by "gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
Published 01/22/2017 at 12:44
by "gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
Published 01/22/2017 at 12:44
Tags: WRC
; RALLY
STARS: 0
***spoilers, probably***
A great opening weekend for the season but not without tragedy. If any Oppos go to spectate at a rally, please watch from a safe location and remain alert,
First of all: the cars look great. I love the boxy, wide fenders and the huge wings. The cars appear to be terrifyingly quick with all the changes they made this year. Rally was always fun, but now it’s just more intense.
I’m sure Ogier is just a victory magnet - keeps his cool the whole time and goes from being a minute behind to a couple of minutes ahead. Incredible skills, but very intelligent driving as well since he’s always pushing, but is good at finding the right limit.
Tanak put up a great drive, too - I’m glad he still got the podium place since there’s not much he could do with the engine problems he was having at the time. Also, his finale to the power stage (and the rally) needs to be GIFed so that I can add some eurobeat to it.
The Hyundai looks impressive but it’s sad that I had to be reminded of that inconsistency Neuville can have. One small error ruined what looked like an inevitable win, or at least a podium place. Still, at least he had luck on his side for the power stage.
I’m happy Toyota was able to achieve points, although Latvala definitely had luck on his side, too. Still, he showed great pace at some stages by coming third, and he came second on one of the shorter stages. Only strange thing I noticed about their car was when Hanninen was doing his power stage run, the brakes were incredibly noisy - the squealing was intolerable.
Honourable mention: Breen. Doesn’t have any of the 2017 aero and is down 80 horsepower but still finished very respectably.
All in all, 2017 should be a fun one, and Monte Carlo never fails to excite.
"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
01/22/2017 at 13:03, STARS: 0
This is the miracle of Ogier: Neuvile has one very small moment, car breaks and ruins his rally. Ogier has (at least) three much bigger moments, nothing happens to the car and he wins.
And that drive from Tanak at the end was abso-fucking-lutely amazing. Also, I wish the cars sounded more like Tanak’s broken car did. Moar rumble
"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
01/22/2017 at 13:33, STARS: 0
The commentator’s said Tanak’s car doesn’t sound right, but I thought the same as you - it sounds really aggressive, even if it is broken a bit.
"Hoccy" (Hoccy)
01/22/2017 at 14:09, STARS: 1
All the cars have stage winning potential, so I really look forward to this season. So far the M-Sport Fiesta seems slightly ahead, and the addition of Mads Østberg (and Henning Solberg?) in Sweden will give us more knowledge towards how the cars stack up. I have a feeling Toyota Finland will do even better there too.
"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
01/22/2017 at 14:37, STARS: 0
Honestly I don’t think we can say who has the better car at this point. Neuville, despite his result, had the pace on Ogier and everyone else all rally long, but Sordo’s less impressive showing make it hard to say how much was car and how much was driver. M-Sport had their two lead drivers hanging around the podium all rally long, and all three drivers won stages, but with Tanak’s mechanical issues and Ogier going off the road multiple times it seems like those cars still need a bit of work as well, both in reliability and in the balance/handling. Citroen had too many issues to be able to make any assumptions about pace. Their two cars combined barely had a full rally worth of clean stages. Really the only team one can say for certain is/isn’t there yet is Toyota. Despite Latvala’s runner up finish he only set a top-3 stage time on three of the stages and a top-5 on six.
I don’t think we’ll really know who has what until Mexico and Tour de Corse. They’re all definitely close though.
"Hoccy" (Hoccy)
01/22/2017 at 15:57, STARS: 0
The reliability will hopefully be fixed for all the teams, especially the nibbly sensor stuff. I expected Ogier to contend for a win and Evans to get the odd stage win, but to have Tanak up there in this rally is proof of a strong car. Don’t think Latvala/Hänninen really pushed so we will probably see them higher up on the stats in Sweden. Citroën was a bit disappointing overall with all the bad luck, but the potential is there.
I don’t think the season will settle properly until Argentina. So many things yet to happen with the introduction of the Adapta team and a privateer VW lurking in the shadows. Have you seen any reports from the meeting that was supposed to decide on a late VW homologation?
"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
01/22/2017 at 16:27, STARS: 0
Tanak goes like hell sometimes. Personally I wouldn’t read into it too much until he can do it two races in a row (and the races aren’t Poland, Finland, or Sweden). As for the VW meeting...
http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/if-you-wanted-to-see-a-last-minute-deal-to-get-volkswag-1791398983
"Hoccy" (Hoccy)
01/23/2017 at 01:51, STARS: 0
Tanak seems very confident in the new car, “unlike the shit they had last year”.
Ah, missed all of that. I had a very busy friday with almost no internet time. I wonder how long Mikkelsen and EVEN want to pursue that VW path..
"Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif" (lumpy44)
01/23/2017 at 10:39, STARS: 0
Tanak on two cylinders was unreal!
"Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif" (lumpy44)
01/23/2017 at 10:40, STARS: 1
That Red Bull coverage though!!!
"Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif" (lumpy44)
01/23/2017 at 10:41, STARS: 0
I thought that’s what he said, no chill at all!
Toyota not starting at the start of Thursday was a good lol.