New WRC cars 'too fast' says FIA
Swedish stage cancelled after FIA says new faster WRC cars are ... too fast

Times have changed of course and rallying in the early 80s was very different from the modern era, not least in terms of crowd control and the safety of the cars. And nobody wants to see anyone get hurt. But having launched the new era of WRC specifically on the promise of bringing back a sense of the speed of Group B cars it seems ironic for the FIA to then immediately seek to slow the cars down again.
The problem came when Ott Tanak's M-Sport Fiesta clocked an average speed of 85.65mph through the first running of the stage. This was declared too fast by the FIA and the second run on the same stage - SS12 - was cancelled, the governing body since reported by Motorsport.com to be "considering regulatory changes to ensure average speeds do not exceed 80mph".
Apparently the FIA's rally director for the event Jarmo Mahonen raised concerns about the speed of the stage after even the 'old' WRC cars that lack the extra power, aero and technology of the 2017 ones were clocking over 80mph. As such the problem would seemingly be attributed to the configuration of the stage, not the cars specifically. But the fact the FIA seems keen to make WRC cars run slower - by whatever means - does rather fly in the face of the widely applauded initiative to restore some of the spectacle absent from the sport in recent years.
Any attempt to impose restrictions - perceived or actual - on WRC's speeds will come as a blow, especially given the season has already shown competitive pace among all the top teams and a closely fought battle among manufacturers not present under VW's domination of the championship. Toyota's Jari-Matti Latvala won the Swedish event, the Yaris taking victory in only its second WRC event and providing Toyota with its first win in 17 years. With multiple stage wins by Neuville's Hyundai, Tanak's Ford and another by Sordo in the Hyundai it would seem the new cars are all on the pace and the stage is set for a proper battle as the season unfolds. Assuming the FIA doesn't make them weave through bales to keep the speeds down...
[Sources: Autosport.com, Motorsport.com]
[Photos: RedBull content pool]
https://www.rte.ie/sport/motorsport/2017/0119/8462...
https://www.rte.ie/sport/motorsport/2017/0119/8462...
https://www.rte.ie/sport/motorsport/2017/0119/8462...
https://www.rte.ie/sport/motorsport/2017/0119/8462...
In all due respect you don't follow rally too much, do you?
Seems like you are mixing apples and oranges here.
One stage was cancelled, that's all.
Second rounds of stages are being regulary cancelled due to high speeds even in our national championship with R5's.
The organisers in Finland and Poland will take a note to use more hay bales and everybody will be happy.
No one cares about actual speeds too much.
Only about calculated average.
Czech multiple rally champ Václav Pech tried 997 GT3 for one season, posting comparable times as R5's in the dry.
But hitting his 215 km/h rev limiter quite often in the process :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDikci9kw0I
If you listen to any of the drivers after the first few staged in the Monte Carlo Rally they were delighted driving cars which made them sit up and take note.
Yes the faster you go the higher the risk but what is the point of even competing if you can't drive these cars at the limit.
Whether the death of the spectator at the Monte has made the FIA go all extreme we will never know but you could have cars with 100 bhp and it would still kill someone willing to stand in a very stupid place.
Not just the speed factor but the FIA also had a go at Sweden regarding the lack of snow especially the need for more snow banks. Pressure has been put on the organiser to move more into Norway to find better stages with more snow.
The FIA cancel a stage due to the cars going too fast but if the cars were able to lean on snow banks they would go even faster.

Perhaps not allowing teams to run studded tyres is the answer so we can just watch them stuck at the start of the stage unable to get any traction.
Beyond words how much the FIA seem to hate the sport they govern.
Followed it religiously since the days of Roger Clark, in Ford Escorts, through Mikkola in the Audi Quattro, Toivonen in the S4, Sainz in the GT-Four and then the 3 names at the beginning of my ramble.
Now? It's just a 'meh' from me; like footballers, the drivers have got soft, no all-night stages etc, no spectators sipping steaming hot bovril on a mid-winter night etc etc.
Personally I don't care what people might say of my viewpoint, but I'm glad I got to watch the above drivers and their cars when WRC was in its pomp, not the pasteurised, sterilised version we get today...
For the longest time, it seems that any FIA motorsport that isn't F1 gets this kind of treatment as soon as it becomes more interesting to the general public.
Rallying has always had a maximum speed for sections or stages, its how it works. The crew closest to that maximum speed across the event is the winner. In most situations in Stage Rallying the maximum average speed (which I believe is about 80mph on WRC) is achievable, so it is simply the fastest crew who wins.
Its up to the organisers of the event to judge the speed of the stages by the layout of them, fewer long straights, more sharp twisty sections. In this instance they misjudged it, the conditions and the cars got the better of them and the minimum stage times were achievable... not just by the 2017 WRC cars but ALSO by the 2016 cars. The organisers got it wrong, the FIA pulled them up on it as they should.
Its a shot across the bows to other organisers to make sure they lay the stages out to keep the average down, there is no way they will lift the average allowed speed, or alter the spec of the Cars.
For all our sakes lets just hope they don't ruin the sport as quick as they made it better.....now, that idea about Citroen!? That's pure genius....whose in charge of the FIA WRC? Not Jean Todt is it still?
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