Official WRC thread

[93Flareside]

Sometimes I do. The only time I've sat down for races have been 24 hr nuburgring, le mans, and daytona. I thought rallys were shorter and was hoping for something that took up less time.

 

[Matt2000]

you have time to sit in front of the screen you whole weekend?
that's my biggest problem with WRC...you can't just reserve 1 to 2 hours to watch the race, you have to give up your whole weekend for it

don't you guys have a life?

Although I could watch it live with WRC+ I tend to go back and watch each stage in the evening as they're available on demand, skipping through the waffle and the drivers I'm not interested in. Depending on the running order I can see all of the important runners get through the stage in 10-15 minutes and move on to the next one. It's much better than just relying on highlights but doesn't necessarily take much longer.

 

[Thanatos]

I just watch the 30 minute recap in the evening or next morning.
This was everything available in the 90's/early 2000's, and its still good enough for me now.

 

[Matt2000]

It's all kicking off in Norway and Sweden, multiple cars stuck in snow banks and escaping light pods were the order of the day. Not as much snow as last year but still mode than that freak year of 2016.

 

[Matt2000]

Congratulations to Ott and Martin for their superb victory, snaffling maximum points for the rally. Shame Ogier's weekend was ruined so early but he still fought well in the power stage.

 

[Matt2000]

Conratulations to Ott and Martin for their well deserved World Championship win, it's great to see them finally get there after being so close last year. It certainly looked like it was on the rocks a few times this year but Ott's driving has been fantastic over the last few rallies.

Ultimately it was Ogier's weekend being ruined by the hydraulic failure on Friday that stopped the fight going to Australia but a win is a win. He also snatched the top power stage points this weekend to knock Dani Sordo off 2nd place on the podium.

Toyota are only 8 points behind Hyundai in the manufacturer standings, if Kris hadn't crashed out on Saturday I'm sure they would've taken the lead. Let's see if they can clean up in Oz to take victory. If not it would certainly be well deserved by Hyundai.

 

[jack_christie]

Farcically late call to pull the plug on the event.

WRC prizegiving in Sydney also cancelled.

So, Hyundai has been crowned the manufacturers’ champions.

Rally Australia cancelled due to bushfires

Rally Australia has been cancelled due to the impending threat from bushfires in Northern New South Wales.

Bushfires that have ravaged the region had put the event at risk with organisers releasing a significantly revised shortened 90km route late last night.

However, the risk is such that organisers have elected to call off the final round of the World Rally Championship.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/11/12/rally-australia-cancelled-due-to-bushfires/

 

[Matt2000]

I cancelled my WRC+ subscription earlier in the month as I need to direct money elsewhere, having seen the start of the season I'm happy with my decision. No Latavala, no Meeke, no Breen, no Citroen and Tanak has already binned it.

I'll keep an eye on the championship standings but I think the 2020 season is one to miss.

 

[bone]

Hopefully Neuville finally has some consistente to finally get a championship.

He's the dovicioso of WRC...

 

[Matt2000]

Yeah I think this is his year, everyone else will be getting to grips (or not) with new cars.

I read that Latvala will take part in some rallies in a private Yaris and with Hanninen as co-driver, let's hope Juho doesn't lose his voice like he did a couple of years ago.

 

[Thanatos]

after two, three phenomenal years, it was bound to take a downturn in quality.
even though citroen is out, imho ford and hyundai made some weird driver choises. Yes Hyundai too.
Sure they got Tanak nad Nueville, but tbh, they wont work together for long, I'm thinking Mclaren alonso v hammilton situation. So when one goes, hyundai has 3 other cars with no decent young drivers, or even veterans with regular miliage. It seems this seasons is a make od break time for the whole Hyundai program. All of their choises are short term, for this year only.
Ford seems to be back in the early 2010's, with one good driver and the rest a pay drivers and the poorest package in the field.

 

[jack_christie]

Takamoto Katsuta testing for Finland.

 

[Matt2000]

Fantastic. I'm looking forward to next week, I watched Monte Carlo after taking a year break from watching the WRC and I'm back into it. Ogier's last year and the last year for the current cars makes it pretty special. I might even pay for a month of WRC+ to watch it live, they've really bumped the season price up to £90 now and I'm not paying that when I can get free highlight on cable.

It's sad not being able to cheer on Latvala for the championship win he never got but he looks very happy in charge of Toyota.