TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT

[Morte66]

(if you sum Sordo, Breen and Loeb you get 91 vs Rovanpera at 80, they got road position advantages though)
...
Only different option for Toyota next year is to change their mind on rotating drivers and get some drivers for the rallies that Rovanpera is still not so good at (slow gravel, maybe tarmac).

Fair point, and I think road position counted for a lot so switching worked. It does seem a reasonable thing to consider, but now that I look at it Hyundai have hired a lot of the obvious people already. Are Mikkelsen/Lappi (with road position, but in an unfamiliar car) so different from Rovanpera who will be in his second year?

E.g. if you could get Sordo for tarmac, sure, but Hyundai has him.

[pantealex]

Fair point, and I think road position counted for a lot so switching worked. It does seem a reasonable thing to consider, but now that I look at it Hyundai have hired a lot of the obvious people already. Are Mikkelsen/Lappi (with road position, but in an unfamiliar car) so different from Rovanpera who will be in his second year?

E.g. if you could get Sordo for tarmac, sure, but Hyundai has him.

Loeb, maybe, maybe not.
Breen if Hyundai doesn´t take him. But this also as risky as EP/Andreas

[mknight]

Fair point, and I think road position counted for a lot so switching worked. It does seem a reasonable thing to consider, but now that I look at it Hyundai have hired a lot of the obvious people already. Are Mikkelsen/Lappi (with road position, but in an unfamiliar car) so different from Rovanpera who will be in his second year?

E.g. if you could get Sordo for tarmac, sure, but Hyundai has him.

Yeah that's the exact problem. Rovanpera will likely improve, but how much? (maybe you can see after a few rallies?)
How about the rallies that he hasn't really done yet? (not being nominated might reduce pressure on him? or piss him off?)

Some drivers "might" be faster than him, especially when they have road position advantage and know the rally. But on early gravel rallies the road position advantage might not be much.
Mid-season rallies the starting position advantage alone could make a good result, but the list of those drivers that are somewhat stable is short, in alphabetical order: Breen, Lappi, Loeb, Mikkelsen, Østberg, (Paddon), Suninen. (not listing Latvala and Meeke as those
3-4 of those are probably enganged elsewhere (Breen, Suninen, Østberg and Paddon), Loeb might not be convinced to come back again, Lappi left Toyota on unfriendly terms and Toyota never seemed to be interested in Mikkelsen (ref. end of 2016) ...so you suddenly are without drivers to pick.

In either case it would mean complete change of team strategy. Then again Tommi is officially leaving.

[dimviii]

In either case it would mean complete change of team strategy. Then again Tommi is officially leaving.

thats the key imho.
Lets see if they change/stick at this startegy.

[meh]

At the moment for me it seems - next year the only enemy for Toyota is... Toyota. All three are fast enough to take points out from each other (from drivers championship perspective), so they need to take more risks to get more points. Or... there will be nr 1 in the team, which could be even more complicated task to pick.

Hyundai - Tänak is getting more seat-time and developing car to own style, Neuville is getting more pressure to have "I have always been better than my team-mates" bla bla which may also mean more risky drives... and more crashes. Can not see 3rd driver (as full-time) driver could be more stable than anyone from Toyota. If there will be Sordo, then with new co-driver.

[seb_sh]

It will be interesting to see how the two different philosophies turn out next season. Toyota has the advantage of stability and investing in drivers, let's see if Hyundai again will play the road order game.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Ogier:
OK this season we are not manufacturers’ champions but I feel we kind of are manufacturers’ champions because we have a one-two of Toyota drivers [in the standings] so for me it’s still a bit weird we are not manufacturers’ champions but that’s another story.

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/ogier...g-boss-makinen

[AnttiL]

Ogier:
OK this season we are not manufacturers’ champions but I feel we kind of are manufacturers’ champions because we have a one-two of Toyota drivers [in the standings] so for me it’s still a bit weird we are not manufacturers’ champions but that’s another story.

Another interesting little fact is that Neuville got 8 manufacturer points from his 16th position under restart rules. Had that become a retirement, or if two other team cars, like Citroens, would have been in front of him, they would have lost the title.

[mknight]

Ogier:
OK this season we are not manufacturers’ champions but I feel we kind of are manufacturers’ champions because we have a one-two of Toyota drivers [in the standings] so for me it’s still a bit weird we are not manufacturers’ champions but that’s another story.

That can be read both ways:
a) "we two did more than enough (better than Tanak/Neuville) but the third guy didn't
b) "we didn't have good strategy for 3rd car
c) "the rules are bad" (well he can mean that but it's not like he can change them)

Teampoints:
Evans 101
Ogier 98
Rovanpera 37

Neuville 79 (-22 to Evans)
Tanak 79 (-19 to Ogier)
Sordo 40, Loeb 25, Breen 18 = 83 (+46 to Rovanpera)

[AnttiL]

https://planetemarcus.com/saison-wrc/

Here's who scored manufacturer points and where. Evans surprisingly wins this league. And you can see how even Sordo alone made more points than Rovanperä, who finished often as the third fastest Toyota.