The forest stages aren't in his 'own country'. He is from the Republic of Eire where the vast majority of rallying is on tarmac, so his performance at Ypres isn't so surprising. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by mousti
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The forest stages aren't in his 'own country'. He is from the Republic of Eire where the vast majority of rallying is on tarmac, so his performance at Ypres isn't so surprising. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Everyone was surprised, the level of competition was much higher and the tarmac there on Ireland and here in Ypres is not comparable.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
I thought the conditions for the first 3 stages on Saturday were directly comparable, mud and water on the road are conditions RB is very familiar with; you may have heard about Ireland being very green ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
The point is he has driven on tarmac in all conditions and will be much more at home than in a forest (don't think I didn't notice your quick change of argument :D ). Johnny Greer was actually the much more surprising performance imho.
He's best times came on friday though.. (He said: “The Ypres Rally is a very difficult tarmac rally and the stages are unique and very different to Irish tarmac rallies.) He lost even the Cavan Stages from a Evo IX here he beated the local very fast Gr N's :D . How was Greer surprising? He didn't show any pace the whole rally not in times and not on the places where I stood.. The showing of Barrable could be something good for the future in Greer I don't see anything in him that he can show any good internationally asphalt.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Well, time will tell. Robbie hasn't been setting the British Championship alight - why? Simply because he's been getting used to the car, this explains the Cavan stages result. Got to say though, you over rate the speed of your local group N drivers. Not trying to start an argument, but only Van Den Heuval looks speedy. Again you are being a bit hard with Greer, he truly doesn't have much experience with the Skoda on tarmac so his was very much an education visit. He has made big improvements on loose surfaces, Hans Weijs is going to have to do that as he appears good on tarmac but ordinary on gravel ( I think he is good enough to improve). I look forward to seeing all the fore mentioned in 2012 edition to see what difference a year has made. Truly a must-visit for every rally fan
Then everyone is overrating here in Belgium what Langenakens can do.. Vd Heuvel is offcourse on another level he was with R4 but would also win in N4 that was something I already knew. Greer may come back next year, if he's then doing some top 15 times against such a field like it was this year then I can say he can do something in the future good things from Barrable I'm convinced he can do that and he know now that there are ditches :p .
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Grin.Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Always fun to bring this up again. Some very good namedropping back in 08, some.... not so good :)
Any new rising stars out there??
Jarkko Nikkara.
The guy has something special to offer but time is running. If he doesn't break through in 2012, he might finish his career in his national championship.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory