Quote Originally Posted by Morte66 View Post
So...

Tanak: Superb, then despair. But did gain on his rivals. I would love to know whether this was a technical problem or driver error. [Edit: hah! See post above.]

Ogier: Terrible. Hit a great big rock in plain sight that he'd been past several times. Somebody suggested that the C3 is pushing him over the edge like Meeke last year, and that does seem plausible.

Neuville: Poor. Talked about car problems. Ended Friday with bad road position, and apparently you don't come back in Sardinia from that unless everything is wonderful.

All the top three in the championship were lucky that the rest of the top three did badly.

Sordo: on Friday morning, the commentator said "this is not exactly a Dani Sordo rally". Which is absolutely true. But road position and Tanak's off gifted him a win, and he didn't screw up. Well, good for him. I like the guy, he deserves a win.

Mikkelsen: also had good road position. Threw it away a little on Friday morning with the wrong tires, but not enough to sink him. Drove well from there, deserves his good result, congratulations.

It is often said that you can take a good driver and make them reliable, but you can't take a reliable driver and make them fast. Hyundai have found the way: hire extras, leave them out of half the rallies, and good road position will make them faster.

Suuninen: good. Road position handed him a podium shot, and he took it with both hands. Drove well, looks like man who will keep his job, might even be a future star.

Evans: ok/good. Still a decent result even though Mikkelsen passed him.

Latvala: Terrible. Clipped a hairpin and rolled. I really like JML, he's so gloriously nerdy and he gives the best interviews. Also his old fashioned driving style is more fun to watch. If Meeke weren't in it, I'd be a Latvala fan. Poor guy, such a bad year. At least he is at Toyota, Citroen might have fired him today.

Meeke: OK/poor. Did worse than his starting road position. Not knowing the rally hurt him on day one. Perhaps unfortunately he was close to Evans/Mikkelsen on day two -- did he push too hard, did that cause his spin/puncture, everybody at Toyota will be wondering this. Some consolation in that (a) he didn't crash and (b) he beat Latvala.

At the moment, Mr Makkinen can ask himself if it would be so bad to swap one of these two for Rovanpera next year.

Lappi: whatever. Showed some "it might be worth keeping this guy" speed at times, and didn't crash. Seems like the car and/or team orders were slowing him sometimes.
Look at Meeke onboard S15. He done nothing wrong.