[WRC] Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2024

Summary from Tänak's interview - he needs to adapt himself to the car to be at least somewhere, but this is not the way to reach the level of "I'm controlling others with my tempo". He was talking about something that the team pressured/motivated him to take risks and with usual/normal circumstances it does not work out that way but it was delivering this time. Without the tire issue (slow puncture) the fight for the win would be more interesting.

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This year, basically only crashing on Sunday will be punished. If it happens on Friday or Saturday and the car is repairable, you can still earn a lot of points from Sunday. It means mistakes are not that much punished and the wins are not valued which makes it harder to make a difference in the points table.

Neuville was made really good powerstage to earn PowerStage and Sunday points. Tänak earned only 2 points against Neuville with the rally. Without any retirement for Neuville, the cap is quite big already and it's hard to fight it back.

Fourmaux proves to be another Tänak and Evans scenario from Wilson. He has a decent start to the season and is a nice mix to the game, at least making team plays more complicated, as there are not only Toyotas and Hyundais, but there can be also one M-Sport guy.

Taka is a bit mysterious - first, he had the mysterious speed for Friday, but maybe it's again the thing I call the "Friday hero". Showing really good times from a favorable starting position (I'm not sure it was the case this time), but if the competition gets complicated and there is pressure in place, he makes mistakes. He can put the fastest times quite often already, this is already normal, not something exceptional. If he could deliver under pressure, rallies will get more interesting again.

Evans was so many ways lost that I don't even know what to think about it.

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Originally Posted by Eli

I think this will be Thierry’s year, with Rovanperä & Ogier out of the way doing part time campaigns, Tänak playing catch up & Mr. Evans being unable to disrupt Thierry’s podium finishes (meaning he finishes at least one step ahead of him). The only person imho that can take away Neuville’s title is himself if he makes the same stupid mistakes he made back in 2017. He’s riding the wave atm, and he knows this might be his last shot to take the title this year before he retires (willingly or not), using the new point scoring system to his advantage. Even with rallies such as Latvia & Finland, as long as he manages to keep his lead, he will take it. Yes I know we’re only 5 rounds in, but it seems he’s gonna take it even when he’ll struggle.

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Hyundai's poor reliability can make him or break him as well. Even though I must say that all Hyundais were almost perfect in Portugal.

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Originally Posted by meh

Summary from Tänak's interview - he needs to adapt himself to the car to be at least somewhere, but this is not the way to reach the level of "I'm controlling others with my tempo". He was talking about something that the team pressured/motivated him to take risks and with usual/normal circumstances it does not work out that way but it was delivering this time. Without the tire issue (slow puncture) the fight for the win would be more interesting.

(end of comment)
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This year, basically only crashing on Sunday will be punished. If it happens on Friday or Saturday and the car is repairable, you can still earn a lot of points from Sunday. It means mistakes are not that much punished and the wins are not valued which makes it harder to make a difference in the points table.

Neuville was made really good powerstage to earn PowerStage and Sunday points. Tänak earned only 2 points against Neuville with the rally. Without any retirement for Neuville, the cap is quite big already and it's hard to fight it back.

Fourmaux proves to be another Tänak and Evans scenario from Wilson. He has a decent start to the season and is a nice mix to the game, at least making team plays more complicated, as there are not only Toyotas and Hyundais, but there can be also one M-Sport guy.

Taka is a bit mysterious - first, he had the mysterious speed for Friday, but maybe it's again the thing I call the "Friday hero". Showing really good times from a favorable starting position (I'm not sure it was the case this time), but if the competition gets complicated and there is pressure in place, he makes mistakes. He can put the fastest times quite often already, this is already normal, not something exceptional. If he could deliver under pressure, rallies will get more interesting again.

Evans was so many ways lost that I don't even know what to think about it.

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On gravel, crashing on Friday or Saturday means bad road position for Sunday

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Originally Posted by CeskyOndra

On gravel, crashing on Friday or Saturday means bad road position for Sunday

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Thanks for this.

I agree that with this years points system it’s really hard to catch another driver if the other driver doesn’t have a zero point rally basically. And the 30 point gap is quite a big one now compared to previous seasons system.

Then again, Tänak gained 20 points against Evans with Portugal so it is possible

I started to believe in Tanak with this rally and thinking he will be fighting for the win with Ogier again in Sardegna

Final classification is out and Solans is still at his place, all good.

https://youtu.be/Fos6SRMMcsQ?si=ARtw4oWill16aqjd

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Originally Posted by meh

Taka is a bit mysterious - first, he had the mysterious speed for Friday, but maybe it's again the thing I call the "Friday hero". Showing really good times from a favorable starting position (I'm not sure it was the case this time), but if the competition gets complicated and there is pressure in place, he makes mistakes. He can put the fastest times quite often already, this is already normal, not something exceptional. If he could deliver under pressure, rallies will get more interesting again.

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Taka was a friday hero, but so were ogier, rovanpera and sordo.

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Originally Posted by EstWRC

Then again, Tänak gained 20 points against Evans with Portugal so it is possible

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Tänak got 20 points closer to Evans, but as the main reason was a bad rally for Evans, I would say that Evans lost 20 points to Tänak, not Tänak gained.

The point is, if the other one does not have a disaster rally, it's hard to gain big points.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CeskyOndra

On gravel, crashing on Friday or Saturday means bad road position for Sunday

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Yes, that's true. Let's say Tänak, Neuville or Evans start Sunday with super-rally, there is quite a big chance that they can get more than 0 points. It's not earning a lot, but it's minimizing the damage.

At the moment I would say that the new scoring system has provided a tool for Tänak to save his season. It has been bad, but without Sunday points it would be a disaster.