World Rally Championship

[Krys TOFF]

0.3 second !!!!

The shortest time difference in WRC history between a 1st and a 2nd driver of a rally !
Previous shortest was McRae 2.1 second before Sainz almost 10 years ago. But this weekend Gronholm was faster than Loeb for only 0.3 second after New-Zealand rally.
These 2 drivers are really above anyone else, Hirvonen is 3rd at 1'42" of the leaders...

For the championship, with 5 remaining rallies to race, Gronholm has now 10 points in advance compared to Loeb in general classification. Loeb have to win all 5 remaining rallies to be world champion in case Gronholm is always 2nd.
One help for Loeb : Duval (2nd in Germany and always fast on paved/tar roads) will race in Spain. This may help Loeb like in Germany if Duval manage to finish 2nd there again behind Loeb. We will see.

[CTG]

Go Loeb!!!

[CTG]

R.I.P. Colin McRae!

[Chulk]

Strange helicopter accident. A minute of silence in memory of Colin McRae, the first british ever to win World Rally Championship.

[CTG]

Loeb vs Gr?nholm, last round... Maybe the only sport for me with a french favorite.

[Krys TOFF]

...And Loeb is World Champion for the 4th time in a row.
As Gronholm decided to retire, who will be able to match Loeb next year ? His teammate Sordo ho improved a lot this year ? Hirvonen who was the only one beeing able to win a rally except the 2 masters ? Maybe, but probably not. Makinen's record (4 times world champion in a row) is now also Loeb's record, and next year Loeb will be the only one to be world champion 5 times in a row !
Gronholm had his chance but failed to manage the pressure in Japan and Ireland. Loeb made also a mistake in Japan, but perfectly managed the pressure in Ireland and in UK. Loeb is really THE master of WRC.

[CTG]

Loeb won't have any serious opponents in 2008. WRC will get boring soon.

[CTG]

Citroen is still far the best car - or at least it seems like that after the first day of Monte Carlo Rally.

[Krys TOFF]

Citroen is still far the best car - or at least it seems like that after the first day of Monte Carlo Rally.

No, this is because there is almost no icy part, so it's like any paved road event : Loeb, Sordo and Duval are the specialists. Hirvonen is much better with dirt fast roads. We can expect a Citroen 1st and 2nd place for all paved road rallies (Monte-Carlo, Germany, ...) this year, as Gronholm is retired and Sordo is improving every year. Duval could have been a tough opponent if he was not with a brand new co-pilot.

[CTG]

Loeb - others 1-0

[CTG]

Latvala can be the new top opponent for Loeb, he's really good!

[Paleke]

Allright, tonight I'm leaving to watch the Rally of Argentina, I'll post some pictures on sunday

[Krys TOFF]

Good start from Hirvonen, but he made a mistake and had to retire. He can come back today with "super-rally" feature, but podium is lost for sure.
Latvalla lost a lot of time in 2nd step (9 minutes).
Loeb simply stayed on the road without too much risks, so he is now easy leader 1'30" before Atkinson and 1'38" before Peter Solberg. Subaru is coming back to the podiumers it seems with the help of Ford drivers mistakes.
Battle for 4th place so far is between Galli (Ford Stobbart) and Sordo (Citroen), Gally took the advantage at the end of day 1 and is now 19 seconds before Sordo. Galli may harrass Solberg on saturday as he came back only 9 seconds behind him.
Latvalla is 8th so far, 9'27" behind Loeb.

[Paleke]

Picture of the rally!!!  (Pre PhotoShop and resized to 1 MP)



EDIT: Oh, BTW, Loeb won again (Congratulations, Krys?), Atkinson finished second (Yeah! for Subaru ) and Sordo third (Yeah! for... someone). Solberg (my favourite) couldn't finish due some electrical troubles ( )

[Ayrton]

Buena foto Paleke !!