WRC/ERC/Irish & British Rallying 2014 - News and Chat

h3000 · 21-06-2014 5:39pm

finnharpsboy wrote: »

spectator in Donegal hit by car, not life threatening thank god.

http://www.donegaldaily.com/2014/06/21/rally-fan-rushed-to-hospital-after-being-hit-by-car-during-race/

Ah ****. lets hope they will make a full recovery.

Both Puegout's out with mechanical issues in Ypres

finnharpsboy · 21-06-2014 7:15pm

just a broken leg for the spectator hit by manus kelly's escort on stage 12.

finnharpsboy · 22-06-2014 5:07pm

Declan Boyle wins the Donegal International Rally by 35 seconds from Sam Moffett, Gary Jennings 3rd 3 minutes and 18 seconds behind the winner.

Notch000 · 23-06-2014 1:00pm

how did Michael Dunlop get on with his 4 wheel debut in a Mk2 ???

finnharpsboy · 23-06-2014 3:35pm

Notch000 wrote: »

how did Michael Dunlop get on with his 4 wheel debut in a Mk2 ???

head gasket saw him out

Robbo · 01-08-2014 10:15am

Meeke's taken a stage win in Finland and is just behind Ogier in third.

Meanwhile, Toyota are building a Yaris WRC *and* there's talk of a GT86 in 4WD form.

h3000 · 03-08-2014 8:10am

Great rally so far. JML speed is incredible this weekend. Delighted for Meeke with how well he is doing.

Craig Breen has really being picking up his pace all rally. Unfortunately though, he has hurt his back on the first stage this morning after a very hard landing on one of the jumps. He is still stopped at the stage end with the medics. Looks like his rally is over but more importantly let's hope he will be okay.

h3000 · 03-08-2014 11:59am

Excellent excellent rally. I was following nearly every stage on WRC Live. Delighted for

JML .

liam7831 · 07-08-2014 9:36pm

Genie out next weekend in S14 should liven things up a bit

yknaa · 21-08-2014 12:21pm

From Craig Breen:

Craig Breen’s WRC Rallye Deutschland snatched away at the eleventh hour.
Following a stewards meeting yesterday evening in Trier where they received a report from the FIA Medical Delegate and the rally Chief Medical Officer against allowing Car No. 14 to take part in the event the stewards have decided that Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen and his co-driver Scott Martin will not be given permission to start WRC Rallye Deutschland 2014. The decision has been made on safety grounds in light of Craig’s recent back injury received after a heavy landing over a jump at WRC Rally Finland two weeks ago. Although given full clearance by his Specialist to compete on his third planned WRC event of 2014 the stewards have concerns that Craig would further damage his back by taking part in the rally. On receiving the news Craig said “I am bitterly disappointed by this decision, I have followed the correct procedure leading up to this event. I have medical clearance to compete, I feel great and I haven’t any pain even after our pre event test here this week. I must respect the stewards decision and move forward”

h3000 · 21-08-2014 12:38pm

yknaa wrote: »

From Craig Breen:

Craig Breen’s WRC Rallye Deutschland snatched away at the eleventh hour.
Following a stewards meeting yesterday evening in Trier where they received a report from the FIA Medical Delegate and the rally Chief Medical Officer against allowing Car No. 14 to take part in the event the stewards have decided that Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen and his co-driver Scott Martin will not be given permission to start WRC Rallye Deutschland 2014. The decision has been made on safety grounds in light of Craig’s recent back injury received after a heavy landing over a jump at WRC Rally Finland two weeks ago. Although given full clearance by his Specialist to compete on his third planned WRC event of 2014 the stewards have concerns that Craig would further damage his back by taking part in the rally. On receiving the news Craig said “I am bitterly disappointed by this decision, I have followed the correct procedure leading up to this event. I have medical clearance to compete, I feel great and I haven’t any pain even after our pre event test here this week. I must respect the stewards decision and move forward”

Seen that last night alright, really annoying.

Thierry Neuville had a massive roll in shakedown, people saying his rally could be over already. Let's hope they can get the car sorted in time for the start tomorrow.

yknaa · 21-08-2014 2:18pm

Confirmed that Neuville's car will be ready on Twitter.

h3000 · 23-08-2014 10:05am

Drama filled rally so far.

Ogier crashed out. .....................twice.
Meeke in 2nd Neuville up to third JML leading

Took a bit of a gamble on my Fantasy WRC team this weekend and it seems to have backfired so far

h3000 · 24-08-2014 7:59am

What a crazy rally :eek:

wobbles · 24-08-2014 10:04am

Latvala off, Meeke off the next stage, Hyundai now lead

mjhickeyie · 26-08-2014 10:43pm

Just watched the highlights from Germany. That was some drama.
Feel very bad for both Meeke & Latvala.
Ogier was lucky with his last off, could have been much worse.

It's great for the WRC to have a new manufacturer win an event.

h3000 · 27-08-2014 9:05pm

Mikko Hirvonen to retire at the end of the season according to reports online.

I for one will be really sad to see him go. Amazing fast driver on his day and if, I don't like ifs but if it wasn't for Loeb he would have taken a championship or two. He came the closest to beating Loeb at least.

He does in recent times seem to have lost the excitement or love for the sport and it has slowed him down. It may well be time for him to say goodbye. Hopefully we might see him take on the rallycross route or similar.

h3000 · 27-08-2014 9:37pm

Btw it looks like Tanak will take his place.

h3000 · 28-08-2014 2:26pm

h3000 wrote: »

Mikko Hirvonen to retire at the end of the season according to reports online.

I for one will be really sad to see him go. Amazing fast driver on his day and if, I don't like ifs but if it wasn't for Loeb he would have taken a championship or two. He came the closest to beating Loeb at least.

He does in recent times seem to have lost the excitement or love for the sport and it has slowed him down. It may well be time for him to say goodbye. Hopefully we might see him take on the rallycross route or similar.

Just rumours so far but it doesn't sound too good all the same.

Mikko Hirvonen wrote:

Damn… Lot of rumors and talks last night about my future !

Nothing has been decided yet but for sure, I’m considering all the possibilities. So, when I have made my decision, I will let you all know what I will do for coming years.

Thanks for your support !

Robbo · 29-08-2014 10:20am

The way Wilson was talking about Hirvonen in Germany, he has no future there. Unless he can produce an large sack of extra money, which will always change Wilson's mind.

I'd like to see Tanak in there. If Ford or Citroen were able to fund a second team there's so much talent out there. Lappi would be worth a punt. Chardonnet too although that would be hard to take given how close Cronin came to having that particular drive.

Don't think there's too much in the Solberg rumours. He's having too good a time in RX and I can't see him giving it up to go back to struggling to beat VWs.

wobbles · 29-08-2014 1:59pm

I cant see Solberg coming back for a full season. RX is getting a great reputation (and rightly so, the races are great to watch) and its a sport thats going to grow and grow. Solberg is winning races there. He wouldnt come back to the WRC to be beaten on a regular basis. He may do the odd event but thats it.

Heart says Lappi will get the seat, head says Chardonet will get it. Its been a few years now since they have had a French driver and that might ease the pressure coming from France for results

h3000 · 29-08-2014 2:20pm

Robbo wrote: »

The way Wilson was talking about Hirvonen in Germany, he has no future there. Unless he can produce an large sack of extra money, which will always change Wilson's mind.

I'd like to see Tanak in there. If Ford or Citroen were able to fund a second team there's so much talent out there. Lappi would be worth a punt. Chardonnet too although that would be hard to take given how close Cronin came to having that particular drive.

Don't think there's too much in the Solberg rumours. He's having too good a time in RX and I can't see him giving it up to go back to struggling to beat VWs.

I do think Mikko will retire at the end of the year, he really seems to be lacking enjoyment in the WRC at the moment.

I'd love to see Tanak back with M-Sport again but it's a big risk to be fair. Unless he is bringing a big bag of cash with him can Wilson afford the repair bills for Tanak? He is still bining it a bit too much.

I'd love to see more three.four car teams, as you said there are a lot of fast drivers out there at the moment. I could see both VW and Citroen running four cars.

Petter is one of my favorite drivers and I'd love to see him back in the WRC but unless he gets a full factory seat I don't think he will come back and to be honest that's unlikely. Colin Clark seem to think he will be with Citroen but that might be wishful thinking.

On an ERC note Craig Breen has qualified 3rd in Barum Rally Zlín just one tenth off Lappi and Tarabus who set identical times. Robbie Barrable qualified in fifth 1.3 seconds behind Lappi.

mjhickeyie · 29-08-2014 6:36pm

Bjorn Waldegard died today.
Rally legend.
RIP

h3000 · 31-08-2014 12:52am

Both Breen and Lappi crashed out on SS4 today (yesterday technically). Breen made it to stage end but the car was too damaged to continue. Abbring stopped on the same stage with mechanical problems. Barrable burst the radiator on the same stage and had to retire on the road section.

afatbollix · 04-09-2014 1:22am

afatbollix wrote: »

Motorsport Ireland has lodged a complaint with the press ombudsman at 09:45 this morning.

I see they have put up video stills on the UK website after asking people for photos of the crash a hour after it happened. I emailed the pic editor and got no reply. Just trash journalism.

The Irish daily mail apologised a couple of weeks ago over the way they reported on the Jim Clark rally.

Robbo · 04-09-2014 2:48pm

afatbollix wrote: »

The Irish daily mail apologised a couple of weeks ago over the way they reported on the Jim Clark rally.

Good work.

I see Peugeot have given Breen an extra outing in Cyprus to see if he can catch Lappi in the championship.

Also of note is a proposal to ban in-car split times at WRC level. Totally behind this.

h3000 · 04-09-2014 2:59pm

Robbo wrote: »

Good work.

I see Peugeot have given Breen an extra outing in Cyprus to see if he can catch Lappi in the championship.

Also of note is a proposal to ban in-car split times at WRC level. Totally behind this.

Hopefully the car will be reliable and he can keep it on the road for the next three rallies. They have had nothing but bad luck for quite a while now.

Banning the incar splits could be interesting alright. Might make guys push harder for all stages. I wonder would that include bans on on stage communications from the team to the car too, with the obvious exception of emergency calls (stage stopped ect...)

afatbollix · 07-09-2014 1:07am

They would have guys at the side of the road with pit boards like the top guys have in the ERC.

Drummerboy08 · 15-09-2014 10:57pm

7 years ago today we lost one of the biggest names in World Rallying, and probably one of the biggest characters too.

RIP Colin Mcrae.

I think this image sums him up perfectly.

h3000 · 18-09-2014 9:02am

Seb Loeb to get back in a rally car and compete at Rallye du Var.

@SebastienLoeb wrote:

Very happy to announce that I will be at the "Rallye du Var" (27-30 November) Séverine will be my codriver this time :-) Looking forward !

https://twitter.com/SebastienLoeb/status/512497955820298240

WRC/ERC/Irish & British Rallying 2014 - News and Chat

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