WRC 2012: A review...(The Good, the bad, & the damn right ugly)

[AndyRAC]

Well folks, thats 2012 done. It seemed for a short time we might not even have a WRC, with the NOS Promoter issues, and all the problems that brought. But, in the end, the season ran, and I think it was a season to get through before the hope of better things.

Eventually, RedBull Media House & the Sportsmans Group are the new Promoters – alas, too late for Ford & BMW Mini...who pulled the plug.

So, what were your highlights, your low lights, best events, and worst events. What one event sums up WRC 2012 for you?

And what do you wish to see in WRC 2013....

[A FONDO]

ups:
- Monte Carlo back with fabulous weather variety
- Ogier collecting 41 points with S2000 car
- strong and interesting battle in the SWRC category
- lots of young guns handed with top cars

downs:
- limited or none video coverage, with disgusting narrators
- zero or none intrigue in the WRC category
- some pointless events still in the calendar

[tommeke_B]

@Slowson: "Pointless events"? Explain further please... :)

[stefanvv]

I've learn couple of things:
* Loeb is still the best ever, even in one foot in retirement - good perhaps
* Ogier can still win stages :D even with S2000 - good
* Latvala have the speed we all know, he must work on his motivation level - not so good
* WRC without promoter is half WRC - bad
* Global crisis in car manufacturers brand is still going on - really bad
* As every year there were good and bad events, I can classify the bad when Ford fails at first day, and the rest you all know.
* I like some changes in the events, like returning of the endurance ones and bringing back the night stages - good

As every year end, we all hope for better in next one. BMW/Mini & Ford went out, but there is VW going in with all guns blazing, Other Asian manufacturers will enter also (I hope so) 2014. There is the brand new promoter which gives big promises for coverages, live streaming, etc. Looks like the future is bright from that point of view.

[A FONDO]

@Slowson: "Pointless events"? Explain further please... http://www.motorsportforums.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
ok but in PM to not destroy the topic

[Mirek]

* Global crisis in car manufacturers brand is still going on - really bad

I don't like that speaking about crisis. I would not call a crisis a moment when over-production powered by loans comes to a point when it's not possible to continue the same way. I think that it's has more to do with a kind of return to reality.

[Mintexmemory]

Highlights:
Ogier demonstrating just how good a driver he has become by exhibiting such high levels of car-control and commitment in what were, after all, a series of demo runs with nothing at stake.
Ostberg maturing and showing his suitability to be a factory driver.
JML demonstrating he has an all-round game now which gives him the edge on Mikko and Mads.
A final year of brilliiance from Loeb.

Lowlights:
Petter going past his sell-by date -can we be sure he isn't looking for those rocks as 3 days is a bit too much for him now?
Any time the field self-destructed to leave only a handfull of WRC cars running
The absence of Kris Meeke in a Mini
JML self-handicapping by getting injured

Best Event
Hard to say this year as no event had a truly epic confrontation but Sweden and Finland stand out, to my opinion, as times when the winner out-classed the opposition.

Worst Event
Wales Rally GB for its poor entry, wrong calendar scheduling and unnnecessary road mileage.

France is the event that sums up the year (though it could have been any of the Loeb wins) donminance by the car / driver combo with the opposition losing credibility by bad strategy, bad tactics and lack of self-control

Wishes for 2013
Prodrive Mini finding credible sponsors
WRC getting proper, widely accessible TV coverage
VW Polo to hit the ground running
Hirvonen demonstrating that he can win a rally outside Scandanavia without waiting for the quicker guys to fall over.
Nikarra, Weijs, Neuville, Paddon, Breen and PG to get frequent WRC rides - Novikov and Tanak to improve upon 2012 performance.
Hyundai and Toyota to get on with it and stop pussy-footing around.
The rock demon to stop following Petter (exorcist required I think!)
Rally GB to plan to be an endurance event taking in North England, North Wales, Scottish Borders - with a Stately Home tarmac first day ;)

[stefanvv]

I don't like that speaking about crisis. I would not call a crisis a moment when over-production powered by loans comes to a point when it's not possible to continue the same way. I think that it's has more to do with a kind of return to reality.

You're probably right as usual. I don't know much details for loans etc., but overproduction is what I know of indeed.

[Hartusvuori]

I believe I'll remember season 2012 as rallying's most tragic year ever. Far too many fatal accidents, and as a grotesque underling the worst accident happened at the end of the season. Remember next time at a rally that you will stay in a safe place, and if you see someone standing at dangerous area, tell them.

From competetive points of view, nothing really spectacular stands out for me personally. Loeb's speak less, act more character has made the biggest impression this year; same as Latvala's frustrating habit to make the odd mistakes has given me the most grey hair. Solberg was really disappointing in the latter half of the season, whereas Hirvonen - even if always the one after the winner - became even more non-present as a wingman to Loeb. Out of younger WRC regulars, Novikov and Neuville seem to be on a verge of something greater, and same goes absolutely to Östberg as well. It's just that they still are visibly behind from the winning speed - let's hope next year will change that.

Also, IRC in its final year was sadly slowly fading. Only a handful of events that made the difference (Corsica, Ypres, Barum, also Acores, Ireland) compared to previous years when it was more - simply just more. Now it was decided before the season started that who's gonna be the champ.

Let's also hope the WRC sub-category winners Breen (with his unfortunate story) and Evans would make their respective steps up. They are very great to watch in the stages. There's also a lot of other young drivers that will be interesting follow in the future, Weijs, Abbring, Kruuda, Koci, Weigand, etc.

As a Finn and Finnish point of view, of course I must mention our FRC comet that is Esapekka Lappi. Let's see what he can deliver in the future seasons. He could - and should - be one of the Finnish drivers to step up in WRC in long term. Now that Ketomaa's international career was more or less buried this year, and Hänninen is facing somehow unfair situation of being unable to step up, there isn't many new Finnish drivers to choose from. Nikara is on the verge too, but that remains to be seen. At least he provided some amazing performance this year in N4 cars.

From 2013 I hope saturated competition at the top of WRC, 4-5 winner at least - hopefully in at least 3 makes. Also, good competition in renewed ERC would be much welcomed. Bring on 2013!

[A.F.F.]

I'm pretty much with Hartusvuori. From my point there really isn't highlights this year. Too many fatal accidents in rallying, latest last weekend. As being a father and hearing a six year old was one of the victims... :( I truly hope next year we don't have to read a single bad news.

Good points of course is that RedBull is taking over the promoting. And for me personally Esapekka Lappi's whole national season but also flashing his pace at NORF. I knw he has a plan but if I was a teamboss, I'd try to talk him over and gave him seat right away.

Low points... well, I was REALLY dissapointed of Ketomaa. Surely there is something behind the curtains I don't know that affecetd but still.... Mini pulling the plug off and we all see that the car has huge potential. Makes me sad.... Something tells also the fact that now that I'm trying to remember something out of this season, I get nothing?? I followed every rally, how com I can't remember anything specific?

[GigiGalliNo1]

Best of 2012 was Monte Carlo coverage by Eurosport.

[AndyRAC]

Best of 2012 was Monte Carlo coverage by Eurosport.

Weird, I was just thinking the same - especially after all the uncertainty over the filming, etc They did an excellent job; the simulcam is a great bit of kit. The coverage on MotorsTV was definitely a come down; poor sound, poor picture quality, despite the efforts of Colin & Julian.

[Ripplin]

Highlights: Lowlights: The absence of Kris Meeke in a Mini Yes, that was very sad and unfair to him! Hopefully 2013 will be a much better year for him.

P.S. First post. Great forum! I found this place by looking for news on Ola Floene and the circumstances regarding his odd retirement.

[Mikkaki]

Highlights
Sebastien Loeb. Outstanding
Mads Östberg has shown that he is ready for a factory seat.
Sebastien Ogier in the S2000 Skoda.
PG Andersson's 2 victorys in SWRC with a PROTON that is lightyears from Skoda, Ford and Peugeot S2000.
Latvala has shown that he is the best driver except Loeb. Has shown good pace on tarmac. The crashes came when he i trying to catch Loeb.
Evans in the JWRC. Outstanding and were pure driving.

Lowlights:
Petter Solberg. He just gets worse and worse. Sorry but time for pension
Tanak. He is fast yes, but there are more drivers that could drive fast for a couple of stages then crash.
Atkinson. Just not fast enough sorry.


Best Event
Finland, nothing more to say about that. If you are fastest in Finland i think you are the best.

Worst Event
Wales, just passed by and nobody gives a ****.

Wishes for 2013
Latvala faster than Ogier.
PG Andersson in a developed car. In WRC or WRC2.
Ostberg in Citroen. He will show Hirvonen who is NR1 in the team.
Tanak back in Ford and show that he could finish rallies.

[spiderem]

Good points : rally de France TV coverage... Never watched so much rally in one week end on the TV. Girlfriend was upset, but it was worth it!
Hope we will see more rallies next year with similar coverage.

[Hazza555)]

As much as there were a lot of good things this year, this (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=324779014296668&set=a.302163679891535.69738.298797343561502&type=1&theater) kinda sums it up for me

[ShiftingGears]

I liked the implementation of longer rallies in recent years, which is something I hope will continue.

I haven't really had a chance to watch any WRC on TV, as it is so poorly advertised I have no idea if it is even broadcast on free-to-air anymore. Except when Solberg's crash made the news, I noticed that the coverage still utilised the in-car cameras looking back at the drivers, which in my opinion have been excruciatingly overused. As far as the commentary goes, I can only speculate that the new commentators are a step up from Paul King.

WRC has really been let down by the television production quality for several years, so the announcement of Red Bull Media House as the promoter has been the best thing about the WRC in 2012, from my perspective. I hope I'm not proven wrong.

[Tanelv]

As far as the commentary goes, I can only speculate that the new commentators are a step up from Paul King.

WRC has really been let down by the television production quality for several years, so the announcement of Red Bull Media House as the promoter has been the best thing about the WRC in 2012, from my perspective. I hope I'm not proven wrong.

I don't know about the others, but I enjoyed Paul King more than the new duo: Colin Clark and Julian Porter. Colin and Julian keep making so many mistakes when reading the text (not only random mistakes, but substantive mistakes) and it seems they haven't prepared at all at times and it feels like they're just two friends randomly chatting about rally.
While on the other hand Paul King seemed to be more proffesional in his commentary. Colin and Julian are great radio reporters, but to me they are not so good on the TV. Maybe I'm the minority here, but I'd like a more proffesional approach.
So thumbs up for Paul King from me.

[rallyfiend]

I don't know about the others, but I enjoyed Paul King more than the new duo: Colin Clark and Julian Porter. Colin and Julian keep making so many mistakes when reading the text (not only random mistakes, but substantive mistakes) and it seems they haven't prepared at all at times and it feels like they're just two friends randomly chatting about rally.
While on the other hand Paul King seemed to be more proffesional in his commentary. Colin and Julian are great radio reporters, but to me they are not so good on the TV. Maybe I'm the minority here, but I'd like a more proffesional approach.
So thumbs up for Paul King from me.

Paul King still does the normal programmes.

Colin and Julian just do Motors.

[Ripplin]

My favorite duo was Paul and Julian (and I hope Carlton Kirby does ERC next year; I like his dry sense of humor). Colin is decent, though I think the Motors broadcasts were greatly improved with the addition of Julian this year. Sure, they make mistakes, but it's part of the fun with those two. Last season with Colin alone was...interesting. :p

[ShiftingGears]

I don't know about the others, but I enjoyed Paul King more than the new duo: Colin Clark and Julian Porter. Colin and Julian keep making so many mistakes when reading the text (not only random mistakes, but substantive mistakes) and it seems they haven't prepared at all at times and it feels like they're just two friends randomly chatting about rally.
While on the other hand Paul King seemed to be more proffesional in his commentary. Colin and Julian are great radio reporters, but to me they are not so good on the TV. Maybe I'm the minority here, but I'd like a more proffesional approach.
So thumbs up for Paul King from me.

That is unfortunate. I would also prefer professional commentary, but King commentating on onboard footage as if it were live was (is?) excruciating. It did not improve the broadcast.

[GigiGalliNo1]

I'm still surprised people don't know how to torrent or download the days reviews online! It's even put on YouTube with each days highlights! Not that hard.

Julian and Colin don't read a script! It's all done once and recorded once! Pain in the butt but Paul Kings is scripted and he has all day to write it up!

[Federov]

I'm in the US so YouTube really has been a saving grace and allowed me to watch the past two years start to finish -- with mostly good quality. I downloaded before I found out they were on YT though.

Paul King is my guy; although it seems I get a lot of Julian and Colin during my viewings.

Three other things:
1. Good job Craig Breen!

2. Glad Denis Giraudet is recovering well and can get back to work soon -- although Novikov and Ilka were a pretty good pair and might stay that way.

3. I still don't know who I want at Citroen between Mads and Dani... and neither do they apparently! lol
Mads was really on it most of 2012 but it seemed like Sordo was fighting his car the entire season as well. The car doesn't make the driver, but it sure helps.

[Ripplin]

^If you or anyone else wants to know where to torrent the rallies, there are places available... They can't be mentioned in threads, but PMs would be ok.

[Viking]

Power stage points this year

Loeb 19 extra points this year.
Solberg 15
Latvala 14
Hirvonen 13

I think the power stage is a good thing and this year it was decisive on who got the "bronce medal" between Latvala and Østberg.

[tommeke_B]

The power stage would be a good thing if they are all proper stages, like in Finland or Portugal (if I recall correctly). 3 extra points for a 4km stage like Circus Maximus is just a joke...

[Viking]

The power stage would be a good thing if they are all proper stages, like in Finland or Portugal (if I recall correctly). 3 extra points for a 4km stage like Circus Maximus is just a joke...

Your wish will be the rule in 2013 :up:

[Allyc85]

Ok my random thoughts on 2012...

Good

Sebastien Loeb. Gave all the other drivers a glimmer of hope with mistakes in Sweden and Portugal before smashing them into the weeds for the rest of the year. Stunning!

Mads Ostberg. Matured a lot this year and put in many performances worthy of a top drive. To finish 4th with only a few days testing and over 2 less events is a brilliant perfomance!

Sebastien Ogier: Drove the bollocks off of that S2000 Skoda and his fastest stage time is pretty legendary.

First trip to the Acropolis: Such a stunning event where myself, Mrjan and J4amie got to see so many stages and some epic driving. On the second running of Thiva was where I took my favourite shot of the year...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7296773166_36497cc3bb_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/allyc85/7296773166/)
WRC Greece The Acropolis - Day 1 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/allyc85/7296773166/) by Alastair Cummins (http://www.flickr.com/people/allyc85/), on Flickr

Nasser Al-ttiyah. His stage times are slow, but the man is just so spectacular to watch!

Novikov, driving on in the McRae spirit, with the car in many pieces :laugh:

Redbull Media House coming in as promotors. If they can get downhill mountain biking through a hay field into the public domain then there is hope for the WRC yet.

Bad

The complete farce with the promotor and TV issues, plus the way the FIA treat the fans like ****, not giving them any clue as to what is going on.

While I appreciate Motors TV sticking by the championship, some of the coverage was beyond amateurish at times. Blatent mistakes by the commentators, sound of of sync and the picture nearly being B&W over the last couple rounds isnt good enough and I would be ashamed to put my name to it.

Ford constantly throwing it away and making it even easier for Citreon. The drivers had far too many crashes, and the tactics have been baffling at times!

The whole Mini farce. Just a complete mess which is so sad as the car obviously has so much potential after being developed on little money.

Yet still after all of the above I still love the WRC and cant wait for 2013 and the start of a new era...I hope :)

[tenpm]

This season was the first that I've watched properly since 2005 or so. Well, a lot has changed in these years!
Solberg was at the peak of his career then, and even after all these years I still had some lingering loyalty for him as a born and bred Subaru fan. I was saddened to see that he's obviously not at his best anymore. I always preferred his aggressive approach over Loeb's, but his driving was riddled with errors. "To finish first, first you have to finish" indeed.
But I did enjoy this year's rallies, and I'm looking forward to next year (and beyond). Now that Loeb is not going to be there to set the standard, I wonder who is going to step up.

[Ripplin]

If by some miracle the Polo is a great car from beginning to end, next year could be huge for VW. They have the talent to potentially win every round! (in a perfect VW universe, haha)