WRC 2014 Round 4 - Rally de Portugal

[justbiglee 0]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NMpoAqzJfY

Round 4 of the WRC starts tomorrow with a Super Special Stage taking place in Lisbon and it looks like it could be a bit of a wet one!

I'll be posting up news and photos as and when I find them but please feel free to do the same. I thought it might be fun to run a bit of a fantasy league too so let's hear who think will finish in the top 5 and I'll dish up some prizes for whoever guesses correctly.

I'm going with

1. Latvala
2. Ogier
3. Neuville
4. Evans
5. Ostberg

[justbiglee 0]

49%!

https://twitter.com/DovenbyHall/statuses/451365482990288898

[HRMStealth 9]

Should be a great, drama-filled event as usual :D 

Top Picks for the event:

1. Ogier

2. Latvala (funny how the 2 VWM drivers are first and second...)

3. Neuville

4. Ostberg

5. Prokop (usually very good at being consistent)

Congrats on the forums, looks fantastic!! 

I hope to get involved in the DiRT crowd again :)

[tbtstt 2,385]

Been really enjoying the WRC so far this year; so great to see two British drivers in top seats. Fingers crossed that Meeke can crack the top 6 this weekend!

[justbiglee 0]

tbtstt said:

Been really enjoying the WRC so far this year; so great to see two British drivers in top seats. Fingers crossed that Meeke can crack the top 6 this weekend!

Lets hear your top 5 then

[RallyDriven 398]

1 Ogier

2 Latvala

3 Neuville

4 Ostberg

5 Meeke

Kubica to crash on day two!

[Azoresst 6]

It's very hard...

1 Ogier

2 Latvala

3 Neuville

4 Sordo

5 Solberg

By the way, Shakedown results:

1º        J. M. Latvala VW Polo R WRC    3m05’2s 

2º        H.Solberg      Ford Fiesta WRC    3m06’0s

3º        S. Ogier         VW Polo R WRC     3m07’1s 

4º        D. Sordo        Hyundai i20 WRC   3m07’8s 

5º        M. Hirvonen  Ford Fiesta WRC    3m08’3s 

6º        J. Hänninen Hyundai i20 WRC   3m15’4s

7º        T. Neuville    Hyundai i20 WRC   3m08’5s

8º        R. Kubica      Ford Fiesta WRC    3m10’2s

9º        M. Ostberg    Citroën DS3 WRC  3m10’3s

10º      A. Mikkelsen VW Polo R WRC     3m10’5s

11º      O. Tänak       Ford Fiesta WRC    3m10’8s

12º      K. Meeke       Citroën DS3 WRC  3m10’8s

13º      Q. Al-Qassimi           Citroën DS3 WRC  3m13’3s

14º      E. Evans       Ford Fiesta WRC    3m16’3s

15º      M. Prokop      Ford Fiesta WRC     3m18’1s

[alonsofan46 0]

Not in it for the prizes but I'll give it a shot :

1. Ogier

2. Latvala

3. Ostberg

4. Neuville

5. Hirvonen

[MartijnvH 12]

I think it will be a strange rally, with lots of water instead of dust!
( check the recce photo's)

But I will guess:

1 Ogier

2 Ostberg

3 Latvala

4 Neuville

5 Tänak 

Hopefully Neuville can make it to the podium!!

[RallyDriven 398]

Morning loop has been completed, no one is right so far but there is plenty of time yet! Sounds like Evans and Kubica have both gone off, so that's one of my predictions come in earlier than expected!

[MartijnvH 12]

RallyDriven said:

Morning loop has been completed, no one is right so far but there is plenty of time yet! Sounds like Evans and Kubica have both gone off, so that's one of my predictions come in earlier than expected!

I thought Sordo would do well, but I didn't choose him because the lack of power at Hyundai.... but I guess that was a wrong choice from me :D

But I am still excited! soo close 9 seconds between number 6 and 1 will be a close epic battle!

[RallyDriven 398]

Jari Matti is out, so there goes everybodies predictions!

[MartijnvH 12]

Ah to bad for Jari,... :( But it will make it exciting for the championship!!!

Ohh... btw quess who blocked the road!.

[RallyDriven 398]

Haha! it must be getting a bit embarrassing now, especially for M-Sport

[MartijnvH 12]

Review after 3 stages! (many crashes after the first 7 stages, Latvala/Evans/Kubica and also Meeke ...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilrCkOnTqno

[RallyDriven 398]

Sounds like Meeke had a similar off to Evans. Latvala hasn't done too much damage by the looks of things, no roll cage damage anyway, which hopefully means he will be back tomorrow!

[justbiglee 0]

End of day standings

[Rallycameraman 241]

Fantastic to see Mikko leading a rally again in a Fiesta. I knew he hadn't 'lost it' as that Citroen just doesn't suit a Finnish driving style. Hope his and Tanak's pace can continue, although you can never rule out Ogier.

[justbiglee 0]

Stages 4-7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuA7Kxq4Djk

He's made a mess of that hasn't he?

[RallyDriven 398]

A lot of very unlucky incidents, those stages are very unforgiving!

Kubica is off AGAIN!

[justbiglee 0]

[Rallycameraman 241]

Can't believe Kubica has binned it again. Shame Tanak has gone off too.

[MartijnvH 12]

Stage 8 and 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3VuG-uTte0

[MartijnvH 12]

Rallycameraman said:

Can't believe Kubica has binned it again. Shame Tanak has gone off too.

Yhea its a shame, but both are really quick! but they should keep the wheels on the ground ;-)
But the level of Ogier is also really really high! What a rallylegend is Ogier already!

[MartijnvH 12]

Stage 10-13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR7PK7HdWdE

End result of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal

POS	CAR NO	DRIVER	ELIGIBILITY	TIME	DIFF PREV	DIFF 1ST
1.	1	S. OGIER	M	3:33:20.4
2.	5	M. HIRVONEN	M	3:34:03.6	+43.2	+43.2
3.	4	M. OSTBERG	M	3:34:32.8	+29.2	+1:12.4
4.	9	A. MIKKELSEN	T	3:38:10.9	+3:38.1	+4:50.5
5.	16	H. SOLBERG		3:38:30.6	+19.7	+5:10.2
6.	21	M. PROKOP	T	3:41:47.6	+3:17.0	+8:27.2
7.	7	T. NEUVILLE	M	3:41:52.7	+5.1	+8:32.3
8.	8	J. HÄNNINEN	M	3:42:12.0	+19.3	+8:51.6