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Post by Vivski on Dec 5, 2008 12:05:52 GMT
No doubt, but it's his first event in a World Rally Car. That's just phenominal (Colin), incredible (Petter), awesome(Atko), how I say (Latvala), crazy (Ogier)! This is the most impressive result of the entire season so far. We've been waiting for someone to come in and show us it's still possible. New car, new event, treacherous conditions... maybe back off a bit? Nah, stage wins!
It's blown me away. Lets hope he can push on and show it's not just luck.
The other thing is... Mads Ostberg has driven several events this season, but he's driving a pig of a Subaru, while Ogier has already admitted his car is a rocket! Mads is sitting in a very close 2nd!
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Post by Hurricane on Dec 5, 2008 12:59:36 GMT
Are these results correct?!
It looks like the results table is upside down?
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Post by Vivski on Dec 5, 2008 14:22:06 GMT
Well I thought it might be a case of "win it or bin it" after his confidence took a hit this morning. And he's come a cropper, rolling on SS5. Still on the road, but lost stacks of time.
I hope Nick was keeping warm. Plenty of hail around, he'll be lucky to avoid hypothermia.
There were tricky conditions today with ice, ruts, hail, fog, etc. But I have to say I agree with Steve Perez. That's the way rallying should be. Today's rallying was very entertaining. I just wish there had been more of it. Only 40km of stages makes it a sprint event in terrible conditions... that's when bad things happen.
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Post by Will on Dec 5, 2008 16:56:33 GMT
From wrc.com
SS6: All change in the top three
The Welsh winter threw everything it had at competitors on the repeated 18km Myherin stage - SS6.
Hail, sleet and torrential rain poured down on the stage, hampering visibility, creating deep puddles in the rutted ground and making muddy sections more treacherous then before. To make matters worse there was still a lot of ice around.
The combination of heavy rain and hot cars meant windscreen misting was a problem for many competitors too. But despite some de-misting worries of his own, BP Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest driver through and leapt three spots into the rally lead.
“At the start our de-misting blower broke but luckily the heating element in the screen kept it clear enough,” said the Finn. “But in some places the wipers just couldn’t wipe fast enough - they were unbelievable conditions!”
Sebastien Loeb was second fastest and moved up to second overall. “There was a lot of water in the ruts and we were aquaplaning a lot - it was very slippery,” he said. “But overall it was a good drive - I pushed harder than I did earlier. It’s okay, now we’ll see what we can do.”
Also enjoying a good run was Suzuki World Rally Team driver P-G Andersson who moved up from sixth to third place. “I tried hard on that one,” said the Swede. “It’s a bit frustrating, though, because I spun on a downhill section on the previous stage and lost about five seconds - but this one was good.”
Sebastien Ogier reported problems with his Citroen C4 WRC and dropped around 45sec to the leaders. At the finish control the Frenchman said he had stopped near the end of the stage as a result of gearbox trouble. He slid to eight place overall. Also on the slide was Mads Ostberg who spun partly as a result of a misted windscreen - the Norwegian slipped back behind Andersson into fourth.
After his roll on the previous test Mikko Hirvonen got through SS6 in the ninth fastest time but was way down in 30th place overall. “It’s a big job now but I have to keep on trying,” said Hirvonen. “I came as fast as I could but the engine isn’t pulling as well as it should. I’m sure we’ll be okay; I think the air intake or something is blocked. We’ve got no power but we should get to service okay.”
Petter Solberg arrived at the finish control furious with his car’s ventilation system. “I was on a charge but I couldn’t see anything at all through the windscreen - I mean nothing!” he explained. “For the last 10km the screen was completely misted. I lost so much - it could have been a very good time!”
Petter’s team-mate Chris Atkinson also suffered with forward vision and drove with his side window open in an effort to keep his half of the windscreen clear.
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Post by Hurricane on Dec 5, 2008 19:48:22 GMT
Waw. Quite a weird day of rallying About everything that was unexpected happened. Mikko loses out, Andersson, Ostberg and Ogier in the top 8, ... Seems like Atkinson crashed on the last stage of the day. He's taken to hospital for precautionary checks. article
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Post by Mixa on Dec 5, 2008 20:46:19 GMT
yup,almost anything unexpected happened. I truly expected 2 drivers to have off´s (JML and Atko). Atko done it,JML didnt Im shocked but hes time will come as tomorrow hes first on the road. There should be even a lot of ice on the stages.
Yeah Ogier and Ostberg pulled out nice times but Ogier´s mistake in any other place would been a sure retirement. Ostberg has some lucky moment aswell what I read. Its still nice to see new and exciting names close to top.
Cant wait the day2. It should be huge. Now I also think that Citroen has also claimed the manufacturers title.
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Post by tfliprex on Dec 5, 2008 20:59:12 GMT
Geesh! I hope that Atko is ok. Scary that he actually sustained damage to his crash helmet, how did the accident happen?
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Post by Will on Dec 5, 2008 21:59:04 GMT
PG Andersson third.
Oh my god.
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Post by mrdad on Dec 5, 2008 23:10:25 GMT
Go the Zooks!! ;D Mitch picked it!!
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Post by Mitch on Dec 5, 2008 23:27:37 GMT
Haha correct I did in our family WRC tipping. I thought the Zooks would be up there as Japan is similar to GB and they'd already have a pretty good idea set up wise. Road position was also going to help them. I just cannot believe that the FIA can be such pansies to cancel stages again because of snow. Has anyone heard of "driving to the conditions" if there is snow on the road, drive slower! An absolute farce again. What makes it even harder to fathom is that on a local rally this year, it snowed heavily, leaving snow on the road. None of the drivers had experienced snow in rallying before, yet all drove the stages anyway. They didn't have the best tires, nor the best cars with lots of RWD cars in the event, but no one crashed or anything. Only two drivers (ironically in 4wds) slipped off due to differential problems. And to make it funnier, they were only on road book, no pace notes, just junctions and cautions. So why does the FIA have to bloody baby the WRC. If these guys really are the best, they should be able to drive in all road conditions. Perfect example was from this rally was one bloke running a Datsun 1600 (a 160J to some of you). Runs on a very small budget, uses second hand rally tires etc. au.youtube.com/watch?v=mkO9ux_rVRsand my mate in his Evo au.youtube.com/watch?v=buI0p94ZyUcHe can drive through a stage with snow and ice fine. Time to harden up FIA!!! Back on topic, very impressed with how Ogier and Ostberg drove, especially Ostberg considering Ogier really had the best car and Ostberg has one of the worst WRC cars. The conditions suit the Nordic drivers but in all honesty the most impressive drive has been from Guy Wilks, in the grp. n Mitsubishi. Only 2 minutes off the lead, beating quite a few WRC cars. It was fairly obvious in the ARC this year when he drove the Honda and was winning stages that he is an exceptional driver who deserves a WRC drive.
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Post by Roo on Dec 5, 2008 23:39:09 GMT
It shows that Suzuki are making steady progress with the SX4 WRC, and that PG Andersson is certainly gaining experience and confidence. Yes, road position may have helped a bit, but Gardemeister is in a similar road position in the same car and is down in 11th. SS2 4th Fastest +5.9 = 4th SS3 6th Fastest +8.0 = 4th SS5 11th Fastest +7.4 = 6th SS6 3rd Fastest +12.8 = 3rd SS7 6th Fastest +4.0 = 4th SS8 2nd Fastest +0.7 = 3rd I just cannot believe that the FIA can be such pansies to cancel stages again because of snow. Has anyone heard of "driving to the conditions" if there is snow on the road, drive slower! An absolute farce again. If these guys really are the best, they should be able to drive in all road conditions. Time to harden up FIA!!! Agree. It's just so soft. If the top WRC teams had access to appropriate tyres for the conditions, there wouldn't be a problem. Give the competitors some decent tyres for pity's sake. It goes to prove that the tyre limitation rules brought in by the FIA are so short sighted and stupid. FIA - What were you thinking?
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Post by Vivski on Dec 6, 2008 2:38:24 GMT
The guys on rally radio mentioned the tyre issues. But there are no tyres to handle those conditions. They have the mud tyre, they have the snow tyre... the mud tyre is no good for snow, the snow tyre is no good for mud. The drivers would be complaining left-right-centre.
The tyres they're on make it level, there's a road out there with start and finish controls, get out there and drive it! We idolise these guys because they're the best. They make it look easy to drive in the most difficult of conditions. Why not let them go and do their thing?
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Post by tfliprex on Dec 6, 2008 3:02:14 GMT
Here you go! I am so disappointed by FIA and with Pirellii (again). It is a mess, I feel sorry for all those spectators that were left out. ::mad::
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Post by Will on Dec 6, 2008 3:46:13 GMT
Off to go watch the rally now Bye everybody!
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Post by Roo on Dec 6, 2008 3:46:39 GMT
Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel:
"The conditions were quite awful and we didn't have the right tyre. That's not the fault of Pirelli, but the fault of the regulations,"
"It was bad - especially for the spectators. It was a mess. This is supposed to be a show and we need spectators, but we cannot put on a good show without good tyres. Obviously there is also the aspect of safety, and what we have been doing is not nice."
Subaru boss David Richards:
"How can we turn round to the general public and say that it was too slippery for the best drivers in the world to perform? It makes a mockery of the whole sport."
Now this last comment by Dave is really concerning:
"We've repeatedly spoken to the FIA about this and we've been told it's too complicated to sort out. We don't accept this."
It's not the competitors fault. It's not Pirelli's fault. It's not the fault of rally organisers.
It's not only the fans who are angry, but now the teams are angry. It happened in Japan, and it has happened again in Wales.
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