World Rally Championship 2022

The new WRC season is upon us in a few weeks.

Lots of testing at the moment with the new era of cars.

Craig Breen has a scarry off today 12/01


https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/m-sports-craig-breen-unscathed-after-wrc-monte-carlo-testing-crash/7215763/

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/m-sport-working-to-resume-test-after-breen-crash/

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/podcast-wrc-2022s-hybrid-question-marks/

CD

ouch...

Well it all kicks off tomorrow. Even though the Puma looks great in Red Bull livery personally I think the whole Hybrid thing is a bit of a red herring and the more I read about it the more I think its a missed opportunity however if it brings another manufacturer or so in then all the good. As it stands we could see a Rally2 car at the pointy end of the results which will be interesting and despite this weeks sad news that there wont be a NI/UK round after all am hoping that Breen/Evans and even Greensmith have great years that will stir up some press interest in this part of the world.

so the two Sebs locked together after day one...cars do look good off the line....

breen doing well...
quite a few offs....

amazing result for loeb, considering ...undeniably class act
well done breen, excellent podium..
bodes well for the blue oval...

New era, new cars, top two with new navigators, and Loeb only finished the Dakar last weekend in 2nd - he has to be the greatest of all time.

Fantastic rally for Ford 1 - 3 - 5

Great result for Breen, as he said he could go for points for the first time, rather than playing the team player and letting a team mate past.

Bad luck for Evans he was the only one hanging onto Loeb & Ogier

CD

How it was done

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/loeb-and-m-sport-answered-every-question-over-them/

Some big crashes already for the Rally1 cars. The safety cells seem to hold up well but the doors seem to come off a lot more easily than the last gen of cars which is a tad worrying..

Sal the 2nd wrote:Some big crashes already for the Rally1 cars. The safety cells seem to hold up well but the doors seem to come off a lot more easily than the last gen of cars which is a tad worrying..

I thought exactly the same

Evans crashed out this morning.. under pressure following time penalty i believe...

What a start to the JWRC by our Fermanagh man Jon Armstrong

Rally Portugal this weekend. The first time the new cars have been on gravel.

Interesting piece from RalioS4C about why the hybrid system was turned off last rally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-kccfvgHcY

and check this one out too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODpS9XxBixw

Chris

Shakedown was interesting-evans, breen or Loeb top of the
table would work for me

Loeb out-big bang 20M into SS5 LOUSÃ 2

Yes, saw the vid. Slid wide on first corner and removed the rear wheel against a huge concrete wall. Was leading at the time. Gutted. Shows how good he is and makes me wish he was prepared to do a full season in the Puma as he is a cut above 95% of the drivers (which is no criticism of them).

Another rally of attrition however at least Craig had a decent finish this time around. Elfyn had a another rally to forget though.

Craig would have taken that at the start of play.

...and look a bit further down the finishers and Chris Ingram is putting in some good finishes in the Junior class.

Three finishes inside the top 15 in the last three rallies

Chris

CDM wrote:...and look a bit further down the finishers and Chris Ingram is putting in some good finishes in the Junior class.

Three finishes inside the top 15 in the last three rallies

Chris

yes Chris - i've been keeping an eye on his performances.

man that safari was hard work for the drivers and their yokes...

Estonia this weekend. Would love Elfyn to get his season back on track and Craig to get a podium at least but Kalle is on a roll and would be hard to bet against.

Sal the 2nd wrote:Estonia this weekend. Would love Elfyn to get his season back on track and Craig to get a podium at least but Kalle is on a roll and would be hard to bet against.

Kalle's title i'm pretty certain

Looks even more like that after yesterday's result

Sal the 2nd wrote:Looks even more like that after yesterday's result

Indeed and looks like Evans chance of a world title may have slipped by as Kalle is rapid and a class apart at the moment