Is Hirvonen driving too conservatively?

[jens]

It's tough to bring out my exact thought.

Anyway, Mikko is losing at least 1-2 minutes to Marcus in every rally and he rarely driver makes errors. Can he be faster and closer to Marcus or in such sparse competition he just wants to play it safe (unlike Atkinson) to finish in the points?

For example last year at Mexico he was fighting against Grönholm and then went off. And in 2005, when he was a privateer and he had to show himself, he was quick on a couple of rallies (Argentina - 3rd before retirement).

But if he wants to become a serious title contender, he needs to start pushing more on the limit and start or at least try to start fighting for the wins?

[Tomi]

Well Mikko is doing a normal 2 drivers job (a dogs job) it is to do good finishes and collect much points possible without taking big risks, it looks pathetic or conservative but thats how it is, im sure he can go faster on loose (but not as fast as Loeb or Bosse yet)
But usually the second drivers moment comes sooner or later, it's just to be patient and wait, and take the chance when it comes.

[Corny]

At the moment, there are only 2 drivers that can make mistakes, that are Marcus and Sebastien.. All the others are killed immediatly when they make mistakes

[Finni]

Mikko just happens to be much slower than Grönholm. Fight with Marcus would probably take him out of road as it happened in GB. And in Sweden his objective was to challenge Loeb or even win (so he said) which means that there is no excuses for lower pace. Also in Finland last year he was driving on edge (according to his own words) but he lost to grönholm clearly - though not as clearly as in other rallies.

2005 he was doing some nice stage times but it should be noted that he finnished rallies only 3 min behind leader. I don't see that it's better than his current pace, quite contrary. If Grönholm had driven old Focus instead of Gardemaister in 2005 then Mikko wouldn't have look so good.

[FabiaFan]

Remember the start of the last season??? A few finishes, Wilson was for sure not happy about it... so he calmed down... unlike Duval a year ago... and did the right thing!!! He had a series of solid finishes.
Maybe, the exception was Australia and his fight with Solberg... The vision of a win was too attractive ;-) Richards played this card ("Hirvonen must drive safe to secure points for the manufacturer championship"), but didn't succeed :-D

[Donney]

I think he is doing a great job as a second driver and that means he has to settle for third if the top dogs finish the rally.

[Magnus]

Hirvonen is still young, and I think he made a really good effort in Sweden. Naturally he is not as fast as Bosse, but his time will come!
His year with Subaru was very important for his career, he has learned a lot from his mistakes, and now have a very mature approach, it seems. His mistakes are not that many nowadays as they used to be. Remeber the mickey mouse incident in Finland 2005...

[jonas_mcrae]

Remember the start of the last season??? A few finishes, Wilson was for sure not happy about it... so he calmed down... unlike Duval a year ago... and did the right thing!!! He had a series of solid finishes.
Maybe, the exception was Australia and his fight with Solberg... The vision of a win was too attractive ;-) Richards played this card ("Hirvonen must drive safe to secure points for the manufacturer championship"), but didn't succeed :-D

Excelent post he calmed down did the right thing and secured the seat, Duval lost it, Gigi could learn somethings from him, or is it that he is lives in the edge? LOL, although you could say that hirvo had a hard learning experience from subaru and didnt want the same to happen again? he was very lucky to get the chance again

[StevieWonder]

for all fans of mikko:
http://www.hirvonen-fanclub.com

hopefully we see you in norway !

[Tomi]

Gigi could learn somethings from him

I think he already knows, you will see a different gigi in Norway i guess.