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[WRC] Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo 2026

Fast Eddie WRC said:
Nobody has missed Rovanpera and only really Estonian's badly missed Tanak here.
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Speak for yourself, the fact that people didnt post and scream here their names doesnt mean they didnt miss them. I definitely miss them both and i saw many people saying the same in different social media comments (not estonians and finns)

Yes, the rally was interesting because of the conditions but apart from Olivers surprise win, was there anything surprising really? Take Solberg out of the result and everything was still the same with Toyotas being superb, Hyundais struggling and way out of the pace, M-sport "talents" crashing again.

So far I havent been fan of the new regulations at all but 27 cant come soon enough in the sense to make things more even and interesting again.

This year will be another Toyota walk over again.

And oh, the whole week when watching Solbergs performance, I was thinking again what Tänak and Neuville could do with the Toyota, as we know Oliver was teammates them in 2022, I know its a different Oliver now than in 2022 but IMO Tänak and Neuville havent gotten worse with these 3 years.
 
Imo, Katsuta and Pajari are proving rally after rally that the Yaris isn't as unbeatable as people here think. Just Hyundai is an unorganized mess and M-Sport doesn't have full backing from Ford for a consistent effort. That's the main problem of the championship.
 
It would be better if some non-winner would leave instead of Tanak and Rovanpera. That's why we like Ogier still being around, to bring challenge, even if he play the dirty game here "not driving whole season for more free time" but actually "not driving whole season to improve his position to win a title". We need many champions, winners and fast guys to have big battles all the time... Nobody likes the dominance from one super human. That's why I'm always loud for format to shorten the stages significantly... That would bring guys to fight more, they would crash less (maybe yes, maybe it would be worse), but it would definetely bring more nail bitting times on the table and not 30 seconds better stage times for each driver who would be next.

Regarding who did the worst on Monte, we can all agree, it was all Hyundai drivers. The only one who shoed some promise was once again the newest kid, Fourmaux, but Hyundai was so bad, slow, non-responsive, many mistakes even if they have bad splits, and once again proving that all they do is to brag in the media, at least their higher stuff.

M-Sport was actually quick many times (Jon proved), but it was his first ever WRC event in a best car and first Monte. So it was awesome even if he didn't finish the rally.

Ogier it seems lost motivation already on friday or maybe thursday, but timewise he could still clinch the win, because he was not that far away. Man McErlean and Pajari, they probably were competing who will be the worst. But some guys take more time to improve. I honestly see McErlean way better than Munster. But I think he will need to finish every rally possible if he would want to stay in highest level of rallying. I think Pajari could reach Katsuta's level or even Lappi if we compare him to finish drivers, but he will never be Rovanpera. Nobody will be, well maybe Solberg? We will see.
 
EstWRC said:
Speak for yourself, the fact that people didnt post and scream here their names doesnt mean they didnt miss them. I definitely miss them both and i saw many people saying the same in different social media comments (not estonians and finns)

Yes, the rally was interesting because of the conditions but apart from Olivers surprise win, was there anything surprising really? Take Solberg out of the result and everything was still the same with Toyotas being superb, Hyundais struggling and way out of the pace, M-sport "talents" crashing again.

So far I havent been fan of the new regulations at all but 27 cant come soon enough in the sense to make things more even and interesting again.

This year will be another Toyota walk over again.

And oh, the whole week when watching Solbergs performance, I was thinking again what Tänak and Neuville could do with the Toyota, as we know Oliver was teammates them in 2022, I know its a different Oliver now than in 2022 but IMO Tänak and Neuville havent gotten worse with these 3 years.
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I never saw or heard Rovanpera or Tanak's names mentioned here or any other rally media I read or watch.

And you said Tanak will he laughing at home so you know he would have had the same old struggles with the Hyundai here, or some unreliability.

Toyota mostly dominates with Rally1 so you have to find the excitement between its team mates. And in WRC27 Reg cars do you think others will be able to beat them ? I wouldn't bet on it.
 
Solberg. Hmm. Clearly a WDC 26 contender. Title favourite? Well, he won the rally. OTOH: he's a bit of a winter rally specialist, he did better on day 1-2 with a cleaning advantage than on the rest of the rally with similar road position to Evans/Ogier, and he had some luck. One of the title favourites, I think.

Evans: very good rally. Another WDC contender.

Ogier: either the winter tyre really doesn't suit him, in which case it's probably the last time he'll use it so no biggie, or he was making excuses. Still, automatic title contender if he wants to be.

Fourmaux: continues to look good. He can only "show potential" at Hyundai.

Neuville: was fast when the car suited the stage/conditions. Running out of career time.

Armstrong: fast, lasted longer than I would have expected the Armstrong of one year ago to last. Whilst he is "a possible future champion", to borrow the popular phrase, he's not a contender now. Whilst he is far and away M-Sport's fastest WRC1 driver and he should get them a much better year, I still think they should have left him in ERC and won something this year.

Paddon: finished the rally. Actually pretty good for a Hyundai third driver in recent years.

The WRC2/3 guys winning stages: congratulations guys, fantastic for you, but it also worries me. In 2027, will some guy who's 14th in the championship win Sardinia because of cleaning?
 
deephouse said:
That's why I'm always loud for format to shorten the stages significantly... That would bring guys to fight more, they would crash less (maybe yes, maybe it would be worse), but it would definetely bring more nail bitting times on the table and not 30 seconds better stage times for each driver who would be next.
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You think 2 10km stages where solberg is twice 15 second faster is better than 1 20km stage where he is 30 seconds faster?
 
Morte66 said:
Solberg. Hmm. Clearly a WDC 26 contender. Title favourite? Well, he won the rally. OTOH: he's a bit of a winter rally specialist, he did better on day 1-2 with a cleaning advantage than on the rest of the rally with similar road position to Evans/Ogier, and he had some luck. One of the title favourites, I think.

Evans: very good rally. Another WDC contender.

Ogier: either the winter tyre really doesn't suit him, in which case it's probably the last time he'll use it so no biggie, or he was making excuses. Still, automatic title contender if he wants to be.

Fourmaux: continues to look good. He can only "show potential" at Hyundai.

Neuville: was fast when the car suited the stage/conditions. Running out of career time.

Armstrong: fast, lasted longer than I would have expected the Armstrong of one year ago to last. Whilst he is "a possible future champion", to borrow the popular phrase, he's not a contender now. Whilst he is far and away M-Sport's fastest WRC1 driver and he should get them a much better year, I still think they should have left him in ERC and won something this year.

Paddon: finished the rally. Actually pretty good for a Hyundai third driver in recent years.

The WRC2/3 guys winning stages: congratulations guys, fantastic for you, but it also worries me. In 2027, will some guy who's 14th in the championship win Sardinia because of cleaning?
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Sardinia have a spot for the last time in 2026 on WRC calendar. From 2027 Italy round will be held on mainland in Rome and it will be tarmac rally.
 
"Crazy" fans again at Monte get warned...

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/monte-prompts-fia-safety-warning-to-spectators/

The drivers were quick to back Klinger’s call for action, with Monte Carlo runner-up Elfyn Evans saying: “Where they were stood yesterday [Saturday] in some places was really bad. But like not a bit bad, just completely brain dead, missing common sense. It’s probably a handful of people that are just not using their head.

“If you’re coming to a second-gear right-hander, downhill and it’s full ice and slush and you see cars have been off already and they’re stood five meters back… you know?

“Yes, we need [the FIA and ASNs] to do more, but there’s only so much anybody can do – it has come down to the intelligence of the individual.”
 
Fast Eddie WRC said:
"Crazy" fans again at Monte get warned...

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/monte-prompts-fia-safety-warning-to-spectators/

The drivers were quick to back Klinger’s call for action, with Monte Carlo runner-up Elfyn Evans saying: “Where they were stood yesterday [Saturday] in some places was really bad. But like not a bit bad, just completely brain dead, missing common sense. It’s probably a handful of people that are just not using their head.

“If you’re coming to a second-gear right-hander, downhill and it’s full ice and slush and you see cars have been off already and they’re stood five meters back… you know?

“Yes, we need [the FIA and ASNs] to do more, but there’s only so much anybody can do – it has come down to the intelligence of the individual.”
Click to expand...

Mme Mouton, we need you back. Or...?
 
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