[WRC] Rallye Monte Carlo 2022

[dimviii]

Yet you two malakas have to go full retard...

telling me asshole in my language will not proove that Ogier had better competition.

[djip]

Monte Carlo 2017, first event for the new WRC1 cars : Ford 1st and 3rd, 3rd with a young Tanak, finally coming to the ages after years of unfulfilled promises
Monte Carlo 2022, first event of the new Rally 1 cars : Ford 1st and 3rd, 3rd with a (not that young) Breen, finally on a full WRC campaign after years of scattered results
History seems to repeat itself, could te end of year be the same with Ford winning both titles ?
Seems pretty far fetched, unlesss (i) Loeb competes in at least 5-6 events (ii) Breen delivers on the fast flowing rallies that he seems to favor (starting with Swedento come) and (iii) Fourmeaux stops crashing, just as Tanak did in 2017!

[Danny0405]

Mikkelsen did a good job and starts his season proper (even if he was less dominant than last year, and even less then the year before where he was stellar)

The most impressive must have been Rossel : for his first "big league" rally, he could have won save for a few last day mistakes. This young fella has a bright future given that he probably still has a lot of upside. He is also no slouch on gravel, as demonstrated last year (Acropolis), wich is unsual for a french driver.

Amongst the "Skoda-affiliated bunch", Gryazin has been pretty impressive. He was one of the fastest WRC2 following his first day technical issue (brakes) who cost him 3min ... less than the final gap to Mikkelsen. For someone who has been so crash-prone, he drove a fast and sensible rally. Don't discard him for the title.

I was pretty impressed also by the speed of the Citroen folks (Camilli, Lefebvre) although both crashed. Don't discard them on tarmac rallies to come. Lesser expectatins on gravel - They missed a golden opportunity for the title here...

I do not discard Gryazin (or any Skoda young folks) who made a good job here but with his spin in PS, he already misses some good points even if he has limited the loss (compared with Ingram and Bulacia) thanks to the issues of Munster and Rossel. So, right now, the best option for WRC-2 to beat Suninen-Huttunen-Rossel (and maybe Ostberg) is still Mikkelsen; not impossible for the other Skoda guys but less sure. So best option for both Skoda and Mikkelsen is to follow together even if Mikkelsen obtains some drives in WRC in addition to that.

On Rossel and the other Citroen guys, I think they missed a big opportunity here as it was a favorable ground for them, all the more than they all knew well this type of Rallye. They show great speed so they should bring big competition to Skoda during the season but may be short for the title (except if Ostberg is also in the mix).

But most impressive for me was Cais’ consistency for a 1st time here. Even if he is too young for WRC-2 Open title (and too much-tarmac centered). Surprised to see best Czech prospect for a while against Skoda.

[dimviii]

proove that he still got it

https://twitter.com/ACM_Media/status...79743876509696

[djip]

And one last hopefully to close the debate on Loeb vs. Ogier : As drivers, both are GOAT. What they achieved in unbelievable, seemed always "easy" to them and luck has no play here. You create your own luck. It is always the same drivers which errors are costly, and those wich remain just under the limit and find a way to get out of hairy situations... And trying to compare different times is pointless. At a time where events where much longer, retirements from on out of two event the norm, and almost nobody had the luxury on a full season, why would drivers such as Aaltonen, Carlsson, Therier, Rorlh, Mikkola, Makinen (both Tomi and Timo), etc ... be less extroardinary ? Just because all of these (save maybe for Rorhl), had ups and downs, whereas both Sebastiens seemed to be piling up victories and titles year after year ... and more as demonstrated by Loeb today.

[djip]

At the same time, Loeb appears a total class act, and a always-happy fellow, when Ogier seems to be grumpy most of the time...

[WRCStan]

About that HY being at the rear of the panel....

[EstWRC]

That came as a surprise to Loeb, who had been at a loss to explain why he wasn’t fast on sealed surfaces during his prior two-year stint at Hyundai in 2019 and ’20.

When asked by DirtFish if he thought winning the Monte had been a possibility on his return to the WRC, Loeb replied: “I didn’t, no.”

“I was a bit more confident on gravel than on Tarmac, from my last experience. What is nice is that I didn’t lose my speed on Tarmac.

“When finally I have a car that suits my driving, it’s going quite well. So I’m really happy for this.

“I didn’t know if I can [win], no. I didn’t even think that.”

Loeb’s victory this week is in stark contrast to his previous Monte start in 2020 with Hyundai, where he was running fourth for most of the rally before a tire gamble backfired and dropped him to sixth on the last day.

That rally had been a stark contrast to his final outing with Citroën, the team with which he won all nine of his world championship titles, where he won the 2018 edition of Rally Spain.

Not getting to grips with the previous-generation i20 Coupe WRC on asphalt had made Loeb question whether he was still capable of running at the front.

“It was one thing I was always thinking about: I didn’t know why when I did my comeback with Citroën in Catalunya, the next year I finished the gravel leading the rally and then I was slow like hell on Tarmac. I never understood how I could lose everything in one year.

“Now it seems I didn’t lose everything, so I’m happy about that.”

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/loeb-...n-wrc-anymore/

[dimviii]

At the same time, Loeb appears a total class act, and a always-happy fellow, when Ogier seems to be grumpy most of the time...

Sébastien Ogier
@SebOgier
·
3h
Studio microphone "There was a strange noise on the engine at the start, I was a bit disturbed and maybe I released a little earlier. I can keep the head up, I did the job this weekend. That's the way it is. Well done to the team, a good weekend for the 1st time with the hybrid"

[seb_sh]

proove that he still got it

https://twitter.com/ACM_Media/status...79743876509696

Ok this wasn't necessary but God damn!