WRC Italia Sardinia

[LUD02C]

Is on this weekend.
If you go to wrc.com just leave it on the front page and they have a preview thing and you see the cars doing 0-100km/h on gravel and they compare everyone.
Quickest was 4.2 seconds, how good is that?

Leob is in front with Solberg behind him and Hirvonen in 3rd.
Overall ladder is here:
http://www.wrc.com/page/StageTimes/0,,10111~2005106,00.html

Atkinson in 24th, he was 7th after day 1.

[Vivski]

Atko was going pretty well despite having a stomach bug. Then he got distracted when passing Duval's crash and hit a rock himself. He'll be back in action today, but picked up 10mins in penalties for the 2 stages he missed.

Solberg was screwed by being first on the road on Leg 1. But now he'll have better road position so we'll see if he can eat into Loeb's good lead.
Gronholm could still be a factor, 'cos he's bloody quick. That's if he doesn't roll again! :p

For those with Foxtel, the highlights are on at 11pm tonight.
I prefer to use Mitsubishi's live timing... it's much better than WRC.com's bollocks.
http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/motorsports/e/05wrc/index.html

And for those interested in ARC, if you don't already know... Rally of Canberra is on Ten at 2pm tomorrow.

-Viv-

[Vivski]

And 4.2s 0-100 on gravel... lol, that's FAST!

[LUD02C]

More trouble for Chris, end of day 2 in 27th.
Had more problems with tyres/suspensions apprently.

Leob is a full minute ahead:confused:
Been some good crashes.

[Vivski]

But he clawed his way back to 18th on the last Leg. Including another stage win!!
Hope he has better luck and less random rocks in the next few (rough) rallies.

[LUD02C]

Anyone see Duval's car end in flames?
He rolled his Citroen for the second time and it just went up in flames in the forest.

He is ok from what I saw on tv.
Chris isn't having a good rally, I think he will loose his seat to a Pug or Citroen driver.

[Vivski]

Chris has done okay. He lost 20mins on the first day because his clutch started slipping. From then on, there was no point pushing. And Cyprus is a bastard of a rally. Rough as guys, rocks the size of footballs and above 50 degrees in the car. It's horrible.

Wait until they get to rallies like Japan, Finland, Australia and GB. Then you'll see if he's got the pace or not. These rough rallies are more about luck than anything else. And Atko's luck has not been with him.

And yeah, Duval is not having a good season. He's crashed a lot of times and this last crash will cost Citroen a couple of mil. Lol, to completely destroy a WRCar... that's an expensive wreck! He not even toasted the car... it burned down half the forest up there too! :p

[LUD02C]

Turkey this weekend and Loeb is on fire as usual.
Can't wait to watch this on Foxtel.

[z3lda]

foxtel?? damm.....when is it goin to air on free tv?

[LUD02C]

Foxtel have preview WRC (night before the rally starts) then after every day foxtel has a "highlights" show of the days.

So 3 highlight shows and then usually a day or two after the rally is finished it has the full show.

Channel 10 have it minimum 10 days after the rally.

[7th Gen]

Jase, have you started a Rally of Turkey thread?

must admit have not been following the WRC as much as I used to - i think all my time is taken up by F1 now!!!!!!!!

nice to see Sainz back in the drivers seat after Duval's shocker :D

Atkinson crashed out again, but he's getting good experience

[LUD02C]

I might just make this the WRC thread.
Leob is now 1m 16sec ahead of Solberg, not even the end of day 2!
The guy is a freak!

I hope Solberg holds on to 2nd, Loeb is 11 points ahead of him I think in Drivers championship!

On ARC news, Crocker won round 2 of the ARC today, he also won round 1.

[7th Gen]

yeh make it the WRC thread, less WRC heads than F1 heads so less chance of it blowing out :D

yeh saw it on RPM. man Loeb is a freak. being a Subaru/Soberg fan i expected him to be a lot closer. Atkinson is still a bit of a rookie when it comes to WRC so i guess it's expected he make a few mistakes. he seems to be following Webber's path in that he made mistakes while driving for Jag etc - but the potential was there. hence he is doing relatively better now at Williams

with Atkinson i think the Subaru is good. but the Citroen is a whole another level? interesting to see how it goes once Citroen and the Pugs go out of the championship next yr. i suspect we will see the resurgence of the Subarus

Fords may take the fight to them, or (shock horror) maybe even Mitsubishi
forget about the rest

[Vivski]

Don't get my talking on WRC or I'll take up an entire thread with my ranting. I'm a big WRC fan and ARC fan.

Mitsubishi have some good pace now, but no reliability. And the Fords are slipping. So it looks like Subaru's in the prime position for 2006. But with all the drivers who are going to be changing teams, the whole championship will be turned upside down.

Atkinson has been really quick when his rhythm is there. You can forgive him for making some mistakes, 'cos it's still his first season in a WRCar and his first visit to all these events. He wont've seen anything like the roads in Cyprus and Turkey. So he's having to adjust to global travel, new team, new car, new events all at the same time.
In normal circumstances you'd give him at least a year to learn and then expect him to improve on his second year. But with the current situation, he has to be on the pace by the end of the year or he wont have a seat!! So he's forced to push and learn at a rediculous rate. But he's doing a good job at it, learning the limits and acclimatising to it all.

Look for Atkinson in Japan, Finland and Australia. 1. because he has run these rallies before once, 2. because the roads are more suited to his driving (fast and smooth) and 3. because if he doesn't get podiums he'll be back driving in the ARC next year.
I'm going to back him, 'cos I've watched his progress over the last couple of years, I've witnessed his skill first hand and he's a gun.

But away from the Atkinson rant...
Loeb is the master at the moment. His form is unbelievable, no matter what is thrown at him, he comes out on top. Full credit to him, 'cos he's driving brilliantly.
As a Subaru fan and a Marcus Gronholm fan, I want to see Petter and Marcus closer to Loeb.

And ending the WRC rant...
Simon Evans in the ARC is my favourite driver. I love the way he throws everything at it. Although he's not the most consistent (that's Cody Crocker), he's by far the quickest driver in the ARC and he's awesome to watch.
You don't realise just how fast these guys are going until you spectate at an ARC rally. The skill is great to watch in the flesh and the sound & smell is something you don't forget.

That's what got me so interested in rallying and made me aspire to being a rally driver.
I warned you... don't get me started on rallying!!

Incidently, anyone who plays Richard Burns Rally on PC. There are a few online comps around which I'm starting to get into. It's a heap of fun, so if you're interested, check out... http://activescore.com/

[LUD02C]

I went to the King Street Wharf rally a few years ago and I meet Cody Crocker and spoke to him for around 20 minutes, he should me inside the car and let me sit in there and explained some stuff.

Simon Evans is a top bloke as well, meet him in Wyong during a check point, said hi and thanked everyone for coming. (back when he was a privateer)

Leob is just so quick on all kinds of surfaces.
Tarmac, gravel, mud, dirt he can master them all.
He is the next multi world champion of the WRC.

When Rally Australia heads to QLD I'm there!

[Hondavirgin]

I reckon that Rally drivers are some of the nicest competitors around, and accessable too coz they usually all do work for customers too, I remember picking up my car from Maximum Motorsport and chatting with Dean Herridge...was cool.

and like Vivski said, until you see these guys in the flesh running, you don't appreciate the speed, i stood just past a rise at WRC Australia a few years back and they flew past you, but even more impressive was how late they brake, even on gravel!

[7th Gen]

hehehe, adding to the 'i met a rally driver' posts, well when I did some promo work for Subaru at the motor show a few yrs back, we were all in the head office boardroom listening to some presentation, then lo and behold Cody Crocker walks in and says hello!

no bull!

[LUD02C]

Best thing about WRC is the majority of time, its FREE to watch!
Marcus is like Kimi during interviews, makes me laugh.
Leob and his French accent saying "it was ok"

Petter loves the camera!

[Vivski]

The personalities and the accessability of the drivers and co-drivers in rallying is one of the best aspects of the sport. Even in the WRC, most of the drivers will have a chat with you even if they're really busy.

If you're in Sydney or Melbourne and go down to the event start, often all the drivers will be there with their cars and they all love to have a chat about their cars and rallying. Greg Foletta - who was Cody's co-driver until this year - is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. And Simon Evans is a very funny guy. He has character to match his exciting driving style. He's obviously been to the Possum Bourne "always have a story to tell" school for rally drivers.

I was marshalling at a refuel point at a Historic Rally and he was there as service crew for his dad. He was telling us about how many hire cars he's destroyed doing recce and all his explainations for the damage when he took them back. Lol.
He also told me a fair bit about rallying with Possum Bourne (one of my heroes) which I didn't know.

Also there's a great community in rallying. If someone breaks a part and has no spares, there's always someone from another team who'll pitch in and help out.

Rallying's just a great sport all-round. It's a pity that it's being over-managed at the top level, 'cos it stuff the sport up for everyone.

[LUD02C]

I don't know if anyone read it or not, but our own Aussie in the WRC scored a podium at the Rally of Japan!

Chris Atkinson!
Just shows we have the talent, hope he gets a drive next year with Subaru, this was his first year after all, so learning it all wouldn't be easy!

[Hondavirgin]

Does anyone know if any other teams are putting up WRC cars to fill the gap left by the pugs and citroen next year? I heard talk of suzuki doing it......

[LUD02C]

I heard that Leob will be in a private Xsara, and in 2007 Citreon will return with the C4 rally car!

[7th Gen]

that will be very interesting
to see privateer up against factory teams

don't the factory teams want loeb for a drive next yr? probably have to pay top dollar.....
another case of too many drivers, not enough seats

and yes, go Atko. good to see an Aussie on the podium. Solberg had it in the bag but he hit a rock - on course to defending his win from last yr

such is rallying

[LUD02C]

I'm more then sure, someone at Citreon has an open wallet to keep Leob.
I know I would, the guy is unstoppable!

[LUD02C]

Anyone see Solberg hit that rock and go off road?