WRC Greece 2011

It has been two years since the WRC circus last visited Greece. It is a classic event on the WRC calender and is traditionally a car breaker, although it has become much tamer in recent years according to the old hands. Still, the rough roads of the Acropolis Rally are unforgiving of mistakes. Just ask Loeb who in 2009, had the biggest crash of his career in Greece.

This year's rally was exciting but road position tactics over shadowed the action. On day one, Petter Solberg went on a tear and thanks to the others slowing down for tactics, he had a 50s lead at the end of the day. While that sounds like a lot, he became the road sweeper on day two and it only took a few stages before he was passed. Solberg did not help his cause by missing a junction, which cost him 8s, but mostly he lost the lead due to being first on the road.

With road position being so critical, there was little doubt that Ogier and Loeb, who were first and second, would again play tactics on the day two's final stage, a rare night run. What surprised me was that the Citroen team allowed Ogier to slow and fall back into second. Loeb is the championship leader so I expected the team to support him. The decision obviously frustrated Loeb as well, but apparently the team has internal rules about who gets to choose the road order.

Being first on the road is a huge liability at most gravel events, which is why everyone uses tactics to manipulated their road position. Next year the FIA is changing the road order rules at gravel rallies which hopefully will eliminate these kinds of shenanigans.

Chris Patterson, Petter Solberg's very experienced co-driver, got lost in the pace notes on day two's night stage. It can happen to the best of them but I wonder if part of the problem is that night stages are very rare in WRC these days. Maybe the skills are not being used often enough to keep them sharp.

It is great news that Rally Monte Carlo returns next year as the traditional season opener. Hope Monte Carlo gets snow next Winter!

WRC Argentina 2011

Rally Argentina was a story of changing fortunes, which were occasionally self inflicted.

Loeb was first on the road, which was bad enough, but he accidentally arrived at the afternoon check-in too early and was given a one minute time penalty. At the end of day one, Loeb had dropped to fifth place, which was not too bad in itself, except he was now 1m30s behind the leader. A win was long shot. Or was it?

This year the rally was a mixed surface event with about 5% of the distance run on paved roads using the gravel tires and set up. Even Loeb, who is a sealed surface master, complained that the paved sections were too fast for the setup. But Hirvonen, who never does well on seal surfaces, was unable to cope and ended day one in fourth, 43s off the leader. The mixed surfaces really hurt Hirvonen's chance for a win.

Latvala started day one in fourth but finished in the lead, taking full advantage of his road position, as driver's ahead of him cleaned the road. Petter Solberg, who started fifth, also made hay and ended day one in second place, with a win being a strong possibility.

Both Latvala and Solberg would have reversal of fortune on day two. Latvala managed to maintain his lead despite being first on the road but a suspension failure forced him to retire. Ogier passed Solberg to take second place early on day two, but Solberg was always within striking distance. After Latvala retired, Solberg was back in second and a win again became a possibility. Then, on the last stage of day two, Solberg's power steering broke. Petter never hides his emotions but it's rare to see him that angry. The guy has attrocious luck.

Day three started with Ogier leading Hirvonen and Loeb. But with Hirvonen 43s behind, Ogier was almost assured of the win. Almost. On the first stage of day three, an error in Ogier's pace notes caused him to cut a corner that he should not have. He clipped something which flipped the car into a roll. Although the car was badly damaged, he continued the rally. He even maintained his lead although it was greatly reduced, and victory was no longer assured.

And the benefactor of Ogier's misfortune was... Loeb! He had passed Hirvonen on the first stage of day three and had now been handed a chance for a win. Despite Ogier's reduced pace, the following stages were very short and Loeb would not gain the lead, and the win, until final stage. Talk about a reversal of fortune.

What a dramatic rally that was. Each day had a surprising turn of events and the winner was only decided in the last stage. It doesn't get any better that.

WRC Italy 2011

Mini made an auspicious debut in Italy. The car is obviously very fast albeit a bit unreliable, but that is the right way to do it. You can always make a fast car more reliable, but making an unreliable car go faster is almost impossible. The best news is that Volkswagon has committed to enter the WRC in 2013. The competion is looking to be in good shape for the future.

Not only is Loeb a brilliantly fast driver, but he is also annoyingly lucky at times. Loeb spent the entire weekend as road sweeper and yet it did not seem to slow him down at all, an incredible feat. While Loeb was in perfect form, he was helped by the fact all of his main rivals had problems.

On day one, Latvala's co-driver misread a pace note which caused them to entered a corner too fast, rolling the car. It was not too badly damaged and Latvala restarted on day two in forty-fifth place. Even though he was out of contention, he cranked out a series of stage wins which showed what he could have achieved at the front of the pack.

Also on day one, a very racy looking Hirvonen briefly lead the rally until a slow puncture finished his charge. Hirvonen fought back valiantly, even winning the power stage, and clearly demonstrated he had the pace for a rally win, but he simply ran out of stages, finishing only 11s behind Loeb.

Petter Solberg also looked like a possible contender for a win but a turbo problem on day one and a puncture on day two, put any chance of a victory to rest. Still, he managed to salvage third place, his first podium finish of the season, so it was still a good rally for him.

Ogier took himself out of contention when he played tactics and slowed on the last stage of day one. Unfortunately for him, none of his rivals were in the mood for tactics so they all went flat-out, leaving Ogier a whopping 1m31s behind the rally leader. Ouch! Ironically, this was the reverse of what happened in Jordan where Ogier was the one who kept his foot down.

Italy reiterated what is required to beat Loeb: drive flat-out, make no mistakes, have no mechanical failures, and do not bother with tactics. Sounds easy, doesn't it? ^_^

WRC Jordan 2011

The political strife around the Middle East (including Jordan itself) put the Jordan Rally in doubt, but the organisers decided to have the event go ahead anyway. It was not the best idea.

The problems started when everything had to rerouted around Syria when it became unsafe for travel. After establishing a new route, the organisers cancelled the first day's stages to allow time for scrutineering and shakedown, but even that schedule was in doubt when engine trouble on the transport ship caused even further delays.

Everything arrived in the middle of the night with only a few hours before scrutineering. In that short time, the teams had to accomplish tasks that they normally have three days to complete, such as assembling the service area and setting up the cars. It was quite an impressive feat that they were all ready in time. And thanks to their incredible effort, it turned out to be one the best rallies ever!

Loeb got off to a blistering start but he was second on the road and still sweeping somewhat. As expected, after two stages he had dropped to third overall. He held that position until the final stage of the day, where he slowed down in the middle of the stage, a very unusual tactic. Latvala and Petter Solberg both slowed as well in order to remain behind Loeb.

But Ogier, who was in the lead but had a much better road position, kept his foot in it and stormed to a 31s lead over Loeb, who again found himself in second place overall, which meant on day three he would again be second on the road, identical to the situation on day two. In fact he was worse off because from that position, 31s was a lot of time to make up. His tactic had failed completely.

Loeb tried very hard on day three, forcing him into several uncharacteristic errors. This was not the first time that Loeb has buckled under pressure this season and I suspect it will not be the last. It wasn't long before he lost second place to Latvala who, thanks to better road position, soon passed Ogier for the lead.

But, going into the final stage, Latvala's lead was a mere 0.5s which set up a real thriller of a stage. With such a small margin, every mistake mattered. Unfortunately, Latvala had a few too many wild moments while Ogier had very tidy run, which earned him a well deserved win by only 0.2s. It was the narrowest victory in WRC history.

Phew! Now to catch my breath before the next rally. ^_^

WRC Portugal 2011

I've never seen Loeb lose his cool as he did after getting caught in the dust behind Hirvonen. It was another indication that Loeb is feeling the pressure this year. On the other hand, if Loeb had not played tactics on day one, he would not have been behind Hirvonen. Loeb was completely responsible for his own road position.

Hirvonen drove very well but mechanical failures put him out of contention for a win or even a podium finish. On day two, the suspension broke and on day three, a drive shaft snapped. Latvala also suffered a drive shaft failure on day two. With both Hirvonen and Latvala driving so well, it was a shame that Ford could not give them reliable equipment.

Petter Solberg's bad luck continues. He had an unbelievable four punctures on day one, which used all his spares for the day. He returned on day two under the SuperRally rules but the 10 minute penalty put him out of contention for a podium. I wonder if there was a problem with Solberg's setup as four punctures in one day seems excessive even for the rough stages of Portugal.

The good news is after three events, there have been three different winners. When was the last time the WRC was this competitive? Even better, the Citroen and Ford are very closely matched and they were trading fastest stage times throughout the rally. When the Ford was working, that is. The Citroen does appear to have a slight edge in reliability when compared to the serious breakages on the Fords.

WRC Mexico 2011

Well, it didn't take long for Loeb to return to his winning ways. It wasn't easy, though, as Ogier led for most of rally while Loeb worked hard to keep up. In the end it came down to their difference in experience. Ogier made a small mistake on stage 20 on day three, drifted wide, clipped something beside road, and wrecked the left front suspension. Loeb hasn't been under much pressure in the last few years and, even though he was diplomatic, it was completely obvious he was not enjoying the fight with Ogier. Expect more of this for the rest of the season.

Hirvonen, as the points leader, was first on the road on day one and had to contend with being the road sweeper. It's not a role he enjoys very much but it looks like he has become better at it. He drove a steady first day and gained from other's misfortune to finish the day in a respectable third, which was not bad considering his road position. Hirvonen kept that steady pace throughout the rally and had a remarkably incident free weekend. He turned it up big time on the power stage though, to take his only stage win of the rally, the three bonus points, and second place on the podium. I think it was one of his most mature drives ever.

Petter Solberg had a fun filled weekend. Things were going great on the morning of day one, but then his bad luck struck. A simple broken wire cost him seven minutes, which dropped him to thirteenth place at the end of day one. By day three he had fought back to fifth but his bad luck returned again on stage 21 when the handle of the gear shifter broke, which led to this scary moment. It's hard to tell what actually happened since Solberg's excited comments don't fit with the on-board video, which doesn't show him spinning in the air. He retained fifth place despite the incident, went on to score two bonus points on the power stage, and eventually finished fourth after Ogier's retirement promoted everyone. Yep, Solberg definitely had a fun weekend. ^_^

WRC Sweden 2011

The 2011 WRC season opener was a nail biter with five drivers in contention for the win at the start of day three. This was Hirvonen's first win since Sweden 2010 so I earnestly hope that he fares better this season. The Ford team swept the podium positions in a truly impressive performance. However I wouldn't read too much into this yet, as the Citroens fell behind due to driver error and bad luck, not a lack of pace.

Loeb lost a lot of time on day one as the road sweeper. This usually isn't a problem for him as the better road position on days two and three, allows him to charge back through the field and take the win. This time he had a puncture on both day two and three, which effectively put him out of contention. I'm sure Loeb will be back to his annoyingly winning ways in the next event.

Petter Solberg was caught speeding in one of the road section on day one. The penalty, which was only given late on day two, suspended his racing licence so he couldn't drive part of day three. Co-driver Chris Patterson, finished the rally in the driver seat. While this is within the regulations, Patterson wasn't driving anywhere near normal racing speeds, which meant that Solberg lost his chance for a third, possibly even second, place finish. Up until that point, Solberg's pace was excellent and was the best indicator of the Citroen's true performance, as he out drove the factory team's drivers. Solberg's chances for a win this season are very high indeed.

The new power stage, which is broadcast live worldwide, hasn't grabbed me yet, probably because I can't watch it live anyway. And also I haven't watched the full hour long show yet. Perhaps that might change my mind. Anyway, it's a great way to promote the sport which has never had live broadcasts as far as I know.

The new cars are very small and nimble and are very exciting to watch. Of course, from the driver's point of view, this translates into "twitchy" and many drivers were having very close encounters with the snowbanks. Henning Solberg's was the worst when his car was flipped into a high speed rollover that sent him flying about 20m down the load. Very nasty.

With most of the electronic driver aids banned, the cars are definitely more difficult to drive but it also means that WRC has become a true driver's challenge again. This is a good thing.

WRC Great Britain 2010

Petter Solberg drove his best rally of the season and came close to winning his first rally since 2005. Solberg was able to pressure Loeb into a couple of rare, but small, mistakes, which prompted Loeb to remind everyone that Solberg is still a very fast driver.

But in the end, Loeb had the advantage of a factory team car while Solberg was really pushing the limits and his luck. After Solberg slid of the road and had to drive in a ditch for 50 meters on day three, he backed of and settled for second behind Loeb.

Had Solberg won, he would have finished second in the drivers' championship, but third place was an impressive result for a privateer team with almost no budget. Solberg's 2011 season is uncertain as he has not secured enough sponsorship yet.

The fact that Loeb was pressured into mistakes, only underlines how dominant he and Citroen has been this year, which was great for them but no so interesting for the fans. Frankly, in terms of competition, it's been the dullest season in the ten years since I started following WRC.

I'm hoping the changes in the regulations next year shakes things up a bit and attracts more manufacturers back to the sport. Perhaps we might see a WRC Subaru Justy...

WRC Spain 2010

Even with the driver championship already won, Loeb showed no sign of backing off, a fact which left Petter Solberg jokingly begging for some mercy from Loeb. The fight for second between Solberg and Sordo was very interesting, considering that neither were challenging for the position after day one.

Day one consisted of mixed surfaces and everyone, except Loeb of course, struggled with setups that were not quite right for the conditions. At the end of day one Solberg was in fourth place and Sordo was in a disappointing sixth place, not the performance he hoped for at his home rally.

Days two and three were back on full asphalt. On day two Solberg went on a charge and soon took third place away from Latvala, who is not entirely comfortable on asphalt. Then Ogier made a mistake and gifted Solberg with second place. Meanwhile, Sordo had finally found some speed and charged up to third place by the end of day two. Solberg and Sordo continued their tussle on day three, but Solberg held on to claim his fourth second place this season, with a margin of just under six seconds.

That's a pretty big margin when you consider the following. Sordo is driving for a factory team while Solberg is a privateer driving a 2009 car. Sordo's car should be much faster and yet he was not able to make full use of that advantage. Solberg was probably carrying his car to keep ahead of Sordo. It shows the relative difference in experience between Solberg, who has won a driver title, and Sordo, who is still chasing his first win.

Raikkonen is not endearing himself to anyone by rolling the car in the shakedown. The roll cage was so badly damaged that he wasn't allowed to participate in the rally. That's two retirements in a row which I hope isn't the start of a trend. He has finished as high a sixth in his first full season, which isn't too bad. Of course, the detractors point to the fact that he has gone off the road more often than he scored any points.

WRC France 2010

The only real excitement in the rally was the three way fight for second and third between Ogier, Sordo, and Petter Solberg. Sordo and Ogier had a definite advantage in their factory Citroens and after day one it looked like Solberg would have to settle for fourth. On day two, Ogier survived an off-road excursion into the trees but later clipped a rock which wrecked the right front suspension. Solberg moved into third and, per his usual style, set his sights on the second place Sordo. Solberg as a very scary moment on day three which could have ended in disaster. With one stage cancelled on an already short day three, Solberg simply ran out of road and had to settle for third, which was still very impressive.

With Loeb and Citroen clinching the drivers' title and manufacturers' title respectively, the remaining two events will be somewhat anticlimactic. The sad fact is neither Loeb nor Citroen were seriously challenged this year.

Loeb is in class of his own. I almost wish he would retire but that would deprive us of the chance to see him beaten, although by whom, I'm not sure. Certainly none of the younger drivers are good enough yet. Solberg might have a chance if he had a competitive car. Just look at what he has achieved driving a 2009 car!

Ford's lack lustre performance this year was shocking and essentially gifted Citroen with the title. I hope the reason for the poor showing is that Ford decided to put all their effort into next year's car, which will use the same chassis as the SWRC cars but with a 1.6l turbo instead of the 2l normally apsirated engine (which sound awesome, by the way). While there were several Ford Fiestas contesting the SWRC, there were no Citroens at all. Time will tell.

WRC Japan 2010

When Loeb is off the pace, the character of the rally changes a lot. All the drivers who might be fighting for second and third seem to up their game when driving for first or second. At one point in Rally Japan, there were five contenders to take the win. I wonder if Loeb would consider taking a year off rallying so we can have that kind of intensity for the whole season? Unfortunately, I doubt Citroen will let him!

Petter Solberg was bloody fast in Japan and came very, very, very close to winning the rally. But, as usual, he has the worst luck. On day one, he was fighting the flu. On day two, he got a ten second penalty for jumping the start on stage 13, which cost him the rally lead (although Ogier played the strategy game and handed the lead back later). On day three Solberg suffered a mechanical problem, which finished any hope for the win. But he still managed to finish second, which was still very impressive considering all the problems he had. Solberg's mechanical gremlins are all due to team's shoestring budget.

Solberg's problems somewhat gifted Ogier with a win. Don't misunderstand; Ogier's performace was outstanding. It was his first time in Japan and he isn't so confident on the bumpy rutted road surfaces, so he drove very well. However, Solberg's confidence that he could have beaten Ogier carries a lot of weight for me. Solberg usually doesn't make statements like that.

Hirvonen is no longer a championship contender and yet it was one of his best rallies this year. So the trick is to get Hirvonen to not fight for the driver's title. You never know, it might just work. Hirvonen's Ford suffered gearbox a problem which is what prevented him from fighting for the win on day three.

Latvala was very impressive as well and was leading the rally on day two, until his Ford also had from mechanical woes. If this looks like a pattern in the Ford team, yes, yes it is. Ford's lack of reliability is one reason Citroen are running away with the constructors title (Loeb being the other reason). The only surprise is that Citroen haven't already clinched the title.

Interesting factoid. It takes about 12 minutes to replace a gearbox in a WRC car. Any chance we can get that technology in our road cars?

WRC Germany 2010

You'd be a fool to bet against Loeb winning Rally Germany. He has been the only winner of the event since it first appeared on the WRC calender in 2002. This year was no exception and gives him a remarkable WRC record of eight (there was no rally in 2009) consecutive win for a single event.

The thing is, there's a good chance Loeb will extent that record as none of the other drivers came close to matching his performance. The only way Loeb's streak in Germany will be broken, is if he makes a big mistake (he made two small ones this time, proving he is human!) or the Citreon has a technical problem, which very rarely happens.

Citroen dominated the rally with a top three finish. Ford improved over the last asphalt event in Bulgaria, but not enough the match the Citroens. Mechanical failures in the Ford cost Hirvonen a possible podium finish. It really is not very exciting when there are only two manufacturers participating, and one of them is struggling while the other dominates.

So it's good news that BMW's Mini will return to the WRC next year, but it will take at least a season to sort them selves out. I don't expect Mini to be competitive in their first year, so 2011 will still be only two established teams. Hopefully, the change in the formula will shake things up a little.

Petter Solberg has the worst luck! He had two(!) tire changes on separate stages on day one, which may have cost him a chance to fight for a third place podium finish. Still, he managed to finish fifth which wasn't too bad.

WRC Finland 2010

The organizers of Rally Finland took advantage of the relaxed regulations and ran the same number of stages over two days instead of the usual three. It probably made more of a difference for the drivers and spectators than for people like me watching it on a half hour TV highlight program.

Hirvonen was building a good lead until stage four when this terrifying crash at 140 km/h shredded most of the car's body work, even as its safety cell did its job. I've watched that a few times and it's really not obvious what went wrong. Hirvonen knows the corner very well (it's his favourite!) so it's more likely some kind of mechanical failure when he landed after the jump. Finland's fast flowing roads makes for spectacular rallying but the margin for error becomes so small that any failure or a tiny mistake, results in huge crashes.

With Hirvonen out, Petter Solberg found himself in the lead of the rally but it only lasted until stage seven when Latvala passed him. Solberg fell back steadily after that and on day two he was passed by both Ogier and Loeb. Solberg's 2009 Citroen just doesn't have the speed to keep up with the works teams on the fast Finnish roads. I suspect he wisely decided to drive for the points rather than try to push the car beyond its limits.

Latvala's driving can be a bit erratic sometimes but when he is on form, he is very impressive. Despite Ogier's and Loeb's charge on day two, Latval maintained his lead to score another well deserved win by a solid 10 seconds over Ogier. With Hirvonen out, Loeb drove for the points and didn't try very hard to catch Ogier.

I think Hirvonen's championship fight is over. An eighty point deficit is going require Loeb to not finish or score very little points over the remaining events. I just don't see that happening. On the other hand, Loeb did have a disastrous second half of the season last year, so it is not completely impossible. Just highly improbable.

Finally, Henning Solberg might be considering a career as a lumberjack. Seriously though, he was lucky that was a small tree, otherwise this could have been a lot worse.

WRC Bulgaria 2010

It was a tarmac event. Sebastian Loeb won. Needless to say his faultless drive was not the most interesting part of the rally.

On the other hand, the fight for second between Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg, was very enjoyable. Solberg got to within four seconds of Sordo, but he was really throwing the car around and had several close calls on the penultimate stage, while trying to catch Sordo. Solber was mindful of how he threw away a second place finish in New Zealand, I think he may have back off a little and settled for third on the final stage.

On the penultimate stage, Sordo hit 216 km/h on one "straightish" section in his fight with Solberg. Even though this was a tarmac event, the roads were very uneven so that speed was still scary fast. If one bump had caught Sordo out... By comparison, Solberg hit 205 km/h on the same stage.

Even though Solberg is doing very well this season, one must not forget that he is only a privateer driving a 2009 car against well funded works teams. To make up for that difference he has to push harder and take more risks. It's a testament to his skill that he doesn't make more mistakes like the one in New Zealand.

Solberg's long time co-driver, Phil Mills, has retired. Solberg admitted he was nervous going into the rally with new co-driver Chris Patterson, but it only took one stage for them to gel. I've always found it curious that Petter chooses English speaking co-drivers.

The Fords were way off the pace which allowed Citroen to lock out the top four places. Henning Solberg drove a S2000 Ford Fiesta in the event. He likes it. He likes it a lot, even suggesting it handles better than the current WRC Ford Focus. Since the 2011 WRC chassis will be the same as the S2000 chassis, this is good news for Ford who have no answer for the Citroens this year.

WRC Portugal 2010

Obviously, nobody told Ogier that road sweeping slows you down! He took over the lead on stage four and never relinquished it, despite having the disadvantage of sweeping the road. Even the mighty Loeb wasn't able to chase Ogier down and Loeb had to settle for second. The fact that Ogier didn't succumb to the pressure, confirms that he is a world champion in the making.

The fight for third became equally intense on day three with Sordo, Petter Solberg, and Hirvonen all in contention for the last podium position. In the end, Sordo was quickest while Solberg had some bad luck and fell back to fifth.

Day three was a real nail biter much like New Zealand was. When so many drivers are pushing themselves to the limit, there's a greater chance of it all going wrong. Unlike New Zealand, Portugal was a straight fight to the finish and Ogier won the rally on merit alone.

What's going on with Hirvonen this year? He started the season in good form with a win in Sweden, but has since faded away, never finishing higher than third. Although there is excellent competition this year, they are only squabbling over second place in the championship. If Hirvonen doesn't up his game soon, he is going to hand Loeb a seventh drivers' title on a silver platter.

WRC 2010 New Zealand

This was one hell of a rally! The action starts on day one when Loeb makes one of his rare mistakes on SS4. The backend got away from him a right hand corner and he slid sideways into the the end of a bridge barrier, which destroyed the driver side door. When Loebs gets it wrong, it goes wrong in a big way! He managed to limp back to service but lost well over a minute, trying to close "the shit door" as he put it. Loeb jokingly added that it was all a tactic for better road position on day two.

Those words were not so funny on day two. Loeb delivered a master class in rally driving as he used his road position to claw back almost all the lost time. He finished day two in second only 5 seconds behind Ogier. It was a spectacular drive with perfect road position for day three. Loeb looked set to take the win again.

Oh, but day three was to be a very different day. First Ogier spun and handed the lead to Loeb. Then Loeb uncharacteristically made a second error for the rally! A Loeb victory looked unlikely as Ogier was once again in the lead. Then Ogier made yet another error, and suddenly a Loeb win was once again a possibility. Then, almost unbelievably, Loeb made a third mistake and crashed! For Loeb to make three mistakes in a rally is so inconceivable, that I almost fell out of my chair because I was laughing so hard! Mark this rally in the history books folks.

Loeb got going again after the crash and was handed third by Petter Solberg. He had the scent of a win in the air and went all out on day three, only to crash out in spectacular fashion on the final stage. Sadly, Petter Solberg's bad luck continues but he was really trying hard for that win.

So, after all that action on day three, the winner is the one driver who had a completely unremarkable rally: Latvala. He had not a single incident, not even a stage win, throughout the entire rally. That's quite an achievement and shows how much Latvala has improved. And considering Ogier's performance, it's clear we are going to see a lot more of the younger drivers this season.

WRC 2010 Turkey

The Rally of Turkey was run on completely different roads since the WRC visited in 2008, and featured some nice fast, flowing sections and mixed surfaces on several stages. Day one and two had some of the closest rallying of the season so far, with the top six drivers within striking distance of a win. By the end of day two, it had settled into a three way fight, as Loeb led Petter Solberg and Hirvonen by 16 and 17 seconds respectively.

Everything seemed to go Loeb's way on day three. First, overnight rain cancelled the stages 18 and 19 and the reduction in distance also reduced the chances of Solberg or Hirvonen catching Loeb. Then, Hirvonen had a wild moment on stage 20 which caused a puncture and ended his hopes for a win. On stage 21 which was the second loop of cancelled stage 18, Petter Solberg slid wide in a tight left hander and lost enough time to finish his charge. Sometimes, Loeb is just plain lucky!

Petter Solberg is now second in the drivers' championship! For a privateer, that's very impressive and shows how consistent he has been this season. I suppose it's too much to hope that he could win the championship against Loeb in a factory Citreon, but I can dream. However, Loeb is taking Solberg seriously and acknowledged that he is looking very fast lately.

Raikkonen continues to improve with another points paying finish in sixth place, two positions higher than the previous rally. If this keeps up, he'll be challenging for podium positions soon. I think Raikkonen is really enjoying himself, but you'd never know it with his "iceman" demeanour, which a stark contrast to Petter Solberg, who never holds back how he is feeling.

WRC Jordan 2010

Another disappointing rally for Mikko Hirvonen. A big mistake on day two cost him any chance of scoring points. He needs victories in the next few rallies if he wants to remain in contention for the driver's championship, otherwise Loeb could easily run away with it. The new points system punishes mistakes much more than the old system did.

Latvala salvaged a second place for Ford. He tried his best but just doesn't have the experience to keep up with the likes of Loeb. Petter Solberg achieved another podium finish in third place. He seems to hang on to the leaders well enough that I'm wondering if a win might be possible this year. Kimi Raikkonen scored his first points in WRC so he is definitely improving.

This rally was all about the tactics for a better road position. The slowing down tactic is easy to understand, but the shenanigans on day three was very confusing because it happened in the road sections. Almost everyone conceded that perhaps this went too far, even though it was within the rules.

WRC 2010 Mexico

The strange thing about WRC Mexico was that, while Fords dominated the leader board, it was only from fourth place and lower. Citroen owned first through third for the entire rally. Ford's poor performance is baffling. It may (even Ford isn't sure) have been the car setup as they decided to copy Henning Solberg's on day two. Just to be clear: the works team used a customer team's setup. Like I said, very strange.

Loeb was seriously back on form and dominated the rally as the Ford team failed Hirvonen, who actually showed pace once the team copied the setup but it was too late. The real excitement came from the fight for second between Petter Solberg and Ogier. This battle was so close it came down to winning the last stage, a short super special. Super specials are always tricky things, epecially when you using the wrong tire! In the end it was Ogier who made a small mistake while Solberg kept it neat and tidy to snatch second. It was very exciting!

WRC 2010 Sweden

Mikko Hirvonen threw down the gauntlet in the opening rally of the 2010 WRC season. When Loeb admits defeat and settles for second place, that tells you everything about how well Hirvonen drove to score the first win of the season. Hirvonen has to keep it up, though, as Loeb is driving like he wants another title.

Sordo's early pace was a big surprise as ice and snow is not his best rally surface, but it shows how much he has improved. Latvala eventually claimed third from Sordo after he had a wild moment on day two, narrowly missing some trees. Sordo admitted that he was very lucky to get away with it.

My favourite driver, Petter Solberg had a very disappointing rally with several costly mistakes, include running into the back of Mark Wilson when they both over shot the same right hander. Solberg managed to claw himself back to ninth place which wasn't bad considering he was obviously not at his best.

The man having the most fun, was Kimi Raikkonen. As expected from a rookie, he made several errors and only finished 30th. Should be interesting to see how much he improves over the season.