Rally de Portugal 2012

[Suomileijona]

I'm very sorry for Jari-Matti! Now I hope that Mikko will win this rally!!

[reppo]

It doesn't look good for Latvala. Now he had fuel pressure problems on SS14. Jari-Matti has a problem on staying on the road when he is fighting for the win. Does he over do it - try too hard and loose his concentration or what. Loriaux is not at all happy:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98476

Ford technical chief Christian Loriaux disappointed with Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg over crashes
By David Evans Friday, March 30th 2012, 13:35 GMT

Ford World Rally Team technical director Christian Loriaux says his drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg squandered a huge opportunity with their Rally of Portugal crashes.

The team had a chance to make up much of its 38-point gap to Citroen in the championship with Latvala and Solberg running one-two, until both drivers went off the road on successive stages.

Citroen's attack, blunted by Sebastien Loeb rolling out of the event last night, is now headed by new rally leader Mikko Hirvonen.

Loriaux said: "We were given a big, big lifeline and we have cut it off. Twice. The championship was over for us really and then we are given this massive life when Seb throws his rally away and all our guys had to do was go steady. They knew they could control Mikko, they knew they could. All they had to do was stay on the road.

"OK, it's easy to say all they had to do was stay on the road and I'm sure it was like Indonesia in the old days, but a load of our other cars managed to get through. It was just survival.

"After Jari went off, Petter had 20 seconds on Mikko, he could have backed off more. It's just such a waste of a turnaround in the championship, we had it on a silver tray and we have put the tray in the bin and then buried the bin."

Loriaux added that the pain was even worse after the Fords' pace had improved with some new gear ratios for this rally.

"We knew when we came here the car was really, really quick and we knew that, in the dry, Jari could beat Seb fair and square," said Loriaux. "We were confident, there was no way they would get away with this one."

[SpliT]

Petter Solberg is now on fourth in the overall leaderboard

edit:
Again losing time. +1:01.6 from Sordo on SS16, after driving whole stage without power steering.

[reppo]

If they can fix power steering of Petter's car, he can easily get P4 back but not into podium, unless Novikov makes an error. I was already thinking he might almost catch Novikov by driving, but da** Ford is breaking apart. Hirvonen's lead looks strong

[rumors]

I am happy to see Mikko in the front.

[Mar]

BTW, can somebody explain me why do we have 2 different radios covering the rally?
I have the World Rally Radio in iRally (in my iPad) and in the PC if I listen to it in iTunes (with the file the guys of the radio sent me last year) with Andrew Coley and I suppose Neil somewhere around. But in wrc.com, there is another radio with Becks and Colin.

Shouldn't the championship fix other problems before having different radios at the same time?

Which radio feed do you guys like better? I think I liked the guys they had on wrc.com the last few rallies but couldn't get access this time (Android phone only).

Hard to believe Loeb made a mistake like that. Should be an interesting rally, though. Restraint from JML?

I'm a bit biased in the radio thing because we are only 4 "permanent" posters in the rallying thread at the Atlas forum, and one of the 4 is now working for the World Rally Radio (the one you were listening the last couple of rallies), therefore... They said yesterday that they also have an app for Android. The one for iPad is for free, but I don't know if the one for Android is also gratis. Plus, they also air on their website.

The radio with Becks and Colin (the one that is airing now in wrc.com) should also have something for mobile devices, at least, that would be logical since Nokia is the main sponsor of the championship. But then, lately, nothing seems very logical in WRC...

[reppo]

Puncture for Al-Attiyah on Stage 21.
Araujo stopped on Stage 21. Could finish anyway.
Sordo stopped on Stage 21.
Sandell gone off the road on Stage 21.
Problems for Novikov on Stage 20. Throttle pedal broken.
Al-Rajhi now stopped on Stage 18.

Novikov lost a lot of time, but is keeping p3. Making history - isn't he the first Russian on the podium
Østberg did well.
Good job for Hirvonen but he is anyway #2 driver
Solberg has also done good job in getting to p4 after difficult start.
Latvala If this goes on Ford will concentrate on Petter.

Weird rally

[Suomileijona]

MIKKO WON, MIKKO WON, MIKKO WON, MIKKO WON!!

[phil1993]

WRC Points: Hirvonen 75, Loeb 66, Solberg 59, Ostberg 46, Novikov 36, Latvala 28, Sordo 21, Al-Attiyah 18, Tanak 15, Prokop 12

[reppo]

They made some history. Jevgeni Novikov is now the youngest driver ever on the podium in WRC and his co-driver Denis Giraudet is now the oldest driver on the WRC podium. Novikov is 21 years, 6 months 13 days. Giraudet is 56 years, 3 months and 16 days.

[phil1993]

Colin tweeted to say there may be an issue with Mikko's car!

[phil1993]

Hirvonen excluded, Ostberg wins!

[sleenster]

Is this an April Fool's joke?

"Just kidding, Mikko. You can have your win back tomorrow"

[SpliT]

Mikko excluded. Stewards decision:

[daanstrijk]

Hopefully there will be a nice picture set soon?