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Post by Nick McRae on Mar 13, 2009 16:21:14 GMT
I seriously think Loeb can go on to take all 12 rounds. I said earlier in this thread I think that Loeb may go and try and win the event on day one - I think he's done just that! Bart, you can note down my tippings for first place for the rest of the season right now Rest of the season: 1. S Loeb ;D
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Post by Roo on Mar 14, 2009 11:56:26 GMT
Bart, you can note down my tippings for first place for the rest of the season right now Rest of the season: 1. S Loeb ;D Just make sure Mr. Loeb doesn't go anywhere near his mountain bike then. ;D
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Post by Roo on Mar 14, 2009 12:17:50 GMT
Also, I believe Jari-Matti had an off and rolled the car onto its roof on SS 8. He couldn't roll it back over, so he then ran a kilometre up the road to find some spectators, who then came down the road and helped him on his way again. He lost over twenty minutes.
The flamboyant Portuguese driver Armindo Araujo still leads the PWRC category, but his overnight 30 second lead gained on the tarmac stages, is now down to 13.2. Patrick Sandell in the S2000 Fabia is in second, while Nasser Al-Attiyah and Toshi Arai are about a minute off the pace. But if previous rough Cyprus rallies are anything to go by, these two are driving smart and playing the waiting game.
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Post by Vivski on Mar 14, 2009 16:11:06 GMT
Petter Solberg seems to have come to grips with the Xsara. Stage wins on his first day on gravel in the car... not bad.
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Post by tfliprex on Mar 15, 2009 1:51:06 GMT
Two stage wins for Petter, not bad at all; I hope his good fortune follows him tomorrow as well. That Xsara has been good for him so far, wonder if he will be keeping the Xsara for the rest of the season or not. Feel bad for Ogier, that was a bad roll. Jari did... Jari was.... ergh, nevermind; I don't like him (sorry). By-the-way, if anyone is interested, I found a free program (I use an iMac, but there is a windows version) that converts avi files into mp4 files. It's called MPEG streamclipNow I am downloading the videos from mirafiori.com and converting them to mp4 so I can watch them in your iPod at work Flip
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Post by Hurricane on Mar 15, 2009 15:38:14 GMT
Petter Solberg finished third in his Xsara. Stunning performance!
Ogier had another off and retired 200m before the end of the rally. If you ask me, claiming that Ogier is the next Sebastien Loeb, is a bit exagerated.
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Post by Nick McRae on Mar 15, 2009 20:50:41 GMT
I saw Ogier's run of madness on stage 8 too! Hilarious. The rally was like a touring car race at times. Things happening all over the place crash/mistake wise.
Well chuffed with Petter's podium and Matty's 5th place!
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Post by Will on Mar 15, 2009 22:12:58 GMT
Poor Ogier was all over the place, not one of his better events Big shout to Petter Solberg for coming 3rd in a Xsara ;D
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Post by Mixa on Mar 16, 2009 0:29:19 GMT
www.motorsportmad.com/view/6948/wrc-cyprus-2009-ogier-nightmare-on-ss8There you go . By that hes not the next Loeb . Ogier done so many mistakes anyway during the rally. At first day that wrong turn and almost hit to marshalls car,a lot of spins in day1,2 and 3 and that last ditch on final stage 200m. before the finish line was just an another rookie mistake. Also we have to remember that Ogier doesnt score M2 points because if I remember right hes car aint in M2 specs so its atleast a half factory car. What comes to Petter Im sure results will go bad from here with the Xsara. Its embarrassing to Citroen if an old Xsara will beat the factory C4´s so we can expect an older engine once more or newer program by Citroen to Petter´s car. Citroen has done it before so them can do it again. OLD XSARA aint so slow car,its the factories what makes them to look slow! Private car is always far from factory car,even when it would carry the same name!
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Post by Roo on Mar 16, 2009 2:18:03 GMT
What comes to Petter Im sure results will go bad from here with the Xsara. Its embarrassing to Citroen if an old Xsara will beat the factory C4´s so we can expect an older engine once more or newer program by Citroen to Petter´s car. Citroen has done it before so them can do it again. I hope Citroen don't do that, it really is unprofessional. I think it became really obvious in 2007, when Manfred Stohl simply struggled to get inside the points on every rally, and then come Rally Deutschland, Duval simply blitzed the field, despite not having done much testing. We saw in Norway what a good driver can do in an old car. PG's performance in the Fabia was simply fantastic. It is interesting that despite Petter and PG's cars being three to four years old, they are still quite competitive.
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Post by tfliprex on Mar 16, 2009 2:43:15 GMT
Personally, I think that Petter has rediscovered his passion. Subaru had not delivered as much as what he wanted, thus left him a little bit unspirited; but when Subaru left the WRC, it gave Petter the chance of a life-time, and it rekindled his energetic self. The Xsara has done (so far) what the Xsara can do, but Petter has done what many only dream about. He has a much bigger push now: him-self. I am very happy for his runs so far and even happier for his appearance on the podium. I think that he did indeed deserve the Abu Dhabi Spirit Award. It certainly would be really unprofessional and unbecoming of Citroen to start messing around now. I certainly hope that nothing happens, and that we will see a nice, and fair, 2009 WRC season.
Flip
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Post by Mixa on Mar 16, 2009 14:26:05 GMT
With my message I just meant that dont ever think that the car is 3 or 4 years old. WRC cars have been on its max few years already and much havent been able to do. When Citroen example launched its C4 in 2007,it was tested few years already and deveploment work was done when Xsara was still on the course. Actually some of the 2007 C4 times were slower than what the Xsara WRC pulled out in Loeb´s hand. The manufacturers just keep to play that the old cars aint ahead of them. Ford does it and Citroen does it and even Subaru drone it or what it would look like in a marketing purpose if example. Xsara what isnt even done no more and other privateers in old Xsaras would start to jump in front of C4´s? It certainly doesnt look good for manufacturers view + markets example at Citroen have already moved to C4 instead of Xsara. How to sell C4´s to professional´s if Xsara looks to be as competitive?? Also what the drivers of the manufacturer team thinks if them starts to look bad? what about their sponsors if the team doesnt look as good as them has promised to?? Lets say I have my links and I cant say everything what Ive heard and what Ill know,as always something can even be just talks but I highly doubt it. Im a Citroen team fan myself so its not truly my point to black the team I like and I like to see them winning. PG´s car BTW was ex.Kopecky so it has all the latest factory parts and programs so its kinda a factory car. Still yes,It was stunning performance on Norway even when these guys were able to use the locks. Both Petter and PG. Also Im just happy to see that Petter can be there on the podium and he certainly looked like he would have won the rally! I truly loved that and even maken me to smile as I thought the Petter I have seen all these years has lost his happiness and speed to somewhere. Ok it was Cyprus but its impressive anyway! ALSO EVERYONE HERE KNOWS HOW HAPPY I WAS TO SEE J-M LATVALA TO CRASH OUT . I SIMPLY LOVED IT!
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Post by Hurricane on Mar 16, 2009 18:56:58 GMT
They should sideline Latvala again in my opinion. Results haven't been there and he's not helping Ford at all.. Also I think he's mentally too weak to be a Ford factory driver. He has the speed, but he needs a few more years at Stobart.
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Post by Will on Mar 16, 2009 19:31:05 GMT
ROFLMFAO @ Latvala
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Post by loebfan on Mar 16, 2009 19:51:59 GMT
only 6 points so far for Jarri-Matti, all of them earned in Norway . he'll have to show he's able to score some good points without tactics if he wants to stay with Ford.
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