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  1. #61
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    Quite surprising to see Suninen in a Polo on the other hand; to decide to leave M-Sport at this period, I thought it would be with a clear idea and a good plan.
    But I’m not sure of the plan then: is the Polo better than the Fiesta Rally2? (Because he is paying in the two cases). Not sure according to me. Anyway, he will have pressure because Lappi has beaten Mikkelsen and Ostberg with this car.
    Or is it a question of money? Maybe that, with no chance to follow with M-Sport, Jouhki didn’t want to pay the full bill for the last 4 rounds and prefers a cheaper option by renting a Polo on only two rallyes.

  2. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danny0405 View Post
    Quite surprising to see Suninen in a Polo on the other hand; to decide to leave M-Sport at this period, I thought it would be with a clear idea and a good plan.
    But I’m not sure of the plan then: is the Polo better than the Fiesta Rally2? (Because he is paying in the two cases). Not sure according to me. Anyway, he will have pressure because Lappi has beaten Mikkelsen and Ostberg with this car.
    Or is it a question of money? Maybe that, with no chance to follow with M-Sport, Jouhki didn’t want to pay the full bill for the last 4 rounds and prefers a cheaper option by renting a Polo on only two rallyes.
    Printsport´s Polo is surely better in Finland than Fiesta, but probably not in Spain. That´s true. He has to beat Mikkelsen and Ostberg, but also Huttunen and not an easy job...

  3. Likes: pantealex (1st September 2021)
  4. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danny0405 View Post
    Quite surprising to see Suninen in a Polo on the other hand; to decide to leave M-Sport at this period, I thought it would be with a clear idea and a good plan.
    But I’m not sure of the plan then: is the Polo better than the Fiesta Rally2? (Because he is paying in the two cases). Not sure according to me. Anyway, he will have pressure because Lappi has beaten Mikkelsen and Ostberg with this car.
    Or is it a question of money? Maybe that, with no chance to follow with M-Sport, Jouhki didn’t want to pay the full bill for the last 4 rounds and prefers a cheaper option by renting a Polo on only two rallyes.
    Yep, it sounded like they have so great plan so everyone was expecting Toyota or Hyundai... and then he will show up in Polo.

    Polo has been usually a bit better than Fabia on fast rallies (recently I noticed Kaur went to Finland with it and beat all Finish guys), but generally seems to be a bit weaker when the conditions are changing and/or more slippery. Which might easily happen in start of October. Fiesta seems weakest on slippery and fast gravel and strongest on tarmac. Anyway Mikkelsen will not be driving Finland or Spain in WRC2, since he has 6 starts by then out of max 7 and the last last needs to be "outside Europe" in Japan to score teampoints for Toksport. In case Japan gets replaced by Monza I guess they go there. Also during that weekend he will drive ERC.

    So in Finland it will be Østberg, Huttunen, Solberg and maybe Gryazin.

  5. #64
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    Ok, maybe I do not evaluate well the Polo because I do not follow very precisely most of the national championships (except the main ones).

    For me, the car was average (not awful but probably a disappointment with the expectations due to the VW WRC era + Skoda experience and the fact that it was supposed to to replace Skoda which stopped its development on the Fabia) with some reliability issues. Finally, the Fabia is still the most consistant car in the class according to me (and they will make new developments in 2022 apparently) and between the Citroen, the Polo, the Hyundai and the Fiesta, there is no big gap (maybe the Hyundai and the Fiesta are a little less efficient considering the results but it is complicated to say because you must take into account the quality of the drivers in the mix).

    So replacing a program with 2 Fiesta Rally2 drives + 1 WRC rally by a program with, at best, 2 outings in a Polo, could be strange.

    But in the same time, the price is certainly not the same + considering the low performances of the Fiesta WRC in fast gravel, he may have wanted to avoid to drive it in Finland (because Estonia has been quite a bad operation in terms of reputation for Suninen)
    Last edited by Danny0405; 1st September 2021 at 18:25.

  6. #65
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    Confirmed - private deal for Lappi.

    https://www.wrc.com/en/news/2021/wrc...rally-finland/

  7. Likes: 240RS (2nd September 2021),AnttiL (2nd September 2021),dimviii (2nd September 2021),Eli (2nd September 2021)
  8. #66
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danny0405 View Post
    Ok, maybe I do not evaluate well the Polo because I do not follow very precisely most of the national championships (except the main ones).

    For me, the car was average (not awful but probably a disappointment with the expectations due to the VW WRC era + Skoda experience and the fact that it was supposed to to replace Skoda which stopped its development on the Fabia) with some reliability issues. Finally, the Fabia is still the most consistant car in the class according to me (and they will make new developments in 2022 apparently) and between the Citroen, the Polo, the Hyundai and the Fiesta, there is no big gap (maybe the Hyundai and the Fiesta are a little less efficient considering the results but it is complicated to say because you must take into account the quality of the drivers in the mix).

    So replacing a program with 2 Fiesta Rally2 drives + 1 WRC rally by a program with, at best, 2 outings in a Polo, could be strange.

    But in the same time, the price is certainly not the same + considering the low performances of the Fiesta WRC in fast gravel, he may have wanted to avoid to drive it in Finland (because Estonia has been quite a bad operation in terms of reputation for Suninen)
    I would say Polo is still the second best Rally2 car next to the Fabia, especially on fast rallies. Citroen, Hyundai and Fiesta are more on the level on technical gravel and tarmac rallies.

  9. Likes: pantealex (2nd September 2021),Sulland (2nd September 2021)
  10. #67
    Senior Member Andre Oliveira's Avatar
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  11. #68
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    https://twitter.com/TeemuSuninenRac/...73284272791559

    We will compete at the #RallyFinland 2021!d We’ll drive with the VW Polo GTI in the #WRC2. It always feels special to drive at my home rally. Can’t wait to get behind the wheel especially when it’s the 70th edition of the rally.

    Quick Finnish gravel roads here we come again!

  12. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
    I would say Polo is still the second best Rally2 car next to the Fabia, especially on fast rallies. Citroen, Hyundai and Fiesta are more on the level on technical gravel and tarmac rallies.

    Seems quite right because Gryazin told that he will be with a Polo in Finland (deal already set before switching to M-Sport).

  13. #70
    Senior Member EstWRC's Avatar
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    thats Egon Kaurs livery
    #8 Ott Tänak - Martin Järveoja #8
    - World Rally Champions 2019 -

  14. Likes: pantealex (3rd September 2021)

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