2011 World Rally Championship

[Eckhart von Glan]

the German commentary speculates on Solberg maybe having slipped and fallen, sprained an ankle or something, lol. They obviously had no clue what was going on. I think he did very very well, none of us would have brought that kind of car safely home.
This from the wrc homepage:

This is the dramatic moment when co-driver Chris Patterson turned driver on Rally Sweden today.

Patterson, from Northern Ireland, was handed the keys to Solberg’s Citroen DS3 WRC after the Norwegian was prevented from driving.

Solberg was caught speeding on a public highway on Friday afternoon and was given 48 hours before he could no longer drive. The restriction also extended to the rally’s final stage.

“I knew at the regroup before the final stage that I would have to drive the last stage,” said the 42-year-old Patterson. “I’d never driven the car before but we had good laughter the whole way through. Road safety is very important and we have to abide by the rules. Petter was unfortunately speeding and paid the price.”

Patterson’s efforts ensured he and Solberg completed the final stage of the rally in fifth overall in their Petter Solberg World Rally Team-run car.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

overall standings are out, great day for FORD doing a clean sweep of the podium:

Pos No Driver GroupClass StageTime Penalties TotalTime DiffPrev Diff1st
1 3 M. HIRVONEN M A1 3:23:56.6 0 3:23:56.6 0.0 0.0
2 6 M. ØSTBERG M A1 3:24:03.1 0 3:24:03.1 +6.5 +6.5
3 4 J. LATVALA M A1 3:24:30.6 0 3:24:30.6 +27.5 +34.0
4 2 S. OGIER M A1 3:24:44.3 0 3:24:44.3 +13.7 +47.7
5 11 P. SOLBERG A1 3:25:07.8 20 3:25:27.8 +43.5 +1:31.2
6 1 S. LOEB M A1 3:26:26.9 0 3:26:26.9 +59.1 +2:30.3
7 16 P. ANDERSSON A1 3:30:18.6 0 3:30:18.6 +3:51.7 +6:22.0
8 8 K. RÄIKKONEN M A1 3:30:58.9 0 3:30:58.9 +40.3 +7:02.3
9 15 M. WILSON A1 3:33:58.1 10 3:34:08.1 +3:09.2 +10:11.5
10 10 K. AL QASSIMI M A1 3:34:27.7 0 3:34:27.7 +19.6 +10:31.1
11 18 P. SANDELL A2 3:35:21.1 1:00 3:36:21.1 +1:53.4 +12:24.5
12 19 M. PROKOP A2 3:37:39.7 0 3:37:39.7 +1:18.6 +13:43.1
13 9 D. KUIPERS M A1 3:37:54.3 0 3:37:54.3 +14.6 +13:57.7
14 43 K. BLOCK M A1 3:40:48.4 0 3:40:48.4 +2:54.1 +16:51.8

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Fantastic fight between the two Sebastien for the victory, only a couple of seconds apart after day two. Kan Block managed to completely f... up the first Superspecial, he lost 6 min. on a run that the others did in under a minute He then crashed out for good on day two. Petter Solberg lost many minutes due to technical problems on day one but did some furious stages on day two to be back in 5th. Three stages left today, Loeb is going to go all out and Ogier will try his best to defend!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

here's what the WRC homepage says about Ken Block's problems:

Ken Block will return to action on the final three stages of Rally Guanajuato Mexico today.

The Monster World Rally Team ace retired on Saturday when he damaged his Ford Fiesta RS WRC’s steering and suspension striking a tree stump 13 kilometres into the second 23.27-kilometre Duarte stage.

“It was a right corner that tightened and I got a little bit wide on the first time through,” said the American. “I tried to keep a tighter liner for the second pass but there was this stump hidden from view. It caught it and it broke the steering arm and the track control arm.”

Block, who suffered a miserable start to the rally when he failed to tackle Thursday night’s Guanajuato Street Stage due to an electrical fault, continued: “The stage was going real nice for me and all day I’d been racing clean and having no moments at all. That it ended is one of those disappointing things, a bit silly because I wasn’t over-driving.

“Although we’ve not had the luck on this event my consolation is my times were only 1.1 seconds per kilometre off the top four guys and that’s the best I’ve been driving so far. I just need to minimise the problems and we’ll do okay.”

While Block will restart on Sunday, the electrical fault that forced Matthew Wilson to drop out on Saturday morning cannot be rectified on site and the Briton won’t return in his M-Sport Stobart Fiesta. Wilson ran as high as fourth on the North Americann rally.

edit: Ogier out on third to last stage, broken wheel. This leaves Loeb with a minute and a half to the two Fords, just going to cruise home now.

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

http://premier--games.net/

 

[Jakub Sulej]

http://premier--games.net/

It is not working. Loading, loading...and then triangle to play. What is going on...all the time the same

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

lol Jakub, it was link to live WRC coverage WRC finally upgraded to broadcasting like in IRC, so this was P2P channel where you could watch it For sure it will be available at this link for next rounds

 

[Sérgio Marques]

Is very near the big party time, best moments from 2010:

My own video:

Armindo Araujo in the new Mini, still a S2000, but very close to the WRC one:

 

[Sérgio Marques]

A great one:

 

[Sérgio Marques]

Ken Block already out after the shakedown:

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

oh dear, Ken ...

here is some great footage from the Lisbon Super Special, also showing the new Mini, looks weird, sounds great

http://www.wrc.com/video/highlights...pectacular-kicks-off-rally-portugal/?vid=2043

 

[Sérgio Marques]

My video at Almodovar stage:

 

[Sérgio Marques]

Santana da Serra stage:

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

I have a question. I'm writing a racing script and I'm considering doing it on rally racing.

I've watched some 2011 WRC (specifically Sweden and Portugal) and i have to be very honest... it was very very boring to watch. And I watch NASCAR so I have a high tolerance of repetitive stuff. I apologize to rally fans but beyond the high skill driving I dont find it very interesting as a spectator standpoint.

I've played RBR but beyond the fact that Rally is extremely difficult and there's variation on the races I'm not sure what's so extreme interesting with rally (or WRC).

Where as driver drama is apparent in F1 (2007 Hamilton v. Alonso and 2010 Webber v. Vettel). So does Rally have driver/team drama? What makes rally as a competition interesting to spectators?

Any insights would help and I will continue to watch as much WRC as i can

 

[Koray Can]

I'll speak as a rally tv fan (but definitely not for all rally fans). You're absolutely right about how boring rallying can be for the spectators. You say that Nascar is repetitive but there's nothing that prevents 2 or 3 cars totally "duking it out" on just an oval lap after lap where you can't stop watching.

There's some driver drama in the WRC. This year Loeb is not too happy with having a driver's title contender as a teammate. (If you want drama, MotoGP is the series.)

If you edit some F1 qualifying videos, put a slightly botched lap by a Red Bull next to a hot lap by a Mercedes GP and remove the lap times, most people, possibly myself included, may not be able to tell which one was better driven. So, the format is difficult to get into. You know that Hirvonen's stage must have been very well driven, but not quite why.

F1 had to soup up their qualifying sessions. WRC instituted points paying power stages this year. They've been trying to make it more accessible. It's just hard by the very nature of the sport.

If I had the chance to watch every stage by every driver from onboard, perhaps I'd understand better and like it even more, but that's just too much effort. For the life of me I don't understand why anybody would camp at Colin's crest to just watch cars jump. It's like going to a Nascar race to watch cars wreck.

 

[Dave Stephenson]

If you edit some F1 qualifying videos, put a slightly botched lap by a Red Bull next to a hot lap by a Mercedes GP and remove the lap times, most people, possibly myself included, may not be able to tell which one was better driven. So, the format is difficult to get into. You know that Hirvonen's stage must have been very well driven, but not quite why.

I'd like to confirm as an anorak this pretty easy to tell

I used to watch rallying years ago religously but I have found it dificult to get into in the past few years. It's not the worlds greatest spectator sport and these days I tend to watch the condensed highlights edits that are more action packed. Now in person I can fully get why people camp to watch cars speeding over jumps in harsh terrain, it's all about getting a share of the adrenaline the driver is feeling as he flies though the forest/desert/village with is car on the edge and barely a metre from hard stuff that could ultimately end his life.

Rallying for me is an adrenaline sport first and foremost which in many ways makes it a very personal and individual sport like climbing or bas jumping. I think the difficulty because of this is shown in the lack of Rallying on TV compared to other forms of motorsport and the difficulty people have with finding good sponsorship for their rally based TV programs.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

So Rallying is like mountain climbing... ok actually I can totally see that. Thanks for the insight guys. Again, I dont mean to bash rally. And I will continue to try to watch it as I now have a way to watch all the WRC broadcast. I have tremendous respect for all forms of motorsports and since I'm planning on writing a screenplay on rallying, I want to understand rally as much as I understand open wheel, touring car and oval racing (I'm both an F1 and NASCAR fan).

I understand (atleast for myself) what makes ow, tc and oval racing resonate in many people. I've never been a rally fan (mostly due to the lack of coverage) and this is my absolute first year of trying to watch WRC. Again, I have a high tolerance for repetitive stuff (nascar). But the swedish rally was an absolute bore to watch. Portugal was better but it was still boring to me.

But the rock climbing analogy actually really helps me understand rallying a lot more.

Thanks for the comments guys. Any more are welcomed of course

 

[Sérgio Marques]

Let me start with this:

For me this time was the best Rally years, several Teams, best look cars and a group of very good drivers, Makinen, McRae, Sainz, Kankkunen, Auriol and all very equal. The years after these, with the Loeb’s domination, don’t make any good to rallyes.

Talking about what I know and have been watching in several years, Rally of Portugal, today it lost a bit of it’s magic, left the North of the country, more rules to spectators with only areas marked by organization, but still has a very good party atmosphere.

For me being much more close to the cars, with a safe distance off course, than a closed circuit, watch the top the drivers skill to drive in such different conditions, most of the time with cars sliding and the environment around are best points about rallyes.

Even if sometimes you go back to home full of dust, well that’s rally also, to give an exemple, this year at one stage in here, there’s an tarmac part that was bigger this year, when I arrive there I hear two girls talking to each other, they were going to other place because Rally without dust, isn’t Rally! And you just can't watch, you must be there!

 

[Omer Said]

I was lucky to be able to watch the WRC in Istanbul last year, and i must say there are sooo many factors which make it exciting. I think, those engine sounds, jumps, how drivers scrape the barriers, skidmarks on tarmac, a monster fly past ahead of you leaving a cloud of dust behind and many many more, can't tell as good as Dave told

Before i witness it lively, i wasn't so interested in rally. I used to say 'Nahh..I only watch motorsports where overtaking happens..'. But i saw the truth when Loeb flew past ahead of me

So i think if you watch it only via TV, rally may not be so fun and even boring if you don't support any of the drivers or teams.

 

[William Levesque]

Again it's all about security...

Not that is a bad thing, but security does, and will, kill a big part of motorsport...

Just go watch Group B Rally from the 80's, you'll understand what I means ! And don't forget to watch a video with the emphasis on engine sound !