Kubica's Recovery

[stefan_]

Rally Islas Canarias - 21.03.2013

[SilverArrow]

Great shots! It's sad, even somewhat infuriating, seeing Raikkonen take what would have been Robert's wins.

[KubicaFAN]

Robert Kubica vs Jan Kopecky - Shakedown & Onboard - ERC - Rally Islas
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPLj8j5n ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPLj8j5n ... e=youtu.be

[Arunas]

Impressive speed from Kubica on Canarias!
Link for live-timing:
http://www.ewrc-results.com/results.php ... ngles-2013

[Manoah2u]

Great shots! It's sad, even somewhat infuriating, seeing Raikkonen take what would have been Robert's wins.

I don't think it works that way. Even more, If Kubica didn't had that horrible crash, or if he had been wiser not to participate in these events [even after being warned about the team, especcialy in pre-season testing], he'd been driving for Ferrari now, in Massa's seat. That would have granted him a P2 in Australia, as Kubica isn't the kind of guy to be Alonso's little b*tch. Massa's a good bloke, but he doesn't have the strenght of mind as Kubica has.

[KubicaFAN]

Q&A: Robert Kubica
Formula One winner Robert Kubica is creating quite a stir on his FIA European Rally Championship debut by leading Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés by almost 40s. This is what he had to say at service in Las Palmas.

How has your morning been?
“The tyre choice was quite difficult because conditions were very tricky. The weather forecast was for the dry, this morning it was dry here but in the mountains it was wet. In some stages it was 50 per cent, 50 per cent dry. We choose tyres for mixed conditions, not for dry or for wet. But the weather got even worse only 13 kilometres of the last stage were completely dry. It was very tricky with soft dry tyres when there is a lot of water is not easy but it has been for everybody like this. But so far, so good. We are just getting experience and this is good experience for the future because in the end this is rallying.”
Why was your choice of tyres better than the others – did you have information from the stages?
“This is my first time after 10 times getting it wrong I get it nearly right. I normally joke with my friends not to use the tyres I am using because in the past it was a nightmare. You have to be lucky and maybe you could choose different tyres. But when you are 60 kilometres from the stages you don’t know what will happen. Now we have to make the best choice we can for the afternoon and enjoy again and get to know the car better and the tyres better.”
Are you surprised at the gap you have made and what is the plan for the afternoon?
“There is no real plan. We are driving our speed what we think is reasonable pace with not taking a lot of risks. Normally I have been good in those types of conditions mainly because I choose many times the wrong tyres, always slick tyres in the wet. We just drive and of course we need to improve a few things but that is normal. It would be strange if everything worked perfectly in the car with the new co-driver on a new rally with new pacenotes. Everything is very new.”
Jan Kopecký says your car is better for these slippery conditions. What do you think?
“I don’t know. I’m driving and I’m not looking at other drivers. For sure the car is working well and for sure the Regional Rally Car has different characteristics. We have less power but more torque so this is helping for sure in wet conditions. But on the other side, on fast roads like here, we are penalised. But I am not saying his engine is better, it’s just part of the game.”
Did you have any tricky moments this morning?
“It’s very difficult when you drive on wet when the Tarmac is changing. I have never been here and I don’t know the stages. When it’s dry you see the different colour of Tarmac but when it’s wet it’s all black and with the standing water it’s difficult to find the feeling for the grip.
How hard have your worked on your pacenotes?
I work really hard on the pacenotes because it’s 80 per cent of the speed, safety and everything. When you are going through new stages you need to rely on your pacenotes and the pacenotes have to be precise as you can and it’s not easy.”

[zonk]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMGNnU_t ... Ig&index=1[/youtube]

[aral]

Not surprising that Kubica is leading. He is driving an RRC car, and Kopeczy is in a lower powered S2000 car. Not really a true comparison.

[BoBee]

Not surprising that Kubica is leading. He is driving an RRC car, and Kopeczy is in a lower powered S2000 car. Not really a true comparison.

From what i read some a time ago the S2000 cars are actually having advantage over WRC cars in terms of cornering speed. From what i can see on that rally its more about corners than anything else. On top of that RRC cars have less downforce than regular WRC and also limited power and boost. Well i dont think that the guys are feeling disadvantaged, rather embraced considering that Bob is "disabled", 1st time in the car, 1st time with his copilot and still saying hes not pushing
Good luck Robert

[zonk]

[Donuts]

Not surprising that Kubica is leading. He is driving an RRC car, and Kopeczy is in a lower powered S2000 car. Not really a true comparison.

So, what are you saying? It's not impressive?

[Donuts]

Leading positions after SS8:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Robert Kubica Citroen 1h29m32.0s
2. Jan Kopecky Skoda + 1m06.7s
3. Craig Breen Sainteloc Peugeot + 1m51.0s
4. Jeremi Ancian Sainteloc Peugeot + 2m43.8s
5. Luis Monzon Canarias Mini + 3m36.2s
6. Andreas Aigner Stohl Subaru + 4m50.3s
7. Enrique Garcia Autogomas Citroen + 6m01.8s
8. Germain Bonnefis Renault + 6m17.4s
9. Joan Vinyes Iberica Suzuki + 6m39.5s
10. Gorka Antxustegi Iberica Suzuki + 6m40.1s

[zonk]

eurosport day one summary

part 1
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-2TQBGCkx4[/youtube]

part 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeiiOKXLkZ4[/youtube]

[KubicaFAN]

Kubica hit the barrier on the house and still won the stage 8 =D>
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-9xUe5-7E[/youtube]

[zgred]

So close...