Habitual Speeder

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450SEL6.9

I don't think there will be too many more replies in this thread, Jim.

Looks like Loeb is slowing pulling away. He's so consistent. Gronholm used to be consistent in the Peugeot 206. One mistake from Marcus and it's lights out for him. Loeb keeps finishing and winning races so one DNF from Marcus and we might as well crown Seb.

Like it or not, Jim, Loeb's dominance, like Schu's in F1, will put some more of the already scarce North American fans away for good. That's a great shame.

Imhotep Evil

But FIA already intervened, banning some of the "aids", but Loeb is just as dominant, if not more so.

Schumacher played a big part in developing/testing/improving those fast and reliable cars and the creation/gluing of the Ferrari team, wereas Loeb didn't.

This compensated for Schumacher's (quite) mistake prone nature, more so than any other multiple F1 WDC, wereas Loeb seems to some sort of WRC J.M. Fangio.

450SEL6.9

I don't necessarily disagree with you, as crazy as that sounds. I have always thought that Schu cost himself an 8th title last year with silly mistakes. I think I even calculated the points he cost himself and it would have made the DNF in Japan irrelevant. However, Schu's errors have not cost him too many times in his career. So he goes off the road on most race weekends, but many times it happens during practice sessions.

Imhotep Evil

Me too.

Even if Schumi would have won in Japan he would have still lost to Alonso the title by just one point, tough Ferrari would have won the WCC.
He also admitted his mistakes in Adelaide and Hungary on a later interview, tough not Monaco.
And this was his one technical DNF vs. Alonso's 2 technical DNFs. Thus with no technical DNFs for either Alonso's gap would have been bigger than 13 points.
Engine reliability actually made the diference in the WCC, were Renault had one engine failure vs. Ferrari's 2. Both, particularily those of Alonso and Schumacher, had an reputation of indestructibility since they hadn't failed in years.
But the final pushing, coupled with the relative lack of experience in V8s and most probably the archaic flawed nature of the V8 layout lead to the failures.




Agreed.


Now on to Loeb, he doesn't seem to be mistake prone.

Habitual Speeder

That's cool...I figured the same thing, but I like to add the updates, anyway...clearly, someone is reading this.

450SEL6.9

I always read the posts in this thread. Rally is underrated. I wonder if WRC bosses think Loeb is marketable as a champion. Would they prefer Petter Solberg?

Did Loeb not take some criticism after Markko Martin's co-driver died? He got himself time penalties to make sure he didn't win the title after Gronholm withdrew. However, I also remember him saying something about moving on the first day after the crash, when everyone was still reeling. I think I read about people calling him an ass and a phony.

Imhotep Evil

Well last time I've read something WRC was said to have 1/4 the audience of F1.

Witch globaly would imply at best over 250 million people.
Still for me the best times were the Toyota Celica GT4 vs. Lancia Delta Integrale. Other bright spots the Peugeot 206s.

Since then it left me cold.

Habitual Speeder

Driver standings:

1. S. Loeb (F) 48
2. M. Gronholm (FIN) 45
3. M. Hirvonen (FIN) 36
4. D. Sordo (SP) 22
5. P. Solberg (N) 16
6. H. Solberg (N)15
7. J. Latvala (FIN)12
8. C. Atkinson (AUS)12
9. D. Carlsson (S) 9
10. M. Stohl (AUT)6
11. T. Gardemeister (FIN) 5
12. G. Galli (I) 5
13. J. Kopecky (CZ) 2
14. M.Wilson (GB) 1

Constructors:

1. FORD 81
2. CITROEN 72
3. STOBART 30
4. SUBARU 29
5. OMV KRONOS 22

Both standings are still relatively close...at the top of each list, anyway.

450SEL6.9

Loeb crashes out of Rally Italy. He crashed into a ditch and the car ended on its side. Gronholm takes the win. Gronholm is 7 pts ahead of Loeb. Hirvonen is 4 pts behind Loeb.