Which driver can realistically fight for the Championship?

[N.O.T]

It will all come down to consistency, Ogier is the fastest and most consistent of all but he will be in a car that will not be that much ahead of the others this time, and he will also not be able to push 100% without big risk since testing and setup will be done relatively in a rush.

The new season will definitely be far more exciting at least on paper.

Good riddance to the useless VW management and their tree hugging policies.

[EstWRC]

Checking Ewrc his pace doesn't seem to be blinding. He was never better than 6th at any point on the asphalt events, and only in spain on the gravel day did he get as high as 1st. Maybe he had problems on all of them but he doesn't seem that fantastic. Not championship winning fantastic anyway.

Maybe my memory is foggy though, it happens.
I remember his black Fiesta being involved in a lot of accidents but no great asphalt pace from Ott.

2012 was his first season in a WRC car. what did you expect? podiums or wins right away? He won stages in germany (was 4th before crash) and in spain (was 5th before crash) and finished solid 6th in france (fastest on the power stage).

Last year in Germany and France he had set-up problems with the upgraded Fiesta and this 2 year pause from tarmac hurt a lot too.


Tänak has the same problem like Hayden, we dont have any tarmac rallies in estonia. How much he has developed now we will see next season.


And regardig the topic, Ogier will win it no matter what car. it will be harder but he will still win. no one has this consistency like he does.

[A FONDO]

I don't think the Polo was much ahead in 2016. Anyway Ogier's problem this year was that he edged the competition too early. Now if he loses many points with the new car in the first few rounds, by the dusty rounds he will be on equal road conditions with the other top guys and build an advantage for the tarmac part of the season. So the first half of the season should be interesting. From the guys below Ogi, I expect Meeke to crash 2 times in the first 3 rounds and again be like a "wildcard entry" later through the season. I am very curious about Paddon's development, his approach is quite different to what we are used to, he is missing that edge-cutting bravery but he is still intelligently improving his overall speed and won't end up like Hirvonen or Ostberg. The problem is both Neuville and Tanak made incredible recovery and overshadow him again.

[MM WRC]

Ogier
YEP - reason not needed.

Meeke
YES - depending on where Ogier end up and how competitive the car will be. Speed everywhere, still too inconsistent.

Neuville
YES - he has the speed everywhere, he got his confidence and consistency back. Depends on the speed of the Hyundai compared to whatever Ogier ends up in and the speed of the Citroen-Meeke combo.

Latvala
NO - too inconsistent and not good enough under pressure. Also seems to have no luck whatsoever even when he is staying on the road.

Mikkelsen
NO - Not enough speed for me. In my opinion he is slower than we think because of the Polo. Both his wins were gifted.

Tänak
NO - no speed on tarmac. Might take some gravel rally wins though and will for sure be entertaining to watch.

Paddon
NO - Same issue as Tänak.

Sordo
NO - Fast on some tarmac events, other than that, not at all.

Camilli, Hänninen
NO - Lacking both speed and consistency. Toyota speed unknown but drivers def. no.

Lappi
MAYBE - Depends on the speed of the Toyota. Has shown incredible pace at times, has stepped up his consistency lately.

Østberg, Abbring, Evans
JUST NO - Won't be in the championship even (maybe for a one off or as private entries/satellite teams, dunno).

I agree with you, apart from Lappi. He's not experienced enough, and he doesn't even have a contract yet, at least officially.

[AndyRAC]

Tänak has the same problem like Hayden, we don't have any tarmac rallies in Estonia. How much he has developed now we will see next season.

The 'simple' answer to that is to enter as many Tarmac events as he can - were the budget allows obviously. Similarly for Paddon - surely Hyundai want to challenge for the WRC, so they can surely afford to enter him in as many Tarmac events as is possible; even some circuit racing, Hyundai had a car for the N24 - stick him in that. I know he's had some Tarmac training, but the best way to get better is to do more Tarmac events as is possible?

[EstWRC]

The 'simple' answer to that is to enter as many Tarmac events as he can - were the budget allows obviously

aannddd the conversation stops here...Tänak doesnt have this luxury, dont know about Paddon.

[AndyRAC]

aannddd the conversation stops here...Tänak doesnt have this luxury, dont know about Paddon.

Exactly. Maybe different for Paddon..Hyundai can/could/ should be entering him in Tarmac events.

[Simmi]

Exactly. Maybe different for Paddon..Hyundai can/could/ should be entering him in Tarmac events.

Just not Rally Legend - where he spent the entire weekend sideways. As awesome as that was to witness.

[RallyTyger]

I'm not even sure you'd need good tarmac skills to win the championship, after all there are only 2 pure tarmac events (and 2 mixed surface events) - and with the championship looking tighter than ever, i could easily imagine a world champion with only a few rally wins in his bag next year... A driver winning a handful of gravel events and scoring consistently on the other gravel rallies could easily afford not being near the podium on the tarmac evens and still be in the bet for the WC title - a guy like Tänak could well focus on winning as much as possible on gravel and just lie low on the tarmac, hoping to bag a few points from others' mistakes and problems

[Alpha]

I'm surprised this many people bother to pay attention. A French dude named Sebastian wins everything, and has done it for the past 10 years or something. It's more fun watching paint dry...

Word RX on the other hand is edge of your seat excitement every race weekend.

And Andre Oliviera: Ogier will be fastest in whatever has four wheels? Like Sebastian Loeb has got his ass handed to him every race in World RX except one? You think Ogier is faster than Loeb?

Ogier is more than welcome in World RX, but don't expect him to reach the finals