Yes, when use of Rally1 starts at 2022
2021 he should drive Rally2 and keep in touch with events.
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Ref. Mikkelsen in MSport.
While what er88 wrote is an option I am not 100% convinced it's the best idea.
The most likely outcome with that car is that he would be faster than Lappi and Suninen but clearly slower than all factory Toyotas and Hyundais and sometimes even slower than their "customer" cars (see Katsuta in Estonia this year).
Furthermore sometimes the internal competition would be decided by road position ( see Suninen vs Lappi in Mexico this year).
If it goes like this will he be more likely to be picked than the fastest "new" Rally2 drivers?
The other option is to drive in Rally2 against those new drivers and prove that he is faster than them. There the risk is that he will be just a little faster than them so the "younger" drivers get picked due to more "potential".
No easy call. His best chance would definitely be with a new manu as a safe pick to perform on all rallies. But doesn't look like any new manus are coming.
Rich Millener:
'We’ve always said even if you went into a WRC car it’s probably a three-to-four-year process once you step into that car before you’re actually competitive at the top end. You look at somebody like Kalle who’s been doing a huge amount of testing, he’s putting in some incredible times and he probably could have won a rally this year at some point but there are small mistakes which comes with just having more and more and more time and experience in the car and not only the car but understanding the stages that you’re in and not making any mistakes.
The top guys are on the top level in the world so to get to that point is not easy.'
Like I said, Kalle is in the level where he can show rally winning pace from time to time but not still consistent enough to win rallies. Tänak and Evans were there also quite quickly after getting into WRC. Greensmith is still far from that level.
Come on, that's too harsh. I'm sure they really think there's some more in greensmith to check out. And he showed some rare glimpse. I remember some good time in Germany and a good afternoon loop in Monte this year. Not nearly enough for sure, i think definitely isn't there yet, but maybe he can improve his pace to a good second-tier driver. I'd give him more time.
And btw, some style of sunglasses in wrc can't harm! : )
Monte I already checked out, only one or two stages where he wasn't the slowest WRC and also an embarrassing crash.
Germany 2019 however went better, he was constantly closer to the main pack and much faster than Katsuta, also being able to beat the likes of Lappi and Mikkelsen a couple of times when they were struggling with their cars, and also being faster than Meeke and Latvala on one short stage. But he also crashed there.
He can take as he wants (or as long as the funds allow) to get up to speed. He’s a pay driver, after all.
I’m just convinced he’s not going to do anything at all.
M-sport will play whatever tune needs playing to keep him in the car.... it’s all just pound notes to them.