Quote Originally Posted by sollitt
Actually Mirek, whilst I generally agree with most of what you write, you're a little wide of the mark here. Paddon was faster than Ogier & Mikkelsen on a number of stages last year, albeit a small number. What was impressive was that he was generally on a very close pace despite, as others have mentioned, lesser resources, less seat time, a different spec car, and the prospect that any major off could spell the end to his season.
Your comment suggesting Paddon is hardly close to Ogier or Loeb is also wayward. Until you sit the drivers in the same cars over the same terrain you cannot make such a claim so emphatically. What I can tell you, from publicly available information, is that were Paddon debuting as a WRC driver tomorrow his credentials on debut would surpass those of both Loeb & Ogier at the same time in their careers.
Loeb & Ogier are winners. Paddon has proven himself to be a winner at every level he's contested. Few others have shown this ability. I agree with your comments regarding Lappi & Paddon being in different contests (as were Paddon & Ogier last year) however those with the winning gene are not usually content to watch the opposition race off without a fight.
Nevertheless, snow and ice aside, Carlo is correct. Finland is Lappi's playground and he'll be hard to beat there.
However it pans out, it's going to be an exciting couple of months head, starting with Ypres.
I think that You missed the point. I applied his own logic on his hero, nothing else.