Toni Gardemeister

[Tomi]

I believe that if Galli gets good amount of milage under him, he stays on road. Speed is no problem for him.

Now its just up to find a team who is willing to invest in a guy who will be around 38 years old when he have the milage under him to possibly be capable to win a rally.
The problem i belive is that there is so many better and younger drivers around, if he would be 10 years younger some team might be interested, same goes for Stohl, but he offcourse has arranged his driving in another way.

[Helstar]

I think age is not 'so' important anymore. It's always a question of money ... and skill (possibly !). So if Galli has good 'connections' with Suzuki team, then maybe...

Without Mitsu he doesn't even crash and/or super-rally anymore

About speed, he doesn't have to show anything (Sola ? Oh please... name me Garde Latvala Aava Carlsson etc !).

And let's not forget the spectacular side. We need drivers like him in WRC, we are all fed up (I think) of this boring F1-kinda stuff with no sideways no big jumps etc.

[Bristecom]

Ya, Galli certainly makes a good show but Gardemeister is probably a better driver overall.

[White Sauron]

About speed, he doesn't have to show anything (Sola ? Oh please... name me Garde Latvala Aava Carlsson etc !).
.

Are you sure Aava that fast? I thought so to, but... In one estonian rally this summer russian 17-years old Evgeny Novikov in Group N (!!) car all but beat Urmo Aava who was competing in Lancer WRC (!!!). Either Novikov is mega-fast (which I actually doubt) or Aava just not as fast as he seemes to be in JWRC. Just remember NZ. He was 8th, ok, but the gap to the 7th place was more than 4 minutes. Not a good sign.

[6thgear]

Are you sure Aava that fast? I thought so to, but... In one estonian rally this summer russian 17-years old Evgeny Novikov in Group N (!!) car all but beat Urmo Aava who was competing in Lancer WRC (!!!). Either Novikov is mega-fast (which I actually doubt) or Aava just not as fast as he seemes to be in JWRC. Just remember NZ. He was 8th, ok, but the gap to the 7th place was more than 4 minutes. Not a good sign.

From where do you take such information ? Aava won all the stages. The reason of relatively small winning margins was very fast nature of these short stages (not too many hard braking/acceleration points). Also Aava took it as a test event to find proper settings for Rally Finland while Novikov and other group N guys were fighting for championship points. It would not be too wise to take a square-eyed approach and a probable off/roll in the middle of testing, would it ?

http://www.rally.ee/?a=a048&b=2690

NZ : Maybe you are right about it, but I doubt there is any point to compare him with 7th place man (Petter Solberg) yet. Also : when it is your first time in NZ (or any other WRC event), it`s wiser to find the right rhytm at your own pace, get a clean run to the finish and a good preparation for next year`s event.

[Jordib]

.......(Sola ? Oh please... name me Garde Latvala Aava Carlsson etc !).

Do you remember the year with both drivers running for Mitsubishi Ralliart Italia on GrN? I think they were always at the same level, if you can see the times there were almost no difference between Sola and Galli.

[koko0703]

Galli undoubtly got speed and really exciting to watch. But I'm afraid that Galli is not what Suzuki, Ford, or in fact any of the works team is currently looking for.

For Suzuki, I think Garde is much better and safer choice than Galli because of his consistancy. Garde may not win a rally but that's probably not in the aim of Suzuki's first yr, so bringing car home safely and scoring some pts will be much more important. And from that aspect, I don't see any better choice than Garde. For Ford, it is very hard to imagine Galli getting 2nd seat when three drivers with the experience of driving Ford, Duval, Garde, and Latvala, are all available.