[WRC] Tour de Corse 2019

[KKS]

Tannert to overtake Kristensson in JWRC...

Edit: Tannert wins by small margin. Swedish drivers 2nd and 3rd.

Oh some relief. Well deserved win for him!

[EstWRC]

Have you noticed its almost always the same top two?

what do you mran by that?

Neuville had a puncture in Mexico...Ogier too and in germany last year.

[dimviii]

Sun 13:39 - Evans reaction
"It's difficult to accept but okay, it happens. A similar thing maybe happened to Ott yesterday. It's the nature of the sport. I think it happened on a straight piece of road in the middle, a hole of piece or stone that had lifted. I felt it straightaway. Very unexpected. I tried to drive on it to see if we could minimise the time loss but it started to delaminate 6km before the end. At least we have the podium but it's not what I wanted."


what a Brexit..

[krissucool]

This is crap.

[AnttiL]

What a disappointment for Elfyn. What a dramatic rally.

Also, the fastest Tour de Corse ever with 102.7 km/h of average speed.

[EstWRC]

Tänak after the rally: "It was the rim again, we believed it that its solved now but it wasnt. I believe we will soon find a solution, its only on tarmac rallies, on gravel we dont have this problem. All together the Toyota package is very good, theres only these small things, but these small things can be very costly sometimes."

[Norm75]

Well I pointed this apparent disagreement already in December when Meeke was signed and in the press release said that his main goal is to help Toyota win manu championship yet in an interview just a few days later he said something else. Now he talks about driver championship...

How "soon" you should start prioritizing drivers for points is a good question.

M-Sport did it already on 2nd rally last year and it did matter in the end. (2-3 more points to Neuville and he wouldn't need to push to try to finish ahead of Ogier in Australia). But some of M-Sport prioritizing looked slightly retarded and pointless (dropping Evans and Suninen two times in Finland so that Ogier drives 5th instead of 4th on the road for example). As a result Neuville was very vocal about this before start of this season and Hyundai also started prioritizing very early (Mikkelsen didn't push on PS in Sweden where he took points off Neuville the year before and was much faster on the first run this year)).

Toyota is clearly not prioritizing and it already cost them 2 points for Tanak, though only one of them (Mexico) made a difference relative to Ogier. I am not saying they should or should not, just stating what is happening.

Been out . . What did I miss!

Every drivers aim is to be world champion.
Every manufacturer wants a world champion but I only see Toyota and Hyundai as manufacturers that covet the wmc.
You make good points, ford had Ogier and he was the best chance of a title from the get go. I can see why they would employ tactics from the start. It was probably written in Ogiers contract anyway.

Toyota, however. Meeke has always said he aims to help Toyota win the manufacturers crown. He might have said he wants to be world champ as well, who wouldn't, but every rally he has said he is aiming for manu points and power stage points. Damage limitation.
I think Kris has proved, on every shakedown, on every power stage, and most stages he's had a clean run with no punctures or driven in safe mode, that he can live with Tanaks pace in the Toyota.

It was said earlier in this thread that Tanak had made it known he didn't care too much about manufacturers points. I didn't hear what he said, but if that is the case It won't sit too well with bosses at Toyota.
Tommi seems to be a fan of Kris, having tried signing him years ago.if Kris keeps showing he can match Tanak for outright speed, and be more faithful to the manufacturers title, I don't see Kris being given orders to ceed to Tanak until he really has to.

Now, before you take that the wrong way, it doesn't mean I think Kris is a better bet than Ott, just how I see different teams may have different approach and mindset to championships.

[cali]

4 rallies done so far:

- Toyota fastest allround car
- Latvala is just shambles now incosistence is followed by no pace whatsoever
- M-Sport has some massive raw pace which is good for the whole championship
- Suninen despite his mistakes has some very nice pace
- Rovanperä has somehow taken few steps back which is a surprise
- Citroën has sacrificed tarmac pace
- Despite the lead Hyundai has some tensions (relieved for the moment) and pressure to succeed. More than others.

[mknight]

Indeed it doesn't look like Toyota is going to do much team orders. But that does have consequences when it comes to points.

About Meeke, there is a clear reason (besides his speed) why he has done so good in the 3 powerstages (and bad in the 4th), all 3 times he was far back in the standings and could save tires. Hard to win championship by being back in the standings....

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Sun 13:39 - Evans reaction
"It's difficult to accept but okay, it happens. A similar thing maybe happened to Ott yesterday. It's the nature of the sport. I think it happened on a straight piece of road in the middle, a hole of piece or stone that had lifted. I felt it straightaway. Very unexpected. I tried to drive on it to see if we could minimise the time loss but it started to delaminate 6km before the end. At least we have the podium but it's not what I wanted."

So no mistake. Man, that is so unlucky.