2023 WRC and Off Road Discussion *includes 'Dakar' *

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Bottom post of the previous page:

Yeah, my family pays 1400kr a month for our TV subscriptions but clearly not enough.

Alas

lmao, Neuville gets tangled up in an advertising board on the starting podium

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Rovänperä fastest on the first stage, hardly surprising, but it could also tell us that it is an advantage to go out early before the road surface breaks up. In that case, he'll have an enormous advantage come tomorrow.

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Rovänperä fastest on the first stage, hardly surprising, but it could also tell us that it is an advantage to go out early before the road surface breaks up. In that case, he'll have an enormous advantage come tomorrow.

Hm, sounds like it depends a lot on the stage, as Rovänperä loses a lot of time on SS2, but is fastest so far on SS3. Tänak leads, but Breen was sensational on SS2.

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Thanks for the updates

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Another variable is that there is a historic class running after the WRC2 and 3 cars. That means that the tracks and ruts on the afternoon loop will be completely different and probably the stages will be slower, as the historics are much narrower than the modern cars.

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This video says Day 1 highlights but I think it is more Stage 1 (which I guess was Day 1)

It does show Neuville tripping over the Pirelli banner though

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Damn, being later on the road on the Brattby stage is HUGE advantage! Breen is over the moon as he wins the stage by 7,8 seconds to take the overall lead. Lots of ruts in the road now after the first pass, looks a lot trickier as Katsuta crashes.

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Bertelli also crashes as Breen extends his lead.

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Breen extends his lead.

Could he go better than his 2nd place in Sweden back in 2018 with Citroen? Thats his best finish in WRC to date. A fair bit to go yet though.

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Friday Highlights.

Pretty close at the end of day, Breen by just over 2 secs from Tanak.

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Literally +/-0.0s between Breen and Tänak on the morning loop! Rovanperä is making ground now, passed Evans and getting closer to Lappi in 3rd.

Some proper rally moments here:

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Drama on SS13! Rovanperä spins, but manages to save it and only lost 3,5 seconds! "The harder you work the luckier you get", and all that. Then Lappi spins in the last corner of the stage and gets stuck, loosing almost 10 minutes! Seemingly with a tyre lamination causing the crash. At the same time, Breen also has a tyre lamination but manages to lose only 1,5 seconds on Tänak! Huge drama, and it is now only 0,5 between Breen and Tänak.

That said, this is peak rallying. Same with Katsuta's trouble in the clip above, this is such good entertainment that you only get in rallying. Epic.

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And now Tänak has a tyre delamination on SS14! But his pace was so high he still takes the lead from Breen! This rally is insane. Meanwhile, Rovanperä and Neuville is dead even on time, only 27 seconds back. One stage to go tonight, 3 more tomorrow.

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Saturday highlights

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That was a very fun rally. Tänak richly deserved that, too bad Breen couldn't keep up, but very funny how Hyundai's team orders failed.

[SBan83]

That was a very fun rally. Tänak richly deserved that, too bad Breen couldn't keep up, but very funny how Hyundai's team orders failed.

Yes, Abiteboul's expression was priceless when Breen clocked that time.