WRC Croatia Rally 2021

[EstWRC]

Makes you wonder how good neuville must be when you see his pace in a car that all others think is crap. ��

i really hope he goes to Toyota for next year. i have wanted for years to see how he does in other teams. well in reality i would have liked to see in the current Toyota car, next year will be a new one

Question is how burned the bridges are at Toyota and how much faith they have in MSport next year.

i think it also depends a lot how he feels in which direction the new Hyundai car will go.

[mknight]

If ogier actually retires it will be hard for toyota to find someone better than him. So i don't see a reason why they should not hire him.

Their long term bet is obviously that Rovanpera is ready to fight for championship. Question is if they risk it already for next year. I also think the Japanese bosses might oppose Tanaks coming back.

[steve.mandzij]

It's a shame for Tänak's career that he decided to leave Toyota. I think it's proving to have been a big mistake.

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[TypeR]

short memory?

he was very much on the pace just 2 months ago on Arctic Rally, on Monte wont the first 2 stages and was 3rd after Friday. Has won a stage or stages on every rally so far this season, scroll down to the bottom https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/

it was just a one bad rally and now suddenly everything is lost. i would wait couple of more rallies to make conclusions.

Yes, Monte SS1-2 were good, but after that not his ,,Toyota times'' pace + trying to make it better/risking with 1 spare.

Arctic or Sweden are so fast, special and one-off events that they can't really be compared to typical tarmac or gravel events.. + Tänak has had good starting pos in Sweden and now Arctic also.

No stage wins in Monza and not many in Rally Estonia either. Not saying everything is suddenly lost, but Hyundai seems to be difficult to drive comfortably, knowing he could win stages/rallies more easily.

[krissucool]

Well the solution for Arctic was really simple or even quite mind boggling. They had to get rid of the rear bumper to lose weight on the rear to not collect snow and ice.

For tarmac you just can't do that. I'm no expert but what I see is it's related to the rear of the car as it likes to understeer a lot and if a driver can overcome understeer it oversteers quite badly.

Now the trend for Tänak has been to risk it with tyres. He starts every rally with 1 spare and gambles with tyre selection. It helped in Arctic due to the road position but in Croatia the road position was against back starters.

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Yeah exactly, I think the quote in Monte Carlo really says it all on how he feels about the car.
Yes, he has been fast at certain rallies and has won 2 rallies but he has not been on his massively dominating pace once as he was in Toyota on most rallies for better part of 2 years.

Also heard from people close to his team that he has not been satisfied with the Hyundai car from the start and does not rate the team too much.

To his credit, he has been remarkably calm and reserved about criticizing the team and the car during rallies where he is off pace. Takes kind of "it is what it is" approach to interviews mostly.

A big turnaround from the Toyota times when at times he was very critical if things were not suiting him and had issues with the car. Not sure if it is a new and improved Ott or it is just that he knows there is not too much that can be done with this car anyway.

In any case, would be massively surprised if he stayed with Hyundai for next year.

[denkimi]

Their long term bet is obviously that Rovanpera is ready to fight for championship. Question is if they risk it already for next year. I also think the Japanese bosses might oppose Tanaks coming back.

I'm not sure rovanpera will ever be ready to fight for the championship. So far it has looked promising, but we have many such drivers in the past. He has yet to win a rally after all, the final step is the smallest but the hardest.

But then again, neuville's first win came only in his 3th full wrc season. Tanak's in his 4th. We'll see how things evolve.

[Eli]

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/o...ision/6456524/

Video footage of the incident shows the co-driver’s side of Ogier’s Toyota Yaris being hit by another car as he changed lanes on a section of dual carriageway.

No one was seriously injured in the incident, although Ogier revealed in the post-event press conference that he had to contend with back pain for the final four stages of the Tarmac event.

“The impact was psychological, honestly – it was quite a shock in the morning when it happened,” he said.

“I am bit hurt in my back; it was quite a big impact.

"First of all, I was glad to see that that no one is injured and that the person with who we had the accident was also safe and it was just car damage, but, honestly, in the moment, I thought my rally was over.

“Luckily, the impact was straight on - maybe on one of the strongest points of the car where the damage was just cosmetic.

"Behind it, the wheel was straight, the roll cage was untouched and even the door foam protection was still in it, so the safety was still there.

“There was only some liquid [getting into the cabin] and Julien had to wear goggles like you’ve seen because he was getting a lot of dust in his eye, but yeah, it’s been a hell of a ride for us today – a rollercoaster.
“Like I say: I am very happy that no one was hurt this morning but then, of course, there was a bit of confusion in the moment because we discuss for a while the whole situation and give data to the police but the biggest issue, I would say, is that the policemen were not speaking any English!

“So, it was not that easy and at one point one of them said, ‘you can go’, and then yeah, maybe the other colleague was not so sure. We are going to clarify that [what happened] one more time.

“I’m definitely not someone who runs away after the incident.

"I checked first of all that all was OK, we gave up driving license – everything – and yeah, we can be glad today that it is only car damage and we will solve what needs to be solved tonight.”

Ogier’s boss told reporters he did not believe there would be any repercussions on the back of the accident, which has been widely circulated on social media platforms.

“Like Seb said, the most important thing is that nobody was hurt, so from that side everything is OK,” said Jari-Matti Latvala.

“It might be that we need to discuss with the organisers a little bit about it but I’m sure everything will be sorted out.”

[flat_right]

pointless to ask him about those things, he wont answer anyway

Yes, but one should try anyway. Or do you think Jaan Martinson’s questions were fantastic? As I have learned (from Becks or Colin) that if you ask him a proper rally question everywhere else than after SS, you will get a decent answer.

[doubled1978]

What a good rally, interesting stages, low grip tarmac, looked great on TV (cars moving around)...and a last minute result.
Ogier is incredible, you can only admire such a ability.
Looking forward to see more of Fourmaux, he showed us what he’s got on Saturday morning and he’s quick. With Kalle and Oliver, these lads will keep us entertained in the future.

[dimviii]

There will, no doubt, be plenty more to discuss as this one rolls on through the closing day of what, even before those events, had already been a lively Rally Croatia for Toyota.

The question of what happens next is an interesting one. Toyota’s rivals could protest Ogier’s victory, which would involve a lengthy discussion in the stewards’ room. Sources say the result of any such inquiry could range from a slap on the wrist to a question mark being raised over Ogier’s participation in Portugal at round four.

What do I think? Who knows. It’s impossible not to feel a degree of sympathy for Ogier, who went about his business on the stages in a typically superb style. It will, I fear, be what happened between the stages, rather than his victory, that defines this rally for the seven-time champion.

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/how-o...rama-unfolded/