[WRC] News & rumours (part III)

[skarderud]

It is time of Sweden have a top driver again Could be Tidemand?

Btw, Sweden World Rally Team project are over?

Probably, even the website is down.

[Lundefaret]

The way I see it, Tidemand and Tanak are part of a group of young drivers looking to get into WRC with quite similar speed. There's also Lappi, Abbring, maybe Breen etc.

Tanak could be a real possibility at M-Sport next year I think.

If Hirvonen cant find any new inspiration, and decides to quit, then M-Sport is short of one lead driver.
If Meeke contioues his show of form, Citroën will want to keep him, and Wilson could be very interested in aquiring him.
That could result in a low scale bidding war (neither Citroën or M-Sport has a lot of money to shell out on one driver), and this could be decided by the eventuality of a long term agreement.
Now the problem is that Citroën is very unsure about a future in the WRC after 2015, and M-Sport is also unsure. Hmmm....
One thing You can say tough is that Mr Wilson is very lojal to his favorite drivers (Hirvonen, Latvala etc), and this could be a plus for Meeke.
Tough he is certainly high risk, Meeke brings in excitment in the championship, and would be the kind of driver M-Sport needs, also to atract heavy sponsors.

Tideman, is at aprox the same level as Evans, both in speed and experience (tough faster in some rallies), and would be to inexperienced to take on a lead role.
The same goes for Lappi, and the other talents. Tough very good, it is a long way up to fighting for podiums in the WRC as a lead driver should.

[Eli]

what about Jan Kopecky, do any of you think he deserves a chance in the WRC?

[Wim_Impreza]

Yes, I think that already for more than 5 years that Kopecky deserves a chance in the WRC. He is for sure as good as Mikkelsen which he proved in the IRC and he dominated the ERC last year.

[Franky]

Can't really remember any major flashes from his Fabia WRC years and I doubt he'd be a podium contender now.

[Lundefaret]

Yes, I think that already for more than 5 years that Kopecky deserves a chance in the WRC. He is for sure as good as Mikkelsen which he proved in the IRC and he dominated the ERC last year.

Comparing Kopecky to Mikkelsen is not fair to any of them.
Mikkelsen, at his best, is on a completly different level than Kopecky.
Remember rally Poland in 2009? If I remember correctly, this was the first rally for Andreas Mikkelsen in a WRC car since he - due to the financial crisis of 2008 - had to put his WRC efforts on a hold. He was driving a Skoda Fabia WRC, not by any means the fastest car in the field. And he started right of the bat setting fourth and fifht times.
A truly incerdible drive, wich says something about Mikkelsens ultimate potential.
Unfortunatly the team around Andreas has not been able to work in such a way that they have been able to let him fulfill his potential as fast as expected, and they have made some strange desissions regarding codriver etc, something that has lead to more inexperienced drivers like Neuville, Meeke etc being able to steal the limelight some what. But in the end - in my mind - he has a lot greater ultimate potential than Kopecky.
But its a "little" frustrating seeing that a talent of Mikkelsens calibre is adjusting both his driving style and other things to go slower with higher risk, in stead of faster with lower risk, but that is anoter story all togheter.

[Mirek]

Kopecký is strongly connected with Škoda and will stay there. Anyway he is an asphalt specialist who isn't that fast on gravel (and even sometimes on wet or very dirty asphalt). His problem is also that he doesn't drive WRC events so he doesn't know them. He is too old for any team to buy him a learning season or two. On the other hand it's not true that Mikkelsen is clearly better. When both had absolutely same cars Mikkelsen beat Kopecký in IRC 2011 only due to special IRC rules. With WRC point-scoring system Kopecký would clearly win (only 8 of 12 events counted plus double points from the last rally). 2012 Kopecký did only half of the events Mikkelsen did.

Here their battles...

2012 (both same works cars)

Canarias - Kopecký 1., Mikkelsen 2.
Circuit of Ireland - Kopecký 3., Mikklesen 2.
Corsica - Kopecký 2., Mikkelsen 5.
Targa Florio - Kopecký 1., Mikkelsen 2.
Barum - Kopecký retired from 1st place (engine failure), Mikklesen 8.

2011 (both same works cars)

Monte Carlo - Kopecký 8. (epic Škoda tyre fail), Mikkelsen crash
Canarias - Kopecký 2., Mikkelsen 6.
Corsica - Kopecký 2., Mikklesen 6.
Yalta - Kopecký 3., Mikkesen 4.
Ypres - crash for both
Acores - Kopecký 3., Mikkelsen 2.
Barum - Kopecký 1., Mikklesen 5.
Mecsek - Kopecký 1., Mikklesen crash
Sanremo - Kopecký 4., Mikkelsen 2.
Scotland - Kopecký 5., Mikkelsen 1.
Cyprus - Kopecký 2., Mikkelsen 1.

Anyway Hänninen usually beat them both...


Regarding the record of Kopecký he was twice fifth overall and won three stages overall. Take into account that he was driving private Fabia WRC (in that time his car had circa 100 Nm less torque than contemporary opposition - Fabia had approximately 640 Nm and 340 Hp). Anyway it's all a history, too much time passed.

Catalunya 2006 5. (between Bengue and Duval), Deutschland 2007 5. (between Grönholm and Solberg)

[Lundefaret]

Kopecký is strongly connected with Škoda and will stay there. Anyway he is an asphalt specialist who isn't that fast on gravel (and even sometimes on wet or very dirty asphalt). His problem is also that he doesn't drive WRC events so he doesn't know them. He is too old for any team to buy him a learning season or two. On the other hand it's not true that Mikkelsen is clearly better. When both had absolutely same cars Mikkelsen beat Kopecký in IRC 2011 only due to special IRC rules. With WRC point-scoring system Kopecký would clearly win (only 8 of 12 events counted plus double points from the last rally). 2012 Kopecký did only half of the events Mikkelsen did.

Here their battles...

2012 (both same works cars)

Canarias - Kopecký 1., Mikkelsen 2.
Circuit of Ireland - Kopecký 3., Mikklesen 2.
Corsica - Kopecký 2., Mikkelsen 5.
Targa Florio - Kopecký 1., Mikkelsen 2.
Barum - Kopecký retired from 1st place (engine failure), Mikklesen 8.

2011 (both same works cars)

Monte Carlo - Kopecký 8. (epic Škoda tyre fail), Mikkelsen crash
Canarias - Kopecký 2., Mikkelsen 6.
Corsica - Kopecký 2., Mikklesen 6.
Yalta - Kopecký 3., Mikkesen 4.
Ypres - crash for both
Acores - Kopecký 3., Mikkelsen 2.
Barum - Kopecký 1., Mikklesen 5.
Mecsek - Kopecký 1., Mikklesen crash
Sanremo - Kopecký 4., Mikkelsen 2.
Scotland - Kopecký 5., Mikkelsen 1.
Cyprus - Kopecký 2., Mikkelsen 1.

Anyway Hänninen usually beat them both...


Regarding the record of Kopecký he was twice fifth overall and won three stages overall. Take into account that he was driving private Fabia WRC (in that time his car had circa 100 Nm less torque than contemporary opposition - Fabia had approximately 640 Nm and 340 Hp). Anyway it's all a history, too much time passed.

Catalunya 2006 5. (between Bengue and Duval), Deutschland 2007 5. (between Grönholm and Solberg)

The negative trend of Andreas actually started in 2011.
To understand what Andreas is capable of You really should look at what he was capable of in a Subaru Group N car, and what he managed in the wake of this (his WRC drive in Poland in 2009, his S2000 Hankook etc).
But I agree that Kopecky can be very good at tarmac.

[Eli]

last time out I was in finland and i got a chance to speak to Henning Solberg (in the hotel) and he told me his brother will be comming to the WRC next year, now today I've heard in World Rally Radio Colin Clark said that there was a rumour that Petter might be back next year, do any of you think it can happen?

[skarderud]

last time out I was in finland and i got a chance to speak to Henning Solberg (in the hotel) and he told me his brother will be comming to the WRC next year, now today I've heard in World Rally Radio Colin Clark said that there was a rumour that Petter might be back next year, do any of you think it can happen?

That would be a big surprice, he has his own team, leading worldrx and is the biggest favourit to win the first worlchamp ever. Witch team and new codriver, but maybe.
it will be a hard one for him i think