WRC Germany Aug 17-19 Talk/Results

[Weasel 555]

The second asphalt rally of the season is held in the wine-producing Mosel region, near to the historic city of Trier. This may be a pure asphalt event, but it has one of the widest varieties of sealed surfaces on the calendar. As such, it's a tricky event that demands the very best from drivers.

The opening leg of the rally is held on narrow and dirty vineyard access roads that feature a mix of straights and hairpins, making handbrake skills essential. Saturday's leg is held on the rougher tank tracks of the Baumholder military ranges, with the notorious concrete hinklesteins. These are designed to stop tanks straying from the road, so any impact from a World Rally Car is bound to be spectacular. The final day features smooth, fast bitumen-coated roads similar to those used on the Rally Catalunya in southern Spain. All-in-all, a challenging mix.

Subaru Preview:
Richard Taylor, Team Managing Director
"As we prepare for Rallye Deutschland, we are confident of a competitive performance from all three of our cars following the highly encouraging asphalt test we conducted in Germany in July. Petter (Solberg), Chris (Atkinson) and Xevi (Pons) were able to see real progress in the Subaru Impreza WRC2007's speed on the sealed surface roads and are looking forward to the first of the four sealed surface events in the second half of the season. Although the competition in Germany is sure to be intense our objective is to bring all three cars to the finish in points-scoring positions."

Paul Howarth, Team Operations Director
"Germany is our second event using BFGoodrich tyres on asphalt. We and the drivers have more experience of the tyres following our tests which should work to our advantage. The weather is likely to play a massive role in the rally as the region is prone to inclement weather. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring we gather the correct information to enable the drivers and engineers to select the right tyre. Germany is not a place where you play with setup much as on the flat and smooth roads, tyre choice in itself can win or lose the rally. We've done a lot of work with the drivers in the UK and during the test in Germany to determine a base setup for the new car which we're happy with."

follow it:
http://www.rally-live.com/wrc/en/index.shtml
http://www.crash.net/home~cid~4.htm
www.swrt.com
www.wrc.com

[WRXelent]

Didn't Petter hit one of those concrete things a couple of years ago? Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how Subaru does with these tires on asphalt, instead of on the Pirellis, where they used to be at a disadvantage to begin with. Thanks for your updates!

[josnroh]

Didn't Petter hit one of those concrete things a couple of years ago?

Yeah,he screwed up and hit one.Took him out.

[Weasel 555]

here it is !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc8XhYxc310

[RollTideRex]

Man, that's brutal. When I saw the link, I was thinking of a different wreck that Petter had in Germany. Not nearly as impressive as the one Weasel posted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzW3aP5AIio

[WRXelent]

Of course Petter is not trying to crash, but sometimes you think he's trying to beat Tommi Makinens' wreck for most spectacular crash in a Subaru. Tommi was never the same driver after his wreck.

[Weasel 555]

Tommi was never the same driver after his wreck.

^ i dont think Petter has been the same since his

[mbs627]

If I was a betting man, my $ would be on Loeb for this one. He is hungry.

[WRXelent]

^ i dont think Petter has been the same since his

I've been trying not to admit that to myself, even though it may be very true. I've been taking the "it's the car" approach to his lack of podium spots.

[Weasel 555]

Day 1 SS2 Overall:

1.Loeb - C4 - 24'16"6
2.Duval - Xsara - 24'22"8
3.Sordo - C4 - 24'24"2
4.Gronholm - Ford - 24'27"7
5.P.Solberg - Subaru - 24'33"4
6.Hirvonen - Ford - 24'34"4
7.Gardemeister - Xsara - 24'46"3
8.Pons - Subaru - 24'49"1
9.Kopecky - Skoda - 24'57"9
10.Latvala - Ford - 25'04"0

25.Atkinson - Subaru - 32'23"9 (went off lost 8mins)
Chris Atkinson went off-road along the way, sending his works Subaru into the dirt. It took him eight minutes to get back on track, thereby already putting an end to any podium ambitions in Germany for the Australian.

"It was going well," he said. "I took a bit of a risk in a cut and caught the back of the car and spun it around in the road."

[Weasel 555]

SS4 Overall:

1.Loeb - C4 - 48'17"4
2.Duval - Xsara - 48'20"4
3.Gronholm - Ford - 48'33"5
4.Sordo - C4 - 48'34"4
5.Hirvonen - Ford - 48'39"9
6.P.Solberg - Subaru - 48'46"5
7.Gardemeister - Xsara - 49'04"5
8.Pons - Subaru - 49'15"8
9.Kopecky - Skoda - 49'27"1
10.Latvala - Ford - 49'31"1

26.Atkinson - Subaru - 56'46"9

[Weasel 555]

End of Day 1 - SS6 Overall

1.Duval - Xsara - 1h14'10"9
2.Loeb - C4 - 1h14'12"2
3.Gronholm - Ford - 1h14'28"3
4.Hirvonen - Ford - 1h14'33"6
5.Gardemeister - Xsara - 1h15'15"1
6.Kopecky - Skoda - 1h15'37"5
7.Pons - Subaru - 1h15'48"1
8.Latvala - Subaru - 1h15'51"6
9.P.Solberg - Subaru - 1h16'01"6
10.Stohl - Xsara - 1h16'21"2


15.Atkinson - Subaru - 1h22'30"3

Subaru end of day:
Xevi Pons ended the top ten list, admitting that today was not his easiest: "Not a good feeling for the car, a lot of understeering, a lot of problems with the brakes," he reported. "Not good for the moment, but tomorrow is another day."

Petter Solberg was able to complete the route, but in 13th place with a 50.2-second delay. "The steering is broken," he explained. "I came into a hairpin right, caught the wheel on the inside and broke something."

Atkinson: took the stage win on SS6

[Weasel 555]

from rally-live.com
The first leg of Rally Germany was completed by a second crossing of the difficult Schönes Moselland route, made so by its narrow roads and braking markers which are hard to judge.

Coming out on top this time around was Subaru driver Chris Atkinson, who earned his first win of the day with a total running time of 12'18"5.

By coming in second 0'01"4 later, François Duval accomplished his goal: taking the lead of Rally Germany before the end of the day.

"I am very happy for today," said the OMV Kronos Citroën driver, pondering however that winning conditions might not repeat themselves for Leg 2: "My position on the road is not fantastic and tomorrow will be a different day."

Both official Ford drivers came next into third and fourth positions, with Mikko Hirvonen leading Marcus Grönholm. "The afternoon has been very good, fortunately (we're) finding the speed," said Hirvonen. Grönholm, well aware of his lack of overall performance, declared: "The first stage was bad in the morning so we have quite a big gap."

Usually at the head of this event, Sébastien Loeb took fifth place for this stage after losing time due to a broken front wheel. 4.4 seconds behind at the conclusion of this stage, the Citroën team driver is nonetheless happy for his overall standing despite a mistake regarding his tyre choice.



"At the start of the (second) loop I expected to be 15 seconds (behind)," he said, adding "Tomorrow will be better."

We find Toni Gardemeister in sixth position after bringing in his Citroën Xsara with a time 10.7 seconds longer than Atkinson's. Guy Wilks entered his Ford Focus into the top ten by taking the seventh spot despite a spin along the way.

Jan Kopecky came next aboard his Skoda, while Jari-Matti Latvala managed to reach ninth place after hitting something and rolling across the finish line with slight damage at the rear of his Ford.

Aboard the other works Citroën, Dani Sordo started his run later than expected before eventually stopping his car about eight kilometres down the road.

The top of the Rally Germany overall standings now belongs to Belgian François Duval, who presently holds a 1.3-second lead over Sébastien Loeb. Ford team mates Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen come next, respectively 17.4 and 22.7 seconds behind. The problems encountered by Subaru, Citroën and Stobart drivers have worked out to the advantage of Toni Gardemeister, who has now entered the top five at the end of Leg 1.

Leg 2 begins tomorrow morning at 8:33 local time with the St Wendeler Land 1 stage, which is laid out among military grounds.

[Weasel 555]

Day 2 SS8 Overall:

1.Loeb - C4 - 1h33'44"6
2.Hirvonen - Ford - 1h34'09"5
3.Gronholm - Ford - 1h34'09"7
4.Duval - Xsara - 1h34'10"1
5.Gardemeister - Xsara - 1h35'03"1
6.Kopecky - Skoda - 1h35'27"3
7.Latvala - Ford - 1h35'42"2
8.P.Solberg - Subaru - 1h36'09"5
9.Pons - Subaru - 1h36'11"0
10.Stohl - Xsara - 1h36'21"8

[Weasel 555]

SS10 Overall:

1.Loeb - C4 - 2h01'38"5
2.Gronholm - Ford - 2h02'05"2
3.Duval - Xsara - 2h02'20"3
4.Hirvonen - Ford - 2h02'20"8
5.Kopecky - Skoda - 2h03'59"9
6.Gardemeister - Xsara - 2h04'03"5
7.P.Solberg - Subaru - 2h04'26"0
8.Pons - Subaru - 2h05'19"5
9.Latvala - Ford - 2h05'22"6
10.Wilson - Ford - 2h08'31"6
11.Atkinson - Subaru - 2h10'30"2

rally-live.com

The Arena Panzerplatte special stage keeps the drivers on military vehicle testing grounds made of fast straight lines interspersed with tight bends and corners, with the solid surface getting covered by the bordering gravel and dirt.

Calculating and maintaining his lead, Sébastien Loeb brought his Citroën C4 into first place after getting though the challenge with a best time of 17'57"4. "It was very good," he said. "We are fighting again with Marcus."

Ford's Marcus Grönholm took second position 2.2 seconds later, followed by Subaru's Chris Atkinson. The Australian came in 4.9 seconds slower than Loeb, reporting massive understeer. OMV Kronos Citroën's François Duval took the fourth spot, albeit ten seconds after the stage winner.

Mikko Hirvonen rolled into fifth place with obvious damage to the left side of his official Ford Focus. It was a near-miss that could have cost him: "There was a very fast sector with a lot of gravel, we hit a hay bale," he explained. "Everything is OK with the car."

Petter Solberg's Subaru came next in sixth position with a 17-second delay, still affected by very problematic control. "No steering, no chance, no feeling," he dejectedly laughed in explanation. "I can't get a proper feeling."

Jan Kopecky took seventh place almost a half-minute longer than the best time.

He explained that his Skoda Fabia's engine is fine, but that problems lie when the RPMs go down.