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Tänak has been misleading the media before so I would'nt take that interview very seriously specially considering that it was done by Martinson who is considered the fool of estonian sports journalists. Tänak likes to fool around with fools and by the looks of his grin my guess he is just messing aroundQuote:
Originally Posted by Tauri_J
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If Hyundai's 2023 is anything like their 2022, I expect they'll leave. After all, from a business perspective, they're spending tons of money on their WRC program as a form of advertising. They want people to see a cool Hyundai car and think "hey I like Hyundai, my next car should be one".Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
Well, this year: overall they've been soundly trounced by Toyota. Their top driver is constantly and publicly complaining that the car is trash. Most of the news articles about them discuss how dysfunctional the team is.
I hope they do better in 2023 and I hope they stay. But as it stands now, would a Hyundai boss look at this state of affairs and think that viewers are going to be persuaded to buy a Hyundai?
Well, first a Hyundai boss should make a decision at last to hire a new team manager or make Moncet a permanent one and not a deputy.
I still remember 2017. First he said to David Evans at the M-Sport event that he's staying at M-Sport for 2018, and then he wrote in his Delfi column that the rumors about him changing teams are ridiculous.Quote:
Originally Posted by cali
But that's how it is, you cannot say anything in advance.
Well, if all they want is for the general public to think the i20 is cool, they've probably succeeded. It looks cool and (apart from when there's a problem) you can't tell, without looking at the results, if one winged-up Rally1 car is faster than another.Quote:
Originally Posted by speederbee
Not one person outside the 'bubble' that is being a WRC employee or fan could give two shits who's driving them, what they had for lunch, how happy they are in the team, or what they plan to do next year. The internal strife at Hyundai has literally zero impact on perception among the general public of rallying.
That decision has already been made - Mr Neuville is the team boss, and that is how it has been and will stay as long as he's there!Quote:
Originally Posted by bomber21
Mikkelsen's been out for a long time also, in fact one year less than Paddon and those two years in Hyundai weren't great. Paddon won RNZ by a mile and came third in Finland in a brand-new car he had to rebuild and after recovering from Covid with a tiny team after not driving Finland for a while, it was the drive that was needed. Im not saying Paddon should be first choice and I agree Mikkelsen will likely get the job but has he improved since the last time he was in a WRC car and what makes this time any different? The last time Paddon was in a WRC for a full rally he came 2nd, vs Mikkelsen's 6th.Quote:
Originally Posted by cali
What they should be doing is matching a driving style to the car, so a driver is comfortable from the getgo.
Mikkelsen has been driving WRC2 all the time so he's essentially been in WRC, getting to know the new rallies and new stages. Paddon has been just doing events in New Zealand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toyoda
Paddon might have been third in WRC2 in Finland, but in stage times he was only once in top three. And in NZ there was no competition.
I like Paddon as a character and he was good as a gravel driver pair to Sordo, but sadly I wouldn't pick him for a Rally1 seat over Mikkelsen right now, especially not for a full-time seat.
I cannot see Mikkelsen going back to Hyundai, been there done that. Mikkelsen is like the Kopecky of this era with Skoda. Could Lappi be lured to Hyundai for a full season drive if he promises not to complain about the car?
Paddon 35yrs, Mikkelsen 33year, Lappi 31, Suninen 28, then even amongst the other Finns - Huttunen, Lindholm etc (Pajari would have been something 7 or 8 years old when Paddon drove his first Rally Finland and yet Pajari (at 20 years old) was faster than Paddon, this year)
Paddon sort of made a mistake in my opinion of not building the Hyundai AP4 in left hand drive, even though he has said it does not effect him. The Australian Toyota yaris GR AP4 have been built as left hand drive for Harry Bates.
Any wild cards - from the Spanish, Italian, French, another Belgian. etc?
No, I think he's happy with a partial program at Toyota and he doesn't want to repeat his Citroen mistake.Quote:
Originally Posted by Humber