2019 Crystall Ball Predictions

[TypeR]

1. Tänak wins the title
2. M-Sport gets atleast 2 podiums
3. Loeb ends up doing more than 6 rounds
4. Hyundai gets the manufacturer title
5. Kalle dominates WRC2

1. Check
2. Check - Evans 2 in a row, Mexico and Corsica
3. nope, 6 it was
4. Check
5. almost check to me.. yes, he won the WRC2 Pro title, but would have been more interesting if they hadn't separated the class. Without mistakes he was really fast, but bad luck and mistakes ruined many rallies for him.

[AnttiL]

1. Tänak to be World champion but to win less stages per rally than in 2018 (70/13≈5.38)
2. In addition to Tidemand, five new drivers will make their competitive debut at the wheel of a 2017 WRC car at a WRC event
3. Eight drivers will do a complete season at the wheel of a WRC car – more than in 2017 or 2018 – although the total amount of works WRC starts per rally on average will be smaller.
4. Meeke will keep being Meeke – fast but inconsistent and prone to errors. To measure this I predict more stage wins but less overall points than Latvala
5. Meeke fans will keep throwing “will he be sacked now / why don't they sack him” comments to Ogier or Lappi if they retire a rally from a driving mistake

1. Half wrong. Last year Tänak won 70 stages, this year 73 stages. Both seasons ended having 13 rallies.
2. Correct. Tuohino, Grönholm, Greensmith, Virtanen, Katsuta.
3. Almost correct. Only seven. Would have been most likely eight had it not been for Evans's injury. (or if you want to be funny, say that no one got a full season because no one started Australia)
4. Wrong. In the end Latvala had more stage wins but less overall points. Meeke was more consistent.
5. Wrong. Happy to be wrong about this, haven't seen any comments like this

[mknight]

[QUOTE=AnttiL;1235912
5. Wrong. Happy to be wrong about this, haven't seen any comments like this [/QUOTE]

After Argentina there were plenty.

[dnb]

1. Toyota drivers to have a big rivalry (mostly) in the beginning of the year, no friendship can be seen in that team; quite the opposite in Citroen.
2. Citroen will have a third driver.
3. Breen and Ostberg will drive a WRC car, but not Paddon.
4. Mikkelsen still not impressive and it's his last season in Hyundai.
5. 2019 is the start of Tanak's era (World Champion), hence French talk nonsense and try to ruin the championship.

1. correct
2. almost, but wrong
3. Breen did, Ostberg drove WRC only in Goodwood Rally Stage and Paddon really unlucky
4. correct
5. correct. Citroen pushed for new regulations and now they announced pulling the plug. More news possibly to follow.

Nothing major here, should predict something more interesting next time.

[Rallyper]

1) Finnish drivers will shine whole year through, having Latvala, Lappi and Suninen at least 14 times out of 42 of all podiumplaces.
2) Loeb sparkles Hyundai to win the Factory Championship
3) Kalle to do at least one outing in WRC17 spec car.
4) Tanak takes WDC title
5) A brand new Latvala takes several wins, but no title.

1) Only 6 out of 39 = 46,1% So incorrect.
2) well, Loeb was involved, correct
3) No Kalle in WRC car. Incorrect
4) Yep, correct
5) Nope. Latvala wasn´t doing that well... incorrect

2 out of 5... well...

[able1]

1. Thierry Neuville will win Monte ahead of Ott Tanak while Citroens struggle
2.Tanak takes Sweden . 1-2 to Toyota
3.Loeb will win one event
4. Tanak repeats its Hat trick
5.Decider in australia once again

FAIL for me :P

[mknight]

1. At least two new drivers other than Tidemand and Katsuta will drive in "factory" (MSport included) car. This does not include "gentleman" drivers. At least one will be from Finland.
2. Ogier will be competitive on almost every rally latest by mid-season.
3. One of Meeeke/Latvala will have a terrible season in terms of pace or points (5+overall)
4. Hyundai will noticeably improve on tarmac after Loeb starts driving (so not in Monte since there is no time for changes, noticeably means average stage times/position across all 3 drivers).
5. Msport will not win any rally

1. Wrong. Sure technically you could argue it is correct, but not in the way I meant it. Only Greensmith fits the category. Gronholm isn't "new" and the others are really gentlemen drivers at this point. Even though i didn't write it I meant on WRC rallies so Hutunen doesn't count.
2. Correct. Wasn't fastest often but had podium speed on just about every rally.
3. Correct technically, since both had terrible season and ended 6th and 7th.Was thinking one of them would do better so somewhat surprising.
4. Hard to evaluate. Yes Neuville and Sordo noticably improved in Germany and Spain. But Loeb and Mikkelsen did not, so while the average stage times over 3 drivers go up I wouldn't consider it correct.
5. Correct, though Corsica was close and I didn't see it coming.

So 3-3,5/5, one point worse than last year.

[Morte66]

1. Neuville champion, in a close season, with some help from team orders.
2. Tanak top Toyota overall but Meeke has his moments in a good year, and JML too.
3. A weaker year for M-Sport.
4. Citroen still no good.
5. Ogier retires from competition at end of year and becomes Citroen team boss.

1 Nope.
2 Yes for Tanak, not so much for Meeke and Latvala (a few good moments but not enough)
3 Yes
4 Yes
5 It's a good job I was joking about this one.