Quote Originally Posted by Lousada View Post
I expect actually the opposite of you Neuville has always been very bad at Monte Carlo and Sweden, I do not see that changing this year. The other Hyundai drivers are also never that good in the opening rallies. I expect the Korean cars to cruise for points these two rallies before challenging Ogier later in the season. I expect Ogier to dominate the first rallies to give him some breathing space in the rest of the year.
Not sure on your logic there. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Paddon has finished 3rd in 2015 & 2nd in 2016 in Sweden, so to suggest the Hyundai drivers don't do well in Sweden just seems illogical to me.

In my view the first few events of 2017 are just too hard to call. Ogier may marginally be favourite for MC solely on past form and experience but nobody has any idea on how the different new cars compare and there will no doubt be some reliability issues to begin the season with the new cars. Whichever way you look it should be the most exciting WRC campaign in years.

As a kiwi the addition of Rally NZ in 2018 would be the icing on the cake. Us diehards at the other end of the world dream of once again seeing the world's elite competing on our fantastic roads and having a local with a realistic chance of winning our own world class event is mouth watering. We love watching the action in Europe but believe the addition of NZ would add to the championship.

Happy new year.