WRC Croatia Rally 2021

**dupanton** · 23rd April 2021, 18:07

Anyone read an explanation about what happened to Mikkelsen. I just watched his onboard from SS2.
Car seems very twitchy from the beginning, already a big moment shortly after the start.
Than later in the stages (this start around 9min) he first went of slightly with an obvious bang that bend/broken his rear right suspension. Bit later he goes wide again with a crabbing car, hits something again and fully brakes the suspension and goes off. He tries to continue, spins again and then stops to repair.

**focus206** · 23rd April 2021, 18:07

Originally Posted by EstWRC

so day 1 done and TOP3 covered just by 8 seconds.

Neuville - super, very very good speed like always from him on tarmac, on second loop wasnt so fast but i guess it was bcs the conditions were more even.
Ogier - the old fox has habit these days to get up to speed stage by stage, reminds me of Monte this year and still is my pickem for the win - afternoon loop was very good from him.
Evans - like always, quietly minding his own business but very good day also from him.
Tänak - 2015 Rally Corsica springs to my mind, where Evans was second and Tänak 10th overall, 3 minutes down from his teammate Evans. i have noticed These kind of tarmac rallies doesnt suit him at first, but he gets up to speed eventually.
Breen - good debut with this car on such a level, exactly the performance i expected.
Formaux - super debut IMO, very good stage times.
Greensmith - quite okay actually for his standards IMO, at least trouble free day.
Loubet - same as Greensmith
Katsuta - many mistakes again unfortunately.

Toyota is looking good on asphalt, Hyundai should be worried... Neuville is doing good so far, but it won't be easy to keep the 2 Toyota behind.
Tanak in my opinion should play it smart and settle for 4th place if he doesn't have confidence, ready to pick up a podium if any of the top 3 has trouble, which is a good probability. Scoring well on your worst days, instead of DNF, makes a huge difference at the end.

**EstWRC** · 23rd April 2021, 18:10

Originally Posted by focus206

Toyota is looking good on asphalt, Hyundai should be worried... Neuville is doing good so far, but it won't be easy to keep the 2 Toyota behind.
Tanak in my opinion should play it smart and settle for 4th place if he doesn't have confidence, ready to pick up a podium if any of the top 3 has trouble, which is a good probability. Scoring well on your worst days, instead of DNF, makes a huge difference at the end.

agreed and thats what he was doing today. not pushing if you dont have the confidence.

he can only gain a position if somebody in the front hits a trouble. 32 is a big loss to get back by pure speed, impossible.

**EstWRC** · 23rd April 2021, 18:26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11X9RD8i0qc

**dimviii** · 23rd April 2021, 18:35

Fourmaux jumping
https://twitter.com/AdrienFourmaux/s...36359810035717

**mknight** · 23rd April 2021, 18:38

Originally Posted by dupanton

Anyone read an explanation about what happened to Mikkelsen. I just watched his onboard from SS2.
Car seems very twitchy from the beginning, already a big moment shortly after the start.
Than later in the stages (this start around 9min) he first went of slightly with an obvious bang that bend/broken his rear right suspension. Bit later he goes wide again with a crabbing car, hits something again and fully brakes the suspension and goes off. He tries to continue, spins again and then stops to repair.

Well after the small off in the grass it's kind of clear what happened cause you can hear the bang. What is weird is how the car behaved many times before in right corners (same direction as the one where the off happened).
Either some setup/technical issue or something with tires. It seems to get better after a few minutes though... and then he has the off.

Also interesting they fixed it and had "faster than road speed" times in the remaining stages of the loop.

**Myrvold** · 23rd April 2021, 18:57

Still nothing form SS6 and on post-Arai?

**dupanton** · 23rd April 2021, 19:00

Originally Posted by mknight

Well after the small off in the grass it's kind of clear what happened cause you can hear the bang. What is weird is how the car behaved many times before in right corners (same direction as the one where the off happened).
Either some setup/technical issue or something with tires. It seems to get better after a few minutes though... and then he has the off.

Also interesting they fixed it and had "faster than road speed" times in the remaining stages of the loop.

Exactly my toughts, car behaves weirdly... You can indeed hear 2 clear bangs on his first 2 offs, so that is obvious like you say.
If the replaced the part (maybe they have a track rod or something in their car) it's not that strange. Just replacing it roadside when you don't have the tools, skills nor practice of a mechanic, can take quite some time.