Silly Season 2020

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Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

T16 knows it all doesnt he...

Re Evans - it suited MW to use him but also you need to realise that Evans wouldnt have been in WRC with anyone else for most of his career. MW should be praised for his system of developing people over lonh periods and not criticised constantly as some kind of wicked user of poor little driver's.

Re Latvala - I dont want him back at M-Sport. Its time to give a younger guy another chance.

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Put your tissues away and read what I’ve said.

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Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

Re Latvala - I dont want him back at M-Sport. Its time to give a younger guy another chance.

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I think MSport needs at least one "established" driver for multiple reasons:

- comparison for the youngsters/inexperienced
- "independent" comparison with speed of other cars
- help with car setup/feedback during the rallies (Suninen was really vocal about this and missing Evans this year in Finland)
- car development

Both Latvala and Mikkelsen would work for that, maybe in a way better than Evans, cause Evans never drove a different WRC car.

If you have MSport with say Suninen, Greensmith and Tidemand/or some other new driver it might be really hard to even "sell" Suninen to other teams later, cause it would be close to impossible to tell how good really is unless he suddenly starts finishing on podium in every second rally, which is rather unlikely. So even Joukhi and other "customer" should be interested in MSport having some driver like that.

Evans to Toyota. If it happens then it will be the true test of his talent and a barometer of the Fiesta's competitiveness.

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Originally Posted by tomhlord

Evans to Toyota. If it happens then it will be the true test of his talent and a barometer of the Fiesta's competitiveness.

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the best should be Ogier at Toyota in conjuction with Tanak at hyundai.
that will say a lot about true speed of cars.

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Originally Posted by denkimi

He can always retire. He has had his years, he had his chances. He isn't likely going to improve.

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Why not? Without being in Tanak’s shadow anymore and with his personal matters resolved, Latvala could be as competitive as he was in 2017. Besides, it’s hard to see anyone better than him to lead TGR WRC hybrid car development.

An Evans (fingers crossed for him), Latvala, Meeke and Rovanpera line-up sounds competive enough to make one believe TGR would again be fighting for the manus title, especially once it’s hard to predict how Tanak/Neuville Hyundai ‘cohabitation’ will work.

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Originally Posted by Japé

Aichi recce? Central Rally Aichi (8 - 10 November)

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https://twitter.com/TakamotoKatsuta/...60802271858689

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Originally Posted by Rally Power

An Evans (fingers crossed for him), Latvala, Meeke and Rovanpera line-up sounds competive enough to make one believe TGR would again be fighting for the manus title, especially once it’s hard to predict how Tanak/Neuville Hyundai ‘cohabitation’ will work.

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Going by this year that combination has close to no chance of manu title... because Latvala and Meeke brought very little manu points compared to others:
http://planetemarcus.com/saison-wrc/

(note that the list of team points per driver favors drivers in two cars teams though)

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Originally Posted by mknight

Going by this year that combination has close to no chance of manu title... because Latvala and Meeke brought very little manu points compared to others:
http://planetemarcus.com/saison-wrc/

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There’s life beyond stats. Without suffering from Tanak’s direct comparison, Latvala and Meeke will probably be more at ease and perform on a higher level; if Evans joins them, he’ll certainly be eager to show a top speed from the start and even Rovanpera, after the initial adaptation, could be able to help the team scoring. A more balanced line-up can eventually play in Toyota’s favour.

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Originally Posted by Rally Power

There’s life beyond stats. Without suffering from Tanak’s direct comparison, Latvala and Meeke will probably be more at ease and perform on a higher level; if Evans joins them, he’ll certainly be eager to show a top speed from the start and even Rovanpera, after the initial adaptation, could be able to help the team scoring. A more balanced line-up can eventually play in Toyota’s favour.

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Titles are given for points (=stats). What ifs are what ifs...

Yes I agree that they can likely benefit from Tanak not being there. But there will always be someone else (for example Evans, or at least the other one of the pair). The Latvala dream-scenario of 2017 when he had only Haninen and extremely green Lappi in team is not likely to repeat at Toyota. (Might happen at MSport though.)

Sure they can also still change, after all Tanak was crashing a lot until mid 2017 or so and this year he was extremely reliable, but with time it's getting less and less likely.

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Originally Posted by mknight

I think MSport needs at least one "established" driver for multiple reasons:

- comparison for the youngsters/inexperienced
- "independent" comparison with speed of other cars
- help with car setup/feedback during the rallies (Suninen was really vocal about this and missing Evans this year in Finland)
- car development

Both Latvala and Mikkelsen would work for that, maybe in a way better than Evans, cause Evans never drove a different WRC car.

If you have MSport with say Suninen, Greensmith and Tidemand/or some other new driver it might be really hard to even "sell" Suninen to other teams later, cause it would be close to impossible to tell how good really is unless he suddenly starts finishing on podium in every second rally, which is rather unlikely. So even Joukhi and other "customer" should be interested in MSport having some driver like that.

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Loubet was hinting at the weekend that he will be in a WRC1 car in 2020.

MSport is really the only realistic option.