The 2014 WRC Thread

[Allyc85]

Just caught up with day 1 and 2s highlights and Ogier is certainly one lucky boy! If that had been a Ford the suspension would have been smashed to many pieces!

Meeke was pretty unlucky so wouldnt get on his back about his day 1 mistake!

Brilliant from Elfyn, doing a very profesional, consistent job. Robert Kubica take note!! Is it just me already getting a bit tired of all the interviews after his multible crashes?

[Allyc85]

Totally agreed with the above! Fingers crossed Lataval can keep up this consistency he seems to have found and can give Ogier a good fight!

I see Toyota (Or rather Motorsport Italia) have been out testing with the prototype Yaris WRC!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embed...

It sounds great, butI cant he;p but think that maybe when the new regs come in. in 2017 they need to increase the minimum dimensions as the Yaris looks rediculously small!

[Allyc85]

Motorsport Italia does seem like an odd choice, given the rumoured feedback of their drivers of the last couple years. Positive was not one of the words being used!

Nice weather for Neuville's Portugal test!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqiDKOSAWQo

[Allyc85]

The Fafe rally sprint (won by Ogier would you believe?!) looked good fun as always, with a crazy amount of fans watching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soF4xng7oFE

Meeke certainly won the best jump award!

Ogier onboard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H9W_url-Qg

[Allyc85]

And on to Portugal if anyone is listening

JML fastest in shakedown..

Shakedown times..

1. Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Polo R WRC, 3:05.2
2. Henning Solberg, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 3:06.0
3. Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC, 3:07.1
4. Dani Sordo, Hyundai i20 WRC, 3:07.8
5. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 3:08.3
6. Juho Hänninen, Hyundai i20 WRC, 3:08.4
7. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai i20 WRC, 3:08.5
8. Robert Kubica, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 3:10.2
9. Mads Østberg, Citroën DS3 WRC, 3:10.3
10. Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Polo R WRC, 3:10.5
11. Ott Tänak, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 3:10.8
12. Kris Meeke, Citroën DS3 WRC, 3:10.8
13. Khalid Al Qassimi, Citroën DS3 WRC, 3:13.3
14. Elfyn Evans, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 3:16.3
15. Martin Prokop, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 3:18.1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzmIB9lUF8c

[Allyc85]

I have gone for Ogier, Ostberg, Meeke on another forum! I think JML must be due a DNF

[Allyc85]

Despite the changes The WRC site is still ste and a complete mess, while the splits take ages to get through and dont auto refresh!

Gutted to see Meeke has crashed again, sounds like some kind of error on the recce making the pace note from what Paul Nagle has said.

Not surprised about JML, he has been on quite a good run recently! I see the car has been passed ok to be repaired and the team has 3 hours to fix it!

Kubica, well, meh...

Looking forward to the daily highlights on motors TV at 10.35!

[Allyc85]

Quite a hard hit that! Took them the full 3 hours to fix it, using fork lifts to straighten it! Evan's Fiesta didn't get back tI'll late and wasn't finished till 4am!

Kris Meeke sadly is the only driver back out today.

[Allyc85]

Quite a hard hit that! Took them the full 3 hours to fix it, using fork lifts to straighten it! Evan's Fiesta didn't get back tI'll late and wasn't finished till 4am!

Kris Meeke sadly is the only driver back out today.

[Allyc85]

Kubica off again. Got back on the road but the car won't restart.

The only good thing from all of this is, its proves how bloody hard it is to be a rally driver in the top level!

[Allyc85]

I agree that Kubica could do with a better, more stronger co-driver. I also think a few national events could be good for him too.

What can you say about Ogier though, another class win and already can afford a dnf and still lead the championship.

Great to see Hirvonen on good form too. You could see from the onboards just how much more committed he seemed, especially over the blind crests.

[Allyc85]

We all knew Ogier was going to take the lead, was just a matter of when and how much by. He is too good! It was just good to see Hirvonen putting in a long ocer due top drive

I see all is STILL not well with the teams and promotors!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113364

Not surprised in a way as we have barely heard from them, and all they seem to have done is got live coverage on a pay channel, and fail in their changes to the website.

[Allyc85]

Just needs someone with authority who will slow him down when he gets too wild, or remind him of where he has previously had a moment...if he gets to the second running of a stage!

GravelBen said:

And a gravel test as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnVJlD4-E98&li...

Not shy is he? Looks like he is settling into the car well!

[Allyc85]

Well I am glad to see this idea has had the same negative reaction as last time, I cant get accross how much I hate it! If people dont want to watch cars going by at silly speeds/angles then how is this going to make them suddenly decided to watch?

I like the currenbt cars, but they dont really seem to inspire the casual fan, so maybe they should go to bigger, more powerful cars?

And another thing, the new promotors need to pull their finger out and actually promote the sport, getting the word out there no matter how much it costs! The new website is crap, the app is the bare minimum it should be, and any advertising is still restricted to motorsport media!

[Allyc85]

Ah yes, I should have put a link on here really! Hopefully everyone who did it, put they were against any of these stupid ideas!

One idea from a few years ago was to make the WRC a winter sport, whats everyones views on that? It would certainly give it a bit more exposure with other championships on their off season.

Any who, Rally Argentina is finally here, and Sordo was quickest in shakedown.

1 Sordo i20 WRC 2’31’3
2 Hirvonen Fiesta WRC 2’31’7
3 Latvala Polo R WRC 2’32’0
4 Neuville i20 WRC 2’32’3
5 Ogier Polo R WRC 2’32’5
6 Mikkelsen Polo R WRC 2’32’6
7 Ostberg DS3 WRC 2’33’1
8 Evans Fiesta WRC 2’33’7
9 Kubica Fiesta WRC 2’33’9
10 Meeke DS3 WRC 2’34’9

All I want is for both Meeke to finish this one, even if it is in 10th place and a long way off!

[Allyc85]

Can't argue with that prediction. If VW win they break Citroen's record of 8 victories in a row!

[Allyc85]

Hirvonen and Ostberg out after SS2! Latvala leads Ogier after SS3!

[Allyc85]

The WRC app has randomly decided to stop working on my P.O.S Sony phone, while on the WRC site the radio link dosn't work, but it does on the live stream link!

Just seen an interview with Hirvonen who says he was around 50kph too fast into the bend where he broke the car, it might be repairable.

Ogier back in the lead!

[Allyc85]

moribund said:

Well done Jari-Matti and Kris!

Brilliant win for Latvala, beating Ogier fair and square. When he is in this kind of form he is brilliant to watch! Hopefully we can see more of this and many battles between the 2, as the VW is so far ahead of the pack!

Great podium for Kris, and just what he needed, driving at exactly the pace he needed to, to get the job done! Again more of the same please!

Solid run for Evans driving to the team order of just finishing and gaining experience.

And as for Kubica, he drove slowly for once and actually finished!

[Allyc85]

Lots of action and a good battle until Seb backed out of it on Saturday afternoon. Highlights on ITV4 at 8pm tomorrow.

For now a nice video from Best of Rally Live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1DAeWE5ZhM