Quote Originally Posted by er88 View Post
Impressed with Meeke's driving and pace considering his little time in the car. Tanak has had the upper hand, but some of the times have been really close and we know how superb Tanak is in that car. Plus Tanak has something to fight for still. Meeke's pace vs Latvala is pretty telling though - a driver on his debut rally with nothing to fight for, whereas Latvala is in a fierce battle for a podium in his 3rd season in the car, and has lost 40s to Kris today.

Jari just doesn't seem to have that outright raw speed he used to have years ago. He used to be able to beat anyone on a stage/rally if he was happy and driving to his best. Or it felt like that when he wasn't struggling mentally. Nowadays he just doesn't have that speed after years of being crushed by Ogier, and again last year with Tanak.

At least he's learned to be a bit more solid and get the car home though. Which proved valuable in the second half of last season to help Toyota win the manufacturers title
like i predicted in the crystal ball thread, i said that Meeke will be often the fastest Toyota and now after seeing him perform in Monte im even more sure about this.

pacewise so far he has been very impressive indeed.

On the other hand, it seems to me that the Yaris is a very good/neutral car that whoever steps in it will be fast right away.