The week after the rally: Sébastien Ogier reconquista Portugal

A little later than usual we do the analysis of what happened ruante this weekend in lusas lands. Highlights undoubtedly was the third victory in the absolute level of Sebastien Ogier. French has taken taste to the Rally of Portugal and has managed to repeat the victory of last year, which in turn meant the premiere of his achievements in world Rallye.
See win for Ogier is something that does not end like many, among whom I am, but If there is someone to who bothers him is his companion team, Sebastien Loeb. Seven-time champion saw you for the first time out of their boxes, away from that spirit cold always maintained, after losing half a minute in the incident with Hirvonen.
Not have to look far to find which Loeb does not like anything having a pilot as Ogier in the same team. The was comfortable with someone as deaf to his side and moving to have someone as the young Gaul is very uncomfortable. For this reason that Dani was not hiding during the relay in "rigorous live" of the Power Stage that had seen a Loeb with more desire to win than ever.
 Bad talk from the Citroen is which tells us that Ford is not over to find the key to be above. Its two official drivers are seen to go always very strong, but times out with more problems than in Gallic cars. Stoking while also problems with the transmission and suspension you are sending with the Ford Fiesta RS WRC and this is something in what should be improved before reaching so hard as Jordan or the Acropolis rally. By now Citroen shows bring advantage over his rival.
But if we talk about the problems of M in the absolute category we must not forget of the suffered by the Fiesta R2 of the WRC Academy. Saying it soft, cars not held the impetuous young pace and that left out among others our two representatives and Craig Breen, it had become clear as the fastest. In the end the victory the was a virtually unknown Estonian which as pointed out well my colleague Eloy Entrambasaguas, has gone over the past two years in a two-wheel drive in tests of asphalt and land.

I would also like to talk about The Mini Countryman overproduction that debuted in the last test lusa. Obviously from the first moment we saw that Daniel Oliveira was not going to be a pilot in which look to see the performance. On the other hand Armindo Araujo Yes raised much of the performance and sneaks behind the fifth and ahead of the private. Still own Sordo was cautious saying that a spoiler does not give these two seconds that take them the officials by kilometer.
It now remains to see what happens with the Jordan Rally. Pipo Lopez put it very black during the Sunday, but the truth is that Citroen has half confirmed that if the rally despite the problems encountered in that area of the planet will be disputed. Let us hope that by then we can see a pretty spectacle between the Ford and Citroen, in what will be the last test before the debut of the Mini.

Rally of Portugal 2011: the play perfect comes to Citroën

 Yesterday we mentioned that strategies had reappeared in the world of rally, after the two Citroen yesterday lifted the foot to pass to the Ford and that cleared them the runway. We also knew that Jati-Matti Latvala had tried to do the same, but a communication with his co-driver mistake left him the lead and the difficult ballot during the day of the first exit to the sections.
Thus it has been shown in the first special of the morning, where the French cars have been razed to the ground with the competition and they have placed themselves on the back of the leader, after beating an erratic Mikko Hirvonen conformed with the fourth. Mathew Wilson, who is completing a consistent rally, also exceeded Henning Solberg in a worthy fifth place.
However the controversy would come in the next section. After a prick of Hirvonen, in which he lost almost two minutes, Sebastien Loeb was the cloud of dust left by the Finnish of Ford and I had that lift the foot leaving in that stretch more than half a minute with respect to the time marked by his teammate.

Ogier was still in its task of harassment and shooting down, beating Latvala in the two sections which closed the first loop, stood as the new leader of the Rally. Jari-Matti went on to be second, while a Loeb still in no man's land is located in the last step of the podium. Note finally that the Mini of Armindo Araujo had engine problems and although it remains in the race has been necessary to lower the rate to not break it.
1 2: 11: 59 9 S. OGIER 0.0
2 J. LATVALA 2: 12: 06 8 + 6.9
3 S. LOEB 2: 12: 30 6 + 30.7
4. M. HIRVONEN 2: 14: 17 8 + 2: 17. 9
5. M. WILSON – 2: 15: 37 2 + 3: 37. 3
6 H. SOLBERG 2: 15: 42 8 + 3: 42. 9
7 A. ARAUJO 2: 18: 27 6 + 6: 27. 7
8 K. RAIKKONEN 2: 18: 35 5 + 6: 35. 6
9 F. VILLAGRA 2: 18: 51 6 + 6: 51. 7
10 K. TO THE BITING 2: 19: 57 7 + 7: 57. 8

Portugal 2011 rally: how to see it on television

A new weekend of racing. On this occasion the main dish of formula one will join world Rallye with Portuguese test. And again Nitro will be under our critical eyes that expect to see at least an acceptable retransmission. On the other hand on Sunday will have to be attentive to the time change to not be wrong to sit in front to the Chair or to program our recorders.
Obviously in Antena 3 have preferred to not be the same on screen with the kids of the great circus, which again will be used a few times a little strange to send us abstracts to our screens. For its part the Power Stage will return to play live, taking this time 30 kilometres to see live. Let us hope that after not so they cut in the most interesting.
Saturday 10: 15
Sunday 01: 45
Sunday 12: 30
Sunday 5: 00 pm
Monday 02: 45

Rally of Portugal 2011: Los Citroën share the WINS

Already the first stage of the Rally of Portugal has begun and it has done so again with the domain of French cars. This morning the Petter Solberg Citroen, Sebastien Loeb and of Ogier the scratch of the first loop have been distributed, being this last charge of accepting the leadership of the Lusitanian test.
The first section of today, after the victory of yesterday of Ogier in the sunshine of Lisbon, began with Petter Solberg, setting the pace and a Mikko Hirvonen who lost less time than expected despite having to open track. However the good news for Ford were to end there because that Mads Ostberg stayed good first out of the race after breaking change.
The bad luck of the Norwegian already began yesterday when in the sunshine was straight in a curve on the left and clashed against the barriers breaking a tire. After the accident the wheel was fired against the viewers, ending his trip against two fans who witnessed the spectacle. This morning, when only had traveled a few meters from the first leg gearbox of the feast of Ostberg said enough and obliged him to retire.

The second special of the day we left with A Petter Solberg that you returned to bedevil the puncture. The pilot private Citroen lost a minute in the special after playing in a curve of right-wing against a rock. The leadership for its part remained in the hands of Mikko Hirvonen coming out even the first sections, maintaining a good rhythm on his rivals.
Little was going to last Finnish joy, as in the following special, Sebastien Ogier was going to be faster than him, marking the scratch and placing it as the new leader of the Rally of Portugal. His mate Loeb is second, while Hirvonen has gone from first to third place. Comment also the performance shown by the Mini Countryman overproduction in the hands of Armindo Araujo.


The car out of the factory Prodrive has usually been ahead of the WRC for the private pilots and the own single Armindo has missed a bit of a lack of grip in some sections. Now is in ninth place just seven decimas of Kimi Raikkonen and ahead of four Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Also noteworthy was the good performance of our representatives in the WRC Academy. After two of the three sections of the morning, Yerai Lemes lies in second place, 20 seconds of Craig Breen. "Cohete" Suarez meanwhile is fourth less than one minute from the English and beating more experienced people.
Classification after four sections:
1 S. OGIER 43:22.2 0.0
2 S. LOEB 43: 25.0 + 2.8
3 M. HIRVONEN 43: 25.5 + 3.3
4 J. LATVALA 43: 28.2 + 6.0
5 P. SOLBERG 44: 18.0* + 55.8
6. M. WILSON 44:36.4 + 1: 14. 2
7 H. SOLBERG 44:41.4 + 1: 19. 2
8 K. RAIKKONEN 45:16.4 + 1: 54. 2
9 A. ARAUJO 45:17.1 + 1: 54. 9
10 B. SOUSA 45:34.8 + 2: 12. 6

Rally of Portugal 2011: Sébastien Ogier is the fastest and they move to Ken Block to a hospital after his accident

The Stobart of the Lusitanian test has been movidito. The two protagonists have been Sebastien Ogier and Ken Block. The French Citroen has set the fastest time of the Stobart, while the American has had a strong accident during the course of the test section and had to be taken to the hospital to ask or check doctor both he and his co-driver.
Let's go by parts. Ogier marked a time of 3 minutes and 8.5 seconds in the 5,03 km of the stretch of Judeau. One tenth of a second over slow was Sebastien Loeb, which in turn was Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg ended less than a second of the Cronus marked by the young star gala.
As the Monster team driver Ken Block it too recortaba on a curve and dumps with your Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The car ended more than six meters from the road and the special was cancelled after his accident evacuating both Block and Gelsomino Faro hospital for a routine checkup. It is not yet known if the car and the two members will be ready to start the Rally tomorrow.

Ken and Alex were transferred to a Faro hospital for a precautionary check-up, but are well. We are hoping to bring the car to the assistance to assess the damage and see if they are very serious.

1 Ogier. Citroen DS3 WRC. 3:08.5
2 Loeb. Citroen DS3 WRC. 3:08.6
3 P. Solberg. Citroen DS3 WRC. 3:09.2
4 Latvala. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 3:09.4
5 Ostberg. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 3:09.6
6 Juha. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 3:10.8
7 H. Solberg. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 3:13.4
8 Wilson. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 3:14.8
9 Ferrari. Citroen DS3 WRC. 3:15.1
10 Villagra. Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 3:15.6

Volkswagen could present your project in the next Rally of Portugal

Our favorite television commentator has dropped the bomb. Pipo Lopez yesterday unveiled that Volkswagen is ready to announce his return to world Rallye. The announcement could also be conducted in the near future, in particular in the next Rally of Portugal and the hand of their sports, director Kris Nissen. The entry in the WRC would already be in 2012, with half a season, to dispute the Championship to complete in 2013.
The car that more ballots would have to be the new World Rally Car of the German mark would be The Volkswagen Polo, being also the Joker of the Scirocco compliant with the norm of the FIA with regard to measures. As Carlos Sainz has been rumored he would have a role important in training as a consultant or responsible for the development of the car. To be able to vote this post you must login or register here.
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Apparently, own PIP said it during the past Sweden Rally, VW already has been throwing him the glove to some engineers and the names of the pilots begin to shuffle. The guys at ACE commented that the possibility of Sebastien Loeb is one of the main options once it completed the contract of the Alsatian with Citroen. For my part I would add the name of Petter Solberg, that according to what I have learned already has begun to have the first contact with the Germans.