Is Hirvonen driving too conservatively?

[Helstar]

Just out of curiosity, have any teammates with identical cars ever run identical times consistently?

Lately I remember Duval/Martin on Ford 2004, Galli/Rovampera on Mitsu 2005 and in spite of all Carlsson/Galli on private Mitsu - Sweden 2006

yeah, he is doing everything the team is telling him, he is getting points and eventually, when Gronholm retires, guess who will be #1??

LOEB ! LOL
You wanted to say #1 in Ford I know eheh

[Ranger]

I'd say he isn't. He's driving a fair way within his limits and being conservative in the process.

Though I'm still inclined to think that he wouldn't be very close to Gronholm if he did go flat-out.

[GigiGalliNo1]

Wasn't there a seat with Ford for Galli not so long ago but he did not take it?

[WRC2006]

As the second driver, his job description is clear and untill at the moment he is doing his job 100% and I am sure Wilson is pleased with that.

Unless Marcus or Loeb make a mistake or have technical problems with their cars, otherwise Mikko has an order to score maximum points for the team.

Soon Marcus will retire, Guess who will be in good position to be N0 1 at Ford? So he has to work on this in scoring more points for the team and gaining more experince to fight with Loeb after Marcus.

He is doing his job well.

[DonJippo]

Wasn't there a seat with Ford for Galli not so long ago but he did not take it?

He did not have the money to take it.

[Helstar]

He did not have the money to take it.

Not true, it's not a question of money he was offered a 'free' seat as a second driver ... but Gigi wanted to stay loyal to Mitsu so he refused.
And we all know how that ended ...

[AlfaWRC]

Mikko's job is not easy at all.

Malcom just wants him to score good points for the manufacturers title. His job is beating Dani. And Marcus' job is beating Sebastian.

On the other hand Mikko who is a sportsman isn't happy until he can fight Marcus & Sebastian on the stages. He knows that he must learn how to win rallyes (his words).

And balancing those two different goals on the stages out there is not an easy thing at all. So sometimes he has to shift his on goals backwards. Unfortunately... But I think the way he deals with those two different goals is fantastic.

PS: You can imagine that Malcom was not that amused after his crash in Mexico last year. There he had the speed of the front runners but went off. After some "friendly interventions" from Malcom after this event he finds himself in the position where he is (that is surely better than Francois: isn't it?!)

Now I have to finish my post, as my flight to Norway will take off soon ;-)
See you there guyes!

PS: And don't forget to join the Fanclub

[newaddict]

i have seen him fight for lower positions- good battles- aggressive driving-impressive some of them

times that seemed close to front runners and some stage wins during these battles (front runners backing off- i know)

i bet he has the speed to move up closer- much closer

but the question is can he maintain the concentration, etc. to run, that hard, that long, with the big guns to be there after 3 days without the "big mistakes"

[cyd]

I hate team orders. It's really not a true result then, is it? I can understand Citroen's displeasure with Duval awhile back, but Mikko has been doing alot better. If Marcus is actually faster, then fine, but I don't think they should tell Mikko to slow down.

Actually, I've been told it's harder to drive more conservatively.

[Finni]

It's getting ridiculing. Is it so difficult to believe that Hirvonen might not be different to Rovanperä or Burns who were constantly slower than Grönholm? Hirvonen has came only twice near to Grönholm's pace (when Marcus' has engaged to push) and it resulted correspondingly two offs (Mexico and GB's first stage). Normally, even when Grönholm is driving in his safe mode he is setting faster times as in Sweden when Marcus had safe lead and Mikko was still in fight with Henning Solberg.

If Mikko pushes very hardly he is 0.30-2.30 min slower than Grönholm -> depending on nature of particular rally.

And I don't still get it how Mikko was ordered in Sweden? His pre-event objective was to fight against Loeb - the unfulfilled task.