Loeb at Rally de Espana: Time For Coffee?
You'll know the result by now; here's a chance to see the great man at work
What else is there left to say about Sebastien Loeb? Can't be much. While he has competed in two other WRC events before last weekend's Spain spectacular - at Mexico in March, and Corsica in April - to win in Catalunya remains a staggering achievement. The C3 WRC hasn't won a single rally this season, the championship is tighter than it has ever been (with three drivers still able to win), and Loeb hasn't done this rally since his last championship victory back in 2012. Bear in mind that the three championship protagonists - Thierry Neuville, Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak - all finished the rally and all would have been battling for the most points possible and it becomes an even more incredible feat.
The news circulating following the weekend's heroics is that Loeb could well be plotting a WRC return, though for now it's time to properly appreciate just what Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena did in that C3. This video highlights some of their best bits from over the weekend, appropriately enough beginning with a cut so aggressive it nearly pitches the car over - Loeb nothing if not always fully committed.
So yes, watch and enjoy as Loeb rolls back the years and yet again has a red Citroen perilously close to rocks, trees and various other dangerous objects at incredible speed. Let's hope it can continue for a little while longer still.
He may have got a bit of fortune with Tanak & Latvala suffering punctures during the event, but his tyre choice on Sunday morning was genius - and a well deserved winner of Rallye Catalunya.
And only a handful of comments - bizarre. If it's not F1 people/ media don't seem interested.
But as I follow WRC events more closely, I can assure there was more going on than just simple "came, outpaced everyone and went home".
First half of the event Tanak was showing pace in his own league as many times before, consistently building up lead.
But eventually cocked up with tyre damage.
Loeb was in a close fight with the rest of top guys.
The deciding factor was Loeb's tyre gamble at the penultimate service break, opting for hard slick compound for still partially wet tarmac.
That gave them the edge on drying surface and for SS15 an 16 with 30 km in overall Loeb/Elena was the only crew on correct tyres for the job.
But it would have been disaster in case of more rain.
Others played it safe, with championship points in mind, and went with soft slicks.
Don't get me wrong - what these racing "pensioners" Loeb and Elena did this weekend was something amazing.
Being right on the pace without doing the full season for years shouldn't be possible for anyone.
But the margins were really small and they needed to fight really hard and utilize all of their experience to get to the top.
You can find complete overview of times stage by stage here if you wish so:
https://www.ewrc-results.com/results/44265-rallyra...
Funnily enough this result server created by volunteers and enthusiasts is used also by factory teams, as it is much more convinient than official wrc.com timing :-)
Anyway, picture of the weekend is surely this one
As for "lucky" choices on the tyres, that was very much a last-minute decision by Loeb himself. Most likely a decision made based on a huge amount of experience.
WRC is a poorly followed sport compared to its previous periods for a reason.
The current generation of cars are certailnly more exciting , and I think the WRC is coming out of the doldrums , should Loeb make a full time return it won't be just a matter of rinse and repeat for him .Further wins will be harder and more infrequent , I do doff my cap to the bloke , he can drive
The current generation of cars are certailnly more exciting , and I think the WRC is coming out of the doldrums , should Loeb make a full time return it won't be just a matter of rinse and repeat for him .Further wins will be harder and more infrequent , I do doff my cap to the bloke , he can drive
The sport fundamentally changed post Group A in particular, and with it the interest and spectators disappeared, in the UK it was a deliberate policy to reduce spectator numbers and restrict their access.
I watched the sport go from a high speed endurance event to a sprint format to follow the TV money that never came, it ruined the DNA of the sport.
The sport fundamentally changed post Group A in particular, and with it the interest and spectators disappeared, in the UK it was a deliberate policy to reduce spectator numbers and restrict their access.
I watched the sport go from a high speed endurance event to a sprint format to follow the TV money that never came, it ruined the DNA of the sport.
Why did the homoglation rules change / cease - loved the road going rally cars?
As I understand it the rule changes ended up making Subaru in particular uncompetitive because they allowed moving the engine from its production position, letting the transverse engine cars make huge improvements in weight distribution and centre of mass which couldn't be done effectively with the longitudinal boxer layout. Eventually they got sick of that and quit WRC, content to dominate production-based national championships instead.
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