2016 WRC Season

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Let's have a big round of applause for WRC's latest winner - Hayden Paddon! The Kiwi took a tremendous victory, defeating Sébastien Ogiér in a straight fight, and entered himself into the battle for the 2016 World Championship. 39 points behind the Frenchman, he seems like the only real challenger; the way he has been driving, I dare to say that he can put the pressure on the reigning champion. And the way Ogiér was behaving in the service park suggests that the pressure is already starting to mount...

Andreas Mikkelsen joined Paddon and Ogiér on the podium, receiving a good challenge from Dani Sordo who showed that Hyundai's performance is genuine. The Norwegian doesn't seem quite capable of challenging his teammates for victories, but his consistent form has put him ahead of Latvala in the standings.

Mads Østberg finished fifth; his worst result this season. Losing only to Ogiér in consistency, Østberg is sitting 3rd in the championship standings, which is certainly more than Ford could hope for. The only Ford driver to record a stage win this weekend was Ott Tänak; a nice show of speed from the DMACK driver, although he had a forgettable rally otherwise.

Deserving a honorable mention is Marcos Ligato, a local driver in a privateer Citroën who took an impressive 7th place, losing the 6th to Thierry Neuville by less than 10 seconds.

FINAL RESULTS

1. Hayden Paddon Hyundai 3.40.52,9
2. Sebastien Ogier VW +14,3
3. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +1.05,2
4. Dani Sordo Hyundai +1.17,1
5. Mads Östberg Ford +4.56,7
6. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +9.29,5
7. Marcos Ligato Citroen +9.39,2
8. Eric Camilli Ford +10.16,0
9. Henning Solberg Ford +10.48,5
10. Nicolás Fuchs

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1. Sebastien Ogier VW 96
2. Hayden Paddon Hyundai 57
3. Mads Östberg Ford 52
4. Andreas Mikkelsen VW 48
5. Dani Sordo Hyundai 44
6. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 27
7. Ott Tänak Ford 24
8. Thierry Neuville Hyundai 23
9. Stephane Lefebvre Citroen 10
10. Henning Solberg Ford 8

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Rally Portugal WRC Entry List:

Volkswagen Motorsport
Sébastien Ogiér
Jari-Matti Latvala

Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon
Dani Sordo

M-Sport WRT
Mads Östberg
Eric Camilli

Abu Dhabi Total WRT
Kris Meeke
Sébastien Lefebvre

Volkswagen Motorsport II
Andreas Mikkelsen

Hyundai Motorsport N
Kevin Abbring

DMACK WRT
Ott Tänak

Abu Dhabi Total WRT
Khalid Al-Qassimi

Henning Solberg
Henning Solberg

Eurolamp WRT
Valeri Gorban

Hyundai Motorsport N
Thierry Neuville

Jipocar Czech National Team
Martin Prokop

Jaroslav Melicharek
Jaroslav Melicharek

Yazeed Racing
Yazeed Al-Rajhi

And standings after SS4... Kris Meeke is back:

1. Kris Meeke Citroen 44.03,6
2. Sebastien Ogier VW +11,5
3. Daniel Sordo Hyundai +14,6
4. Ott Tänak Dmack-Ford +19,9
4. Jari-Matti Latvala VW +19,9
6. Hayden Paddon Hyundai +22,9
7. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +24,2
8. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +40,8

[MadRacer38]

DMACK and Tanak are running really well!

Abbring would be hoping for a strong result, no?

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Perfect rally from Kris Meeke, and second victory in his career, making it the second rally in a row where Volkswagen is not the winner, and the third in which Sébastien Ogiér fails to make the top step of the podium. And speaking of VW - it's not usual to see Andreas Mikkelsen beating Ogiér, but that happened as well.

Dani Sordo got some points for unlucky Hyundai; Neuville ran out of gas on the stage, and Paddon had a frightening crash where his car burned to cinders and set the terrain on fire. It got even more frightening when Ott Tänak came to that spot - without a warning of the fire - to find half the road corroded. Off he went, through the wall of flames, and his car came perilously close to experiencing Paddon's fate - the crew escaped unharmed, but the Ford was very nearly consumed by the fire. Luckily, there was somebody with a 4WD car who was able to tow it to safety in the nick of time.

Eric Camilli scored a fantastic fifth place, and his second points scoring finish in row; after a shaky start to his debut season, this was sorely needed. It got a little too close for comfort, though, when he spun on the power stage: Jari-Matti Latvala - who suffered from power steering troubles - stayed behind only by a margin of five seconds.

1. Kris Meeke Citroen 3.59.01,0
2. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +29,7
3. Sebastien Ogier VW +34,5
4. Dani Sordo Hyundai +1.37,1
5. Eric Camilli Ford +4.01,6
6. Jari-Matti Latvala VW +4.06,9
7. Mads Östberg Ford +6.53,6
8. Martin Prokop Ford +10.24,1
9. Pontus Tidemand
10. Nicolás Fuchs

Drivers' Championship Points:

1. Sebastien Ogier VW 114
2. Andreas Mikkelsen VW 67
3. Mads Östberg Ford 58
4. Hayden Paddon Hyundai 57
5. Dani Sordo Hyundai 56
6. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 37
7. Kris Meeke Citroen 26
8. Ott Tänak Ford 24
9. Thierry Neuville Hyundai 23
10. Eric Camilli Ford 14

Constructors' Championship Points:

1. Volkswagen Motorsport 145
2. Hyundai Motorsport 96
3. M-Sport World Rally Team 82
4. Hyundai Motorsport II 70

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

The second victory of the season is very close for Hyundai in Italy as Neuville leads Latvala by 16,1 seconds, while Ogiér has fallen over a minute from the lead. Sordo is adding to Hyundai's fine run in fourth place, and Ott Tänak of DMACK Ford sits solid in 5th. Henning Solberg and Eric Camilli are having a close fight over 6th, while WRC-2's Karl Kruuda in 8th and Jan Kopecky in 10th are split by Martin Prokop in 9th.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Final results:


Thierry Neuville Hyundai 3.35.25,8
Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 24,8
Sebastien Ogier VW + 1.37,8
Dani Sordo Hyundai + 2.54,0
Ott Tänak Ford + 5.26,4
Eric Camilli Ford + 5.59,8
Henning Solberg Ford + 6.22,2
Teemu Suninen Skoda * + 8.57,4
Jan Kopecky Skoda * + 9.47,0

[MadRacer38]

Oh well. Jari and Henning beaten by Neuville and Camilli.

In other news, don't spect to see Martin Prokop in WRC for a while. The 5min penalty he received for breaking a seal on the transmission pre-SS1 has destroyed his motivation and he has stated he may never return to WRC.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Oh... That's a a real shame. I've always thought he has done a great job, scoring points steadily for his privateer team. Hard working guys like that are needed.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Rally Poland is in full speed with Andreas Mikkelsen in the lead after SS5, followed by Hayden Paddon (+2,6s) and Ott Tänak (+6,0s). Ogiér in 4th place is 9,3 seconds behind, Neuville 14,7s and Latvala 20,1s. There are still five more stages left today.

Meanwhile, while the official entry list for Rally Finland has not been published yet, the organizers have said that there will be 20 WRC cars entering the event!

[MadRacer38]

Also, Prokop got his 5min penalty from the previous rally reversed which means he gets 2pts from the event and hopefully comes back (if he hasn't already)

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

That's great news!

Meanwhile, in Poland... Ott Tänak seized the lead yesterday and has now extended it to 10,9 seconds over Andreas Mikkelsen, who leads Hayden Paddon by 3,5 seconds. Thierry Neuville has overtaken Sébastien Ogiér for 4th, while Latvala is fending off the Citroëns of Stephané Lefebvre and Craig Breen in a close battle for 6th place.

This could be the first victory for Ford in ages, and the first one ever for DMACK. And it would be the first victory for an Estonian driver since the great Markko Märtin, who incidentally drove a Ford as well. If that happens, the roadsides in Rally Finland at the end of the month will be blue-black-white!

[kacinoman]

Add some small photo of the race, please?

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Ok... Here's VW's latest antigravitation technology in use:

After 16/21 stages, the maiden win of DMACK and Tänak is getting closer, and the gap to those behind is growing. There are good battles going on behind the leader, as well. WRC-2 has been exciting all around, with Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Suninen on each others' heels. Yesterday, it seemed like Suninen was too tough to beat, but today Lappi has turned things around and seized the lead.

1. Ott Tänak Ford 2.03.51,8
2. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +19,5
3. Hayden Paddon Hyundai +24,6
4. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +42,8
5. Jari-Matti Latvala VW +1.01,6
6. Sebastien Ogier VW +1.06,5
7. Stephane Lefebvre Citroen +1.20,3
8. Craig Breen Citroen +1.30,9
9. Eric Camilli Ford +2.08,5
10. Mads Östberg Ford +2.12,3
...
12. Esapekka Lappi Skoda +3.56,8
13. Teemu Suninen Skoda +4.05,9

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

A heartbreaking finish for DMACK! A puncture on the penultimate stage dropped Tänak into 2nd place in the final standings, handing the victory to Andreas Mikkelsen. His second career win makes him the sixth driver to win a rally this season which is something rather unusual in modern day WRC.

Final Results:

1. Andreas Mikkelsen
2. Ott Tänak
3. Hayden Paddon
4. Thierry Neuville
5. Jari-Matti Latvala
6. Sébastien Ogiér
7. Craig Breen
8. Mads Östberg
9. Eric Camilli
10. Teemu Suninen (WRC-2)

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Rally Finland - WRC Cars:

VW:

Sébastien Ogiér
Jari-Matti Latvala
Andreas Mikkelsen

Hyundai:

Thierry Neuville
Hayden Paddon
Dani Sordo

Ford:

Mads Östberg
Eric Camilli
Ott Tänak
Henning Solberg
Yazeed Al Rajhi
Lorenzo Bertelli
Oleksii Tamrazov
Sheikh Abdulla Al Qassimi
Matti Koskelo

Citroën:

Kris Meeke
Craig Breen
Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi
Marcos Ligato
Alberto Nicolas

Mini:

Valeriy Gorban

Some interesting picks from WRC-2:

Ford:

Elfyn Evans
Karl Kruuda
Hiroki Arai*
Takamoto Katsuta*
Janne Tuohino

*potential Japanese Toyota WRC drivers

Skoda:

Teemu Suninen
Pontus Tidemand
Esapekka Lappi

And others:

Ole Christian Veiby (Citroën, WRC-3)
Juha Salo
Max Vatanen
Sheikh Mohamed Al Qassimi

Full entry list with 114 cars here: http://www.nesterallyfinland.fi/site/as ... _web-1.pdf

With three Al Qassimi's entering, I bet it's going to be a... sheikh-y ride!