Wrc Espana-Catalunya 2015

[thuGG]

- Tanak needs to improve a lot on tarmac

Hmm, to me he looked quite impressive on tarmac.

[b3637853]

Hmm, to me he looked quite impressive on tarmac.

For me he is on Ostberg's level on tarmac, If he wnats to be top WRC contender his bar should be rised higher.

[EstWRC]

My few conclusions after the rally:

- Ogier is yet a human altough his concetration may not have been too high
- Mikkelsen finally got his win, altough it took him 64 WRC events
- Latvala having 155 WRC starts still needs to change "mental approach" every few events
- Evans is not in form and podium in Corsica was rather lucky
- Neuville is so not in form I can't even describe it
- Kubica should get a seat in works team (at least for 7-8 rallies)
- Tanak needs to improve a lot on tarmac
- Sordo, Meeke and Ostberg did good 'team-scoring-oriented' rally

i agree with everything. Tänak looked good yesterday on tarmac and the progress was very impressive from Corsica and Germany but he still has a long way to go on tarmac. I think its because he hasnt driven on tarmac for 3 years and now in spain he started to get the feeling again.

[AL14]

i agree with everything. Tänak looked good yesterday on tarmac and the progress was very impressive from Corsica and Germany but he still has a long way to go on tarmac. I think its because he hasnt driven on tarmac for 3 years and now in spain he started to get the feeling again.

Est. Do you know how Tanak train himself to improve on tarmac? Paddon for example analyzes onboards, make practice with some specialized coach and so on. What Tanak do instead?

[EstWRC]

i dont know actually, he doesnt talk and reveal such things on such way like Paddon so we have to just guess. I know he doesnt have a coach like Paddon has but im sure they all watch onboards and so on. Yesterday Tänak said they are not driving on maximum and they are correcting pacenotes and he is looking for the right lines to drive. If you take this account then the pace was very good and you can see it on the Day3 result http://www.ewrc-results.com/leg.php?...a-Daurada-2015

only VW's and Sordo were faster and they were not cruising! After Corsica i was already hopeless because i thought we will see progress there but he was even worse than in germany. Anyway im very happy with the progress because i know that he is fast on tarmac too


Overall i think the rally spain was great. On friday Tänak was matching the VW's and the top3 were separated only by 3 seconds before the second pass of Terra Alta
. On Saturday Ogier went on his own way but the fight for 2-3 was great to watch and all the drama on Sunday of course. And the rally was good to follow because there werent huge gaps between stages and you got long stages and short stages.

[Lundefaret]

I am very positively surprised by three things in Spain.

1) Andreas Mikkelsen
Watching Mikkelsen on the first Super Special he was back at driving slow/fast (neat correct lines, knowing where to be slow to go fast), and he was very precise, not over doing it on entries (if You take away that one corner which probably cost him the stage win), and I was thinking to my self - could this be his rally? (I didn't dare to write it in case I would jinx it, I am after all a Norwegian.
But then he underwhelmed me a bit on the gravel. I thought he would take it to the door with Ogier, specially since there is very low grip and then the slow/fast/Nose End First style can give You an edge.
He was back fighting for the +1 min third he is used to. And it all would have ended there, if not Ogier had gone out, and Latvala had problems.
But while his position to fight for victory didn't come from pure pace, but a little bit of luck, his overall win did.
His driving on the Power Stage was hugely impressive!
In the same position earlier he has over done it, and either went out, or lost time (usually by trying to take to much in braking.) Now he went very fast, very smooth, and very (everything is relative) safe. Impressive!

2) Dani Sordo
The Hyundai is good, but not the best. And Sordo had a big challenge ahead. He has pressure from the team, the home crowd, and the fact that it was a mixed surface event. He drove a very well balanced rally, and it was in my mind one of his best performances in his career. I am very impressed by his whole weekend!

3) Mads Østberg vs Kris Meeke
Out of nowhere Mads Østberg suddenly woke up to take stage wins. I know that he earlier in the season has driven to collect points, but from the outside it has seemed slow and uninspired. What lit the fire in his belly, I dont know, but it was very good to see. Likewise i was a bit underwelmed by Meeke, who I thought could fight good here, and hadn't expected him to be beaten by Østberg.

What was negative?
1) Ogier
2) Neuville
3) M-Sport

[dimviii]

more
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...0508319&type=3

[Simmi]

That will be why I didn't see the Quattro ahead of the power stage then...

[dimviii]

Mikkelsen was very lucky to spin with that speed and stay on the road...
https://youtu.be/65GWRMr-3_Q

[RAS007]

What was negative?
1) Ogier
2) Neuville
3) M-Sport

I really wonder what the future holds for M-Sport. With the occasional exception, they aren't competitive anywhere, normally finishing a distant 7th or 8th or worse, and its been that way for a very long time now. How much longer will Malcolm continue with this fruitless endeavor? I do wonder….