The Hyundai is clearly the slowest car on tarmac. It only suits Neuville, and not even he is able to go as fast as he should.
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With Germany and Spain on tarmac and fighting for both championships I'd expect them to be testing on tarmac like hell before Germany. Instead all drivers got like 1 day and a bit of test and as Nandan said they only worked a bit on setup.
I get they can "sacrifice" Finland cause it's one rally ( a bit like Toyota "sacrifices" Mexico) but 3 tarmac rallies that's too much.
Latvala looks like a broken man... again
Yeah but he couldn't drive the c3 on gravel at all either. He's just not as good or as fast as people made him out to be I'm afraid to say. He was at vw for years in basically a one team championship, yet won 1 rally on pace alone? Spain was the biggest gift ever from Seb. Even his best result this season was overshadowed by getting beaten by Breen in his "home rally" and blown away by Neuville. Let's hope for his sake he can have a good end to the season and find some extra speed, and take that into next year.
standings going into lunch
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkzFaUiX4AAG2kI.jpg
When he was crawling through the stages last season in the c3 in Sardinia, he did a tv interview where he said he could walk into the i20 and be fast straight away as that car was more like the Polo (compared to the c3 which was totally different to drive). I think he's just having a bad year and isn't as fast or competitive as many thought he was. When he was over looked by Makinen it was made out like he was a nailed on future champion by some. He needs to step up because Neuville is winning this championship in the same car and Sordo is having a good season too.
Nobody could drive C3 on gravel last year without crashing, just that Meeke managed to win one rally WITH crashing ;)
But yeah as said many times before compared to the 3 rallies in Hyundai last year this year is terrible.
Btw. Mikkelsen has led 3 rallies this year. Latvala has not led any rally for a single stage after fighting for the title mid-way last year... and this is in the same car. That's for me even bigger disappointment than Mikkelsen.
At the moment I wouldnt be surprised if Mikkelsen wants to go back to citroen. He clearly likes the C3 better on tarmac. And the car is going in the right direction on gravel. I cant see Hyundai being very happy with him either. Maybe they start to realise this wasnt a perfect match.
Whom would they replace him with? Paddon has comparable (slightly worse) results on gravel this year and he has never shown any good speed on tarmac.
Sordo said he doesn't want to do full season again.
Only clearly better option could be Lappi, who is still quite untested and unlikely to want to change so early. Latvala as mentioned is doing even worse than Mikkelsen this year and was also worse in 2016 when they were in same car.
Aren’t you being a bit too harsh on Hyundai? Neuville is fighting for the win (at least for P2 as Tanak seems unreachable) and Sordo for P4. Only Mikkelsen is out of the pace, but that’s hardly something new like most already mentioned. Besides they are leading both manus and drivers series, thank Gods not in a dominant way like we were used in VW days.
Btw, what happened to Lefebvre on SS3?
Maybe, as mentioned elsewhere it's good that they are not dominant.
However, this is their home rally where both Neuville and Sordo have won before and even last year they were very fast. It's also a bit about the tarmac trend they have. Since Spain last year they haven't been very fast on any tarmac event (Neuville and Sordo).
I would not be that fast to judge Hyundai, Neuville is still 3rd, Sordo 5th (more or less where you can expect him) and Mikklesen clearly has some issues with setup. And they are still 1st in manufacturers championship.
@Michelin_Sport
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#tyre info - Day 1 Afternoon
All Michelin @WRC drivers with Pilot Sport H5
=> Rain "cancelled"?
I wouldnt say they are doing "well". Sordo is a tarmac specialist, Neuville is driving on his home event. Maybe you are impressed, im not. Especially when you know that their testing area is tarmac. They should be no.1 on tarmac. At the moment they are bottom two.
Neuville 6 secs slower in spl1 than in the morning
You can bet I’m impressed with Sordo; he’s on is 13th or 14th WRC season and he can still be close to the top. Also impressed with Neuville; he’s right behind Ogier, his main opponent at the series, and he’s not taking unnecessary risks. But most of all I’m impressed with the fans wanting Hyundai to dominate the series instead of having a leveled field…
havent seen Tänak sweating like this for a long time!
man that one corner before the end is worse than some corners on gravel rally!
And Mikkelsen loosing again....
Great time from Evans!
Ogier just 0.3s off Tanak... the Fiesta's speed looks pretty good now.
Evans also showing it even with old aero.
Dominate? Did you see Finland? Def the slowest car.
This is their home event and tarmac is the surface they are testing on. Look at Toyota in Finland. This is how the Hyundai should be in Germany.
They have been struggling on tarmac and wanting to make the car better. Still they are not where they should be.
Suninen half a spin in front of us on SS Stein und Wein