Starting this thread early (Portugal is 29 Mar - 01 Apr 12) because it's the best place to park this article: Dani Sordo and Patrik Sandell back in Prodrive Mini seats for Rally Portugal (AUTOSPORT.com)
No full season, no championship. "......compete in up to seven Rallys." Alas our dreams of Mini Cooper being a powerhouse in WRC have effectively been regulated back to exactly that....a dream...at least in the foreseeable future.
Kind of like last year EXCEPT, last year there was a plan. This year is NO plan, simply pay as you go and come what may. :frown2: Jim
I've never understood this intense interest in championship standings. Don't get me wrong, I fully realize I'm the oddball as I'm apparently the only person in the world who doesn't really care, so I'm obviously not slating others. I'm interested to an extent and I pay attention but a championship is no where near as fun to watch as a race. I like to watch the cars on the road, a good race, active competition, a championship is just points adding up.
I hear what your saying Steve and the race is the main event, but if they are not out there for every rally, then (IMHO) they are not really showing how competitive the car (team) actually is and that they can run with the big boys. This way the MINI WRC looks like just another car racing select events, when they feel like it. If they do good in one and bad in another, it can be simply explained away as good or bad luck and not taken seriously. Sort of like, they are playing and nothing more. Jim
Oh I'd love to see Prodrive out there for all the rallies, I was just commenting on the prevalent focus (mentioned by Mark) on the championship race. It's not just a WRC thing, all racing series' have a championship focus. It really bugs me too, esp. nearer the end of a season when teams and drivers will adopt strategies based on getting as near as possible to the top of the standings. You see drivers taking extra risks in a race in order to gain championship points and their actual position in the race is a secondary consideration. Worse, a driver who is trying to preserve his position in the championship will drive conservatively and refuse to race hard only because he doesn't want to risk his championship standing. It screws up the racing! :incazzato:
Steve It's not so much the Championship in itself but the level that a team or brand is competing at. It takes a higher level of performance and the commitment that goes along with it to compete for a Championship in any sport. If you know a team is there just to show up and ride around with no intention or desire to reach the top (Championship), then well.....they ain't really racing now are they? I will cheer along a team in the back as long as I know their goal is set higher....if it's not then they are little more than a prop for the rest that are giving it their all to win! Racers.
In the end, isn't a championship the real goal of all of the factory teams? The participating brands want a return on their sponsorship investment, and in a series like WRC it seems that few can rise to the level of face/name/brand recognition that would provide a measurable, positive return. So I understand why those teams in contention adopt creative strategies to preserve their championship standing. They do that all the time in F1 too. Money talks. Knowing that Prodrive must be out of the business of selling the brand name, I suppose they've weighed the commitment they need to make to achieve their marketing goals, and that comes out to a subset of the total number of Rallys. I share Mark's disappointment in a dream unrealized...
I agree, we're just talking past each other, mostly because I'm trying to explain something no one else cares about. I absolutely agree, I want to see drivers and teams racing at the front and being competitive but I still never care who wins the seasonal championship. I don't root for one team or one driver, I want to see good competition, during races/rallies, on the road, period. It's the same when I watch football. I don't have a favorite team and I don't care who wins, I just want to see a good, close game that's fought right up to the finish. I also don't care who makes it to the playoffs or to the superbowl, I just want all those post-season games to be good and close with lots of competition. I don't care about seasonal bragging rights, I want each event to be entertaining, and in racing (this is where my oddball view comes in) I think a series championship sometimes takes away from that at the competitive level. Here's an example. Hamilton was driving for McLaren in F1 a few years ago. Near the end of the season he was in the lead for the Driver's Championship. We're talking about a team and driver fighting at the front, not back markers just making up the field. The last couple races he was off the lead pace and not because he or the car were uncompetitive but because he was intentionally taking it easy, refusing to really race, assuming he would gain enough points to win the title just by finishing in the top 10. The championship was more important to him than the races. I would much rather see every driver race hard to try to win every race because the races are more important than the championship. I want them to try to win the race, every race, because the racing and the race win are more important than points. I won't even start on how team orders can affect the action in what would otherwise be close racing, just for the sake of gaining overall championship advantage. I understand why it happens so I don't fault individuals for making those choices, it just bugs me that a seasonal team or driver championship can have a negative affect on competition on the track. I'll get down off my counter-intuitive, contrarian soapbox now. After all, that rant has nothing to do with what you guys are focusing on, I'm the one heading off on a tangent. So, separate subject: We all want a factory MINI WRC team that is competitive and serious enough about the series to compete in all the rallies, right? We can't have it because the factory team is now a back marker team. The competitive MINI team doesn't have enough money to go to all the rallies which looks bad outright and will keep them from being able to keep up and stay competitive. On top of that we all wish Kris Meeke was still driving.....for Prodrive.....and that they were still the factory team with a full rally season budget! See? We agree! .....and I think I should probably change the title of this thread later so we can have a fresh start for the Portugal Rally.
Totally agree Steve about watching good racing but it does add something when you have your favorites, be it a Driver or a brand that you identify with. I'm not going to leave a race if my team falls out, I'm going to stay and watch the race...but is so much better when it's my favorites at the front!!! I bleed Carolina Blue when cut and the reason I can't stand Duke is because they are consistently that good... you have to earn the W!! PS: Ever notice the little thumbs up guy is Carolina blue and white! LOL
That description certainly pegs my view. :wink: You're probably right. Sorry to contribute to pulling it OT. Still livin' the dream...
FWIW, Kris isn't entirely out of the game. According to Prodrive he's out doing some testing in Spain "Trying out a range of new parts for the car."