"Fred (FreddsterExprs)" (freddsterexprs)
11/14/2013 at 16:53 • Filed to: WRC, Rally, GB, Kubica
1
3|
"Fred (FreddsterExprs)" (freddsterexprs)
11/14/2013 at 16:53 • Filed to: WRC, Rally, GB, Kubica | 1
| 3 |
Day 1 of the great mudbath called Rally Wales is over, and after 3 night/evening stages these are the standings:
01. Sebastien Ogier (Volkswagen) - 14:28,3 Minuten
02. Thierry Neuville (Ford) +3,2 Sekunden
03. Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen) +5,2
04. Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) +16,2
05. Mads Östberg (Ford) +24,7
06. Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) +27,8
07. Robert Kubica (Citroen) +35,4
08. Jewgeni Nowikow (Ford) +37,5
09. Elfyn Evans (Ford; WRC2) +1:06,9 Minuten
10. Martin Prokop (Ford) +1:07,6
WP1 and WP2 were won by Ogier while Neuville managed to win WP3 and keep up the pressure. Latvala also showed good speed and follows in third place.
Mikko Hirvonen is the best placed Citroen so far in fourth while WRC rookie and Ex-F1 driver Kubica ended his day in a strong 7th position. Right now all the counts for him is to finish without incident and to gain experience.
Third Citroen driver Dani Sordo received a strange penalty before the first stage was tackled: The team accidentally picked the wrong chassis for his car and by doing so brought No.9 out, which by WRC rules exceeds the 8 chassis per team minimum. 5 minutes were added to his time which put him out of the top 10.
My guess for tomorrow would be a close battle between the first 3 drivers until someone makes a mistake on the slippery british roads. It will also be interesting to see whether Kubica will improve his pace or if he will keep it safe.
Dusty Ventures
> Fred (FreddsterExprs)
11/14/2013 at 19:04 |
|
Thanks for this! This could be the most interesting finale in years, so many storylines.
|
Fred (FreddsterExprs)
> Dusty Ventures
11/15/2013 at 04:08 |
|
I just really hope that 2014 Neuville can keep up with the VWs. And Citroen needs to get the act together, Sordo is only any good on asphalt while Hirvonen seemingly lost his overal speed. Mabye Kubica is the way to go?
|
Dusty Ventures
> Fred (FreddsterExprs)
11/15/2013 at 04:27 |
|
With their years of involvement in the S2000 program with Skoda VW's rookie season was anything but. Hyundai is coming in completely fresh. They'll struggle fora while, possibly the entire season. As for Citroen, I find it suspicious that when Loeb was around Hirvonen's car was good enough to have a season average finish of 2.5 and his worst finish was a fifth, now that Loeb's gone suddenly he's averaging 5.3. I'm not saying I think Citroen aren't as invested in the program as they were in previous years, but they are starting a touring car program, and does it really make sense to say Mikko just mysteriously got that much worse all of a sudden? Plus conspiracies are fun