PR out right after Breens crash.
Slow gravel is actually the surface where Puma seems best atm, so might work well. Provided none of the reliability issues show up again.
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PR out right after Breens crash.
Slow gravel is actually the surface where Puma seems best atm, so might work well. Provided none of the reliability issues show up again.
It will could be not a surprise but nice and last.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
so far, the Puma's best surface is whichever Loeb is driving on..Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
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Right now we have Portugal-Spain-France-(Belgia)-Italy-Croatia and all those countries are linked, there is SEA between Estonia and Finland.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
and you forgot Sweden ;)
Will Belgium stay for next year though?Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
As for Latvia, I recall someone saying here they're aiming for 2024.
Let the rumors begin…. https://www-rallit-fi.translate.goog..._x_tr_pto=wapp
A huge risk for his career. Hyundai has problems indeed but one could say M-Sport has more problems :D
I always thought that the future master plan for WRC Belgium was to create one national rally based on combining the 3 biggest regional rallies: Ypres, Condroz and Spa where each region would have 1 day of Special Stages on its own.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
That has never been a plan...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sergiow
Do you think he should stay put at this point and just help them improve the car?Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
This plan was mentioned once by Yves MattonQuote:
Originally Posted by dupanton
"Matton has some objections, however. Just completing chrono rides in Ypres is not enough for the event to bear the Rally of Belgium label. That may seem strange, there are plenty of examples on the World Cup calendar where geographically restricted matches still have a national appearance." https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20210812_97231942
65 % of this plan was already achieved last year with Ypres + Spa. The inclusion of a Condroz day would have greatly reduced the 300 km liaison between Ypres and Spa ... but meanwhile Yves Matton is no longer Rally Director with the FIA, a wind of change is certainly coming from that direction ...
Do you know if he's going to be there instead of Breen? yes I'm aware they said he has a two year contract but the article doesn't shed much light on that matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
Know? It’s just rumors about Tänak. But Breen would make a great second driver.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
In addition to the speculative article..
Tänak didn't say a word about the car or team(thank them) at the end of PS. And nobody (e.g smb from the team) wasn't at the finishline either..)
Vety difficult choice either way.. (Toyota excluded)
I was wondering if he had any knowledge aside from the rumour, and yeah I agree, they could make a good paring for 2023.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Hard to know that. Recently he was 3rd driver and did very well after the first bad rallies and first driver which doesn't work at all (yet?).Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
You might say he was second on some rounds in 2017-2018 and it mostly didn't work but that was quite special situation.
Anyway before Finland I would totally say Tanak might switch, after Finland I am not so sure. Mostly due to seemingly declining speed at MSport and continuing reliability issues. The front suspension on the Puma also appears rather fragile as it's always the first to go.
A bit like previous Hyundai always lost the rear wheel.
https://www.rallit.fi/saako-esapekka...suora-vastaus/
First of all the article states that Rovanperä and Evans likely continue at Toyota for 2023, but then we have interesting comments from Latvala
- Ogier has said he wants to do Monte Carlo, but nothing is agreed upon yet
- There could still be two drivers in the third car
- Latvala would like Katsuta to continue in a fourth car but says the decision is made in Japan
- Latvala doesn't want to change the drivers at all but says it's about the budget and whether they can afford more drivers and four cars. "There's no reason to change drivers but this is depending on many factors"
To me it sounds like there won't be a fourth car and maybe pressure to put Taka into the third car with half season. This could be in line with Taka's comments in Rally Finland, saying "I don't know if I drive here next year"
Yeah, clearly, there is probably some pressure from Japan to promote Katsuta in 3rd car, I was surprised his name was not evoked in the summer last year but, anyway, his bad streak justified to keep him in 4th car and the new regulation justified also to deal with experienced drivers in the main team.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Now, he is quite regular even if a bit slow and it will be complicated for Latvala to resist to Japanese pressure, all the more with Lappi doing an average season so far. The main question mark with Katsuta is pure tarmac where he is really weak (not talking about Mickey Mouse stages or Monza circuit stages) but if the rumors about calendar are true, it will reduce the issue (all the more if Ogier does Monte Carlo). Maybe they could also keep Lappi as a specialist for Sweden/Estonia/Finland (would also help Katsuta to have better road positions for gravel by missing 3/4 events).
However, I would be really disappointed by Toyota if they do not have a 4th car for at least the European rounds with a 5-6 rally program for a youngster such as Rossel or Lindholm (and 2/3 rounds for Ogier eventually). I’ve no issue with them having a car mainly driven by a Japanese as long as it is compensated by giving some chance to another deserving youngster. Not really a behavior to develop rally as Toyoda is promoting.
sadly it seems there wont be any silly season at all for 2023, everything seems to remain the same
No changes for the big names to be precisebut not a real surprise:Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
- the big 4 has a contract for next year
- M-Sport has not really proven to be an efficient solution against Hyundai or Toyota (reliability issue and, without support, they cannot keep up in terms of development so Neuville and Tanak are forced to stay in Hyundai
Then, for Toyota, with Katsuta, Lappi or Ogier, it’s clearly enough to find a solution for the 3rd car so logical to make with them (not talking about 4th car).
And for M-Sport, they have invested in Breen by making the full-year with him; would be a non-sense to fire him for next year IMO.
But then, there could be some changes for the Hyundai 3rd car and also in M-Sport line-up because clearly, neither Solberg nor Fourmaux are convincing and Loubet is not that good.
Could help some guys like Mikkelsen or Suninen to come back or a guy like Rossel, Lindholm or Huttunen (depending on the money) finding a seat.
And if Lappi has not a safe seat in Toyota for next year, why not seeing Hyundai trying to hire him.
why you confirm tanak have the contract for 2023 ，Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
you have other info?Quote:
Originally Posted by 1988senna
When Ott and Thierry signed the new contracts in 2021, which for both were announced at the same time, Hyundai's press release said that they "have put pen to paper to sign extended multi-year contracts". So was it 2+1 or 3(+), it was definitely more than just the 2022 season.Quote:
Originally Posted by 1988senna
Also they are developing japanise youngsters in european rallies, hard to believe one will not land in the 4th car someday. don't think as soon as next season, but this will keep the second team alive imo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
That is interesting. Do you have some names of those japanise youngsters?Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler
And what about Sami Pajari, he clearly is the next big thing coming of the current WRC2-3 youngsters
https://www.ewrc-results.com/final/7...rt-ralli-2022/
Yuki Yamamoto, Nao Otake and Hikaru Kogure. They all competed in this local rally last weekend and did pretty well! However, it's a long program and they are still only in FWD Rally4 cars. I would say they will have a year of Rally3 and hopefully two years of Rally2 before going up to Rally1.
Sami Pajari had an incredible run in Rally Finland, except for breaking the suspension on Saturday. But on Sunday in super rally he was the fastest driver of the day although Suninen and Lindholm were still battling for the win.
Katsuta is a consistent point scorer this year so I can see him driving 3rd car.
Hyundai 3rd car is the main open question, especially if Sordo really retires.
I know about the 3 young Japanese but no way we can see him in a Rally1 WRC drive before at least 2025 and more probably 2026 (they are only competing in Rally4 so far in some Finnish events, probably some Rally3 or 2 next year).Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler
It lets at least 2 years where they can use the 4th car for other youngsters.
For Pajari, it is probably a bit early, at least one full-year in Rally2 (we can imagine 4 rounds with M-Sport if he wins J-WRC and then, the rest of European rallies with Toksport ... except if M-Sport makes him a big «*offer*» to keep him).
Yes, too early for Pajari, he has only started three rounds in Rally2, and only two of them in WRC(2). So he needs the experience anyway. But I would say he's the next new top class talent. For example Lindholm seems to have hit a some sort of plateau.
Out of current WR2C talents who hasn't yet been a top class driver, Huttunen is closest to being the real deal. Of course there's guys like Mikkelsen and Suninen who have already been there.
Did you forget Rossel?
His problem might be that Fourmaux and Loubet are likely competiting for lot of the same funding.
For me, Rossel is in the game with Lindholm and Huttunen if a young driver (with no Top-class experience I mean, excluding Huttunen’s outing in Finland) has to be promoted but he has multiple issues against him:Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
- as you said, clearly, there is the funding issue with multiple aspects: the fact that he is a Stellantis guy so he will not benefit from a manufacturer help for Rally1 + as you said, the potential conflicts with Loubet and Fourmaux to find fundings (such as FFSA help=French Federation) even if these two guys for the moment (especially Fourmaux) won’t benefit from their season. The only positive point for him is that he has Yacco’s help this year (former main sponsor of Fourmaux which helped him to step in RC1) whereas he was really short some years in the past. But, yeah, FFSA’s help will be probably critical next year for a Frenchman to stay one way or another (full-time or part-time) in M-Sport main team and probably the FFSA will have to make a choice between the 3 guys.
- if rumors about the calendar is correct with less tarmac and even if he has improved on technical gravel, he will be clearly a disadvantage for him against his competitors like Loubet, Lindholm or Huttunen.
- between him and Lindholm, there is not a big gap and they sound a step behind Mikkelsen (with Huttunen not that far also and sounds more easy on funding). So he is not a no-brainer choice.
Still I really hope he could have an opportunity.
Well I don't think any new young driver has a big chance of anything but a start or two next year.
The current Rally1 lineups are kind of over-saturated with "fresh" drivers. Even though most of them don't deliver it is either too early for them to be replaced and/or there are other reasons keeping them there. (money for Greensmith for example).
Sadly for Huttunen he kinda falls between rock and a hard place again. Gotta say he has some really bad luck with timing in his career.
I want to see Rossel do well on a fast gravel or snow event before giving him the credit as a proper talent.
Good point.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
I see he only did Estonia in 2020 with terrible speed.
Don’t agree on the fact that fast gravel/snow rally is evaluating raw talent. I don’t say these rallies worth nothing but don’t forget it represents only 3 rallies in the season, even looking on the long-term (with Poland at one time) which is less than tarmac or technical gravel. Always found these rallies overrated in terms of evaluation, rally is properly about multiple groundsQuote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Sordo did a good career without never been good there. I prefer that than a Lappi or Paddon or Breen career
No, I would say the same if there would be a driver who wins on fast and slow gravel but has no results on tarmac. A champion contender must be good everywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
true, just think about neuville...Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
indeed, just saying i would find strange if they ditch the second team (they even had a 5th bay in the service park this year)Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
Ok, my mistake, I misunderstood your sentenceQuote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
However, even if I hope I’m wrong, I don’t think any driver of the 94-98 WRC-2 generation (Rossel, Lindholm, Ingram, Gryazin, Huttunen or even Ciamin) to be championship-material driver; more see them at best a career such as Latvala or maybe more Sordo.
And the same for Fourmaux or Loubet (a bit more questionable about Solberg with the Hyundai context).
All the more with Kalle already at this level a lot above them.
However, it does not mean it’s useless for a team to try a driver like this; 3 members of the Big 4 will be 34+ at the end of the year and Breen is not that young considering his performance. So we can imagine big changes around 2024-2025 and having anticipated by giving some experience to a young guy could be an advantage.
Neuville has won Rally Sweden and Rally Poland, although for some reason he hasn't done that well in Finland and Estonia in the recent years.Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler