90° corners. No jumps like in summer Rally Finland. And you might go in the forest for 30 kilometres without any change in landscape (in summer Rally Finland you have always houses and fields among the stages). The challenge of Arctic Rally has typically been the cold weather, amount of snow and the long stages in complete desert.

[br21]

There are many fast corners and also corner combinations.
No jumps but many crests.
Not many reference points so pacenotes are the key.

[chamelilaheri]

This year WRC come very interesting

[giù tutto!]

Compering to the stages of Rally Sweden, the stages of Arctic Rally are not so technical and twisty.

Stages of the Arctic Rally are completely different compering to Rally Finland stages around the Jyväskylä. All in all, the roads are fast and easier to the co-driver for example, than the stages like Päijälä, Kakaristo and other classics from the gravel rollercoaster of the Central Finland. But it’s not that simple, there is more than meets the eye. There is a one big but: every year you have to do brand new pace notes, if you want to fight for the podium places. You can’t use the old pace notes, because the exact shape of the corners can change a lot depending how much there is snow and how the snowplow driver have done the job. Compering the Arctic Rally and the WRC Arctic Rally Finland there is a big difference in the recce also; In the FRC Arctic Rally there are no restrictions how many times you can drive through the stage during the recce, but in the WRC event it can be done only twice. That makes a really big difference. Like br21 wrote, the pace notes are the key to the success.

There are plenty of fast sections when you’re coming max speed over many crests and fast corners and suddenly there is very tight corner waiting for the victim of poor pace note. There are plenty of exactly the same looking places which can have completely different kind of corner behind the next one. And almost every time after the tight corner there can be a long straight, so the exit speed means a lot. In the Arctic Rally it's a difficult to drive by your eye or memory, because the speed is so high there is no room for mistakes. And like I wrote earlier; a same road can be very different compering to the previous years. If the snowbanks are high there is one thing to remember especially on the narrow roads; when you block the stage by rolling the car on the road or get stuck between the snowbanks, it is very important to get the warning about it as soon as possible. For the next car there is no possibility to avoid the crash without warning on the fast sections, because the next driver can't turn the car away from the road due to the high snowbanks.

Snowbanks are their own chapter. They can be your friend or foe. Ok, they can save you sometimes by keeping your car on the road, if they are hard enough. If they are not hard enough, they can suck your car in to the snowbank faster than you can understand. If the car is stuck on the snowbank, you have to dig all the snow away from under the car at first. Then you can get the tires to touch the ground and get the grip. Army style field shovel is the best tool for that. Normal snow shovel is too big to use under the car. The best solution is to have a normal snow shovel and a military field shovel in the Rally car, then both the driver and the co-driver can dig out the car from the snowbank. It is very important to remember, that every time a car hits a snowbank, you lose time. Especially when you try to maximize your exit speed before a long straight.

One thing has always been nasty in the Arctic Rally: snow dust. If there is no wind at all, it can stay in the air for a very long time. It depends about the temperature and humidity, which is different at the end of February compering to the normal timing of the Arctic Rally, I hope. If there is a threat of snow dust the organizer must have gap of at least 3 minutes between the cars, maybe even more.

Lapland is the reindeer husbandry area also. Those animals normally are moving freely in the area. Before the Arctic Rally the reindeer herders try to collect them away from the area of stages, but there are always couple of rebellion reindeers who wants to go their own paths. And if there is plenty of snow, the reindeers are using roads more than normally which is easy to understand. No one wants to stand in the snow up to their balls, not a man nor a reindeer.

As can be seen there are a few variable factors that made the Arctic Rally Finland as a unique winter event as the World Rally Championship series truly needs.

Fingers crossed and thumbs up for that the event will get the permission from the Finnish authorities. That should be known during the next week.

[AnttiL]

https://www.wrc.com/en/news/2021/wrc...us-to-finland/

This article says Tänak could have a good starting position following his Monte retirement.

My impression is that the road base won't change much so there's no difference between starting positions, assuming there is no fresh snow (which means the first car does a bit of plowing) or snow dust (which means the first car gets the best visibility).

It will also be interesting to see what happens when someone goes into the snowbank and others can't pass. Hopefully we don't get all stages red flagged.