Hyundai WRT

[rp]

Huttunen´s pure talent was the reason to choose him, but of course we have to remember that during the Peugeot days Michel Nandan was there as a chief engineer and Marcus knows him very well.

[pantealex]

Those other 2 strong candidates were also from "north"

[Tarmop]

Huttunen has already proved, what he is capable of in wrc2. Kalle has a great talent, but still has a lot to learn. IMHO he is a bit overhyped now, but his time will come...

[EstWRC]

Those other 2 strong candidates were also from "north"

as i understood then Kruuda was the first one who was left out.

[rp]

Those other 2 strong candidates were also from "north"

Must have been then Bergkvist and Rovanperä

[AnttiL]

Huttunen has already proved, what he is capable of in wrc2. Kalle has a great talent, but still has a lot to learn. IMHO he is a bit overhyped now, but his time will come...

Yeh, we must remember his age, most people are only starting their careers at this point when he is already winning national championships in an R5 car. We can still give him a couple of years.

[mknight]

Yeh, we must remember his age, most people are only starting their careers at this point when he is already winning national championships in an R5 car. We can still give him a couple of years.

Thing is the "national championship speed" is what a lot of young drivers with money/drives get very quickly. Ex. Latvala, Mikkelsen and... M. Wilson.

The big step is going from that to top 6 WRC speed. For example, Mikkelsen didn't have nearly that kind of speed during his privateer time in WRC but got there after IRC. Wilson never got it, even though his "young" speed was good.

Which is why I am pessimistic about the hype every driver who shows some speed at 17-19 gets. Time will tell how Huttunen does, I hope he does well, but it's far from guaranteed.

[RS]

Thing is the "national championship speed" is what a lot of young drivers with money/drives get very quickly. Ex. Latvala, Mikkelsen and... M. Wilson.

The big step is going from that to top 6 WRC speed. For example, Mikkelsen didn't have nearly that kind of speed during his privateer time in WRC but got there after IRC. Wilson never got it, even though his "young" speed was good.

Which is why I am pessimistic about the hype every driver who shows some speed at 17-19 gets. Time will tell how Huttunen does, I hope he does well, but it's far from guaranteed.

I think your examples show why it is important for drivers to build up through the series and categories gradually.

Lefebvre is another example of someone who they tried to progress too quickly.

[RS]

Huttunen has already proved, what he is capable of in wrc2.

Hardly.. it was one event (which was also his home event) where there was also not much competition.

I happen to believe he does have a lot of talent and potential, but he still has a lot to prove too.

[AnttiL]

I think your examples show why it is important for drivers to build up through the series and categories gradually.

Lefebvre is another example of someone who they tried to progress too quickly.

Lefebvre was good in FWD cars, but he did only a year worth of rallies in R5 with only one good result (in Monte 2015) before being taken into WRC level. And I think WRC2 or ERC is where he should still be.

And I think Rovanperä should do a couple of years of WRC2 as well and he's still years ahead of most of his rivals. I hope the hype doesn't work against him. It's not like he fails if he doesn't win WRC2 in Wales and Australia.