Silly Season 2020

[Hartusvuori]

When the news came, i was 90% sure that it is BS. Now i am 90% sure that it is true. Several small things:
1. Big one - Silence from Akio Toyoda - he has always congratulated team and drivers when they have succeeded in previous rounds but not now when they achieved their biggest success this year.

4. Again - Akio Toyoda...

This just came in:

Dear Ott, Martin, all our friends and supporters in Estonia, and President Kaljulaid, congratulations for the first World Rally Championship titles for Drivers and Co-Drivers by Estonians!

Last year in Rally Finland, I saw so many Estonian fans waving Estonian flags to cheer on Ott and Martin.

They said the flags were not a weight on their shoulders. Instead, they felt the strong support from all the fans to achieve their best.

I’m glad that our Yaris WRC competed with such a strong wave of support from our Estonian friends and supporters, and we rode the wave to the championship title!

Ott and Martin, I want to celebrate together with you guys on the podium for the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers in three weeks and thank all the strong Estonian support over the years!

We must win in Australia!

Let’s do it together!

Akio Toyoda
Team Chairman, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team

[Fast Eddie WRC]

If it really happens and comes out tomorrow I wonder how the atmosphere will be in Australia and how the fight for manu title will go.
Thinking back to Ogier in Spain and GB 2011.

Talk about a conflict of interest !

Tanak to try to stop his new team winning the Manus will be so awkward.

[Indreq]

Talk about a conflict of interest !

Tanak to try to stop his new team winning the Manus will be so awkward.

Tänak might be out of job if he is successful - Hyundai needs this title, otherwise they may "do Wolksvagen" and pull the plug.

[cali]

I don't see Hyundai losing the title anyway

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

[doubled1978]

People seem to forget that loeb is old, and nobody beats time.
Old people get slower, but more importantly they have problems adjusting to new situations. The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to drive around problems like a bad setup.

I'm sure the 2004 loeb would have won this rally in whatever car available. But the 2019 loeb will only win in a car that fits his driving style perfectly. And apparently the citroen still fits his driving, but the hyundai doesn't.

I suspect that in the right car loeb could still fight for the title.

Yeah I agree, I think what this rally showed is that the Hyundai is tricky car to get the best out of on tarmac, not that Loeb is slow on tarmac. Do I think any of the other drivers on the Hyundai roster would have finished 4th or better on this rally, no I don’t. He could also have had more time in his pocket after the gravel had Adamo not asked him to take the Hard tyres on the first loop, he gained in stage 3 but lost a lot in 1&2.

[doubled1978]

Talk about a conflict of interest !

Tanak to try to stop his new team winning the Manus will be so awkward.

Will it? He is employed by Toyota and they and Hyundai will expect him to give his maximum for Toyota in Australia.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Of course Tanak will do his professional job, but it would be a killer for Hyundai to lose by his hand.

Although I do agree they should win the Manus regardless.

[eib1]

[ggg377]

https://sport.delfi.ee/news/auto/wrc...el?id=87892917

According to Estonian rally journalists and the information they obtained from the Catalunya rally park the Tänak-Hyundai deal is 100% done and will be public in a matter of days. Speculated reasons - engineers leaving from Toyota and Hyundai having a stronger and a more efficient team and a more reliable car.

[mknight]

I wouldn't read this as Breen going to MSport.

Imo if Hyundai is going to be Tanak-Neuville-Sordo-Loeb. Breen is their ideal candidate to drive Sweden, Finland and GB while at the same time driving/developing R5.
(Mikkelsen is off course also a candidate for that but I doubt he will do that, with the manager change he would rather buy seat at MSport)