Oliver Solberg

[TypeR]

Funny thing is that like Solberg violently took the seat and somebody way more talented stayed out..

What about Fourmaux? Disastrous season.. but nobody coughs about going back to rally2, 3, 4.
Solberg 8 vs Fourmaux 9 rallies this season - Solberg 33p vs Fourmaux 9p(Serderidis three rallies and 6p)

[steve.mandzij]

Yes. Finland was a major setback. But not enogh for you negatives to place him in a WRC2 car and compete with amateurs. He is not an amateur at this point. He is ready for continuing in RC1 cars if circumstances allows him to do.

Not enough to destroy a car of a tight-budget team on the first corner of one of the most high profile rallies of the season?

You must realize your arguments in favor of Oliver are either emotional, nationalistic, or both, because you still haven't proved *what* Oliver has (other than deep Solberg pockets) that proves a second RC1 season will be any different.

Funny thing is that like Solberg violently took the seat and somebody way more talented stayed out..

What about Fourmaux? Disastrous season.. but nobody coughs about going back to rally2, 3, 4.
Both guys 9 rallies this season - Solberg 33p vs Fourmaux 9p(Serderidis three rallies and 6p)

Of course, if Forumaux had been driving an i20 his fate would likely be the same as Oliver's, but he's got the backing for M-Sport. Still, worth considering whether he would be better off out of the Rally1 team in favor of Solberg — my vote is yes, because Forumaux has no excuses for his poor form.

[TypeR]

Not enough to destroy a car of a tight-budget team on the first corner of one of the most high profile rallies of the season?

You must realize your arguments in favor of Oliver are either emotional, nationalistic, or both, because you still haven't proved *what* Oliver has (other than deep Solberg pockets) that proves a second RC1 season will be any different.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Tight-budget team.. haha

[AnttiL]

Funny thing is that like Solberg violently took the seat and somebody way more talented stayed out..

What about Fourmaux? Disastrous season.. but nobody coughs about going back to rally2, 3, 4.
Solberg 8 vs Fourmaux 9 rallies this season - Solberg 33p vs Fourmaux 9p(Serderidis three rallies and 6p)

Fourmaux should go back to WRC2 as well, he also had a quite short WRC2 period in his career and never won anything (although had a good number of podiums). I think he got fast-forwarded to the main class with Suninen leaving the team in 2021.

[AnttiL]

Tight-budget team.. haha

Tight-resourced would be probably more correct.

[TypeR]

Being world top3 car manufacturer and can't run a 3-4 car rally team is more of bad rally team management than tight-what ever and not winning a single WDC in 9 years.

[seb_sh]

A few pages ago I wrote a post comparing Kalle's and Oliver's development paths. They are actually very similar until you get to the point where Kalle got a year in WRC2 in a good car with a good team and he won most rallies. In that year he learned to be a rally driver, he learned to manage a rally, he learned to manage a championship. He was already fast but still needed to learn. He also went through some emotions and some pressure. He also has the success to give him confidence. Oliver was put in the Hyundai WRC and had an encouraging result. Then he was ping ponged between the Hyundai WRC and the Rally2. The Hyundai WRC needed a specific driving style and even Loeb struggled and the WRC2 was just bad. What did he learn that year?

Oliver is an incredibly talented young man, I'm sure he can handle a Rally 1 car and other even more powerfull cars. But he hasn't learned to be a rally driver, and he hasn't had the success. Even if he can brute force the learning with money in a Rally 1, he will not have the experience of managing a winning championship and he will not have the extra confidence that gives when he can think back to that moment. Instead he can remember he fucked up and binned it in the first corner of Finland, going too fast, and then cried in an interview. In modern rallying it's not just about car control, it's also about everything else.

To say Oliver should stay in Rally 1 is saying he is some sort of alien talent, better than Rovanpera, Tanak, Evans and if we look back Ogier, Loeb, Sordo and others. They all had a year in a lower class where they did a proper rally championship, won rallies and won the championship. It is not only about learning but also developing a young man, and giving him the chance to have success and be put in difficult positions where he must think. I really hope he becomes a challenger for Rovanpera in the future but he's being screwed up at this point and I'm afraid his talent will be wasted because people are too emotional.

[dimviii]

Two of the most succesfull drivers at last 20 years,Loeb and Ogier won the ''wrc2'' of those years championship, before they jumped to top category.
Food for thought...

[PLuto]

For me there is a problem they are moving young drivers up too early. Some of them are going directly to R5 cars to WRC2, some of them are going too early to Rally1. This is example of Fourmaux and also Solberg. As we are in the thread of Oliver - he can be very fast on fast gravel events, he can fight for top places. On all other surfaces he had problems to be fast also in ERC, also in WRC2. So it is not surprise he is not fast in Rally1 car. It is important to know how to be fast on different surfaces / types of surfaces and also to know how to fight for win (because your mind is very important for success). To learn all this, the best way is to go step by step and learn it. If you are going to fast or missing some steps, it is more difficult to become a champion...

[PLuto]

Two of the most succesfull drivers at last 20 years,Loeb and Ogier won the ''wrc2'' of those years championship, before they jumped to top category.
Food for thought...

Loeb and Ogier are quite different story, they are product of Citroen/Bugalski school...