The WRC 2012 Thread

Author
Discussion

P I Staker

3,308 posts

155 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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Allyc85 said:
Friday afternoons stages were cancelled due to bad weather making some of the river crossings virtually impossible, thus making the cars unable to reach re-fuel or actually get through to the end!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98481
Rubbish, don't they have snorkels to fit like the old Safari days?

EDLT

15,421 posts

205 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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The electrics probably aren't waterproof. In recent years a few cars have stopped right after a water splash.

P I Staker

3,308 posts

155 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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ETA: "*Shrug* I shall continue on foot..."



Edited by P I Staker on Friday 30th March 18:43

P I Staker

3,308 posts

155 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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I'm just sticking these up for folk that aren't on Facebook.

Lots of shopping trolleys (WRC Academy) struggling along in the mud (Stage diversion)...


TankRS

2,850 posts

153 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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Christian Loriaux said:
Fords Team Technical chief, Christian Loriaux has slammed Jari Matti and Solberg for their early exits from Rally Portugal today. JML went off on SS5 and Petter on SS6, both drivers were a head when the incidents happened.
He was quoted saying
" We were given a big, big lifeline and we have cut it off. Twice. The championship was over for us really and then we are given this massive life when Seb throws his rally away and all our guys had to do was go steady. They knew they could control Mikko, they knew they could. All they had to do was stay on the road!"

Theres going to be some harsh words said in the Ford camp tonight we think!
re water splashes - they wern't expecting so much rain to fall during the event, so i hear, and thats why its caused chaos, especially with the thick hanging fog.

i remember one season when subaru fitted a manual cover for the intake scoop that Phil Mills would operate when he knew a deep watersplash was coming up! ill try and find the link for it

TankRS

2,850 posts

153 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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posted by Petter's facebook page with this caption -

- This is where we went off. Just slid off, could not get back on the road. Not much visibility and a lot of mud! Car is down on the right.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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It is chaos today!
God, this is why the WRC is better than F1.

TankRS

2,850 posts

153 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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to be fair, it looks no muddier than Wales Rally was some 3years ago when we had a weeks rainfall overnight in Walters Arena, my bloody focus still managed to get round the stage tho on standard tyres!! wink

P I Staker

3,308 posts

155 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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PSBuckshot said:
It is chaos today!
God, this is why the WRC is better than F1.
Just a shame we don't get live coverage like the F1. Of course it wouldn't be practical and probably very expensive but all the same it would be awesome. smile

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
P I Staker said:
Just a shame we don't get live coverage like the F1. Of course it wouldn't be practical and probably very expensive but all the same it would be awesome. smile
Yeah live coverage is a bit much to ask, however some hour/hour and half long HD highlights shows wouldn't be a bad treat.
Quite happy with what Motors TV produce though.

Allyc85

7,225 posts

185 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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We should have been getting news about the tv/promotor deal this weekend, but I havnt heard anything about it so far!

JWarren98

128 posts

146 months

Friday 30th March 2012
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Why can't all the rallies be like this?
We need some proper challenging terrain rallies bringing back, the shorter distance and abundance of tarmac rallies the last few years has just been awful. We need more night stages and at the very least bring back the safari! If only for the awesome spec cars.

EDLT

15,421 posts

205 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
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JWarren98 said:
Why can't all the rallies be like this?
We need some proper challenging terrain rallies bringing back, the shorter distance and abundance of tarmac rallies the last few years has just been awful. We need more night stages and at the very least bring back the safari! If only for the awesome spec cars.
Can't really do a safari around Africa any more, the Dakar took place in South America this year for safety reasons. WRC already has some good South American rallys, I think I'd rather watch those than see the cars crawling over rocks.

Allyc85

7,225 posts

185 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
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JWarren98 said:
Why can't all the rallies be like this?
We need some proper challenging terrain rallies bringing back, the shorter distance and abundance of tarmac rallies the last few years has just been awful. We need more night stages and at the very least bring back the safari! If only for the awesome spec cars.
I agree, we need rallys that challenge the drivers and inspire the spectators to watch something amazing.

joe58

711 posts

150 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
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If your doing work or whatever just put the WRC radio on. It's rather good to listen to in the background as you work. Much better than this 5live rubbish wink

Allyc85

7,225 posts

185 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
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So with a day to go the standings are like this.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98520

Leading positions after SS15:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen 2h43m46.2s
2. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 1m11.9s
3. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 1m41.2s
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah Qatar Citroen + 6m10.1s
5. Petter Solberg Ford + 6m26.5s
6. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 6m47.5s
7. Dennis Kuipers M-Sport Ford + 7m29.8s
8. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 8m00.2s
9. Peter van Merksteijn Jr van Merksteijn Citroen + 8m38.7s
10. Jari Ketomaa Autotek Ford + 11m36.7s

Apart from Solberg who should pass Al-Attiyah easily it should just be a case of the front runners bringing it home, and deciding how much to push on the power stage!


P I Staker

3,308 posts

155 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
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Looks like Ott has managed to balance his car on a rock...


GravelBen

15,654 posts

229 months

Sunday 1st April 2012
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EDLT said:
The electrics probably aren't waterproof. In recent years a few cars have stopped right after a water splash.
S2000 cars seem particularly vulnerable to water damage from fords/splashes, whether electrical or mechanical from ingesting water.

Allyc85

7,225 posts

185 months

Sunday 1st April 2012
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Great win for Mikko, drove at the exact pace he needed to and stayed out of trouble, nice one! I believe its the first time the top 3 didnt set a fastest stage time!

And the 2 Ford boys on the podium were superb too, I was glad to see Novikov bounce back from his huge Mexico and drive a very mature rally.

I really am at loss with JML, I dont know what Ford can do to fix his fragile mind? Hes so bloody fast and easily the most spectacular driver to watch, but it only takes one mistake to undo all his hard work. He looked so destroyed after his spin on the first full day, it was almost sad to see him like it.

Leading results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen 4h19m24.3s
2. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 1m51.8s
3. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 3m25.0s
4. Petter Solberg Ford + 3m47.4s
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah Qatar Citroen + 7m57.6s
6. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 8m01.0s
7. Dennis Kuipers M-Sport Ford + 8m39.1s
8. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 9m00.8s
9. Thierry Neuville Citroen Junior + 10m29.7s
10. Jari Ketomaa Autotek Ford + 11m44.6s

Other WRC finishers:

11. Peter van Merksteijn Jr van Merksteijn Citroen + 12m02.8s
12. Dani Sordo Prodrive Mini + 14m15.5s
13. Daniel Oliveira Brazil Ford + 16m54.1s
14. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 18m54.4s
15. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 19m06.9s
16. Armindo Araujo Portugal Mini + 22m55.7s

WRC retirements:

Patrik Sandell Prodrive Mini SS21
Sebastien Loeb Citroen SS3

Leading power stage results:

1. Dani Sordo Prodrive Mini 3m10.4s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 0.3s
3. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 2.1s
4. Jari Ketomaa Autotek Ford + 8.8s
5. Petter Solberg Ford + 10.3s

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98537

Allyc85

7,225 posts

185 months

Sunday 1st April 2012
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Just read that Hirvonens car is being looked at by the stewards with the clutch being an issue! This mad rally isnt over yet!