He's won 4 rallies this season as well, while the other drivers have won none between them.
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Congrats to Ogier/Ingrassia and MSport. Gutted for Tanak but after today show we must recognize Ogier deserved this win. Still a 3 way battle for the title and hopefully it'll continue so until the end of Australia rally!
Huge congrats to Rovanpera; the kid seems already a champ.
What is this social media Julian Porter mentioned about Tanak's incident and his sumpguard getting embedded in the road ? Any pictures / links ?
Ogier now main title favorite.
Toyota clear manu favorite.
In this rally Hyundai lost quite a lot on both titles due to the Friday morning pace. Nandan admitted that himself on the stream that the setup was nowhere near where it should and also said their test was dry. (from vids it also looked like it was on a bit wider roads than those on Friday). Note that without the off which cost Neuville pretty much exactly 40s his time is only good for 3rd or 4th.
(Pending no crashes/retirements) Neuville still has a decent chance if he manages go end within top 4 in Spain and can also hope Loeb takes some points off Ogier there. Obviously Tanak also has a chance but has to rely on things happening (which is the norm lately anyway).
Imo both titles will depend a lot on how (if any) has Hyundai improved on tarmac. If they are where they were on smooth tarmac in Germany/Corsica/Spain last year, Neuville and Sordo will fight for 3-5 at best.
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For the unsigned drivers and their future GB certainly improves Breen's chances on the driver market. Evans did show real speed for the first time this year but it was so brief that I don't think it helps much. Paddon again slowest Hyundai.
I dont argue with that. But probably Tänak has improved his driving as well since last year was the first one he was really competitive. And already last year on pure speed they were equal drivers. Ogier did just fewer mistakes.
My real point was that you said that Ogier showd the Yaris can be beaten. But how did he show that?
He beat Lappi and Latvala who he has beaten on almost every rally. But he was beaten on pure speed by Tänak by a calendar until the car broke down.
So in this sense he did not show the yaris can be beaten. Kind of hard to put Tänaks radiator breaking to Ogier.
Now I see that Kalle had his 18th birthday a week a go. Great present he gave to himself :)