Unhappy with Yaris? :D :D
This season's best car by far and taking WDC + Manus title..
Only problem is himself not being able to manage the pressure of young fin beating him here and there..(after messing everything up in Monza).
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This seems like that... but... do we actually KNOW it? I think we don't have valid comparison. It can be that Loeb is just the master who can drive with everything... but was not able to drive with Hyundai actually. The same pattern is with Loubet. The question or worry here is, how reliable the Puma is.
We all know, that Toyota is the best place to be.
Also we know that this is the only team with fully filled lineup. Loosing one part time driver does not put any pressure to them to find replacement for him. They have Taka San for that.
With Lappi out, Toyota will clearly need a driver to lead the final part of the development of the Rally2 car.
Hanninen can lead the first part but they need a more up-to-date driver to make this final stages of development if they want to compete against such a big competition quite quickly (Skoda for sure, Hyundai is good now, Citroen also, VW is still an interesting car).
Evans has participated in developing R5 Fiesta but a full-season driver can not develop a car IMO and same for Ogier for a different reason (they can make one or two run but not full sessions).
All the last Rally2 developed has proved you need some time to optimize it and overall, to have a lead driver with a certain knowledge to optimize it.
Fourmaux has developed the Fiesta Rally1 but as not that much experience in Rally2, I would select Suninen, Mikkelsen, Ostberg or Lindholm over him personnally. But maybe someone still believes in his potential and want to keep it close in his field.
The rumour was for Loubet not Formaux to join Toyota.