tbtstt

Splendid, can't wait to get my hands on the new Fiesta!

Yeah, I agree. The reliability upgrades make sense, but I think the mileage dependent performance upgrades are daft.

I have got a lot fonder of the 6R4 after driving it in the latter McRae challenges, it might not be the fastest car in class, but I find it one of the easiest Group B cars to drive on the limit.

CV19 I assume. They are talking about running a double round at Barcelona instead, so at least the Championship will still comprise the same number of rounds.

World RX Portugal cancelled.

Yeah, that's cool with me @PJTierney!

Forgive the double post, but a few pictures from the opening round of the British Rallycross Championship... Few more here if anyone is interested in seeing more.

Not WorldRX, but the Supercar final from the first round of the British Rallycross Championship at Lydden on Monday: Great race, definitely one of the best Supercar finals I have watched at Lydden recently.

I am reluctant to let you get excited, as I don't want to see you disappointed again when the next patch comes out!

Ha: I read that and was going to post on behalf of all the optimists... ...but you have already done it! 😄

Possible tie in WRC back on the cards then? Just seen this article being shared on Facebook: https://dirtfish.com/rallycross/world-rx/why-gcks-world-rx-driver-shuffle-shouldnt-be-a-mystery/ Some interesting snippets to take from this, specifically the statement from Baciuška: "We have agreed with our sponsors that we couldn’t waste our sponsors’ budget unnecessarily as we can’t see us getting on the podium with this car, so we’ll make a decision about our further plans after this weekend. “There will be a lot of changes made compared to when I drove in Sweden. The shock absorbers will be replaced and a new engine will be installed. Naturally, the team will do everything they can to make the car go faster.” GCK team boss Stéphane Orre told DirtFish “Kevin joined us throughout the winter and has been working with the team on developing the car, gathering data and working with the engineers to optimize it,” So Abbring is back to try and address all the problems he was supposed to have fixed in the Winter.

Looking at the results for the weekend, that doesn't seem to have worked out as they planned... ...I'd be mortified if I was a FORS mechanic. The failure rate of the cars is appalling. Despite all the claims the Clios look no better and the Meganes are going backwards. Real shame to see Ekstrom and Larsson drop out on Saturday, but some good racing in the rain today and a fantastic drive from Niclas in the final.

If it stays together long enough!

Yeah. Kevin Abbring and Philippe Maloigne were originally announced to contest the Euros in a Clio, that plan was later revised to a Euro campaign for Maloigne and select World appearances for Abbring. Philippe wasn't on the entry for Holjes, so I wonder if the plan has changed and/or budget has fallen through. The Marklund car is the only one of the Meganes that has looked consistently competitive in the last year and the less said about the Clios the better. Raymond and De Ridder had a wasted season last year (in my opinion), so maybe it is better for Maloigne and Abbring if they end up driving for other teams this year.

I am not too worried at the moment, as I'd like to think the powers that be at Codemasters will have seen how the previous incarnations of the DiRT series (and the differing approaches taken by each) have been received. They have already declared what directions the DiRT teams are heading in, and the fact that there are two teams makes me hopeful that the DR series is going to remain sim-orientated. The only thing I can seeing potentially being a factor is the WRC license. Is there an expectation that a licensed WRC game needs to be more accessible? Even if that is the case though, hopefully the underlying game will be sim-based (and will we get another DR game between now and the next CM WRC title?)