Acropolis Rally Thread

[redrover]

Hi all,

Just thought I would start a thread for the Acropolis rally. Shakedown is about to start.

Will be an interesting event, we'll see if Loeb can get back on the top step.

Red

[gloomyDAY]

Let's do this baby! Latvala, kick some ass.

[lcd]

This Is going to be the hottest rally of the season, with temperatures around 35 C...
I wish Loeb suffer from heat stroke :D , so P.Solberg gets one more win In Greece!

[redrover]

If it's going to be so hot, the crews might wear cool suits. Well at least they have some nice long transports to recover :)

Red

[Norri]

Do you have an idea, where I can find shakedown times?

[Mirek]

Some photos from PWRC testing: http://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/thumbnails.php?album=176

[jonkka]

Should be interesting 1st day, only 1 repeated stage so first runners will sweep all day (over 115kms).

[DonJippo]

Should be interesting 1st day, only 1 repeated stage so first runners will sweep all day (over 115kms).

And only 15min remote service mid day to repair all the damage in cars.

[A.F.F.]

Welcome to the forum Red :wave:

Maybe I should skip this rally too, in order to get maximum blue & white result.... like last rally :D

[PLuto]

Shakedown results: http://www.autosport.cz/clanek.php?cl=8654

[Xsara Fan]

Novikov made 5 runs. After first 3 runs he made some changes in car setup and try 2 more runs. And as you can see it was great changes! :)

[muscrae]

Petter's Xsara has turned out to an chameleon after so many changes in its livery :p

http://www.acropolisrally.gr/sites/acropolis2009/files/imagecache/imagegalleryphotospreview/THAN4094.JPG

[Psycho!]

This colours could suit better a 307....!!

[PLuto]

Photogallery from shakedown - http://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/thumbnails.php?album=178

http://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/albums/wpw-20090611/thumb_Al-Qassimi_SD_3.jpghttp://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/albums/wpw-20090611/thumb_Loeb_SD_2.jpghttp://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/albums/wpw-20090611/thumb_Latvala_SD_2.jpghttp://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/albums/wpw-20090611/thumb_Semer%E1d_SD_1.jpghttp://fotogalerie.autosport.cz/albums/wpw-20090611/thumb_Sandell_SD_1.jpg

[N.O.T]

Just got back from shakedown....Novikov looked spectacular and its nice to see that he was fastest as well.

[pettersolberg29]

Petter looks set to struggle after a poor shakedown...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76010

[John V]

Hi all, sorry in advance, but we have AGAIN term collision with our CZ Int. championship event, so hard to update drivers comments during Acropolis. If someone able and want to help for this race, can u contact me this evening on tomorrow morning pls? Thanx, Jan (vysledky-rally.cz)

[tolis]

I just came back from the ceremonial start. Take a look at the photos in the official site and you will easily understand...

[raybak]

It's saying on the official website that stage 3 is canned, any reason?

Ray

[AndyRAC]

Just why is it clashing with Le Mans 24 Hours? Sardegna clashed with Monaco,Indy and Nurburgring - are the FiA trying to kill interest?

[gloomyDAY]

I just came back from the ceremonial start. Take a look at the photos in the official site and you will easily understand...What am I supposed to find?

[jonkka]

Just why is it clashing with Le Mans 24 Hours? Sardegna clashed with Monaco,Indy and Nurburgring - are the FiA trying to kill interest?

To those 2nd rate sports? Not hard, they are dead in the water...

[lcd]

It's saying on the official website that stage 3 is canned, any reason?

Ray

The Greek organisers said the road surface of ss3 was so bad, they decided to cancel It...Too bad 'cos the title 'car breaker' Isn't given to acropolis rally by accident!

[lcd]

SHAKEDOWN Highlights :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bBzUlxqKgk

[jonkka]

SS1 is on... and Mikko is pushing hard

[jonkka]

No split 4 for Mikko...

[Hartusvuori]

No split 4 for Mikko...

Signal lost - still moving.

[jonkka]

Good to hear that

[jonkka]

Mads is very fast on split 2

[lcd]

Great battle between Solberg 18:28.00 /Sordo 18:29.01!

[redrover]

Where's Novikov?

[jonkka]

Should be running behind Ogier but can't see on splits...

[N.O.T]

The dust and the cleaning of the roads are going to be an issue especiially with those long stages....again i expect 2 days of tactics and 1 day of rallying since the 33 kms of the final day can be a decider.

[lcd]

If time differences stay that close, we're sure talking about tactics driving at least during 1st day...

[jonkka]

I don't think so... there is less repeated stages today than there are tomorrow - so rally leader may get big enough lead to be able to defend it over two remaining days

[jonkka]

Having said that, SS3 cancellation may affect that a bit

[lcd]

I don't think so... there is less repeated stages today than there are tomorrow - so rally leader may get big enough lead to be able to defend it over two remaining days

I wish for that scenario, as I really hate this tactics thing!

[teufel]

very good stage by Latvala :up: I wish he could keep his head calm!

[lcd]

Great battle between Lambros Athanassoulas / Patrik Sandell too!

[pino]

I wouldn't mind to see a close fight between Peter and Matti for the win :D

[Hartusvuori]

Good start from Nikara taking another Group N stage win I think. Being first time in Greece in his life there must be some talent involved.

As a Finn I'd really love to see Joonas Lindroos getting a similar chance for next year through Pirelli programme. Lindroos and Nikara fought hard in Finnish group n few years back, Nikara won and after Nikara left for 4WD's, Lindroos have dominated in Finnish group n. Last weekend Nikara took part to Finnish championship round with group n car and was slower than Lindroos.

[jonkka]

No splits for Mikko?

[Hartusvuori]

No splits for Mikko?

Apparently the same problem as it were on the first stage - no signal.

[Sarac330d]

Great battle between Lambros Athanassoulas / Patrik Sandell too!

Patrik have some problems with electrics, he didn`t managed to switch cars engine electrics to race mode before start of stage.
He driven complete stage with much less power than usualy.

[A.F.F.]

And probably the problem follows all day. I doubt they can fix gps in their service break.

[jonkka]

Or want to - either. :)
Anyhow, Petter is surprisingly slow

[darkstar]

petter seems to loose lots of time now. hopefully no technical problems...

[A.F.F.]

Should I suspect that Mikko isn't considering Sebastien his biggest rival in this rally from his comment ???

[N.O.T]

nice showing by Athanasoulas on stage 1...of course he knows those roads by heart but still its nice to see a greek driver fighting with the top contenders.

[jparker]

petter seems to loose lots of time now. hopefully no technical problems...

He keeps loosing, 19 sec so far. Probably something broke.

[N.O.T]

tactics already from stage 2.....sordo will clear the road on day 1.

[jparker]

I don't have WRR on, what Peter said after the stage?

[N.O.T]

wilson stopped...

[A.F.F.]

I don't have WRR on, what Peter said after the stage?

He said something went broke on stage like something is loose in the car.

[darkstar]

i dont think that loeb play tactics and is already going slow to make sure that sordo will tay in front of him. seems a little stupid to me...

[N.O.T]

Loeb cannot paly tactics...he is first so he suffers from he road position...hirvonen and latvala losing time to sordo is somekind suspicious

[jonkka]

What's there to be suspicious about?

[darkstar]

i dont realy get it either...

[Xsara Fan]

Some photos from shakedown and service-park http://www.almrally.ru/multimedia/?g2_itemId=7679

[A.F.F.]

Latvala said the stage went well but he was too much of sideways. Make the math.

[Mirek]

Go Lambros go! :D

Great drive from Nikara on SS1. The guy is real talent :)

[N.O.T]

Athanasoulas takes the lead !!!

its a 4 way battle for the win in PWRC

[WRC1]

two skoda´s in front!! the first 5 in 4 seconds!! and nikkara is also there!!

PWRC rulez!!!

[Sarac330d]

Very nice battle in PWRC, between 1-st and 6-th less than 30 sec

[Barreis]

I hope Latvala won't win..

[WRC1]

I hope Latvala won't win..

...because??

[jparker]

Did I miss something? Was SS3 canceled? Why?

[Sulland]

Who is the Corsa S2000 driver, what has he done before ? He is not very quick so far !

[darkstar]

I hope Latvala won't win..

i hope the opposite will happen ;)

[Halvis]

Very good drive from Mads Østberg so far, with the new co-driver!

[jonkka]

"new" is quite relative term in this case

[Wim_Impreza]

Where is Vovos in the results?

Go Lámbros. :)

[Mirek]

Vovos didn't start because of some business...

[Wim_Impreza]

Thank you, Mirek.

[N.O.T]

ss3 was cancelled before the rally even started...the reason is not yet known.

[raybak]

ss3 was cancelled before the rally even started...the reason is not yet known.

Apparently it was too rough.

Maybe they need to come and see some of our events here is Australia. I know the Aus WRC roads are awesome, but we also run on some crap ones as well.

Ray

[N.O.T]

the roughness was not an issue i asure you...

[Hartusvuori]

I first thought this was rallying, but it turned out to be waiting. Well - glad the wait is over.

[raybak]

the roughness was not an issue i asure you...

So what's the gossip on whyit was canned? did they find a religious site or Obama decided to make a visit and the security concerns were too much?

Ray

[raybak]

Stage 4 should be started by now, but nothing happening!!!

Ray

[N.O.T]

if i state my opinion someone will sue me....and i don;t want that.

the organisers said they encountered problems with the forestry comision of the area.

[N.O.T]

ss04 should be on 5 minutes ago....

[N.O.T]

ss04 is on Loeb through split 1.....

[lcd]

Serious organisers are supposed to take care these issues before , not some hours before start of rally... :down:

[lcd]

...the organisers said they encountered problems with the forestry comision of the area.

Serious organisers are supposed to take care such issues before , not some hours before start of rally... :down:

[WRC1]

Loeb found a shortcut between split 1 and 2 ....???

everybody was faster than loeb at split 1 but all of them are massivly slower at split2..??!!

[Hartusvuori]

Serious organisers are supposed to take care such issues before , not some hours before start of rally... :down:

The stage was cancelled some week before the rally. There were a story about it on wrc.com (http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=5083&desc=Route%20change%20for%20Acropolis%20day%20one) last Friday.

[jonkka]

Loeb found a shortcut between split 1 and 2 ....???

everybody was faster than loeb at split 1 but all of them are massivly slower at split2..??!!

If I am not mistaken, he's the only one of the current drivers that has driven this stage (it was last run in 2003).

[lcd]

Is something wrong with P.Solberg, because I was away for a while...

[Mirek]

Jonkka: Petter as well, not? ;)

[jonkka]

If I am not mistaken, he's the only one of the current drivers that has driven this stage (it was last run in 2003).

Ah, correction. Mikko was 2nd Subaru driver at that year... :)

[jonkka]

]Jonkka: Petter as well, not? ;)

True but I was thinking works drivers (it really narrows down very few these days).

[jonkka]

And to prove myself wrong on all accounts, Latvala was there in 2003 as well... :(

[teufel]

And to prove myself wrong on all accounts, Latvala was there in 2003 as well... :(

And Hirvonen was in Ford, he was 2nd driver at Subaru in 2004.

[jonkka]

He-hee... And I am even not drunk... I'd better shut up right now... :eek:

[Mirek]

And Novikov wins the stage :)

[N.O.T]

Is Novikov the youngest ever driver to win a stage in the WRC ???

[Xsara Fan]

Yeaaaahhh!!! Great result from our pilot! :)

[jonkka]

Is Novikov the youngest ever driver to win a stage in the WRC ???

There is no data to prove that. Unless someone knows all WRC stage winners throughout times and their birthdays.

[jonkka]

Wasn't I supposed to stay silent?

[N.O.T]

There is no data to prove that. Unless someone knows all WRC stage winners throughout times and their birthdays.

i think i might know such a person :D :D :D

[lcd]

Great pleasant surprise from Novikov! :up:

[jonkka]

i think i might know such a person :D :D :D

Tell me 'cause I'd like to have that knowledge.

[N.O.T]

Tell me 'cause I'd like to have that knowledge.

he is the owner of this site http://www.juwra.com/

ever hear of him :D :D :D

[jonkka]

he is the owner of this site http://www.juwra.com/

ever hear of him :D :D :D

Thanks for your faith but in this case it's unfounded.

First of all, I don't have stage winners for 24 of the world rallies. On top of that, I have birthdates for only some of the 228 stage winners that I know (http://www.juwra.com/stats_ss_wins.html).

[jonkka]

This same question has been asked before, last time I think was when Matthew Wilson won stage in Argentina. That time wrc.com dared to dub him the youngest despite not having the facts.

[N.O.T]

hmmmmm and what about how many drivers won a special stage in their debut season in wrc ??

[jonkka]

You should define "debut season". For Novikov, this is his third year but his first with WRCar and first on some team.

Also, the year 1973 alone would result a lot of drivers in that statistics for obvious reasons.

[Mirek]

Lambros may have some problems with the dust from Sauvan who is much slower...

And Nikara great time again :)

[N.O.T]

ok i give up :) :)

[jonkka]

It's a good question and sometimes it's worthwhile to discuss the logic behind statistics.

[Mirek]

And Lambros take the stage! Great :)

[WRC1]

very good stage for sandell!! 12-15 sec faster than his closest rivals!!

[Mirek]

You're not right, Athanassoulas is counted into PWRC and is first now ;)

[N.O.T]

Great time by Athanasoulas....considering his first time driving the car and the fact that he hasn;t driver any rallies since acropolis last year (not eve national ones)

[lcd]

Welldone Lambros!!! I guess It's a matter of talent ( and car of course..! :D )

[Mirek]

Two passes by Lambros from shakedown: http://www.youtube.com/v/kxYbHtULVcI

[lcd]

Great cut next to the tree on 2nd pass! ;)

[jonkka]

Interesting splits... Mikko seems content on following Seb's times...

[lcd]

Petter's really fast...

[WRC1]

]You're not right, Athanassoulas is counted into PWRC and is first now ;)

sure, but i thougt of sandells closest rivals in championship...

[Mirek]

okey, okey, no problem :)

Let's see another stage which is slower and a lot uphill.

[A.F.F.]

Just look at all those Popopopopoulosees :eek:

[Xsara Fan]

If I`m not mistaken:
Wilson /Argentina 06/ 19 years 3 month
Novikov /Acropolis 09/ 18 years 8 month 23 days

[lcd]

P.Solberg: Wow that was fast..!

[jonkka]

For change

[jonkka]

Lots of splits missing towards the backmarkers...

[A.F.F.]

Petter getting himself in a great road position for tomorrow....

[Mauri A]

What´s Ogier doing??

[lcd]

It seems he's gonna win the stage...

[lcd]

Ogier did It! What a highlight this would be..!

[jonkka]

Novikov's time is not coming...

[Mirek]

He had double rear puncture :(

[pucky54]

What happened to Østberg? Lost half a minute in the last sector

[mjh]

If, as Mad Max says, WRC is ideal for an internet audience, they've got to sort the f'ing website out. What's happened to the splits! Where is Novikov!!
Is he off or is the splits machine just kaput?

[lcd]

I'm very curious what's Novikov doing...

[Mirek]

What happened to Østberg? Lost half a minute in the last sector

Puncture

[A.F.F.]

I'm very curious what's Novikov doing...

He is probably searching his shovel from the trunk...

[lcd]

He is probably searching his shovel from the trunk...
:D

[N.O.T]

Pity for novikov...

I think Loeb has his eyes on Hirvonen and not the win of the rally....especially on these rallies where speed is not everything and it can all go wrong if you are reckless.

[A.F.F.]

Makes sense. Now that he (Loeb) can't win every rally of the year, hunting win isn't everything anymore but the title. Kankkunen said it best when he said that you should be able to hurry slow in Greece in order to win :)

[N.O.T]

the rally has a 6 minutes delay....thats why the results were slow at showing.

[tmx]

Loeb is very clever. He has good road position, he tends to surge to top places on the second day. But then from what I gathered there are some dust problems. Or he's just tired of winning.

[Mirek]

According to radio Lambros won another stage.

[N.O.T]

Another stage win for Athanasoulas.....hope that Skoda sees his results and gives him some drives in other rallies too...

[lcd]

...hope that Skoda sees his results and gives him some drives in other rallies too...

I take It as granded, based on performance so far! :)

[N.O.T]

hmmmm if things go like that and since Athanasoulas counts for PWRC points....is it possible that skoda can play tactics on day 3 to slow Lampros at 2nd place and let sandell get full points and lampros to cut away the points of the 2nd place from sandells rivals??

[Mirek]

Hmm, why? Lambros is driving rented car from Italian A-Style team. Or was he given some money from Greek Škoda Importer?

[N.O.T]

I take It as granded, based on performance so far! :)

the thing is that lampros knows these stages by heart since he is from that area plus that sandell doesn;t care if lapmros wins or not....can he have that standrad of performance in international rallies as well ???

[N.O.T]

]Hmm, why? Lambros is driving rented car from Italian A-Style team. Or was he given some money from Greek Škoda Importer?

i think its an 100% private entry....but you never know.

[teufel]

Another stage win for Athanasoulas.....hope that Skoda sees his results and gives him some drives in other rallies too...

What? Has he ever driven outside Greece? Sorry, his performance is really good here, but I don't think he is at the same level with Kopecky or Hanninen...

[lcd]

...can he have that standrad of performance in international rallies as well ???

I guess that's what they call 'A million dollar question ' ! ;)

[COD]

Another stage win for Athanasoulas.....

He is driving really well, but so is Nikara. First time in Greece and in Evo10 he is fastest Gr.N car! So pity that Pirelli Star drivers are not entered in the PWRC, so his great performances will sadly be missed by many (like he is not mentioned in PWRC news on wrc.com).

[N.O.T]

What? Has he ever driven outside Greece? Sorry, his performance is really good here, but I don't think he is at the same level with Kopecky or Hanninen...

he took part in the fiesta cup 2 years ago with rivals like clark,biasion and burkart and he did quite well (even won geramny) but the fiesta cup is barely a standard to see if someone is good or not

Against haninen, kopecky,meeke and the big boys in the IRC he has no chance on rallies that he doesn;t know.

[Almeidafoto]

It's been a really good Rally; 4 Stages, 4 different winners!

[Almeidafoto]

hmmmm if things go like that and since Athanasoulas counts for PWRC points....is it possible that skoda can play tactics on day 3 to slow Lampros at 2nd place and let sandell get full points and lampros to cut away the points of the 2nd place from sandells rivals??

Knock on wood! Let's hope not. That would be awful for Armindo (and especially for my old friend Miguel Ramalho - his co-driver)

[N.O.T]

some quotes after ss05

1 LOEB Sébastien – ELENA Daniel
“Good stage for us. The gravel was OK, no problems with the car.”

3 HIRVONEN Mikko - LEHTINEN Jarmo
“Very, very slippery stage. The car is OK.” The driver got out of the car and checked the tires.

2 SORDO Dani - MARTI Marc
“Huh! It was very slippery! The car feels OK; I didn’t see many spectators in the stage.”

6 SOLBERG Henning - MENKERUD Cato
“Everything went OK. It was a tough stage. The car and the tires are OK.”

11 SOLBERG Petter - MILLS Phil
“It was not so bad. We had problems with the traction at some points, but the car was fast. We couldn’t do any better, it is a shame we lost so much time on the 2nd stage.”

4 LATVALA Jari-Matti – ANTTILA Miikka
“I tried very hard to save my tires and go easy on the brakes, because there is still one stage to go for today. Otherwise no problems; I don’t mind being 1st on the road tomorrow.”

9 VILLAGRA Federico - DIAZ Jose
“Difficult and slippery stage; we had some minor problems only.”

15 OSTBERG Mads - UNNERUD Ole Kristian
“We had a rear right puncture, kept going only with the rim. The rear left tire is ready to go, also. We lost a lot of time because of the tires.”

12 OGIER Sebastien – INGRASSIA Julien
“Very good stage for us, we are very happy with our time, no problems. We lost a lot of time in the previous one, because of the puncture. Winning this one is good for our confidence.”

7 NOVIKOV Evgeny – MOSCATT Dale
“Approximately 8 km after the start we had two rear punctures.” They have two spare tires to go on.

8 RAUTENBACH Conrad – BARRITT Daniel
“Very bad stage, we had a lot of problems.”



14 AL QASSIMI Khalid - ORR Michael
“We had a massive moment right after a crest, when we landed on the front of the car.”

[N.O.T]

the final ss of the day should be on any moment now

[RS]

Athanassoulas is setting some really impressive times, especially for his first time in the car. But is it him with the local knowledge, or the car, or just that the level of drivers in pWRC is not very high?

It would be interesting to see Meeke or Hanninen try a pWRC round to see, but I fear then that the FIA would slap another 200kg on the S2000s :rolleyes:

[Mirek]

We may expect many troubles with tyres if there was no tyre change.

[Mirek]

RS: I think that Juho may drive NORF ;)

[jonkka]

Final stage of the day... I fear we'll see tactics 'cause differences are by far smaller than I expected after SS1.

[RS]

]RS: I think that Juho may drive NORF ;)

Then Wilson and Rautenbach will have to watch their backs :)

[jonkka]

Now!

[Mirek]

JML stopped in stage!

[jonkka]

No?!?

[teufel]

]JML stopped in stage!

oh no!

[jonkka]

Mikko doesn't play tactics, +21,1s to tomorrow over Seb

[N.O.T]

that can be potentially a disaster for ford if citroen finds out they might slow sordo down and let hirvonen do the cleaning tommorow....

[N.O.T]

yes they did what i supsected..... :( :( :(

[Mirek]

That exactly happened. Mikko will clean tomorrow.

[N.O.T]

i think that FIA should bring back the old seeding sytem with reverse running and also not allow communication between the crew and the team by any other means apart from mobile phone or when the car is stopped....

[Rallyper]

that can be potentially a disaster for ford if citroen finds out they might slow sordo down and let hirvonen do the cleaning tommorow....

Citroen plays tactics again! :mad:

[N.O.T]

all the official teams would do the same....at least citroen do not involve their satellite teams in it....

[Raini]

off raod for matti

[Mirek]

Semerád lost 18 minutes because of problem with rear differential on SS5. He tries to continue after some attempt to repair.

[N.O.T]

latvala had an off ..... with such a big gap from loeb and hirvonen and taking into acount that even if someone else was faster than him wasn;t a bad thing....this was a very very immature mistake...

[N.O.T]

Latvala lost 3:30 minutes...i guess some manufacturers points are a reality.

[WRC1]

omg...jari matti...i thougt after sardinia we have a new latvala, but as it seems it last only for one race and we have the old crashpilot back again....pitty for the race, for the championship, for ford and for jari matti himself

[A.F.F.]

What there is to pity ?? :confused:

Latvala is still in the rally and if his car hasn't damaged too much, in a rally like Acropolis the game is wide open. Who know's we'll see Latvala on the podium.

[Mirek]

Sandell lost a lot on the last stage because of huge rear tyre wear.

[N.O.T]

Good move by wrc.com to show pwrc times.....Athanasoulas currently lacking some pace....

[N.O.T]

Nikara lost a lot between splits 2-3

[WRC1]

What there is to pity ?? :confused:

Latvala is still in the rally and if his car hasn't damaged too much, in a rally like Acropolis the game is wide open. Who know's we'll see Latvala on the podium.

pity is that a podium (if it really happends, what i personally highly doubt..) is simply not enough for him (latvala) and for ford if the other two guys on the podium are loeb and sordo (as it looks at the moment) cause hirvonen is simply not fast nor clever enough to stay in front of them...

[N.O.T]

nikara probably stopped....

[Mirek]

Nikara has some problems, he is starting later than he should... now he is stopped :(

I expect also tyre problem for Lambros because they reported weared tyres after SS5.

[N.O.T]

pity is that a podium (if it really happends, what i personally highly doubt..) is simply not enough for him (latvala) and for ford if the other two guys on the podium are loeb and sordo (as it looks at the moment) cause hirvonen is simply not fast nor clever enough to stay in front of them...

the thing is that with this move latvala made citroen the decider and not ford.....Citroen have the upper hand in tactics right now and day 2 is the most important day of them all...

[N.O.T]

Athanasoulas going strong for another win !!!!!

[iJones]

What there is to pity ?? :confused:

Latvala is still in the rally and if his car hasn't damaged too much, in a rally like Acropolis the game is wide open. Who know's we'll see Latvala on the podium.
I sure hope so, but I wouldn't hold my breath. 3min 17sec is a lot of time. Manufacturer points would be a good result after this.

[I am evil Homer]

i think that FIA should bring back the old seeding sytem with reverse running and also not allow communication between the crew and the team by any other means apart from mobile phone or when the car is stopped....


Citroen plays tactics again! :mad:


all the official teams would do the same....at least citroen do not involve their satellite teams in it....

Indeed...Citroen are doing what's allowed in the rules and what both they and Ford have done time and again. It's the rules that are the problem and make this a joke!!!

[Mirek]

And Lambros made it and is 8 seconds fastest after the leg 1 :)

[tmx]

Well since Jari is off, I would like to see Dani Sordo win this rally.

[A.F.F.]

pity is that a podium (if it really happends, what i personally highly doubt..) is simply not enough for him (latvala) and for ford if the other two guys on the podium are loeb and sordo (as it looks at the moment) cause hirvonen is simply not fast nor clever enough to stay in front of them...


I sure hope so, but I wouldn't hold my breath. 3min 17sec is a lot of time. Manufacturer points would be a good result after this.


If Latvala's car is working and due the road position tomorrow, he'll be able to drive very good times. The first four; Rautenbach, Ostberg, Villagra and Quassimi he'll eat for breakfast. Then IMO Ogier and Henning are easily catched. The top four needs just one mistake or bad luck and voila, Latvala is on the podium.

Am I right or am I right ? :)

[Tom206wrc]

Damn a one-two for Skoda S2000 in PWRC until now :eek:

[Wim_Impreza]

If Latvala's car is working and due the road position tomorrow, he'll be able to drive very good times. The first four; Rautenbach, Ostberg, Villagra and Quassimi he'll eat for breakfast. Then IMO Ogier and Henning are easily catched. The top four needs just one mistake or bad luck and voila, Latvala is on the podium.

Am I right or am I right ? :)

If Latvala go flat out the whole day tomorrow, I expect another mistake from him.

Probably it will be a Citroën 1-2-3 (1 Loeb, 2 Sordo, 3 P. Solberg) after tomorrow.

[Hartusvuori]

Manufacturer points would be a good result after this.

He is already now bringing two manu points, right?

This was unfortunate, but luckily he didn't retire or loose any more time. And it didn't happen on second stage of the rally, like we're more used to. I know I'm having endless faith on JML, but I believe he'll end this rally with a decent result and we'll see another win from him this season.

[COD]

]Nikara has some problems, he is starting later than he should... now he is stopped :(

.

Engine overheating

[WRC1]

If Latvala's car is working and due the road position tomorrow, he'll be able to drive very good times. The first four; Rautenbach, Ostberg, Villagra and Quassimi he'll eat for breakfast. Then IMO Ogier and Henning are easily catched. The top four needs just one mistake or bad luck and voila, Latvala is on the podium.

Am I right or am I right ? :)

unfortunatly you are not right....if one of the top four makes a mistake or have bad luck....than latvala would be just 4th....

[A.F.F.]

unfortunatly you are not right....if one of the top four makes a mistake or have bad luck....than latvala would be just 4th....

What if one of the top four makes a mistake and another one has bad luck. Does that put Latvala to third ?

Ok, I give up. However, I expect Latvala way better position after tomorrow. If he stays on road ;)

[Mirek]

Anything can happen. I expect more punctures tomorrow than today and they may move things upside down...

[Psycho!]

Guys I just returned from Thiva 2!!!!Firstly, congratulations to the Greek organization because everything was perfect and everybody was very helpful!!Secondly, I pinpoint as a high light Mikko's Scandinavian flick....!It was just magic...Solberg brothers were pushing hard,while Novikov did a very good impression to me...Loeb was not pushing too hard...Now I see why Latvala was behind Villagra in the order....Another mistake....And Ford is sooooooo bad in tactics....I am already waiting for the next Acropolis as I can't go to another stage and I hope that it will be in 2010...I hate the rotation system!!!Cheers!!!

[WRC1]

What if one of the top four makes a mistake and another one has bad luck. Does that put Latvala to third ?

8) that depends on how much time the mistake and the bad luck costs, if more than 3 minutes, than yes, that would bring latvala to 3rd place....





....IF he stays out of trouble ;O)

[Almeidafoto]

Looks like Jari-Matti still's not able to stand the pressure for long. He won in Italy, started well in Greece, but by the end of the day made a big mistake. Shame...
Lambros is doing really great, he deserves to win 'his' Rally, but I hope that Armindo climbs a little more to end behind him. Bernardo Sousa is now 7th let's hope he doesn't go crazy and give away again the opportunity to score some good points.

[Mirek]

Nikara won't continue tomorrow. The engine is probably too damaged :(

[DonJippo]

all the official teams would do the same....at least citroen do not involve their satellite teams in it....

Really, how about the convenient retirement of Rautenbach in Sardinia that gave Citroen extra manufacturer's point.... :rolleyes:

[N.O.T]

Really, how about the convenient retirement of Rautenbach in Sardinia that gave Citroen extra manufacturer's point.... :rolleyes:

HA HA HA .....

[Buzz Lightyear]

Read this

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76099

I have no sympathy with Ford whatsoever.

If they want a steady driver, pay Solberg or Sordo.

Such a load of bolloccks

[DonJippo]

HA HA HA .....

Yes I understand it can be a bit too complex concept for you to understand as you are more into cans and dogs kind of person but to retire after last service just before finish line says it all... :rolleyes:

[ste898]

Read this

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76099

I have no sympathy with Ford whatsoever.

If they want a steady driver, pay Solberg or Sordo.

Such a load of bolloccks


What a load of crap you talk..........if it were Citroen you would be happy GET REAL!!!

[N.O.T]

so retiring the most useless tomato can to get 1 point in the manufacturer title is equally shamefull as to pile up a bunch of nobodys to clear the road and give a chance at a slower guy to be able to win a rally.....It kind of reminds me the lancia tactics against kankkunen to let that frawd Biasion get some wins and championships.

[N.O.T]

Read this

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76099

I have no sympathy with Ford whatsoever.

If they want a steady driver, pay Solberg or Sordo.

Such a load of bolloccks

i can compare this to radstroms retirement from finland 99 as fords biggest dissapointment.....again Latvala cannot be replaced right now simply because there is no replacement to fill in the gap and be effective in helping the team.

[jimakos]

I think this Acropolis is the most beautiful and competitive I have ever seen!!
Nobody can find the winner before the end and that's amazing.
Go on Mikko!!I'm with you :s mokin:

[N.O.T]

I think this Acropolis is the most beautiful and competitive I have ever seen!!
Nobody can find the winner before the end and that's amazing.
Go on Mikko!!I'm with you :s mokin:

how many acropolis events have you spectated so far ? thats a bold statement...

[bluuford]

Well.. Thanks guys for giving all information. I have used Dial-Up connection in forest again and this forum has been really good source of information for me.
I just made calculations that We are going to see an interesting day tomorrow. Tomorrow stages are worse than today in sweeping point of view and first couple of cars are going to suffer a lot. So, I expect Sordo and Loeb going to be very close to Hirvonen at the end of day 2 and massive tactics again. There is going to be very hot day tomorrow and that is not good for Petter. So, if Latvala manages to keep it on the road then he has a good chance to fight for the podium again or even for a win. If The time difference is very small at the end on leg 2 the Mikko should slow down and let Loeb and Sordo be first on the road. If they also dear to slow down then Latvala might get really close to them. Starting 11th on the road tomorrow might be worth more than 1 s/km (looking the previous years). That means more than 1 minute in the morning and half minute in the afternoon. then something like 20 sek for tactics and in ideal word Latvala would be fifth at the end of Leg 2 losing a few seconds for Petter and little bit over one minute to leader. So, on the last day we have over 53 km where the leader might loose 1 nearly 1 sek/km and then another 42 km where additional seconds must be gained :-)

Well.. that is theory:-) We will see what is going to happen. Keep on posting all important data here. It is very helpful.

[Mirek]

How to take a shortcut? http://www.ewrc.cz/images/2009/wrc/gr/ms_a_177_tapper_1.jpg :D

[Almeidafoto]

HA HA HA .....
A great strtegy from Ford this friday... ;)

[Helstar]

What's wrong with Opel S2000 ? Bad car ? Bad driver ? Both ?

I missed the tv coverage, did they show JML offroad ? I can't find on wrc.com or youtube neither :\

[Psycho!]

]How to take a shortcut? http://www.ewrc.cz/images/2009/wrc/gr/ms_a_177_tapper_1.jpg :D
That's exactly where I was yesterday!!!However,I was a bit higher in order to watch two passes...This one was a little bit far,but you could see a lot!And from the sun's position I suppose that is the second pass...Why I lost it?? :confused:

[r199]

loeb offfffffffffffffffffff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hartusvuori]

Loeb's gone off! Rally ain't over! Championship ain't over?

[jonkka]

Off? I must still be sleeping and this is just a dream... Wakey wakey

[Hartusvuori]

WRR's saying both are okey but car's so badly damaged they won't continue.

[Hartusvuori]

Somehow Loeb's off feels better than two Latvala's off. He masters. WRR's says it happened 8k's into the stage and car is so far off other crews can't see it.

[jonkka]

Doesn't spark much of a discussion here? Are everyone still asleep, thinking that Acropolis is foregone game after yesterdays events?

[bluuford]

I think that we are going to see third winner in this year :-) So, that will be one better that F1 :-)

[lcd]

I knew something would happen today, but wasn't expecting It so soon...!

[Psycho!]

And Sandell loses time...Go Lambros!!!!


Damned exams!!!How to study with such a rally????

[bluuford]

Sandell stopped. Somehow I am not sad. I was very disappointed by his pace here. he should have great advantage with S2000 car here (very twisty and slow track) but he was just a tiny bit faster than Nasser!

[witto6]

Loeb's gone off! Rally ain't over! Championship ain't over?

BRILLIANT.. HA HA HA NICE ONE

[malscar]

Will be interesting to see how much Petter can claw back. Sordo was looking at taking the lead in this stage but has dropped about 3 seconds. Could go either way.

[WRC1]

championship goodbye for redbull skoda team....they have only one more rallye to take points (wales) and if al-atthiya and aroujo take good points in greece than it is over..

[jonkka]

Will be interesting to see how much Petter can claw back. Sordo was looking at taking the lead in this stage but has dropped about 3 seconds. Could go either way.

I think that Mikko is taking it a bit easy, just eyeing Sordo's times and looking after his tyres. On second pass he may push more but Petter's times are indeed interesting, in the view of overall situation.

[WRC1]

hirvonen and sordo are playing tactics already now...??!! and allow petter (and latvala) to close the gap dramaticly

[bennizw]

This could turn out very interesting if Petter continues to claw back time like this in the remaining stages..

[malscar]

Petter may be using up his tyres for that sort of time.

[Mirek]

Novikov won second stage :)

[FAlonso]

Novikov definitely has a serious case of "quickness" or "fastness" or something like that.

[jonkka]

fatness? :D

[FAlonso]

fatness? :D

Not really no! Given his times "slimness" I would say! :)

[bluuford]

This could be very wise tactical move by Hirvonen to allow Solberg and Latvala to close the cap but it can be also the road sweeping problem for Hirvonen and dust+sweeping+pressure from citroen to finish 100% sure for Sordo and less cleaning, less sweeping, no pressure and no dust (Loeb retired and now he has 4 minutes in front of him) for Solberg. If it continues like this then it will be very, very interesting rally for sure.

[Brother John]

Why can the drivers of Citroën Junior team now drive faster, however, more rapidly than normally?
Now you see how they favour Loeb always at the team!
Oops, sorry I can say here nothing concerning the mentality of the french! :s mokin:

[Sarac330d]

Sandell stopped. Somehow I am not sad. I was very disappointed by his pace here. he should have great advantage with S2000 car here (very twisty and slow track) but he was just a tiny bit faster than Nasser!

I think that Sandell and Nasser wasn`t on maximum attack yesterday.
Any info what is with Sandell?

[Mirek]

Sandell has engine problems. Running on 3 cylindrers.

[Mirek]

What's wrong with Opel S2000 ? Bad car ? Bad driver ? Both ?

The driver is an old man. I was said he is 67 years old which I believe because he has first start in Acropolis some 32 years a go...

[Mirek]

Sordo stopped!!!!

[jonkka]

Is that a fact?

[Mirek]

They said on the radio. Petter is said to already passed him.

[jonkka]

Ok - that's bad for Citroen's point scoring streak...

[Brother John]

]Sordo stopped!!!!

It had to be happen once for Citroën! :s mokin:

[jonkka]

Now, depending on what the reason is... if it's just puncture...