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He found the best setup and cooperation with Hankook tyres on Canarias. That was main reason for his dominance there. But on other events/surfaces, everybody is struggling with the new tyres. Someone less, someone more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Indeed, but with such fine margins between the top drivers this could be decisive. And especially when there's so many gravel events ahead, Kalle will have no chance if he cant adapt.Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
Anybody have an opinion on the Hankook puncture rate vs Pirelli after 5 rounds?
Thing is, also Hyundai has trouble with Hankook (especially Thierry I'd say) and their good setup window is small. Evans seems more comfortable but he also struggled a lot in past years while in the road opening positionsQuote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
I still think that Hankook has done a very good job so far. The tyres have been durable and there has been no difference between batches etc. How much of some drivers struggles is down to tyre, how much to lack of hybrid? Hard to know. Differences between top drivers is not huge, so small things matter, but those drivers that are less sensible to setup have adapted better to the new tyres
Neuville:
"The tires aren't up to scratch ," lamented Thierry Neuville at the finish of SS9 at Acropolis. "When you see why we're puncturing, it's crazy. Competing at this level with such a product is impossible. We're constantly getting punished for nothing, it's no fun. It's just luck that decides."
Very frustrated, the Hyundai driver added another layer when he returned to service at midday.
"Yesterday, one of the tires wasn't even flat, it just bounced and let the air out ," he said. "We reinflated the tire that evening, and it stayed at the right pressure all night. It's clearly a manufacturing issue, a reliability issue. This is not how we should be fighting for a world title. And it's the same with the other punctures."
"This morning, you couldn't even see where the tire was losing air. There was a tiny hole, I've never seen anything like that before, it's really crazy. I had more punctures this weekend than all of last year. They [Hankook] have a lot of work to do."
Sounds like ogier and pirelli
Well, after Safari, I was much more worried than that.
But finally, considering the lack of experience of Hankook on technical abrasive gravel, the tyres have done a decent job even if they benefit from some help (increasing the number of tyres).
At least, it was not worse than Pirelli (maybe even slightly better) and we can expect some improvements through years.
The tyre seems to be a bit fragile, but still the amount of punctures is a lot driver related. Some drivers didn't have any problems in Greece.
In the beginning with Pirelli it was different, they sometimes delaminated in random places.
More on this with Hankook response..
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/neuvi...el-of-the-wrc/