Hyundai WRT

[EstWRC]

On 8th of July, one day rally of South-Estonia is going to be held to give drivers an opportunity to test before Rally Estonia. Rally1 cars expected to participate.
https://ralli.ee/forus-louna-eesti-r...aid-rallimehi/

Tänak and Järveoja are participating

[RS]

Leaves room at Skoda for Mikkelson to complete the rest of the year with Tocksport with funding from Skoda ?

Maybe. If they are looking for someone to replace Lindholm for Finland and Estonia then Sesks would be interesting to see.

[seb_sh]

heh so the rumors were true or partially true.

It makes sense to put Suninen in the car. If they didn't give him the chance now it would look quite bad for him. Then they needed someone to drive in WRC2 so getting the current champion also makes sense even if his season is not spectacular.

Overall sensible and logical decisions but we'll see how it turns out in practice.

[mknight]

Ohh come on don't act daft...

We all know what to expect from Mikkelsen, Suninen might surprise ala 2017 Finland or disappoint, which I consider more interesting.

In Finland Mikkelsen would likely control the result somewhere around 5th(depending on the dropouts).
With Suninen you can get a crash in first stage (2x in last season at MSport) or a crash later while leading (Sweden 2019).

Jokes aside I wonder what (serious) people really expect from Suninen. Imo dreams of fighting for win or a podium (without many retirements) are completely unrealistic. First start in Rally1 on these kinds of rallies a realistic goal is beating Loubet and Katsuta in Estonia and those + Neuville in Finland. Note that Suninen has pretty bad history in Estonia, including being slower than Greensmith.

Further on my point is that Mikkelsen can get some stunning times on specific rallies, specially in slippery conditions (Estonia and Acropolis PS last year, Monte and Monza basically every year he started). He also has rallies where he is completely off the pace (Rome 2021, Catalunya 2018). Suninen has that one stage on Sardinia a few years back.
So over more rallies I fail to see how another "mediocre" Fin adds to the excitement.

[becher]

In Finland Mikkelsen would likely control the result somewhere around 5th(depending on the dropouts).
With Suninen you can get a crash in first stage (2x in last season at MSport) or a crash later while leading (Sweden 2019).

Jokes aside I wonder what (serious) people really expect from Suninen. Imo dreams of fighting for win or a podium (without many retirements) are completely unrealistic. First start in Rally1 on these kinds of rallies a realistic goal is beating Loubet and Katsuta in Estonia and those + Neuville in Finland. Note that Suninen has pretty bad history in Estonia, including being slower than Greensmith.

Further on my point is that Mikkelsen can get some stunning times on specific rallies, specially in slippery conditions (Estonia and Acropolis PS last year, Monte and Monza basically every year he started). He also has rallies where he is completely off the pace (Rome 2021, Catalunya 2018). Suninen has that one stage on Sardinia a few years back.
So over more rallies I fail to see how another "mediocre" Fin adds to the excitement.

I know your partisan nature but I thought you could at least appreciate that another driver breeds more curiosity for those two rallies (acropolis? monza? monte?) than Mikkelsen finishing a likely stable fifth.


While we're bringing up WRC 2 results, Suninen in Finland 2021 and 2022, Estonia 2022?

[djip]

I know your partisan nature but I thought you could at least appreciate that another driver breeds more curiosity for those two rallies (acropolis? monza? monte?) than Mikkelsen finishing a likely stable fifth.


While we're bringing up WRC 2 results, Suninen in Finland 2021 and 2022, Estonia 2022?

We can (have had) debated endelessely on the matter. In the end, whilst i am not a big believer, Sunninen deserves the seat. He's been in te Huyndai stable for long now, and whilst maybe not WDC material, has shown glimpses of speed in the past. He has tested the Rally1 car "extensively" , on the Finland test base base moreover, and has even started a WRC event with it. Not to mention that Estonia/Finland are his home turf - always good for PR.
Forget about the last MSport year(s) where the car was way behind (remember, Lappi was also off the pace, yet today he only gets praises ...)
Of course, this will be a do-or-die moment for his carreer. But this is what champions are made off : Size the opportunity when it comes !

[er88]

In Finland Mikkelsen would likely control the result somewhere around 5th(depending on the dropouts).
With Suninen you can get a crash in first stage (2x in last season at MSport) or a crash later while leading (Sweden 2019).

Jokes aside I wonder what (serious) people really expect from Suninen. Imo dreams of fighting for win or a podium (without many retirements) are completely unrealistic. First start in Rally1 on these kinds of rallies a realistic goal is beating Loubet and Katsuta in Estonia and those + Neuville in Finland. Note that Suninen has pretty bad history in Estonia, including being slower than Greensmith.

Further on my point is that Mikkelsen can get some stunning times on specific rallies, specially in slippery conditions (Estonia and Acropolis PS last year, Monte and Monza basically every year he started). He also has rallies where he is completely off the pace (Rome 2021, Catalunya 2018). Suninen has that one stage on Sardinia a few years back.
So over more rallies I fail to see how another "mediocre" Fin adds to the excitement.

The sooner you accept Mikkelsen is done at the top level, the easier you will deal with the fact that no teams want him in a rally1 car

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Lappi suffered a double propshaft failure on Wednesday morning’s Safari Rally shakedown stage – a problem Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul revealed the team also experienced in a previous test.

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/lappi...-of-shakedown/

[EstWRC]

Lappi saying to Helsinkin Sanomat that there was no mention of him being number 2 in the team when contract was signed and it isn’t also written in the contract.

[mknight]

The sooner you accept Mikkelsen is done at the top level, the easier you will deal with the fact that no teams want him in a rally1 car

He was basically signing a contract with Hyundai some 9 months ago. Until "I'd rather be home than drive a Hyundai" ate his words. That's as close as it gets. Unlike pure dreams about Meeke.

As far as I understand the big difference with Mikkelsen is he wants to get paid well, instead of bringing money. Which is why the likes of Greensmith and Suninen get to drive instead.

Is he too optimistic about is own value? Maybe, but just about all rally drivers seem a bit too overconfident in their own abilities, or he really follows the "once a paydriver, always a paydriver".

----------

Lappi saying to Helsinkin Sanomat that there was no mention of him being number 2 in the team when contract was signed and it isn’t also written in the contract.

Yet the new Hyundai boss had been threating him like number 2 since at least Sweden and in Sardinia he seemed to automatically act like number 2 himself (when Ogier retired).