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  1. #91
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    Yeah I forgot that he drove as privateer in 2006-2007. Was tough time to get in. IRC was indeed better competition than wrc at least for a few years before others(Peugeot) fell off and Skoda started to dominate.

  2. #92
    Senior Member Mirek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
    Like I said elsewhere, Hyundai should hire him as a tarmac specialist, since they seem to lack good tarmac drivers.
    Sordo and Neuville are not good tarmac drivers?
    Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Gump

  3. Likes: Maui J. (22nd August 2018)
  4. #93
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    Lol then nobody is

    Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G935F met Tapatalk

  5. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
    Like I said elsewhere, Hyundai should hire him as a tarmac specialist, since they seem to lack good tarmac drivers.
    Could almost think you are trolling?

    Neuville won his first WRC rally on tarmac and won Corsica last year.
    Sordo won his only rally on tarmac and used to be the defition of tarmac specialist since Panizzi retired.
    Mikkelsen also won his first WRC rally on tarmac (well ontarmac+gravel in Spain). As mentioned he also drove same car with Kopecky on Monte and Corsica and was clearly faster.

    When a trio of tarmac drivers like this finished as last 3 wrcs on 2stages in Germany behind Suninen in his first tarmac rally and behind Řstberg who didnt drive on tarmac in 2 years and was never good on it, it certainly stays more about the car than the drivers.

  6. Likes: skarderud (21st August 2018)
  7. #95
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirek View Post
    I'd like to correct You a little bit. He drove only one single gravel event for Škoda Motorsport when he was 21 years old (Wales 2003). It wasn't fast but that could be hardly expected with his experience. 2005 was the last season before the Škoda Motorsport department was dissolved and in these years he drove only few selected asphalt events.

    In 2006-2007 he drove privately run WRC car with no teammate. The team was run by his father and it actually somehow exists till today. They keep preparing Jan's car for Czech national events. Take into account that the development of the car was very limited despite Škoda actually granting homologation to number of improvements developed by the team. The main problem was pretty weak obsolete 20V engine of the Fabia WRC especially in terms of torque where it was lacking around 100-200 Nm against the competitors. He did only selected events and scored some good results considering he was a privateer (5th in Germany and Catalunya, 7th in Acropolis and Corsica, 8th in Finland, Monte Carlo and Norway).

    In 2008 Škoda Motorsport was reborn and the development of the Fabia S2000 was ongoing. Jan was doing a lot of the job including collecting experience with other S2000 (207, Punto). He also drove the S2000 prototype on number of events. In 2009 Škoda entered IRC on Monte Carlo. IRC was very popular in that time and the competition was made largely of today's WRC drivers. If I'm not mistaken Jan finished 3x 2nd in the all season standings (behind Hänninen and Mikkelsen). He also drove in Italian championship for Škoda Italia. After that he was sent to win ERC which he did and to win APRC which he also did (fun fact - Lappi didn't manage that). And further You know it. He is taking mandatory Czech titles and drive what he is given in WRC2. He was very close to a WRC deal two years back but everything collapsed when VW stopped and its drivers got in the game. Now it's too late I would say. He won 4 major gravel events - 2x Sardinia in WRC2, Acores and Sibiu in IRC/ERC.
    Thanks, much appreciated sharing your knowledge. Maybe the skoda was not the fastest but i quite liked the look of it when i saw him at Monte Carlo 2007 (I think or 2006)

  8. #96
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    Sorry, should have explained my idea better. Of course I didn't mean that Neuville would be a bad tarmac driver, or Sordo...but Sordo seems to have trouble finishing tarmac rallies as of late. Crashed in Deutschland 2017 and 2018, Catalunya 2017 and Monte 2018. They won't win manufacturers championship if Neuville's the only one who scores tarmac points.

    So maybe they need to have Neuville, Sordo-Paddon and Kopecky-Mikkelsen

  9. Likes: pantealex (22nd August 2018)
  10. #97
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    https://twitter.com/KiwiWRCfan/statu...49592224063489

    Oliver Ciesla confirms by video link agreement made with Rally Japan to return to #WRC "from 2019 for probably 4 years"
    Ciesla expects this to be ratified by FIA's World Motorsport Council's next meeting.
    (Not stated but would need to be subject to successful candidate event)

  11. #98
    Senior Member GravelBen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
    They won't win manufacturers championship if Neuville's the only one who scores tarmac points.

    So maybe they need to have Neuville, Sordo-Paddon and Kopecky-Mikkelsen
    Funny enough despite his 'useless on tarmac' reputation Paddon was actually bringing in fairly consistent points on tarmac in 2016/17 - obviously not challenging for podiums and wins like he has on gravel, but often 5th or 6th which is still useful points.

  12. #99
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    Strong and reliable project built in Japan. This morning last official press conference suggested three dates for WRC JAPAN 2019 to promoter : full details ► http://bit.ly/2wehuPm

  13. #100
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    [WRC] News & Rumours 2019

    Quote Originally Posted by GravelBen View Post
    Funny enough despite his 'useless on tarmac' reputation Paddon was actually bringing in fairly consistent points on tarmac in 2016/17 - obviously not challenging for podiums and wins like he has on gravel, but often 5th or 6th which is still useful points.
    You mean...like Mikkelsen this year?

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