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Will we see the same Neuville now he’s world champion ?
From hunter to the hunted, will Thierry's approach change in 2025 ?
DirtFish spoke to him to find out...
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/will-...orld-champion/
No-one with any comments on this ?
Well I think Neuville will feel under pressure despite now being a World Champion. This is due to the Rovanpera returning. If Kalle wins the Title again it may make fans feel like Neuville's win was because Kalle wasnt there full-time in 2024. Neuville will really want to win it again to prove he is truly worthy.
I feel exactly the same way. Neuville so far has failed to challenge Kalle properly. Let's see if he can defend his title. Defending is more difficult than winning for the first time. Only 6 drivers in the history have done this.
With Rovanpera returning, Thierry for sure will not feel the same excitement that he had when he was fighting against Evans or Tanak last year. In contrast, it will be more stressful for him to be the hunted because Kalle is coming for him.
If somehow Thierry defends, I will put him ahead of Kalle in my all time ranking.
My prediction is Kalle will crash a lot this year, starting in MC then another one in Sweden .. rom there we will see
I don't think Neuville will feel more pressure this year, I think in 2024 it was the biggest pressure for him, it was "now or never". He achieved his goal of being world champion, anything that comes after is a plus. I think he might enjoy it more and I doubt he'll think "if I don't beat Kalle, people will think I'm not a worthy champion", Neuville already had to beat former world champions to get the 2024 title. I don't know how enjoying it more will translate to results though.
If Kalle won't make many mistakes, he should become a 3 times champion in my opinion. But I see it being more fought than in 2022 and 2023, with Hyundai not being a garbage can on wheels, Neuville and Tanak should be able to put up a fight.
Interesting comment from Fourmaux
Fourmaux believes the i20 N is easier to drive now that hybrid power has been removed from the car as per the new 2025 technical regulations.
“We have lost a lot of weight so the handling of the car is easier and nicer [to] drive, but we have lost some power for sure, and drivers always want more power,” he added.
https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/...-car/10689240/
That is right. I hope we see a good title fight. If we see another domination (not talking about a particular driver) it would be very boring. We want head to head battles like Loeb vs Gronholm in 2007 for example.Quote:
Originally Posted by focus206
Tactical advantage to Toyota already according to Neuville...
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/is-to...ad-of-hyundai/
I believe that the battle for Manufacturer title will be over much sooner than previous season. Since Hyundai seems doesn't care at all. We just waiting what Lappi will bring to the table (he teases new co-driver on FB and it's assumed it's Malkonen). If he will announce driving rally1 car, then it's still hope it's Hyundai, if not it's a done deal, they will not field no more than 3 cars. Because I personaly don't think that even sharing that 4th car between many drivers will not give them any advantage at all, because lacking seat time.
What I heard it´s Mälkönen...Quote:
Originally Posted by deephouse
Lappi, soon on your radars.
Lappi
“Hi, we will participate in the Arctic Lapland Rally with Enni Mälkönen, and will drive Finnish Rally Championship by Skoda Fabia. More later on.”
Neuville: 'Once you taste the WRC title, you want more...'Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/n...more/10690067/
Rovanpera is having a very proper preparations for this season.. at first a rally before Monte and now going to Arcric rally before Sweden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frGo0QMiZaQ
Interview with Elfyn saying that the Hankook tyres are strong, with very few punctures seen in testing.
Hopefully that is the case over the season!
I don't understand why most other drivers don't do this. If you are serious about winning you need km's in the car.Quote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
Are those drivers who decide this?Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
It is strange that only Rovanpera has this mileage. Not only testing, but also rallies. Then only Fourmaux had Devoluy, but others (including other Toyota drivers) has only tests...Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
I assume if neuville, tanak or ogier say they want to do some local rally to prepare, the teambosses are not going to say no.Quote:
Originally Posted by meh
TANAK: 2025 RALLY1 CARS ARE HOW A "RALLY CAR SHOULD BE"
"Driving-wise I like it, it is like a rally car should be. The car is lighter which is great as in motorsport, weight is everything and if it is lighter the car is more playful, which is positive.
https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/...d-be/10690412/
Sounds promising from his side!Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
Neuville was complaining last year about not participating in Rally Lietuva before Latvia so I think costs are part of issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
And if I would be team boss and Ogier asked me of tests, I would simply told him to do more official rounds.
Totally. I got now pretty hyped for the new season which I didn’t care much forQuote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
I have really liked the videos where he is testing the “new” machine which they launch from Sweden.
Time will tell if another miserable year or finally a good one after 2019.
Tanak looks good, especially if his tarmac form from Japan and CER can continue.
The big question is the tires IMO. Who will adapt the fastest.
Costs are a possibility but Kalle is also out of the car longer and needs practice more than the others.Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
And McErlean said theyre like a big Rally2 car.Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
I can see them being more fun to drive, less complex and a bit easier.
Go Ott !!
Let's hope, that Hankook will provide faster and better information about drivers' tyre choices for legs/days.
My guess is we will see the info right away now with the live command center. At least I hope soQuote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-...ommand-center/
https://x.com/llluis555/status/18748...C1kV5QC61vX5Xg
Neuville didnt get to participate in Rally Lietuva because Tänak crashed the test car big time in Estonia if i remember correctly. So that was not about asking and not getting from team side.Quote:
Originally Posted by Backa
The Dirtfish article statesQuote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
If there's no phone service how is theQuote:
"Rally México. Friday morning, Ott Tänak driving for M-Sport. Everyone’s really excited.
“First stage of the morning, he has a problem on the stage. M-Sport themselves don’t know what was wrong with the car. We don’t know what’s wrong with the car. M-Sport didn’t have radio. There was no phone service, so nothing could be found out what was wrong."
going to work?Quote:
"smart antenna, supplied by Marelli, will be fitted to each car, transmitting data back to base via an LTE (4G) connection"
which is also weird for a factory team with their budget. They should have a few finished cars just waiting in the factory.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyest
The hyundai team is being run like they're on an M-sport budget.
Ive heard Neuville say a few times recently about the importance of points for the Team this year. They are probably making the Manus title the priority after last year and to leave WRC as Champions.
EDIT: Seems confirmed by Abiteboul...
'...this year we have some different goals to work towards,” Abiteboul hinted, referring to a manufacturers’ title push.
“While all our crews have their own individual goals, as a team we will be working to bring home as many points as possible for our manufacturers’ efforts"
In an ideal world, yes, the could have 1-2-3 spare cars ready to go if anything is wrong, but in the last couple of years, that was not the trend, quite the contrary. Maybe they allocated this "extra" budget (the set of parts in the cars, their rebuild, storeage etc) to development, or simply didn't do anything with it, but having it just sit there might not be the best way to use that money.Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
They also dont have any spare customer cars around to use, unlike MSport & Toyota.
Yes because if you don't plan to use a car to rent out or have a clear plan and allocated budget for a additional entry you don't build up a extra car you don't need just for a what if.
Strange story about Toyota looking to replace Evans..
https://speed.dhpplant.com/toyota-no...yk3ByOULAu5hEA
I've been noticing an increasing amount of articles and websites writing random sh!t on WRC drivers for clickbait. "Loeb goes back to M-Sport with a part time program!" and then there is a picture of Loeb and a picture of a Fiesta WRC, not even a Puma.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
I think Toyota is absolutely fine with having Evans.
Where would he go? Hyundai is almost out and also M-Sport's future is uncertain. Also there aren't any new interest since they introduce new rules.
There is even more strange rumour circling around, not here in WRC but in different series... But it heavily touches our world. Rovanpera pursuing F1 career after this season. I guess he could try it. He is still very young, probably isn't motivated so much in rallying anymore and also Toyota have ties to formula now.
Right after they release those new regulations, I kinda got some hope, the World Championship will be saved. But since then we got nothing but negative news (if we can call it news at all). So the dark cloud over championship got even darker, sadly. But at the end, maybe we will have multiple teams. Toyota GR WRT, Toyota GR WRT2, GR Toyota WRT, Printsport Toyota WRT, Toyota NGR WRT...
This whole website is nothing but AI generated texts, as you can check. https://www.scribbr.com/ai-detector/Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Perhaps it reads this site and picked up the silly rumours about Evans to M-Sport last year, and now it's turned them into clickbait, which is in turn repeated here, and it goes on forever...Quote:
Originally Posted by Walach