***The offical Monte Carlo Rally Thread 2015***

[Pwig]

Something you definitely don't want just after a flying finish

[Slippydiff]

Could of been so much worse ......... Got to feel for RK, he's had a tough rally, so near yet so far.
As I suspected, doesn't sound like Loeb will be back anytime soon. Can't say I'm sorry. As I said previously, stay away or quit the WTCC and head back to the WRC full time. Would love him to do the latter, no doubting his speed but I think he's been put in his place by Ogier once and for all this time. Controversial ? Maybe .......

Good top see Evans, Meeke, JML all finish. Meeke's times on dry Tarmac really rather impressive. A really lacklustre even for Hyundai. Another victory for the VW steamroller. Andy Mick seems to be improving ?

All in all a superb event. Tricky conditions in amongst some of the most stunning scenery imaginable. I think The Monte is my favorite event in the WRC calendar these days (until they bring back Corsica.......)

[Alex Langheck]

Joking; it probably seized due to lack of use.....
But it's yet another Rally ending off - he has far too many; somebody really needs to have a word. I love having him in the WRC, his commitment is frightening - but he can't seem to drive slow.

But well done to VW for a 1,2,3 and Ogier for his 3rd Monte win. It is early, but an ominous sign for the rest of the season.
A good, sensible drive from Ostberg on a difficult event rewarded with 4th place. For both Loeb and Meeke a case of what might have been - for the M Sport youngsters, promising pace before coming unstuck, in tricky conditions.

Finally, I'm not sure the stage they used for the Live coverage was the best; surely just having Col de Turini would have sufficed. They still have a long way to go before they better the IRC Monte coverage.

[Seek]

1. 1 FRAS. OGIER 3:36:40.2
2. 2 FINJ. LATVALA 3:37:38.2 +58.0 +58.0
3. 9 NORA. MIKKELSEN 3:38:52.5 +1:14.3 +2:12.3
4. 12 NORM. OSTBERG 3:39:23.8 +31.3 +2:43.6
5. 7 BELT. NEUVILLE 3:39:52.3 +28.5 +3:12.1
6. 8 ESPD. SORDO 3:39:53.1 +0.8 +3:12.9
7. 5 GBRE. EVANS 3:42:03.9 +2:10.8 +5:23.7
8. 4 FRAS. LOEB 3:45:14.9 +3:11.0 +8:34.7
9. 21 CZEM. PROKOP 3:46:35.0 +1:20.1 +9:54.8
10. 3 GBRK. MEEKE 3:47:35.8 +1:00.8 +10:55.6

[Slippydiff]

Alex Langheck said:

Joking; it probably seized due to lack of use.....
But it's yet another Rally ending off - he has far too many; somebody really needs to have a word. I love having him in the WRC, his commitment is frightening - but he can't seem to drive slow.

But well done to VW for a 1,2,3 and Ogier for his 3rd Monte win. It is early, but an ominous sign for the rest of the season.
A good, sensible drive from Ostberg on a difficult event rewarded with 4th place. For both Loeb and Meeke a case of what might have been - for the M Sport youngsters, promising pace before coming unstuck, in tricky conditions.

Finally, I'm not sure the stage they used for the Live coverage was the best; surely just having Col de Turini would have sufficed. They still have a long way to go before they better the IRC Monte coverage.

That seemed to hit a chord with a lot of spectators, I remember watching the live stuff and thinking "Why isn't the WRC coverage THIS good ?"

Was it 2012 or 2013 (I remember Meeke binning it very early ? on in the event) So what was it that was SO good about that particular IRC coverage ?

[Pwig]

Bobby K's car.

[Allyc85]

Blimey, Glad they are ok! Wonder if the full stage onboard will be uploaded?!

[RyanTank]

that looks like it would have hurt too!

with regards to coverage - I managed to find a btsport stream for the powerstage and it looked pretty good. not a fan of the commentators, but that could be them dumbing it down for new viewers. There was one comment of "don't worry, that's just tyre smoke which happens when a driver pulls the handbrake to cause the back end to slide" or pretty close to that quote.

I also don't understand how Eurosport can put on a full live package for IRC events yet doing it for the WRC, which some rallies run shorter events than the IRC, was ruled out on grounds of cost?

[Alex Langheck]

To be fair, the IRC Montes were the only IRC events which had virtually all the stages covered live; I've read that the coverage was paid for by somebody high up in Monaco. The other IRC rounds that wanted live coverage had to pay Eurosport extra for it. Now it is the ERC, we don't seem to get the live coverage anymore.

I've seen on some forums fans complaining that Kubica, on Pirellis hasn't got the same coverage as the Michelin runners. I hope this isn't the case. He's signed up for the full WRC, so show him.

[andygo]

Perhaps Kubica doesn't get the same coverage because he is unspectacular..

[DanielSan]

Or because he spent half the rally crashing and was nowhere in the results...

[tyrrell]

DanielSan said:

Or because he spent half the rally crashing and was nowhere in the results...

Great shame because he is a tryer, just hope he does not hurt himself again

[Slippydiff]

Alex Langheck said:

To be fair, the IRC Montes were the only IRC events which had virtually all the stages covered live; I've read that the coverage was paid for by somebody high up in Monaco. The other IRC rounds that wanted live coverage had to pay Eurosport extra for it. Now it is the ERC, we don't seem to get the live coverage anymore.

I've seen on some forums fans complaining that Kubica, on Pirellis hasn't got the same coverage as the Michelin runners. I hope this isn't the case. He's signed up for the full WRC, so show him.

yep, I read that too. If it's the forum I'm thinking of (I dip into it fairly infrequently) it has some "strange" contributors with some equally "strange" views/ideas ...........

[tyrrell]

DanielSan said:

Or because he spent half the rally crashing and was nowhere in the results...

Great shame because he is a tryer, just hope he does not hurt himself again

[GravelBen]

Slippydiff said:

...no doubting his speed but I think he's been put in his place by Ogier once and for all this time. Controversial ? Maybe .......

I'd have to disagree about being put in his place - I've never rated Loeb as highly as some do but to come out of retirement and run on the same pace as a well-practiced Ogier is very impressive - it seemed down to luck as much as anything that a small mistake by Loeb put him out of contention while Ogier got away with any he made.

Hyundai may not have had the stage wins or much of the TV coverage, but finishing 5th and 6th is a pretty respectable result from a rally like that.

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 25th January 21:09

[Allyc85]

I worry about Bob and his co-driver, its amazing he has avoided further injury with the amount of shunts he has had. I also find it weird that the FIA denied Craig Breen a start at rally Germany because of a back injury, but it is ok for Kubica to effectively drive a 200kph rally car one handed.

I see fellow circuit convert Jonathan Hirschi is also finding rallying a challenge, here going off where Tanak did on Saturday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8THr0omOMY

[Allyc85]

Kubica's ES14 crash. I'm guessing the locked brakes are by the handbrake?

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

[Alex Langheck]

GravelBen said:

Slippydiff said:

...no doubting his speed but I think he's been put in his place by Ogier once and for all this time. Controversial ? Maybe .......

I'd have to disagree about being put in his place - I've never rated Loeb as highly as some do but to come out of retirement and run on the same pace as a well-practiced Ogier is very impressive - it seemed down to luck as much as anything that a small mistake by Loeb put him out of contention while Ogier got away with any he made.

Hyundai may not have had the stage wins or much of the TV coverage, but finishing 5th and 6th is a pretty respectable result from a rally like that.

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 25th January 21:09

It's difficult to compare them both on this event as they ran apart, Loeb ran 14th on the road; more than 10 cars were between them - if they'd run right after each other, then maybe. So to say he's been put in his place is a little OTT.
And as for his 'off', I'd call the damage unlucky. Look at Ogier hitting the barriers on last years 1st stage - VW build a stronger car than Citroen.

[GravelBen]

Alex Langheck said:

It's difficult to compare them both on this event as they ran apart, Loeb ran 14th on the road; more than 10 cars were between them - if they'd run right after each other, then maybe.

Fair point - road position favoured Ogier on some stages and Loeb on others, but its hard (impossible?) to know who was advantaged by it overall.

[Slippydiff]

Allyc85 said:

I worry about Bob and his co-driver, its amazing he has avoided further injury with the amount of shunts he has had.

Apologies for another long post

Until RK came to public's awareness in WRC, I wondered how he'd managed to end his F1 career in the Skoda. Watching him last year and over this last weekend, it's easy to see exactly how he had such a massive shunt.
The law of averages says it's only a matter of time before he has another big shunt that ends up injuring either him, his navigator or god forbid a specatator/s. He is awesome to watch, but I too fear for his safety.

As for my comment about Ogier spanking Loeb, well yes, it was tongue in cheek, but only to a degree. I don't for one minute buy into Loeb doing this years Monte "for fun". If the commentators this morning were to be believed, this was Loeb's one opportunity to get behind the wheel of a WRC car this year due to his WTCC commitments.

Yes that first stage time was massively impressive, no one could deny Loeb that. But as I said earlier in this thread, I don't believe that Loeb meant to push the boat out to that degree, and Ogier's time on the second stage was no less impressive.
On Friday they traded times, but tyre choice and running position are massive factors on the Monte, hence the toing and froing of times, along with Kubica getting in the midst of them also.

I agree it was "bad luck" that Loeb's car broke from such a small impact. There is a YT video showing at least 2 other cars doing the same and continuing on unheeded. It does leave one questioning how strong the DS3's rear suspension links are ......

But as we all know, to finish first, you first to have to finish. On both occasions Loeb has gone head to head with Ogier in what can only be termed "grudge matches", Loeb has "slipped up".

In the process of watching Loeb gain 9 WRC championships and 78 ? WRC victories, we didn't see him "slip up" very often, if indeed at all.

Ogier stated prior to the Monte that he felt no pressure from Loeb doing the event, and why would he ? he was always just going to get on and do his job, that being to win this years title. Had Loeb beaten him (something I doubted, if you look at the predictions on the first page of this thread) he would've still had another 12 rounds to get the job done.

Loeb however had something to prove after Rally France 2013 (and indeed Sweden that year) and this was possibly his one opportunity to do as much. Put succinctly, the pressure was on.

And just as in Rally France back in 2013, Loeb made a minor mistake that happened to end his rally, he did the same this weekend. Did Ogier make a minor mistake this weekend ? Maybe, but if he did, it didn't end his rally.

Loeb said in his end of stage interview he knew he'd have to push on Stage 8. Do we take that to mean he knew Ogier was faster than him, or merely that he was feeling the pressure and felt the need to push the boat out ?
Only Loeb knows this. But I genuinely believe he knew he was staring defeat in the face on Friday, therefore he was forced to take some risks to retain any hope of victory.

Was it an equal fight ? well if any event can be considered a leveller, the Monte with it's changeable conditions and tyre selection difficulties, would be it. So I don't really believe that had Loeb been running first or second on the road, it would have made a massive difference, despite his supporters protestations to the contrary.

First on the road on the Monte means you'll be the first to find the icy patches your gravel crew noted as water two hours ago ........, it also means that those following get to see the tyre tracks from any cars/s that have gone off. So whilst first on the road may convey some advantages, they're nullified by some other pretty hefty disadvantages......

I make no apology for being happy that Ogier won the Monte, as someone else said earlier in this very thread, had he not, it would've devalued this years championship.
But I also believe that Ogier is just as fast as Loeb, and in the VW, faster. If he sticks at it, I see no reason why he won't beat Loebs tally of WRC victories (he's what ? a third of the way there already ?) and there's every chance he'll go on to equal or better Loebs nine championship crowns too.

So maybe not "spanked", but beaten fair and square twice now.