real life 2020 FIA World Rally Championship

[PaloSamo 0]

At the end of the highlights show Andreas Mikkelsen said he will be the guest reporter for Rally Sweden. No drive for him, then?

[Ruben Correa Alves 28]

I guess he gambled for the VW deal to be successful for Sweden back when those negotiations started.

[dwkGravey 0]

I think the Yaris gets the award for best looking and sounding car.

Red Bull TV gets the award for feels-most-like-Sky-F1. I liked the segment where Webber and Chen drive a stage in a road car, and hope there's more stuff like that, plus Chen's Going Straight Sideways series. RBTV also collects the award for best maps, although I'm not less hot on the "speed section"/"twisting section" stuff.

Bring on Sweden.

[bogani 756]

I think the Yaris look silly. I like the Hyundai the best to be honest.

[tbtstt 2,387]

bogani said:

I think the Yaris look silly. I like the Hyundai the best to be honest.

I'm torn between the Hyundai and the Ford as the best looking car. I think the i20 looks the least radical of all the new cars, the Fiesta looks mad and sounds great.  

The Yaris does sound good, but it looks like a box: it's like a modern 6R4! 

Looking forward to seeing some video of the cars from @Rallycameraman. 

[Dytut 89]

I have to say I really like the i20 more and more, looks great out on stage and the livery really fits it well. 

But when it comes to sound the Yaris wins hands down. 

[Dytut 89]

Oh BTW for those that don't have WRC+; Ford was there at the end and spoke of working tighter with Malcolm... I dunno, but it sounded a bit like Ford might return as a works team :-)

[gfRally 449]

I know Monte is unique, but if this is a small slice of what the whole season will be, it will really be exciting.  It would be great to see a mixup in wins for each rally, though I am happy for Ogier this time, he was really consistent.  

Yaris...   I guess its growing on me, I saw one shot on RBTV where the exhaust looked like a small afterburner, constant blue jet of flames, and I'm now in love.  It sounds incredible too.

Just a side note:  Personally I don't think any WRC car has ever looked like a dream, not the way a Ferrari or Mclaren looks, maybe a Porsche.  I see them for their engineering and sound, that being the case, I'm becoming a big fan of Toyota right now! 

[PaloSamo 0]

Dytut said:

Oh BTW for those that don't have WRC+; Ford was there at the end and spoke of working tighter with Malcolm... I dunno, but it sounded a bit like Ford might return as a works team :-)

I don't have WRC+ and I heard it too. BT Sport 2 had live coverage of Col de Turini Power Stage. And I don't like posting via smartphone because it puts your post within a quote.

[tbtstt 2,387]

gfRally said:

Just a side note:  Personally I don't think any WRC car has ever looked like a dream, not the way a Ferrari or Mclaren looks, maybe a Porsche.  I see them for their engineering and sound, that being the case, I'm becoming a big fan of Toyota right now! 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: I would pick a Fiesta WRCar to own over any current Ferrari without hesitation! 

[RallyDriven 398]

I think Hyundai will be very strong this year, especially if Neuville is back in the same form he was in a few years back when he was in a fiesta. Hopefully Paddon isn't put off by this weekends events and continues his recent form, although we know his tarmac speed isn't brilliant.

Citroen is a bit unknown right now. I don't now why they didn't put Breen in the C3 this weekend instead of Lefervebevebevre. 

Im not convinced on the Yaris from this weekend, it didn't look great through the slow corners. I'm guessing that all the aero works brilliantly on the fast stuff, but is possibly a hinderence on the slow corners

Ford, will, they've got Ogier, so that's an immediate advantage! The car didn't look as planted to the ground compared to the Hyundai 

[Dytut 89]

RallyDriven said:

I think Hyundai will be very strong this year, especially if Neuville is back in the same form he was in a few years back when he was in a fiesta. Hopefully Paddon isn't put off by this weekends events and continues his recent form, although we know his tarmac speed isn't brilliant.

Citroen is a bit unknown right now. I don't now why they didn't put Breen in the C3 this weekend instead of Lefervebevebevre. 

Im not convinced on the Yaris from this weekend, it didn't look great through the slow corners. I'm guessing that all the aero works brilliantly on the fast stuff, but is possibly a hinderence on the slow corners

Ford, will, they've got Ogier, so that's an immediate advantage! The car didn't look as planted to the ground compared to the Hyundai 

Citroën only have two cars for the start, so I think the primary reason is that they think Breen will have the best chance in Sweden. Also I suspect they want a french driver in their french car while in france ;-)

[KevM 44]

Im hopeful that this year will be more of a mixed bag.  

All of the cars displayed merits & pace at Monte at different points on the rally.  If that continues throughout the year, the Championship won't be the usual foregone conclusion.

I would be of the opinion that Citroen have the weakest driver line up of the bunch. :(

[Ruben Correa Alves 28]

RallyDriven said:

Lefervebevebevre

That's exactly how it sounds in my head when I read that name. :D

[SRD_SimVansevenant 863]

gfRally said:

I know Monte is unique, but if this is a small slice of what the whole season will be, it will really be exciting.  It would be great to see a mixup in wins for each rally, though I am happy for Ogier this time, he was really consistent.  

Did you watch last years event? Just kidding. However Ogier wasn't really consistent now was he? He made at least 3 mistakes and his times weren't consistent. :wink:
It will indeed be an interesting season in my opinion.

[Dytut 89]

KevM said:

Im hopeful that this year will be more of a mixed bag.  

All of the cars displayed merits & pace at Monte at different points on the rally.  If that continues throughout the year, the Championship won't be the usual foregone conclusion.

I would be of the opinion that Citroen have the weakest driver line up of the bunch. :(

Breen and Lefebvre are wildcards. Breen showed quite good pace in Monte, so hopefully he'll have his confidence up and can manage some good points for the year. Lefebvre is a weird one, can be fast at some stages then exceptionally slow a few stages later. But Meeke and Breen might be able to rack up some good points for them, so I wouldn't write off Citroën for the manufacturers championship. Don't think Meeke has what it takes to fight for the driver's title though.

[KevM 44]

He needs to realise he's driving for a team, not himself.  You'd think he'd realise that its better to loss 10 seconds than loss a wheel.  Breen really showed maturity.  His attitude was perfect toward the rally.  He knew he had a disadvantage in the dry open stages but didn't overdrive it to 'try' to keep up.

[YoMrWhite 11]

KevM said:

He needs to realise he's driving for a team, not himself.  You'd think he'd realise that its better to loss 10 seconds than loss a wheel.  Breen really showed maturity.  His attitude was perfect toward the rally.  He knew he had a disadvantage in the dry open stages but didn't overdrive it to 'try' to keep up.

Breen has been impressive, in my opinion. He had some good rallies last year, also. And don't forget he has the least experience of all works drivers. If he continues like this, he may soon challenge Meeke as Citroens lead driver. I really like Meeke - he is fast and you just have to root for someone who gets his big career opportunity at 35+ years. But he still makes too much mistakes to be a constant threat for someone as consistent and fast as Ogier. I just hope he has already used up his bad luck for the first half of the championship in Monte Carlo.

[KevM 44]

Luck?  If Meeke won the lottery, he'd loss his ticket!!

Dunno about the luck, but he's certainly used all his spare struts for the first half of the championship in Monte Carlo 

lol

[RallyDriven 398]

Id say pretty much every driver has the speed to match Ogier, but none are as consistent as him at both maintaining that speed and keeping the car on the road. For me, the his biggest rivals are Neuville, Paddon and Meeke, with Breen showing a lot of potential, but maybe not this year

[KevM 44]

Breen would be well conditioned for driving on tarmac in difficult conditions.  He may. It be just as comfortable on other surfaces, time will tell.  I'd love to see him having consistency for Citroen

[Azoresst 6]

RallyDriven said:

Id say pretty much every driver has the speed to match Ogier, but none are as consistent as him at both maintaining that speed and keeping the car on the road. For me, the his biggest rivals are Neuville, Paddon and Meeke, with Breen showing a lot of potential, but maybe not this year

Hum, I would agree with Neuville, Paddon and Meeke, but I would include Tanak too, If it wasn't the problems with the car he would have finished in 2nd and he showed some speed and consistency.

[RallyDriven 398]

Azoresst said:

RallyDriven said:

Id say pretty much every driver has the speed to match Ogier, but none are as consistent as him at both maintaining that speed and keeping the car on the road. For me, the his biggest rivals are Neuville, Paddon and Meeke, with Breen showing a lot of potential, but maybe not this year

Hum, I would agree with Neuville, Paddon and Meeke, but I would include Tanak too, If it wasn't the problems with the car he would have finished in 2nd and he showed some speed and consistency.

Yeah good point, Tanak is also well up there and is improving. I think this season could be incredibly interesting, even if it does turn into Ogier dominance, the fight over the remaining places could be pretty good!

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

I heard one of the RBTV commentators mention the wings causing problems for the Yarris at low speed and then someone here....  No.  Sthap!

Wings only do *anything* at high speed.

[RallyDriven 398]

Yeah, I dont know a lot about it, but to me it looked like the Yaris was built to handle at high speeds with the aero, and at low speeds it just looked twitch and undrivable. Did you see how many times latvala spun on hairpins this weekend?