WRC'15 Rally Sweden Feb12-15 talk/results spoiler **

[Weasel 555]

Rnd 2 - WRC Sweden Feb 12-15



Official Site: rallysweden.com/

Listen Live: wrc.com/live_popup_radio

WRC+ : Live Stages/Live Maps/Onboard Action/Full Highlights plus.wrc.com/

History

First run in 1950 when it was called the Rally to the Midnight Sun as it was held in summer. It became a winter event in 1965.
It featured in the inaugural championship in 1973 and has been dominated by Scandinavians, who won every year until 2004 when Sebastien Loeb broke the mould. Sebastien Ogier is the only other ‘outsider’ to win.
Stig Blomqvist and Marcus Gr?nholm top the roll of honour with five wins each.

What’s new for 2015

While Friday’s territory will be familiar to drivers, about 20 per cent of the icy action will be new compared to last year.
The rally returns to its traditional Thursday to Sunday schedule after moving forward 24 hours in 2014 due to a clash with the Winter Olympic Games.





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[Weasel 555]

Shakedown
Sebastien Ogier edged out Robert Kubica and Mads Ostberg to set fastest time in shakedown at Rally Sweden this morning (Thursday).

The Volkswagen Polo R pilot went quickest on his fourth and final pass through the 3.99km Rada stage, near the rally’s Hagfors service park, to pip Kubica’s Ford Fiesta RS and Ostberg’s DS3 by two-tenths of a second.

Conditions improved with the passage of every car as rising temperatures melted the snow and ice, allowing the spiked tyres to bite into the gravel beneath and generate better grip.

“It was crazy. We calculated the stage was getting quicker by almost a tenth of a second per kilometre with every car,” said the Frenchman.

Both Kubica and Ostberg had earlier set the pace, both drivers completing seven runs through the stage.

Kris Meeke was fourth in Citroen’s other DS 3, a further 0.1sec behind, with the Polo R duo of Andreas Mikkelsen and Jari-Matti Latvala completing the top six.

Yuriy Protasov was seventh, having returned to an M-Sport Fiesta RS after tackling last month's Rallye Monte-Carlo in a DS3 run by the Italian D-Max Racing squad.



click: wrc.com/sweden-shakedown

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[oregonwings]

For those of you that have MAVTV, their are 3 Live TV stages. First one is the super-special head-to-head (like DiRT3) which is always fun to watch. Then there is of course the WRC Live Radio crew which we all adore so much. Should be exciting! I'm especially stoked to see how WRC2 field does. Looking like it should be a great battle, but my money is on Pontus Tidemand to lead the WRC2 class.
From http://openpaddock.net/2015/02/12/wr...live-coverage/

Live TV Stages:
SS1: SS Karlstad 1 - 1.9KM – Thursday, February 12th 11:00 AM Pacific (2PM Eastern)
SS14: Vargåsen 1 - 24.63KM – Saturday, February 14th 1:30 AM Pacific (4:30 AM Eastern)
SS21: Värmullsåsen 2 “Power Stage” – 15.87KM – Sunday, February 15th 3:00 AM Pacific (6:00 AM Eastern)


WRC Live Radio On Air Times:
Thursday, February 12th 11:00 AM (2:00 PM Eastern)
Thursday, February 12th 11:00 PM (2:00 AM Eastern)
Friday, February 13th 10:30 AM (1:30 AM Eastern)
Saturday, February 14th 11:30 AM (2:30 AM Eastern)

[johnhuebbe]

Robert Kubica is quick, but he will most likely crash as always.

[oregonwings]

Sadly I agree regarding Kubica. He's been finding his limits and the limits of the WRC cars though, albeit at a cost. I think next year will be the one to really watch out for him. Although I'd bet Kubica does quite a show at Rallye Tour de Corse later this year.

[Weasel 555]

Kubica tho certainly has the drive and that "never give up" attitude

[Weasel 555]

Thursday evening Karlstad SS1:

Pontus Tidemand in the lead !!




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[oregonwings]

That was a brilliant drive by the Swede Tidemand! Kid is so darned quick! Apparently he is going to try and do a full WRC2 campaign this year (last year he did a bunch of WRX Rallycross rounds with the Audi). I think my favorite run though was Ostberg vs. Ogier. What a great job by Mads! I heard he said "I wanted to show Ogier how it's gonna be" LOL! Fun fighting talk indeed!

[madev]

Watched the Stage live last night, WRC+ is the only decent coverage of the event in RSA.

Quick question, obviously the stages in Sweden is snow, but what does the competitors do in the open sections with the spike tires, or do the organizers keep them on snow covered roads?

[Weasel 555]

Friday

SS2 / SS3: Ogier sets pace in Sweden



After the debate about thawing snow and the best position in the start order, Sebastien Ogier gave an early indication that opening the road wasn't a bad place to be by winning Friday’s opening two stages at Rally Sweden.

The championship leader topped the times through Torsby by 2.7sec in his Volkswagen Polo R from team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. He then outpaced Andreas Mikkelsen by 2.2sec in Röjden to open a 7.8sec lead.

"It's really nice, conditions are beautiful. There is good ice on the road and it’s fast and narrow. On this one running first was quite OK," said the Frenchman at the finish of SS3.

Latvala was only fifth in Rojden, the Finn non-plussed with his performance. "Not good. I thought I had a good run but it seems we’re losing time. In SS2 I struggled in the junctions. The car wasn’t turning in and I couldn’t find the braking points," he said.

Mikkelsen was third overall, despite dropping a few seconds after clipping a hay bale in a Torsby chicane. Consistent performances in both tests put Mads Ostberg fourth in Citroen's DS 3, just 1.3sec behind his fellow Norwegian and 1.9sec ahead of team-mate Kris Meeke.

There were plenty of early incidents. Ott Tanak lost 10sec after burying his Ford Fiesta RS in a snow bank near the finish of SS2, while debutant Kevin Abbring lost 1min 30sec in his Hyundai i20 when he missed a corner after his glasses steamed up.

Lorenzo Bertelli dropped nearly two minutes in SS3 after driveshaft issues left his Fiesta RS in front-wheel drive only, while Robert Kubica, Hayden Paddon and Michal Solowow all overshot a junction and had to reverse back onto the road.

click: wrc.com/friday-sweden/ss2 & ss3


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SS4 / SS5: Three out of four for Ogier



Sebastien Ogier ended Friday morning at Rally Sweden with a 9.1sec lead after topping the timesheets in three of the four special stages.

Having won SS2 and SS3, he conceded fastest time to Volkswagen Polo R team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in Finnskogen, before winning the Kirkenær test despite a startline glitch.

"I had a problem at the start because the gears didn’t engage and maybe I lost a second. It wasn’t a big drama. We have to take our chances now because there are maybe different times coming for us this afternoon," said road opener Ogier.

It was a mixed pair of stages for Latvala. "SS4 was good but I’ve never driven the next one well, and now I realise why. I’m too careful turning into tight corners, maybe I’m not relaxed enough," he said.

Andreas Mikkelsen and Mads Ostberg continued their all-Norwegian duel for third. Mikkelsen held the edge over the DS 3 driver by 2.4sec despite struggling to turn his Polo R into corners.

Thierry Neuville is isolated in fifth, but the Belgian was frustrated with his times. He was 17.2sec clear of Kris Meeke, who slipped behind the Hyundai i20 after losing 30sec with a spin in Finnskogen.

"It was quite high speed," said the Northern Irishman. "I hit a snow bank and it dragged the front in, and spun us 360 degrees down the road. This is new for me and it’s all part of the learning curve."



Seventh-placed Elfyn Evans admitted he was searching for the 'sweet spot' with his driving, while team-mate Ott Tanak was a place behind despite 'driving as fast as I possibly can'. Robert Kubica and Martin Prokop completed the top 10.

Just outside the leaderboard was a frustrated Hayden Paddon. The Kiwi is effectively driving the injured Dani Sordo's i20 with the Spaniard's set-up due to key parts being linked to other rallies and said he had no confidence with the set-up.

click: wrc.com/en/wrc/news/february-sweden/ss4 & ss5


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