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was_tansu_now_badhedgehogThe short version: Loeb won, Kovalainen won, South Africa won, Michael Vaughan resigned.
The REALLY long version (contains sickening scenes of hero worship, and video footage of a small yellow car on its side at about a hundred mph):
Rally Finland day three: Sébastien Loeb went into the final day with a lead of 18 seconds over Mikko Hirvonen. This lead was accumulated over 21 stages, which together added up to 300 kilometres: you can see that Loeb and Hirvonen were very very closely matched for pace. On the final day, there were only three stages with a total of 40 kilometres, so really Loeb had to be making mistakes on each of them, or having some kind of definite problem, in order for Hirvonen to take the victory. Seb did indeed make a mistake on today's second stage, just the one in the whole rally. By trying to be a little cautious, he misjudged a braking point and spun the car, losing six seconds to Hirvonen. But it wasn't enough to threaten his win.
Sébastien Loeb's win this weekend is truly noteworthy. He is only the fourth non Finn/Scandinavian to have ever won the rally in its 57 year history, after Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol and Markko Märtin. The rally is the fastest in the championship, and it is incredibly technical. It's run on undulating forest roads with sweeping bends, so there are lots and lots and lots of crests, and the roads are exceptionally fast. More than anywhere else drivers have to get their lines totally spot on, because if you take the wrong line into a blind crest with a bend immediately afterwards, you will be in a ditch or up against a tree (or both, just ask P-G Andersson). The complex technicalities which are specific to Finland mean that drivers have to know the roads - both in the sense of knowing the subtleties the crests and jumps work and in the sense of knowing the specific rally stages well. Obviously, this favours experienced Finnish drivers and gives the Scandinavians a shout as well.
Seb, who is, let's be honest, a bloody genius; has won pretty much everywhere else on every surface going, but he'd never won Finland. You can say that this year he had a chance because the great Marcus Grönholm, who had a tight hold on this rally for the last 8 years, retired at the end of last season. On the other hand, Mikko Hirvonen was a very close second to Grönholm last year and would be the man to beat, and new young team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala has unbelievable, terrifying pace (but also a regrettable track record of attacking too hard and making mistakes, especially on this rally). So, it was never going to be easy. Neither Loeb nor Hirvonen could afford to make any mistakes, and both had to be going flat out to the maximum all the time. Both drove an amazing rally, but Seb just had the edge.
Personally, I am a supporter of Hirvonen and Latvala, but I do really like Seb as well, so well done, hats off to that man. Awesome.
Stars of the rally:
Sébastien Loeb. Obviously.
Matti Rantanen. A private entry, and Rantanen's first entry in a proper WRC group A spec car; and he comes seventh. Remarkable.
Toni Gardemeister. Toni came eighth, eight minutes off the leaders and two minutes off seventh place. So why do I think he put in such a star performance? Because after his spectacular moment(youtube links) on stage 7, where he put his shoulder out (you can see his arm get wrenched and after the off he is steering one handed), he continued to drive damn well - even when the car had problems with the paddle gear shift that meant Toni had to change gear manually, with his injured right arm. And there were hydraulic problems that put paid to the power steering for a few stages. These cars NEED their power steering. Trying to drive one without is really hard work, even when you haven't dislocated your shoulder the day before. Toni Gardemeister is made of strong stuff. And he managed to keep things going and not lose too much time when the car had turbo problems and lost a lot of power, with only the gentlest of complaints. Garde is one of the most under-rated of the WRC drivers and there he is stuck in that Suzuki which is really less than good. Better than last year when he didn't even have a regular drive.
Hungarian Grand Prix:
Just as one of my Finns in fast cars misses out on a win, another one has a win fall into his lap! Heikki Kovalainen had been third through most of the race behind Massa and Hamilton, then Hamilton dropped several places following a puncture, giving Kovalainen second place. And then with only three (it was three, right? Correct me or something) laps to go, Massa's engine completely gave out. Suddenly, there is Heikki leading the race, and all he has to do is get the car to the finish. It is not nice to be pleased by someone else's bad luck, but such is my disturbingly fanatical devotion to the racing fortunes of Heikki Kovalainen, that I admit to being all "AAAH! OMG HEIKKI IS GOING TO WIN!" and getting somewhat exciteable. Apologies to any Massa-istas. The result put a huge smile on my face, and it was simply wonderful to see Heikki so happy. Sorry, but the man is just made of sunshine, and a little sunshine and happiness is always welcome in this life. Heikki has had such dreadful, dreadful luck this season, and it's nice to see some good luck happen to him.
Timo Glock was second, and Kimi Räikkönen third. Timo Glock has suddenly been very fast this weekend almost out of nowhere. It's good to see different people putting in good performances, makes it interesting. His Kiminess appeared to awake from some kind of mental cloud about three quarters through the race, and was chasing Glock down very hard and fast, and would have taken him if it hadn't been for fellow Ferrari Massa's engine failure making it both less advisable and less necessary to push to the maximum.
There was an amusing photo of Heikki and Kimi drinking champagne on the podium - it looks like the "Champagne: magnum" category in some kind of Finnish drinking competition. Kimi is clearly in the lead, and seems to have the more practised technique.
Cricket:
See, this is why we don't start test matches on a Wednesday. Lovely long Sunday, and the game's over in a few ... overs. We are getting a little lost in the wilderness, we really are. Michael Vaughan resigned as Test captain, and shed a few tears. I think it was the right move, because he simply wasn't doing himself any good by staying in the role. The **TURMOIL** was getting too much. I think he should get together with Athers and Nas for dinner, get through a couple of bottles of wine and let all the angst out. Collingwood has seen sense and realised that being one day captain had made him play like complete and utter shit, and resigned also. God knows who'll be captain now. Not sure I want Pietersen to destroy himself with it. If he were to be captain, I would think he ought only to be captain of one form of the game.
The REALLY long version (contains sickening scenes of hero worship, and video footage of a small yellow car on its side at about a hundred mph):
Rally Finland day three: Sébastien Loeb went into the final day with a lead of 18 seconds over Mikko Hirvonen. This lead was accumulated over 21 stages, which together added up to 300 kilometres: you can see that Loeb and Hirvonen were very very closely matched for pace. On the final day, there were only three stages with a total of 40 kilometres, so really Loeb had to be making mistakes on each of them, or having some kind of definite problem, in order for Hirvonen to take the victory. Seb did indeed make a mistake on today's second stage, just the one in the whole rally. By trying to be a little cautious, he misjudged a braking point and spun the car, losing six seconds to Hirvonen. But it wasn't enough to threaten his win.
Sébastien Loeb's win this weekend is truly noteworthy. He is only the fourth non Finn/Scandinavian to have ever won the rally in its 57 year history, after Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol and Markko Märtin. The rally is the fastest in the championship, and it is incredibly technical. It's run on undulating forest roads with sweeping bends, so there are lots and lots and lots of crests, and the roads are exceptionally fast. More than anywhere else drivers have to get their lines totally spot on, because if you take the wrong line into a blind crest with a bend immediately afterwards, you will be in a ditch or up against a tree (or both, just ask P-G Andersson). The complex technicalities which are specific to Finland mean that drivers have to know the roads - both in the sense of knowing the subtleties the crests and jumps work and in the sense of knowing the specific rally stages well. Obviously, this favours experienced Finnish drivers and gives the Scandinavians a shout as well.
Seb, who is, let's be honest, a bloody genius; has won pretty much everywhere else on every surface going, but he'd never won Finland. You can say that this year he had a chance because the great Marcus Grönholm, who had a tight hold on this rally for the last 8 years, retired at the end of last season. On the other hand, Mikko Hirvonen was a very close second to Grönholm last year and would be the man to beat, and new young team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala has unbelievable, terrifying pace (but also a regrettable track record of attacking too hard and making mistakes, especially on this rally). So, it was never going to be easy. Neither Loeb nor Hirvonen could afford to make any mistakes, and both had to be going flat out to the maximum all the time. Both drove an amazing rally, but Seb just had the edge.
Personally, I am a supporter of Hirvonen and Latvala, but I do really like Seb as well, so well done, hats off to that man. Awesome.
Stars of the rally:
Sébastien Loeb. Obviously.
Matti Rantanen. A private entry, and Rantanen's first entry in a proper WRC group A spec car; and he comes seventh. Remarkable.
Toni Gardemeister. Toni came eighth, eight minutes off the leaders and two minutes off seventh place. So why do I think he put in such a star performance? Because after his spectacular moment(youtube links) on stage 7, where he put his shoulder out (you can see his arm get wrenched and after the off he is steering one handed), he continued to drive damn well - even when the car had problems with the paddle gear shift that meant Toni had to change gear manually, with his injured right arm. And there were hydraulic problems that put paid to the power steering for a few stages. These cars NEED their power steering. Trying to drive one without is really hard work, even when you haven't dislocated your shoulder the day before. Toni Gardemeister is made of strong stuff. And he managed to keep things going and not lose too much time when the car had turbo problems and lost a lot of power, with only the gentlest of complaints. Garde is one of the most under-rated of the WRC drivers and there he is stuck in that Suzuki which is really less than good. Better than last year when he didn't even have a regular drive.
Hungarian Grand Prix:
Just as one of my Finns in fast cars misses out on a win, another one has a win fall into his lap! Heikki Kovalainen had been third through most of the race behind Massa and Hamilton, then Hamilton dropped several places following a puncture, giving Kovalainen second place. And then with only three (it was three, right? Correct me or something) laps to go, Massa's engine completely gave out. Suddenly, there is Heikki leading the race, and all he has to do is get the car to the finish. It is not nice to be pleased by someone else's bad luck, but such is my disturbingly fanatical devotion to the racing fortunes of Heikki Kovalainen, that I admit to being all "AAAH! OMG HEIKKI IS GOING TO WIN!" and getting somewhat exciteable. Apologies to any Massa-istas. The result put a huge smile on my face, and it was simply wonderful to see Heikki so happy. Sorry, but the man is just made of sunshine, and a little sunshine and happiness is always welcome in this life. Heikki has had such dreadful, dreadful luck this season, and it's nice to see some good luck happen to him.
Timo Glock was second, and Kimi Räikkönen third. Timo Glock has suddenly been very fast this weekend almost out of nowhere. It's good to see different people putting in good performances, makes it interesting. His Kiminess appeared to awake from some kind of mental cloud about three quarters through the race, and was chasing Glock down very hard and fast, and would have taken him if it hadn't been for fellow Ferrari Massa's engine failure making it both less advisable and less necessary to push to the maximum.
There was an amusing photo of Heikki and Kimi drinking champagne on the podium - it looks like the "Champagne: magnum" category in some kind of Finnish drinking competition. Kimi is clearly in the lead, and seems to have the more practised technique.
Cricket:
See, this is why we don't start test matches on a Wednesday. Lovely long Sunday, and the game's over in a few ... overs. We are getting a little lost in the wilderness, we really are. Michael Vaughan resigned as Test captain, and shed a few tears. I think it was the right move, because he simply wasn't doing himself any good by staying in the role. The **TURMOIL** was getting too much. I think he should get together with Athers and Nas for dinner, get through a couple of bottles of wine and let all the angst out. Collingwood has seen sense and realised that being one day captain had made him play like complete and utter shit, and resigned also. God knows who'll be captain now. Not sure I want Pietersen to destroy himself with it. If he were to be captain, I would think he ought only to be captain of one form of the game.
