[WRC] Rallye Monte Carlo 2024

[Morte66]

Well, now that I seem to be an Evans fan...

21 points, 8 of them today, not bad for a guy who lost hybrid for a while.

9 behind the lead in the WDC.

[Obligatory spin control] And of course, if it snows in Sweden, you wouldn't want to be first on the grid. [/spin]

[Kras]

https://twitter.com/AnttiL_WRC/statu...79274039935149

New meta for Takamoto. Cruise till sunday

[CeskyOndra]

How much of a disadvantage is going first in Sweden instead of going for. ex. third? I don't think it's much, second pass is always so rutted.

[meh]

What I like is that we did not have any retirement due to technical issues and I would say nothing was decided due to technical issues. Tänak carried an engine issue, but even without that, he did not match the top 3. Evans did not have a hybrid, but even without that he could not match top 2.

[Corcaíoch]

A great start to the 2024 season, fantastic rally with closes battles up to the end of both Rally 1 and Rally 2. A rally where just about all Rally 1 crews can take some positives.
Neuville - one of his best wins
Evans - good points in the bag and a slightly better road position in Sweden
Tanak - could have been slightly better but its still a better start than recent years
Katsuta - a dissappointing weekend but excellent Power Stage
Fourmaux - did exactly the job needed, would have liked to see a push on the Power Stage but needed to show he could have a smart controlled drive so mission accomplished
Munster - got one 3rd fastest time. I, and probably most people expected him to be slowest Rally 1 on just about every stage but he certainly performed better than expected
Mikkelsen - harder to find the positives other than he got 320km worth of experience with the car and was very close to the pace on the Power Stage
Roll on Sweden!!

[Morte66]

How much of a disadvantage is going first in Sweden instead of going for. ex. third? I don't think it's much, second pass is always so rutted.

Depends on the weather. If it's snowing when the stage starts, I think it's awful for first on the road. Otherwise, not a huge difference.

[Dontcut]

Tänak gave a hint that their overall setup for this rally was off, they didn't expect clean tarmac.
Third starting pos is good in Sweden.

[meh]

How much of a disadvantage is going first in Sweden instead of going for. ex. third? I don't think it's much, second pass is always so rutted.

It really depends on the weather, if there is a layer of fresh snow and you start 1st on the road, you have a hard time matching pace. Sweden is always been for "Friday heroes" for using their good start position.

Also, it is (maybe even more) problematic for 2nd pass, as lower class cars carry snow to the road which is not Rally1 can driving line and you need to clean it up again.

And who has having good road position - Rovanperä.

[rallyfiend]

I think that's the shot in the arm the WRC needed with quite a lot of negativity around.

When you have such competition at the pointy end, the depth of field becomes less obvious.

And WRC2 with so many 'factory-supported' teams seems like it will be a cracker again. Non-stop battles.

Roll on Sweden.

[Kras]

It really depends on the weather, if there is a layer of fresh snow and you start 1st on the road, you have a hard time matching pace. Sweden is always been for "Friday heroes" for using their good start position.

Also, it is (maybe even more) problematic for 2nd pass, as lower class cars carry snow to the road which is not Rally1 can driving line and you need to clean it up again.

And who has having good road position - Rovanperä.

Snow and gravel rallies really do depend greatly on road possition. If a fast driver is first on the road on friday, he has a great chance of having a great road position again tomorrow. It's the biggest gripe I have with parttimers like Ogier, Sordo, Loeb. Its easy mode most of the time and is punishing fulltimers