Prodrive Mini WRC

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Originally Posted by jens

Araujo may not be a stellar driver, but I would have expected him to be faster than he actually is at the moment. Come on, 15 minutes behind leaders now despite the leaders actually not pushing at all?!

What about the quality of team Motorsport Italia in preparing cars for the event?

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Yes he has gone backwards since last year. MI is dependent on being supplied by Prodrive; its clear the car is not of the same quality and Dani's and the prostitute car.

With all due respect towards Neuville but how has he reached the highest level of rallying? Because he is driving WRC?

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Originally Posted by tfp

Speed-wise, maybe, but consistency is lacking in the "A" class drivers at the minute, even Loeb has one retirement already this year(I would say how many JML has had, but Ive lost count)

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consistency is far easier to achieve... and has no value when you are not competitive.

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

With all due respect towards Neuville but how has he reached the highest level of rallying? Because he is driving WRC?

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As far as his career goes he is currently at the highest level..with only a works drive to be the next step.

His speed is ok given the background but for the moment WRC speed and competition is a bit too much for him... he can be a worthy opponent in the future if the backing is there.

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

consistency is far easier to achieve... and has no value when you are not competitive.

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1 win, 3 third places and 1 4th place. that seems pretty competitive to me, especially if you know that he is not driving a factory car.

i believe that with the same car, he would be as fast or even faster than solberg. not as fast as latvala of course, but far more consistent.

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Originally Posted by Plan9

Mayb we can judge Armindo's speed better if and when he gets the 01B? I think Patrik is going to get it soon.

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Probably not. The problems would be the same. They will give to him a crap of a 01B. I almost lost my hopes

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Originally Posted by JAM

Probably not. The problems would be the same. They will give to him a crap of a 01B. I almost lost my hopes

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Has armindo and his sponsors some kind of mental disability ?? why he/they pays/y so much money for a crap car ??

it makes no sense...

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Originally Posted by jens

What about the quality of team Motorsport Italia in preparing cars for the event?

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They don't put a finger on the preparation. They only do the basic maintenance.

The cars came from Prodrive, the engineers too.

Of course that Prodrive would never voluntarly give a decent car to Motorsport Itália, by obvious reasons.

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

Has armindo and his sponsors some kind of mental disability ?? why he/they pays/y so much money for a crap car ??

it makes no sense...

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You have to ask that to Mini / BMW.

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

Has armindo and his sponsors some kind of mental disability ?? why he/they pays/y so much money for a crap car ??

it makes no sense...

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IMHO Armindo's car is not crap. Obviously Prodrive has the best cars but I think that Armindo, like you said, is a C level pilot. In tarmac he can be closest to some B level pilots (or at least be the fastest C level pilot) but in gravel he is not that fast specially with slippery conditions. Without rain I believe that he can be faster than he has been in Argentina. Let's see in Greece.

He is a nice guy and because he is portuguese I am always suporting him but I think that some people in Portugal are expecting to much from him. He is very consistent but this year he have been quite unlucky and he has done more mistakes than usual.