TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT

[Tarmop]

Like competition nowadays.

[EstWRC]

5-doors, interesting

the car is just so much faster than others so the next one will be 5 doors version with extra people sitting in it on stages

[stefanvv]

the car is just so much faster than others so the next one will be 5 doors version with extra people sitting in it on stages

How much will cost a tourist tour?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Half-term report for Tanak - excellent !
https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/july...5--12-12-.html

[mknight]

Half-term report for Tanak - excellent !
https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/july...5--12-12-.html

It reads like a press-release. Only talking about the positives and not mentioning any negatives. Especially the part about Latvala and Meeke is very one-sided.

Though I can understand it since this is wrc.com which basically is only promotion stuff. That makes it relatively pointless article though, just like people mostly don't read press-releases.

Just about the only interesting thing would be if they paint equally rosy pictures about all the other teams.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Its hard see these Tanak facts negatively...

"He’s led for more stages than the next four drivers (Sébastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo and Elfyn Evans) in the standings combined, and set more than twice the number of fastest times than anybody else."

[mknight]

Tanak hasn't really done anything wrong so far this season (the only tiny exception might be the puncture in Corsica), which is why I did not mention him at all in my post.

The issues is all the other things that are not mentioned:

Toyota's results as a team are horrible, given Tanak's speed (which is mentioned). There are multiple reliability issues (alternator 2x, suspension/rims 4+ times?, steering 2x, dampers in Portugal).
Latvala and Meeke's results with 0 podiums in 8 rallies (Hyundai has 4 non-Neuville podiums, Citroen has 1 for Lappi too) are close to the worst of all WRC drivers, especially if you compare that with Tanak's speed.

Reading the "report" you only get that Tanak is fast and the team had some "bad luck" here and there. Press-release stuff. Which is kind of ok for WRC.COM. Just warning people should not take it as an "analysis" which it clearly isn't.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It's a report on the Toyota driver's rather than the Team.

And in that respect the Tanak has performed brilliantly only to be let down by the car.

Meeke and Latvala have made some mistakes, yes, but also had some car issues, which has to be taken into account in their results.

[mknight]

Thing is that there is a lot of important (negative) things which happened that are left out. (ex. Latvala's two crashes, which definitely don't fall into "wheel rim-related and electrical issues").

Something that is ok for a press release, but missing if this is to be taken as a "reporting article".


Furthermore this:
"One of his (Meeke's) strongest showings came in Portugal..."
is certainly an interesting angle.

[EstWRC]

Midyear recap - Tänak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuVgAFvBz58