FULL SHAKEDOWN | WRC Croatia Rally 2024

welcome everyone to round four of the FIA World Rally Championship welcome to Rally Croatia we are ready to get going with our first run of the Shakedown stage it's our Championship leader tierry nville there don't be alarmed he's just doing some eye exercises getting himself completely ready for the run through Shakedown he looks like it looks like he's being tested to see whether or not he's been drinking the night before doesn't he beex just wakeing just waking up the eyes though he is just waking up the eyes I'm beex Williams alongside me is Mike Chen chenny ready to chat you through all of this and we are going to be here with you through the entire weekend with the team and joining us this weekend is eight-time World Rally Champion co-driver Julian in Gracia who's going to be part of our broadcast throughout the weekend some beautiful weather today it's nice and dry it's sunny it's a little bit cold though the threat of rain during the weekend that could make things a little bit spicy out there couldn't it Jenny yeah look it's a lovely day today but we've seen change weather over the last 2 or 3 days haven't it I mean just a couple of days ago it was 30 OD degrees and uh yesterday it was it was then hovering around 8 so massive sways in temperature and as you said the rain as well will make things a little bit interesting and a lot of the stages are in underneath the trees so um when it's wet it becomes very very slippery um and um it's it's a bit like if if if you've ever been at home and your patio over the winter goes green and goes all algae when you put water on it becomes very very slippery so it's a little bit like that I actually hope it stays dry um I wouldn't really want to see the rain this weekend I'd rather see it nice and dry and and a good clean fight out there yeah no absolutely and we've seen some brilliant fights over the years some very close finishes here at rally Croatia I think it surprised everyone certainly all of the drivers when they first came here back in 2021 the difficulty level of these stages how slippery it was even in very dry conditions yeah there as I said it's all these inconsistencies where you're coming in underneath the trees so they hold the damp and they naturally kind of hold that jewy you know kind of moisture there so the the grip levels are constantly changing I think this man tiar Newville has a big Advantage this weekend being first on the road you can see there straight away he's got the cleanest Road and he's going to be taking big cuts and as more and more cars pass through the stages those big cuts will of course just drag all that that pollution that mud that mck that's on the apex of the corners out onto the road big big cuts for tierry there and just as you say it he demonstrates it yeah and it'll the road will just get dirtier and dirtier and that will um that will obviously massively impact the grip levels for the cars that are coming a bit bit further down so this is a good opportunity for tiar nil to bag Some solid Some solid Championship points and that hyundi as well and we know it's taking a step up in in performance but I think on tarmac here if the weather conditions stay reasonably consistent it'll be this man in that car who'll be the who'll be the uh the man to beat and as you can see we are well we are they are wearing the Irish trick on the front of the Bonnet and on the rear spoiler this weekend in tribute to Craig green it's a beautiful touch from the team now Mr Newville has been on the podium here a couple of times third position over allce but as you said Chen's got a great opportunity being first on the road tomorrow what is going to be a really tough day you know we hav got a midpoint service tomorrow just a tire fitting Zone yeah and the longest day of the rally as well beex and look at that he's just in that in just that short amount of time TI nville Just Whipped off 3.65 km you know and um yeah something going 157.7mm perz a 1528 so um you know again there's not a lot you learn from Shakedown it's just about going out and uh making sure everything's okay with the car and you get a bit of a feel for what the stages are doing and everything else um it's it's an opportunity to just kind of get a real a real feel for the Croatian roads um and if there are any major changes that you'd want to make you'd make them but by now there's a reasonable base set up progress made with the car on Tac and how confident you're feeling about the weekend it's not smart to say you you're going to see it throughout the weekend hopefully in a good way so uh yeah it's uh it's always a a proper stage to to wake up this morning um yeah I took it carefully just to get the back back the feeling with the car on T again and uh yeah do some small adjustments and go again yeah that's where it's at now is just making those minor fine adjustments you know where you're just looking for a tenth of a second here or there as I said you might you might just be trying to dial out that little bit of under steer that little bit of over steer but again it's all a compromise and it's very very difficult to get to get the setup right because it's due to rain tomorrow we're told so you know again it's just about kind of those just getting just easing yourself into these Croatian stages 46 left right maybe op long long left BL left count down to Newville time from our winner of this event last year of course Elvin Evans and scottt Martin 1.7 seconds slower on the first run of Shakedown second in the championship a switch out then to edrien foro who's had such a fantastic start for the 2024 season two WRC podiums in a row in Sweden and then Kenya I is on form at the [Music] moment good morning we of the rally here last year of course are there any interesting changes with this year's rally ah it's much much the same but I would say generally like always it's very dirty very challenging a lot of low grip changes so it's not going to be easy no was a huge chall here as it should be P at the end of the shown stage asking the questions for us of course Adrian was fairly well committed through that big cut section I think I wouldn't I said getting caught out is maybe the wrong phrase but he was he was definitely carrying a fair bit of speed in through there um as you said yeah he's on fire backs he's had a really really good start to the year hasn't he it's going to be interesting to see you know now that the state the thing about the this the start of this year championship has been unique Carlo Sweden Kenya they're all very very unique specialist rallies um now things are a little bit more consistent and uh I don't think you can rely on and not that Adrian has done that but you can't necessarily rely on other people having problems or making mistakes so um Adrian's got to just maybe turn up the wick just a little bit this weekend but there's no question confidence is high the pumer we know is quick they've also arrived this weekend we'll talk about that throughout the weekend with a a slightly revised aerodynamic package uh on the back of that car there's been some changes to the rear wing which will just give a little bit more uh consistent grip levels laterally in terms of when the car starting to move around at the back um through highs speed Corners um but uh yeah Adrien foro certainly has had a great start of the year no question be interested to see what he can do this weekend yeah like you say out of the the kind of unique spec rallies oan underway now Adrian for time through there was a 69.5 we'll hear from him in a [Music] moment hey good morning just how big is this transition from Safari rally Kenya to the to of Catia I think this is why uh Val is so interesting uh we are middle of nowhere in the in the Safar R gravel W and now here it's all about Precision on the slippery T many Etc so it's h yeah it's a bit the sto the the camp before the storm of the r but uh but yeah I'm sure it's going to be interesting to follow it are you going for three podiums in a row yeah I think it's not too bad I'm quite happy so I have good lines also in front so it's quite good thank looking at it positively and summing up the the comparison beautifully there Precision is definitely the name of the game this weekend yeah there's no question as well he's got he's got himself you know ter Newville has got the best Road position here and if it rains you know that the whole kind of idea of mck being pulled out onto the road is accentuated even further you just get wet mud that then gets pulled out so I think tiar nille Elvin Evans and and Adrien foro have got certainly got an advantage over you know everybody else that's coming through you'll see straight away as soon as tiar goes through the stage you'll start to see mud just getting pulled out instantly and that will also be part of his tactic but again you've got to be very careful the more Cuts you take the more likely you are to pick up a puncher or or damage or risk damaging a tire so it's all um it's all a game of Risk bexi calculated risk oan is the fastest driver through 157.5 he's been on the podium twice here before in second position last year and the year before 2022 all good morning you've had some really good results here how confident are you can get a big bag of points this weekend uh yeah maybe it's not the moment to be really confident considering uh start of the year so uh yeah we for sure we we try to be efficient this weekend so uh yeah the first Target is to have a clean weekend but it was same in Kenya so let's see how it works out but we will keep our gos well he's got a small on his face and you know okay he's the first to put his hand up it's not been the best start of the season they need to start getting the the proper points on the board now you're fourth in the [Music] championship but he's got a little bit of a twinkle in his eye Mr tanak could there be something special a fo this weekend I'd like to see o tanak do well this weekend stick a bang a few points on the board and then trust me when we get to the likes of uh Finland Lavia the really fast places he'll be he will be unstoppable you know he'll just be mind-blowingly quick there and then then you'll see o tanak picking up serious points on those quick rallies because where it takes big commitment that that is the man for the job just a reminder on your screens of where to find us this weekend 20 stages broadcast every single one of them you'll find out how tough a challenge is going to be here in Croatia given the weather forecast the complexity of this event May ramp up quite considerably Square onard now with with takamoto katut back to Podium ways in Kenya just a few weeks [Music] ago you talked about the differences in in tarmac we see here and sometimes in one stage you can have three different surfaces nice new stuff old broken stuff any kind of concrete it's really changeable yeah and and and you know the difference in grip levels is enormous you know it's not just a little bit we're talking big big big changes in grip levels and tire wear as well you know some of that high friction the really high friction old ATAC um or or concrete almost if you like is really hard on the tires so yeah as you said in in one stage you can see all of that and again here underneath the trees you can see it's actually quite damp on the surface so um yeah it's a it is a real challenge this this rally and there so many opportunities to make a mistake and of course already as you've seen through the Shakedown stage if you do make an error there's not really much of a place to get it wrong without damaging the car so um yeah it all adds to it [Music] [Applause] fantastic to have Sebastian oier as part of the field again last time we saw him of course was early on the season the first round good morning how was your first run of Shakedown yeah uh not feel so good so need to check few things but or okay otherwise can you tell us a bit about your plan for the weekend what Target you want to hit to manage the situation to be without mistakes would be Nic and this weekend it'll be full mess I would say o took the win here when we came here for the first time back in 2021 I'm sitting right now statistic wise on 99 podiums in his career could it be number 100 this weekend [Music] quite a few of those things you'll see during the weekend just on the left they're the anti-up devices don't be clipping those either no there's a massive weight on the bottom of those so yeah you're right if you do if you do collect them you are likely to pick up a to pick up some damage so they're there just to as Beck said just to stop you from taking big big cuts um and yeah there is an awful lot of weight on the bottom of them so you will you will damage certainly Bodywork worst case scenario suspension and that is oia through them third fastest time 159.5mm [Music] [Music] good morning it's great to have you back with us compared to when you were a full-time driver you feel more excitement when it's been a long time since you were in the car sure it is uh two and a half months it's a very long time so uh actually the first run on the test last week was like oh okay it's I have to get back to rism is really fast but it was a very useful test now I feel really happy to be here and yeah excited that's a good point mly makes you know it's been some time oh a little bit wide here from Andreas the second time we're seeing him of course in the rally one car yeah it's going to be a difficult weekend frr because this is a busy rally you know there's an awful lot going on um so it's um it's certainly a real test for him and we saw him in in Monte Carlo and I think it took him a little a little a little while to get used to what to get used to the caret particularly the down Force the breaking areas all that kind of stuff so um yeah it will be it will be a difficult weekend for him but you know if you're going to make these mistakes here let's have another another little look at this you can see it it flicks left and right it's all off camber as well so the back of the car's just gone light and it's just slid off the road but if you're going to make that mistake Shake Down's the place to do it there's a decent amount of gravel there to making that even more slippery for sure and once you lose the car on the gravel it then you then you know you just become a bit of a passenger so like said if you're make those mistakes you know this is a learning opportunity for Andreas um you know shake Downs the place to do it but um yeah it will be a difficult weekend for him no question but he's got so much experience and um let's let's see what he can do this weekend 20 4.9 then the time for Mickelson as we switch to mport and grear Monster [Music] Monster's been here twice before in 2022 and last year has an idea certainly what the rally is all about morning and welcome back to us only one previous start here in CTI in a wlc 2 car what is it like being here now in this car yeah it's really nice to be back uh car felt really nice I was stuck a bit in the in the Junction in the stage uh so I sto I had to restart but uh car feels good so uh it'll be an interesting weekend good to see a decent amount of people as well out this morning for Shak down it's the same road we've seen used for the past few years there be a huge amount out throughout the rally this event attracts a lot of people from a lot of different destinations but if you're at home you know exactly where you can catch us for the whole [Music] weekend I'm really interested to see how Greg moner gets on this weekend because these are the kind of kind of roads that he'd almost be a bit more used to beex you know so um is he going to maybe kind of just up the revs a little bit just just take a few more risks and everything else he'd be a little bit this is a bit more like rallying at home for him you know the grip levels are you know certainly when you go rallying Belgium everything else you get similar conditions to this don't you you know lots of sometimes you know it's it's wet it's dry and everything else so it'll be intered to see what gregar can do um the only thing is as I said there's not a lot of opportunity to make a mistake and whether or not Greg will take those risks risk damage in the car here I don't know but um I think now is the now is the time to maybe just start adding percentages on and start pushing just that little bit harder the man who scooped the Hors in WRC 2 for the past two years he's been here every time the rally has run so Yan Rossell has great experience of rally Croatia let's hear from [Laughter] greguar they're never easy to get off are they yeah always struggle I tied them too too too hard I think how are you feeling about the uh challenge that is Rally Croatia for the first time in this car yeah I found rally Croatia already very difficult in rally too so in r one everything is coming even faster but uh yeah not so such a bad feeling with the car I was a bit too too careful but uh but yeah quite quite confident what is the target uh having a trouble free event thank you so that is the target for gregar Monster because yeah you know in Kenya that damage suspension which she um tried valiantly to to fix the side of the road that's the Target that trouble free event let's pick up yoan Rossell now as we mentioned huge success here in the past few years for Rosell and again you know this year as the past few years WRC 2 is really firming up as super competitive yet again Rell is second in the championship right now one EV he took Carlo of course yeah what an event that was in WRC to mind blown wasn't it that was Pepe Lopez is back this weekend such a great we have a replay of the Lopez Rosel G in battle that we saw and then and then sling this fell into the mix as well gas green Smith [Music] if I had to put money on a on a wrc2 dri this weekend it would be Gus um you know he is very very good uh on sealed surface rallying he's elected not to score driver points here though yeah it's interesting good morning it's certainly been a while since rally Monte Carlo and I guess we can't expect anything less from you than to do a repeat of last year H the plan is to do the same but uh uh I think the condition very not easy this year it's the same other but qua it's like Monte I think and uh the weather change a lot yeah the plan is to play for the for the victory or for the podum for sure uh and take some [Music] points yeah Gus's driving style is naturally very very smooth doesn't throw the car around and you know on on tat running in particular it's all about carrying speed and just being really super smooth uh and and you know if you look at Gus's hands you know there's there's there's not a huge amount going on there you know he's very very tentative with the inputs on the car and um you know in carting he was quick uh and you put him on a single lap on a circuit and he's phenomenally quick so it is interesting that he's opted not to score points this weekend all part of the strategy for the rest of the year and it's a simple fact that Gus feels like he could be going quicker in other places but if you look at that there you go straight away he's a second and a half up on on youran so yeah I still think G will be um will be one of the favorites for the W WRC uh two category don't chitchat between them we'll being quiet just in case [Music] [Applause] Nicholas C now into the stage Safari to this what is it like that transition uh my back my back's hurting less so far so that's good and I'm feeling a lot better so that's also good but yeah it should be good to see what the weather does but uh yeah another car feels really nice so looking forward to it tell us the plan for the weekend H just say think a safari would be [Music] nice the wind then that's what he's referencing yeah he was on the top step of the podium in wrc2 there you saw that was a great example as you're just coming through that little section where Andreas melson went off the amount of dirt and gravel and muck that's already been pulled out there and that's that's what we're in for for the entire weekend as I said if it rains then you just end up with wet mud all all over the road I don't think there's an if about it yeah yeah get your K ready listening in Yanik as they come to closing sector of the Shakedown stage it's a fastest Tre so far in WRC 2 is Gus greens SMI 2 minutes 4.1 that's 3.6 seconds behind that [Music] time there's no question that the French drivers will be super quick and I really hope as well as you said beex that this man Pepe Lopez can put on a performance I think the French drivers you've got your Spanish drivers all the TX Specialists um and yeah L Gus green Smith into the Hat as well I do think we're going to have a mega battle on our hands this weekend in WRC [Music] 2 good morning back on to T what sort of feeling did you have in here yeah it's uh pretty slippery already I was expecting that uh especially the last section with the the dust is very very very uh how to say very slippery any just just as simple as that so yeah happy to be back here and uh I'm expecting a very difficult event so yeah I hope we'll be competitive and no mistakes yeah that is the CH from everyone is that they know conditions are going to be difficult this weekend it's a tough event even when it's bone dry and no rain throw the rain in though for Pepe Lopez this his first time competing here so that you know he's going to be the disadvantage to the other drivers who've done it for the past two even three years yeah you're definitely right there it is a rally where former experience and knowledge does make a big difference particularly with the the changes in grip levels you just get a feel for you get a feel instantly for what the car is going to do you know from previous years you know this is a good example you're coming down here through like this this almost construction zone that's just mud all across the the road so straight away you go from high to very very low grip and and having that experience from Years Gone by absolutely makes all the difference so it will be you know for Pepe Lopez he has to be able to turn that on very quickly so he's learning all the time and right now he has to make the most of of all the runs he can get through Shakedown Pepe Lopez completes for us then and it's a time of 28.4 and malcy now into the stage another driver with some good experience here but across different categories in the Juniors to kick off within 21 having a good look at those from Shakedown what are you thinking well happy know because I like the guard I think the most important thing now I like the feeling with the guard the Bas so say down is uh a bit difficult for me the first time but uh yeah I think the most important is I like the feeling with the car so let's go could we have another big battle between you and Yan this weekend yeah yeah I hope so yeah we hope so as well because mon was extraordinary the battle went right down to the power stage that would be epic if we could have a repeat of that mention for sami's been here in the juniors in 2021 in the WRC 3 Championship 22 wrc2 last year he was fifth overall in 2023 be able to see how Sammy gets on as well as all the other drivers got a full weekend of 20 stages as I mentioned earlier junan in Gracia is joining the broadcast team this weekend to add his very valuable insight to it all Sammy Sammy was really committed through the first part of the stage you know we saw him carrying loads of speed he was right in the bushes as he was coming up the uh up over the hill so um yeah there only second off Gus greensmith Pacer you could see he was actually having a b of a dig through [Music] there Samy good morning it's time for the TAC of CA what sort of feeling did you have through here and what are your thoughts on the rally ahead yeah the feel it is uh feeling is always really good and we had Ro testing and many nice new things on the car and this was also a prop wake up call for the morning and we had quite a huge jump I would say so enjoyed it I can see that yeah it's good yeah you could also hear any kind of giggling when they finished maybe that was because of the huge jump It's that section where you just go up the hill but the road goes round to the left and then it and then a a blind go round to the right and then a blind left and you can't see it and they they were really committed through there I think any actually kind of made a bit of a noise as they were going through and and that's what Sammy was referring to about that jump Nikolai Bry is in now into the stage he won the WRC Challenger category back in 2023 this you look down the the start order there's so many drivers who've had a story to tell from this rally over the past few years sure we'll have the same this weekend that countdown to Green Smith's time a good clean run yeah 1.1 seconds faster for Nikolai you can see he was carrying loads of speed there was no drama inside the car at all he wasn't sliding it around he wasn't having to correct it it looked stable and um yeah that's a good start for for Nikolai he'll look at that and and it'll give him confidence as well knowing that you know the road position the road condition rather has has changed significantly since G came in but he was still able to go quicker so yeah n will take a bit of Confidence from that no [Music] question G GL One driver in particular stories to tell looks like you're awake today quickest through Shakedown so far super it's good beginning okay uh sure I will say I was feeling that we can do more faster but I try just to be flow but uh the main stuff is we were discussing with the guys in WC plus we need to show the first part of the stage is really nice jumps the rest is you just drive through but uh the first pass the first part of this the jumps is quite crazy but I enjoy it the car seems to be good maybe a few things I will check uh with the setup but overall it's dribles h I think we are ready we just need to to drive through I mean to do no mistakes and focus on the driving style so it looks okay look like ring his director's hat on there love the new helmet design as well great there's a few people here with new G greens Smith's got a new helmet here as well it looks great it's got the Psychedelic yeah it looks like Skittles in hot water um but and and he's got the Craig bream Foundation logo on the back of the car on the back of his helmet as well which is great to see so lots of people um you know here supporting the Craig bream Foundation this weekend which is great yeah something we'll talk about during the weekend to give you more information on G Glen is the last car we're going to see here on the first run of Shakedown he's had yeah a couple of stories to tell over the years he's used the restart rules in the past two years to come back in Action hoping for a stronger finish this time around yeah he's a good example of you you know you can't make a mistake here if you do there there is no runoff the car is going to hit something and you're going to damage it normally the speeds are quite high as well so yeah it's it it is one of those rallies where you just have to be pinpoint perfect and if you are going to have a push it does come with risks because if you if you do collect something chances are you are going to bend something as [Music] well yeah good morning it's good to have you back with us just out of curiosity how much Fame did you experience after that stage win in Sweden I mean uh it was positive thing for sure uh yeah we didn't get stuck on it for too long I think so yeah uh it's a different rally now uh we have a new challenge ahead of us so uh it was a it was a nice thing for sure but uh yeah time to move on now and the target this weekend uh well we're not scoring any points so I think the most important is uh to enjoy and uh learn and yeah just uh try to get faster and faster on tarmak yeah it's a good shout this weekend like you said is not scoring points but the objective is to learn classifications then for run one of Shakedown o tanak with the fastest time 17.3 Newville was 410 behind that time then o Evans for Mo and katuta great run from Nikolai gri in there just 5.7 seconds on the fastest time overall he's the fastest rally to car through then it's monster greens Smith and Michelson Pye Rosell liner cman and Lopez and that's the way it stands after run one of Shakedown we are now going to head out into the service Park here in Croatia and catch up with kirry well hello and welcome for the first time from the service Park here in Zagreb From the Rough to the smooth it all begins again now we've got a fantastic weekend packed full of stages it's very busy from first thing tomorrow morning so let's just give you an idea of what's coming up we've got the ceremonial start tonight where we see the cars going across the ramp that's right in the heart of Zagreb City and then tomorrow morning it's packed with four stages in the morning four stages in the afternoon and then it just continues throughout the weekend so Saturday again is a very busy day 7:15 to 8:00 at night stages 9 to 16 of course Sunday it's super Sunday with the Super Sunday points and the Wolf power stage all included in stage 17 to 20 so that's from 7:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon and it all begins first thing on Friday morning but like I said not before we head through the ceremonial start tonight at around about 5:30 or so remember those are all local times so check those out according to where you are around the world all right well we'll see you tonight for now it's goodbye [Music]

Channel: FIA World Rally Championship

Views: 143,446

Keywords: wrc, world rally championship, rallye, rallying, wrc 23, motorsport, car, car video, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, livestream, wrc for free, wrc free livestream, rally video, driving, rally, rallytv, rally.tv

Id: mWXH2PVK4cY

Length: 35min 53sec (2153 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024