2022 Rallying

[BertMk2]

With the new year looming it's time for a new thread.

To kick off there's confirmation that M-Sport will run 4 Pumas on the Monte Carlo - Breen, Greensmith, Formaux and ..... Loeb!

https://twitter.com/OfficialWRC/stat...62456130744320

Interesting to see Loeb make a competitive outing in the Ford, also seeing M-Sport fielding 4 cars. Monte may well be the high point in terms of entry for the season - Ogier will be there too in the Yaris so it's a field packed full of quality.

[S griffin]

It's always been M-Sport's ambition to see Loeb in one of their cars. Taken a while, but now it's finally happening. He might have had the younger generation overtake him, but he can still do a good job with the car

[BertMk2]

So the official WRC launch has been done and dusted - including the livery reveals for the 3 squads. Toyota and Hyundai are as expected - using the corporate colour schemes, M-Sport have pulled a rather striking livery out of the bag though - also interesting that they seem to be the only ones making anything out of the 'hybrid' changes in their livery?

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

So the official WRC launch has been done and dusted - including the livery reveals for the 3 squads. Toyota and Hyundai are as expected - using the corporate colour schemes, M-Sport have pulled a rather striking livery out of the bag though - also interesting that they seem to be the only ones making anything out of the 'hybrid' changes in their livery?

I was gutted that the Fiesta was being abandoned at the top tier as it was my favourite looking car of the last generation, but M-Sport are doing a great job of winning me over with the Puma. I think that livery looks brilliant!

Hyundai is, as before, the most understated car of the bunch. Not helped by the fact they have used pretty much the exact same livery as before.

Can't figure out where Toyota have gone wrong. I thought the test Yaris looked mean, but with the livery applied it looks really gawky. Hopefully it goes better than it looks!

[S griffin]

Liking the liveries. Some people have compared the Ford livery to the RBR livery in 2013 when they had the purple Infiniti sponsor. Can't wait for Monte next week

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Can't wait for Monte next week

Errrrr - they're up and running in shakedown. 2022 WRC is go!

Loeb currently quickest followed by Neuville and Evans - 1 for each manufacturer in the top 3.

[justracing]

It's going to be fascinating to see Craig Breen with a full time drive at M-sport although Ogier is a sure fire hit for Monte even in a completely new car, all new stages as well this year.

[justracing]

The Fords are looking good on the first 2 stages particularly in the hands off Loeb, clearly the latest Dakar experience hasn't detracted from his tarmac stage skills, great to see him challenging Ogier and Evans at the top.

[justracing]

Superb driving from the veteran Loeb on Friday to lead the rally by 10sec from Ogier. 4 stage wins for Loeb and Elfyn in close contention right up to the last stage and the surprising thing is the closeness of the top runners given that they are driving all new cars, just about all the top runners are quickly getting to grips with the new technology. Breen and Greensmith both looked quick at times, the only downside for M-sport being Formeaux tumbling down the mountain. The Hyundai drivers all looked a bit slow in the early stages particularly Rovanperra but both Tanak and Neuville obviously getting acclimatised in Friday's latter stages.

[justracing]

Incredible result for Loeb and Malcolm Wilson's long suffering M Sport team and the sheer delight of Loeb's co driver was great to see, evidently her "proper" job is a full time maths teacher!

[tbtstt]

Incredible result for Loeb. Must confess I have been touting Ogier as greater than Loeb over the last year or so, but this weekend has definitely made me reconsider...

Loeb was arguably gifted first by the puncture, but he had to put himself in the right position to seize the opportunity and he did that in a new, unfamiliar, car after a fairly decent hiatus from the sport.

So pleased for M-Sport. Really hope this is the start of a strong season for them. Disappointing weekend for Fourmaux, but very encouraging speed from Greensmith. Bit of a disaster for Hyundai, seems they have some work to do on the car before Sweden.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Incredible result for Loeb. Must confess I have been touting Ogier as greater than Loeb over the last year or so, but this weekend has definitely made me reconsider...

The argument against Loeb has tended to be that he won all his titles with Citroen whilst Ogier has won in different manufacturers cars. Clearly they're both exceptional drivers and this weekend was an impressive demonstration of that - 1st and 2nd places taken by drivers doing part seasons (is Loeb even confirmed for any more outings?).

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Loeb was arguably gifted first by the puncture, but he had to put himself in the right position to seize the opportunity and he did that in a new, unfamiliar, car after a fairly decent hiatus from the sport.

Gifted the position or skilfully avoided getting a puncture where others couldn't? I think it's fair to say that Loeb and Ogier were the class of the field and either one of them would have been a worthy winner.

Originally Posted by tbtstt

So pleased for M-Sport. Really hope this is the start of a strong season for them. Disappointing weekend for Fourmaux, but very encouraging speed from Greensmith. Bit of a disaster for Hyundai, seems they have some work to do on the car before Sweden.

Yep, a great result for M-Sport - the Puma looked to be working well and all of the drivers seemed to be getting pace out of it. Formaux was certainly a disappointment, that's an event where he'd be expected to do better - as it is he's landed M-Sport with a big repair bill (although I guess they don't need to rush as presumably they're only running 3 cars in the next event with no Loeb).

The Toyota looked to be a bit more of a handful than the Puma but again it does seem to have decent pace even if they weren't consistent in getting the best out of it (apart from Ogier).

Hyundai - oh dear. Yet again the Hyundai looks fragile - Tanak out after a relatively innoccuous looking off, Neuville seemed to spend the weekend fixing his car (upright going through the strut top mount ), Solberg was struggling to hear his co-driver and was being gassed by the car at the same time. The most worrying part for me was hearing Neuville describe it as "the most scared I've ever been" at the end of one stage.

The event also saw the good and bad of rally spectators - several times cars were dragged back onto the stage by the fans - from some ridiculous positions too! On the flip side there were shots again of fans standing in dangerous places just to get a video on their phone

[justracing]

Formaux was running strongly in the early stages until he disappeared down the mountain! which augers well for the M sport team even without Loeb's presence. Both Breen and Greensmith finished strongly and given their inexperience with the new machinery hopefully we will see them continue in that vein. Let's hope that we see another head to head battle between the Sebs.

[S griffin]

Caught the highlights last night. Great start for M-Sport, no wonder they want Loeb for more rallies. Some real drama, Solberg, Tanak and Fourmaux hitting trouble. Ogier at least gave Loeb a fight till the end

It's weird how Loeb can still win 10 years after his final full season in the WRC

[justracing]

Oh dear, Elfin and Craig slipping and sliding or just plain taking too big a bite at the snow banks.

[BertMk2]

It was a bit of a messy weekend for a lot of drivers really wasn't it? Evans though has had a shocking start to the season, pre-season he would have been one of the favourites for the title, we're 2 events into the season and he's already well behind the points leader.

There were a few issues with the hybrid units on the cars over the course of the weekend as well, Tanak in particular has been vocal about those.

On the whole though I enjoyed Sweden (although that's not a surprise as it's one of my favourite events of the year). The move north this year certainly got us back to 'proper' rally Sweden conditions - plenty of snow and big snow banks. Some of the onboard shots were really impressive, particularly in the dark - you really get a good sense of the speed from those shots.

[justracing]

Yep, the snow scenery was very spectacular particularly from the drone cameras, the speed of the cars very frightening even from the safety of my armchair! Deserved win from Rovanpera and a solid 2nd for Neuville. I'm afraid Elfin has it all to do from here.

[NaBUru38]

The problem with hybrids is that entries are required to retire if the car's screen says so, even of the car runs reasonably well.

[Alex Langheck]

Three offs in two events for Evans isn't the start he would have wanted, needs to strike back in the next event. Fortunately for him, it's on Tarmac, and Croatia, and an event he really should have won last year.

Toyota look strong, and will be a factor in all events. Hmm, not sure about M-Sport, they looked a bit off the pace, and not helped by Breen's problems. None of their regular drivers have won an event.....

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Alex Langheck

Toyota look strong, and will be a factor in all events. Hmm, not sure about M-Sport, they looked a bit off the pace, and not helped by Breen's problems. None of their regular drivers have won an event.....

The teams seem to be following the same pattern as the last couple of years - Toyota look to have the best car, Hyundai can be fast at times but the car looks fragile and M-Sport are up and down depending on who's in the car.

[Alex Langheck]

First round of the ERC - with the Rallye of Fafe: live on WRC All Live......

Going by other forums, it's not a success, as there's very little comment. I don't think having the sport behind a paywall is great......

[NaBUru38]

ERC's YouTube channel has an hour-hour stage 1 live stream, and a 2-minute qualifying stage highlights.

[Alex Langheck]

Yes, I watched that live; sadly that's it for free to air coverage of the ERC.

[Alex Langheck]

Azores Rally weekend before last; and again not much interest, on here, and other forums.
Not only that, but the WRC has disappeared since Sweden, and since then MotoGP, and F1 have started.......

I really do think they need a rethink on the calendar; I recall a time when after Sweden, we'd have the Safari, then Portugal, all before the end of March.

Having Rally Mexico as a Nations Rally isn't really cutting it; I've seen very little comment on the usual motorsport forums about it.
The sport doesn't help itself really....invisible.

[BertMk2]

Agreed, top level rallying is practically invisible, you have to go digging to find any sort of coverage. It's been that way for some time now but there doesn't seem to be any drive to improve the situation.