[WRC] Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2025

[denkimi]

Moving some stages to the Thursday should be an acceptable compromise.

The stages are not the issue, the huge distance between them is. They didn't do more km's of SS here, just more road sections. Move the stages closer together and everything is solved.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I have to agree what Ogier said regarding people not watching at 7am and even earlier. None but a few fanatics will be wanting or able to be sitting down and viewing sport at this time of day. Surely there's no need to start so early if theres hardly any viewers.

[AndyRAC]

The stages are not the issue, the huge distance between them is. They didn't do more km's of SS here, just more road sections. Move the stages closer together and everything is solved.

And that's because of the central service park....If events were allowed more freedom then you could have another service park elsewhere - even an overnight halt elsewhere. But, the current WRC can't begin to allow that.......

[Franky]

I have to agree what Ogier said regarding people not watching at 7am and even earlier. None but a few fanatics will be wanting or able to be sitting down and viewing sport at this time of day. Surely there's no need to start so early if theres hardly any viewers.

Are you talking about people by the roadside or behind the screens?

[WRCStan]

I have to agree what Ogier said regarding people not watching at 7am and even earlier. None but a few fanatics will be wanting or able to be sitting down and viewing sport at this time of day. Surely there's no need to start so early if theres hardly any viewers.

I wonder what the thoughts of 80~ crews who weren't screened at all are, those guys who chose to be there. I like old man Seb, and I'm sure Ott has a valid point behind his "treated like animals" outburst; but plenty of other people don't seem to mind at all.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Are you talking about people by the roadside or behind the screens?

TV / online where the vast majority of fans watch the events.

Plus the Sundays often start especially early and I'm sure most people dont want to get up super-early to watch then. Four stages from 9am - 12pm would be better.

[Franky]

TV / online where the vast majority of fans watch the events.

Plus the Sundays often start especially early and I'm sure most people dont want to get up super-early to watch then. Four stages from 9am - 12pm would be better.

I don't know, that 6:43am start time is 8:43am in Estonia. Like no issues. The thing with TV/online audience is that they are everywhere and you can't base a claim on one time zone only. I'm sure there are plenty of people who dislike being awake all night to follow some rally on the other side of the globe.

And when it comes to spectating, I am sure there are plenty of us who've started driving in the middle of the night to get to some morning stage.

[EstWRC]

Tänak not sounding too confident and happy to Estonian media after the rally

Says that over a long time he really enjoyed driving the car but the car is still fragile and the setup window is too small. He hit the setup this time since Saturday morning but says it doesn’t mean it will click also on the next rounds.

[focus206]

Says that over a long time he really enjoyed driving the car but the car is still fragile and the setup window is too small. He hit the setup this time since Saturday morning but says it doesn’t mean it will click also on the next rounds.

So... difficult to setup and too fragile. Sounds like the i20 in a nutshell.

[EstWRC]

So... difficult to setup and too fragile. Sounds like the i20 in a nutshell.

As far as my memory goes then the idea with the 2025 machine was to expand the setup window. With the 2022-2024 car it has always been very narrow.

But this could be also only Tänaks problem although Thierry now said after Portugal that he will try Ott’s setup cause he was struggling with the loose rear