Hyundai WRT

[er88]

What car does suit Mikkelsen? An ultra dominant VW with no competition? And still, Mikkelsen only won 3 events with that car after multiple years (one on pace alone).

He couldn't drive the C3 on gravel, but was happy with it on tarmac and finished 2nd (while it was the best tarmac car). Meeke led Corsica and won Spain that year proving the car was capable on that surface back then.

At Hyundai, Neuville has fought for 3 championships in a row with the car. He has shown he is on the same sort of level as Ogier and Tanak in terms of speed across all surfaces. The only question mark left for Neuville is if he can get over the line - that's all that's been missing and it's really fine margins. As mentioned above, combine championship pts for the last 3yrs and you can see Neuville is there or thereabouts in the top 3 undoubtedly. Mikkelsen isn't in that class atm.

And if he needs an ultra perfect car or great road position to fight with the front runners on events, that proves he isn't in on the same level as the top 3. Give some drivers a tractor or a dog of a car, and they can still wring the best out of it. That's something I don't believe Mikkelsen has shown he can do yet considering Neuville's performances vs Mikkelsen at Hyundai.

FWIW, I still think Mikkelsen deserves a place in the WRC and wish Msport would've taken him, but that's Tommi, Malcolm and Adamo who seem to see differently about Mikkelsen.