FIA World Rallycross Championship 2018

[tbtstt 2,387]

Got back from Spain late last night, so only just got on the forum! Very tough call for the officials there. Ekstrom was marginally ahead, but I personally think he was too pushy: Solberg had the inside line and was travelling at roughly the same speed, but Ekstrom put his car inside the white lines, so he must have known that any car inside of him was being forced well over them. 

That said, I think it was a poor bit of track design and I am honestly surprised that there wasn't more then one car that collected that tyre barrier. Solberg was dominant for a large portion of the weekend and he at least deserved a podium, was a real shame to see his weekend end like that. He gave the Polo a damn good thrashing in the final though! 

Fantastic drive from Nitiss in the European Championship. My first impression was that Marklund was going to be the pace setter again, but Nitiss was great in the wet on Saturday afternoon and again in the dry on Sunday. 

[Janneman60 154]

Steve, did you get an impression of what they (teamorders) did with Kevin Hansen and what the public and teams/drivers think about it?

I can understand why the team acts this way, but it is excactly why F1 teams are not allowed to have a 3e car and why I dislike for instance DTM.

[tbtstt 2,387]

Janneman60 said:

Steve, did you get an impression of what they (teamorders) did with Kevin Hansen and what the public and teams/drivers think about it?

I can understand why the team acts this way, but it is excactly why F1 teams are not allowed to have a 3e car and why I dislike for instance DTM.

I didn't get any impression from the team/drivers, but as a fan I wasn't surprised: in fact as soon as I saw Kevin was in 12th and Loeb was 13th my first thought was that they would retire Kevin! 

Peugeot Sport were rather unlucky: Timmy looked like he had the pace to match the VW's in the closing stages of Sunday, but something happened to his car, I haven't got as far as looking at the individual driver FB pages yet, but perhaps more has been said there.

Very impressed with the attention to detail on the Prodrive Megane. They looked very stiff on track, but both made the semi-final stage. I found the new OMSE Fiesta interesting to look at as well, seems a much sleeker design than previous iterations. 

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

The call to punish Ekstrom was the right one.  People forget that they were in the braking zone, Solberg was halfway alongside and not able to back out.  Ekstrom must allow him room by the rules.

I have to say, I didn't like Ekstrom in that final, he was being a cock, his move on Kristofferson exiting the Joker was also a ram-like move, more than a defensive move.

[KingOfCoins 286]

So how about GRC crashing and burning huh? Crazy stuff

[bogani 756]

F2CMaDMaXX said:

The call to punish Ekstrom was the right one.  People forget that they were in the braking zone, Solberg was halfway alongside and not able to back out.  Ekstrom must allow him room by the rules.

I have to say, I didn't like Ekstrom in that final, he was being a ****, his move on Kristofferson exiting the Joker was also a ram-like move, more than a defensive move.

Ekström always been a driver riding the edge of being tough and outright dirty.

[Ruben Correa Alves 28]

KingOfCoins said:

So how about GRC crashing and burning huh? Crazy stuff

A shame, but not surprising at all.

[tbtstt 2,387]

KingOfCoins said:

So how about GRC crashing and burning huh? Crazy stuff

I daresay the writing has been on the wall for a while on that. Still a shame to see the series collapse though.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

What happened?  Last i saw, they had restructured their classes for this year.

[Ruben Correa Alves 28]

VW and Subaru quit the series as their cars can’t run. Those two together with Steve Arpin’s team with are going to the FIA American Rallycross Championship Instead. Ken Block took over the works Focus from last years WRX season and Steve Arpin’s team will further develop that. They are doing 3 ARX rounds with Block and Arpin driving.

So with all those teams out and probably not enough to replace them that was pretty much the end I guess.

[Oscar97 25]

I just saw that the first ARX round will be at Silverstone along WRX. That's a bit surprising.

[KingOfCoins 286]

Well of course, they are pushing Silverstone RX like crazy. Too bad the tickets are way too expencive and the track isn’t that great.

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

bogani said:

F2CMaDMaXX said:

The call to punish Ekstrom was the right one.  People forget that they were in the braking zone, Solberg was halfway alongside and not able to back out.  Ekstrom must allow him room by the rules.

I have to say, I didn't like Ekstrom in that final, he was being a ****, his move on Kristofferson exiting the Joker was also a ram-like move, more than a defensive move.

Ekström always been a driver riding the edge of being tough and outright dirty.

Well, Solberg did force Ekstrom into a barrier in 2016 at Latvia. I think last races incident was not even close to that. Also, speaking of tickets I was surprised how good the prices were for US RX. Sad to see GRC plummet, it was a good series.

[Dytut 89]

Oscar97 said:

I just saw that the first ARX round will be at Silverstone along WRX. That's a bit surprising.

So the American RX starts in England. Makes all the senses. Next they'll take a national series and call it the world series. Oh wait.. ;-)

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

Ken Block and Steve Arpin will be piloting the Ford Focus RS RX in the ARX and the World RX round at COTA in the USA. It will be nice to see the car again tear up the track. I can't wait to see it. I know we will see them in the World RX coverage but I wonder who will cover the ARX?

[tbtstt 2,387]

Uploaded some pictures from the opening round in Spain, few of my faves:








Loads more here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22961613@N06/sets/72157692943651242

If anyone is interested! 

[KingOfCoins 286]

And Kristofferson wins yet again. 

I think I need a break from World RX to be honest. It's been too predictable for a long time now

[tbtstt 2,387]

Did you watch the semis and final? There was nothing predictable about it until the closing stages of the final.

Another missed opportunity for Timmy Hansen and a very surprising performance from Chichiret.

[Janneman60 154]

What were those Audi's doing in the semi? It didn't look very professional. They opened the door for Kristoffersson to win his semi and later on the final. After the bad first corner Chicerit outperformed Ekstrom, he and his team are for me a big surprice as I thought they would be the backmarkers this year.

[tbtstt 2,387]

Yeah, very poor strategy from EKS. As you say they left the door wide open.

Has Chichiret got a lot better, or is the Prodrive Megane really, really, quick? I thought Grosset-Janin would be the quickest guy in GCK, but Guerlain is doing well so far. 

[Janneman60 154]

Maybe, because of the Mini's 'bad' performance, we misjudged the driving ability's ofChecerit.

[tbtstt 2,387]

Janneman60 said:

Maybe, because of the Mini's 'bad' performance, we misjudged the driving ability's ofChecerit.

Possibly, but he used a competitive Clio last year and his results didn't seem much better. 

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

I thought the race was good. I have no idea what happed in semi 1, a bit odd I think about the first corner. Really good action though. I just hope VW miss the win next couple of races. Can’t wait for the next race!

[mats27 83]

The GCK Renault looks really fast, would be interesting to see how it performs with one of the quicker drivers.

[RallyDriven 398]

Wow! The racing at Mettet was brilliant! Thought Timmy was going to win, but not surprised Loeb did. So much action in the two semi finals and the final! Don’t know how Johan didn’t roll on the first corner, don’t know how Timmy didn’t crash on the chicane! 

Timmy’s overtakes in semi two were pure class. The move he pulled into the chicane was pretty ballsy! That could have easily backfired big time