WRC Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Rally Mexico (2014)

Steve · Mar 9, 2014

Ogier takes minutelead into final day (WRC.com)

09 Mar 2014

SÃ©bastien Ogier increased his lead to a comfortable 60.3sec after dominating today’s third day of Rally Mexico.

The Volkswagen driver reeled off five consecutive stage wins in the hot and dusty mountains near LeÃ³n. His task was eased when Mads Ostberg retired from second with broken suspension, allowing team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala into the runner-up spot.

Ogier’s only moment of drama came in the final few metres of the last stage when he was one of several drivers to hit a large hole. The impact was hard enough to throw his Polo R onto two wheels and knock a tyre partly off the rim.

“It was a big one but it’s OK, we just lost a bit of time,” said the unflappable Frenchman.

After Ostberg’s demise, Latvala focused on preserving his position. He set a string of second fastest times before notching a stage win in the first pass of the LeÃ³n super special.

“I wasn’t in a big competition because that wasn’t necessary. We’re going for the championship and not the rally for the moment,” said the Finn.

Ostberg hit a bank near the end of the day’s opening test. He and co-driver Jonas Andersson made temporary repairs to the broken left upright with ratchet straps and cable ties before removing the left rear driveshaft. Although they reached the start of the following 53km stage, the damage was too great to continue.

Thierry Neuville climbed to third, 4min 37.0sec behind Ogier, and on course for a maiden podium for Hyundai in only the third rally for the i20 car. He overhauled Elfyn Evans this morning and survived a hard impact in a compression with just a smashed windscreen.
Neuville heads the consistent Welshman by 47.0sec.

Evans, on his first appearance here, has refused to be drawn into any battles. His focus is simply on finishing but the tactic could pay off with a career-best result tomorrow.

Martin Prokop and Benito Guerra complete the top six in their Fiesta RS cars, Guerra surviving a heavy collision with a tree this afternoon. Chris Atkinson holds seventh with Mikko Hirvonen, Kris Meeke and WRC 2 leader Yuriy Protasov completing the top 10.

It was another bad day for Andreas Mikkelsen and Robert Kubica. Mikkelsen rolled his Polo R in the second stage and has now completed only three stages in three days. Kubica rolled his Fiesta RS for the second time in two days and the roll cage is too badly damaged for him to restart tomorrow. Mikkelsen will return under Rally 2 rules.

The final leg starts at 07.45. Drivers face four stages covering 80.22km, but the day is all about the marathon Guanajuatito, the longest stage in the event’s history at almost 56km. The rally finishes in LeÃ³n at 14.30.
Click to expand...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j_pgKlIcZk"]Leg 2 - 2014 WRC Rally Mexico - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 11, 2014

Ogier wins Rally Mexico (WRC.com)

09 Mar 2014

SÃ©bastien Ogier won a tough Rally Mexico today to regain the lead of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The Frenchman headed a Volkswagen 1-2 finish, beating Jari-Matti Latvala by 1min 12.6sec to take a three point lead in the standings over his Finnish colleague.

Thierry Neuville claimed a maiden podium for Hyundai after a dramatic finale when he twice stopped on the final road section to the LeÃ³n finish to top up his carâ€™s leaking radiator â€“ with beer provided by rally sponsor Corona at the interim podium after the final stage!

Ogier, second in the start order, minimised his time loss on Friday morningâ€™s dirty roads before moving ahead with a stunning performance through the long El Chocolate stage in the afternoon when the tracks were cleaner.

He ended the day 26.1sec clear of Mads Ostberg and when the Norwegian retired with broken rear left suspension after hitting a bank in Saturdayâ€™s opening test, Ogier was in the clear. He reeled off five consecutive stage wins, before pacing himself to the finish, claiming fastest time in the final live TV Power Stage to earn maximum bonus points.

â€œIt was the perfect week, a victory in the rally and the Power Stage,â€ said Ogier. â€œI came here very angry after a small mistake in Sweden and thatâ€™s the best way to restart my winning ways in the championship. Now we are looking forward to continuing like that.â€

Having endured the worst of Fridayâ€™s slippery roads after starting first, Latvalaâ€™s chances of victory were slim. However, he too kept his time loss to less than expected and climbed from third to second after Ostbergâ€™s demise.

Neuville was faultless on the first gravel rally for the i20 car. As others fell by the wayside, he kept out of trouble to climb the leaderboard and deserved his slice of luck to finish 4min 16.0sec behind Latvala after 22 stages and almost 400km of action.

Elfyn Evans claimed a career-best fourth in a Ford Fiesta RS on his first appearance in Mexico, 1min 20.7sec behind Neuville. Under strict instructions to drive for a finish, the Welshman was also flawless and was another to benefit from the troubles of others.

Martin Prokop finished fifth despite almost rolling his Fiesta RS this morning, while Mexicoâ€™s Benito Guerra delighted his home fans to take sixth on only his second outing in a WRC car.

Chris Atkinson survived a troubled weekend to finish seventh on his first appearance for Hyundai, while Mikko Hirvonen, who retired on Friday with an alternator problem, and Ostberg took eighth and ninth after restarting under Rally 2 rules. The top 10 was completed by WRC 2 winner Yuriy Protasov.

The only major casualty of todayâ€™s final leg was Kris Meeke, who broke the front right suspension on his Citroen DS3 after hitting a rock early in the final stage and ceded ninth.

Round four of the championship is Rally de Portugal on 3 - 6 April.
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Neuvilleâ€™s podium booze cruise (WRC.com)

...or, Why Neuville owes his podium to a very large beer...

10 Mar 2014

Teetotal Thierry Neuville owes his Rally Mexico podium to the bottle of beer he was given at the celebrations after the rally-closing Power Stage.

Instead of spraying the maxi-sized bottle presented by rally sponsor Corona, Neuville, who currently doesnâ€™t touch alcohol, put it in his Hyundai i20 to take back to his team.

But when a radiator leak drained his carâ€™s cooling system on the 33km journey back to service, the beer came to his rescue.

â€œWe had driven maybe three or four kilometres of the road section when I saw the engine temperature was very high, thatâ€™s when I realised we had a problem. It was very stressful,â€ Neuville told wrc.com.

Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul pulled over and removed the i20â€™s front bumper to get better access while they plugged the hole.

We were able to fix it quite quickly but to refill the system we made use of everything we had in the car, luckily we got some beer at the end of the Power Stage and we used it.â€

The pair stopped again a few kilometres later to top-up the system with more Mexican lager.

â€œI really tried to stay calm and say to myself we were okay, but when we had more than 25km to go I thought okay, maybe this could be the end. But after we stopped again the temperature came down and then I thought it would be okay.â€

Their next stop was when they arrived, on time, at the finish to collect Hyundaiâ€™s first podium on only the teamâ€™s third rally.   So would Neuville be breaking his self-imposed alcohol-ban tonight? â€œFor the moment, no, but I can change my mind at anytime,â€ he laughed.
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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H75loA1adGQ"]Highlights - 2014 WRC Rally Mexico Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 3, 2014

One of the rookies out getting some practice.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2lzBzthx8w]Test Robert Kubica | M-Sport | Ford Fiesta WRC | Pre Rally MÃ©xico 2014 [passats de canto] - YouTube[/ame]

Angib · Mar 3, 2014

Those interested in WRC might like to look for WRX - World Rally-Cross. Thought to be fair, the 'World' bit is a stretch as only one round is outside Europe.

Rallycross could be described as short circuit rallying and it has been the home of all those Class B rally cars that were too dangerous to use for rallying. In the top class, it's four wheel drive, ultra short gearing and around 600hp in a small hatchback, so acceleration is lightning quick - even a 1 litre sports bike has to work hard to stay ahead on tarmac: the ultimate drag race.

But the thing that those here may be interested in is the contestants. Chicherit from the Dakar Mini has announced he will be doing it, Petter Solberg did it last year, and you may have heard of Ken Block and Jacques Villeneuve....

I imagine this won't get TV coverage in the US but if it does it should be worth watching. If you like a bit of mud splatter.

FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy.

Steve · Mar 3, 2014

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP2sJlFtiEg]Preview: Rally Guanajuato MÃ©xico 2014 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 3, 2014

Angib said: ↑

Those interested in WRC might like to look for WRX - World Rally-Cross. Thought to be fair, the 'World' bit is a stretch as only one round is outside Europe.
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I hadn't heard of World Rallycross. Been trying to follow Global Rallycross, though. 'Global' is about the same sort of stretch as 'World' but in reverse, sort of, as only two rounds (I think) are hosted outside the Americas. There are a few videos, etc, in this thread.

Steve · Mar 6, 2014

Radio-controlled cars? (best-of-rallylive.com)

06/03/2014 9:30 am

During last month’s Rally Sweden, our colleague Julian remarked that the WRC cars have at least eight antennae on their roof. We tried to find out more…

With all these aerials, the cars resemble radio-controlled models in a toyshop. But what purpose do these eight (at least) antennae serve. Xavier from Ino2 Systems explains...

We begin the guided tour with the patch attached to the front-left: “This antenna is for live video. It is connected to a unit beneath the driver’s seat which records footage from the on-board cameras. These images are transmitted to a helicopter which forwards them to a radio relay airplane, which sends them to Rally TV headquarters. It’s quite complex because the helicopter needs to be at a precise distance from the rally car.”

The white patch on the other side is the GPS tracker antenna provided by SIT. It enables the car’s location to be monitored for safety reasons and functions in association with the bigger aerial that has a power output of approximately 1 Watt. The signal is sent to a radio relay airplane which flies over the rally route at an altitude of around six or seven thousand feet. It takes the signal 250 milliseconds to reach the plane. The rearmost antenna on the car functions in GSM and GPS modes to provide a back-up tracking facility should radio signal be lost.

A GSM aerial for the crew’s cell phones is located at the roof’s centre. Most of the factory cars also have an Iridium satellite phone aerial, and some even have an antenna for data logging purposes (vehicle location, speed, etc.).

Last but not least, the antenna at the rear is for the teams’ own communications. The signal passes via the radio relay airplane and each team uses a specific frequency. “The positioning of the antennae is very important because the roof, like the rest of the car body, is a ‘ground mass’ (electrically conductive surface). To prevent interference and optimise performance, you need to comply with the ‘inverse square law’. There used to be lots of interference because the aerials were too strong, but technology has moved on and today’s transmission quality is far better using less power.”
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Steve · Mar 7, 2014

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSS_W44eZ3c"]Shakedown - 2014 WRC Rally Mexico - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 9, 2014

Ogier leads afterleg 1 in Mexico (WRC.com)

08 Mar 2014

SÃ©bastien Ogier holds a comfortable lead after an action-packed opening leg of Rally Mexico which sidelined a host of frontrunners.

The Frenchman minimised his losses as he ploughed a line through loose gravel on the mountain roads this morning. But he set four fastest times on cleaner tracks this afternoon to lead by 26.1sec after almost 150km of stages.

â€œIt was a great afternoon but it wasnâ€™t an easy one,â€ said the Volkswagen Polo R pilot, who won seven of the 11 opening leg tests.

Mads Ostberg and Ogier shared two stage wins each this morning, and the Norwegian led by 3.3sec in his Citroen DS3. His advantage could have been greater had he not dropped time in the final test when co-driver Jonas Andersson forgot to remove the radiator shield, which keeps the engine warm on road sections, before the start.

Ostberg made set-up changes for the afternoon and failed to find the same rhythm. Ogier delivered a crushing blow when he outpaced him by almost 18sec in the 44.03km El Chocolate stage to take a lead he never relinquished.

â€œWe struggled a bit this afternoon, but itâ€™s my first rally on gravel in this car and when you find conditions like we had this afternoon, you need experience of the car,â€ said Ostberg.

As first on the road, Jari-Matti Latvala endured the worst of the dirty conditions this morning. But he coped well and climbed from fifth to third, 42.5sec behind his Volkswagen colleague.

Mikko Hirvonen retired his Ford Fiesta RS from third with alternator failure this afternoon. Kris Meeke, who should have inherited Hirvonenâ€™s place, went out on the same stage after breaking a suspension arm when his DS3 stepped out of line over a crest and hit a rock.

Robert Kubica took advantage of the carnage to climb to fourth on his Mexico debut but he rolled his Fiesta RS at the LeÃ³n race track super special. Early this morning Andreas Mikkelsen retired from second when he hit a rock and broke his Polo Râ€™s suspension.

lfyn Evans steered clear of trouble and lies fourth, 1.5sec clear of Thierry Neuvilleâ€™s Hyundai i20. Martin Prokop is sixth ahead of Benito Guerra, who overcame steering rack problems to delight his home fans.

Chris Atkinson had a torrid morning on his Hyundai debut. Problems with the anti-lag system, brakes and broken suspension cost several minutes but the afternoon was better and he lies eighth, despite going off at the same point as Kubica rolled.

Kubica and WRC 2 leader Yuriy Protasov complete the top 10.

Tomorrowâ€™s second leg contains seven stages and 170.08km of action, including the marathon 53.69km Otates test. Drivers restart from LeÃ³n at 08.30.
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Meeke curses his luck (WRC.com)

08 Mar 2014

Northern Irelandâ€™s Kris Meeke believes he was unlucky to retire from the opening leg of Rally Mexico after a seemingly innocuous incident on SS8.

The Citroen DS3 driver is tackling the Mexican event for the first time this weekend, and was lying fourth when disaster struck in Friday's repeated 15km Las Minas stage.

â€œThe previous stage felt good and I started in a good rhythm,â€ Meeke told wrc.com. â€œEverything was coming easy and then, on a narrow second gear corner over a crest, as I went back on the throttle the car stepped out a little bit.

â€œThere was a little impact - I didnâ€™t even see what I hit. Unfortunately something dislodged at the back and the wheel was waving about. We got very close to the finish and the wheel parted company.

â€œI was a little bit unlucky with what happened in a very, very narrow section. But it only takes a little touch and you can damage something on this rally and as much as I didnâ€™t want to get caught out, I have been.â€

With damage limited to the left-hand rear corner, Meeke will rejoin the event on Saturday as a Rally2 entry. â€œOkay, the road position won't be great, but weâ€™ve seen all the stages today. Our pace was coming. Weâ€™ll get out again tomorrow and get some more experience.â€
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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3tKsZLgpjk"]Leg 1 - 2014 WRC Rally Mexico - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 11, 2014

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sV9qDaDFOI]WRC MÃ©xico Hirvonen Almost Hitting Cow - YouTube[/ame]

Joker · Mar 12, 2014

► 4:12► 4:12
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mgnNvtYQQ]Tribute to Hannu Mikkola - YouTube[/ame]
Feb 6, 2011 - Uploaded by MrZegerov
This is the tribute to legendary flying finn,one of the greatest rally drivers,Hannu Mikkola.

A little bit sideways. One of the best drivers for me.

Crashton · Mar 12, 2014

Yep Hannu is one of the greats for sure. A hero in my book.

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