Maybe the turbo wasn't the same on this car.Harpo wrote:Citroen appealed against the disqualification... Disqualification that seems very strange, because the turbo is the same on all WRC cars, and the clutch disc just had no holes, so was heavier. Do they want to help Ford not to be out of contention for the title as soon as the 4th rally, though Ford did all they had to do to miss the chance Loeb's crash offered them ? Is WRC just a F1 subdivision ?phfft... wrote:Autosport is reporting that Hirvonen has been disqualified for technical infringements, Ostberg is handed the win and Loeb stays ahead in the championship. To repeat my earlier sentiment, what a bizarre rally!
Realien wrote:Bloody disgrace...
mcdo wrote:So... Latvala's injured. God damn.
It's all to do for Solberg now.
The whole Prodrive/BMW business is such a mess. And it's Kris Meeke I feel sorry for. To have that golden opportunity taken away.rife_hypocricy wrote:mcdo wrote:So... Latvala's injured. God damn.
It's all to do for Solberg now.
Sordo to replace Latvala in Argentina.
prodrive are missing argentina and greece
Code: Select all
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3.06.42,3
2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen +2,1
3. Dani Sordo Ford +1.30,7
4. Mads Östberg Ford +2.26,6
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah Citroen +7.58,1
6. Martin Prokop Ford +8.07,5
7. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda +8.36,8
8. Sebastien Ogier Skoda +8.48,7
9. Armindo Araujo Mini +11.23,5
10. Thierry Neuville Citroen +11.36,9
11. Petter Solberg Ford +14.34,4
Jari-Matti Latvala is leaving Ford
21.6.2012 16:25
Esa Lilja
Helsingin Sanomat
Volkswagen has signed the Finnish Jari-Matti Latvala as their second driver.
According to information Helsingin Sanomat has, Latvala's contract is a 2-year contract and has an option for a 3rd year.
Latvala has been in Ford during his whole WRC-career. His manager Timo Jouhki didn't confirm his protegé's continuance yesterday.
"We have discussed with Ford, Citroën and Volkswagen. We will get back to the matter in summer."
According to information HS has, they will announce Latvala's contract either during Finland's rally in August or a few weeks later in Germany's rally.
It's also possible that the German team wants to announce their driver-news on their own home-ground.
Volkswagen will bring some long needed excitement to the anemic WRC-serie.
http://www.hs.fi/urheilu/Jari-Matti+Lat ... 5576221460
Snake, how do you think they will do with Ogier and Latvala? Equal treatment or will Latvala be the supporting driver?SnakeSVT2003 wrote:I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for Ford. Latvala is SO fast but he crashes SO much, but it could be bad for Ford if he stops the crashing while at Volkswagen, because then he will become an almighty pain in their donkey.
NeverCryWolf wrote:Snake, how do you think they will do with Ogier and Latvala? Equal treatment or will Latvala be the supporting driver?SnakeSVT2003 wrote:I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for Ford. Latvala is SO fast but he crashes SO much, but it could be bad for Ford if he stops the crashing while at Volkswagen, because then he will become an almighty pain in their donkey.
Who will be alongside Petter next year?
I was so hoping for Petter to go to VW, he certainly deserves a chance
Ah, that's right, Hänninen did hope he would get the seat last season. Östberg was impressive too, wonder if Ford takes himSnakeSVT2003 wrote:NeverCryWolf wrote:Snake, how do you think they will do with Ogier and Latvala? Equal treatment or will Latvala be the supporting driver?SnakeSVT2003 wrote:I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for Ford. Latvala is SO fast but he crashes SO much, but it could be bad for Ford if he stops the crashing while at Volkswagen, because then he will become an almighty pain in their donkey.
Who will be alongside Petter next year?
I was so hoping for Petter to go to VW, he certainly deserves a chance
I think they will get equal treatment to start, but I think Ogier is the better driver right now, so I think he will be #1 eventually.
As for Ford, IMO it should be Mads Ostberg. He has been great the past two seasons and he has enough experience now to really contribute to a factory team, but I also think Juho Hanninen deserves a chance. He clearly has talent and he has WRC experience.
As far as I know, Sainz is a consultant and part-time test driver for the team.NeverCryWolf wrote:Ah, that's right, Hänninen did hope he would get the seat last season. Östberg was impressive too, wonder if Ford takes himSnakeSVT2003 wrote:NeverCryWolf wrote:Snake, how do you think they will do with Ogier and Latvala? Equal treatment or will Latvala be the supporting driver?SnakeSVT2003 wrote:I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for Ford. Latvala is SO fast but he crashes SO much, but it could be bad for Ford if he stops the crashing while at Volkswagen, because then he will become an almighty pain in their donkey.
Who will be alongside Petter next year?
I was so hoping for Petter to go to VW, he certainly deserves a chance
I think they will get equal treatment to start, but I think Ogier is the better driver right now, so I think he will be #1 eventually.
As for Ford, IMO it should be Mads Ostberg. He has been great the past two seasons and he has enough experience now to really contribute to a factory team, but I also think Juho Hanninen deserves a chance. He clearly has talent and he has WRC experience.
Snake, is Carlos Sainz team manager in VM or do I remember wrong?
As for Ogier, he was really fast, it was a shame that Loeb couldn't take competition... I actually stopped following rally after that, since Ogier was promised he could race Loeb and then all of a sudden he was demoted. I have a slight problem with Citroen
Thanks Snake, then who is the team manager? Sorry for the questionsSnakeSVT2003 wrote: As far as I know, Sainz is a consultant and part-time test driver for the team.
I sort of agree with you with regards to Citroen. I think Loeb was still the faster of the two last year (not by much), and he is more experienced with regards to challenging for titles, so IMO he deserved to be the main challenger at the end.
To be fair, Citroen let the two drivers race early on, like at Rally Portugal, when Loeb was behind Hirvonen in the points (his 2nd and his Power stage win only tied him with Mikko) but Ogier was allowed to win even though Loeb was about 30 seconds behind and Latvala was something like 4 minutes behind in 3rd entering the final day. They could've told Ogier to get some penalties to let Loeb go ahead but, to their credit, they didn't. Then again, they might not have thought that Ogier would challenge Loeb like he did the rest of the year and might've been content to let Ogier have his moment.
Either way, I hope Loeb sticks around next year so that Ogier can fight him again.
I have no idea. I know that Kris Nissen is VW's motorsport director, but that's it, really.NeverCryWolf wrote:Thanks Snake, then who is the team manager? Sorry for the questionsSnakeSVT2003 wrote: As far as I know, Sainz is a consultant and part-time test driver for the team.
I sort of agree with you with regards to Citroen. I think Loeb was still the faster of the two last year (not by much), and he is more experienced with regards to challenging for titles, so IMO he deserved to be the main challenger at the end.
To be fair, Citroen let the two drivers race early on, like at Rally Portugal, when Loeb was behind Hirvonen in the points (his 2nd and his Power stage win only tied him with Mikko) but Ogier was allowed to win even though Loeb was about 30 seconds behind and Latvala was something like 4 minutes behind in 3rd entering the final day. They could've told Ogier to get some penalties to let Loeb go ahead but, to their credit, they didn't. Then again, they might not have thought that Ogier would challenge Loeb like he did the rest of the year and might've been content to let Ogier have his moment.
Either way, I hope Loeb sticks around next year so that Ogier can fight him again.
I won't go into the Loeb-Citroen -discussion, otherwise I will start to drag up all incidents from years before which screamed 'UNFAIR'
You are sweet Snake, thank youSnakeSVT2003 wrote:I have no idea. I know that Kris Nissen is VW's motorsport director, but that's it, really.NeverCryWolf wrote: Thanks Snake, then who is the team manager? Sorry for the questions
I won't go into the Loeb-Citroen -discussion, otherwise I will start to drag up all incidents from years before which screamed 'UNFAIR'
And don't worry about asking many questions. It's nothing to apologize for. Ask away!
Yeah great job by Loeb. Such a shame Grönholm had to miss the event, I was looking forward to the two of them duelling once againSnakeSVT2003 wrote:After all these years, I finally got to see him drive with my own eyes, right in front of me. I was there when Sebastian Loeb destroyed everyone at X Games. Yes, Block was staying close before his right-rear tire punctured at the start of lap 3, but he was never gonna catch him. To see with my own eyes what I've admired for so long was so ducking awesome, I didn't want the race to end. He makes it look so easy. He's so damn good. Nobody had a chance.
Hope he comes back next year.
Good news.A spokesman for Gronholm said: "Marcus has made a significant improvement since he arrived in hospital with two days of positive reports from doctors. He's awake, talking to the team and joking about the fact that Sebastien [Loeb] won because he wasn't in the race.
"It's fair to say, he's pretty frustrated that he wasn't there to challenge Sebastien for the win."
Me, too. I wouldn't be surprised if, even though he was challenged by Pastrana, he went to X Games to race Gronholm.Covalent wrote:Yeah great job by Loeb. Such a shame Grönholm had to miss the event, I was looking forward to the two of them duelling once againSnakeSVT2003 wrote:After all these years, I finally got to see him drive with my own eyes, right in front of me. I was there when Sebastian Loeb destroyed everyone at X Games. Yes, Block was staying close before his right-rear tire punctured at the start of lap 3, but he was never gonna catch him. To see with my own eyes what I've admired for so long was so ducking awesome, I didn't want the race to end. He makes it look so easy. He's so damn good. Nobody had a chance.
Hope he comes back next year.
rife_hypocricy wrote:It's the 90th Pikes peak international hill climb this wknd, Romain Dumas in a Porsche GT3R fastest on the first day's practice.
Can't wait to see the open wheel class vids afterwards.
I wonder if they will actually pay their bills this timeSnakeSVT2003 wrote:Hyundai into the WRC in 2013!
Part time in 2013, then a full run from 2014 on.
So then, Citroen, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Mini (hopefully) and Ford (also hopefully). Red Bull is officially the new promoter. Can't wait for next season!
Amazing how the series' outlook has done a complete 360 since last December.
Also, I'm going to miss Loeb. What a legend, but at least he will take part in a few rallies next season.