Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

**240RS** · 29th June 2022, 07:34

Something about super rally rules doesn't rub the right way.

A competitor fails to complete half a day and still ends up in the top ten with championship points to boot. Shouldn't there be a rule that makes it virtually impossible for those not completing the entire route easily beating those who do??? Ten minutes per stage ain't enough, clearly.

Also, a competitor winning a category should ideally complete the entire course. Am old school, but that's not the point!!!

**flat_right** · 29th June 2022, 07:52

Rules are okay and in a normal rally, they do their work. The problem is that rallying and also travelling to rallies that are far away is expensive and we end up with fewer drivers which results the situation you explained. Normally, even if Rally1 drivers retire, Rally2 drivers will "collect" the points while not being 30 minutes off the leader.

**AndyRAC** · 29th June 2022, 08:28

Originally Posted by 240RS

Something about super rally rules doesn't rub the right way.

A competitor fails to complete half a day and still ends up in the top ten with championship points to boot. Shouldn't there be a rule that makes it virtually impossible for those not completing the entire route easily beating those who do??? Ten minutes per stage ain't enough, clearly.

Also, a competitor winning a category should ideally complete the entire course. Am old school, but that's not the point!!!

I've consistently said since Super Rally was introduced that you shouldn't finish ahead of somebody who has done the full event; I compared it to showjumping where any rider with faults finishes behind 'clean' competitors, no matter that their time was faster.

However, we're stuck with the current rules, so it is what it is......

**AnttiL** · 29th June 2022, 09:43

Safari is a corner case. The WRC2 entry list was low and everyone except the top three had multi-minute-issues. I bet it's very rare to have someone skip three stages and finish on points in any other rally.

I see that Loeb is pinpointed for finishing ahead of Solberg who completed the route. In addition to driving very slowly, Solberg also had to stop on first Sunday stage and the stage was red flagged for that. He lost 14 minutes on that stage. Without red flag, it could have been also a retirement? And then he lost almost 6 minutes on the penultimate stage. Meanwhile, in the old days' Safari, Loeb could have been serviced on the fly and finished much higher.

For me the rules are fine.

**Fast Eddie WRC** · 29th June 2022, 10:35

Re the general last day cruising / tyre-saving issue (not Safari)

How about a point for the winner of every stage on the last day and 3-2-1 on the PS ?

**J4MIE** · 29th June 2022, 10:47

We got penalties for missing all 6 stages on Saturday (even though we decided to drive the first loop), so an hour was added to our time. We finished 20th overall but luckily not last. I think the penalties are fine.
You’ll always get some situations some people aren’t happy with. SR rules are part of the game, much like the rest of the sport.

**wyler** · 29th June 2022, 12:01

Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

Re the general last day cruising / tyre-saving issue (not Safari)

How about a point for the winner of every stage on the last day and 3-2-1 on the PS ?

i'd go with a point for every stage on all days.

**AnttiL** · 29th June 2022, 12:10

Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

Re the general last day cruising / tyre-saving issue (not Safari)

How about a point for the winner of every stage on the last day and 3-2-1 on the PS ?

One rally might offer just two stages on Sunday, one rally five. And the length of the stages can vary from 6 km in Wales to 80 km in Mexico.

Also, it makes everything very complicated to explain.

Also, could you score individual stage points although you don't complete the rally?

**Fast Eddie WRC** · 29th June 2022, 12:45

The only other way would be to make the final day a full day so there would be enough stages to allow sufficient changes in times to affect the leaderboard. But I guess that's not what they want and prefer the cruise then drama for tv...

**WRCStan** · 29th June 2022, 13:34

Restarting is not a problem, but there shouldn't be a difference between a crew who retire at the first hurdle and a crew who crash on the last stage - or worse, use retiring at last control as a loophole for longer service or better final stage time. If it's argued that more distance is covered but agreed restarting is not a problem, it's only the rules that push them back to the next leg. Sure J4mie would have accepted restarting immediately (the purpose of OTL not being the point)!

How about scratch+10 for all the leg's stages, not just the ones missed, would reflect better in the standings???