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Originally Posted by tbtstt
Incredible result for Loeb. Must confess I have been touting Ogier as greater than Loeb over the last year or so, but this weekend has definitely made me reconsider...
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The argument against Loeb has tended to be that he won all his titles with Citroen whilst Ogier has won in different manufacturers cars. Clearly they're both exceptional drivers and this weekend was an impressive demonstration of that - 1st and 2nd places taken by drivers doing part seasons (is Loeb even confirmed for any more outings?).
Quote:
Originally Posted by tbtstt
Loeb was arguably gifted first by the puncture, but he had to put himself in the right position to seize the opportunity and he did that in a new, unfamiliar, car after a fairly decent hiatus from the sport.
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Gifted the position or skilfully avoided getting a puncture where others couldn't?
I think it's fair to say that Loeb and Ogier were the class of the field and either one of them would have been a worthy winner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tbtstt
So pleased for M-Sport. Really hope this is the start of a strong season for them. Disappointing weekend for Fourmaux, but very encouraging speed from Greensmith. Bit of a disaster for Hyundai, seems they have some work to do on the car before Sweden.
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Yep, a great result for M-Sport - the Puma looked to be working well and all of the drivers seemed to be getting pace out of it. Formaux was certainly a disappointment, that's an event where he'd be expected to do better - as it is he's landed M-Sport with a big repair bill (although I guess they don't need to rush as presumably they're only running 3 cars in the next event with no Loeb).
The Toyota looked to be a bit more of a handful than the Puma but again it does seem to have decent pace even if they weren't consistent in getting the best out of it (apart from Ogier).
Hyundai - oh dear. Yet again the Hyundai looks fragile - Tanak out after a relatively innoccuous looking off, Neuville seemed to spend the weekend fixing his car (upright going through the strut top mount
), Solberg was struggling to hear his co-driver and was being gassed by the car at the same time. The most worrying part for me was hearing Neuville describe it as "the most scared I've ever been" at the end of one stage.
The event also saw the good and bad of rally spectators - several times cars were dragged back onto the stage by the fans - from some ridiculous positions too! On the flip side there were shots again of fans standing in dangerous places just to get a video on their phone
