[WRC] Tour de Corse 2019

Tanak wasn't fast enough in Monte power stage then apparently had a slow puncture or something in Mexico (which explains another poor time?). Meeke hasn't exactly hampered Ott, you can say he's even helped a bit this year in Monte especially, and maybe Mexico too by taking pts from Neuville ×2 and Ogier once, just as much as you can say he's purely taking pts away from Ott. You can't sign someone like Meeke and expect him to drive at snails pace outside the top 5 in every power stage, that isnt realistic. Tanak has to take care of his own power stages (which he did in Sweden).

Meeke will play a team game later in the season I'm sure. After all, he'll want Tommi to take up that one year contract extension and supporting Tanak and Toyota is going to help with that. Jari hopefully will find some sort of speed and better results later in the season too, because strong and fast team mates can be more of a benefit to Tanak than a hindrance if managed correctly.

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Originally Posted by dimviii

so how you explain Neuvilles(leader of the rally) the 0,5sec/km from Evans?
Sordo 1 sec/km?

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I don't believe for a second that Neuville would give up his first place willingly.

Good job I was watching the first stage lying down (in bed) !

Just stunned by Evans performance, blowing Neuville and everyone else away. Incredible.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

None of them starts regularly. Hardly very relevant for the mousse or no mousse decision. Also as somebody already pointed out mousse is not that expensive when compared to overall and other particular expenses.

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just for reference,mousse dont work every time,plenty of times,while they were installed at rim,when puncture didnt worked.
All these with the technology they had plenty years back
Another point is that mousse was distracting cars bahaviour due to wheel weight.
Some crews preffered to dont fit mousse wheels at some stages/occasions,and drive cleaner avoiding cuts,to benefit from a better response car.

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Originally Posted by er88

You can't sign someone like Meeke and expect him to drive at snails pace outside the top 5 in every power stage, that isnt realistic. ..

Meeke will play a team game later in the season I'm sure. After all, he'll want Tommi to take up that one year contract extension and supporting Tanak and Toyota is going to help with that. Jari hopefully will find some sort of speed and better results later in the season too, because strong and fast team mates can be more of a benefit to Tanak than a hindrance if managed correctly.

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As a manager you can ask for what you want, how drivers react is something else. (ref. McRae in Spain 1995). Meeke was certainly not in a position to dictate much with 1 year contract, specially before the start of the year (ref. press release).

What imo is happening is that now he (rightfully) feels his position is stronger due to Latvala's form relative to his own and starts to talk about driver champ more vocally.

Either case Makinen is not doing any team prioritizing just yet, whether it's good or bad decision is an open question without clear answer. If he did maybe Meeke/Latvala would loose motivation, atmosphere in team gets bad etc.... , if he doesn't maybe they will loose a championship due to that.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

I don't believe for a second that Neuville would give up his first place willingly.

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i am almost sure that thats performance is under Adamo orders.
Neuville worst stage at Corsica was stage 4 where he lost 6,5 sec at 17,6 stage kms.This stage was the worst for all hyundais
take a look at Sordo and Loeb too
https://www.ewrc-results.com/results...2019/?s=218773

Sordo with brake problems midstage while he is slow at 1st split.
After midstage with the brake problem lost less than from stage start(strange brake problem)

and Neuvilles comment that car is good but it moves a lot.
How is it good when moves a lot?
Also if you take a look Hyundai with this result is leading manufacture points,and seems that this is the target at all costs.

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Powerstage starting order #TourdeCorse - Gryazin, Pieniazek, Latvala, Meeke, Loeb, Lappi, Tänak, Suninen, Sordo, Ogier, Neuville, Evans

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Strange put WRC2 lead battles in opposite side of starting order.

this is now gonna be interesting...will the TOP3 wanting to take max points to start first in Argentina, or not?

Ogier usually doesnt care and always goes for 5 points but the Citroen isnt good here on those fast stages, and the power is very fast too, same for Neuville and Hyundai. Ott should be in a good position for this but i think Meeke will take the 5 points. Cant rule out Evans taking 5 too.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

I don't believe for a second that Neuville would give up his first place willingly.

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Me neither, Neuville is just 5s behind Ogier who was pushing and 7s behind Tanak. Furthermore Loeb is much slower and Sordo's brake problems could have cost him anything from 1 to 30 seconds.

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Originally Posted by EstWRC

this is now gonna be interesting...will the TOP3 wanting to take max points to start first in Argentina, or not?

Ogier usually doesnt care and always goes for 5 points but the Citroen isnt good here on those fast stages, and the power is very fast too, same for Neuville and Hyundai. Ott should be in a good position for this but i think Meeke will take the 5 points. Cant rule out Evans taking 5 too.

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I'd say end of last season confirmed what MSport and Ogier said. It's always better to actually have the points than to potentially be able to score more points on next rally.

It's 5 gravel rallies next, so small point differences will change quickly.