Toni Gardemeister

[Charlie]

Whats happened to him? I thought he did a really good job in 2005 considoring he was in a 2004 car and had very little testing. I really like him and he always seemed to get the best out of average cars such as the skoda or when he drove some old private 206's. I don't understand why he was dropped by Ford does anyone know ? as I thought he would of been a good partner for Gronholm and he deserves a change in a top compettitve car IMO.

[Langdale Forest]

He finished 7th in Rally Germany in a private Citroen Xsara WRC.
It would be good if he has a full works drive next year. :)

[WelshLegend]

The only reason that Ford dropped Toni was because neither driver won a rally in the 2005 season. The focus has won a least one rally every year (excluding 2005)

[Bristecom]

Yeah, Gardemeister has some great potential. There are rumors that Mitsubishi will pick him up as a works driver but he might actually be with Suzuki now. Either way, he deserves a seat in a works car. If he were a little more consistent, I'm certain he could be a world champion.

[MikeD]

Yeah, Gardemeister has some great potential. There are rumors that Mitsubishi will pick him up as a works driver

I doubt that. Strong and reliable rumours claim that Mitsu aren't gonna join WRC for a long time due to financial problems. Actually most claim that we saw the last Mitsu WRC car in New Zealand in the hands on Urma Aava.

[Brother John]

Yeah, Gardemeister has some great potential. There are rumors that Mitsubishi will pick him up as a works driver but he might actually be with Suzuki now. Either way, he deserves a seat in a works car. If he were a little more consistent, I'm certain he could be a world champion.


Mitsubishi ????????????

[mdesign]

I think that gard is a very good driver, but he his not a "top gun". He was ford's number one and couln'd get any victory. He is capable of being on the podium in almost any rally, but hardly can win any. I remember him doing very good in 2005, very consistent, but never strong enough for any win, so he might deserve a drive on the top teams but not as number one driver.

[Zes]

I think that gard is a very good driver, but he his not a "top gun". He was ford's number one and couln'd get any victory. He is capable of being on the podium in almost any rally, but hardly can win any. I remember him doing very good in 2005, very consistent, but never strong enough for any win, so he might deserve a drive on the top teams but not as number one driver.

I think it wouldn't have been fair to expect victories from Toni with a Focus that was getting old. That Focus in 2005 was totally different car than 2006 model. Toni was competitive in some tarmac races that suited well for old Focus, but he wasn't (and never will be) able to compete against Loeb. In my opinion he did really good job finishing 2nd in Monte and TdC.

Toni is probably not the best guy to develop a car, maybe that's why Ford dropped him.

[koko0703]

Me, too! I think Garde is a very good driver. He may not be the fastest but good reliable 2nd driver, and I defintitely think Garde deserves one of the works seat. I really hope Suzuki or somebody else will sign him!

[Tomi]

I think Garde is clearly the best of those drivers avilable, in my opinion there is only 3 free drivers worth a worksseat at the moment, Garde, Duval and Latvala if all theese 3 guys would drive a full season the one who would have the most points in my opinion would be Garde with clear margin.

[COD]

I think Garde is clearly the best of those drivers avilable, in my opinion there is only 3 free drivers worth a worksseat at the moment, Garde, Duval and Latvala if all theese 3 guys would drive a full season the one who would have the most points in my opinion would be Garde with clear margin.


Agreed, but I would add Galli to the list, although his chances are reduced by the fact that he has done so few rallies this year

[Tomi]

Agreed, but I would add Galli to the list, although his chances are reduced by the fact that he has done so few rallies this year

I would not put him resultwise, also he is far too much older than the others.

[Langdale Forest]

I think it wouldn't have been fair to expect victories from Toni with a Focus that was getting old. That Focus in 2005 was totally different car than 2006 model. Toni was competitive in some tarmac races that suited well for old Focus, but he wasn't (and never will be) able to compete against Loeb. In my opinion he did really good job finishing 2nd in Monte and TdC.



He also came 2nd in Greece in 2005.

[COD]

I would not put him resultwise, also he is far too much older than the others.

I think he has the speed and determination. Also, they have one young driver allready, so age should not necessarely be working against Galli.

[Tomi]

I think he has the speed and determination. Also, they have one young driver allready, so age should not necessarely be working against Galli.

Agree he has the speed but i dont have much belive in guys who drives off on a straight road, and gets carried away very easily, after 2-3 good fast stages he is usually off, when a guy dont understand it's impossible to win rallies in a private car there is not much hope, but better wait and see stranger things has happend.

[Priorat]

I wonder if Galli is better than Carlsson or Solà to name but two...

[Tom206wrc]

I wonder if Galli is better than Carlsson or Solà to name but two...


Anyway I don't think Galli is less fast and consistent than a certain Latvala(too many mistakes/off road made by the young Finn) :rolleyes:

[Tomi]

Anyway I don't think Galli is less fast and consistent than a certain Latvala(too many mistakes/off road made by the young Finn) :rolleyes:

thats true, but at the time Latvala is same age as Galli he will be a few time world champion allready, thats the difference.

[A.F.F.]

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

[WRCfan]

We have seen Galli can match the top guys, speed wise, just needs to keep the speed and harness the "keep it on the road" theory now. He would be a very good addition to a team given a little time to get to grips with the little irratic bugs he has...

[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 :p

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.