Quote Originally Posted by mknight View Post
I agree with you on not "fixed" drivers, but with what definitely looks like the fastest car around why would they go for Østberg, who while fast in Sweden/Finland and consistent on other gravel rallies, usually lacks a bit of speed to the top 3 and is weak on tarmac. Maybe if he would agree on sharing a car with Rovanpera (who wouldn't do all rounds).

Else for a fulltime seat I'd say Evans, Suninen and Mikkelsen are all clearly better choice and none of them would say no to Toyota imo.
I don't see Suninen going to Toyota despite his nationality. I like him, but he's not particularly marketable for the Japanese, and he's got the potential to do great things but the smallest operating window of all the drivers. He's rarely in the zone; when he is, he's fucking quick (and mistake prone) but when he's not he's quite slow.

For me, Toyota might go the Hyundai route (I think Tommi would be brave enough to take notes from Adamo) and start swapping out their two non-championship drivers to give Kalle and Katsuta runs in the Yaris.

I've been pondering lately that one of the biggest differences of the modern WRC compared to 15 years ago is the absence of the specialist driver. Skoda and the PSA teams would frequently switch out the drivers that didn't battle for the title. Hyundai has brought that sort of dynamic back with a multi driver lineup, keeping their championship challenger in all season and swapping the rest.

With both the lack of seats available nowadays (no privateers being the primary reason) the driver swapping strategy must return. Truth is that not all drivers can challenge for the championship, so why bother? It's a little drastic, and I can feel myself getting too extreme, but Hyundai is doing the right thing by sticking more drivers into the championship than seats available.

Sorry for straying off topic.