Loeb wouldn’t have been as happy had he’d suffer the same power steering issue that plagued Ott, and after all, Loeb is the goat.
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And after one year Toyota and Huyndai made mega progress
Different drivers and different styles, Loeb was there to have fun etc.
This mid corner understeer was present throughout 2022 tarmac rallies. You have to be almost blind not to see it. Also I pointed this out in Monte test vids that the front lacks grip.
Also teams have had time to develop their cars and both TGR and HMSG have improved tremendeously. Especially the Yaris looks like it's glued to the surface and it's incredible to watch how confident it makes his drivers. This new engine upgrade seems to be also very nice as it pulls very well throughout the rev band. Though I must say that the i20 looks very clumsy.
But I'm hopeful that M-Sport will sort these issues out. That was the whole point why Ott moved to M-Sport that the team would build the car for his needs. This wasn't gonna happen in Hyundai
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I agree with all of this.
The Hyundai is pretty much the opposite to the Ford, it’s very floaty at the rear, which is probably why it was so good in Japan on all those low speed, tight turns. Also Neuville is particularly good at those type of stages, gravel and tarmac.
The Toyota really does look a good piece of kit now, very impressive.
You’re right, I’m sure MSport will do everything they can to develop the car for Ott, for the sake of the competition, lets hope it’s enough to get him in the game.
It’s all relative to the pace they are going. All the cars have improved since last year, but at the pace of this year, the understeer was clearly a lot more pronounced.
And don’t forget, Ogier only didn’t win last year because of the puncture. Over the course of the rally, he was actually over half a minute faster than Loeb if you take that out.
The Puma isn’t a bad car, but in dry tarmac trim, it clearly isn’t at the level of the Toyota. Ott has said himself, he can go fast, but not for a whole loop as the tyres (fronts) won’t last.