Here is a video of kubicas off from day one:
he was making excellent progress on his learning curve on gravel, from about 1 minute behind leading WRC2 driver in first stage, to less then one second behind by stage 4!
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@IWE edit 2 - 1.6 turbos vs s2000, not much difference in power though different torgue curves, sometimes the RRC will be faster, other times S2000, it is stupid but, just give them all the same spec! there are other categorie cars also under the WRC2 banner.
@IWE edit 3 - his speed was genuine, kubica got punctures because of going slightly off track and clipping things - he is a gravel rally rookie afterall. Kubica has said he is not pushing too hard and is driving to finish, but has aknowledged he has never driven of a surface with so little grip, so errors are to be expected when driving at kubicas speed and skill level. also yesterday there was about 500km of driving between Special stages, that is a huge amount, the tyre failed about 50km from Lisbon for the last special stage, which was more a demonstration run.
Kubica is driving again today, but with a 10 minute penalty for using up the tyres yesterday because of punctures as IWE wrote.
He missed yesterdays stage 5 because of the tyre failure on the way to the stage
he has got through to the end of stage 8 today.
during stage 6, he suffered a shifter and hydraulic problem of some sort, at first his modified left hand paddle shift failed, so he has been using the right hand manual shifter (With his still handicapped right hand), and the gearbox is changing very heavy and slow. also the handbrake failed also which he couldnt use in stage 7 and 8.
Kubica drove slower in stages 6 to 8 compared to other WRC2 drivers because of the problems, but he said it was a good workout for his right hand! There is now a service after stage 8, so hopefully the shifter issue will be fixed.
the aim is to finish the rally, i hope he can do it!
Edit: the car problems are siad to be serious, hydraulic, gearbox shifting, and hand brake (i am not sure where the hydraulics are related to the gearbox, but definite shift problems and handbrake problems also)
stage 9 begins now. hopefuly kubicas car and tyres are somewhat repaired now and he can do some competitive times whilst still learning about gravel driving.
edit 2: with kubicas car havind some repairs, kubica was quickest through the 4th checkpoint of stage 9 of the WRC2 drivers by 2 seconds! but.... by the end of the stage he lost some time for some reason. he came 3rd in the stage in his WRC2 class - 1.2 seconds behind the 2nd driver and 11.2 behind the first driver.
edit 3 the rally is over for kubica - a differential failure on stage 10
a very colourful first WRC event for kubica, great pace at a few points, but many problems, tyres, gearbox, hydraulics, handbrake and differential failure at the end.
edit 4 the car was repaired for day 3. kubica was immediately 2nd fastest in WRC2 on one stage, and then 3rd on 2 others. he for the first times drove such long stages in rallying (2 stages were over 50km). mighty impressive for a gravel rally first timer.
Kubica finished the Portugese Rally 6th in the WRC2 class and 20th overall. had he not got the time penalty on day one, he wouild have been in top 3 of WRC2 and 11th overall.
Kubica has 3 more schuduled ERC rallies, and 6 more WRC rallies this year, but he has already spoken of including at least 1 or even 2 more rallies to his program, 1 more in ERC and 1 more in WRC. i think fans will want to see a few top 3 results in WRC2 and a win or 2 in ERC going by what he has shown so far.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2013 02:57PM by kubica2.