Surely he only has to regularly finish just behind Ogier to prove his worth.
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I don't think it will be hard for Evans to outdo Meeke and especially Latvala's performance with the Yaris.
of course it isnt hard, he out did them also this year with 3 less events.
next topic please.
If we take a look.. Meeke was driving a complete dog, and Citroen made him the fail guy. They then totally re-engineered the car, ran completely out of jokers, put the 6 time WRC champ in it, and he done nothing only complain. Meeke was sitting with his confidence in the gutter.. missed 1/2 a season, then was up against Tanak, who was in his 2nd year in the car, and Latvlala's third. Meeke only made minor mistakes (and seemed to suffer away more than others for a faulty batch of wheels in 1st half of the seaosn) , and was just getting comfortable in car mid season, then was doing events he missed the previous year. He was on Tanak's coat tails for Portugal, Germany, GB and maybe so few others, and was beating him in Finland and Spain until a small mistake. If he had only converted a few of those to a win or few podiums, took the points he 'gave' to Ogier for example, he'd be latched onto the back of the big 3, in his first year in the car. I really do think his 2nd year in Toyota would have been a lot better, but it looks to me like Ogier picked his team mates. Mäkinen has told jounolists that Meeke was confirmed for 2020. People are way too hard on him, OK he makes a mistakes, but its only his will to win. He also suffers from his name being about for years.. but actually only done 3 full season in WRC, and none of them consecutive. He will never ever go down as the 'consistant' be he sure as hell is quick and can on his day.. match anyone.. He sure has place in WRC... as much as any other driver below the top 3.
You need to be above that to earn a spot in WRC these days. Hanninen shine in second half of the season but was benched after one year. Sure he was there to develop the car but he would still be reliable point scorer if not anything more, who knows. Now we have few guys that doesn't show anythig special but 10th place given by the mistake of others and they are like years away from top in times.
Had, could, should, little mistake, if....
I don’t have favourites as I don’t support anyone particularly, I just enjoy the sport. But if I did it would be Meeke, I just like him, and always want him to do well. Nobody wanted him to keep the seat more than me as I too think he ‘could’ do a great job, but looking at it objectively, the mistakes this year in Portugal, Finland and Spain were all very silly and totally needless. He should have been on the podium in all those rallies, and he can only blame himself for not being.
I really hope we haven’t seen the last of him, as his pure speed when it comes together is amazing...