[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[mknight]

I think (couldn't find any news to confirm it though by quick search) the deal Latvala made with TGR in December 2016 was for 2+1 years. Most likely the terms of that option year have already been defined in that original contract. If it was indeed like that (2+1), then it wouldn't be that big a surprise if Tänak (who made a 2-year deal for 2018/2019) and JML had similar salaries.

Yes it's perfectly possible Latvala has same salary as Tanak.

However, I wonder how much of drivers salaries is "base value" and how much is based on results. (bonus for 1st or podium for example, or per point).

Even more interesting is how are these bonuses threated when a technical issue ruins the result. Tanak in Sardinia is easy example, but Tanak in Argentina retiring from close fight for win in the middle of the rally is much more difficult.

[Rally Power]

He thinks it would be crazy for Tanak to leave, while I kind of agree can you image that Tanak gets 1-2 punctures that weren't clearly his fault in Germany and suddenly looses WDC lead again? That's why I am not so sure he has re-signed for Toyota just yet.

Or maybe he hasn't re-signed yet just because he’s trying to improve his finantial deal with Toyota. No matter how frustrating it’d be to get more reliability issues on the Yaris, Tanak is the undisputed nr.1 driver on his team and drives the fastest car of the series. At Hyundai he’d have again to get used to a new team and share the leading status with Neuville, while in MSport he would’nt get a superior car. In the remote case he fails to get the tilte this year, it’s hard to tell how he can improve his chances to become WDC by moving to another team.

[eib1]

I remember Mäkinen said somewhere that driver bonuses may be up to 100k per event or sometimes even more

[wrc2017]

Can you describe Meeke as team-player?

You should not concentrate on the fact that Latavala was more Lucky than Meeke. To hit that stone, they both ignored Mäkinens instructions to "manage the pace and do not try to match Tänaks pace". They both failed.
The difference comes from next episode. Latvala backed-off, took it to "confortable level" and lost some speed. But this was exactly what team expected. Conclusions made, job well done. Meeke meanwhile.. did another stupid mistake.

I'm not, joukki is.
Lol.. Manage position? Top 4 covered by 0.6s? Top 7 by 20s. There is only one speed.

[RAS007]

I'm not, joukki is.
Lol.. Manage position? Top 4 covered by 0.6s? Top 7 by 20s. There is only one speed.

You're quite right. Rallies are so short now, every event is a sprint. There is no "managing pace".

[Morte66]

Even more interesting is how are these bonuses threated when a technical issue ruins the result. Tanak in Sardinia is easy example, but Tanak in Argentina retiring from close fight for win in the middle of the rally is much more difficult.

Yes, that would be extremely interesting to know. Paging any journalists...

[Norm75]

I'm not, joukki is.
Lol.. Manage position? Top 4 covered by 0.6s? Top 7 by 20s. There is only one speed.

Yes, this was the difficulty with this rally. Back off, even slightly, and the result could be no better than pushing the limits and being very unlucky. And I do believe this year Kris has been very unlucky. He hasn't pushed way over his limit, he has had one incident where he cut an inch or two too much and paid a heavy price, and another where he clipped a rock at the side of the road and paid a heavy price again.
Trouble is, if you are in a rythym, and that rythym is a fast one, it can be difficult to slow that rythym down without mistakes creeping in. As we saw on Sunday, Kris made another mistake, but this time his speed was not as fast, as he was in cruise mode until the power stage.

If the margins in this rally were greater, we may have seen a different mindset, and a different outcome, but that is all ifs, buts and maybes.

I hope Kris can regroup and come back stronger. He knows his place, and his job. He deserves to be in the championship imo as he is one of the fastest, and spectacular drivers out there.

[Andre Oliveira]

Takamoto Katsuta says goodbye

[T16]

Yes, this was the difficulty with this rally. Back off, even slightly, and the result could be no better than pushing the limits and being very unlucky. And I do believe this year Kris has been very unlucky. He hasn't pushed way over his limit, he has had one incident where he cut an inch or two too much and paid a heavy price, and another where he clipped a rock at the side of the road and paid a heavy price again.
Trouble is, if you are in a rythym, and that rythym is a fast one, it can be difficult to slow that rythym down without mistakes creeping in. As we saw on Sunday, Kris made another mistake, but this time his speed was not as fast, as he was in cruise mode until the power stage.

If the margins in this rally were greater, we may have seen a different mindset, and a different outcome, but that is all ifs, buts and maybes.

I hope Kris can regroup and come back stronger. He knows his place, and his job. He deserves to be in the championship imo as he is one of the fastest, and spectacular drivers out there.

Very well said.

[racerx1979]

Japanese love JML. I think I already wrote this, but it comes from Tommi and the days of Mitsu. Tommy was a Finn and the Japanese fell in love with him. Everyone had Tommi livery on their evos. When JML came along they could relate to him. There are so many Japanese publications with JML and his cars in Japan. They all love the guy. You can also see why Toyoda loves Tommi...he was the first Japanese Finnish rally driver love affair.