real life 2020 FIA World Rally Championship

[PJTierney 3,460]

 

[Dytut 67]

That's weird...

Oh well, we have fun news:

https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/december-2019/pirelli-tyres/page/6910--12-12-.html

It's confirmed, Pirelli tyres for next year. New tyres means more unpredictable stuff as the drivers get used to it, which is something I always like 🙂

[PJTierney 3,460]

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/147699/wrc-cars-will-get-hybrid-boost-on-stages-from-2022

 

Hybrid boosts added in 2022 season 🙂 

[richie 465]

This is going to be interesting. Hybrid power has the advantage that you can reduce the number of cylinders and displacement and improve weight distribution as the engine gets lighter and smaller. The Porsche 919 e.g. was producing around 1000HP with only 2L displacement and a V4. 

Current gen WRC cars are producing 280kW, that means they'll have to reduce boost pressure or fuel flow maybe (?) to get to 180kW with the combustion engine + 100kW from the electric motors, as the engines are already rather small. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by richie

[Dytut 67]

So M-Sport has announced their lineup, which I like for what they're trying to do.

Lappi and Suninen as main team, Greensmith doing 9 events.

So what question marks remain?

We have the main team drivers ready for each team, the question is if Hyundai and Toyota will send out a B-team aswell. We know that Toyota probably will have Latvala on a few rallies under Makinen racing, and also that Katsuta will have a few outings.

Hyundai has hinted that they want to field Breen in a fourth car a few times. Although we know from the past year that Adamo isn't afraid to mix up his driver lineup if he wants to. Mikkelsen might show up in that B-team aswell, though I doubt it.

I wonder if any of the teams will give Solberg a chance for a round or two if he proves himself in WRC2?

[tbtstt 2,019]

1 hour ago, Dytut said:

Lappi and Suninen as main team, Greensmith doing 9 events.

Very disappointed not to see Meeke or Breen in the M-Sport line up. Greensmith is a wasted seat in my personal opinion. 

[Myrvold 38]

2 hours ago, tbtstt said:

Very disappointed not to see Meeke or Breen in the M-Sport line up. Greensmith is a wasted seat in my personal opinion. 

If they find the backing they can drive as well. Greensmith pays for it.

[Dytut 67]

2 hours ago, tbtstt said:

Very disappointed not to see Meeke or Breen in the M-Sport line up. Greensmith is a wasted seat in my personal opinion. 

As I've understood it Meeke and Malcolm don't get along that well, so not surprised. And Breen seem to be more in the Hyundai camp at the moment.

I kind of get the M-Sport lineup for this year, as it's kind of like last year. Suninen still shows promise and will probably not be too expensive, and if he blooms he can do great things. E-P is kind of the same, he has great speed but kind of fades at times. And as he's completely out of a contract and still has to show if he has the potential to actually win the championship later on, I think he's the best choice. Out of Breen and E-P, I see E-P as more of a future champ than Breen if I'm to be quite honest. Also, since Breen kind of has a contract at the moment, he's probably a lot more expensive than E-P.

Greensmith was a bit of a surprise, but also very in tune with how M-Sport wants to do the season. He did show good speed in his few outings, so no surprise that they want to try him out for a few more. And as with the others, he reeeeeally wants a seat so he's probably dirt cheap.

[tbtstt 2,019]

48 minutes ago, Dytut said:

As I've understood it Meeke and Malcolm don't get along that well, so not surprised. And Breen seem to be more in the Hyundai camp at the moment.

I kind of get the M-Sport lineup for this year, as it's kind of like last year. Suninen still shows promise and will probably not be too expensive, and if he blooms he can do great things. E-P is kind of the same, he has great speed but kind of fades at times. And as he's completely out of a contract and still has to show if he has the potential to actually win the championship later on, I think he's the best choice. Out of Breen and E-P, I see E-P as more of a future champ than Breen if I'm to be quite honest. Also, since Breen kind of has a contract at the moment, he's probably a lot more expensive than E-P.

Greensmith was a bit of a surprise, but also very in tune with how M-Sport wants to do the season. He did show good speed in his few outings, so no surprise that they want to try him out for a few more. And as with the others, he reeeeeally wants a seat so he's probably dirt cheap.

I think Greensmith has money, so I think that is a factor...

...I know there is history between Malcolm and Kris, but I thought that might be overlooked with the prospect of getting a recent winner in the car. 

[lindbergtommie 51]

Soo.. i see the name Jon Armstrong on the entry list for Rally Sweden in a JWRC-Fiesta 🤩👌

[PJTierney 3,460]

1 hour ago, lindbergtommie said:

JWRC-Fiesta

Same Ford Fiesta R2 that's in the game, right?

 

[lindbergtommie 51]

1 hour ago, PJTierney said:

Same Ford Fiesta R2 that's in the game, right?

 

He seems to be entered in the jwrc category, which means he will use the newer Mk8 R2 provided by M-Sport. Haven’t seen any news from him about it, will he do a full season?

[MacNitro 26]

https://www.dirtfish.com/blog/dirtfish-and-world-rally-champion-ott-tanak-join-forces-for-2020/

DirtFish + Tänak  Also something more coming up next week, maybe R4 project?

[Dytut 67]

Tidemand going for R5 this year, so he probably won't show up in a Ford.

[JorritVD 1,064]

Big off for Tanak on SS4. Looks like his suspension broke. 

[tbtstt 2,019]

Massive off for Tanak and, at the other end of the spectrum, possibly the slowest off ever in recorded history for Gus Greensmith.

[richie 465]

That was a scary crash indeed from Tänak. I'm glad they're both ok. 

 

[UnderclassGDfan 248]

Oo

Btw. do you guys all have WRC+ or where you see the rally stuff? I'm close to buying a subscription for a month, but It's 9€ for one month...quite expensive...and I don't know, if my old laptop can handle the stream.

[virgism 50]

Tannak crash: https://twitter.com/T_Tuominen/status/1220639658293563392

 

 

Edited January 24 by virgism

[tbtstt 2,019]

1 hour ago, richie said:

 

(Slight) off topic: The Gravel Crew is pretty much the best thing on Facebook. 

[Pfei 104]

9 hours ago, UnderclassGDfan said:

Oo

Btw. do you guys all have WRC+ or where you see the rally stuff? I'm close to buying a subscription for a month, but It's 9€ for one month...quite expensive...and I don't know, if my old laptop can handle the stream.

I am in my third year of WRC All Live. It's expensive but worth it. 

If your laptop can do YouTube it can do WRC All Live. You also have smartphone, tablet and Android TV options. 

[BluecatRally 5]

Has anyone seen the image of Ott laid out at the side of the car?  Hope he’s ok and they’re not keeping a lid on anything (for the sponsors) that’ll keep him out for any rallies.  Hopefully just badly winded but raised concern in my head..  one h*ll of a crash.

The WRC+ service was a must for me...  and I don’t regret it but there are a couple of issues that they need to address as a priority.  There’s a lot of in-car coverage and I realise the reasons for this..  Night, weather, cost etc.  All impacts the use of the choppers and drones... but external shots are all important and can be lacking IMO.

The second is the app.  Last year it would reckon that multiple connections were in use and chuck you out (dismissed immediately as my problem by their support).  This year, they’ve redesigned it and.. well..  it’s a mess.  Signs you out between every launch, the layout is awful and directs you to buy a subscription even when you are logged in, and if you want to watch on iPad or iPhone, you can’t use AirPods as it thinks you are casting the stream and blanks out the video.  

I honestly want to support WRC all the way, hence the subscription.  The more support, the more chance of enticing other manufacturers back after all and building the sport we all love.   But they need to sack off whoever is being paid to build that app.  Fingers crossed for some fixes before Sweden.

Interested to hear how everyone else is getting on with the app?

 

[F2CMaDMaXX 410]

That app is a cash cow they haven't done anything with in years, that's the same thing it did to me a few years ago, their support system is archaic and bad, it's really a least effort setup.

[UnderclassGDfan 248]

I bought a month in the middle of stage 11 and watched the stream to the end.

Very confusing, since I'm not really familiar with...err...everything 😅

I come directly from free TV F1 coverage from the mid-90s to now. Never really watched Rally Sport because I had no clue about that.

Just don't know how everything really works, I only know there are around 10 WRC competitors and the rest are WRC2 & 3-drivers in R5s!? I know that Loeb is a 9 times in a row champion following by Ogier with 6 times in a row. Crazy. And last season finally someone else won, Tanäk? Tanak?

Don't know any of the drivers, don't have a favourite yet. But the finns look sympathic.

I don't use a app or something, just through the website with my Laptop. Worked quite good so far, but the layout is completely confusing. Can I watch the stages I missed somewhere?

[PJTierney 3,460]

20 hours ago, Pfei said:

I am in my third year of WRC All Live. It's expensive but worth it. 

If your laptop can do YouTube it can do WRC All Live. You also have smartphone, tablet and Android TV options. 

If Red Bull TV’s coverage is anything to go by, I can see more people going down the All Live route.

What used to be a 30 minute show is now barely longer than 15 minutes.

Once you’ve gone through intro, standings, a few interviews and the obligatory ad for Red Bull’s other shows, there’s only about 5 minutes of actual driving in there.

Shame too as their coverage was what got me back into watching rally in the first place.