CEOs rarely care about rallying and racing past success, unfortunately... already FIAT decided to let Lancia almost disappear, so I'm not surprised Stellantis would say that.
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What, if anything, do you get for winning "WRC2 Challenger"?
Jari Marti Latvala's pace on this Friday morning cannot be doing the regular WRC2 front runners a favour.
With the exception of Oliver Solberg, Latvala seems to be coping with the pace of the rest comfortably. Begs the question, just how far are the pack in their development. Jari may be a a former frontman, but he isn't anywhere near what he was and yet appears to be holding his own with remarkable ease. Food for thought.
It is a little ironic that Sami Pajari, the obvious competition, is in WRC1.
When the season started I wondered whether Sami might win this "WRC2 Challenger" thing, but he looks like a contender for WRC2 overall. Missing Finland, his home rally, in WRC2 can't help with that. [Of course, the WRC1 rally is a big deal as well.]
It's maybe one and only shot he will be given, so why not. Everyone would go for it, no matter what car, bad or good, worst or best. In the past the title in lower categories proved nothing to top teams in the sports. Many people were overlooked. If there was justice in the world, then half of the grid wouldn't be there right now and those with pure talent would fight, not those with fat wallets and daddy connections.
Definitely one of the oddest seasons I recall (excluding 2020), the mix of the really annoying and complex (and stupid) scoring system coupled with the fact that Toyota are now using the same strategy as Hyundai in their line-up has made this season quite a bit different; add to that a run of 7(!) straight gravel events, has made this championship on the one hand very close but on the other hand it also feels very artificial imho, not to take anything from the drivers but it just doesn’t feel right. Also, I must admit the fact that a win is no longer the win, so you don’t get the most points for it…don’t like it, imagine if in any other motorsport discipline, say Verstappen or Hamilton or Marquez would get less points than anyone who’s finished after them…
As for simulators, still waiting on news for the ‘24 edition of EA Rally (still hate them for taking the ‘Dirt’ name), as I haven’t bothered with last year’s game.