Craig Breen and maybe Elfyn Evans. Keith Cronin deserves his place in that list too, but as much drivers he has budget problems.
I don't know why Thomas Cave and Robert Barrable are in this list, they haven't impressed me until now...
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Craig Breen and maybe Elfyn Evans. Keith Cronin deserves his place in that list too, but as much drivers he has budget problems.
I don't know why Thomas Cave and Robert Barrable are in this list, they haven't impressed me until now...
Elfyn Evans has definately got the talent, all he needs us the money and he is WRC level, and I dont mean tourist level either!
all these names are good and i am sure i can add some from Greece as well and many would agree since we have some very nice "yes men" in my my country (actually we have the best blind "yes men" in europe when it comes to rallying).
How do you know if someone has the talent for WRC level ??? and this is not a question full of my usual bone crushing irony and whit...i would really like to know how you can tell that someone has the talent for the top....maybe my standards when it comes to judging a driver are a bit off that is why i am a pessimist....
Unfortunately I cant scientifically answer that, I did feel the same (about Elfyn) when I first saw Jari Matti in 2002, and Ogier in 08, and Colin McRae in late 1980's. Elfyn's weakness is that he doesnt have a multimillionaire backing. If he did?......Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
oh so you base it just on the feeling you get from his driving....hmmmmm.
Not legit enough i must say but i do not diminish it completely also....the problem is that if you go to a sponsor/manager and you tell him to spend 2-5 million on a guy just because you have a good feeling i do not think you can achieve much.
I base my assumptions on 4 things only in that particular order
1. The championship/rallies the guy chooses to run
2. Stage times
3. Overall results
4. the feeling you mention when i get the chance to see him live
you have to take into account also that rally is basically a hobby....i doubt any professional driver will honestly reply "rally driver" to the question what would you like to become when you grow up ?? So with that in mind you then have to ask the question...is the driver i am considering a great talent serious about his career or he is just ok if he has a lot of yes men surrounding him and the only thing he becomes is a useless nobody local village champion with plenty of useless yes men sheep supporters ??
You could be a politician with speeches like that:-)Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
i was actually at local/city level.... but once i got elected i resigned very briefly (2 months) afterwards because i realised i could not do anything of value with the given circumstances.
The number one coming man from Sweden is Pontus Tidemand, only 20 years old and really fast.
He was second overall in the national event in Rally Sweden and won the second round of swedish championship overall with a Fiesta S2000.
He has ha new website now ( english version to)
http://www.ptm-racing.se/?lang=en
What German driver has enough potential to be a VW driver in 2013 ?
noneQuote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
There is no such kind of drivers. Only if VW really wants that there must be a German driver then they take Gaßner, but of course 2013 will be too early for him...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
Academy is stupid. JWRC was much better.
academy is stupid...the JWRC was too expensive though and was a place for the rich and the useless the last few years with just 1 or 2 real drivers.
Wouldn't say that the Academy is stupid, but the cars have been sadly deficient in terms of reliability.
Surely it would have been better for the cars to have been made more bullet-proof even if slightly slower, so that the drivers could get awya with slightly cruder driving.
WT
Yes but msport have gotten their money.....
And the org that runs them is new is it not?
Last Ford tests, Jérémi Ancian (27 yo) was in guest with Tanak, Scandola and Novikov. First time with a 4WD and after 3 runs he was as quick as Novikov. Amazing !
He have to do 6 runs but Wilson gave him 8 others runs.
He was with Ogier in the Rallye Jeune's team in 2005 (they are good friends). He stopped in 2007 (no budget) but restart in 2009. He won the Swift Cup in 2009 and won the JWRC in France last year
Maybe it was because he listen to his pacenotes :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Tofrallye29
very interesting...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tofrallye29
Barrable did a great job in Ypres one week ago! Seems aphalt suits him better than forest stages in his own country!
Denis Giraudet told me it is impossible to calm him. He doesn't know what he would be necessary to make, maybe a rifle :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Walach
Denis will finish the year with Evgeny, probably Finland, Wales and France or Australia
The forest stages aren't in his 'own country'. He is from the Republic of Eire where the vast majority of rallying is on tarmac, so his performance at Ypres isn't so surprising. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Everyone was surprised, the level of competition was much higher and the tarmac there on Ireland and here in Ypres is not comparable.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
I thought the conditions for the first 3 stages on Saturday were directly comparable, mud and water on the road are conditions RB is very familiar with; you may have heard about Ireland being very green ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
The point is he has driven on tarmac in all conditions and will be much more at home than in a forest (don't think I didn't notice your quick change of argument :D ). Johnny Greer was actually the much more surprising performance imho.
He's best times came on friday though.. (He said: “The Ypres Rally is a very difficult tarmac rally and the stages are unique and very different to Irish tarmac rallies.) He lost even the Cavan Stages from a Evo IX here he beated the local very fast Gr N's :D . How was Greer surprising? He didn't show any pace the whole rally not in times and not on the places where I stood.. The showing of Barrable could be something good for the future in Greer I don't see anything in him that he can show any good internationally asphalt.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Well, time will tell. Robbie hasn't been setting the British Championship alight - why? Simply because he's been getting used to the car, this explains the Cavan stages result. Got to say though, you over rate the speed of your local group N drivers. Not trying to start an argument, but only Van Den Heuval looks speedy. Again you are being a bit hard with Greer, he truly doesn't have much experience with the Skoda on tarmac so his was very much an education visit. He has made big improvements on loose surfaces, Hans Weijs is going to have to do that as he appears good on tarmac but ordinary on gravel ( I think he is good enough to improve). I look forward to seeing all the fore mentioned in 2012 edition to see what difference a year has made. Truly a must-visit for every rally fan
Then everyone is overrating here in Belgium what Langenakens can do.. Vd Heuvel is offcourse on another level he was with R4 but would also win in N4 that was something I already knew. Greer may come back next year, if he's then doing some top 15 times against such a field like it was this year then I can say he can do something in the future good things from Barrable I'm convinced he can do that and he know now that there are ditches :p .
.
Grin.Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Always fun to bring this up again. Some very good namedropping back in 08, some.... not so good :)
Any new rising stars out there??
Jarkko Nikkara.
The guy has something special to offer but time is running. If he doesn't break through in 2012, he might finish his career in his national championship.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
If I remember right he said he would like to do IRC next year.
I have seen him only in one rally but - Esapekka Lappi - perhaps in 3-4 years?
Nikara has stated he'd like do international events in 2012. It's all about getting the budget together I believe. For sure IRC must be one of the options his team is eyeing on. He has also said that he has no interested for Finnish Championship in 2012, he need to get out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
What if Nikara would've gotten the PSD program a year later - or has the Evo X been more reliable in 2009? Or different car for PSD program? Lots of questions. For sure he is very fast driver and for sure I hope he would get noticed better. But like Fly mentioned, time is running.
Also many times thought if Nikara´s PSD program had been a year later. He showed his speed and there is no doubt that he is very, very fast, but there was so much problems with the Evo X that the season was a big disappointment.
He has competed behind the wheel of the Super 2000 car only once and took three ss-wins in the group N4 in Finland 2010 driving Peugeot 207 which was not at the same level as other drivers cars (Hänninen, Andersson, Sandell, Ketomaa, Prokop etc..). It is so sad situation if he will not get the opportunity to show his skills.
Can not understand how it can be so difficult in Finland to get the necessary backing if you are not in the Timo Jouhki´s team. Rallying is still like a national sport in Finland, but if you do not have a rich manager it is almost impossible rise to the top.
Of course the situation is same also abroad. Without their family business and rich fathers, drivers like Østberg, Mikkelsen and Prokop would have never been in the WRC. They are good drivers and still learning, but money has helped a lot...
Looking at what was written in this thread three years ago, Tänak, Mikkelsen and Neuville were good guesses. Let's see, what you can come up with now. :)
Everyone can see the potential in Breen but of the other Academy drivers this year Kaur, Cerny and Crugnola all seem to have potential, while Yeray Lemes has already shown speed in S2000
I don't see Karl Kruuda as having made much progress this year, although the hallucinogenic paint job on his car is entertaining.
This young driver's academy is bad. JWRC was much better. Didin't follow any of their results this season.
He dont have much talent in rallying. He loves the sport and have rich daddy, so whynot?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
So it`s bad because you didn`t follow any of their results?Quote:
Originally Posted by Barreis