Young talented drivers

[Ounin]

Agreed. For me he has done much more than Camilli, but still - he is nordic. And at the moment you have to be french, right?

I catch your drift although it's about 3 French drivers, but you don't have to be French, you have to drive in France because this country provides car manufactures the best choice of all round drivers available. How many tarmac rallies are held in Scandinavia?
In WRC as well as ERC there is a mix of around 50-50 Tarmac-Gravel/snow. Maybe Even Rally Mamagement souls send its clients to Tarmac rallies elsewhere to gain this very necessary experience.

[nafpaktos]

I think now the french school will be on the top for the next many years,the finnish school i think has just finnished.for every single finnish driver in the international scene there will be 10 from france.after france i belive in the future estonian school will be stable on the second place.i wonder what are they doing in italy and in england.italy always has good drivers but they stay on the domestic championsip,they are not used to do rallies abroad.about england what can i say?i have never understood the way they think about rallies and espessially about abroad rallies.

[Hartusvuori]

Interesting topic, as long as it stays objective.

I've been delighted to follow some French events over last years and one can see from the times that the competition is really tough. To me it's clear that why so many French drivers now comes to the highest level, it starts from beating the guy next to you in equal, national series and secondly, it looks like there's good financial support. Otherwise for example Lefebvre would not have done JERC and JWRC at the same time last year. It's good for him and good for us spectators as he is one of the most, if not the most interesting drivers at the moment. Camilli too is very, very impressive and I learned only now that he is so early in his career.

I would love to learn more about French series, what kind of budget they require, how the competetive spirit in general, where does the sponsor money come from, etc. It seems to work.

Of course I do have an idea why Finnish drivers haven't flooded the international top positions lately. We have of course Latvala who is the best driver in the world in a good day. Maybe this will be his good year. Lappi is reigning ERc champ if that's worth anything. Hänninen's achievements aren't that far back in the history either, but of course at the moment his career doesn't look good.

My idea isn't new. It's money. Or the lack of it. Like few forumers on this topic has said already why Finns don't drive abroad and it all comes down to money. If you look at our national series, F-cup is the most popular. It's good for a driver to start with, but one year should do, it's not 2015 in terms of eyeing an international career. Look at FRC. Only a few odd S2000/R5 around and even more rarely are they driven by those considered promising talents. Driving Gr. N Impreza year in year out doesn't take you anywhere - and in most cases those drivers are happy just to be able to have this hobby. In general, Finnish drivers, fast or not so fast drive with outdated machinery because that's the only choice. Other option would be not to drive at all. We have many local heroes, but mostly we don't expect them to do anything international, because we already know they don't have a chance. They could possible stand a chance, but they don't have chance.

There are few Finnish drivers who try their pace abroad, but not always are their the fastest of their generation. Tom mentioned Kinnunen and Lario, of which the latter is just a beginner and the previous, well, a fast guy but not the fastest. BRC champ Jukka Korhonen has talent, but after his title year, meaning last year, did he do any more than three starts of which he twice retired? (Touquet, Circuit of Ireland, Ypres) Tom also mentioned Swede Emil Bergqvist whom I'm following with interest. I've seen him live only twice, both in one make cup. First time was 2013 when Swedish rough Volvo Mekonomen Cup visited Finland. He was clearly head and shoulders above the rest. Last time in Rally Germany I saw Bergqvist do Opel Adam Cup and even if his times were at the top, he didn't stood out that much. There's still potential and of course Swedes put a much hope in him.

This year Samuli Vuorisalo will do Opel Adam Cup and now he is considered as one the fastest of his generation. Adam Cup is not Peugeot Volant, but it shows Vuorisalo is at least trying hard. I wish him all the best. It goes without saying he hasn't competed on tarmac before, though. (Did I mention it's practically impossible to organize tarmac rallies in Finland? At least they are not organized)

I think we will hear more from Henri Haapamäki as well. He has what we know as raw speed, so hopefully he gets chances to refine that.

Teemu Suninen is a joker. I can't tell about him, he is far too early in his career, but for sure it looks like he has an ability to learn fast and it also looks likemsome chances are coming in his favour.

I was spectating a local event today, Finnish Junior Championship event in Laukaa, you know, Rally Finland stages. Maybe three or four R2s. Juniors drove with smaller cars. My driver of the day is Henri Tuomisto. In the end he retired, but up until that was clearly the fastest in his class. In the last FRC event of 2013 Tuomisto was 2nd fastest R2 in his first - and so far only - R2 outing. He was faster than Haapamäki, Vuorisalo, do I have to mention Vatanen, ... He drove the best competition he had had that far. Last year, not much from him. Today he drove R1 Fiesta. But he is fast...

There are names, some more than mentioned here, and I do hope all the time they would get the budgets to go abroad, and then burst into recognition of people that they need.

Oh, and one more: those French youngters are s**t fast. That's why they are up there too.

Dedicated to N.O.T.,

[MJW]

Excellent post Hartusvouri. And equally true of UK. Here it is old cars, either a historic car, or a twenty year old car with big money spent on engines and gearboxes and dampers.Brits seem to hate homogated small cars, but Elfyn Evans started in a small 1000 Micra which was more basic than R1 type.

[AL14]

I think now the french school will be on the top for the next many years,the finnish school i think has just finnished.for every single finnish driver in the international scene there will be 10 from france.after france i belive in the future estonian school will be stable on the second place.i wonder what are they doing in italy and in england.italy always has good drivers but they stay on the domestic championsip,they are not used to do rallies abroad.about england what can i say?i have never understood the way they think about rallies and espessially about abroad rallies.

Regarding Italy yes, the three faster drivers in national champioship doesn't move from there, I don't know why actually, I don't want to think that they don't want to compare themself with other people that can be faster than them and are pleased by their podium after rallyes they know by heart. But, really I don't know much about them, although I'm italian. I have no interest in national champioship and I won't bother you explaining the reasons.

But I'm curious about Tempestini. He's shown good pace lately and he's doing a good job both in ERC and in JWRC. But know what? He drives mostly with romanian flag. It has been "raised" in his career with the help of romanian federation (his father has a company there if I remember well, and I think he his somewhat romanian too, but he's italian in a first instance). That is way far from french mentality and way far from golden ages in '70s and '80s. In summary, do not expect italian world champions for near future.

[N.O.T]

too many words... words words everywhere... keep it simple Hatrsu,,, i am a simple man, that is why i am awesome.

[nafpaktos]

Did I mention it's practically impossible to organize tarmac rallies in Finland? At least they are not organized)

Why?

[AndyRAC]

Agree with Hartsvuori & MJW's posts.
Having seen some coverage of the French Opel Adam Cup, those boys are showing no mercy, they seem to be driving at 10 tenths. I would have liked to see a similar Cup in the UK; I guess Vauxhall aren't interested in rallying. But, a single make series using current cars would be nice - but might not be popular here; as MJW so rightly said.

The most popular rally series in the UK are the Historics - for many British rally fans, the Escort IS rallying.

[nafpaktos]

@AL14
I would like to see albertini and scatolon to try abroad with a solid program and not one-off appearances. An irrelevant question,why a driver to choose adam cup,since opel doesnt get involved in high level on rallying,so less chances for the future.on the other hand peugeot volante......

[AL14]

@AL14
I would like to see albertini and scatolon to try abroad with a solid program and not one-off appearances.

Me too, I like Albertini, I hope he and Scatolon will have more chances and won't stay in CIR all life long.