motor

dutchmasterflex · 10-17-2006, 09:43 PM

I still cannot believe Loeb is currently out of the race. Who would of ever thought that he would break his arm towards the end of the championship. I also had no clue this same exact thing happened years ago with Carlos Sainz.. Would be amazing if history repeated itself (like it often does) and Gronholm runs away with the title.

I was expecting McRae to do a bit better, but with the conditions and the fact that he's been out for a year, he seemed to do alright.

redbaron · 10-18-2006, 12:39 PM

^^
It was a shame Kronos did struggle too much with the tyres, McRae and Sordo lost a lot of time because of that. The uncommonly retirement of Loebs car (driven by McRae) was quite conspicuous. I.M.O. Kronos let Mcrae down. McRae however won't have a second outing in Australia....

www.autosport.com :arrow:

Colin McRae will not get a second outing with the Kronos Citroen team as the squad announced that Xevi Pons will drive Sebastien Loeb's car in Rally Australia.

Loeb's broken arm has not yet healed enough for him to return to action, meaning that Kronos will have to continue their battle for the manufacturers' championship without him at the next event.

WRC teams can only nominate two drivers to be eligible to score points for the manufacturers' championship, and replaced Pons with Sordo from Rally Germany earlier this year.

But while Loeb's replacement McRae struggled on his one-off return to WRC action last weekend in Turkey, Pons showed a return to form and finished fourth.

As rivals Ford took a 1-2 in Turkey, they moved ahead of the Citroen team, who only scored two points with Sordo.

After getting used to the car, McRae had been hoping to get a second outing in the championship-winning Xsara, especially after running so well in Australia last year with Skoda.

Loeb targets to come back in New Zealand:

www.autosport.com :arrow:

Sebastien Loeb is aiming to be back in action at Rally New Zealand after it was confirmed that he won't compete in Australia at the end of the month.

The Frenchman admitted earlier this week that the Australian event would probably too early for his return, and his Kronos Citroen team have confirmed that Xevi Pons will drive the no.1 Xsara in Loeb's place.

"I will do my best to come back to New Zealand to win the championship," said Loeb. "Marcus (Gronholm) has an opportunity, but there is big pressure on him."

Gronholm cut Loeb's championship lead down to 25 points with three rounds remaining last weekend in Turkey, while Ford also moved ahead of Citroen in the manufacturers' championship.

New Zealand is the penultimate round of this year's championship in the middle of November, so Loeb still has a month to recover from his injuries if he is to make the event.

TopGearNL · 10-18-2006, 01:01 PM

I have the idea Kronos let down McRae on purpose

racer_f50 · 10-18-2006, 01:17 PM

That's great news that Loeb won't be back until New Zealand, I really want Marcus to pull this off! I'm sure Loeb wont' have to place that well in New Zealand to pull off the title victory, but maybe if Marcus closes the gap further Loeb will make some mistakes for once (wishful thinking there).

I'm willing to bet Loeb won't be mountain biking during rally season next year.

dutchmasterflex · 10-18-2006, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by racer_f50

That's great news that Loeb won't be back until New Zealand, I really want Marcus to pull this off! I'm sure Loeb wont' have to place that well in New Zealand to pull off the title victory, but maybe if Marcus closes the gap further Loeb will make some mistakes for once (wishful thinking there).

I'm willing to bet Loeb won't be mountain biking during rally season next year.

I'm also hoping Marcus will take the championship.. He finally seems to have some luck of his own during this year, I hope everything goes well for him.

Too bad that Kronos kicked McRae out already.. I couldnt help but think if the alternator would of blown if Loeb was driving.

I wonder how Pons must be feeling now that he's #1 instead of #2 then #3 driver for the team.

redbaron · 10-18-2006, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex

Originally Posted by racer_f50

That's great news that Loeb won't be back until New Zealand, I really want Marcus to pull this off! I'm sure Loeb wont' have to place that well in New Zealand to pull off the title victory, but maybe if Marcus closes the gap further Loeb will make some mistakes for once (wishful thinking there).

I'm willing to bet Loeb won't be mountain biking during rally season next year.

I'm also hoping Marcus will take the championship.. He finally seems to have some luck of his own during this year, I hope everything goes well for him.

Too bad that Kronos kicked McRae out already.. I couldn't help but think if the alternator would of blown if Loeb was driving.

I wonder how Pons must be feeling now that he's #1 instead of #2 then #3 driver for the team.

I hope Pons' Navigator could stand the pressure. He was the one who made BIG mistakes at the rally of Germany and Cyprus.

I got the same feeling about the alternator... The big question on my mind is why could Pons do a good tyre choice and Sordo and McRae not? I remember seeing Kronos' teamchef Marc van Dalen on television saying they had made some bad wetter forecasts, which let to a bad tyre choice.
Why had Pons better Wetter information/ tyre choice while he was not running for championship points? Maybe Pons was lucky for once this season, because he is still a good driver who is slowed down by his navigator.

TopGearNL · 10-19-2006, 07:34 AM

It will promise to be a very spectaculor and interesting Rally in New Zealand

redbaron · 10-25-2006, 04:09 PM

McRae is not driving in Australia because Kronos seems to have budget problems. The main sponsor of the Kronos Citroen team, Gualoises, had only signed for 13 rallys. Kronos has not found another big sponsor for the last 3 rallys yet. To save costs they only took two cars to Australia. Whereas Sordo and Pons have contracts at Kronos, they drive the car instead of McRae. According to some rumours, the Kronos cars will not run the Australian rally in their blue livery, but in the standard Citroen red livery.

TopGearNL · 10-25-2006, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by redbaron

McRae is not driving in Australia because Kronos seems to have budget problems. The main sponsor of the Kronos Citroen team, Gualoises, had only signed for 13 rallys. Kronos has not found another big sponsor for the last 3 rallys yet. To save costs they only took two cars to Australia. Whereas Sordo and Pons have contracts at Kronos, they drive the car instead of McRae. According to some rumours, the Kronos cars will not run the Australian rally in their blue livery, but in the standard Citroen red livery.

Thats not good news

redbaron · 10-25-2006, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas

So the team of the current world champion - one of the greatest rallye drivers ever - has no sponsor... emmmm - yes.

Definitely - something doesn't work here...

Just found a pic:
:arrow: http://rally.racing-live.com/wrc/en/index.shtml

The rumours seems to be true...

TopGearNL · 10-25-2006, 04:59 PM

Yep, no blue colours??

So who is the main sponsor now then instead of Gauloises, Citroen

Daggernite · 10-25-2006, 07:00 PM

austrailia is on of my favourite rallys cant wait to see it. I am too shocked about citerion haivng no sponser and the fact colin mcrae was dropped! seems odd.
Just abit of new for you if anyone is intrested. I watched the mcrae rally forest stages on tv. Its basically colins own rally course. His bro alister and his dad jimmy also took part in the rally along with other drivers. And Colin was the first off, on the first stage dude to blowing his engine. That guy is just having no luck.

Daggernite · 11-04-2006, 01:07 AM

Well its the rally of wales in a month and I was just wondering if anyone from JW was going to see it. The first few superspecial stages are been held at the milenium stadium and should be a real blast.
Tiff and vicki are hosting some kind of challenge there which plato is taking part in and theres a few stands and presentations there too by the sounds of it. Not to forget the WRC car!! and the entrie list has been increased from 90 to 120 so theres even more to be excited about!
All for £15-£30 depending what seats you want. Im most probably going, would be cool to see some fellow JW mmbers there.

dutchmasterflex · 11-07-2006, 05:20 PM

Man, I'd love to go to the GB Rally.. or any Rally event for that matter! Way too busy and not enough cash for me to head to London in a few weeks.

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas

:arrow: http://www.rallye-info.com/article.asp?sid=0&stid=5727

Seven times world motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi will be able to sport his favourite No 46 in this month's Propecia Rally New Zealand.

The Italian ace is swapping two wheels for four in the penultimate round of the World Rally Championships to be held in and around Hamilton from 16-19 November.
Rossi will carry his favoured No 46 on his Subaru Impreza for the event.

The FIA has agreed to let Rossi run the number which English FIA Production Car World Rally Championship contender Nigel Heath has been campaigning with for this season. Heath, also a Subaru driver, will compete in car no 44 instead.

Rossi has always used number 46 whenever he competes, including the MotoGP series and Rally GB which he contested in 2002 in a Peugeot 206WRC. Rossi has used this number throughout his career, despite the usual system where the reigning world champion assumes No 1 for the following season.

He says that he uses 46 because this was the number of a Japanese 'Wild Card' entry he saw in a race on television, who demonstrated incredible skill in a wet race. It was also the number Rossi's father used for the first three GP wins of his career.

Heh, it's amazing how some people get so attached to their numbers

Daggernite · 11-09-2006, 10:31 AM

Heres the latest on Loeb and Citerion Team in regards to Rally new zealand.

From Eurosport
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/rally/new...o1003772.shtml

Originally Posted by Eurosport

Sebastien Loeb will miss next weekend’s Rally New Zealand as he continues to recover from the injuries that have kept him out of the last two events.

The 32-year-old Frenchman, who became world champion for the third time when Marcus Gronholm failed to finish on the podium in Australia, has been out since breaking his right arm in a mountain biking crash in Switzerland.

And, according to his Kronos Citroen team-boss Marc van Dalen, the team will run Xavier Pons and Dani Sordo in the cars, as they did in Australia, meaning no place for Loeb.

Kronos team boss Marc van Dalen told Motosport News: “We plan to use the same line-up that we had in Australia.

“Sebastien cannot drive in rally conditions yet – but he will probably do the recce.”

Van Dalen's comments places Loeb's participation in the season-ending Rally GB in doubt, as he could elect to stay away from competitive driving altogether until testing for the Monte Carlo Rally begins in January.