Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

[mknight]

Mikkelsen has done his 4th full season this year, how does that count to 7 I wonder?

WRC is full of "nearly men" in fact the only not "nearly men" are two Sebastiens.
Latvala has been a nearly man for 12 full seasons and was getting beaten by Mikkelsen in same car.
Meeke has never had the reliability needed and his best result in WDC is 5th, again beaten by Mikkelsen in same car on tarmac in his first outing.

Hyundai has to decide whether they went to spend money and time to adapt the car to him. If not then there is not much point hiring him in the first place.
This year specially on tarmac thy simply didn't use resources on it. I dare say it cost them manu title.

[deephouse]

They could all 3 share the cars... Let's say this: Neuville all rounds, then each 9 rallies (Mikkelsen, Paddon, Sordo) and Huttunen one rally to fill the gap. Fair to all three and no need to add extra 4th car.

[GravelBen]

Mikkelsen has done his 4th full season this year, how does that count to 7 I wonder?

He had quite a few nearly-full seasons as well which you're conveniently ignoring for the sake of talking him up as usual. His first WRC rally was GB 2006, 12 years ago and 2 years before Ogier's first. He was very young then for sure and maybe should have learnt in lower classes for longer as he didn't do well during those first few years, but its not like you can claim he has any lack of experience.

[Rallyper]

Mikkelsen absolutely the 2018 disappointment. Second should be Evans, third Breen.

Full seat to Paddon next year is only natural for Huyndai.

[Mintexmemory]

He had quite a few nearly-full seasons as well which you're conveniently ignoring for the sake of talking him up as usual. His first WRC rally was GB 2006, 12 years ago and 2 years before Ogier's first. He was very young then for sure and maybe should have learnt in lower classes for longer as he didn't do well during those first few years, but its not like you can claim he has any lack of experience.

Thanks GB - I’d have said much the same. VW made him the anointed one giving him tons of Polo testing and the team building year in the Skoda with Ogier. 2 wins in 4 years with the class car in the game was a pretty accurate reflection of his abilities.

[gorganl2000]

here are my conclusions based on the past few seasons and up to the just concluded 2018 season:
Ogier, Neuville, Tanak ---these 3 have a reasonable chance at 2019 WDC and beyond. i think Tanak (mental/strategy) and Neuville (speed/mental) can both improve a bit more to make them even better. Ogier is a champion and knows what he needs to do to remain one, he needs to somehow keep motivated and mentally strong if he wishes to retain his championship next year and thereafter

Lappi, Suninen --- hard to say yet, need more driving time (full season or two) to fully develop and see where they really are in the scheme of things.

Paddon---i'm not sure if to put him in above or below section

Mikkelsen, Sordo, Ostberg, Breen, Evans, Latvala, Meeke --- each of them has some driving and/or personal obstacles to overcome to elevate themselves to the "next" level. Each of them is a unique case. If they don't improve, they will be forever be seen as number #2 drivers for one reason or the other.

Loeb --- he still has the driving ability/skill to be competitive, a true talent even at his age, but no desire to compete for a full season and i respect that. I believe he can still win individual rallies or get podiums when he does compete

[mknight]

He had quite a few nearly-full seasons as well which you're conveniently ignoring for the sake of talking him up as usual. His first WRC rally was GB 2006, 12 years ago and 2 years before Ogier's first. He was very young then for sure and maybe should have learnt in lower classes for longer as he didn't do well during those first few years, but its not like you can claim he has any lack of experience.

In 2006-2008 what they did is they basically paid him WRC car to learn, skipping all lower classes completely. Then went back there when his father lost a lot of money and couldn't pay for it any more.

Thing is he did win the IRC in 2011-2012 against Neuville among others so how was he nearly man then? At that time it was the series where young drivers drove, cause there just weren't WRC seats for them.
Had first full WRC season in 2014. 2018-2014 is still not 7. While you are free to accuse me of talking him up, I hate when people throw wrong numbers just like that on things that take 5s to check.

What I also find really special about Mikkelsen this year is how much flak he gets here for the simplest things compared with other drivers that are in the 2nd/3rd category (which gorganl2000 correctly defined). Sure compared to pre-season expectations this season is terrible and the speed of the car+driver combination on tarmac is ridiculous compared with his speed on same surface in other cars. But stuff like comparing him to Al Quassimi or suggesting Paddon replaces him on tarmac.......ok.

[Mk2 RS2000]

[QUOTEWhat I also find really special about Mikkelsen this year is how much flak he gets here for the simplest things compared with other drivers that are in the 2nd/3rd category (which gorganl2000 correctly defined). Sure compared to pre-season expectations this season is terrible and the speed of the car+driver combination on tarmac is ridiculous compared with his speed on same surface in other cars. But stuff like comparing him to Al Quassimi or suggesting Paddon replaces him on tarmac.......ok.[/QUOTE]

Sure he has had a poor season with reliability, quite similar in fact with Paddon's run in 2017 where amongst other things he had numerous power steering failures during the season but with no public comments from the driver.

[steve.mandzij]

In 2006-2008 what they did is they basically paid him WRC car to learn, skipping all lower classes completely. Then went back there when his father lost a lot of money and couldn't pay for it any more.

Thing is he did win the IRC in 2011-2012 against Neuville among others so how was he nearly man then? At that time it was the series where young drivers drove, cause there just weren't WRC seats for them.
Had first full WRC season in 2014. 2018-2014 is still not 7. While you are free to accuse me of talking him up, I hate when people throw wrong numbers just like that on things that take 5s to check.

What I also find really special about Mikkelsen this year is how much flak he gets here for the simplest things compared with other drivers that are in the 2nd/3rd category (which gorganl2000 correctly defined). Sure compared to pre-season expectations this season is terrible and the speed of the car+driver combination on tarmac is ridiculous compared with his speed on same surface in other cars. But stuff like comparing him to Al Quassimi or suggesting Paddon replaces him on tarmac.......ok.

The thing is he's been a horrible driver when things went his way mechanically too. His wet pace in Spain was pitiful, slower than R5s.

[N.O.T]

Any suggestions what to do until 2019 season starts ?

Be useful for once you dogs !