WRC fans - opinion on P. Solberg ?

[Deschodt]

By the way, WRC returns to TV tomorrow on HD theater, don't miss it !

Curious if anyone here has an *informed* opinion on Solberg...

You'd think that a guy who has been world champion once, is very charismatic , TV friendly and obviously can drive a little (sarcasm) would be a primo target for the top teams such as Citroen or Ford. Yet the guy is having to fund his own 2nd rate team out of his own pocket to drive... Why is that ? Not that I'm a fan, but I'm curious !

Is he hard to deal with ? I read somewhere that on his championship year he had a huge advantage thanks to his tires (different brand from his main competitors), not sure if it's true...

It's kinda like Lewis Hamilton not having an F1 drive, in a way... Anybody has any insider info on why? You'd think both Ford or Citroen could dump their #2 drivers and recruit him, but nope...

[Jim Garfield]

I don't understand it either. He actually had a few bright spots last year in the outdated unfunded car against the factory teams, he obviously can pedal with the best of them. I think the lack of factory teams and funding is hurting the WRC, and the IRC seems to be sopping up some of the sponsorship money as well. Maybe he should switch to the IRC, at least he would be able to run at Monte Carlo again.

[CurtEgerer]

Anybody with that sort of enthusiasm is just plain fun to watch. In fact, he and Henning are the only 2 WRC drivers with any personality at all these days! The problem is that WRC is down to 2 factory teams, both who have been around forever. It doesn't take long to fill those 4 driver seats and Petter is now an 'oldtimer'. If another manufacturer jumps in next year, Petter would have to be at the top of anyone's shopping list.

For this year, being team owner/driver .... well, that almost NEVER works out. How can one concentrate on driving while running the team as well? He's said this year is sort of all or nothing. Unlikely he'll be back next year under his own money, unless a miracle happens and he wins some rallies.

I've also heard he might move to Euro LeMans Series!

[onewhippedpuppy]

The guy can definitely drive, anyone that can compete with an old car in that series is impressive. I always root for him, the year he won the championship for Subaru was a good one.

[jyl]

I haven't watched WRC since it left SpeedTV. What happened to the series, why are there only 2 factory teams left, is WRC losing popularity or is it the economy?

[KNS]

What the other guys said about the lack factory teams to drive for: there are only so many seats to go around.

Petter has always been one of my favorite drivers. I recall one stage (going flat out of course) and the steering wheel became wobbly, as in loose on it's mount on the shaft. Petter without slowing down one bit, yells out: "Get some tools!" to his co-driver. The co-driver reaches in back, digs out a wrench and starts to tighten up the nuts on the steering wheel, all while Petter is hurtling down the road.

I think that's why I like WRC so much, these guys will drive beat-up, half-broken cars as fast as they can just to finish a stage.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by jyl

I haven't watched WRC since it left SpeedTV. What happened to the series, why are there only 2 factory teams left, is WRC losing popularity or is it the economy?

i pulled for solberg all last year. he got a second car, a newer cit late in the year. i still think he had least two podiums

john, do you have direct TV? a very obscure channel called HD net carries WRC now. I hear dish network has the HD net too but unconfirmed.


is it the 2010 season starting or are they replaying last year?

[jyl]

I don't have DTV. Used to watch WRC all time, loved it, my favorite driver was Gronholm. I've done some quick reading. Looks like Loeb winning five years in a row has dampened interest, the economy drove some factory teams away, and the new WRC regs requiring all cars to have same layout drove off Subaru. Lots of manufacturers have moved to IRC which appears to have some problems of it's own. Shame, I think rally is a hell of a spectacle. Maybe Haki's (edit - Raki - senior moment) ride will help interest in the sport.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by KNS

"Get some tools!".

my kinda guy....

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by jyl

I haven't watched WRC since it left SpeedTV. What happened to the series, why are there only 2 factory teams left, is WRC losing popularity or is it the economy?

Actually, the show is better now since it's in HD, more or less, we will get each day of the rally individually and a replay of all 3 days on sunday on HD theater... It's a great show, better than what he had on speed...

Yes, the series took a hit with the loss of Subaru (the economy), Peugeot before that (focused on Le mans, and the economy too) but last year the battle between Loeb and Hirvonen lasted till the last rally, Loeb winnign the crown by ONE point !
Hirvo has upped his game to the point where Loeb thinks he's better than Gronholm was...

This year WRC also features a rookie you may have heard off, Kimi Raikonnen, F1 world champion! ;-) Yes, it's pretty much Ford and citroen, but you can argue that of other series, Ferrari/Mclaren in F1, Porsche/ferrari/BMW in ALMS... whatever. Still a kick ass show... And someone should probably hire Solberg... though my question is largely unanswered, there's gotta be something about him that made him undesireable - team managers aren't stupid. I think he broke a contract with Ford once and now the door's shut there...

IRC competition has also probably not helped, the IRC ran the monte carlo rally (arguably the most popular event) this year while WRC stupidly let the crown jewels go and picked new locations... Hopefully the new FIA guy (Todt, ex rallyman at Peugeot) will give WRC a nudge in the right direction !

[CurtEgerer]

Greg, I think the answer is he was simply left standing when the music stopped. He was Nr. 1 at Subaru in 2008 and was under contract with them for 2009. Then Subaru suddenly pulled the plug only weeks before the 2009 season opener. There was nowhere to go, so he started his own team and played catchup all year. Ford and Citroen had all their seats filled. Maybe he could have replaced Latvala in the Nr. 2 seat at Ford this year, but maybe Ford was concerned that Solberg would not make a good Nr. 2 (i.e. wouldn't slow down when ordered to ). Probably better to stick with the young guy anyway even tho he made some costly mistakes last year.

Will be interesting to see how our very own Ken Block fares this year as well. Sure, he won't likely be running for any podiums this year, but it adds another element of interest and he's got a personality. He and Alex did some testing in their RA Fiesta near my home a few weeks back ....

[onewhippedpuppy]

Ken Block is running in WRC?! I knew he had moved to a Fiesta, but I thought he would be running SCCA. Awesome.

[KNS]

Nostril,

Thanks for posting - pretty cool.

[CurtEgerer]

Yeah, Block and Gelsomino are running 6-7 WRC events this year in a brand new Ford Focus with M-Sport and running the full Rally America series in the Fiesta. Even Block admits that this is strictly a learning year in WRC for him. I think he's committed for 3 years or something like that and is trying to put together another car for Atkinson.

Here's Block vs Solberg last year in Germany having some fun:

[CurtEgerer]

Solberg is dominating at Rally Mexico today! They're at the halfway point on Day 1.

Ken Block doing fantastic: 9th overall right now.

[Wintermute]

Raikkonen had some bad luck on SS2 and lost an engine. Overall he's doing VERY well with mostly top ten finishes, and a 5th. I am really impressed with his overall performance so far. His anvil keeps following him around though, some of the worst luck.

Block also impressive, but he has much more experience, so I expect him to do well.

I'm concerned about Hirvonen, he needs to step it up tomorrow to stay in the running, but it's early in the season.

Also, does HD Theatre have live coverage now this weekend? I haven't checked the channel since highlight shows are delayed?

[CurtEgerer]

I think there's a 2-week delay on HD Theater

What I like about Solberg is he is just keeping his foot mashed to the floor, rather than playing tactics and setting himself for tomorrow. Might be to his detriment tomorrow when he plays roadsweeper but what the hell, might as well enjoy the glory while you can

[Wintermute]

Yea two weeks. Loaded with commercials too but I will take what I can get.

Looks like SS9 is underway, Hirvonen pulling some time back...

[Wintermute]

Good rally, you can watch some of the videos on wrc.com. Kimi rolled his Citroen on the first day, caught out by some loose gravel. More bad luck, but it's his seventh rally. Ken Block also got caught out by some loose gravel and slammed sideways into a bank and ruining a top ten finish.

Citroen took a 1-2-3 with Hirvonen bringing in fourth. Just not his weekend