Rally
Review: WRC Acropolis Rally
Bumpy ride just doesn't do it justice
by Martijn Kösters
Rough terrain was expected, and explored during the recces, but few would have seen such battlefield coming up. Let alone in Stage one were Sebastien Ogier AND Mikko Hirvonen AND Mads Ostberg encountered severe trouble.
Indeed SS1 caused quite a stirr right at the start of the rally, Hirvonen had major steering issues which would delay the steering response and lost six minutes while Ostberg nursed a damaged wheel home. Ogier promptly retired for the day with fuel pressure problems and would be back on Saturday. Novikov was lucky to escape unharmed after his fully commited run, he went fastest ahead of Sordo and Latvala. Stage two provided little to no drama thankfully, so Novikov lead Sordo and Latvala after day one whilst Robert Kubica lead the WRC2 field ahead of Protsarov and Al Kuwari.
Day two saw the majority of the stages of this rally. Whilst Novikov and Latvala matched eachother's times on stage 3 it was Latvala leading after the fourth stage: Novikov had suffered a puncture and was thrown back a good four minutes into eighth.
After four stages: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+15.6, 3 Neuville+43.5, 4 Mikkelsen+1.23, 5 Al-Attiyah+2.09, 7 Ostberg, 11 Hirvonen, 19 Ogier
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Protsarov+1.21, 3 Al-Kuwari+1.28, 4 Aksa+2.12
Throughout the afternoon Latvala slowly increased his lead on Sordo, who drove more cautiously, to a minute by the end of the day. Behind the two Andreas Mikkelsen suffered a massive brake failure in SS5, completing the stage without any but the handbrake. Novikov had a similar problem after an earlier impact and Ostberg suffered another broken wheel, this time the allignment was far from correct.
Stage 8 saw evgeni Novikov recover from his earlier damage to take another stage win. Ogier reported onboard cameras falling off from all the shaking and battering the car took whilst Ostberg came across the finish with another puncture.
After 8 stages: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+44.7, 3 Neuville+1.32, 4 Al-Attiyah+3.25, 5 Mikkelsen+3.34, 7 Ostberg, 8 Hirvonen, 11 Ogier
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Al Kuwari+2.04, 3 Protsarov+2.08, 4 Aksa+3.42
The final day of the Acropolis Rally was not focussed on the battle up front, since there wasn't any really. Damage limitation seemed the main priority although Nasser Al-Attiyah and Andreas Mikkelsen did compete for a respectable fourth place though, with the difference being less than 20 seconds throughout most of the rally. Hirvonen and Ogier too seemed to be stuck in 8th and 10th respectively, with the driver in front being nearly two minutes away.
Mikkelsen passed Al-Attiyah on stage 12 out of 14, despite the gap being only 1.9s Al-Attiyah adopted a sensible approach and vowed not to push anymore. Yet despite sensibility all around the Rally paddock there were three extra points to be awarded in the final stage. Many drivers reported tweaking their setups after SS12 (also Power Stage 14). Sordo, Al-Attiyah, Ostberg and Prokop were not to be seduced by any extra points, finishing was their main goal and they therefore didn't put in a fast time. Andreas Mikkelsen snatched away a point from Latvala who swiftly but safely made it to the Finish. Novikov got hold of two extra points but the main treat went to the championship leader: Sebastien Ogier.
WRC Greece final: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+1.50, 3 Neuville+2.14, 4 Mikkelsen+3.55, 5 Al-Attiyah+4.12, 6 Ostberg, 7 Hirvonen, 8 Prokop, 9 Novikov, 10 Ogier, 11 Kubica
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Protsarov, 3 Al-Kuwari, 4 Tamrazov, 5 Al Ketbi, 6 Fuchs.
Bumpy ride just doesn't do it justice
by Martijn Kösters
Rough terrain was expected, and explored during the recces, but few would have seen such battlefield coming up. Let alone in Stage one were Sebastien Ogier AND Mikko Hirvonen AND Mads Ostberg encountered severe trouble.
Indeed SS1 caused quite a stirr right at the start of the rally, Hirvonen had major steering issues which would delay the steering response and lost six minutes while Ostberg nursed a damaged wheel home. Ogier promptly retired for the day with fuel pressure problems and would be back on Saturday. Novikov was lucky to escape unharmed after his fully commited run, he went fastest ahead of Sordo and Latvala. Stage two provided little to no drama thankfully, so Novikov lead Sordo and Latvala after day one whilst Robert Kubica lead the WRC2 field ahead of Protsarov and Al Kuwari.
Day two saw the majority of the stages of this rally. Whilst Novikov and Latvala matched eachother's times on stage 3 it was Latvala leading after the fourth stage: Novikov had suffered a puncture and was thrown back a good four minutes into eighth.
After four stages: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+15.6, 3 Neuville+43.5, 4 Mikkelsen+1.23, 5 Al-Attiyah+2.09, 7 Ostberg, 11 Hirvonen, 19 Ogier
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Protsarov+1.21, 3 Al-Kuwari+1.28, 4 Aksa+2.12
Throughout the afternoon Latvala slowly increased his lead on Sordo, who drove more cautiously, to a minute by the end of the day. Behind the two Andreas Mikkelsen suffered a massive brake failure in SS5, completing the stage without any but the handbrake. Novikov had a similar problem after an earlier impact and Ostberg suffered another broken wheel, this time the allignment was far from correct.
Stage 8 saw evgeni Novikov recover from his earlier damage to take another stage win. Ogier reported onboard cameras falling off from all the shaking and battering the car took whilst Ostberg came across the finish with another puncture.
After 8 stages: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+44.7, 3 Neuville+1.32, 4 Al-Attiyah+3.25, 5 Mikkelsen+3.34, 7 Ostberg, 8 Hirvonen, 11 Ogier
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Al Kuwari+2.04, 3 Protsarov+2.08, 4 Aksa+3.42
The final day of the Acropolis Rally was not focussed on the battle up front, since there wasn't any really. Damage limitation seemed the main priority although Nasser Al-Attiyah and Andreas Mikkelsen did compete for a respectable fourth place though, with the difference being less than 20 seconds throughout most of the rally. Hirvonen and Ogier too seemed to be stuck in 8th and 10th respectively, with the driver in front being nearly two minutes away.
Mikkelsen passed Al-Attiyah on stage 12 out of 14, despite the gap being only 1.9s Al-Attiyah adopted a sensible approach and vowed not to push anymore. Yet despite sensibility all around the Rally paddock there were three extra points to be awarded in the final stage. Many drivers reported tweaking their setups after SS12 (also Power Stage 14). Sordo, Al-Attiyah, Ostberg and Prokop were not to be seduced by any extra points, finishing was their main goal and they therefore didn't put in a fast time. Andreas Mikkelsen snatched away a point from Latvala who swiftly but safely made it to the Finish. Novikov got hold of two extra points but the main treat went to the championship leader: Sebastien Ogier.
WRC Greece final: 1 Latvala, 2 Sordo+1.50, 3 Neuville+2.14, 4 Mikkelsen+3.55, 5 Al-Attiyah+4.12, 6 Ostberg, 7 Hirvonen, 8 Prokop, 9 Novikov, 10 Ogier, 11 Kubica
WRC2: 1 Kubica, 2 Protsarov, 3 Al-Kuwari, 4 Tamrazov, 5 Al Ketbi, 6 Fuchs.
No comments:
Post a Comment