Silly Season 2022

[TypeR]

No it didn't, they lost the 2020 title due to it.

First season in WRC and finishing in Top5.. not really bad, to be honest.

If anyone(but no real reason) ro blame, then Evans lost both(maybe) titles in the ditch in Monza..
What did you expect from Kalle last year? Ending the season ahead Ogier, Tänak, Neuville..? funny

[mknight]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/green...t-after-spain/

“We know how important having a good co-driver alongside me is,” said Greensmith.

Well this could have come out wrong, but I doubt Greensmiths issues with Elliot were cause Elliot was "bad" co-driver, given the recent record with Mikkelsen.
It was more that he (Greensmith) needed some co-driver to steer him.
Undoubtedly there has been some improvement, but as said before I disagree that it "has shown that Greesmith deservers to drive WRC" on speed/performance alone.

--------

or because of Evans crashing in Monza, or Ogier's engine blowing in Turkey, or Ogier losing to Neuville by fractions in Sardegna...it's not so simple.

I disagree, what you mention are details that might have made Toyota win anyway, yet they did not even though the were 1-2 in drivers. In way it was Tanaks and Neuvilles issues that almost lost title for Hyundai. (also remember mexico with issues for all 3 cars 2x technical,1 crash). Also remember that Evans had much better results than basically anyone expected before the season.

In direct comparison Rovanpera was supposed to outscore Sordo+Breen+Loeb on their chosen rallies with road position advantage, in his first WRC season. That was entirely impossible.

In the end Rovanpera got just 27 manu points!
Sordo+Breen+Loeb got 81 !!!

Rovanpera did great for first season, but he didn't have a chance beforehand.
----

But I find it amusing that people (even WRC journalists) compare Solberg and Rovanpera a year ago. It's like a completely different sport.
As AnttiL wrote on twitter Rovanpera had some 3500? more stage kms in R5 before going to WRC... and a WRC2 title.... and lots of wins.

Rovanpera has had the fastest driver development curve in (recent?) history... and then Hyundai tries to develop Solberg twice as fast.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Given the decision of Breen to jump ship early to M-Sport, was there a better single 3rd driver or combination Adamo could have signed than Sordo/Solberg ?

If Sordo and Solberg just do their strongest/favourite events they should be good points scorers if required.

[SubaruNorway]

Oliver of course wanted to be in a 4th car but there's not enough cars yet, I think from what I understand he will do the other rounds in the old car if FIA gets the rules for it set.

[Mirek]

Oliver of course wanted to be in a 4th car but there's not enough cars yet, I think from what I understand he will do the other rounds in the old car if FIA gets the rules for it set.

The old cars are faster than the new ones. Trying to ballance them to similar speed makes no sense whatsoever, therefore the only option is to make them much slower than they are now (by using small restrictor for example). Either way I don't see any reason why someone with any ambitions would opt to drive a singular car running basically outside of the championship system. It makes thousand times more sense to drive Rally2 instead.

[SubaruNorway]

The old cars are faster than the new ones. Trying to ballance them to similar speed makes no sense whatsoever, therefore the only option is to make them much slower than they are now (by using small restrictor for example). Either way I don't see any reason why someone with any ambitions would opt to drive a singular car running basically outside of the championship system. It makes thousand times more sense to drive Rally2 instead.

If the rally2 was a good car that is

[mknight]

Given the decision of Breen to jump ship early to M-Sport, was there a better single 3rd driver or combination Adamo could have signed than Sordo/Solberg ?

This is a good point. Maybe there weren't, especially if you disregard Lappi (as "already" heading to Toyota) and Mikkelsen (because Adamo doesn't trust him (own words)).

But there was no haste, Sordo is not going anywhere else and Solberg was already signed for 2 years so he would have to break contract.
They could have waited with any announcement until after Monza and wait if something shows up..... like Suninen which could be a good match with Sordo for the fast rallies. At this very point Suninen does seem like a better option than Solberg for that.

-------------------

Oliver of course wanted to be in a 4th car but there's not enough cars yet, I think from what I understand he will do the other rounds in the old car if FIA gets the rules for it set.

As Mirek says running a detuned 2017 cars seems crazy.

Essentially he would be driving a car setup that nobody ever used (less power/diferent power curve might need different diff settings) that is sensitive to setup and has different diffs (active + adjustable front/rear), which are different than the new car. Against likely no competition (so nobody to compare stagetimes with).

Running Rally2 instead would mean "easier" car to set-up, more competition to compare with, less running costs.

[Mirek]

If the rally2 was a good car that is

Still much better option than to drive a car nobody else drives and outside of any competition.

Plus it's not like Oliver has nothing to prove in WRC2. Quite the opposite.

[denkimi]

or because of Evans crashing in Monza, or Ogier's engine blowing in Turkey, or Ogier losing to Neuville by fractions in Sardegna...it's not so simple.

It is so simple. They ended up one and two in the championship, yet didn't win the title. So that was only due to the 3th driver failing to beat Hyundai's 3 driver(s).

It is of course impossible to know, but i believe that with someone like mikkelsen or lappi they would have most likely won the title.

So as i said, putting rovanpera in that car has cost them the title. They should have put him in a junior team with katsuta.
So that's not rovanpera's fault, that makinen's fault.

First season in WRC and finishing in Top5.. not really bad, to be honest.

If anyone(but no real reason) ro blame, then Evans lost both(maybe) titles in the ditch in Monza..
What did you expect from Kalle last year? Ending the season ahead Ogier, Tänak, Neuville..? funny

Kalle did well, better than i expected. But just like now with solberg, putting an unknown first timer in a factory that's supposed to win the title is just plain stupid.

But again, that was makinens fault. And, i suppose, one of the reasons he is not the manager anymore.

[OHL]

It is so simple. They ended up one and two in the championship, yet didn't win the title. So that was only due to the 3th driver failing to beat Hyundai's 3 driver(s).

It is of course impossible to know, but i believe that with someone like mikkelsen or lappi they would have most likely won the title.

So as i said, putting rovanpera in that car has cost them the title. They should have put him in a junior team with katsuta.
So that's not rovanpera's fault, that makinen's fault.


Kalle did well, better than i expected. But just like now with solberg, putting an unknown first timer in a factory that's supposed to win the title is just plain stupid.

But again, that was makinens fault. And, i suppose, one of the reasons he is not the manager anymore.

Yeah, I can kind of see it but you have to think about these things from all angles. Everyone was expecting Seb to leave already at the end of last year. The fact that he stayed on for one more season was only a bonus.
With a talent like Kalle, if he is on the bubble you push him forward, you don't hold him back for one more season. He proved himself in R5 and needed 1 solid season in the WRC car to get up to speed. What better year to do that than when you have 2 really strong drivers to cover his lower performance? 2020 was a learning year for him but he arrived to 2021 ready to fight at the top. Overall, it has worked out as a good strategy for Toyota to manage Seb leaving and have 2 strong drivers again to underpin the team while Lappi settles in. 2021 is a gangbuster year for Toyota and Kalle has played a not insignificant role in that.

That said, I don't see Oliver in the same place Kalle was when he moved forward to WRC. Oliver could do with another year of development. Hyundai might get lucky with him and Oliver could have some great performances in 2022 but we'll have to wait and see.