Would love to see him in the ERC in an R5 car or doing the Dmack Trophy in WRC. Either fighting for outright rally wins or learning WRC events he'll need in the future. Either way it's forward progress.
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In the university of Tartu.
Just kidding :)
But I have been to Estonia, have driven trough it - and a little bit around in it - on the way to Russia on a crazy trip with an old Lada and three of my friends.
It was in February 2003, freezing cold, and I wanted to see Tartu since that is where Markko Martin comes from (I had interviewed him earlier for a Rally Year Book I made).
Tartu was really nice.
Tough I dont speak Estonian, but I can still understand some thing about how You use pace notes, and how important You think working on pace notes are.
These are the things that lead me to believe that he needs to improve his pace note work:
- Ott has changed co drivers a few times, and he have also taken on very inexperienced codrivers.
- He is often very fast on stages he either knows, or stages that are "easy" to read out of the topography etc.
- He is often fast on super specials when You really dont need pace notes that much if You have memorised the route.
- A few of his offs have been typical pace note errors. Either getting the note to late, or having the wrong one. This You typically spot when a driver is entering a blind corner way to fast. As he has done on some occasions.
Ott is off course a great driving talent, and he could be an event winner if he had worked harder on the "boring" and analytical stuff, that is my belief.
The general rule in the WRC is that talented drivers only get as far as their talent/will power/work ethic takes them.
There are no real rally trainers - like in other sports where You work with a whole team of trainers - which can help You over come Your hurdles regarding the craft of rallying, be it driving technique, set up, pace notes, analyzing work, etc etc. So drivers like Ott stop in their tracks when their own talent etc won't take them any further, and they really could need some outside help.
I was just wondering if you guessed this notepace theory or you were having inside information. You guessed and IMHO your guess was not far off. Estonian drivers are using very simple pacenotes as what I have seen in onboards. On estonian high speed and flowing roads these pacenotes are quite OK, but on more demanding roads it could have some negative impact on speed....
Everything else seems to be spot on in you analysis about Tänaks current state.
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Rally drivers that come from countries that have very flowing/fast stages often have lower detailed pace notes in some areas than those that do rallying on more technical stages.
Finland, Estonia, New Zealand are three such countries. (Norway another one.)
Hayden Paddon is also a driver that needs to work on his pace notes.
For him I dont think it has to do with not taking it seriously enough, because he seems to have an athletes take on it, and that he practises and analyses a lot (inc pace notes), but for technical rallies they lack some important info.
You see this also in the typical Finnish driver, that they struggle when the pace notes could have helped You drive smart - in stead of only balls out all the time.
Tänak´s issue is more serious than Paddon and "the typical Finn", because he struggles with the fact that he has never done enough work on the pace notes, and finding the right codriver, and maybe never really understood the importance of constant analysing, consent grinding away on details, because he has been naturally fast - and things have come maybe a little to easy to him.
Some Norwegian friends visited the VW team in the S2000 time of Ogier and Mikkelsen. And they reported back that they just knew Ogier was going to be unbeatable. He was already the fastest, but still he was just constantly working, looking at inboards etc etc, and putting in the hours.
When the best out there does the most homework, he will be very difficult to catch.
I think all the Young and up comming talents needs to understand how hard they have to work to beat Ogier:
- Remember how incredibly hard he have worked on his driving/pace notes etc.
- Remember that he in the outset was so talented that he beat several thousand other hopefuls in the Auto de Junes.
So You got Your work cut out!
Its off course not impossible, but start by analysing what Ogier and Loeb actually do.
- How they drive.
- Why they "never" have accidents.
- How few mistakes they make.
- Where they make up speed.
Because as long as You have a descent driving talent, a lot of these things can actually be learned. But You need to be on the one hand open minded, and on the other hand very critical. And remember - the laws of physics are the same for everybody! :)
Meanwhile Kalle Rovanpera has taken his first overall victory - in rallysprint "Aluksne 2016". All others were beaten by 1sec/per km! I would say it is a quite incredible performance because main rivals were not beginners at all - Sirmacis on 4WD, Kisiels on R5, Berkis, M.Neiksans, they all are local top guys.
Results - http://4rati.lv/wp-content/uploads/2...ezult--ti.xlsx (find sheet "Absolūtā ieskaite")
We had a chat with Kalle in service park and his quote was killing - "No, I am not driving at full speed, I can go faster if there will be a need"
Let's follow Kalle next week in rally "Sarma" there will be some another serious guys to compare with - Estonian top guys Kaur, Aus - http://lrc.lv/?m=2&l=2
Kalle should follow a more diverse championship if he has plans to turn professional, but its nice to see him developing like that.
BRC 2017 would be a nice fit for Rovanpera maybe if they can raise the budget. Will be following his progress.
2017 is too early if 18 years age is needed. He’s born 1.10.2000 so he’s 15 now.
http://www.ewrc-results.com/profile.php?p=45827
https://fi-fi.facebook.com/KalleRovanperaRacing
I didn't realise he was THAT young. He's gone the Latvia route - similar to Tom Cave who gained his early experience out there. He's got another 15 years before he's hitting his prime. No need to rush.
Humiliated... well... if you like expressions like that, I can tell that Rovanpera lost 1 minute in SS2 due to technical issues. Add this minute and you will be absolutely happy. Yes, I don't like that comparison at all. After seeing Rovanpera in Sarma I would say that kid could "humiliate" anyone he want to! Seriously. I am really shocked by what I saw. He's already got pure speed, knows how to keep it and how squeeze all out of the car. What amazed me most - his skill to keep car in straight line in bends and get acceleration in corner exits. Keep eyes on that kid ;)
Results of "Sarma 2016" - http://lrc.lv/?m=4
That kid is just massive talent!
Wow! I didn't expect to see my post in this thread :)
Yes, I know about this 1 minute lost on SS2. That makes Rovanpera's result even more impressive. Yes, I agree, "humiliation" may be too strong of a word, but I thought something must be wrong with all those experienced drivers, if they are beaten by a 15-year old kid almost on each stage :)
It would be interesting to see him in Rally Liepaja, the first round of the European Championship, where he would be able to compare himself with some better drivers. Unfortunately I read that Rovanpera didn't enter the ERC event, even though he will be present in Liepaja :(
I guess he doesn't have international license in his age or does he?
I also think he doesn´t have international license, but anyway he will be there, driving same stages just counted as LRC rounds nr. 2 and nr.3 I hope it will be possible to compare his times a little bit (I know he will be at the tail of the field but anyway...)
BTW. What do you ,baltic boys, think about Nikolay Gryazin? I guess you saw him, so what is your opinion?
That's what I am saying to all people which are not so much in to rally - there is nothing wrong with those local experienced drivers :) That kid is nugget and are in right hands to shine in future. Ok, I understand maybe I hype him too much, but after seeing him in these two events (Aluksne, Sarma) my feelings are just like that.
He has only Latvian ASN license (which allows to compete in age under 18) so no ERC for him. It will be interesting to compare him wit ERC top guys, but I don't think it could be objective comparison because of tire differences between ERC (wide tires) and national championship (narrow tires).
Talented, quick learning guy. Seriously funded and coached by his father. I like him driving so far.
It might be the first time (ever?) that the fastest 4WD and the fastest 2WD were both minors. . .
A new Solberg in a Subaru!
Oliver has struck a deal with Subaru on driving in the USA. On his own!
https://www.motorsportforums.com/sho...7-Rally-in-USA
I guess his future plan is to come into WRC2 from 2020. He turns 18 in september.
A busy periode for him now, with rally in Latvia, rallycross Nordic, and publisity work for his new film "Born 2 Drive"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyHofd1KQyI
He has talent, lets see how far he will go.
We have two threads about talents:
"The thread of talents"
https://www.motorsportforums.com/sho...talents/page10
and
"Young talented drivers"
:)