Also it's good for his experience test more cars in (near)factory spec as possible .
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Also it's good for his experience test more cars in (near)factory spec as possible .
The big story in Motorsport News today is that Kalle is very close to agreeing a deal with M-Sport. (Wales GB 2017, BRC 2018 and WRC2 rounds 2018).Quote:
Originally Posted by the sniper
Kalle and Harri were up in Greystoke last week testing testing Loubet's R5 from Finland. They say the opportunity to learn the rallies in R5, but the possibility to sample the newest-spec WRC too, is why M-Sport is so appealing.
But it seems Hyundai may also have similar ideas. Looking at Jouhki's history though I think M-Sport will be his favoured option.
Driving a Skoda or a private team car would omit the possibility of testing a WRC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Thumbs up.
For me problem is that he was going to WRC2 too early. He missed some steps...Quote:
Originally Posted by JUF
Yes, Sirmacis should be there. But Gryazin? Does he have any impressive achievements?Quote:
Originally Posted by Essaj
Now the article is online as well https://www.motorsport-news.co.uk/ne...-for-rally-gb/Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
He did drive WRC3 for 2-yearsQuote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
I believe WRC2 is next step or ?
He is fast but seems to push bit over the limit in many places. He hasn't achieved anything special yet but on the list there ain't many who have.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
I agree with the idea of doing as many WRC2 events as possible, yes he maybe fast but the WRC is a very different level, and still relies a lot on experience. So I think he not only needs to prove himself out of his rather selective range of events so far, but also get the experience on the world scene so that he is a more complete package.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
And if the speed is there in WRC2, I am sure he will have no problem getting a WRC seat when there is room. But there does seem to be a lot of quick drivers at the moment and still a limited number of seats, so patience might be necessary. He does have time on his side at least.
I haven't paid a great deal of attention to his Italian performances, but I didn't get the impression he was doing overly well there?
Struggling on a tarmac little bit, as expected but he has improved there alot during the year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munkvy
On gravel he was doing decent in his first race but crashed. Second gravel race they did find some setup improvements which did improve the car and he was in 2nd place before having to retire on the final liaison before the finish podium due to fuel pressure issue.
Peugeot seems to have some issues which only Andreucci and Loeb has managed to solve and actually win with (there might be others :d )
Kalle said the problem on tarmac and Italian gravel has been getting the pace notes right. It's difficult when he's not driving the car himself when doing the recce. Meanwhile, there's guys in the Italian championship who have been driving the rallies for years, some for decades, they don't even need pace notes for every stage. And finally, he hasn't felt comfortable in the Peugeot. He says the engine lacks torque and feels like an S2000 car compared to the Skoda. But he's learning, he finished second in the San Marino gravel rally (but retired on the last liaison). But I agree that he needs experience and WRC2 is the right series for him for now. He's proven quick on snow and fast gravel roads, but ne needs experience on tarmac plus rougher and technical gravel rallies.
Yes, you are right. Kalle is not doing very well in the Italian championship. He is currently 7th overall. You can see the classification here:Quote:
Originally Posted by Munkvy
http://www.rallylink.it/pdf/classifiche/2017/cir.pdf
Once he stopped on a stage to let Andreucci past him to score more points as Andreucci's truly fighting for the championship. You could also speculate if the San Marino retirement from second position on the last liaison with Andreucci behind him was similar...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
Position in the standings does not reflect the drivers true speed... Pointless arquement
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Right now Tidemand has contested in five rallies, leaving him only the mandatory Wales and Germany, and he can still drop the worst result (in theory, if he wins both, his Poland second place will not be counted). Veiby skipped Portugal and is skipping Germany as well, leaving him only Wales and 25 points to gain, not enough for championship winning. Suninen has done only three rallies. In theory he could still beat Tidemand by winning three more events with Tidemand scoring nothing, but I think his program consists only of Germany and Wales, and he'd probably be happier to do Wales in a WRC car. Camilli has done five events, no chance for championship either. Surprisingly, Kopecky could still be champion if he wins three more rallies and Tidemand scores nothing.
So Tidemand is quite confirmed champion, but all of the above mentioned are contenders for silver and bronze.
Despite the driving talent it's been a down year for WRC2 certainly. Everyone (with the exception of Tidemand) has seemingly had their focus elsewhere. And when you cut beneath that top level of drivers the quality drops off drastically.
Really a tough situation for Pontus if he takes a dominant title victory and no ones cares.
I'm interested to see what M-Sport's plans are for Camilli now, given they have a backlog of drivers. Has he improved like we saw from Elfyn this year?
I'd also assume Veiby will be doing a full campaign next year? Kalle will also bring some extra attention to the class which is a good thing.
Well at least he hasn't retired once. But still, with the low competition level, he has only made it to the podium once when scoring points (also non-points victory in Sardegna and second in Finland).Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Interesting to see who are the Skoda factory drivers next year. Will Tidemand continue? Will Kopecky drive a Skoda forever? Veiby? Huttunen? Solans? Mikkelsen?Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
VW R5 is coming (middle of) next year, someone is going to drive for them...
VW claimed that they wouldn't have works team. Something has changed?
Citroen C3 R5 should also be out at the start of the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
Imo Evans wasn't particularly impressive in WRC2 in 2016, he was fastest on a few vents (Monte, Corsica, Sweden) but not by much and was clearly behind Lappi and Suninen on gravel rallies. You might event try to compare his performance with PT this year... except PT is actually going to win WRC2.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Evans return to WRC had much more to do with money than some visible improvement. If Camilli returns the reason will probably be the same.
Yeah agreed. I'm not saying Elfyn dominated in WRC2 or anything. But you can make the argument he improved as a driver as a result of that step back. Even just in terms of mentality. That's what I'm interested in for Camilli.Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
So, Tidemand is the champion but battle for other medals is still on
2. Camilli 77
3. Veiby 68
4. Kopecky 67
5. Suninen 60
6. Gilbert 55
Camilli has already scored at 6 events, meaning he can only do Wales this year and then the worst result is excluded, so if he wins, he gets only 21 points more. Suninen has only done 4 and will do only Spain and Wales, has no option to exclude worst result. Veiby has done four events and skipped two mandatory, he can only score points now from Wales. Kopecky has 4 events and Gilbert 5 events, not sure about their plan for the rest of the season.
In Catalunya, we won't see Tidemand, Veiby or Camilli scoring points. A good chance for Suninen to take a victory. Although, we don't know if Kopecky is there or Mikkelsen at the wheel of a Skoda again?
And it's interesting to see if anyone's going to Australia now that the championship's decided and most top drivers have their all seven events contested...
Nasser likes a Catalunya entry though doesn't he? Don't know what his plans are but I'd guess he could make a cameo, in WRC2 he's fairly competitive there.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Wouldn't be surprised if we don't see the works Skoda team again this year. The job is done.
Yeah traditionally a lot of people jack in their campaigns once the title is out of the picture. It's happened even earlier this year so I am slightly fearful for the rest of the rounds.
For Suninen I don't know how much a few more WRC2 events will help him at this point? Unless M-Sport really want him to do the events. I don't think he'll care about second in the title race.
In his press conference Pontus said for sure he'd do GB. But like RS said why do Skoda need to spend any more money increasing their margin of victory.
His program had originally Spain in any case and Wales in the case the situation in WRC2 requires it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Does anyone know how Camilli has funded his season? He has contested all rallies except Argentina and will do Spain and Wales as well. Is it just M-Sport investing for the future or secret sponsors? He thanked his dad on twitter after the victory...
Last year it was Kopecky against Tidemand battling for seconds and then Loubet 10 minutes behind and the rest over 20 minutes behind. in 2015 it was again Kopecky against Tidemand, Nasser was 4 minutes behind them.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigWorm
wrc.com and ewrc-results both count all 7 rallies for Tidemand and Camilli. But shouldn't only 6 best count? Wikipedia seems to have it correctly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_F...-2_for_Drivers
Not that it makes a different, just out of curiosity...
as it stands now, Kopecky and Suninen are sharing the bronze medal. Suninen could still go to Australia to clench even silver from Camilli, but probably it's not worth the cost, I think he's proven enough for the team bosses.
Regarding the countings, maybe they will update the results with deleting worse result after the end of season, who knows... Unfortunatelly also results on wikipedia are not 100% correct. If you want to see correct actual results of WRC2, look here - http://www.autosport.cz/souteze/bodo...?id=111&sk=496Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Suninen cannot go to Australia, he is not on entry list...
I know he's not on the entry list, but theoretically he could still get one more result, whereas his rivals not. Kopecky also has all 7 events filled since he skipped Wales and Portugal.Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
Wow Kalle will win wrc2 for the first time and in 2017... Rally Australia, just cancel the event, it's no point...
And Mikkelsen in top 10 in WRC2 and will probably be in top category too after australia. What an achievement.
That does require him to finish the rally, which is never guaranteed...Quote:
Originally Posted by ESTR
I guess he can retire and still win providing he crosses the line on Sunday.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munkvy
It's funny that he can actually retire before first stage of each day and cruise the last day (64 km) for victory...
But I think that he will go for all. Best he can get is to get in the top 10 overall. Almost everywhere this year were one from WRC2 in top 10.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
I think more important than points for Kalle is to gain experience on driving the Fiesta and driving on other than Finnish or Latvian roads
It's especially easy now that there's less WRC17 cars in Australia (no Hänninen, no Østberg, no Sordo).Quote:
Originally Posted by ESTR
I didn't want to imply that. I wanted to say that one man race is a charade and not a race and it doesn't matter who is the man himself.Quote:
Originally Posted by ESTR