Monte 2003 thread!

Only a few hours to go and things have got off to a great start already :rolleyes:. Pannizi has recieved a 60 second penalty because his GPS wasn't functioning properly on the Recce. Damn it - chose him to win in a 'pick six' competion I'm in.

Ouch! Now I'll be cheering for him (as I tend to cheer for underdogs) and we'll see if he can make that up ;)

It will certainly fuel his motivation

Originally posted by huudo
It will certainly fuel his motivation

LOL! I have this image of focused, concentrated and motivated Panizzi's eyes! :)

Well Panizzi lost another minute on the first stage. Hit something and damaged his tyres apparently. Marcus is flying, 30 seconds up on McRae and Solberg after 3 stages.

And Tommi had a problem on SS3 :( There goes my prediction. On the other hand, after a careful SS1 and a spin on SS2 Markko seems to be climing up the standings (not that there is any way to challenge for the podium, I'm afraid, but could get some points)

Burns is surprisingly off the pace compared to Marcus.

Marcus had the advantag of running on relatively cleared roads and threw snow on them on its way. Hence Loeb's fastest time on SS3. The difference with the rest wasn't as big on SS4 either. Loeb in the meanwhile is 3rd!! ;)

Let's not forget, the Monte is a long and unpredictive rally. Interesting to follow on wrc.com

Not trying to make excuses are we Huudo? :p SS4 was a repeat of SS2 but still Marcus was faster than all comers!

McRae has dropped off the pace and Solberg has been hit with a 40 second penalty for being late out of service.

Only guy still in touch is Loeb - he was almost a minute behind after SS4, but looks on track to make up a sizeable chunk of that on SS5.

Tommi and Petter out! Both went off the road in SS5.

Panizzi continues to have an absolute shocker. Looking at the splits he was passed on stage by Martin on SS5!

Loeb caught up 18 seconds on SS5. Marcus' lead is cut to 37 seconds.

Guess I should go and finish my 206 now instead of sitting here typing to myself!

I was to excited following the splitt times!! Loeb is flying at the moment! With the 2 Subaru's out. It's a battle beetween Peugeot and Citroen!

There were no split times for Belgian Freddy Loix, I thought he was out to, but I guess he had trouble with the GPS...

Anyway, exciting stuff!

Originally posted by RallyRaider

Guess I should go and finish my 206 now instead of sitting here typing to myself!

shouldnt' you start building a Xsara instead ?

j/k

:D

The split times are cool aren't they. Although sometimes the GPS data gets scrambled and strange things happen.

Be back in an hour or so to follow SS6 :)

Originally posted by huudo


shouldnt' you start building a Xsara instead ?

j/k

:D

Afraid you'll have to expain that joke to me Huudo, wooshed straight over my head :silly:

Pugs about to get a whippin' ?
Both largely red and ugly? :p

Damn the time difference, and work, makes it difficult to follow the rally.....grrr.....

Anybody have any idea of what the hell is with that spoiler on the Subaru?? That thing is plain ugly!! I like the car until they bolted that thing on....

I guess since the Scooby's are out the spolier had nothing to do with their handling anyhow.....unless it made them ass-heavy!

Ray

I'm not sure if I can make it to follow SS6 live - I'll probably will be travelling home from work then :(

Check back with you later on ;)

I just had an awful thought....with both Subaru's out the Monte, Tamiya definitely won't be producing the kit of the new shape yet.....hehe.....

Originally posted by freakray
I just had an awful thought....with both Subaru's out the Monte, Tamiya definitely won't be producing the kit of the new shape yet.....hehe.....

LOL... Then again for some perverse reason Tamiya seem to like kitting failed Monte cars :rolleyes:

2001 Subaru Impreza - all three cars DNFed;
2000 Peugeot 206 - all three cars failed to start on morning of second leg;
1999 Ford Focus - disqualified for illegal water pump.

So judging by recent history a 2003 Subaru should be in the bag! :sun:

Damn, I missed the preview of 9.00 o'clock on eurosport this morning and I'll probably miss the summary of day one too since it's at 0.15h and I will be well drunk by than :D

Thank god for the person who invented VCR :ylsuper

SS6 starts in 10 minutes, hubba hubba

Loeb just took another 17 seconds out of Gronholm's lead on the last stage of the day. Loeb and McRae tied for fastest time (so far). That leaves a 20 second gap from Marcus in first to Seb in second.

Looks like tomorrow will be a good battle between the two :sun:

Yep, only 20 seconds left now and Francois Duval is back in the top 10 :D

AS pretty much expected, Marcus and Seb are flying! Very good battle, very intense! Can't wait for tomorrow. :cool:

Well Panizzi's woeful Monte has finally come to an end after SS8. Seems he is too sick to continue, don't know what is wrong with him.

Gronholm continues to be reeled in by the Citroens, although only Loeb is in any position to catch him, reliability and brainfades asside. In fact given that the Monte is Marcus' least favourite rally I wouldn't be surprised if he lets Loeb go. With the new points system 2nd is only 2 points behind 1st, he'll already be six points up on the same point last year.

Gronholm is out! Hit something on Stage 9. That makes it a Citroen 1-2-3 :eek:

Originally posted by RallyRaider
Gronholm is out! Hit something on Stage 9. That makes it a Citroen 1-2-3 :eek:

Damn rocks :D

Unpredictable or what! :eek:

Now, if the Citroe could please do a Pug with all 3 cars failing to start tomorrow morning ... :)

Originally posted by ales
Unpredictable or what! :eek:

Now, if the Citroe could please do a Pug with all 3 cars failing to start tomorrow morning ... :)

Unpredictable??

I've put my money on Loeb, remember?

hehe, If nothing breaks apart and he can keep his cool, this year he'll win it, officially.

A 1-2-3 would be a real stunner. For their first full season, that's what we call, presenting your business card! But the race ain't over till it's over. So my fingers are crossed. See in my profile what car I drive :flipa:

ALLEZ CITROËN!!!

Guido

Phil,
It is also depends on whether Loeb is a bit smarter than he was last year......."I think I will change my tires now and save time"

Either way, it makes for an interesting, although for a non-Citrus fan disappointing, start to the season.

C'mon Tamiya....if they 1-2-3 it can we have a Xsara kit:D

Indeed a Peugeot like performance from Citroen! Might be a bit premature to make predictions but I think the Championship will be a fight between these two teams. Can't see Ford or Subaru troubling them regularly.

Yes Ray, it will be interesting to see which choice Tamiya take should they issue any new kits. The failed Impreza or the supreme Xsara? Hopefully both! Unlike some I love the Subies new rear wing.

With the new points system I guess it will be less advantageous but I wonder if Citroën is thinking about team orders when it comes down to the last stage with Sainz and McRae being the more allround drivers.
But than again it's still early in the season and aiming for one of their drivers to win the championship would be a bit premature (but hey, it's a french team so you never know :D )

P.S.: No offense to my french neigbours

I expect the only team orders will be to hold position and make the finish. Peugeot are a French team and haven't used team orders, for the past two years. Besides, a French crew in a French car on a French event - PR heaven! They won't be asking Seb to move over!

:silly: Silly me, forgot Loeb is french

Originally posted by Vagabond_se7en
:silly: Silly me, forgot Loeb is french

And his co-driver Daniel Elena is even more of a local - he's from Monaco.

I wonder what the running order for tomorrow will be? With Gronholm losing half an hour to fix his steering on stage he will be one of the first on the road. If conditions are favourable he could bag some more stage wins, just for pride's sake.

SS12 - Markko wins it and overtakes Carlos for third :D

Yikes! Ford blitzed the Citroens through SS12. If Markko can keep that up he'll catch McRae! Maybe even Loeb...

Originally posted by RallyRaider
Yikes! Ford blitzed the Citroens through SS12. If Markko can keep that up he'll catch McRae! Maybe even Loeb...

I think Loeb is in the clear as the gap is 1:50 and Markko was 50 secs faster than Seb on 12, McRae was also 50 secs slower and the gap is 45 seconds. On the other hand SS13 is a rerun of 11, which McRae won, but then the last SS14 stage is a rerun of SS12. Hmmmm.

I think that the Citroens were just in cruise mode. Hope not, but I'm afraid so.

Last stage of the rally and it is Markko Martin's turn to hit a wall :eek:

Luckily he has finished the stage, but fell back behind Sainz. So the Citroen 1-2-3 is a reality. Some sort of justice I suppose after last year when Loeb won on stage times but was penalised for a service mistake.

Now I just have to wait a month or so for Channel 10 in Australia to show us the highlights package!

Carlos just showed who the boss is - sort of :)

So it's Loeb - McRae - Sainz - Martin - others :Ds

I hope Citroën doesn't continue this, I don't want to make a Citroën WRC next year :cry: and let's hope that the guy who designed the Peugeot 206 hits a rock too in the near future (those cars are UGLY)

P.S.: I mean the colors, the car is cool allthough I still prefer Subbies

I hope Citroën doesn't continue this, I don't want to make a Citroën WRC next year

You don't have to make anything if you don't want to.

Well done to Citroen, a promising start to a new season....perhaps we will have some more racing for first this year as opposed to racing for the rest of the positions like last year.

Ray

YIEEEHAAAAAA!!!!

Citroën has done it!!

Now I thought they collected 24 points on this but on WRC Official Website (http://www.wrc.com/en_GB/Results/Standings/Standings.htm?Year=2003&ChampType=M) it reads only 18 points :confused: with Ford collecting 10. How can that happen? Is Carlos not entered for the Manufacturing Championship and only running for the drivers competition. And how can Ford get these 10 points? If Carlos gets none for Citroen, Märtin takes 6 and Duval 3 oh no, Cédric Robert doesn't take any for Peugeot so Duval moves up 2 places and takes 4 points for Ford.

So it makes sense. Only Loeb and McRae socring for Citroën = 18 points and Märtin and Duval for Ford = 10. This way the Manufacturing title will remain interesting.

And yes, I do hope Tamiya will do a Xsara now. although I don't really like the Telefonica sponsoring on it. Pure Red/White with yellow band was way cooler.

Anyway, I'm a happy fan!!

Guido

Only two cars can get manufacturers' points, AFAIK, it's the top two cars. Although whoever finishes in the top 8 gets drivers' championship points.

Well done to Citroen, though we'll see how the tarmac cars do on loose surfaces. But 1-2-3 in the first race of the full season is no mean feat by any means!

Alex

I suppose thats what McRae is for - loose surfaces... He's the daddy as far as im concerned so im pretty happy with his start for the season :D

Originally posted by crayzayjay
I suppose thats what McRae is for - loose surfaces...

You can say that again! :spit:

The guy's a bit of a loose canon but IMO, for raw talent he's the best.

Congrats to Loeb on winning the Monte. Excellent drive

Originally posted by crayzayjay
..., for raw talent he's the best.
....

I agree.

I think that this season will be very interesting.
I'm not Citroen fan but I'm glad that they showed that they will be strong competitior. We know that they are strong on tarmac and now they have good drivers for gravel, too.

I'm glad that we will not have something like it is in F1.
All teams are strong and it will be big fight.

WRC rules and I like it very much!

P.S.
First Croatian team was driving in Junior championship in Monte and they was 7th with Clio! :)

youre right i think competition will be decent in WRC this year.. i know there wasnt so much competition for Ferrari in F1 the last few years but i dont have a problem with that; they earnt it. same for rally, anyone who succeeds does so because of their hard work. Clearly Citroen are putting a lot of effort into their shot at glory!


ps.. nice models... any Integrales lurking around by any chance?

Ever since 1979, WRC has delivered exciting championships during nearly all seasons. Although Makinnen won 4 on a trot the last decade and then Peugeot took over, the championships were very exciting to follow.

Go to a rally and go to an F-1 race, you all know what I mean... ;)

Originally posted by huudo
Ever since 1979, WRC has delivered exciting championships during nearly all seasons. Although Makinnen won 4 on a trot the last decade and then Peugeot took over, the championships were very exciting to follow.

Go to a rally and go to an F-1 race, you all know what I mean... ;)

Its a matter of preference Huudo, some people simply prefer F1, e.g. me :)

I'm probably one of the few who loves both! Been going to rallies since 1986 and have been an official fanclub member of one of the F-1 teams since 1995.