WRC & other rallying 2018

h3000

With the News of Ogier staying at M-Sport next year joined by Evans and the Citroen lineup announced I think it's time for the 2018 thread.

Meeke will do all rounds in the C3 next year, Breen will do 10 rounds with Loeb stepping in for the other three (Rally Mexico, Corsica and Spain). Al Qassimi will do a few rounds in a third car. Lefebvre will drop back to WRC 2 for 2018.

http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/december-2017/matton-consistency/page/5087--12-12-.html
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/133616/loeb-back-to-wrc-with-parttime-citroen-deal

liam7831

It's do or die for both Meeke and Breen in 2018

masit

Wonder what will happen if Breen is doing well in the championship come Corsica or Spain. Pitty they didn't stick Loeb in the PH sport car for the 3 rounds.

liam7831

masit wrote: »

Wonder what will happen if Breen is doing well in the championship come Corsica or Spain. Pitty they didn't stick Loeb in the PH sport car for the 3 rounds.

Won't have to worry about that I don't think he has the speed for the top level harsh I know but just my opinion. Hopefully Cronin gets a few rounds from M Sport he's a class act.

masit

liam7831 wrote: »

Won't have to worry about that I don't think he has the speed for the top level harsh I know but just my opinion. Hopefully Cronin gets a few rounds from M Sport he's a class act.

Oh I know, but just say he was up at the top. I still think they would replace Breen with Loeb.

I watched Colin Clarks kitchen table yesterday and he was talking about a driver in an M-sport car next year. He'd be bringing some money and some M-sport money. Cronin came to my mind straight away. But there are lots of drivers out there that could be that driver. Would Cronin have the budget for a WRC drive? Its a big step up from the Irish/British championship, money wise.

Robbo

masit wrote: »

Oh I know, but just say he was up at the top. I still think they would replace Breen with Loeb.

I watched Colin Clarks kitchen table yesterday and he was talking about a driver in an M-sport car next year. He'd be bringing some money and some M-sport money. Cronin came to my mind straight away. But there are lots of drivers out there that could be that driver. Would Cronin have the budget for a WRC drive? Its a big step up from the Irish/British championship, money wise.

Judging from Ostberg's recent comments, the current cars are quite expensive to run (and he wouldn't be short of a few quid) so it would have to be some amount of money.

D-Mack are focusing on WRC2 this year so he could fit into a programme there.

Doctors room ghost

It's a pity the Galway international is cancelled for 2018.was always a nice start to the new year in early February and a good 2 day rally to kick off the championship.
First time it won't run since 1971 if I'm not mistaken.sadly it could be the way rallying will go in this country with huge increase in insurance costs and running costs I reckon the future of rallying will be headed private such as quarries or off road tracks and probably a lot more private run forestry events.
What's the lay out for this years Tarmac rally championship does anyone know

liam7831

https://m.facebook.com/DonnellyMotorsport/posts/1572529856168947

Great news for the championship

yknaa

WRC+ are now offering full coverage of all the WRC rounds in 2018. Costs €89 p/a or €9 per month

http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/january-2018/wrc-all-live-launch--/page/5121--12-12-.html

Not sure if there are any coupons/discount vouchers floating around ...

masit

yknaa wrote: »

WRC+ are now offering full coverage of all the WRC rounds in 2018. Costs €89 p/a or €9 per month

http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/january-2018/wrc-all-live-launch--/page/5121--12-12-.html

Not sure if there are any coupons/discount vouchers floating around ...

Feck,was at the autosport show last weekend and they were giving away a free all live pass for Monte Carlo. Said I had WRC plus. Did not know there was going to be an extra cost for the coverage of all the stages.

jelutong

One way to use up surplus network 3 credit I suppose. First month is free. I presume you can cancel anytime during that period.

Robbo

If you get down to Paddy Power quickly, you'll be able to get Dani Sordo at 150/1 for the Monte. As a multiple podium finisher there with his level of experience, it has to be worth a fiver each way.

h3000

Robbo wrote: »

If you get down to Paddy Power quickly, you'll be able to get Dani Sordo at 150/1 for the Monte. As a multiple podium finisher there with his level of experience, it has to be worth a fiver each way.

It sure would. He is back to 25/1 now though, well at least online he is.

Robbo

h3000 wrote: »

It sure would. He is back to 25/1 now though, well at least online he is.

I checked online before and saw 25/1 but when I went into the shop they gave me 150. Couldn't believe it so I asked him to double check and write the odds on the slip.

I'm sure a niche bet like that was a welcome distraction to lads placing 50 cent on a 14 horse accumulator.

Paudee

Robbo wrote: »

I checked online before and saw 25/1 but when I went into the shop they gave me 150. Couldn't believe it so I asked him to double check and write the odds on the slip.

I'm sure a niche bet like that was a welcome distraction to lads placing 50 cent on a 14 horse accumulator.

150/1 are his odds to win the championship. I just chanced my arm in a shop. Both the staff and I had no idea what we were doing.

liam7831

Is first stage on TV ?

masit

I hope it improves over the weekend/year. Thank god for the map or they would have had not much to show.

jelutong

Not great. Watching on board with Craig Breen a few .minutes ago. It's bound to improve says he hopefully. Meeke 1min.44 seconds slower than Ogier

liam7831

Ok we hear you

masit

Not bad coverage after all. Meeke done well in the end after what happened on the first stage. Nice handful of points to come away with compared to last year.

h3000

I don’t want to jinx anything but Craig Breen is absolutely flying in Rally Sweden. Currently in P2 just 4.6 behind Neuville. Fingers crossed for them.

.red.

h3000 wrote: »

I don’t want to jinx anything but Craig Breen is absolutely flying in Rally Sweden. Currently in P2 just 4.6 behind Neuville. Fingers crossed for them.

He's having a belter, always with a smile on his face too, really seems to absolutely love what he does.
Fingers crossed for him.

JPF82

Great result for Breen today. Hope he gets a win this year.

masit

Well done to Breen. Be great if they gave him a 3th car for Mexico.

chopperbyrne

Have BT stopped showing live coverage?

Looks to be only the half hour highlights shows for Mexico this weekend.

jelutong

Live stages on BT Sport on Saturday @ 17.00 and Sunday @16.00.

h3000

We all know how good Loeb was but to be lying in second just 7 seconds back from first after be out of the car so long is unbelievable.

mjhickeyie

h3000 wrote: »

We all know how good Loeb was but to be lying in second just 7 seconds back from first after be out of the car so long is unbelievable.

It is some performance. His speed especially on the second loop was awesome.

jelutong

3 fastest stage times. What a driver. Try to catch Sordos comments re Loeb at the end of one of the stages.

.red.

h3000 wrote: »

We all know how good Loeb was but to be lying in second just 7 seconds back from first after be out of the car so long is unbelievable.

I fancied him to get on the podium or very close to it if he finished the rally!
The man was so far ahead of everybody not that long ago, he can't have deteriorated too much since his last year rallying.

masit

Loeb leading but Meeke was fastest on last stage by 10 seconds so hopefully this is the start of Meekes come back. Road order is good for Loeb but he still has to drive the yoke fast too.

jelutong

Loeb punctures on stage 14 . Lost approx 2 minutes. Pity.

Bobby04

jelutong wrote: »

Loeb punctures on stage 14 . Lost approx 2 minutes. Pity.

Huge pity but I think he's already shown he hasn't lost it. He's just incredible.

De Hipster

Bobby04 wrote: »

Huge pity but I think he's already shown he hasn't lost it. He's just incredible.

while a highly impressive display, road position had a significant impact & Latvala's upset heading into the penultimate stage outlined the road order effect.

chopperbyrne

Such a shame that the majority of his career was during a time when rally was at one of it's lowest points.

There'll always be the question of what if he had driven in a much more competitive period.

Still think he'd have three or four world championships, but definitely not nine.

jelutong

Brian and Liz Pattersons RallyNews .net is back on line since yesterday.
Great to have it back after a long break.

h3000

I don’t normally like to post accident photos but Kris and Paul are said to be okay after this massive off :eek:

https://twitter.com/RallyingUK/status/997801447663292418

https://twitter.com/motor_box/status/997798937129050112

https://twitter.com/Campeonesnet/status/997801336283500547

mjhickeyie

And another angle.

Kris went to hospital but all ok.





https://twitter.com/voiceofrally/status/997923417763532801?s=21

h3000

**** me I’m so glad they are okay. That’s on of the most damaged rally cars I’ve seen in a long time. Reminiscent of Solberg in Germany and Märtin in Argentina. I hope the lads will be happy to get back into a rally car and go flat out again.

mjhickeyie

h3000 wrote: »

**** me I’m so glad they are okay. That’s on of the most damaged rally cars I’ve seen in a long time. Reminiscent of Solberg in Germany and Märtin in Argentina. I hope the lads will be happy to get back into a rally car and go flat out again.

Yeah, scariest one I’ve seen for a while.

Two lads have young families now so I’m sure it’s more difficult to return to full commitment after something like that.

masit

Glad to see they are both ok. Lucky they sit so far back it the car. That tree must have been very close to them.

Never thought of it until now, but with Kris and Craig finishing day 1 and the job Kris done to get the car to the finish of day 1, should Oiger in 23rd, Mikkelsen in 17th and Latvala in 30th doing rally 2 ,should they not have been running first on the road. Now, not saying that Kris would not have crashed, but there would have been a better chance of him not crashing if he had been down the road a bit. Craig finished the 2 days but yet is first on the road and losing lots of time.

h3000

I really think that the super rally guys should run first on the road too. It used to be the case but the rules seem to have changed.

jelutong

Meeke and Nagle dropped from the Citroen WRC Team due to excessive amount of crashes according to team manager.

mfceiling

jelutong wrote: »

Meeke and Nagle dropped from the Citroen WRC Team due to excessive amount of crashes according to team manager.

Disappointed hearing that. Kris is a neighbour of mine (from when we both lived back in the north)...he always drives on the limits gives it 100% every single time. Hopefully he gets a seat for next year.

kksaints

Not really surprising is it. He's had too many high speed crashes.

masit

Very sad to hear about this. My 8 year old was crying when I told him.

1 of only a few drivers that can win any rally. Always wondered how he would have got on if another team had given him a chance. I hope its not the last we see of Kris in rallying and he does not move to rallycross.

mjhickeyie

masit wrote: »

Very sad to hear about this. My 8 year old was crying when I told him..

My 5 year old had the same reaction.

Very disappointing for anyone that loves WRC. Kris is probably the most exciting driver in the championship.

Citroen seem to have handled it very badly. Kris’s update shortly before the sacking suggests he didn’t know it was coming.

Arthur Daley

Sad for Kris and Paul. Rough week after such a nasty crash. Looking at one angle above you would wonder how anyone got out of it.

masit

Seen on twitter that Kimi Raikkonen has invited Tommi Makinen to his yacth in Monaco this weekend. Maybe a drive for Raikkonen in WRC next year.

liam7831

masit wrote:

Seen on twitter that Kimi Raikkonen has invited Tommi Makinen to his yacth in Monaco this weekend. Maybe a drive for Raikkonen in WRC next year.

Done deal I would say

h3000

liam7831 wrote: »

Done deal I would say

I can’t see Kimi getting a full time factory Toyota seat for 2019. I could see him getting an outing in Finland in July though.