Scaff
Moderator
- 29,920
- He/Him
- ScaffUK
Well Loeb is still out, which is good news for fans of Gronholm, but Kronos Citroen have not kept the services of McRae, opting instead for Pons after his good performance in Turkey.
Remember McRae has a damn good track record in Oz, so have Kronos made the right choice, well we will have to wait until Sunday to find out for sure. Keep in mind that Sordo is the second 'points' driver for Citroen.
Gronholm still needs 25 points to win the championship, with three rounds remaining, even if Loeb fails to score a point in the last two rounds of the year Gronholm will need two wins and a third place to gain the championship.
Day 1
Well a spectacular start with Sordo's car failing less than half a mile into the first stage, so Citroen are down to one points scoring car.
Gronholm rolls his car at around three miles into the first stage and with no spectators around to assist they loose almost eleven minutes 'righting' the car and getting to the end of the stage. So Gronholm has some serious work to do to make the podium place he needs to keep the championship contest open, if he fails then Loeb will be the '06 champion.
Mathew Wilson runs into the same rock that rolled Gronholm and destroys his front suspension, putting out of the rally.
Solburg is at last catching some luck and is running well in the early stages, but his brother Henning goes out in a nasty off, fortunately neither driver or co-driver are hurt.
Gronholm's fight back in his badly battered and bent car is brave in the extreme, with dust filling the car and making visibility very difficult, he still manages to set some good times. However can he nurse the car back to service and still set competitive times in the process?
Chris Atkinson runs well on his home rally until and off and a fire destroys his car and hopes for a home win.
Dust becomes a major problem in the final road stages (before the super specials), with a number of drivers having to slow to an almost dead stop to let the dust settle. Something that almost certainly costs Solberg his lead. While the times will stand from these stages, the organisers say that intervals between cars will increase to 3 minutes for day 2 (up from the normal 2 minute interval).
Results at the end of day one are as follows
1. M. HIRVONEN 1:13:10.1
2. P. SOLBERG 1:13:36.3
3. X. PONS 1:14:34.5
4. M. STOHL 1:14:43.7
5. D. HERRIDGE 1:18:47.1
6. T. ARAI 1:18:50.4
7. M. BALDACCI 1:19:03.9
8. A. TEISKONEN 1:19:05.1
9. J. LATVALA 1:19:10.5
10. M. LIGATO 1:19:34.3
18. M. GRÖNHOLM 1:24:54.9
Gronholm is however setting some fastest times and with the service park reached he now has a fight to get the car to a podium finish to be able to make 3rd or better and keep his championship fight alive. While this is a major task it should be remembered that most of the cars between him and 4th place are P-WRC (Group N) cars and theoretically slower, that said 10 minutes is a lot to do.
Day 2
Well the second day has now finished and as far as casualties goes its been a much quieter day, the main loss being in the P-WRC with Toshi Ari going out after leaving the road and damaging his steering beyond repair.
Pons and Stohl had a great battle over third place for most of the day, at one time being tied on exactly the same time and sharing the third spot, Stohk's greater gravel experience eventually paying off with him claiming the third spot and building a reasonable buffer of 20 seconds over Pons.
Solberg has been unable to reclaim his first place spot after losing it in the dust yesterday, he has however been battling hard with Hirvonen and the gap between them has never changed that dramatically. So the young Finn, Hirvonen, is currently on track for his first WRC win, if he can keep his head and Solburg off his back tomorrow.
Drive of the day has to go to Gronholm who has driven like a man possessed to move from 18th at the end of day 1, up to 7th at the close of today. Every stage has been driven flat-out by him and despite the typical mild mannered comments when interviewed, his driving is certainly not that of a man who has given up on the championship yet. Can he make up the 10 minutes needed to get the podium place he requires? Its a very big task in a single day, but Australia is a rally that can always throw up a surprise or two and it would be foolish to totally dismiss his chances.
1. M. HIRVONEN 2:17:01.8
2. P. SOLBERG 2:17:34.1
3. M. STOHL 2:19:38.7
4. X. PONS 2:19:58.9
5. M. LIGATO 2:28:27.1
6. J. LATVALA 2:28:54.9
7. M. GRÖNHOLM 2:29:06.4
8. A. TEISKONEN 2:29:15.8
9. D. HERRIDGE 2:29:30.8
10. M. BALDACCI 2:30:05.8
Regards
Scaff
Remember McRae has a damn good track record in Oz, so have Kronos made the right choice, well we will have to wait until Sunday to find out for sure. Keep in mind that Sordo is the second 'points' driver for Citroen.
Gronholm still needs 25 points to win the championship, with three rounds remaining, even if Loeb fails to score a point in the last two rounds of the year Gronholm will need two wins and a third place to gain the championship.
Day 1
Well a spectacular start with Sordo's car failing less than half a mile into the first stage, so Citroen are down to one points scoring car.
Gronholm rolls his car at around three miles into the first stage and with no spectators around to assist they loose almost eleven minutes 'righting' the car and getting to the end of the stage. So Gronholm has some serious work to do to make the podium place he needs to keep the championship contest open, if he fails then Loeb will be the '06 champion.
Mathew Wilson runs into the same rock that rolled Gronholm and destroys his front suspension, putting out of the rally.
Solburg is at last catching some luck and is running well in the early stages, but his brother Henning goes out in a nasty off, fortunately neither driver or co-driver are hurt.
Gronholm's fight back in his badly battered and bent car is brave in the extreme, with dust filling the car and making visibility very difficult, he still manages to set some good times. However can he nurse the car back to service and still set competitive times in the process?
Chris Atkinson runs well on his home rally until and off and a fire destroys his car and hopes for a home win.
Dust becomes a major problem in the final road stages (before the super specials), with a number of drivers having to slow to an almost dead stop to let the dust settle. Something that almost certainly costs Solberg his lead. While the times will stand from these stages, the organisers say that intervals between cars will increase to 3 minutes for day 2 (up from the normal 2 minute interval).
Results at the end of day one are as follows
1. M. HIRVONEN 1:13:10.1
2. P. SOLBERG 1:13:36.3
3. X. PONS 1:14:34.5
4. M. STOHL 1:14:43.7
5. D. HERRIDGE 1:18:47.1
6. T. ARAI 1:18:50.4
7. M. BALDACCI 1:19:03.9
8. A. TEISKONEN 1:19:05.1
9. J. LATVALA 1:19:10.5
10. M. LIGATO 1:19:34.3
18. M. GRÖNHOLM 1:24:54.9
Gronholm is however setting some fastest times and with the service park reached he now has a fight to get the car to a podium finish to be able to make 3rd or better and keep his championship fight alive. While this is a major task it should be remembered that most of the cars between him and 4th place are P-WRC (Group N) cars and theoretically slower, that said 10 minutes is a lot to do.
Day 2
Well the second day has now finished and as far as casualties goes its been a much quieter day, the main loss being in the P-WRC with Toshi Ari going out after leaving the road and damaging his steering beyond repair.
Pons and Stohl had a great battle over third place for most of the day, at one time being tied on exactly the same time and sharing the third spot, Stohk's greater gravel experience eventually paying off with him claiming the third spot and building a reasonable buffer of 20 seconds over Pons.
Solberg has been unable to reclaim his first place spot after losing it in the dust yesterday, he has however been battling hard with Hirvonen and the gap between them has never changed that dramatically. So the young Finn, Hirvonen, is currently on track for his first WRC win, if he can keep his head and Solburg off his back tomorrow.
Drive of the day has to go to Gronholm who has driven like a man possessed to move from 18th at the end of day 1, up to 7th at the close of today. Every stage has been driven flat-out by him and despite the typical mild mannered comments when interviewed, his driving is certainly not that of a man who has given up on the championship yet. Can he make up the 10 minutes needed to get the podium place he requires? Its a very big task in a single day, but Australia is a rally that can always throw up a surprise or two and it would be foolish to totally dismiss his chances.
1. M. HIRVONEN 2:17:01.8
2. P. SOLBERG 2:17:34.1
3. M. STOHL 2:19:38.7
4. X. PONS 2:19:58.9
5. M. LIGATO 2:28:27.1
6. J. LATVALA 2:28:54.9
7. M. GRÖNHOLM 2:29:06.4
8. A. TEISKONEN 2:29:15.8
9. D. HERRIDGE 2:29:30.8
10. M. BALDACCI 2:30:05.8
Regards
Scaff
