Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Rally France 2013

Steve · Oct 3, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnc1ULROt6s]SS1 Strasbourg Power Stage - Rallye de France 2013 [HD] - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Oct 3, 2013

SS1: Sordoâ€™s stage win seals Ogierâ€™s title! (WRC.com)

03 Oct 13

Stage description:

The opening test is based in the streets of Strasbourg alongside the European Parliament building. It covers three laps, starting and finishing at the same location. A new 370m section has been added to each lap, which introduces a jump and chicane by the start podium.

How the action unfolded:

Sebastien Ogier has secured the 2013 FIA WRC driversâ€™ title after Dani Sordo went fastest through tonightâ€™s opening stage of Rallye de France â€“ Alsace.

The 4.55km test through the streets of Strasbourg was always likely to prove decisive because as the nominated Power Stage it offered three bonus points to the winner.

Thierry Neuville, the only man with a chance of catching Ogierâ€™s championship lead, needed all three points to stay in the fight. So when his time was confirmed as 0.7sec slower than Sordoâ€™s, Ogier was home and dry, no matter what happens on this or the two rallies that remain this year.

â€œIâ€™m so happy!â€ said a delighted Ogier at the finish control. â€œBefore the stage I was a bit confused about whether it would happen, but weâ€™re here and we managed to do it!â€

â€œEight yearâ€™s weâ€™ve worked for this!â€ added his co-driver Julien Ingrassia.

The pair climbed onto the roof of their Polo R in celebration, cheered on by crowds of fans and Volkswagen management including rally team boss Jost Capito. Outgoing world champion Sebastien Loeb, who followed Ogier through the stage, was quick to offer his own congratulations.

Citroen DS3 WEC driver Sordo now leads the rally from Neuville, with Ogier third, 0.1sec further back. It was another great performance from Sordo, who won the last all-asphalt rally in Germany and who was fastest on this morningâ€™s shakedown.

â€œI have a really good feeling in the car at the moment,â€ said the Spaniard. â€œThe roads here are really nice and of course I want to repeat my win. For me this rally is more important than Germany. I want to be in the fight!â€

With only the slimmest of chances to stop Ogier, Neuville remained upbeat. â€œWe knew already that we couldnâ€™t really win, so it doesnâ€™t change anything,â€ he said.

Whatâ€™s important is that we were quicker than Jari-Matti Latvala here and I hope to get one or two more points this weekend. Can I win? I donâ€™t know, we will try to but we want second the in the championship more, so points are the priority.â€

Mikko Hirvonen holds fourth overnight, with Andreas Mikkelsen fifth and Latvala sixth. Sebastien Loeb is seventh, 2.9sec off the lead, and admitting that he needed time to get reacquainted with his DSC WRC.

Fridayâ€™s action begins with the 10.66 kilometre Klevener test at 09:18hrs local time.
Click to expand...

MCS02 · Oct 3, 2013

Thanks Steve

Crashton · Oct 3, 2013

Thank you Steve.

Steve · Oct 3, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIEOKsXHmyo]Shakedown: Seb vs Seb - 2013 WRC Rallye de France - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Oct 3, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyofim0dEyY]Rallye de France 2013 - Sebastien Loeb is back! - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Oct 4, 2013

Shrewd Neuville in front after day one (WRC.com)

04 Oct 13

Belgium's Thierry Neuville is the surprise leader of Rallye de France - Alsace after a complex opening day that rewarded accurate weather forecasting and shrewd tyre choices.

Neuville, who drives a Ford Fiesta RS, got the package just about right, and was fastest on three of Fridayâ€™s six asphalt stages to return to the Service Park in Strasbourg with a lead of 9.8sec over Citroenâ€™s Dani Sordo. Volkswagen Polo R pilot Jari-Matti Latvala is third, just 1.9sec further back.

Neuvilleâ€™s day started well, with an inspired tyre choice for the opening loop of three stages.

While the majority of the WRC runners chose Michelinâ€™s hard compound tyres, Neuville gambled on a mixture of hards and softs. When rain made things damp on the dayâ€™s second test, he benefitted from the extra grip of the soft rubber.

His Qatar M-Sport squad got it right again in the afternoon. This time Neuvilleâ€™s car was shod with hard compound tyres, while his rivals, who were expecting rain, biased their choices towards the soft. The rain held off, and Neuville was untouchable.

â€œIâ€™m really happy with how the day has gone,â€ said Neuville, who was second at Rallye Deutschland, the championshipâ€™s most recent all-asphalt round. â€œWe had the best information, our weather guy did a good job, and we made good tyre choices. I felt comfortable at the wheel so I was able to push quite hard.â€

On his WRC swansong, Sebastien Loeb held the lead for much of the day. The Frenchmanâ€™s legendary sense of grip kept him out front throughout the morning, even though he faced more rain than most on SS3.

In the afternoon, however, Loeb gambled on soft tyres. And when the rain he hoped for never materialised, he lost ground to Neuville â€“ almost ten seconds on the last stage alone.

â€œWe counted on the rain and there was no rain,â€ Loeb shrugged. â€œWe had the soft tyre and on the long stages it was very difficult. Neuville was fast. For sure we couldnâ€™t match his speed. Weâ€™ll see what we can do tomorrow.â€ Loeb ended the day fourth, 12.2sec off the lead.

Power Stage winner Sordo snatched second from Loeb on Fridayâ€™s final test. Reinvigorated by his recent victory in Germany, the Spaniard has been in sparkling form and a top-three stage finisher on all but one of the tests so far.

Latvala is third, just 1.9sec adrift of Sordo. The Finn has had a trouble-free day, and felt his wet pre-event test had helped him in the rain on SS3. However that advantage was countered by a set-up mistake in the afternoon.

â€œIâ€™m disappointed with my performance on the long stage,â€ he admitted. â€œI stayed soft with the car set-up and it was wrong. I should have gone stiffer. My mistake, I stayed with a soft car and that was not a good idea.â€

The much-anticipated duel between Loeb and Sebastien Ogier was one of the casualties of the day. Newly crowned World Champion Ogier lies fifth in his Polo R, 16.5sec behind his team-mate. â€œThis morning I found it difficult to wake up,â€ said Ogier. â€œThis afternoon I tried to react and it was better, but I was still too slow. Unfortunately we didnâ€™t have the right tyre choice...â€

Evgeny Novikov is sixth, 34sec further back in his Ford Fiesta RS, with Volkswagenâ€™s Andreas Mikkelsen seventh.

A frustrated Mikko Hirvonen is eighth, more than 1min 30 seconds off the lead after a day in his least favourite conditions. â€œWhen itâ€™s slippery Iâ€™m not on the case,â€ he admitted after SS6.

Thing hadnâ€™t improved by the end of SS7. â€œItâ€™s not been a good day,â€ he acknowledged. â€œWe made a few mistakes this morning, and then we made the wrong tyre choice. We expected rain, and on the soft tyres the car was moving a lot. It was very difficult.â€

Ford Fiesta RS driver Mads Ostberg had a brake problem on SS7 and ended the day ninth, while Martin Prokop, also in a Fiesta rounds off the top 10.

Saturday's second leg gets underway at 0745hrs (local) with the opening stage, the 28 kilometre Hohlandsbourg â€“ Firstplan, scheduled for 0923hrs.
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WRC 2: Kubica unchallenged and unbeaten (WRC.com)

04 Oct 13

Robert Kubica dominated the WRC 2 category in the opening leg of Rallye de France-Alsace to build a lead of more than three minutes after winning all seven special stages in his Citroen DS3 RRC.

The Pole was quickest on the curtain-raiser in Strasbourg last night and fastest on all six stages south-west of the city today, to put him in the perfect position to reclaim the series lead from the absent Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari.

Several of Kubicaâ€™s rivals hit trouble and he could afford to ease his pace even at this early stage. However, he continued to press, reasoning that he would only continue to learn in his first season of top level rallying by driving quickly.

â€œWhen I feel comfortable with the pace notes and the conditions then Iâ€™m driving very well,â€ he explained. â€œWhen Iâ€™m not comfortable my driving isnâ€™t quite as good. Iâ€™m trying to go quickly because what do I learn by driving slowly?â€

His advantage over Elfyn Evans is 3min 31.0sec after the Welshman stopped to change a front right puncture on his Ford Fiesta R5 in SS3.

â€œIâ€™m not 100 per cent sure what happened. We were lucky not to puncture when we clipped a concrete block coming out of a hairpin, but shortly after the car started pulling to one side. The tyre had come off the rim so we stopped to change it to prevent further damage,â€ said Evans.

Evans slipped to fifth but regained second from Rashid Al Ketbi this afternoon. The United Arab Emirates driver is 2min 37.6sec further back after sliding his Fiesta R5 into a ditch in the final stage after brake problems.

Mexican Ricardo Trivino is more than 10 minutes off the lead in fourth, despite losing fifth gear in his Subaru Impreza, with Alaâ€™a Rasheed and Marco Vallario rounding off the top six in a Fiesta R5 and a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Robert Barrable retired his Fiesta R5 from third early in SS3 after hitting a concrete bollard on the outside of a hairpin and breaking a trackrod end. He tried to continue but with no steering the car went into a ditch.

Valeriy Gorban was fourth in his Mini John Cooper Works but retired following the opening stage this afternoon with a broken radiator after crashing 1km from the finish. Team-mate Oleksii Kikireshko retired after last nightâ€™s test and went out for a second time this afternoon when he crashed.
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Steve · Oct 4, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh8j010fbLI]Stages 1-4: WRC Rallye de France-Alsace 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1GtQ-c-53Y]Stages 5-7: WRC Rallye de France-Alsace 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP3yyEe_5O0]Leg 1 - 2013 WRC Rallye de France - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Oct 5, 2013

The title doesn't come close to telling the tale but the first para gets a lot closer. After 2 full days(+) of running, the 4 top drivers are covered by 5 seconds! The final day looks to be a 4-way runoff.

Latvala didn't get the overall lead until the last stage of the day. It's the first time he's lead the rally and he is in the lead without having won a single stage!

Latvala leads French thriller (WRC.com)

05 Oct 13

Jari-Matti Latvala holds a slender lead of four-tenths of a second in Rallye de France following a thrilling day that ended with four drivers covered by five seconds ahead of tomorrow's final leg.

Latvala snatched the lead through the final stage tonight to bring his Volkswagen Polo R back to Strasbourg in front of Dani Sordo. The Spaniard lies just 1.1sec clear of Sebastien Ogier, with Sebastien Loeb still chasing victory in his final rally a further 3.5sec adrift.

This 11th round of the WRC blew apart when Thierry Neuville, leading by 13.1sec in a Ford Fiesta RS, slid wide and punctured his rear left tyre in this afternoonâ€™s opening stage. He lost nearly 90sec and dropped out of contention to fifth.

It left Sordo in front, but an increasingly confident Latvala gradually reeled in the Citroen DS3 after a day characterised by constantly changing conditions. Drivers encountered fog, rain, and mud this morning, before temporarily drier roads this afternoon offered consistency until the wet weather returned.

â€œItâ€™s incredible the kind of fight weâ€™re having,â€ said Latvala, who has yet to win a stage. â€œItâ€™s one of the greatest rallies I have been involved in. I was perhaps too cautious on a couple of stages but the main thing is I made no mistakes. Iâ€™ve dug out some little things that have been missing from my driving.â€

Sordo paid tribute to his rival after the duo fought for tenths of a second throughout the day. â€œLatvala was really good. I lost time in the last long stage but Iâ€™m fighting with the best in the world, so thatâ€™s very nice,â€ he said.

After a lacklustre opening day, Ogier was right back on form. He won five of the seven tests in his Polo R to propel himself into the thick of the fight.

â€œAfter yesterday I had a doubt that I would be able to come back, but I had a perfect day. I pushed hard, the car worked well and I had a perfect feeling with it, so I must continue like this tomorrow,â€ said Ogier.

Loeb lost a few seconds when his DS3 developed understeer this afternoon but earlier claimed his 900th career stage win. â€œItâ€™s so tight, such a tough fight,â€ said the Frenchman. â€œI tried to push hard all day but I wasnâ€™t always happy with the car, myself, everything. But weâ€™re still in the fight so itâ€™s not so bad.â€

Neuville was deflated after seeing his hopes of a maiden win shattered, but he bounced back to win the penultimate test. â€œItâ€™s the first time Iâ€™ve suffered this season and I had a good lead and was fighting for the victory. I saw I could be ahead of both Sebastiens, both world champions, so I think weâ€™ve done well,â€ said the Belgian who is 1min 10.4sec off the lead.

Evgeny Novikov enjoyed a steady day to hold sixth in his Fiesta RS, 2min 16.4sec behind Neuville and 26.7sec ahead of Mikko Hirvonenâ€™s Citroen DS3. Hirvonen struggled to talk as a throat infection worsened, but he holds a 14.1sec advantage over Mads Ostbergâ€™s Fiesta RS.

Andreas Mikkelsen could not get to grips with an understeering Polo R in the wet and slipped a couple of places to ninth, while Czech driver Martin Prokop rounded off the top 10.

Tomorrowâ€™s final leg offers six more tests north of Strasbourg covering 56.58km. There is no mid-leg service and the final stage runs through the streets of Haguenau, Loebâ€™s home town. Will there be a fairy tale ending for the retiring champion?
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Steve · Oct 7, 2013

Ogier shows championâ€™s class to win in France (WRC.com)

06 Oct 13

Sebastien Ogier delivered a masterclass display in treacherous conditions today to win Rally de France - Alsace and bookend a perfect weekend after clinching his maiden drivers' world title on Thursday.

After a lacklustre Friday when the euphoria of Thursday nightâ€™s title win left him jaded and down in fifth, the Frenchman roared back into contention with a string of stage wins yesterday in his Volkswagen Polo R.

Ogier started todayâ€™s final leg as one of four drivers chasing victory, covered by just five seconds. But he stamped his authority with a dominant win in the rain-soaked opening stage to build an advantage he managed through to the Strasbourg finish.

He won by 12.2sec from Dani Sordo, revitalised in his Citroen DS3 following his win in Germany in August. Jari-Matti Latvala was a further 7.3sec behind in another Polo R, both having led before Ogier took control.

â€œThere has been so much emotion this weekend,â€ said Ogier, for whom this was his seventh win of the season. â€œAfter the excitement of winning the title on Thursday, it was difficult to get back into the race. But we couldnâ€™t stay like that all weekend and decided to react yesterday.

â€œWe pushed to the maximum then and this morning we soon made a gap at the front. Then we had to bring the car home, which wasnâ€™t easy in the rain and mud. We started the story from zero with Volkswagen last year, and now weâ€™re close to the manufacturersâ€™ title as well,â€ he added.

Sordo led when Thierry Neuville dropped back with a puncture after sliding his Ford Fiesta RS into a kerb yesterday afternoon. Although he could not fend off Ogier, he was happy with second.

â€œThereâ€™s always disappointment when you finish second but itâ€™s another podium in a rally in which we were fighting all the time for first,â€ he said. â€œWhen youâ€™re in the car and see how difficult it is to take just one second back, and Ogier is 15sec ahead, you have to be realistic. We pushed, but Ogier is champion for a reason.â€

Latvala was relieved after a troubled run of rallies. â€œI didnâ€™t make a single mistake here, it was my most consistent rally for a long time. Iâ€™ve had a lot of pressure lately after mistakes in Finland, Germany and Australia and it eats your mind,â€ he admitted.

There was no fairy tale ending to Sebastien Loebâ€™s WRC career. Having led the opening leg, the Frenchman started today 5.0sec from the top and hopeful of celebrating a 79th victory at the final stage in his home town of Haguenau.

However, he rolled his Citroen DS3 into retirement 1km into the opening test.
â€œI lost the rear in a fast right corner, and then we had a spin and I finished in the ditch. And that was the race over. I would have preferred to have finished my last rally here, but it didnâ€™t go according to plan,â€ said Loeb.

Neuvilleâ€™s disappointment at missing a maiden WRC win after leading by more than 16sec was huge. But the Belgian recovered to finish fourth, almost a minute behind Latvala, and he remains second in the driversâ€™ standings.

Evgeny Novikov avoided trouble to finish fifth in a Fiesta RS, but the Russian was almost two minutes behind Neuville and frustrated at being unable to find the speed he desired.

An unwell Mikko Hirvonen rarely matched the pace of the frontrunners but, apart from sliding off the road briefly this morning, he made no mistakes in his DS3 to take sixth. Seventh was Andreas Mikkelsen in his first asphalt event in a Polo R with Mads Ostberg eighth in a Fiesta RS, despite losing a minute off the road this morning.

The leaderboard was completed by WRC 2 winner Robert Kubica and Romain Dumas, after Martin Prokop retired his Fiesta RS with broken suspension.

The penultimate round is the mixed surface Rally de Espana on 24 - 27 October.
Click to expand...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkyLEuNXRks]SEBASTIEN LOEB CRASHES AT LAST EVER RALLYE DE FRANCE 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITwBO_vSxeg]Stages 15-17: Rallye de France-Alsace 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ao98UcweqA]Stages 18-20: Rallye de France-Alsace 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

WRC 2: Kubica closes on title (MaxRally.com)

06 Oct 13

Robert Kubica moved back to the head of the WRC 2 standings after winning the category at Rallye de France - Alsace today and the Pole can secure the world title at the next round in Spain later this month.

Kubica was flawless in treacherous conditions to secure his fourth win of the season in a Citroen DS3 RRC and he leads the absent Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari by eight points. A top two finish at his final nominated round, the mixed surface Rally de Espana, will guarantee him the crown no matter what Al-Kuwari does at his final outing in Britain in November.

His only serious rival was Elfyn Evans, and when the Welshman dropped three minutes changing a puncture on his Ford Fiesta R5 early on Friday, there was little doubt about the outcome.

Kubica could afford to ease off to preserve his lead, but preferred to push hard when it was safe to do so to increase his experience. He eventually triumphed by 4min 03.9sec from the recovering Evans.

â€œThe conditions were so tricky that we encountered everything you can find on asphalt, which gave me a lot of experience. It was a good rally from that point of view, as well as the points we gained, but to be honest itâ€™s more important and valuable to gain experience,â€ said Kubica.

â€œAfter the first two real stages we had a three minute gap with 250km still to go. It can get boring by backing off and when you do that, you donâ€™t learn anything.

â€œMy goal is to learn as much as I can so I backed off where I didnâ€™t feel confident or where the conditions were tricky. When the stages were clean, or we had good pace notes in the second pass, we tried to push,â€ he added.

Evans was encouraged by the weekend. â€œOur pace yesterday was good and although we were a bit cautious today in the tricky conditions, we wanted to get to the finish. We have good pace when we put our minds to it and itâ€™s a question of doing that for the whole rally now,â€ he said.

Rashid Al Ketbi finished third in a Fiesta R5, more than 14 minutes behind Evans. Robert Barrable retired his Fiesta R5 with broken steering on Friday but restarted under Rally 2 regulations to finish fourth, nearly 12 minutes behind the United Arab Emirates driver.

Ricardo Trivino was fifth in a Subaru Impreza with Venezuelaâ€™s Alejandro Lombardo rounding off the top six in a Mitsubishi Lancer.
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Steve · Oct 7, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHCsl06QSKU]Rallye de France - Alsace 2013 (HD) By Rallye-Mann - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzcMI01YNmM]WRC - Rallye de France - Alsace 2013 Maxicorde HD - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Oct 8, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU1ckWt_BJo]2013 Rally France -- Summary - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Oct 8, 2013

Following Loeb's/Elena's final WRC run in France, a tribute video from Citroen.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L446BdowWsg]Tribute to SÃ©bastien Loeb and Daniel Elena - CitroÃ«n WRC 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

RallyMini370 · Oct 11, 2013

down loaded ready for the plane...thanks Steve

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