57 replies to this topic

[f1paul]

It was a difficult winter for the World RX with the three big manufacturers pulling out of the sport. The future is not clear with the planned Electric RX series first delayed and now off the table. Gone are Johan Kristoffersson, Petter Solberg, Mattias Ekstrom and Sebataien Loeb a massive shame. 

 

BUT it does mean we will get a new champion. There is a 2014/2015 feel with no teams with manufacturer backing. 8 brands are still represented, 11 different nationalites and some very good RX drivers including a whole host of young drivers looking to become world chamion.

 

Watch out for the Hansen Brothers (Kevin and Timmy), Andreas Bakkerud, Nicolas Gronholm, Timo Scheider, Anton Marklund - we have no idea who will be the champion and that is only a good thing. The racing will be furious and you can still watch most of the action on YouTube.

 

Just 10 rounds this year: Today's event is a new one around the Yes Marina circuit and the World RX also heads to the legendary Spa-Francorchamps.

 

 

This is the FULL TIME entry list, there will be some additional entries at some rounds...

 

 

This is why I still love the World RX

 

 

 

#aroundtheoutside

 

 

This thread will be a bit dead from time to time but hopefully some people still enjoy the rallycross as it is still super exciting and this championship should be really close. 

 

 

[f1paul]

Yesterday the action got underway with Q1 and Q2...

 

 

 

Q1 was a bit meh but Q2 was much better and it all looks good for a tight championship.

[f1paul]

Coming up in 20 minutes is Q3:

 

Q4 is in around 90 minutes:

 

 

Semi-Finals and the Final is underway in 4 hrs 45 mins but the TV show is underway in 3 hrs 45 mins so if you have missed any of the action, you can catch it all up just before the finals.

 

[Vielleicht]

Looks like I can watch this on BT now... which is annoying becuase I won't have access to that anymore after a couple of weeks. But I should be able to try this round.

(Edit: FreeSports might be an option actually if they're showing the full season live which I don't trust them to do)

 

I heard that the electric side of things is now planning to be launched as a separate category rather than the top class. So I'm still interested to see how it all develops.

Edited by Vielleicht, 06 April 2019 - 10:56.

[Vielleicht]

That ...was a rather massive collision

[Silberpfeil]

What a massive shame for the Hansen team and of course Timmy in particular, who is my favourite for the title this year. Bakkerud said at the start of the Q4 stream that he miscounted the laps, which happened A LOT this weekend. Any idea what might have caused this?

Also, does anyone recall whether RX Cartel is just a rebranded EKS operation, considering Bakkerud is apparently driving the exact same chassis he did last year? They and the “proper” EKS team did a test together as well.

[f1paul]

Looks like I can watch this on BT now... which is annoying becuase I won't have access to that anymore after a couple of weeks. But I should be able to try this round.

(Edit: FreeSports might be an option actually if they're showing the full season live which I don't trust them to do)

 

I heard that the electric side of things is now planning to be launched as a separate category rather than the top class. So I'm still interested to see how it all develops.

Yep Projekt.E or something like that.

 

On Free Sports, I believe they showed all of last year's events live, just with a dodgy picture quality.

 

Semi-Finals and Final start in 45 Mins

[THEWALL]

It was a difficult winter for the World RX with the three big manufacturers pulling out of the sport. The future is not clear with the planned Electric RX series first delayed and now off the table. Gone are Johan Kristoffersson, Petter Solberg, Mattias Ekstrom and Sebataien Loeb a massive shame:

Haven’t been following. What happened?

[f1paul]

Haven’t been following. What happened?

 

So essentially:

 

Peugeot announced they were going to leave the sport, Audi followed, then VW did. This left no manufacturers in the field.

 

It all came after a delay for Electric Rallycross which was originally going to be done for 2020 but was delayed til 2021 - This set off the manufacturers leaving because the future was unclear. Now it looks like Electric RX is not happening at all.

 

As for the drivers: I guess they left with the manufacturers I guess. Kristoffersson is doing WTCR; Loeb is doing half a WRC season; Solberg not sure (I think he is mainly helping out his son Oliver) and I can't remember what Ekstrom is doing.

 

Nevertheless, the competition should be much closer now, no domination, lots of different/new winners etc. On the racing side it is a positive thing I guess and I hope new manufacturers join the sport or the old ones return. 

[Silberpfeil]

Interestingly, the YouTube stream is once again available in Germany. Hope that holds up for the rest of the year.

Attendance on the grandstands in Abu Dhabi looks abysmal from the few crowd and wide angle shots we get. Slightly better than yesterday, but I‘d be hard pressed to call it slightly crowded. That being said, the racing was actually quite decent this weekend.

In terms of competition and the general situation, we‘re basically back in 2014, with faster cars but much worse in terms of outlook, as no one really knows what‘ll happen in 2020, nevermind 2021. Expensive flyaways races and multi-year contracts with mostly unappealing F1 tracks at the expense of traditional tracks are the main issues facing the sport right now, but the future with Electric RX is still looming on the horizon.

[Silberpfeil]

Apparently, everyone has forgotten how to count. I mean, c‘mon, that‘s embarrassing stuff from Baumanis. Can‘t tell whether Szabo did the same or just missed his braking point…

[jcbc3]

I'd disqualify Grönholm.

[jcbc3]

Well, Kevin seems pleased enough.

[Silberpfeil]

After the stewards’ ruling, Grönholm and Hansen switch places in the end result. Congratulations to Kevin (who also gets the maximum amount of points now), and all in all, I agree with the decision. The door just wasn’t open, and in the end, it was a bit too much forceful contact from Niclas. But nevertheless, the fight at the sharp end of the grid should be absolutely cracking this year.

[sopa]

Watched only semifinals and final. Whatever happened to T.Hansen and Bakkerud? 

[Myrvold]

Watched only semifinals and final. Whatever happened to T.Hansen and Bakkerud?

Bakkerud forgot to count to 4, his spotter didnt say anything. Both probably fell asleep due to the absolutely awful track.
Bakkerud then rammed Hansen in the side in to turn 1 as Bakkerud went flat thinking it was finished while Hansen braked for T1.
Hansens rollcage was broken so nothing to do. Bakkeruds car got "fixes" he went slow in Q4. Got a time, but was DQ'd from Q3 and fell out of top 13.

Edited by Myrvold, 06 April 2019 - 18:35.

[sopa]

Kind of odd to see two of the biggest championships contenders nowhere to be found. Makes the rest of the championship quite open though, and quite critical for both of them. Because the points handicap is now big and there are only 10 events with not that many chances to make up for it.

 

K.Hansen and Gronholm were "best of the rest" already last year in 7th and 8th, so understandably they are next up to take up the spoils. Scheider missed 2018, but in 2017 he was upper midfielder, so along with Baumanis is bound to be a regular finalist too.

 

Looks like despite mass-exodus WRX is not about to die out though, with no fewer cars in the field than there used to be last year. And all-privateer championship is more open too, although missing some heavy-hitters (meaning drivers, not manufacturers). Whoever wins in the end, will always have the asterisk hanging over his head that ok well done, but you are not as good as Kristoffersson.

Edited by sopa, 06 April 2019 - 20:00.

[Myrvold]

Last year if you missed a joker lap, you got 30 second penalty. Now they get DSQ altogether? What a shame, no points for this in that way.

 

No no.

 

Bakkerud had jokered the lap before, on lap 2. Hansen jokered on lap 3.

 

Bakkerud thought he was on lap 4, so he just went flat over the "not-yet-finish line". As he went into that flat out. Hansen, who knew he was just starting lap 4, slowed down to take T1.

You basically had Hansen in 3rd gear having started to turn in to T1, and Bakkerud flat out in 5th/6th gear. Bakkerud just rammed Hansen clean off.

[sopa]

No no.

 

Bakkerud had jokered the lap before, on lap 2. Hansen jokered on lap 3.

 

Bakkerud thought he was on lap 4, so he just went flat over the "not-yet-finish line". As he went into that flat out. Hansen, who knew he was just starting lap 4, slowed down to take T1.

You basically had Hansen in 3rd gear having started to turn in to T1, and Bakkerud flat out in 5th/6th gear. Bakkerud just rammed Hansen clean off.

 

Ah ok thanks. Fair enough  

 

A pity that one unlucky miscalculation can destroy the weekend of both drivers.

[Myrvold]

A pity that one unlucky miscalculation can destroy the weekend of both drivers.

Partly down to the track tbh.

[GenJackRipper]

I just happened to flip the channel and saw that there was a RX race at Yas Marina.
Which made me confused; from what I've seen during the Grand Prix races, there isn't any room for rally sections around the track. And googling I didn't find any useful info (the circuit itself didn't even have any info). So how did they do it?

[Myrvold]

I just happened to flip the channel and saw that there was a RX race at Yas Marina.
Which made me confused; from what I've seen during the Grand Prix races, there isn't any room for rally sections around the track. And googling I didn't find any useful info (the circuit itself didn't even have any info). So how did they do it?

They made "dirt" sections in between the circuit to shortcut.

I say "dirt". It is quite ironic that in a desert country it's basically a tarmac track with some dust on it.

https://www.facebook...19492688512367/ anyway, here is an onboard of the whole lap.

[Silberpfeil]

They made "dirt" sections in between the circuit to shortcut.
I say "dirt". It is quite ironic that in a desert country it's basically a tarmac track with some dust on it.
https://www.facebook...19492688512367/ anyway, here is an onboard of the whole lap.

I remember watching the at the uphill section at the Estering in 2017 (towards the final chicane), and the racing line was pretty much clean after practice & Q1. Bakkerud‘s Focus actually lost bodywork because there‘s a very nasty bump in the middle of the road that only appears once the gravel section gets cleaned up. As such, I would say that part of the problem with the gravel section is that the cars are so fast and produce so much downforce that the gravel gets practically sucked off the road.

Nevertheless, I would agree that the “gravel” situation this weekend was particularly egregious. There was one clean line and once you slid past that even a little you’d lose a ton of time. To my recollection, this was never a problem at Hockenheim or Silverstone, so I really don’t know why they apparently went for a different direction here.

And yes, the joker merge looked like a lot of fun, but was actually very dangerous, especially with cars heading towards the finish line at full throttle.

[messy]

It wasn't too bad this, and after such a tumultuous winter that in itself is probably a victory.

Still good teams, still good drivers. Still fun, still people watching it, it might survive after all.

[f1paul]

Its just going through a difficult period. The future is not clear but once it is sorted all will be good again IMO.

 

Do we need manufacturers? Not necessarily but the sport must go in the right direction to remain attractive.

[Myrvold]

It wasn't too bad this, and after such a tumultuous winter that in itself is probably a victory.

Still good teams, still good drivers. Still fun, still people watching it, it might survive after all.

Driver wise it is good. Actually from a competition point of view, it might be healthier than it's been in a few year. All depending on what Hansen MJP are able to do with the Peugeots and EKS with the Audis. I fear GCK have bitten over more than they can chew atm though, with 4 cars, and 2 different ones as well.

Hopefully most tracks gets some one off entries. Especially ERX with only 14(!) full time drivers.

 

Its just going through a difficult period. The future is not clear but once it is sorted all will be good again IMO.

 

Do we need manufacturers? Not necessarily but the sport must go in the right direction to remain attractive.

RX shouldn't have manufacturers imo. It will always be some car/driver combos that are better than others and dominating (Arnesson/Alamäki/Schanche/Niittymäki in the mid 80's, Alamäki/Schanche/Gollop in the Gr.B days Hansen/Pailler/Schanche in the early Rallycross Special days, then Hansen/Hunsbedt/Eklund on to the early 00's. Then mainly Hansen/Larsson/Isachsen/Jernberg until we saw IMG coming in).

But at least then you had privateers building cars than could fight at the top. Larsson and Jernberg with Fabia, Eriksson with the Fiesta, Eklund with his SAAB. With manufacturers that was totally gone.

I am still not sure if WRX will survive though, RX will survive. But the WRX seems a bit forced

[messy]

We might be missing the manufacturers but actually, the Peugeots and Audi's are still there present and correct - does it matter that much that they're not manufacturer backed anymore? A series like this shouldn't be massively high cost in theory, surely. It's down to Hansen and EKS to make sure the uninitiated don't really notice anythings changed, I guess.

What's so obvious is the lack of Kristoffersen, Ekstrom, Loeb and Solberg. But of those, one of them was blown into the weeds by their team-mate last season and looked probably at the point of retiring anyway, one of them was always going to recommit to the WRC and one of them won everything to the point of it getting a bit tedious. If this year is competitive, people will forget the 'star names' quickly I reckon.

I really want WRX to survive and do well this season, I still kinda root for it.

[Silberpfeil]

We might be missing the manufacturers but actually, the Peugeots and Audi's are still there present and correct - does it matter that much that they're not manufacturer backed anymore? A series like this shouldn't be massively high cost in theory, surely. It's down to Hansen and EKS to make sure the uninitiated don't really notice anythings changed, I guess.
What's so obvious is the lack of Kristoffersen, Ekstrom, Loeb and Solberg. But of those, one of them was blown into the weeds by their team-mate last season and looked probably at the point of retiring anyway, one of them was always going to recommit to the WRC and one of them won everything to the point of it getting a bit tedious. If this year is competitive, people will forget the 'star names' quickly I reckon.
I really want WRX to survive and do well this season, I still kinda root for it.

I think Andrew Coley mentioned yesterday that the regular number of staff at the track for Peugeot last year was about 50, now it’s 12 for Hansen MJP. So I suppose they will definitely feel it a lot more than us watching from home.

I got the impression that Ekström was kind of fed up with his lot for most of last year, even though perhaps not so much with WRX itself as with Kristoffersson’s dominance and the constant hassle of getting some money from Audi. I would even go so far as to say that it kind of showed in his driving, where he sometimes went beyond the breaking point, even for him. Which made it quite surprising that EKS suddenly appeared with three cars (even though I suspect that Monster is perhaps bankrolling the whole operation after they lost both of their marquee teams with Hoonigan and PSRX).

Regarding Solberg himself, I am a huge fan of his (have been since I was 7), but even without my bias it was clear to see that he was on the upswing after he got his illness under control, which is why I think it’s quite sad he may never get a chance to win another event after the heartbreat of COTA. It’s also worth noting that he could’ve reached P2 in the championship at the last weekend if not for an engine change and the 15 points penalty that carried.

I’m still waiting patiently to see what happens next for him, even though he seems committed to VW for the moment when he’s not supporting Oliver. I wouldn’t mind him and perhaps Romain Dumas spearheading VW’s assault on whatever IMG is cooking up with their Projekt E.

[sopa]

Solberg, Loeb, Ekstrom were all quite old already and rallycross wasn't their main sport anyway, having entered WRX late in their careers. So they were going to bow out sooner or later.

 

However, missing Kristoffersson is a big blow. Imagine Marc Marquez retiring from Moto GP after last year. It doesn't matter, who wins now, this guy would always be "tier 2" and we are missing the very best, the ultimate benchmark everyone can be judged against.

[f1paul]

Solberg, Loeb, Ekstrom were all quite old already and rallycross wasn't their main sport anyway, having entered WRX late in their careers. So they were going to bow out sooner or later.

 

However, missing Kristoffersson is a big blow. Imagine Marc Marquez retiring from Moto GP after last year. It doesn't matter, who wins now, this guy would always be "tier 2" and we are missing the very best, the ultimate benchmark everyone can be judged against.

Of course the quality of the field is lower but with so many big names gone it is good to see plenty of younger drivers get a chance at the top level.

 

Driver-wise I think the future is good, it's just everything else - the calendar, the teams the direction of the sport etc.

[Silberpfeil]

I’m just going to put this here since we don’t have a dedicated ARX thread (yet).

Good news from VW and Andretti – the Beetles are set to receive support from VW’s R division for the upcoming season, with drivers to be announced at a later date.

Any obvious candidates other than Foust and perhaps Solberg coming to mind after Speed’s departure? I wouldn’t mind Conner Martell getting a shot at driving a Supercar after his very handy ARX2 campaign last year.

Edit: Forgot the link to the official ARX press release: https://bit.ly/2IlzBuv

Edited by Silberpfeil, 08 April 2019 - 20:51.

[Myrvold]

So, I haven't really bothered with ARX, as well, GRC was basically x-games...

But now that IMG runs ARX, have they changed the rules so the supercars are the same in the US as in WRX/ERX? I would guess not as they run ARX as support to WRX in Canada, but I feel it is somewhat idiotic to have a different set of rules for supercars in the US, virtually eliminating any chance of ERX/WRX guys doing a one-off ARX event, and also the opposite. No way for any ARX guys to do a WRX wild-card.

[Silberpfeil]

So, I haven't really bothered with ARX, as well, GRC was basically x-games...
But now that IMG runs ARX, have they changed the rules so the supercars are the same in the US as in WRX/ERX? I would guess not as they run ARX as support to WRX in Canada, but I feel it is somewhat idiotic to have a different set of rules for supercars in the US, virtually eliminating any chance of ERX/WRX guys doing a one-off ARX event, and also the opposite. No way for any ARX guys to do a WRX wild-card.

I think the cars are either run to the same technical specifications or very similar ones. Bennett did a full ARX season with the exception of Speedmachine, and Timo Scheider and René Münnich drove the Seat Ibizas at Speedmachine. Considering that all of them were eligible for points the differences, if there are any, should be very slight. As such, the lack of other guest starters might be more down to travel time and costs than anything else.

[Myrvold]

I think the cars are either run to the same technical specifications or very similar ones. Bennett did a full ARX season with the exception of Speedmachine, and Timo Scheider and René Münnich drove the Seat Ibizas at Speedmachine. Considering that all of them were eligible for points the differences, if there are any, should be very slight. As such, the lack of other guest starters might be more down to travel time and costs than anything else.

 

Hmm. True. I just remember this being the case with OMSE, they couldn't use their Hondas in WRX. They eventually tweaked it, and got it homologated when Honda pulled out, but it was never used in WRX sadly.

[Silberpfeil]

Hmm. True. I just remember this being the case with OMSE, they couldn't use their Hondas in WRX. They eventually tweaked it, and got it homologated when Honda pulled out, but it was never used in WRX sadly.

Yes, I hope they actually come back to WRX next year, with the new Fiesta or the Civic (even though the latter might be a bit outdated by now).

I also came across a Reddit thread some time ago where somebody mentioned that Subaru apparently had some trouble getting their cars homologated for ARX because of their unique engine layout. In the end the FIA adapted their rulebook, I think.

[f1paul]

Circuit de Catalunya this weekend - Round 2

 

Today

 

Q1 - 1200

Q2 - 1500

 

Sunday

 

Q3 - 9.30

Q4 - 10.50

TV Broadcast - 1400

 

All times are Spanish times, or C.E.T - take off an hour if you are in the UK

[f1paul]

 

[Silberpfeil]

Really happy for the Hansens, that was some performance this weekend.

Was a bit puzzled about the Szabo/Baumanis situation in SF2 it looked like Szabo was ahead when he spun down the hill. Looked very weird, and I thought Janis might‘ve given him a shove, but no action was taken.

[Silberpfeil]

Going off first impressions, I’m very pleased with how the Spa track turned out. Couple of relatively long straights and overtaking points, and an interesting joker lap. Could’ve gone a lot worse.

[Myrvold]

I've said it elsewhere as well. The only thing I would've changed was making the tarmac and gravel section shorter, but spread them more out, instead of having one large gravel-section and one large tarmac-section.

 

Was a really good weekend though, and Doran doing what Doran does best.

[f1paul]

Caught up with the action yesterday. That was one of the best World RX weekends ever IMO.

 

The track was brilliant, would have liked it if they went a bit further up Eau Rouge.

 

Great to see Timur win and it is set to be a really competitive season - just like I and hopefully others hoped for after the demise of the manufacturers. 

[f1paul]

It's been another great weekend of World RX action. Not the biggest fan of the Silverstone circuit, but it's a complete contrast to the Spa circuit (Silverstone is about keeping it nice, neat and tidy) so that is a good thing.

 

The TV Show starts in 1 Hour 15 Minutes so you can catch up with the qualifying action, with the LIVE Semi-Finals and Final an hour into the TV Show. 

 

 

If the Monaco stuff is boring, this is the place to be before the big one in Indy of course. 

[Myrvold]

Not the biggest fan of the Silverstone circuit, but it's a complete contrast to the Spa circuit (Silverstone is about keeping it nice, neat and tidy) so that is a good thing.

Its yet another faux-gravel awful tarmac circuit.
Spa just hammering the issue of these new tracks.

Soon Hell&Höljes though!

[f1paul]

Time for Hell then...

 

 

(But there is a race in France going on, so will have to catch up on the World RX during the week). 

 

As always, every qualifying session and the finals will be on the YouTube. 

[Vielleicht]

Mixed ICE, EV grids now planned for WRX

https://e-racing365....ds-now-planned/

 

Sounds like:

- Race both Supercars and eWRX in the top class at 400-500kW

- Have a lower powered eWRX junior class at 250kW

 

Thoughts?

Edited by Vielleicht, 18 June 2019 - 14:12.

[f1paul]

I'm all for electric racing, but after the action we've had this year in the World RX, can we at least now wait a few more years.

 

I don't care if there are no manufacturers. 

[f1paul]

I would much rather have a seperate electric rallycross series, and stick with what we have now which is producing some sensational stuff with everyone of the privateer teams able to make the Final each week.

[Vielleicht]

Sounds like they're hoping to have privateer teams going for these EVs in the mixed group?

[f1paul]

Sounds like they're hoping to have privateer teams going for these EVs in the mixed group?

 

Well, that's exactly what they SHOULD be doing if they want this Electric World RX thing to work.

 

They should not just rely on manufacturers (the WEC and LMP1 is the perfect example of this). So this is a good thing I guess.

 

Like I said though, I would rather have a separate electric rallycross series. But that's just my view.

 

You could easily argue against it by saying, look at the Electric GT series which has NOT kicked off at all compared to other GT series like Blancpain. Yet something like Formula E has been a huge success.

[Vielleicht]

I'll admit I am suprised with this turn of events. The move to make 'Projekt E' as a separate, second billing event after manufaturers couldn't commit to eWRX seemed sensible enough for at least another season or two.

 

Encouraging privateers to simply convert their ICE Supercar to EV with a conversion kit but ultimately leaving it in the hands of the entrants to choose... don't know if that will go well or not.

 

Personally I do think think I prefer that to the original eWRX silhoutte plan, actually. 

 

I'm not pushing either way though. I'm just keeping up to date on what's happening.