[WRC] News & Rumours 2021

[cali]

hmmm, Tänak part is very interesting....

what i mean is that in "Tänak The Movie - The series" they both say they get along really well, just watched that episode yesterday and they got along really well. Ott says that he gets best along with Ogier and Lappi in the series but okay that was back in 2018 and maybe later than everythig changed

There Lappi also says in the beginning that JML is his favourite, but later admitted that Tänak is on the same line or they even get along better as the season went on.


thanks for the interview! very good insights

Heh I had to listen to this podcast and EP said "I still like Tänak but he wasn't as fair as Ogier. I can't demand the he shares his stuff that's his business but in contrary Ogier was very open minded"

Anyway interesting podcast, really liked it bcs EP was really straightforward and relaxed.



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[RS]

- Skoda was not a nice team to be in. They were mad if someone had a crash and the bosses were very "hot-headed" always. He would never return to Skoda.

Charming, when they kind of gave him his break onto the world stage. There are always two sides to every story.. i seem to remember Mirek alluding to Lappi being quite difficult to work with or something along those lines?

- He says that in "village teams" like Toyota and M-Sport you can just develop a new part and try it on, but in big factory teams like Citroen and Skoda, it takes months for the boards to agree on the plan before they can start making anything.

That doesn’t sound likely? For new cars or new programmes maybe, but new parts? Don’t buy it.

Interesting to hear his thoughts nonetheless.

[mknight]

- Skoda was not a nice team to be in. They were mad if someone had a crash and the bosses were very "hot-headed" always. He would never return to Skoda.

First time I hear something like that. Note that during that time (2013-2014) Lappi actually did crash a lot.
Wonder how he would work with Adamo at Hyundai, specially if he would do something like 2019 first rounds of the season.

- He believes the C3 WRC with 2020 updates would have been a winner car in Rally Finland with the new aero and engine (which they didn't even get to test). In the autumn 2020 tests they were 0.5 s/km faster than the previous tests on the first run already.

Could be in Finland yes, but Ogier somehow wasn't convinced after the tarmac tests and went to Toyota instead. Guess aero and engine can only change so much if suspension/difs are a problem on tarmac.

[cali]

Charming, when they kind of gave him his break onto the world stage. There are always two sides to every story.. i seem to remember Mirek alluding to Lappi being quite difficult to work with or something along those lines?



That doesn’t sound likely? For new cars or new programmes maybe, but new parts? Don’t buy it.

Interesting to hear his thoughts nonetheless.

Clearly they were not meant to each other.
Even Kristian Sohlberg remembered one meeting with Skoda which he describes "unconventional" and anything he'd ever seen in his life. It wasn't only EP.

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[mknight]

Well Veiby got kicked quite rapidly for that picture a few years ago, which is hardly surprising though.

Maybe Skoda-leadership is or was (all of this is 2-6 years back) a lot about drivers being "employed". On the other hand the interaction between engineers and drivers and the response to driver suggestions seems to work rather well there. I can barely remember any drivers complaining about any setup or handling issues.

All this is completely external speculation from me.

[Eli]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/the-r...wrc-should-be/

An interesting article regarding the past of the WRC through the eyes of David Richards and Yves Matton.

[RS]

Well Veiby got kicked quite rapidly for that picture a few years ago, which is hardly surprising though.

Maybe Skoda-leadership is or was (all of this is 2-6 years back) a lot about drivers being "employed". On the other hand the interaction between engineers and drivers and the response to driver suggestions seems to work rather well there. I can barely remember any drivers complaining about any setup or handling issues.

All this is completely external speculation from me.

Yes, well at the end of the day they get results however 'unconventional'

Mikkelsen seems to be pretty happy to keep going back there.

[AndyRAC]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/the-r...wrc-should-be/

An interesting article regarding the past of the WRC through the eyes of David Richards and Yves Matton.

No surprise DR changed his tune; it didn't turn out how he expected/ hoped - after what looked quite promising early on. And his 'deputy' at MSUK blames the DR inspired thinking for a lot of the problems in the sport.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Lappi happy with test role with 2022 car for WRC return:

https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/...return/5392814

[Francis44]

Mikkelsen seems to be pretty happy to keep going back there.

Hold on a minute, Mikkelsen car is not runned by Skoda anymore, but by Tocsport. AFAIK there is only 2 or 3 Skoda engineers there helping the team but maybe someone here knows more.