Rally Ireland get’s closer and closer. The shakedown is to be run tomorrow, Thursday, between 08-12 local time on a 2.87km stage before the start ceremony in the evening in Enniskillen. The rally covers a total of 366.75 km divided into three legs. SS1 starts on Friday at 8:13 local timeand the last stage – a town stage in Donegal – starts at 13:10 on Sunday.
I think a few things are extra interesting regarding this event:
- How’s everybodys shape? This is the first of three races (Ireland-Tarmac, Norway-Snow, Cyprus-Gravel/Tarmac) that will show a sign of what everyone is up to on different surfaces.
- How will the Stobart guys and Citroen Juniors perform? What does Atkinson think about the C4, is Ogier’s good flow over or may he be a new Loeb? Will Henning charge now that he is said to have the best possible Ford backing – or will he wait for Norway?
- Will the temperature stay well over zero? After the difficulties in Wales and Japan last year with ice and snow, Pirelli has now made sure to bring their SottoZero tyre (no studs) to Ireland as a backup. If weather would change towards ice and snow the event will become really interesting and tyre choices will be crucial.
- And of course… Who will win? Sebastien Loeb is – as always on tarmac – a big favourite for sure. But you should not remember that the tarmac on Ireland is not like anywhere else. It’s twisty, narrow and bumpy and not at all like Monte, Germany or Corsica. The narrowness also makes one single mistake very likely to be fatal. Can he keep up the spirit?
But maybe most important…
- Can competitiors, Rally Ireland organisers, FIA and ISC together make the event interesting? I followed the IRC season opener Rally Monte Carlo last weekend and many people with me – and what I saw was stunning. Top fights in almost every stage, amazing live coverage on TV/web and an interesting strategy game with tyre choices, different levels of attack, etc. They set the level – and it is high!
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Tags: 2009, henning solberg, rally ireland, sebastien loeb, sebastien ogier, snow, tarmac, temperature, weather
