WRC Most liked posts in thread: WRC - 2015

Steve · Jan 20, 2015

This one supposedly shows a local getting an assist from one of the recce crews.

Steve · Jan 21, 2015

Results from the year's first shakedown.

Rallye Monte Carlo (WRC): Loeb claims psychological advantage (best-of-rallylive.com)

21/01/2015 6:57 pm

The 2015 WRC kicked off officially with this afternoonâ€™s shakedown which was won by SÃ©bastien Loeb who is making a one-off appearance this week. The result will obviously boost the CitroÃ«n/Michelin driverâ€™s morale ahead of his eagerly-awaited clash with Volkswagen/Michelin rival SÃ©bastien Ogier.

A year has passed already since we were last in Gap, shaking hands and wishing each other a Happy New Year after the winter break.

Little has changed since 2014 and, once again, there has been a healthy flow of spectators in the service park. And you can bet that where the crowds formed, there was a â€˜Sebâ€™ â€“ or a â€˜Seb-carâ€™ â€“ nearby!

Itâ€™s effectively been some time since we last saw so many people in front of the CitroÃ«n area. Unsurprisingly, they tended to gather at one end, near the DS3 WRC with the letters L-O-E-B on the side windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of the seven-time Monte winner (2003/04/05/07/08/12/13). Each time he did appear, the familiar chant of â€œSeb, Seb!â€ broke out spontaneously.

There have been similar gatherings at Volkswagen Motorsportâ€™s â€˜garageâ€™, in this case waiting to catch sight of SÃ©bastien Ogier. The VW driver may not enjoy the same household reputation as his Alsace-bred rival, but here he is on home soil, since he was raised in the mountains north of Gap. That said, some of the local onlookers could be heard whispering â€œIs that him?â€ as they pointed to his co-driver Julien Ingrassia, or to team-mate Jari-Matti Latvalaâ€¦

Eight years younger than Loeb, Ogier has won the Monte twice (2009/14) and is looking to take a step closer to his former team-mateâ€™s record this week, but rally fans are hoping that their media-fuelled rivalry will produce a memorable battle to celebrate Loebâ€™s fleeting return from â€˜retirementâ€™.

The latter ended his formal WRC career with a roll on the 2013 Rallye de France. Funnily enough, he began his comeback event with another roll, this time on a road section during this morningâ€™s recce! It appears he was distracted and slipped off the road negotiating a hairpinâ€¦

This afternoonâ€™s shakedown was always going to provide an interesting indication of the pairâ€™s current respective form and Loeb promptly posted the sessionâ€™s best effort (2m21.0s). That was more than a second clear of Ogier over the snow-free 3.52km run!

Clearly, the CitroÃ«n driver hasnâ€™t lost his touch and it seems we are effectively heading for the clash of giants everybody has been hoping for.

That said, the two Frenchmen will spend much of the rally running up to 14 cars apart on the road (with Ogier at the front of the field) and there is a chance that this difference will affect their stage times and tactics. But in whose favour? That remains to be seen and, to a large extent, will depend on how the weekâ€™s weather turnsâ€¦

We shall see!
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minirab · Jan 22, 2015

You're right but remember back to the crazy Group B days. Now that was

nuts!

Stinker · Jan 22, 2015

Where else can you stand this close to a racing car and feel the speed.

Steve · Jan 22, 2015

Rallye Monte Carlo (WRC.com)

Info

Rallye Monte Carlo
Start Date: 22.01.2015
End Date: 25.01.2015
Timezone: UTC 1
Category: WRC3
WRC2
WRC
JWRC
Stages: 15 (355,48km)
Distance: 1403,08km
Servicepark: Gap
Website: Automobile Club de Monaco

Route

After Thursday eveningâ€™s Monte-Carlo start outside the Casino, two stages in darkness near Digne-les-Bains punctuate the run north to Gap.
Three new stages in the Hautes Alpes and IsÃ¨re regions, north of Gap, form Fridayâ€™s action.
Competitors return to Monaco on Saturday via the classic Sisteron test and the marathon 51.70km Lardier et ValenÃ§a - Faye.
Sundayâ€™s final leg, as is traditional, runs in the Alpes Maritimes mountains above Monaco and features the legendary Col de Turini.

Challenge

Essentially an asphalt rally but unpredictable mountain weather brings varied conditions.
Competitors must expect snow, ice and dry asphalt - often encountering all in the same stage.
They must balance the need for grip in winter weather with that required for dry asphalt.
Shrewd tyre selection providing the best compromise for frequently changing conditions is key.
Experience and the ability to â€˜readâ€™ conditions is vital.

Car spec

Asphalt suspension.
Strange tyre selections which can include studded tyres on opposite corners of the car matched with dry weather slick rubber.
Two spare tyres is normal.
Additional headlight pods for thursdayÂ´s night stages.

History

Rallye Monte-Carlo is the WRCâ€™s jewel in the crown and the oldest in the calendar.
First run in 1911, it was designed to promote Monte-Carlo as a tourist destination, with competitors starting from different European cities before gathering in Monaco.
The 1966 rally became famed for its controversial outcome when giant-killing Mini Coopers claimed the top three places before being disqualified for alleged infringements of headlight regulations.

Whatâ€™s new for 2015

75 per cent of the route has changed compared to 2014.
Rally 2 rules, allowing retired competitors to restart the following leg with time penalties, will be adopted for the first time on this rally.
Shakedown moves to Wednesday afternoon.

Donâ€™t miss

Col de Turini. One of the sportâ€™s iconic locations, where enormous crowds will gather to watch competitors cross the mountain summit in the La Bollene Vesubie - Sospel test in the final leg. An incredible atmosphere and a â€˜must-doâ€™ for visitors.
Sundayâ€™s finish outside the Palace in Monaco, with monarch Prince Albert presenting the prizes.
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Steve · Jan 22, 2015

They've changed the starting order rules again. Back (I think) to the way it was a few years ago before Mr. Loeb led lobbying efforts to ditch the requirement for the championship leader (i.e., him) to "clean the road."

WRC: Ogier says rules throw title battle open (racer.com)

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Defending World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier says the 2015 rule changes mean the title battle will not take a clear shape until the final third of the season.

The revised WRC running order regulation this year mean the championship leader will be first onto the stages on the first two days of each rally, potentially encountering the worst road conditions as a result.

Ogier believes that will handicap whoever holds the points lead and prevent any single driver from pulling away in the championship.

"It will be quite difficult if you make a good start in the championship, because then you will be penalized [by running first on the road] and playing catch-up," said the Volkswagen driver. "But, in the end, it must still be the best driver in the good car winning the championship. It could be that the championship must be played more in the last third of the season, and I am sure this rule will cost me some victories this season."

Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville says the rule change could alter the way some drivers view the opening two rounds of the series in Monte Carlo and Sweden.

"Maybe you can take more of the gamble on these rallies," said the Belgian. "OK, always we push, but maybe you can push even harder and take more risks to try take a big advantage, because you know that if you fail and you don't score so many points then actually you will be in the better position - further down the road - when we get to Mexico."

Ogier agreed with Neuville's point.

"I cannot say that I will not try to win the first two rallies just to avoid opening the road in Mexico, that will never happen," he said. "But definitely, I will agree that this strategy can happen.

"The first part of the season is not as important as in the past. If you start too well in the championship and you are in front then you will be penalized for a lot of rallies and we would then have a harder life during the second half of the season.

"Still, you have to not let the other drivers pull away too much. But, for me, the first third of the year is less important than it was in the past."
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Steve · Jan 22, 2015

On the first stage Loeb is proving, in the words of Chris Harris, he's "not a member of the human race."

Just look at those deltas! (fyi, it's a 21.31 km stage)

Monte Carlo, SS1: Loeb romps away with stage win (iRallylive.com)

22.01.2015 20:21

Sebastien Loeb returned to the WRC in style this evening, by taking first blood, winning the first stage by more than 22 seconds faster than any other driver and more than 30 seconds faster than reigning champion, Sebastien Ogier.

On a stage which was fundamentally frozen throughout and extremely tricky, Loeb, running 14th on the road, blasted through the stage setting fastest split times throughout.

The Frenchman said that 3Km from the end of the test, he felt as if he was stopped, the pace was s slow due to the treacherous conditions.

Second fastest was Ott Tanak, 22 seconds slower than Loeb, saying he was just trying to get through the first stage and remain relaxed. Ogier was third fastest, running first on the road and admitting that he was not pushing and taking it easy.

Fourth was Kris Meeke in the second Citroen with Mads Ostberg fifth, in the third Citroen DS3 WRC.

Dani Sordo had a slow off in the stage, dropping 30 seconds as co-driver Marc Marti was forced to get out and push the car off a bank while Martin Prokop touched a bank and Bryan Bouffier also had several moments. Robert Kubica out-braked himself and complained of understeer at the end of the stage.
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Steve · Jan 22, 2015

At least he's not infallible.

Monte Carlo, SS2: Ogier hits back (iRallylive.com)

22.01.2015 21:29

After the treacherous conditions of the first stage this evening and the astounding pace set by Sebastien Loeb, the second stage was a slightly more sedate affair. The road itself was less frozen than the first but still gave massively varying levels of grip and while many drivers had studded or snow tyres for the first stage, slicks would have been better on this one.

Fastest through was Sebastien Ogier, who in this case, seemed to have the advantage running first on the road. Many drivers complained about gravel and mud being dragged out into the road as drivers cut the corners, to the point where Kris Meeke, 45s off Ogier’s pace, described the stage as ‘dangerous.’

Ogier also appeared to manage his tyres well over both stages, a skill he has clearly demonstrated on numerous occasions in the past.

Second fastest was Volkswagen Motorsport team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, dropping 10 seconds to the Frenchman with Sebastien Loeb putting in another excellent performance, third fastest but handing 17.6seconds back to the VW man.

Elfyn Evans put in a superb fourth-fastest time in the first of the M-Sport Fiesta WRCs, with the third VW Polo R WRC of Andreas Mikkelsen fifth.

Robert Kubica has problems, spinning and struggling to restart the car, losing four minutes in the process while Bryan Bouffier went off the road and looks to have retired.

So after two stages, the crews begin the long trek back to Gap with Loeb leading overall, 13.3s ahead of Ogier with Latvala a further 22s back.
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After Stage 2 (of only 2 on the opening day):

Steve · Jan 22, 2015

One down. That's Brian Bouffier.

Angib · Jan 23, 2015

Crashton said: ↑

Great video! I couldn't believe those stupid people jambed into the apex of the hairpin. Nuts!:crazy:
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Yes, absolutely, and slowing down the cars who would have liked to use that ground. I assume the shake-down is not marshalled as well as the rally proper.

Crashton · Jan 23, 2015

I'd say the marshaling there was non-existent. If you look closely you can see a sign that says No Public or some such. Stupidity knows no bounds. ut:

I'm all for free range rally spectating, but they were nuts.

Crashton · Jan 23, 2015

Trees are good. I took a shot to the lens once. Not fun at all, lucky for me the filter gave it's life to save the lenses & my face.

Steve · Jan 23, 2015

It was a wild day on the 6 Monte Carlo stages today.

WRC: Ogier takes Monte Carlo lead after Loeb error (racer.com)

Friday, 23 January 2015

Sebastien Ogier moved into a clear Monte Carlo Rally lead on Friday afternoon after Sebastien Loeb lost six minutes when he damaged his Citroen's suspension.

World Rally Championship returnee Loeb had begun the loop by re-extending his lead over Ogier, who had closed the gap from 28 seconds to just 3sec during the two stages before service.

Despite his stud-less tires seemingly being wrong for a stage that featured unexpected ice levels, a surprised Loeb was quickest on SS6 and inched his advantage back up to 6s. But on the muddier stages that followed, the momentum was all with Ogier, as Loeb's 14th position in the running order hampered his pace.

Ogier's Volkswagen swept into the rally lead for the first time on SS7, where he outpaced Loeb by 14sec to move into an 8sec lead, helped by his adversary making a mistake at a hairpin.

Loeb attempted to respond with a charge on the day's final stage, only to hit a rock and break his left rear suspension. He limped the car to the stage finish in 10th overall, though he may yet have to retire from the day and take a 10-minute Rally2 penalty if he cannot fix the problem sufficiently to make it back to service. WRC rules require crews to have four fully-functioning wheels when driving on road sections.

Ogier therefore found himself with a 1m45s lead over teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, as VW moved into a commanding one-two-three position.

The final stage was as good for VW as it was bad for Citroen, with Loeb's teammate Kris Meeke also damaging his suspension. Meeke had just moved up to fourth prior to his incident, which forced him to retire from the leg.

Andreas Mikkelsen benefited from this and outpacing Ott Tanak to move into third overall and complete the VW formation, although Tanak's M-Sport Ford is just 10s behind him.

Mads Ostberg is now the only front-running Citroen in fifth place, ahead of Elfyn Evans, who lost ground through the afternoon with a spin and unsuccessful tire choices.

After winning two stages in the morning, it was a mixed afternoon for Robert Kubica. He was fourth quickest on SS6, fastest of all on SS7, then had two incidents on SS8. He required help from spectators to get back on the road following the first, then was left driving on a puncture after sliding into a tree in the second.

All that cost Kubica four minutes, although having lost 10 minutes to electrical problems triggered by an impact on Thursday night, the extra delay made little difference to his rally.

Originally on Autosport.com
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MAXRALLY heroes and zeroes (Monte Carlo, Friday) (MaxRally.com)

by Anthony Peacock / 23rd January 2015

Who was le grande fromage, and who was just the mouldy tub of philadelphia?

Hero: Robert Kubica

Last year, the Pole led Monte Carlo by 30 seconds. This year, he set two fastest stage times, in his privately run, Pirelli-equipped Fiesta. All that with effectively just one fully functioning hand. Once more, Kubica displayed absolutely breathtaking natural speed, of the sort that marks out the great from the merely very good.

Zero: Robert Kubica

And then he ruined it all by crashing out on the infamous SS8. He was in good company of course, but he took it to a fine art by actually crashing twice on the same stage, which takes some going. In his own words: “We had a massive moment at high speed. We went off, and thanks to the spectators we got back, then later at a junction we went off again, slid on the snow, hit a tree and punctured the tyre. We drove 10km like that.” Oh dear.
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Steve · Jan 23, 2015

Here are the numbers for Stage 8 (left) and overall standings at the end of the day (right).

Steve · Jan 23, 2015

Loeb's Stage 8 situation.

Steve · Jan 23, 2015

Conditions varied a bit today. These pics are supposedly all from the same stage (#6).

Steve · Jan 23, 2015

Steve · Jan 23, 2015

Interesting strategy there Mr. Ogier.....

Crashton · Jan 23, 2015

Not digging that all wheel steering on the Citroen. Changing conditions is what Monte is all about the higher you go the more slippy. Shame about Kubica I really wanted him to do well.

I have always wondered if some of the corner cutting done was to benefit those following behind. :wink:

Steve · Jan 24, 2015

Rallye Monte Carlo: SS9 cancelled (crash.net)

24 January 2015

The organisers of Rallye Monte Carlo have cancelled SS9, the opening test of day three, on safety grounds.

The 19.93 km run through the Prunieres-Embrun 1 test had been scheduled to start at 09.16 hours local time [08.16 hours UK time]. However with too many spectators near the end officials were forced to can it.

A statement on the event's official website read:

“Despite instructions given to the public by safety and road marshals by the info cars, “000”, “00” and “0” cars, security conditions could not be met so race control took the decision to cancel special stage #9 Prunieres-Embrun 1.

“Competitors will [now] use the stage as road section.”

Day three of the event is now due to get underway at 10.49 hours local time [09.49 hours UK time], with SS10, the long 51.70 km Lardier et Valenca-Faye test.

Sebastien Ogier currently leads the event, 1m 45.4s seconds up on team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. Andreas Mikkelsen is third followed by Ott Tanak, Mads Ostberg, Elfyn Evans, Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo in positions 4 through to 8. Sebastien Loeb has dropped back to 15th after damaging the suspension on his DS 3 WRC in the final test on Friday.
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