[IRC] Cyprus Rally 2011

**Hartusvuori** · 6th Nov 11, 21:17

Originally Posted by RS

You lol'ed at the suggestion that Mikko has not made any progress in recent years. Taking the Finnish hat off, do you really think he has? I mean, the guy has been minutes off the pace on the WRC tarmac rallies this year and has only taken one "real" win this season.

The question was has Mikko taken any progress since Grönholm retired, 2007. It is measured against Loeb and if you look at seasons 2008 and 2009, Mikko definitely progressed for the latter. But since then, had there been any progress, it definitely hadn't materialised in terms of success.

**Juha_Koo** · 6th Nov 11, 21:25

Originally Posted by RS

Not yet... but given his progress this year I don't think it would take long.

You lol'ed at the suggestion that Mikko has not made any progress in recent years. Taking the Finnish hat off, do you really think he has? I mean, the guy has been minutes off the pace on the WRC tarmac rallies this year and has only taken one "real" win this season.

Yes, I talked about this time, not about the future. In the future Neuville will be fighting for wins in WRC.

And just like Hartusvuori said, the question was that has Mikko taken any progress since Grönholm retired and answer to that is pretty clear, yes, he has. But is he good enough now? No, he's not. I didn't have Finnish hat on, because I'm not Mikko's fan and lately that feeling has only strenghtened.

**cali** · 6th Nov 11, 21:43

Any video from golden stage? I managed to miss the live broadcast ...
Would like to see Neuville's crazy attack

**tolis** · 6th Nov 11, 22:06

**mousti** · 6th Nov 11, 22:25

Unbelievable what Neuville did there, beating Juho on a mixed stage is kinda superb with a guy who has like seven gravel rallies done. If Peugeot Belux doesn't give him the chance for next year in IRC then there'll be a riot

. But Neuville already said, sometime ago that last year was getting experience, this year was taking the level higher and get a win , succeeded very well 2 wins in 2 very classical rallies and then finishing the season with winning Golden Stage ! Next year it would be going full for the title and that's totally what they've to do!

Unbelievable Mikkelsen failing after a few turns in MC Neuville also an off on SS1 in MC and both are now with Hanninen the 3 guys who mostly colored the IRC championship!

RS · 6th Nov 11, 23:22

Regarding Kopecky's alledged bitterness to Mikkelsen, if you have seen the podium celebrations on the Eurosport review programme I don't think you would still think that. I don't think Jan was saying Andreas was lucky to win the last 2 rallies, just that he was lucky with the points co-efficients (which is kind of true) For the record I think Andreas is far more champion material than Kopecky, even if I thought Andreas should have been battling for the title next year rather than this one!

**Mirek** · 7th Nov 11, 08:41

Originally Posted by pettersolberg29

I think I just beleive the fastest driver is the deserving champion - be it Hanninen, Neuville or Andreas, but Kopecky was undoubtedly not the quickest this year. For him to win through consistency isn't the same as a driver winning through sheer pace.

I don't question the title holder

For me we had some rules and the guy who made the most if them won. Simple and clear. I just reacted to Your statement that Mikkelsen was clearly the best driver of the season but too unlucky which in my opinion is a bit biased view as I explained before.

**Wim_Impreza** · 7th Nov 11, 08:53

Originally Posted by pettersolberg29

I brought Mikko up because Kopecky is a similar sort of driver - going for points but rarely showing flashes of real pace this year. And in my eyes, the quickest drivers i.e. Loeb and Mikkelsen deserve the titles. The bad sportsmanship I mean is that Kopecky had the cheek to say that Andreas has got 'lucky' in the last two events at the final stage end, which is completely out of order. And it doesn't matter if Andreas crashed more - he was the fastest and in my opinion its the fastest driver who deserves to be champion. Its not like he never finished rallies - he won 2 and came a very close 2nd in Azores and San Remo.

Yes, Mikkelsen was lucky in the first SS that was shown live on Eurosport. When he doesn't had that luck, he was out of the rally there...

**Wim_Impreza** · 7th Nov 11, 08:57

Originally Posted by pettersolberg29

Agree 100% - the IRC is still going strong even if its becoming a Skoda championship, but hopefully Neuville, Bouffier and Wilks can get even more involved next season.

In 2007 and 2008 it was a Peugeot championship.

**bluuford** · 7th Nov 11, 10:43

Ofcourse you need some luck, always. Neuville was lucky to win Golden stage rally and not to damage his car. He was out of road once and once hit a bank pretty hard.. he was lucky to escape from his mistakes here. At the same time he retired in Monte, because he hit the bank. Not so lucky and no escape there. Those are lucky escapes in my view.

Unlucky are those who hit the Kangaroo who is running 50 km/h and you have less than 0.1 sec to react (which is impossible). You hit a cow who is behind blind crest or you hit another car which is crashed behind blind corner or crashed driver puts the triangle to the wrong place and forces you to take not so safe route or you get a puncture because of single nail that was on the road surface, or you hit crashed car in a snow rally on a narrow and fast section (Like Rovanpera did in Sweden). Those whoe have many such incidents might be considered pretty unlycky indeed :-)