Hyundai WRT

[er88]

To be fair, Cyril has inherited these decisions so perhaps this tragic set of circumstances will see him start to put his signature on their philosophy moving forward.

Hopefully Cyril is given the chance & authority then. It wasn't a Moncet decision to scrap their long term plans with Solberg, and focus on immediate results. So that tells me the bosses in Korea have/had a big say (along with Thierry).

[Lead]

I think this is great opportunity for Suninen. If he can win and show firm driving this weekend in Portugal, I bet he has chance to move up.

[bandit12]

I think this is great opportunity for Suninen. If he can win and show firm driving this weekend in Portugal, I bet he has chance to move up.

Plus he has some experience with top class machinery.

[skarderud]

I feel that whoever drives the Hyundai rest of the season will have big problems to find a good feeling in that car, won't set decent times regulary, and always someone here will write : " ooooh, he's a waste, they should have picked ......... ....... insted!"

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[Danny0405]

To be fair, Cyril has inherited these decisions so perhaps this tragic set of circumstances will see him start to put his signature on their philosophy moving forward.

It’s one of the main issues of Hyundai: their new directors had always been chosen late so that the incumbent lineup was selected before:
- when Adamo was hired, Nandan-Penasse already chose to waive Paddon and take Loeb which was not a good choice for a sport-wise view (Loeb was not a good fit for a shared-car with Sordo in terms of profile); honestly, Loeb has been extremely marginal in the back-to-back Hyundai titles and could have been won with Paddon. It’s the only positive point I give to Adamo in Hyundai: even if Loeb stints with Hyundai were really average, he uses it wisely by withdrawing Mikkelsen on some events to obtain Andreas better road position in some gravel events just after and where he achieved good results (Argentina, Sardinia)
- when Moncet steps in as a caretaker, it was already decided by Adamo to take Solberg instead of an experienced driver
- when Abiteboul was hired, the choice of waiving Solberg was already done.

Well, Solberg could have been a good choice considering what Abiteboul is saying... but would sound extremely unlikely that they reunites so early giving the context and what has been said between both parties (especially from Solberg).

As evoked before, except for Estonia and Finland, I’m extremely skeptical Hyundai could find a driver stepping in that could bring them more than Sordo. But putting a driver directly in Estonia is a bit short, they should give him at least a national rally or Safari or both (as Safari is a special rally, could be a good place to discover the car a bit quietly).
In the context, best choice for Estonia-Finland spot sounds to be Suninen right now: he has made some tests with the car last year, makes both Estonia and Finland last two years, back-to-back RC2 win in Finland, close from Mikkelsen in Estonia last year and among the experienced driver available (excluding the Solberg-Fourmaux-Greensmith bunch that I do not reference as experienced driver), he is the one with most recent RC1 experience. And in case his string would be a success, he also knows Chile and Japan.
Only real issue is about Rally2 where Suninen was the front leader of their program; but with his results so far, the WRC2 title shot sounds unlikely + they could bring on Paddon in Rally2 there (he will have a lot of fast gravel rallies in ERC to prepare and was both in Estonia and Finland last year).

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Hyundai should bring in Mikkelsen after they suddenly stopped answering his texts on the verge of a deal and hired Breen. He deserves another shot after doing all he can to prove himself in Rally2 cars.

[mknight]

Realistically there is only 3 candidates (alphabetically): Mikkelsen, Solberg, Suninen

Mikkelsen is best mid-term, he is good on fast rallies but also on most rallies that Sordo does if Sordo decides to retire (but he just did his best rally in Rally1 car).

Solberg obviously has best long term potential, but he just got fired from there ( likely by Hyundai top leadership which is still same, Moncet didn't have driver authority). Skoda and Solberg himself might also not be interested in jumping mid-season and based on previous experience it might be better to wait. Given how bad Katsuta, Evans and Loubet are doing there are likely seats available next year.

Suninen is best short term fix for just Estonia and Finland, is already working for Hyundai and also has some funds. But everything else speaks against him, his speed in Rally2 has not been great except Finland (how much is it the car?), neither has his reliability.

[skarderud]

I'm afraid a driver that needs good results to show his potential can loose more than gain when doing 1 or 2 rallies in the Hyundai.


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[masa90]

Really surprised if Andreas gets the call anymore. He is not really young and promising anymore and with the best car he has not really showed too much yet. Suninen also has had a rough year, but he hasn't had the car either in wrc2. Oliver has the car, but has the results aswell this year. Though he has the baggage of last years failure in the factory team aswell. Interesting to see what happens, I would go with Teemu.

[denkimi]

For me the obvious thing to do would be hiring andreas and putting solberg in a 4th car to see how he compares. Even better would be to create a junior team with another driver like rossel or gryazin.