2013 World Rally Championship

[Michael Nelson]

I think Chris was driving for Citroen in Mexico, not in Sweden.

Definitely gonna be an interesting event, quite a few who could win it. I hope it's close

I guess the heads-up listing while be posted after the drivers select their road positions for tomorrow?

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Edit:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105467
http://www.rallysweden.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Classification_QS.pdf

Latvala stalled on the start line, and Danny only had the one practice session due to brake issues.

Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier VW 1m51.357s
2. Mads Ostberg Qatar M-Sport Ford + 0.900s
3. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 1.564s
4. Pontus Tidemand PTM Ford + 2.448s
5. Juho Hanninen Qatar M-Sport Ford + 2.561s
6. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 2.705s
7. Thierry Neuville Qatar M-Sport Ford + 3.037s
8. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 3.468s
9. Evgeny Novikov Qatar M-Sport Ford + 4.163s
10. Dani Sordo Citroen + 4.787s

 

[Johnny Russian]

I think Chris was driving for Citroen in Mexico, not in Sweden.

my bad, it is in fact mexico

 

[Johnny Russian]

WRC.com revealed the head-to-heads yesterday. they have already been run though.

currently Ogier leads overall after SS3 in the VW Polo. Loeb is 2nd, and Latvala 3rd. Mads Ostberg is currently leading SS4, with Ogier 2nd, Latvala 3rd, and Loeb 4th on the stage.

More info here

 

[Damien Wintz]

Ogier is giving everyone a good lesson
Can't wait to follow the fight for the 2nd and 3rd places; Latvala, Loeb and Ostberg are all three inside a dozen seconds apart; could be interesting

 

[the_sigman]

Ogier is very fast, and Loeb could do something about it, but he will go for the safe way, especially since he doesn't compete in the whole championship. However, he will be able to retain 2nd place.

 

[Johnny Russian]

at the time of writing, looks like they've now run up until the end of SS12. Ogier is Leading Loeb by 25.2 seconds overall. Loeb in 2nd has a 13.8 second lead over Latvala in 3rd, who only has a 1.5 second lead over Ostberg in 4th.

 

[Michael Nelson]

http://www.crash.net/world rally/results/187950/1/rally_sweden_wrc_result.html


Rally Sweden: Overall standings after Stage 22 / Day 3

1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 3h 11m 41.9s M
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +41.8s M
3. Mads Ostberg Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1m 24.5s M
4. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +1m 30.6s M
5. Thierry Neuville Qatar WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +5m 06.4s T
6. Juho Hanninen Qatar WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +5m 43.1s
7. Martin Prokop Jipocar Czech National TeamFord Fiesta RS WRC +11m 25.4s T
8. Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC +11m 42.7s
9. Evgeny Novikov Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +13m 04.7s M
10. Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ford Fiesta RRC +16m 27.0s WRC2

Rally Sweden: Power Stage / SS22 (Top 3):

1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 9m 54.1s M
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +1.0s M
3. Mads Ostberg Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +3.2s M


POINTS

1 Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 57
2 Volkswagen Motorsport 55
3 Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team 31
4 Abu Dhabi Citroen Total World Rally Team 15
5 Lotos WRC Team 12
6 Qatar WRT 10
7 Jipocar Czech National Team 8

1 Sébastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 46
2 Sébastien Loeb Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC 43
3 Mads Østberg Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC 24
4 Dani Sordo Abu Dhabi Citroen Total WRT DS3 WRC 15
5 Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 14
6 Mikko Hirvonen Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC 12
= Martin Prokop Czech National Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC 12
8 Bryan Bouffier Citroen DS3 WRC 10
= Thierry Neuville Qatar WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC 10
10 Juho Hänninen Qatar WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC 8
11 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4
= Sepp Wiegand Skoda Fabia S2000 4
13 Olivier Burri Peugeot 207 S2000 2
= Evgeny Novikov Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC 2
15 Michał Kościuszko Lotos Team WRC MINI John Cooper Works WRC 1
= Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ford Fiesta RRC 1
--


Dominant rally from Ogier. I think both Mikko and Mads will be desperate to win the next Rally. Will be interesting to see how the Polo fares on gravel, I hope Ogier doesn't completely dominate this season, but Mikko has a bit of catching up to do.

 

[Johnny Russian]

Hirvonnen has given himself a lot of work to do for the rest of the season. of course there are still many rallies to go and Ogier could still have some bad results, but i don't think he expected to be so far behind this early.

 

[Michael Nelson]

I bet Ogier wasn't expecting to be this far ahead either. He seemed quite pessimistic at Monte Carlo, saying how surprised he was that they got on the podium. Will be very interesting seeing the VW's speed at Mexico.

Also, I think Evgeny would be leading Mads if he hadn't made both those mistakes late in both rallies. As it stands M-Sport is way behind in the constructors, which could be a serious problem given their cashflow problems.

 

[Damien Wintz]

Given the drivers at M-Sport, I am not particularly surprised of the results so far. They are all very young and without much experience in the WRC so it will only get better with time.
Weren't the financial problems solved once the partnership with Qatar was signed? I mean, they did put Matthew Wilson in their spare Fiesta, who is practically a nobody in terms of previous results aside from being the son of the boss. If times were that hard, I don't think they would have taken this risk.

 

[the_sigman]

Will be very interesting seeing the VW's speed at Mexico.

Yes, that is important. The first two were in cold conditions, but in Mexico it's quite warm. Let's see.

 

[Damien Wintz]

Awesome footage from FS Aviation at rally Sweden, check it out!

 

[Michael Nelson]

Mexico starts very soon, gonna be interesting to watch that one.


Hyundai says its car will be ready for Monte Carlo 2014.
http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00003339

Some pictures of the new livery here:
http://wot.motortrend.com/hyundai-i...3-geneva-motor-show-337255.html#axzz2MnbGQc2d

Looks very, very cool IMO.

 

[Damien Wintz]

The livery looks good but the shape of the car feels kinda generic.. Like a mix of a Fiesta and a 207

Anyway, it's really fantastic to see some new manufacturers coming back into the championship

 

[Johnny Russian]

Rally Mexico is currently on the go, with Ogier leading by a huge amount from Hirvonen in 2nd. Mads Ostberg has retired with an electrical problem.

There was some drama recently when Ogier encountered a closed gate on one of the stages, meaning his co-driver had to jump out and open it. after examining his GPS data, the officials later credited Ogier with 40s (i.e., his time for the stage was reduced by 40s).

 

[Michael Nelson]

Rally Mexico is currently on the go, with Ogier leading by a huge amount from Hirvonen in 2nd. Mads Ostberg has retired with an electrical problem.

There was some drama recently when Ogier encountered a closed gate on one of the stages, meaning his co-driver had to jump out and open it. after examining his GPS data, the officials later credited Ogier with 40s (i.e., his time for the stage was reduced by 40s).

And Evgeny lost 8 minutes (I think) yesterday with an electrical problem. Not a good day for Ford. Thierry Neuville is very close to Hirvonen though, since Hirvonen lost 2 minutes on one stage with a puncture.

Impressive driving from Al-Attiyah for 5th place, is cool. And Atko has been doing some good times today, I think he's 7th IIRC.

Hearing about that gate was really disappointing, hopefully there was an honest mistake somewhere, and not sabotage...

 

[Manuel De Samaniego]

A video I took in the Rally

 

[Michael Nelson]

Interesting. Fresh off winning the Fafe Rally Sprint, Dani Sordo now goes fastest in qualifying. Didn't expect that from him, going to be an interesting rally, especially considering how close the top 7 qualified.

http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00003667

 

[Johnny Russian]

a WRC event and an F1 grand prix on the same weekend, man this weekend is going to be good!

 

[Harry Platt]

I have V8 supercars race to follow this weekend as well. Motorsport heaven. I got all the bases covered Rally, Touring Cars and F1