Recce starts tomorrow (11th) Rallye Monte Carlo (WRC.com) Monte Carlo Countdown: This year's stages (WRC.com)
Spectators have been know to shovel snow onto the stages to make things more interesting too. :frown2: Hope it is a snow covered route this year. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the pre-event coverage Steve.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZY7nyvpy4]Kubica Testing - 2014 WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame] To anyone just catching up in time for the Monte, there's a bunch of 2014 pre-season stuff, videos, etc, in this thread.
Shakedown was today. Top 10 times: Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Posn Driver Car Time 1 S. Ogier VW Polo R WRC 2m 15.3s =2 K. Meeke Citroen DS3 WRC 2m 16.5s =2 M. Ostberg Citroen DS3 WRC 2m 16.5s 4 J-M. Latvala VW Polo R WRC 2m 18.2s 5 R. Kubica Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2m 18.3s 6 T. Neuville Hyundai i20 WRC 2m 18.4s 7 M. Hirvonen Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2m 18.8s =8 D. Sordo Hyundai i20 WRC 2m 20.4s =8 A. Mikkelsen VW Polo R WRC 2m 20.4s 10 B. Bouffier Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2m 21.9s
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DegStvlRY"]Shakedown - 2014 WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo- Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]
Wise on both their parts. This is a new team and and the past is the past. Also glad to see VW up there. Looks like they plan to go for it in a big way. This should be a good season, so keep them coming Steve.
Holy crap, a tumultuous opening day for the Monte! Can't wait to see the videos! (which, of course, I will post...when I eventually find them) After 6 stages: 1st Bouffier 2nd Meeke 3rd Kubica 4th Ogier 5th Ostberg 6th Evans 7th Latvala 8th Hirvonen 9th Mikkelsen I think both of the Hyundais are officially retired. Monte midday wrap: Thursday (WRC.com) Monte-Carlo Day one update (WRC.com)
Sounds like a great start to the rally. Changing conditions making last minute tire changes necessary. Swapping tires on transits, old school rally at its finest.
Second all that. Also, yeah, Neuville is definitely out... Since the Monte has no Rally2 restart rule, Hyundai is completely out of the rally. Obviously frustrating for them but, as some have pointed out, they ought to be still testing. Remember, VW was credited with winning the championship last year in their first year out, but they signed Ogier and ran him in a Skoda for a year while they continued to test before finally starting the next year. If Hynudai can start consistently finishing rallies before mid-season they ought to consider it a good effort. Based on Neuville and Sordo's pace early on today, my guess is they can do a lot better than just finishing...
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPyJhplySCk#t=95]Stages 1-3: Rallye Monte-Carlo 2014 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cF1BQC1iJA]Neuville' Hyundai i20 WRC after Crash - Rally Monte-Carlo 2014 - YouTube[/ame]
Kris Meeke onboard, Stage 3. They hit the snow line at about 5:55 and then road conditions worsen. They need to put some Aquapel on the glass in front of that camera. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vclbcO8ncEg]Kris Meeke Onboard SS03/ Rallye Monte Carlo 2014 - YouTube[/ame]