Quote Originally Posted by Mk2 RS2000 View Post
There is a Kiwi lurking between NZ and Europe at the moment who is pretty handy on fast roads especially if he gets a chance to set a car up to suit him rather than to suit someone else. Scuttlebutt has it that a few of the Hyundai mechanics would like him onboard for this event too.
Sure Paddon is the best pick in Finland, but he reportedly said no to that in December. We will see if that no is still valid if they don't get anyone else. On the other hand it's not very good situation for Paddon to drive in Finland either. He is not likely to fight for the win or even podium there unless Hyundai does some miracle upgrade (very unlikely, they have 0 podiums from that rally for a reason). If he finishes 4th-5th it will just be "normal" and doesn't increase his chances for a seat in any way, anything else, for example worse than 5th, worse than any of the other two Hyndais or a crash will hurt him a lot.

So I do understand why he is not so keen to join just for one rally.

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Quote Originally Posted by er88 View Post
Seeing how ruthless Adamo is, I'd guess/presume Mikkelsen will now be out of Germany and Spain (unless Loeb actively doesn't want to do one of those events for whatever reason).
Adamo being extremely "realistic" is exactly why I don't think that Loeb automatically drives both rallies and that Sordo drives Germany.

In Corsica Loeb crashed in first stage, crashed 2 times in the rally in total (when did that ever happen before?), didn't have good pace, finished worse than Mikkelsen the year before and brought 0 points to the team. Hard to do worse than that. (btw. I don't think it's down to Loeb as a driver). Sordo crashing out of Germany the last two years was mentioned.

Imo Mikkelsen will drive in Germany as the "safe" choice, just like Sordo drove on Corsica. So will Loeb (if he wants/has time) as the "risky" choice and Spain will be decided depending on their results.

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Quote Originally Posted by Allez Andruet View Post
https://www.rallit.fi/wrc-huoltoalue...oppuun-saakka/

Speculation (in Finnish) about the upcoming Rally Argentina and more interestingly about Latvala's situation at TGR. According to Heinonen and Hietavala (the two doing the talking on the video) there's been rumor around the service park whether JML will remain in the TGR squad till the end of the season if he doesn't start to deliver. And as we're already approaching Argentina, he better do it sooner than later.

Ofcourse it's nothing more than pure speculation at the moment, but as both of these guys are actively involved in Finnish WRC gossip, it's interesting to hear nevertheless. What was the saying again about the smoke and fire...
While Latvala obviously does not have good season so far I really don't see him getting replaced before the end of the year. The only somewhat "safe" choices are Paddon, Østberg and Breen, out of these only Breen seems completely free. In any case nothing is going to happen on that front until after Finland.