Hyundai WRT

[deephouse]

Maybe Paddon decline Finland because he knew that one event (and a bad one for whole Hyundai) would not bring any chance of him doing more events or whole season again. He is sure good at those kind of roads but Hyundai isn't and that would not help him much. Let's face it, probably he would be best in 5th place and no one sign drivers who came for one off and be average.

[Allez Andruet]

Maybe Paddon decline Finland because he knew that one event (and a bad one for whole Hyundai) would not bring any chance of him doing more events or whole season again. He is sure good at those kind of roads but Hyundai isn't and that would not help him much. Let's face it, probably he would be best in 5th place and no one sign drivers who came for one off and be average.

It's probably impossible to challenge for the victory with the i20 in Finland, but Paddon ofcourse could have been compared to two other Hyundais. Too bad he obviously wasn't up for the call.

[mknight]

I wrote it already a few months ago that accepting the one rally has many more cons than pros for him.
- Hyundai has never been good there (0 podiums), so pretty much impossible to challenge for top 3 imo
- he had no time in the car until the rally, even if he did some testing rally like in Estonia last year it's a risk
- he we was fast there before, so anything but 4th place will just be just make him look bad, even if he beats both teammates

But with Loeb now having used 5 of his 6 starts and being vocal about not wanting more there is a very clear gap in GB and possibly Australia and Turkey where Sordo can't be expected to do very well.
This should open up for a 2-3 rally deal basically independent of how Mikkelsen does. In that case he should take it.

[er88]

Has it been mentioned how many rallies Sordo has a contract for?

He's done Mexico, Corsica and Argentina. He'll do Portugal, Sardinia, Germany & Spain at the very least, so that's 7. The only other gravel rally I can see him doing ok in is maybe Turkey, but he didn't do that rally last year.

It's clear Hyundai will be trying to get Loeb to do a few more, but he seems adamant he won't. "There's no point me doing 10 or so rallies as i would've just done a full season instead in that case" - or words to that effect in his latest wrc tv interview.

Paddon would be a good option for Finland/Turkey/GB/Australia, but Hyundai are also going to have to rely on big performances from Mikkelsen as well which isn't something you'd want to be doing, after his last year and a half. Adamo will have to build his confidence up.

[mknight]

They said Sordo had 7 rallies.

Hyundai are also going to have to rely on big performances from Mikkelsen as well which isn't something you'd want to be doing, after his last year and a half. Adamo will have to build his confidence up.

Even if they get Paddon for say GB there is still that 3rd car. So it should be their main interested to actually help Mikkelsen.

Less risk to rely on Mikkelsen doing well in GB/Tur/Australia based on his speed on all 3 last year than using the "safe" bet that Sordo will be slow there (as you said in Turkey he might do ok, but in GB there is little chance after all these years).

It does not look like a good way of building confidence to me when they drop him one rally after his probably best rally in the car (I'd say Turkey last year was better in terms of speed, but in terms of result Argentina was best).

[racerx1979]

Will be interesting to see how the Hyundai's do this weekend with their new differential.

[mknight]

Loeb said he was expected to come to Germany. So that maybe hasn't changed.

Also says there are no more rallies than one planned and that he needs holidays. So while that rules out Finland it somehow also opens a bit up for more starts later.

[AnttiL]

Loeb said he was expected to come to Germany. So that maybe hasn't changed.

Also says there are no more rallies than one planned and that he needs holidays. So while that rules out Finland it somehow also opens a bit up for more starts later.

I think everything is wide open for the remainder of the season. I would use Loeb for Spain where he won last year.

[mknight]

If he does Germany which sounds more and more likely for multiple reasons (doing 2 tarmac rallies before, saying he wanted to do it before and now mentioning he planned to do it before the change of plans), they will definitely wait after that before deciding for Spain.
Cause Corsica was easily the worst rally he did not only in last two years but also a few years before that. Even without the two crashes he would have had trouble beating Suninen who drove that for first time in WRC.

[Allez Andruet]

IMO it would be strange if Loeb indeed does only two rounds after this one, considering he's got a contract for 2020 as well.