[WRC] Safari Rally 2022

[Eli]

Loeb re-start tomorrow confirmed.

And also Breen said they would start again tomorrow, apparently it was their steering that failed which made them hit those rocks in the straight part of the stage.

[mknight]

Ben, the WRC+ interviewer: "Seb, you lost 2 minutes and 10 seconds to Kalle, what happened?"
Ogier: "Nothing, we drive Pirelli!"
Becs, the WRC+ commentator: "Mmmh, so we still have no idea on what part of the car the problem is."
Me: *facepalm*

I honestly wonder if WRC+ have some rule or regulation that stops them from criticizing Pirelli, or even acknowledging the existence of anyone else's criticism of Pirelli.

I think it's worth turning this around.

When Michelin/BF Goodrich was the sole supplier I don't really recall any drivers saying how bad "Michelin" is.
Rather it was "FIA should allow us mousse" or "stages too rough".

This calling names is basically a thing from Østberg last year (who was paid by Michelin the year before) and Ogier (who is French, which does matter in this case).

How Michelin would fare vs Pirelli in this case is completely unknown as they did not start on Safari last year and were never used on Rally1 cars.

The self-censorship on name calling is certainly there, but that's common for everything else that is "single supplier" in WRC.

[MentalParadox]

I think it's worth turning this around.

When Michelin/BF Goodrich was the sole supplier I don't really recall any drivers saying how bad "Michelin" is.
Rather it was "FIA should allow us mousse" or "stages too rough".

This calling names is basically a thing from Østberg last year (who was paid by Michelin the year before) and Ogier (who is French, which does matter in this case).

How Michelin would fare vs Pirelli in this case is completely unknown as they did not start on Safari last year and were never used on Rally1 cars.

The self-censorship on name calling is certainly there, but that's common for everything else that is "single supplier" in WRC.

Not just Østberg... Pirelli receives similar criticisms in Formula One from a number of drivers for a number of reasons. I don't think you can really dismiss all of that with arguments like "because this guy is French" or "this guy had a deal with rival company x". That can't apply to all of them.

Anyway, they can self-censor all they like, but the part I dislike (and personally, find a little creepy) is when they don't even acknowledge what the driver said. As if they literally did not hear it. I'm not asking them to agree with Ogier. Just at least admit he said what he said. You're supposed to be journalists! When the interests of a corporation and the journalists interviewing them become too entangled, they cease to be journalists and become an unofficial PR department of that corporation.

[WRCStan]

You're supposed to be journalists! When the interests of a corporation and the journalists interviewing them become too entangled, they cease to be journalists and become an unofficial PR department of that corporation.

Do you think you'll ever come round to believe your own explanation of what'll happen is already happening as intended?

[WRCStan]

Ben, the WRC+ interviewer: "Seb, you lost 2 minutes and 10 seconds to Kalle, what happened?"
Ogier: "Nothing, we drive Pirelli!"
Becs, the WRC+ commentator: "Mmmh, so we still have no idea on what part of the car the problem is."
Me: *facepalm*

I honestly wonder if WRC+ have some rule or regulation that stops them from criticizing Pirelli, or even acknowledging the existence of anyone else's criticism of Pirelli.

Becs said: Not giving us much info on where on the car that puncture was.... moves on to Solberg on screen.

[seb_sh]

Becs said: Not giving us much info on where on the car that puncture was.... moves on to Solberg on screen.

I understood she said we don't know which part of the car has the problem as in which tyre was punctured. We only had some in car footage of him stopping so the context was we didn't know which tyre was punctured. It hadn't occurred to me she might be "censoring" and i don't think she was. Of course the official commentators won't emphasize Pirelli complaints buy to say they are censoring is perhaps reading too much into it.

[mknight]

Not just Østberg... Pirelli receives similar criticisms in Formula One from a number of drivers for a number of reasons. I don't think you can really dismiss all of that with arguments like "because this guy is French" or "this guy had a deal with rival company x". That can't apply to all of them.

In Formula 1 every brand gets a lot of criticism, Michelin certainly did when they retired all cars from US GP back in 2006? or so.

What I was pointing out is how nobody was naming tire brand in WRC before even om cases with same number of punctures (Østberg). But with Pirelli a few drivers suddenly use the brand name all the time.

I think AnttiL at some point even compared number of punctures over a few rallies and they were the same.

[WRCStan]

When there is situation with dust and Taka, I would like to know your opinion about this giving times by CoC/stewards from green table when they were slowed by previous driver (dust or just reached him)? In the past, nothing like this happened (I mean times from table), it was counted as "part of rally", but in last months/years they are giving more and more similar times. What do you think about it?

Interesting one, increasingly important that every tenth counts. Can't blame a competitor for trying but what point does it become a nuisance for the Coc/stewards to be reviewing video, making judgements and doing maths over more small things. Their call to have a tough stance when it matters.

Taka's leg stages:
+0.88s/km
+0.1
+0.24
+0.22
+0.03
+0.99

Only has first split in his favour to go off, lost time to Kalle at the end of the stage which had nothing to do with Craig's dust. Give him +0.24 again based on first pass, he'll be 3secs off Kalle. Doesn't matter really, he'll be third of the Toyotas - but should be given something to take Tanak for now.

[AndyRAC]

When Pirelli are in competition with other tyre suppliers, they tend to come off worse. It doesn't matter what series it is. Which is why they tend to prefer a single supplier status.......

And even last week, in the Tour of Slovenia cycling event the current Tour de France winner was criticising his Pirelli tyres on a descent......which I thought was funny.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Pirelli were on a hiding to nothing coming in to the WRC. They were always going to get some stick after taking over from the established brand (Michelin) after so many years. It was almost impossible for them to compare favourably.