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Post by Curt on Dec 9, 2005 1:08:30 GMT
Thank you to everyone who took part in the Rallystuff.net Awards 2005. We had a total of 50 votes. Congratulations to all the winners. WinnersWorld Rally ChampionshipDriver Of The Year - Sebastien Loeb (72% of votes) Runner-up - Petter Solberg (10% of votes)
Citroen's Two-time World Rally Champion, Sebastien Loeb is this years Rallystuff.net Driver of the Year. Loeb managed to defend his 2004 Drivers Title with 11 wins out of the 16 events this season. This is a record no driver has been able to accomplish in the past. Loeb also managed to win every stage in this seasons Rallye De France, his home event. Co-Driver Of The Year - Michael Park (54% of votes) Runner-up - Daniel Elena (20% of votes)
Sadly Michael 'Beef' Park died earlier this year. While co-driving for Markko Martin, they had a crash on SS15, Wales Rally GB. Unfortunately the car hit a tree sideways severely damaging the co-driver's side of the car. During the 2005 season before his tragic death, Martin/Park scored points on every event they started, placing them in 4 place overall after WRC Germany. Most Improved Driver Of The Year - Chris Atkinson (36% of votes) Runner-up - Toni Gardemeister (30% of votes)
This season was the first time Atkinson had drove for a works rally team. He impressed his team, Subaru, with a podium finish in Japan helping him finish 12th overall. Privateer Of The Year - Mikko Hirvonen (46% of votes) Runner-up - Manfred Stohl (40% of votes)
After leaving Subaru at the end of 2004, Hirvonen started the year in a private Ford Focus. However he also drove for two works teams occasionally, Skoda & Ford. In Rallye Catalunya he was able to achieve a podium finish, the best result in his career. Team Of The Year - Citroen (58% of votes) Runner-up - Mitsubishi (16% of votes)
The current Manufacturers Champions, Citroen, won the Manufacturers title for the third year in a row this season. Their points were scored mainly by the current World Champion, Sebastien Loeb, who earned the team 127 points. Francois Duval & Carlos Sainz also earned the team 50 points and 11 points respectively. Rally Of The Year - Australia (28% of votes) Runner-up - Finland (24% of votes)
The final round of the season saw many big names crash out early on. These included the top 3 in the Drivers Championship. Colin McRae made a second return of the year in the Skoda Fabia. He was on the way to achieving the best result for Skoda when a routine clutch change ended his hopes with only 3 stages to go. Citroen's #2 driver, Francois Duval won the rally, his first win of his career. Harri Rovanpera & Privateer Manfred Stohl finished 2nd & 3rd respectively. Best Moment Of The Year - Sainz's Return (Turkey) (31% of votes) Runner-up - Gronholm's First Win For A Year (Finland) (22% of votes)
Sainz made a return to the WRC this season after retiring in 2004. Citroen's Francois Duval wasn't doing as well as Team Principal, Guy Frequelin had hoped. Frequelin decided to replace Duval with Sainz for a few events. Sainz managed to score 11 points for Citroen whilst back for two events. JWRC & PWRCJWRC Driver Of The Year - Daniel Sordo (41% of votes) Runner-up - Kris Meeke (33% of votes)
Daniel Sordo is this seasons Junior World Rally Champion. He won 4 of the 7 JWRC events he started, with a lead of 28 points over 2nd place, Guy Wilks. Production Car Driver Of The Year - Mark Higgins (41% of votes) Runner-up - Toshi Arai (40% of votes)
Although Mark Higgins finished 13th overall in this years Production World Rally Championship, he managed to win the British Rally Championship. Rallystuff.net MembersImage Of The Year - Trackrod Rally Taken by Mattwrc (35% of votes) Runner-up - Wales Rally GB 2005 Taken by NickMcRae [/url] (17% of votes) [/blockquote]Congratulations to Mattwrc for his excellent photo of one of the Eddie Stobart rally cars at this years Trackrod Rally event, as part of the British Rally Championship. Moderator Of The Year - Vivski (36% of votes) Runner-up - chrisfinch (21% of votes)
Congratulations to Vivski for winning Moderator of the year 2005. Although he hasn't been a moderator as long as others, he has kept the forum organised and interesting. Thanks. Member Of The Year - FordTeamRS (31% of votes) Runner-up - Rallying83 (29% of votes)
Congratulations to FordTeamRS for winning Member of the year 2005. Although FordTeamRS only joined the forum half way through the year, he has posted regularly, as well as winning one of the event competitions.
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Post by FordTeamRS on Dec 9, 2005 1:14:26 GMT
Hey I won! ;D Bit surprised about that result myself, thanks to everyone that voted and participated and thanks to Curt for creating the idea
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Post by Curt on Dec 9, 2005 1:17:52 GMT
Hey I won! ;D Bit surprised about that result myself, thanks to everyone that voted and participated and thanks to Curt for creating the idea No problem Thanks to everyone who helped with the nomination choices.
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Post by Vivski on Dec 9, 2005 2:47:44 GMT
Lmao, okay own up... who voted for Higgins!? Higgins - 5 rallies, 1 finish, 8pts, 13th overall. Arai - 6 rallies, 6 finishes, 4 WINS, 50pts, 1st overall!
In the one rally Higgins finished, he was 2nd and Arai was 1st. And yet somehow Higgins is the best PWRC driver of the year. **chuckles**
Thanks to everyone who voted for me as Top Mod. I only play a small part in the moderation of the site. I try to keep things interesting and organised. Really it's a pleasure moderating this forum, 'cos everyone is friendly, there are rarely any disputes and hardly any offensive content. So in that sense my job is made very easy. I'd also like to specifically thank Curt for all the work he does on the site. These Awards are typical of his dedication to the site. So thankyou Curt.
2006 is going to be fun!
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Post by Mitch on Dec 9, 2005 4:51:38 GMT
No offence but I think Higgans winning the PWRC is very suss. As Viv said, only 1 finish. How many Brits voted for Higgans? ;D.
I thought the most improved driver was pretty hard to pick though. Toni, Chris and Gigi have all improved this year.
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Post by mattwrc on Dec 9, 2005 7:53:33 GMT
;D one win out of the classes i was nominated for is great
how many votes were between member of the year?
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Post by chrisfinch on Dec 9, 2005 8:55:53 GMT
Second place in the moderators-not bad, Vivski is a good moderator.
I was surprised by Higgins winning
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Post by Curt on Dec 9, 2005 9:22:29 GMT
I was suprised when Higgins won. It was a bit difficult thinking of what comment to put for him. I couldn't exactly put that he won because of his 13th place finish . Thanks for all the great comments guys. how many votes were between member of the year? There was only one vote separating FordTeamRS & Rallying83. They had been quite close on votes throughout the whole voting process, however FordTeamRS received a vote only 6 hours before the deadline putting him in first.
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Post by chrisfinch on Dec 9, 2005 11:23:27 GMT
I suppose we are a predominantly english forum, and higgins has been the best english driver this year.
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Post by Curt on Dec 9, 2005 11:31:06 GMT
I suppose we are a predominantly english forum... I'm not so sure about that. We used to be, but a lot of Australians have signed up over the past couple of months. Maybe thats why Atkinson won Most Improved Driver Of The Year
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Post by FordTeamRS on Dec 9, 2005 11:49:44 GMT
I think I voted Gardemeister or Hirvonen in that vote, I couldn't say Atkinson was the most improved driver of the year because he had nothing to improve on seeing as he wasn't in the WRC last year That's just me being overly picky though
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Post by chrisfinch on Dec 9, 2005 13:30:40 GMT
Yes, gardemeister was without doubt most improved for me. From a nobody to 4th in the championship and now without a drive.
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Post by Curt on Dec 9, 2005 17:36:48 GMT
I voted for Gardemeister for the same reasons. Its a shame he has been almost forced to target towards a private drive for the next season after finishing 4th in the Drivers Championship.
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Post by Vivski on Dec 9, 2005 23:48:29 GMT
I tried hard not to, but I just couldn't not vote for Atkinson. The guy had never driven a WRCar before this year, to stick it on the podium in his first season and gradually improve throughout the entire season was pretty special. Gardemeister definitely improved, but it was impossible for him to beat Atkinson's noticable improvement.
My thinking with Gardemeister is that he was really only on the pace on tarmac and that was more noticable because there were the three tarmac rallies toward the end of the season. But then he came 2nd in the first rally of the season so it's hard to improve on that. The only way to improve would be to win a rally but he didn't do that.
You could almost say Duval was most improved. He scored 8 points from his first 8 rallies and then 39 from his last 6 rallies, and he even won a rally. I'd say that's a pretty big improvement too.
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Post by Grenville on Dec 10, 2005 3:16:02 GMT
Thank you everyone who voted for me. Means a lot ...and to those who didn't...I am never speaking to you again ;D
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