SS3
Wilson........11:28.4
Räikkönen.......+0.7
al-Qassimi.......+8.6

Oh, poor Matthew...

Yes, there is seven stages today. First three will be driven for the second time this afternoon and the last one was driven also at yesterday as a first SS.

So, 11th at +32.1 in SS4, any details anyone?

He's doing okay so far i think, quite a few drivers have been reporting problems with the conditions, and the tyres are expected to maybe take a bashing later unless i've misunderstood, 2 or 3 have hit a rock, i think Kimi has some slight damage to the rear bumper but nothing serious, the radio on the WRC site is worth having on if you can, although they'll be going into music now for the service. These stages are due to be re-run this afternoon so times might get a little quicker.

Menace @ Spa, you're welcome to the earlier link.

Wilson vs. Räikkönen - a true battle of the titans...

Mind you, I predicted Kimi would crash out on SS4 while being 13th in the overall standings so I guess he's actually exceeded my expectations so far.

SS5 started, great time for Hirvonen

Sorry for being too lazy to read through the whole thread, but does eurosport still show the daily half hour reviews? I couldn't find it on their website. If not, are there other ways to get moving images? thx

I thought you expected Kimi to retire from racing & apply for job at local MacDonalds?

Speaking of Wilson, he is talented guy with several years of rally experience. It would be stunning accomplishment if Kimi could post comparable times in his first rally. I think people live in this delusion that if you have F1 title in the bag, you´re supposed to match the best in any category from Day One. Not so. The fact is, Kimi has less rally experience than Wilson had 4 years ago. And yet, 2006 was strictly learning year for Wilson.

People better return to Planet Earth. There is damn good reason why nobody from F1 has moved to WRC full time. We are looking for an answer to a question whether it can be done at all, after missing out rally training in young age. If people think Kimi should challenge the seasoned WRC pilots, they are in for huge disappointment.

www.wrc.com

The official site has tons of vids.

Yeah, Eurosport also does the 30 minute reviews of each day + a pre-event preview show.

Kimi in at 9th on ss5, up to 10th overall so far.


Marcus Gronholm gave a quick interview

"I can't get any speed, I don't know what's the problem. I haven't drove in three years, they drive fast as hell. It was damn sh!t, not good at all. The tyres are okay, nowadays the problem is between the seat and the steering wheel. My time was sh!t."

I love Gronholm's mini-interviews!

This all time classic in particular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqQhQSbe6fw

The fisting motion he makes at the end just ... it just makes it hahaha...

Motors TV is the official broadcaster this year.

Are you sure? I remember pre-season press-release telling Eurosport was replaced by Motors TV and there is no sign of WRC in Eurosport TV guide: http://tv.eurosport.com/tvhome.shtml
On the other hand, Motors TV has day 1 highlights at 22.20 (CET?) : http://www.motorstv.com/tv-guide?d=2010-02-12&h=4

That's a poor time by Raikkonen in SS5, beaten by the S2000s of Andersson, Mikkelsen, Tuohino and Prokop! Did something happen to him, because he only gained 3 seconds over the first run when he was blocked by al-Qassimi?

In fact PG Andersson has moved ahead of him up to 10th overall, that dude is absolutely flying today!!

Hahahaha @ the fist pumping

A few of the drivers drove onto the wrong road, and they had to reverse again. Perhaps the same also happened to Kimi, and the tyres are also starting to grain.

Solberg was first to hit trouble, losing four minutes and damaging the rear of his C4 WRC when he went off the road. He got going again, but was quickly caught by Ford Focus RS WRC driver Matthew Wilson. Wilson got past soon after - when Petter went off again - but eight kilometres from the finish Wilson stalled his Ford on a corner and was rear-ended by Petter's Citroen.

Kimi's team is taking out parts, a spoiler among other things.

Grönholm seem to be out on SS6

Kimi had problems, was/is standing

Kimi presumably is a bit hampered by running down the starting order. Hopefully will be higher up tomorrow.

On the lıve radıo I hear Kımı has stopped short before the fınısh of SS6

Marcus had car problems, engine.

Last thing I hear is "Kimi is deep into a snow bank"

Damn!

Kimi is stuck in the snow outside the road, 4km from finish of SS6

@paddocknews

Kimi is in the ditch 4km from the finish and he wont be able to get up without help from a tractor or something like that.

Raikkonen's time: 26 mins and 20 seconds

Time 37:09, 26:20 from Latvala´s top.

But hey, man got out of snow..

P34 after SS6

so Raikkonen CAN continue?

Kimi got through okay

37 minutes 9 seconds, I am not sure 'okay' belongs there
But apparently the car is quite ok and that is the most important thing - he can continue.

Okay in the sense of no injuries, and as you say, the car appears to be fixable.

I suddenly started to laugh for myself when I was thinking about the soon-to-arrive Kimi bashers who thinks that this have made their day

For anyone that knows rally, this is to be expected, no matter how good you are. It happens to experienced drivers and it definitely happens to rookies.

If he got out there with that car he sure is able to drive the last 1,9 km special stage. And after that, good night Kimi & Kaj, long night for mechanics..

EDIT: Aaaaargh, sorry! There is still SS7 (19km) before that short special stage. Hope he can do both with his car..

sscccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Don't wake giancarlo f1, Alonso fan, and other. Let them be way...

Well, kimi crashing was the mosto normal thing in the world, basicaly it would happen no matter what. Now it's goodbye points, but lets see his raw pace.

of course, but then the Kimi fans treat Raikkonen as an exceptional talent rather than being average right?

he's still in it, so let's see

I wont comment on the bashers, but i agree with you on the rest, as someone said elsewhere, it seems like only 2 drivers have had serious off's, and the other one is a certain Mr Gronholm, I think some people may be expecting to much, Kimi's on a very steep learning curve, he'll get there but it wont be instantaneous.

'Average', that is you. You can call Kimi whatever you want, but not 'average'. Not when it comes to driving. Fact is, an 'average' driver hardly get further than club level. An average basher can reach much further though, unfortunately.

Grönholm actually had engine problems, it died on him. But Petter Solberg had a big off at SS1 and during the event many have been off.

+10

SS6: Big problems for Gronholm and Raikkonen

Finnish superstars Marcus Gronholm and Kimi Raikkonen both suffered serious setbacks on the sixth stage of Rally Sweden, with Gronholm losing 12 minutes because of a technical problem and Raikkonen getting stuck in a snow bank for 25 minutes.

Gronholm was first to hit trouble, 2.3km from the start line, when his Stobart Team Ford Focus was brought to a halt by a suspected electrical fault. The Finn managed to get going again and complete the stage, but a stage time 12 minutes slower than SS6 winner Jari-Matti Latvala's dropped him from sixth to 30th place.

Raikkonen's problems occurred later in the stage, just a couple of kilometres before the finish, when he drove his Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC into a snow bank and got stuck. Like Gronholm he eventually managed to get going again, but the incident meant he completed the stage more than 26 minutes slower than Latvala. The Finn, who was 10th overall on SS5, dropped out of the top 30.

Jari-Matti Latvala's stage winning performance was his first of the rally, and came after the Finn made set-up adjustments to his Ford Focus RS WRC. "We raised the ride height and the difference was incredible - it was a different car to drive!" he said.

Sebastien Loeb set the second fastest time, and moved up to second overall, but said the drive had not been a smooth one: "The surface is extremely hard and rough. There were lot of impacts under the car," he explained.

Dani Sordo slipped to third after setting the fourth fastest time. The Spaniard was 6.5sec slower than Latvala and arrived at the stop control concerned that his car had seemed down on power for the final two kilometres.

Mikko Hirvonen held his rally leading position, albeit by a slimmer margin of 5.1sec, and seemed relaxed about the state of his tyres. "They don't seem too bad for the moment," he said.

Hirvonen the fastest in ss7 too...

Yeah, now we just have to wait will there be some kind of tactical moves (which I do SO hate) in the last short SS.

That, of course, depends on the roads, wheather and things like that tomorrow..

chill out I wasn't calling him average if you even read what I said - keep your overemotional outbursts to yourself

Sure sounded like you did. But no harm, no foul
And for the record - he is an exceptional talent.

Hmm, actually I didn´t take it that way..

I'm cool. I am not even a Kimi fan, although I like him. I think he is an exceptional talent. I also think you will find very few Kimi "fans" that think he is average, it would be kind of contradictory. So, what was your point?

Compare this to:

of course, but then again *** fans treat craftverk as serious poster rather than pathetic basher, right?

Is just me or is Ogier underpeforming ? anyone ?