RE: Loeb at Rally de Espana: Time For Coffee
Discussion
Zajda said:
Well, I'm not sure about embarrassement. It might look that way from the simple summary of results and simplified report above.
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
Great to see a top athlete at work! Almost a match for me!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
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