posted Dec 4, 2008

Rossi the best rider of any generation? Sorry adewasere, but I disagree - totally. Since the 1960s, that accolade has been held by the late great Mike Hailwood - no argument! And let's not forget Ago and Phil Read - they would both give Rossi a run for his money. Now THAT was a golden age.....

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posted Dec 4, 2008

The conditions are, as ever, proving unpredictable, with Loeb having already gone off the road today during is recce. Wales suits the Ford better than the Citroen, and although Loeb has won gravel events, I don believe he will be on competitive terms with Hirvonen and Jari-Matti. A third consecutive Constructors' Championship for the Blue Oval seems likely.

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posted Dec 4, 2008

Third and seventh will be enough for Citroen to win the title I think and they should manage that.

If it gets really tricky I wouldn't necessarily expect Latvala to keep his Focus on the road either.

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posted Dec 4, 2008

Should be a fairly interesting event - with the stages in Mid Wales particularly so. That's if they are run - there are rumours about possible cancellations.

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posted Dec 5, 2008

I disagree Gordan, Latvala began his career by taking part in many rounds of the UK national championship. I spectated then and he definately was driving well on UK stages.

Also, with the manufacturers championship still open, Loeb has said that he is going to go out pushing hard. This could go one of two ways, I either see Loeb dominating and grabbing his first Rally GB win or possibly Loeb may make a rare mistake leaving Sordo to pick up the pieces which may be a big struggle.

Back to the Rossi debate, I think the Italian could perform, but I don't think he has the talent of alot of the top boys. Also the press has been talking so much about him taking two wins in the lead up to this rally, but for one they were both tarmac events, and also we see English competitors such as Marcus Dodd dominate on many of the national championship rounds but could you really see him getting into the top ten on a round of the world championship in a foreign country on his first real attempt?

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posted Dec 7, 2008

I'd just like to point out to all the doubters out there that a certain Mr Rossi is currently on for an eleventh place finish...

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posted Dec 7, 2008

12th in the end, great stuff from Vale.

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posted Dec 8, 2008

An excellent result given the circumstances, sadly I've not had chance to see any of the coverage of the event yet, but reading early reports I gathered that the conditions were tricky with a few drivers coming undone.

Well done to the fella

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posted Dec 8, 2008

Rossi did really well, and will have future in Rallying should he so choose.

I saw the Millennium Stadium stage, which was a bit of a disappointment, being clearly more about entertainment than motoring skill. Seb Loeb showed his class by smoothly and seemingly effortlessly setting the fastest stage, but all the drivers did well - especially young Tom Cave who had to pass his test a couple of weeks ago so he could legally drive on public roads.

I was stunned to learn an early stage had been cancelled for poor weather and ice - isn't that what rallying in Wales and Britain is about? Where were all the studded tyres and so on?

I believe the Rally will return to Wales next year, but because of rugby fixtures, the Millennium Stadium will not be available. I can't say that upsets me.

So well done Citroën, for beating the huge and determined oppostion from Ford. Let's hope Citroën Sport decide to stay in WRC with the stunning and under-rated C4 rather than enter DTM with their classy C5, so enabling Seb to defend both WRC titles next season.

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posted Dec 10, 2008

I was linked to this article via the 'Jones eyes top 10 in Wales Rally' report in the Rallying section of BBC Sport. I just wanted pedantically highlight the inaccuracy of this part of the article... "Wales' sole representative in the Wales Rally GB Gareth Jones is hoping to finish in the top 10 this weekend".

Gwyndaf Evans was racing as well.

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