I don't know, but I do know he could win another Title if he wanted to.Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
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I don't know, but I do know he could win another Title if he wanted to.Quote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
yeah he proved that las year not crashing out at all, oh wait...Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
i wouldnt do any conclusions for the rest of the season based on Monte, you could then say for sure already that Kalle wouldnt win the championship.
If snow falls, starting position is a big aspect - But if it's frozen, it doesn't matter too much.. And ofcourse it won't be snowing because Tanak and Neuville are always unlucky with the weather ;DQuote:
Originally Posted by meh
In general:
* Ogier - good known quality, the King stays
* Evans - seems that he can co-operate with the non-hybrid better
* Fourmaux - for me way better result and performance than expected, first time in the car and beating both champion in the team is quite some statement
* Rovanperä - found the rhythm and setup for Sunday
* Tänak - good pace on Saturday, 5th O/A maybe was not what expected before, but not a disaster either
* Neuville - maybe the most surprising thing was how many mistakes fresh champ made and basically did not have any pace. He was lucky that other retired and gained some positions and valuable points because of that
* Taka - well, guy was sick and there is no point in overanalyzing it
* Pajari - learning, shame for the mistake, but it's part of the learning
* Munster - quite some surprise actually, also congrats for the first-ever stage win, it's some milestone to achieve
* McErlean - collected experience and milage, we should just ignore the result
He will start just like previous year and if he will won every event he will enter (or being points wise close to the top all the time), he will go for the title. Remember it could be huge story if he would won the title with part-season. It could also mean he would be better than Loeb (I think he already is, since he won titles with different manufacturers).Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
Also he said in a joke (I think he do think maybe also for real) that Pajari shouldn't be too good, since he want to drive for some time.
Hyundai should step up. I know they'll be getting new car for Sweden, but everytime they show with something new, they step back, so I'm very sceptical about that. Embarassment from both Tanak and Neuville.
Fourmaux was the big news.
Tanak Saturday afternoon was... a sign of what could happen, but will it happen enough?
Evans: last year there were a lot of rallies where he did about as well as I expected but not quite as well as I hoped. This rally I got both.
Gryazin: last year I picked Pajari on a whim in WRC2, this year I pseudo-randomly selected Gryazin. WRC2 is the only part of my life where I get lucky.
The drone: did get better as the rally went on. Maybe we can give it some time.
The rally: damn good season opener. See you here for Sweden!
Sweden's competition is going to be huge - Pajari, Sesks and Katsuta starting from behind! All of them are going to be quick.
Great Rally!
Big congrats to Ogier, top performance at the hardest rally over so many years, very impressive.
A little bit of a shame there was so much ice on the Turini, it would have been great to see Fourmaux’s tyre gamble play out with 4 x SS on, but in the end they had to all take the same tyre package.
Evans was really good, Fourmaux excellent. Tanak amazing place yesterday…
I feel very sorry for Munster, he drove very well this weekend and showed more speed than I thought he had, let’s hope he can build on that. I suppose the upside is he and Sesks will have good road position in Sweden…
ill add mine also thenQuote:
Originally Posted by meh
Ogier - well like you said, he is the king and nothing more to say. Very well managed rally once again, although again two mistakes which coulnd have ended his rally but lucky this time.
Evans - seems indeed that the non-hybrid machine suits also for him better like for Tänak, but he did well in Monte also with the hybrid. Still remains to be seen how it evolves.
Fourmaux - surprise and man of the rally for me but my guess is that he had massive advantage over Tänak and Thierry (and over the rest) with his experience from the test rally and two test days also in different conditions. On Saturday when it clicked for Tänak then he was much slower.
Rovanperä - i said already before the season that he will be rusty and that is what excatly happened but even with this form nice 4th place and on Sunday had great pace already. For me he is still the championship contender nr 1.
Tänak - superb saturday, showed that the talent hasnt gone anywhere and dominated like in the old days. But then again very bad pace on friday and especially today but i think it is all down to the experience with the tyres. He had only one test day and in full soaking rain. He has to stop doing this stupid tyre choices, needs a new race tactic guy or smth. Luckily there is only one choice in sweden, if there would be two then im sure he would choose the second one.
Neuvile - well, seemed like the old Neuville is back again with the stupid mistakes out of nowhere but the surprising thing was that he didnt also have any pace, 0 stage wins for him but like Tänak then he also seems hasnt found the click the with all of the different tyre choices yet.
Taka - shame for te crash, showed amazing pace on saturday but thats often the case with him that founds great speed but then crashes.
Pajari - well, learning curve, part of it. some nice split times on some stages.
Munster - crashed but IMO did still very good. had starting pos advantage and tyre advantage but he used it very well, has taken another step IMO.
Josh - i better not comment
So do Tanak and neuville, which could be interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by CeskyOndra
You can say that also about Kalle, starting third instead of fourth. Not much of a difference. I really hope there is a mobile signal in Sweden's forests and I will know the times when spectating :DQuote:
Originally Posted by denkimi
I hope for a clear, dry Sweden with clean hard ice. Ice + spikes = tarmac, essentially.
I wonder If Toyota register Pajari or Evans for scoring points for teams championship..
I believe Pajari is in a second team, with "2" in the name, and he'll drive for points in that team. He can't drive for more than one team in a season.Quote:
Originally Posted by CeskyOndra
I haven't seen more than 3 teams in championship standings?Quote:
Originally Posted by Morte66
Have a look here https://www.motorsportforums.com/sho...=1#post1357780Quote:
Originally Posted by CeskyOndra
I guess Toyota 2 team has no points, so they aren't on the standings yet.
In the end, Kalle did exactly what he was supposed to do. Not confident? Drive at your own pace and let's see if others make mistakes or have problems, and so got on the podium on his least favourite event.
Very impressed by Fourmaux, very mature drive. Ogier Monte master again, good job by Evans too.
Overall, seems like the Toyota drivers got used to Hankook or the hybrid removal better than Hyundai, especially Tanak and Neuville. At least Tanak was fast yesterday, Neuville struggled all weekend. But new car in Sweden, so we'll see.
In the end, McErlean 7th :D Okay, only 11 seconds faster than the lead WRC2 driver, but at least no mistakes.
Aaaah okey!Quote:
Originally Posted by Morte66
Is seems to me McErlean is doing what Munster did last year -- bringing the car home above all else. Rich Millener said that was the plan in an interview before the rally.Quote:
Originally Posted by focus206
Given how everybody suddenly feels better about Munster, and given the real speed I've seen from McErlean in ERC on occasion (which I never saw from Munster), I think this whole McErlean season is a bit strange but not completely mad.
Interesting to note that not a single driver complained about a lack of power due to no more hybrid boost, or about the quality of the new Hankook tyres.
And no one here complained about any lack of spectacle or dtop in speed of the new-spec cars.
Plus the revised points system has had universal praise.
Good job WRC, credit where it's due.
I agree completely. Good day for WRC today.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Yeah. No one is complaining about new points system.
Actually that’s true.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
I have to say, seems Hankook did a good job. Am I right that Munster was the only puncture amongst the Rally1 cars? I know a couple knocked off the rims by going off, but actual punctures seemed very low.
I think a full dry tarmac rally will be a test, that’s where the quality of the rubber will be tested the most I suspect.
For posterity:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GiN_WflX...pg&name=medium
wtf. Neuville got only two points less than Tänak in the end?
Huge gifts from Munster and Taka for him
Neuville had a puncture before his second off.Quote:
Originally Posted by doubled1978
And also gift from Tanak because of his poor performance todayQuote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
You mean Pajari and Taka, Munster was well behind.Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
In the end, Neuville finished only 1 place behind Tanak and they scored the same on Sunday. Tanak was last of the trouble-free drivers, Neuville was first of the troubled ones. Well, apart from McErlean who was just bringing it home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBAu_LKdzo8
Monte Carlo is unique in so many aspects.
Any videos form the snowy parts of Turini?
Guys for the future I would like to know, where to find information regarding who are gravel crews for each crew?
Tänak said to Estonian media, that their Excel calculations about the tires were wrong. I have never given much thought about the process for choosing the best tire package and I have understood it has a lot to do with the drivers own preference.
Is the optimal tire therefore chosen according to the calculations from the engineer(s)? Can somebody give more insight to this? Why are then the tire packages different inside the team between different drivers?
He should stop using that excel then and choose by his own feeling.
And how come his excel was so wrong then.
What a moron.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
Who?Quote:
Originally Posted by rallyfiend
So new FIA rules already running here in WRC. Bunch of clowns up there.
He should have learnt by now.
What a great rally. One of the best in recent years. And that Sunday drama with tyre and condition make it with a cherry in a top