In my eyes the most logical in that case would be to use Ogier, Evans and Meeke in factory nominated cars and put Rovanpera in 4th. Could be pretty good lineup as long as Meeke is told very clearly what his role is.
Printable View
In my eyes the most logical in that case would be to use Ogier, Evans and Meeke in factory nominated cars and put Rovanpera in 4th. Could be pretty good lineup as long as Meeke is told very clearly what his role is.
Even instead of paying Meeke off and having him sitting on the sidelines, a half season or a few events would maybe work better for Toyota than having Kalle as 3rd pts scorer in every round.
Kalle could still do full season, but move aside for Meeke in the main team on events like Monte/ Mexico/ argentina/ Wales + tarmac of Germany/ Japan etc + maybe one or two other events where road position is vital.
Toyota now have Evans who is a more safe option than Latvala was last year. So Meeke could come into events with very good position on the road (like Mikkelsen and Sordo who started 7th/ 8th/9th/10th on the road this year nearly all the time) and for sure be on pace to challenge for the wins. We've seen in the past in 2016 where Meeke won easily in Portugal and Finland with great road position when he did half season.
This season in Sweden plus gravel events, Meeke has started 4th on the road 5 times, and 5th on the road 3times. Yet still had good very pace in Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, Finland despite not always getting results.
Also just thinking from a Toyota POV, Meeke had great pace in Monte on his first event in the Yaris and who would you rather have drive there for team points - Kris or Kalle? Meeke could potentialluly challenge for a win/podium especially if you factor in the fact Tanak will be in a new car and so will Ogier.
Meeke being involved in a partial season or a full season would probably make Toyota stronger short term, but I guess the fact they have to run Katsuta in a 4th car for most of the season as well makes it difficult budget wise. 5 cars is a big ask.
Meeke to Ford. (Why all this haussing of Kris? Think he is the most unpredictical driver to hire...)
Latvala stays.
My guess...
i will eat dirt if Malcolm chooses Meeke over other free drivers:D
And here we are Meeke, Lappi ->> M-Sport. Which driver comes next, maybe one of the Hyundai guys, Neuville, Sordo, Loeb?
Why does everyone think Lappi will land the Ford seat,after the season he has had.. Ahead of Meeke, unless he is paying. Meeke doesn't pay, and has said that publically.
Because Lappi had some bad luck as well with the car couple of times.Lappi had i think 3 second places on the season? Meeke just crashed so much on very key points on rally. Ogier knows when he has one of kinda like meekes teammate - he is definetly loosing that next champ as well. Because like Markko sayd : Best Hyundai drivers was two Toyota ones.