Rally Germany

[Tumbo]

Well the WRC has travelled to Germany. As expected Atkinson on Tarmac is not a good sight, but the surprise packet with the 3rd stage running is leader Duval who has just taken 6.5 secs off his WRC champ team-mate Loeb. Sarrazin is yet to run through the stage but was just ahead of Solberg in 5th after stage 2 hopefully someone other than Loeb will win this one :rolleyes:

[wayno]

Agreed. Time is running out for Duval. If he wants a good seat for next year he really has to shape up. He's got pace, but rumours don't paint him as the nicest or easiest person to work with.
Can I also say congrats to Gronholm. He seems to be running well on a surface he hates. I hope he can keep it up.

[lachlan]

Subaru has Rally Radio!!!!!:D EXCELLENT!!!!

[Tumbo]

its good that Subaru provide rally-radio for free. Its the only site I access now during the rallies- WRC.com is just a joke, in fact the series is heading that way w/ PSA pulling out at the end of the yr and the effect on privateers the new rules will have

[Holden2003]

Originally posted by Tumbo
its good that Subaru provide rally-radio for free. Its the only site I access now during the rallies- WRC.com is just a joke, in fact the series is heading that way w/ PSA pulling out at the end of the yr and the effect on privateers the new rules will have

I used to love listening to wrc radio for a few stages a day. The best experiance was the Margam Park stage in 2003 where Solberg won the championship. Due to the live pictures, the radio coverage was fantastic. I have the 2003 wrc dvd and it has footage of that stage and it matches exactly what was communicated through the radio.

I am worried about the sport, as I see a short future with only 2 competitive teams and 4 teams altogether racing. There needs to be more initiative for live coverage. Bring back the radio and live splits.

Good result for Chris. He is 15th and considering that this is his first tarmac rally, thats a good result. Lets see if he can go higher.

[Holden2003]

Oh wow, this swrt radio is the wrc radio from wrc.com. I would be so cut if I had the subscription of wrc+. Wonder how Subaru is allowed to play this for free. Pirelli is sponsoring it and must be paying a heap for it.

[Tumbo]

from what i've heard the new s2000 may keep the sport on life-support for a bit longer, would help if the FIA reintroduced the 3 car team rule

[wayno]

Big well done to Subaru for the Rally Radio they are providing. Sites like wrc.com should take note. I can't remember the last time I visited there now.

[brchi17]

Subaru WRC report of day 2 from the SRTA website (http://rally.subaru.com.au/Template.aspx?Tab=0&Content=1450) .

Subaru's Chris Atkinson has set two stage times inside the top ten and showed a good increase in pace to be in 13th position with one leg remaining in the latest round of the World Rally Championship, the OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland.

With this weekend being Atkinson’s first event on tarmac aboard a World Rally spec Subaru Impreza, Atkinson indicated at the start of the rally that this weekend was all about gaining the experience on an unfamiliar surface and increasing his speed each day.

After finishing 15th in the opening leg yesterday, Atkinson and his West Australian co-driver Glenn Macneall was the first crew to tackle the seven stages held on a mixture of public and military roads today, which added another new challenge for the pair.

“Yesterday we took it very easy, making sure we got the feeling of the car on tarmac. Today we went up a level and the times improved quite well which is very encouraging,� said Atkinson.

“By being the first car on the road the stages had a lot of loose gravel on them during the first time through (three stages were repeated throughout the day) and there are no braking marks from other drivers which made it even trickier in my tarmac debut.

“Obviously I am learning a lot and improving as I get more stages under my belt, the pace is also continually improving, however I am not about to start to take any risks. The aim is to keep improving and gain further experience on what is a very, very unfamiliar surface to me.

“I am starting to gain a good understanding of the car and have a better ability to predict how it will react in different situations on the varying levels of grip experienced in the stages.

“For me it is one step at a time to make sure that we get through tomorrow’s stages cleanly and to the finish of the rally. However, I am confident that we can pick up some more pace without taking too many risks which is what I aim to do tomorrow.�

Championship leader Sebastien Loeb has continued his dominance of the event to extend his lead by winning five of the seven stages contested throughout the day. With one day remaining he holds a 27 second lead over his Citroen team-mate Francois Duval, who is the only other driver to win a stage this weekend. Finnish driver Marcus Gronholm is third.

Tomorrow’s final leg will feature six stages across 90 competitive kilometres on some very fast and narrow roads through the Saarland farming area.

OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland
Top Ten After Leg Two
1.S.Loeb 2:34:44.3
2.F.Duval +27.9
3.M.Gronholm +1:47.7
4.M.Martin +3:44.8
5.R.Kresta +4:55.4
6.G.Galli +4:57.8
7.S.Sarrazin +7:04.3
8.D.Sola +7:18.3
9.P.Solberg +7:21.3
10.H.Rovanpera +7:44.5
13. C.Atkinson +9:45.4


Considering that Petter is in 9th, 13th for Atkinson looks really good considering he's never done a Tarmac rally before, hopefully he'll be able to keep it on the black stuff & bring home a straight W.

cheers.:)

[Tumbo]

also remember that Atko and the rest of the Subaru gang is on Pirellis and the Subaru just hasn't been performing on Tarmac, last win, 03 Tour de Corse, previous Tarmac win before that 98 Tour de Corse......

[wayno]

Originally posted by brchi17
Considering that Petter is in 9th, 13th for Atkinson looks really good considering he's never done a Tarmac rally before, hopefully he'll be able to keep it on the black stuff & bring home a straight W.

Remember Chris also had turbo problems on the first day. Sarazin has done well after losing a lot of time on day one due to his handbrake being unservicable as well.

[Tumbo]

Well Loeb wins again, from Duval- great drive there, Gronholm, Martin in the pugs 3rd and 4th respectively Galli in the mistubishi and Kresta in the Ford with the Subaru pairing of SOlberg and Sarrazin in the final points positions, Atko did a great job just missing out on the top 10 in 11th