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Post by Hurricane on Jan 15, 2009 20:56:20 GMT
A picture of Toni Gardemeister with his Abarth Grande Punto S2000:
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Post by Nick McRae on Jan 16, 2009 19:11:43 GMT
Go Toni! That car already looks well rallied
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Post by Mixa on Jan 21, 2009 10:12:26 GMT
Looks to be a proper snowy Monte due to SS1 times what can be finded to monte´s official site www.acm.mc . Vouilloz was the quickest guy on the 1st one but only just behind is a Skoda of Hänninen. Then comes other Finns Gardemeister and Alen (16 seconds to top) ,then comes to group of Peugeot´s Ogier,Loix and Meeke . Meeke example lost 55 seconds already at the 1st stage. Cant wait to see the SS2! Looks to be coming a great one!
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Post by Roo on Jan 21, 2009 12:17:41 GMT
Jan Kopecky must have had an off or a spin or something, four minutes slower.
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Post by Hurricane on Jan 21, 2009 12:45:37 GMT
Already two big retirements on the first stage: Luca Rossetti had an off Didier Auriol retired with mechanical problems Sarrazin takes the second stage and Juho Hanninen is the new leader in his Skoda Fabia S2000 EDIT: Kris Meeke wins SS3 while it began to snow very hard. Results after day 1: 1. Juho Hänninen 2. Stéphane Sarrazin 3. Nicolas Vouilloz 4. Sebastian Ogier 5. Freddy Loix 6. Kris Meeke 7. Giandomenico Basso 8. Toni Gardemeister 10. Jan Kopecký 12. Anton Alen
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Post by Mitch on Jan 22, 2009 8:57:24 GMT
Does breaking a wheel off mean Mechanical? Thats what Auriol did according to some fans. Kopecky did a brilliant job with power steering problems yesterday, still set top 6 stage times on the 2 other stages after dropping 4 minutes on SS1, only dropped 30 seconds over the next two. Gardemeister had transmission problems plus this "Generator doesn't work at all. Car is stalling all the time, windows steam up and it doesn't go anywhere." Conditions today will be extremely tricky, Meeke's gravel crew were up at 3am checking out the roads, lots of snow which has now turned into ice. Most cars are on studded tires. You can watch live stages on Eurosport and on the IRC site ( www.ircseries.com/html/Video.asp). Sorry I'm not advanced enough to turn into a single word url... Hopefully we'll see a Peugeot, Skoda & FIAT all on the podium at the end
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Post by Hurricane on Jan 22, 2009 12:29:36 GMT
Yesterday, while stage 2 was running, the rally website said that Auriol gave up with a mechanical problem. This has now been corrected, he definately went off the road. After SS5, Meeke was in second position overall. But it seems that he ran into trouble on the next stage and dropped to 4th overall.. I think he's doing a great job for his first rally in an S2000 car and his first rally on snow! I'm not really impressed by Vouilloz' effort though.. And Freddy Loix now up to third! Go Freddy! ;D
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Post by Mixa on Jan 22, 2009 13:05:07 GMT
Yeah Mr.Didi cutted off in the corner and broken a rim. Probably something else in the end aswell as he retired. Rossetti crashed and burned his car at yesterday :S Skoda seems to have done a great car! Its nice to see them finally actually leading a rally after all those years. Kopecky is fast,Hänninen is fast! Ok Some guys said that Hänninen had a good pace as the frontrunners run on snow while Hänninen had a bit better roads(snow melted as more cars gone through). Hänninen is still doing an excellent rally! I really hope that he doesnt run into the troubles. Ofcourse most of the top drivers have had issues but in the end in 1 stage with pure driving you can lose so much time that this is far from over. Great to see a snowy Monte anyway!!!
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Post by Hurricane on Jan 22, 2009 15:19:54 GMT
Didier Auriol indeed hit a bank in the corner, breaking off his whole wheel! On website footage of Eurosport, you can see it on board. The wheel even rolled further down the road, while Didier wasn't going anywhere anymore.
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Post by Vivski on Jan 22, 2009 15:22:11 GMT
I have to say, I never thought Hanninen was a tarmac driver. For such a specialised event, he's going great guns! Very impressive!
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Post by Mixa on Jan 22, 2009 16:20:38 GMT
Skoda is such an impressive car. In top speed what Ive heard its on its level of its own at the moment. Such an impressive result from Skoda anyway to came to IRC and blast away the competition and its even more impressive to see that due to fact we know their history in WRC class+ how dominant Peugeot were last year. Its still the first round but IRC is an awesome serie to watch. I been checking this out a few years already but this year it looks to rock! WRC should even take some notes for how the camera´s are handled,the coverage is simply astonishing. Yeah saw the Auriol clip today before live stage. He hitted to bank after slid wide probably due to ice. I still would have loved to see more of him during this event. ps. It was funny when Rosetti hitted to that barn(carage) and the car caught on fire while the owner was looking the damage. Owner looks deem scared on that point . Vouilloz is also out due to gone off.
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Post by Hurricane on Jan 22, 2009 17:05:56 GMT
On the last stage of the day, SS9, Juho Hänninen ran into trouble, lost 2.5min and dropped to third overall!
BF Goodrich Drivers Team Sébastien Ogier is the new rally leader! Freddy Loix is second.
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Post by Will on Jan 22, 2009 17:21:44 GMT
Ogier now leads over Loix, by 32 seconds.
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Post by Hurricane on Jan 23, 2009 11:29:45 GMT
Wow talking of drama!
On the first stage of today both Juho Hänninen and Kris Meeke crash out of the rally! Meeke delayed Freddy Loix, who consequently lost second place to Toni Gardemeister.
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Post by Will on Jan 24, 2009 14:20:06 GMT
Ogier wins the Monte Carlo Rally Loix in second, Sarrazin third.
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