Official WRC thread

crookie said:
All I read was that it was a "full rental package" from Citroen, whatever that means. I don't know the details on the contract.
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I would think it's pretty much the same as what he had last year, just under different team banner.

crookie said:
The Monte Carlo round is gonna be exciting as always. Would've been interesting to see Kimi in IRC as well, not sure if his father's death changed his pre-season plans seeing he didn't take part in Tunturiralli either. Is Auriol not listed for Monte? I'm pretty sure he was planning to take part again but I wonder if he was left short with funding.
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No Auriol on the entry list (which, by the way, is available in the rally website). Maybe you got him mixed up with Francois Delecour who is in the entry list?
 
Hazardous said:
I would think it's pretty much the same as what he had last year, just under different team banner.
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Yeah, most likely.


Hazardous said:
No Auriol on the entry list (which, by the way, is available in the rally website). Maybe you got him mixed up with Francois Delecour who is in the entry list?
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I was trying to think who it was but I kept thinking Auriol since he took part two years ago. But you're right, it was Delecour. Glad to see he could make it, I read earlier he was struggling to get sponsors to take part in the rally.
 
Autosport reports that Petter will be in for Sweden after all despite the entry being submitted after the deadline. So that's one more DS3 in for the event.

Also, Kimi's deal is apparently for at least ten events this year, possibly more.
 
There was a correction to the earlier news, R?ikk?nen will be racing in the same team as last year, Ice One Racing only did the signing up for the event.
 
Great news, both Kimi and Petter confirmed for 2011 : )
 
Thank heavens, the only two drivers I really pay any attention to WRC for are actually going to be there after all! :mrgreen:
Even without them I might've had a look-see for a bit to see what the new cars were like a full-tilt, then got bored as Loeb wins everything again.
 
Zesty said:
Thank heavens, the only two drivers I really pay any attention to WRC for are actually going to be there after all! :mrgreen:
Even without them I might've had a look-see for a bit to see what the new cars were like a full-tilt, then got bored as Loeb wins everything again.
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Here's hoping we'll see some surprises pace-wise. The seconds-lost-per-kilometre differences have been pretty small in the recent years even though of Loeb's dominance (and who knows how much of that was actually down to Citroen's superiority over the Focus), so it shouldn't take a big change in one's pace to turn the tables around.
After the initial tests Latvala said the new cars need quite a different driving style because of the mechanical diffs and the nature of the new engines. It'll be interesting to see how the drivers adapt to these new cars.Of course Loeb, Ogier, Hirvonen and Latvala should still be the top contenders as they'll have more testing under their belts.
 
I'm pretty optimistic about Ford's chances this year. They have the advantage of having already been running the Fiesta in Super 2000 spec in competition for pretty much a full year (both in IRC and WRC), and while the WRC car has a new engine and probably some other developments as well they should be pretty similar. Meanwhile Citro?n didn't start running the DS3 until second half of last year, and while they should have access to what Peugeot have learned with the 207 S2000 it's not the same car. They don't quite have the same amount of preparation as they had with the C4, for which the team took a full year off to concentrate on development work...
 
I agree, now Citro?n will pay the price for developing last year's car at the expensive of the DS3. Though if any driver can handle a rough car it is Loeb.
 
Fords released their works car (team now officially known as Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) livery today at Autosport International show. Looks a bit too Castrol green for my taste, I preferred the earlier no-sponsors livery much better.

ford-fiesta-rs-wrc-2011-1.jpg
 
I have nothing against Castrol, but I absolutely hate the combination of that and the Abu Dhabi red...

Also, I see that BP is no longer title sponsor and only visible with their Castrol brand. I wonder if that's a real marketing tactic or if they are still reducing their marketing under BP brand following the oil spill...
 
Hazardous said:
or if they are still reducing their marketing under BP brand following the oil spill...
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Probably more likely, BP have been sponsoring Dyson Racing in the ALMS and after just about half-way in the season their car stopped carrying BP logos; first they replaced them with ARCO logos for a couple of races, then they went for Castrol branding as well.
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
Probably more likely, BP have been sponsoring Dyson Racing in the ALMS and after just about half-way in the season their car stopped carrying BP logos; first they replaced them with ARCO logos for a couple of races, then they went for Castrol branding as well.
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I was thinking of Dyson when I wrote that but was surprised about the timing. Why would they do that now if they didn't see it necessary back then, since mid-season livery changes are not an issue in WRC (as Citro?n proved a few years back). However, it just occured to me that changing the team title might have been a bit more complicated than that, and 'BP Ford' entry without BP sponsorship would have been pretty odd...
 
A couple of days ago R?ikk?nen's manager was saying he's going to be driving under the Citroen Junior Team and not Ice One Racing. Now Citroen's said the Citroen Junior Team doesn't exist anymore (since they have no junior drivers) and apparently R?ikk?nen will be driving under the Ice One Racing banner after all.
 
Wooo! There's gonna be a "night" stage this year! Organizers of the Greece rally have confirmed there'll be a 18km stage on saturday that will be driven around 21.30 local time.

To me it seems like lately WRC is taking steps in the right direction, unlike most motorsports.
 
Reigning World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has become the first driver to set a meaningful time in the new generation of World Rally Cars at this morning's Rally Sweden shakedown stage.

The Citroen-driving Frenchman was the first into the 2.5-mile shakedown stage close to Hagfors. No running order is established for shakedown, but Loeb was the first to the startline of the new season. The seven-time champion completed the stage in 2m17.1s, after a 14-minute delay at the start of the test.

Second in was Loeb's team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who was 1.5 seconds slower than Loeb. Jari-Matti Latvala was the first Ford driver to offer a comparison between the two makes - and it was first blood to the Fiesta, with the Finn stopping the clocks at 2m10.4s.

The drivers started the stage in heavy snow, which is expected to continue through the day, before giving way to cold and clear conditions for the rest of the event.
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Can't wait for this new season to begin : )
 
I've only really seen short clips from Sweden so far, but I must say that I'm starting to really like these new 1.6T cars! :heart: I don't think they look any slower than the old WRC cars, and if anything, they're more spectacular, at least on snow.
 
I agree... They look a bit wider and lower than the old cars and that makes them look much more agressive and racy. Also, they seem to be all over the place at speed, probably because of the shorter wheelbase and the less sophisticated driveline.

5 drivers going for win today, should be interesting...
 
We probably just witnessed the wtf moment of the year in WRC: Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson swapped seats on the final stage of Rally Sweden. Apparently Petter had been caught speeding on friday and had been given a 48 hours before he would lose his driver's license, and that time expired before the final stage today. The confusion that ensued in both Rally Radio and the live TV broadcast was hilarious :lol:

As it turns out, a WRC level co-driver loses about 12 seconds per kilometer to top drivers.

Final standings
Hirvonen
?stberg
Latvala
Ogier
Solberg(&Patterson)
Loeb (provided he manages to get back to service, he had some trouble leaving the finish of the last stage)
Anderson
R?ikk?nen
Wilson
Al-Quassimi
 
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