Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2017 [May 18-21]

[Mirek]

Lappi is super talent and his natural speed especially in gravel is high level.

Lappi hasn't been exactly impressive in last several years, one Rally Finland 4 years a go hardly counts. He failed to win full gravel APRC with only one competitor, he nearly failed in taking ERC against Wiegand who is described as nobody by many in here (Wiegand lost the title himself with an accident on Corsica) and he managed to succeed only at the second attempt in WRC2 while he was driving a works car against mainly privateer competitors. Besides that he managed to crash in majority of asphalt events which he did. He saved his reputation in 2016 but the two years before 2014-2015 can be described only as rather bad.

Beware that drivers who are not called super talents managed to win the named championships rather easily - Hänninen, or Kopecký.

[Watson]

Thanks for the insight guys.

I want to quickly explain my ignorance. I started getting into the WRC at 2000ish. I liked it because of the big competition between Subaru, Peugeot and Ford and also the other brands involved back then (Hyundai, Skoda and Mitsubishi). I am a Ford fan cause people in my family drive them, some enthusiasts because they were big in supplying engines in F1 (yeah that's a long time ago), but I always found F1 a too sterile. So the peak for me was seeing the rise of Märtin and Duval, eventhough they didn't really work out for very different reasons as well as Grönholm and Hirvonen getting the manufacturers title for Ford. So when Peugeot, Subaru and finally (kinda) Ford left the sport, Loeb was just winning everything and they started downgrading the cars I found it kinda boring. VW just coming in and throwing a ton of money at their project made it worse. So all I did the last few years was checking results but not really going in depth. Now things have changed and the number of manufacturers and the more exciting cars got me hooked again. And as I said i like a young talent coming up so it's good to see people like Lappi, Tidemand and Suninen.

But enough of me.

Its up to Meeke if he is gonna win it or bin it...and a great battle for remaining podium places or for a win (If Meeke crashes) between, Ogier, Neuville and Tänak.

True, though now I am unsure what I should expect of Sordo (showed good speed until it went all wrong for him) and Evans. Was it just Argentina or have they had a revelation in testing and can repeat that sort of pace?

[Thousandlakes]

Good points Mirek. Last years not good for Lappi. My point is to show that he has the natural speed there like forexample last year rally Finland ss5. Amazing stage there for him.

That kind of stage times not came from coincidence. What we dont know is his mental capabilities in high level. Can he drive whole weekend same speed without mistakes? I expect him to take some good stage times in Portugal. Prove me wrong later.

[EstWRC]

True, though now I am unsure what I should expect of Sordo (showed good speed until it went all wrong for him) and Evans. Was it just Argentina or have they had a revelation in testing and can repeat that sort of pace?

oh, totally forgot Sordo and Evans, dmack tyres should work very well in portugal too and of course Paddon. thats the great thing this year in championship, so many drivers can fight for a win and especially for a podium places this season.

[AnttiL]

I'm expecting Lappi to do well, but I'm also willing to give him time to set in. It's not just him that's new to the WRC, the car and team are also relatively new and there's no target to win rallies this year. I'm happy if Lappi shows signs of speed, good stage times and/or decent points positions. Not yet in Portugal, but if it hasn't happened yet in Rally Finland, I'm a bit disappointed. At least he can't be slower than Hänninen and Lefevbre, instead I'd compare his times more with Breen, Evans, Paddon and Østberg. And I gotta agree with Thousandlakes that Lappi is a witty guy whose post-stage comments will be entertaining.

[Simmi]

Six months without a competitive rally for Lappi too so it's fair to just let him settle in. If he can set some top-five stage times that would really be fantastic.

[Rally Power]

Lappi hasn't been exactly impressive in last several years, (…) he managed to succeed only at the second attempt in WRC2 while he was driving a works car against mainly privateer competitors. Besides that he managed to crash in majority of asphalt events which he did (…)

Really?!? So, Evans, Tideman and Kopecky were privateers…mate, the only privateer that was fighting for WRC2 ’16 title with Skoda and MSport guys was Suninen, and even he was paid by a manu (TMG). Lappi beat fair and square all of them and his SS’s wins record speaks for himself: 66 wins all season long, against 37 for Suninen, 35 for Evans, 34 for Tideman and 29 for Kopecky. Besides wining 3 gravel rallies he also won Germany and his only serious mistake was being stuck on a ditch in Sweden (he still finished 3rd). Without Italy and Poland mechanical problems he would have become champion much sooner.

Lappi has been repeatedly diminished on this forum and honestly I can’t understand why. He’s clearly one of the most talented drivers of his generation and he totally deserves a WRC seat. I won’t say (yet) that he’s a future WRC champ (I’m also concerned about EstWRC bleeding eyes condition…) but no one can seriously doubt that he’s fast on gravel and on tarmac (not so common on a Finn) and that last year he hugely improved his reliability.

Honestly, I have high expectations. What's for sure is that he has two possible outcomes: become a Breen or become a Lefebvre.

Like the others have said, it’ll be a learning season for him (straight from a R5 to a WRC’17 car) and I hope he can make a sensible and steady progression, even if I wouldn’t be surprised to see him getting close to the top 5 in some events. Best luck to him!

[Mirek]

Really?!? So, Evans, Tideman and Kopecky were privateers…

You're twisting my words, man.

First I said clearly mainly privateers competitors and I stand my ground. Evans and Tidemand were works drivers but there was around 30 privateer ones in the fight. I don't count Kopecký and his three starts per year. He has never been more than a curiosity in the championship thanks to his very limited program.

I also clearly said that Lappi did well in 2016. I said he had rather bad 2014 and 2015 years and that is true. Don't You agree? He was the only one from Škoda who did full seven events in 2015 and he finished only 4th behind Al Attiyah, Al Kuwari and Protasov! All of them are privateers and can be easily called gentleman drivers. By point/start ratio Lappi finished 2015 even worse because only there those like Kopecký and Tidemand come into the equation (they didn't do enough events otherwise).

[Rally Power]

Thank you RP, very helpful. I was't aware access outside the ZEs is not allowed.

ZE’s are the authorized spectator’s areas but if you manage to get to a different spot on a stage they won’t seriously bother you, unless you’re in a dangerous place or with a large group of people. The catch is that most of accesses to non ZE’s areas are blocked, even in remote locations. In previous years there were a few other allowed sports (ZP’s); I’ll try to know if the one you’ve asked is between them.

Btw, most of Friday and Sunday ZE’s are great, Saturday’s ZE21 also.

[Rally Power]

You're twisting my words, man.

No, I'm straighten out the facts.