WRC 2011

Rally Sweden kicked off yesterday, and the first day of Special Stage running today (Friday) has produced some shockers already.

Mads Ostberg leads Hirvonen by over 20 seconds leading into SS5 after the opening leg of three Special Stages. Sebastien Loeb meanwhile is struggling with the DS3 on the snow and ice conditions. Two S2000 Skodas have managed to get into the top 10, which is fantastic! Petter Solberg is absolutely trouncing the works DS3's at the moment. Ken Block in his Fiesta is down in 17th and Raikonen is sitting 11th in his DS3.

1. Mads Ostberg Ford 40m10.8s
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 24.8s
3. Petter Solberg Citroen + 45.6s
4. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1m19.8s
5. Patrik Sandell Skoda + 1m20.0s
6. Henning Solberg Ford + 1m21.4s
7. Eyvind Brynildsen Skoda + 1m27.1s
8. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 1m35.0s
9. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 1m46.7s
10. Martin Prokop Ford + 2m06.3s

http://www.rallybuzz.com/rally-sweden-2011-results-ss4/

Onboard with Raikonen!

Highlights from the Shakedown Stage

Ogier wins SS5.

Hirvonen now leads Ostberg by 0.3 seconds, Solberg is a further 31 seconds behind. Ogier and Loeb have moved to 5th and 6th respectively and Kimi Raikonen is now in 9th.

1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 1h54m57.5s
2. Mads Ostberg Ford + 0.3s
3. Petter Solberg Citroen + 31.0s
4. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 44.3s
5. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 1m10.0s
6. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 2m43.6s
7. P-G Andersson Ford + 4m11.0s
8. Patrik Sandell Skoda + 4m19.8s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Citroen + 5m22.4s
10. Anders Grondal Subaru + 7m00.0s

and the most amazing thing is that Kimi HASN'T crashed yet!

Matt, if you watch the Kimi onboard on the above post, he goes off multiple times and has to reverse out of the snowbanks!



The snowbanks cover the ditches, which is why he is still in it!

errr, yes he has, just not heavily enough to stop him!! lol

If this was finland, he would have went into a ditch on any of those kinds of offs!

Mikko Hirvonen has started to pull away from Ostberg while the rest of the runners close in on Ostberg. Mathew Wilslow is now in 10th and Raikonen moves up the order to 8th. Henning Solberg had a high speed roll after hitting a snowbank, so he has most likely lost a shed load of time due to that.

1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 2h59m02.7s
2. Mads Ostberg Ford + 13.7s
3. Petter Solberg Citroen + 30.5s
4. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 39.2s
5. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 51.6s
6. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 2m16.7s
7. P-G Andersson Ford + 6m08.8s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Citroen + 6m38.2s
9. Khalid Al Qassimi Ford + 9m34.7s
10. Matthew Wilson Ford + 9m35.1s

Is there a full programme on the internet where i can watch this?

It doesnt seem to be on Dave

ESPN have the coverage instead of Dave and Nicky's got a link for it so i'm sure he'll post it

ESPN!

http://embed.zonein.tv/plkgftdhgfhydfyhayer.php?id=131876&w=900&h=700

Dundee Unt and Celtic are on just now, its nearly over.

Its on now

WRC is fantastic live!

Jon Desborough is presenting, brings back the Channel 4 memories for me. All we need is Robbie Head and Penny Mallory to finish off the crew.

Ken Block will be sweeping the stage, Hirvonen is last on the road.

Block with a scruffy run, Al Qasimi out now.

Wilson takes the hotseat from Block, loving the Ski style format!

Sandell out now.

Wow! PG Andersson goes a whole 4 seconds quicker than Wilson!

Kimi goes second.

Ogier pips Loeb for the lead.

Erm.... Petter Solberg is not driving... Chris Patterson is.....

What the hell is going on?

Solberg got his rally liscence taken away from him before the stage for speeding on a road section! Chris Patterson had to drive as co-drivers all have rally lisences.

Ogier wins the power stage! Three points.

That as funny ive never seen that before!