[ERC] Rally Poland 2021

[RS]

Mikkelsen wins stages 11, 12 and 13, but it is almost the end of the rally. A short city stage in Warsaw is all that is left now.

When Luky has eased off.. Luky is of course a very fast driver, but his performance (and Ostberg’s in Sardinia) says to me the Citroen is clearly a step ahead of the Fabia now. Although it’s still a pretty solid workhorse Skoda need their new Fabia for the start of 2022. Surprised we haven’t seen any test footage yet.

[Damian Baldi]

Great job of Paulo Soria in his first attempt with the Clio Rally5

[dimviii]

congrats to Luky -Lehus for a well deserved win.
Clearly the fastest crew,made a big difference at day 1,and controlled the gap next day,avoiding the mistake.
Waited more from Mikkelsen,at least more speed.

[mknight]

Was busy most of the weekend.

Great job by Lukyanuk, SS7 especially, the mid section as also shown on heli was pretty crazy.

Here from that in first pass (jump half car into the grass):
https://youtu.be/IF9pgHXm0Q8?t=570

SS7 mid section starting from around here, sideways out of ruts in same corner:
https://youtu.be/IH6FKae_37o?t=509

Most impressive was how he handled the moments where he was under some pressure (Saturday when Gryazin was miles ahead and Sunday when Mikkelsen was closing up), didn't used to be like that in the past.

Mikkelsen had slow first loop (crashing in it during last two rallies might have something to do with it). After that it was decent, but rarely actually seemed to push (from vids and heli shots that are available), fast but "safe".

I praised Gryazin a lot for Portugal (no moments and no issues apart from clearly technical ones while being as fast as Lappi), but here it's back to his "old" himself. Everyone knows he can be very fast, but everyone also knows he often is too fast and ends in trouble. This rally was again an example of that. Messed up qualifying. Then knocked out both headlights on Saturday morning, afternoon loses window on a hard jump (it seems) and then double puncture. The whole double puncture story seems pretty crazy. He lead by 40s and takes 1 spare for the afternoon loop which will be super-rough in 30++ degrees and where he will run 32+ on the road... then seemingly destroys the tires either due to wrong setup or due to pushing too much. When he came to Finish with double puncture his rear bumper and left rear headlight was also missing (probably from an unrelated incident).

How fast was he actually? Very hard to say, cause starting 23 cars! after winner of the qualifier (and still saying the road is cleaning) means it really was a different rally for him. Check out how on second passes he had same times as on first, while Lukyanuk and co improved with 12-16s.
Anyway the whole starting order mess will surely get noticed as it kind of destroys the whole idea of qualifying stage on these kind of rallies. Will other top drivers try to do something similar on Liepaja on purpose or will FIA change the rules somehow?

Haven't seen much vids of Breen but from stagetimes he must have driven quite well. Got points for 2nd place during Sunday leg at least.

Waited more from Mikkelsen,at least more speed.

"At least"... more speed was the only ting missing. But I get you have to do this, otherwise it won't be you. Mikkelsen is a disappointment of the rally every time he doesn't win by 1 min...

[dimviii]

"At least"... more speed was the only ting missing. But I get you have to do this, otherwise it won't be you. Mikkelsen is a disappointment of the rally every time he doesn't win by 1 min...

so you are satisfied?
i think that even himself is disapointed.
At a rally he had won,he wasnt on pace at all.
Not good when you trying to find a wrc seat.

[RS]

I praised Gryazin a lot for Portugal (no moments and no issues apart from clearly technical ones while being as fast as Lappi), but here it's back to his "old" himself. Everyone knows he can be very fast, but everyone also knows he often is too fast and ends in trouble. This rally was again an example of that. Messed up qualifying. Then knocked out both headlights on Saturday morning, afternoon loses window on a hard jump (it seems) and then double puncture. The whole double puncture story seems pretty crazy. He lead by 40s and takes 1 spare for the afternoon loop which will be super-rough in 30++ degrees and where he will run 32+ on the road... then seemingly destroys the tires either due to wrong setup or due to pushing too much. When he came to Finish with double puncture his rear bumper and left rear headlight was also missing (probably from an unrelated incident).

i think you’re too harsh. He didn’t crash on shakedown, seems radiator got damaged/filled with dirt due to heavily rutted roads (and Polo runs quite low)

I think bits falling off the car were due to punctures/flailing rubber?

You’re right it was hard to judge his speed, but i imagine he will answer that in Liepaja.

[mknight]

so you are satisfied?
i think that even himself is disapointed.
At a rally he had won,he wasnt on pace at all.
Not good when you trying to find a wrc seat.

Best to win and be fastest.
Next best to finish second.
Worst to be fast and crash (after two last rallies).

Here my reaction was mostly to your wording "at least more speed". In Croatia when he had shown speed he was "biggest disappointment of the rally"........Here again you go with "wasn't on pace at all", while from Saturday mid-day the pace was decent. I am quite sure you do this on purpose.

-----------
On a more serious note:
Questions could be now asked to the current level of performance of the Fabia vs Polo on very fast roads.
Already last year Solberg rather drove Polo in Estonia on own(sponsor) money than driving the "Factory" Fabia. Sure he drove Liepaja before so had more experience with it, but if Fabia was better he would surely switch no? Here Mikkelsen said something about it on Sunday after Finish and Solans was also quite unhappy whole Saturday. The times Kreim posted in SD and when he ran were also quite impressive.

[mknight]

i think you’re too harsh. He didn’t crash on shakedown, seems radiator got damaged/filled with dirt due to heavily rutted roads (and Polo runs quite low)

I think bits falling off the car were due to punctures/flailing rubber?

You’re right it was hard to judge his speed, but i imagine he will answer that in Liepaja.

Some 40? R5 cars did the Shakedown, some much later than him and he was the only one with the issue.
- too low setup?
- too much push/wrong line in the corner?

In either case he had part in it, not like the car stopped by itself.

--------
I don't get how rear bumper and light could get broken by two front wheel punctures.

-------------
I am sure he will be one of, or even the fastest in Liepaja. I am not so sure he will make it to finish, which is a shame after he seemingly "calmed down" in Portugal.

[Lead]

One thing is sure, at the moment Fabia is not the best car for fast flowing roads. The car is unstable (maybe balance problems?).

[TypeR]

Solberg uaed his Polo because of the pandemic difficulties and Skoda couldn't bring the car to certain events(incl Estonia).