Silly Season 2020

[sinepikohv]

interesting thing is that, the contract is for 2 years..? ending just before the new cars?

That seems like a logical move. If Hyundai can't work well on a new car he can leave without any issues.

My bet is that he'll win a championship or two with Hyundai, go to M-Sport for 2022 and retire in 2023. M-Sport has always been good with new cars so perhaps he'll win a title with them too.

[wrc2017]

Is that an advantage to an international brand to have 2 finnsh drivers? Is Latvala cheap?

[dimviii]

That rumor came after the Hyundai deal was signed. In the Evans article it's said the Japanese were supportive of Tänak throughout the negotiation process.

yes but the negotiation process was about 4-5 months,we dont know at which point they were still supportive.
Take with a bit of salt what i write,i dont have facts,we just try to fix the puzzle from what we know and make sense.

[dimviii]

[wrc2017]

yes but the negotiation process was about 4-5 months,we dont know at which point they were still supportive.
Take with a bit of salt what i write,i dont have facts,we just try to fix the puzzle from what we know and make sense.

The R5 thing is starting to make sense. WRC is maybe getting more like F1 where B2B relationships are evermore important.

[ggg377]

Is that an advantage to an international brand to have 2 finnsh drivers? Is Latvala cheap?

From what I understand the Japanese have provided the money and left the team with creative control as long as they deliver results. In my opinion recent developments, especially Finnish (Jouhki's) business interests intertwining with questionable decisions, leave them open to accusations of corruption and mismanagement. Latvala's salary is supposedly 4.5 million euros per season. I have no doubt they negotiated a sweet deal for Rovanperä. Of course people (particularly those that live in Nagoya Japan and manage Toyota's finances) will start thinking this may be more than a coincidence.

[ggg377]

yes but the negotiation process was about 4-5 months,we dont know at which point they were still supportive.
Take with a bit of salt what i write,i dont have facts,we just try to fix the puzzle from what we know and make sense.

Of course, I speculate a lot too, because a lot of the questions are still unanswered. I remember very specifically that the rumors of Tänak/Märtin going to Japan was around October 10, a time when everything was already sealed. Now to think about past events it might have been decided when Adamo said negotiations with Ott have led him to believe they're "no longer friends" (being business partners instead), which was in the middle of September. Martin Järveoja looked noticeably down since Germany, it may have been bubbling since then.

[dimviii]

The R5 thing is starting to make sense. WRC is maybe getting more like F1 where B2B relationships are evermore important.

i cant find any other request that wasnt able to satisfy.
These about airplanes about Tanaks family i find laughable.Nobody will change the winning championship team for this reason.

[deephouse]

If Ogier will stay in Citroen (I hope so), that we will have fine show. If he goes to Toyota it's bad because he could dominate over Hyundai boys. That's not good for sport. Despite reliability issues others had always more bad luck with reliability than him in the same cars, so I don't think if he would be in yaris that the car would break so much. Or he is simply master of keeping the car as much as intact or without failures. Then Latvala and also Meeke can stay in Toyota too and losing superman at the wheel they could show and maybe have a little more confident and motivation for winning rallies maybe challenge for the title. Still better than M-Sport boys. Sorry, but Evans is not close enough yet to the fastest and Latvala and Meeke are. I think that big factor was for them just Tanak, because of his raw speed straight away and leaving everyone breathless. Latvala was not that bad in 2017 when he was nr. 1 in the team.

[Tarmop]

Well, when it comes to alternators, ECUs, faulty powersteering (of all the cars the same weekend), i don`t think he has more to do than others. And Evans has podium pace and was about to win rally Corsica, finished/is ahead of Meeke and Latvala in the standings WITHOUT doing 3 events...i`d rate him quite high at the moment, when you consider drivers reliability (including mental) and consistancy, he is right after the top 3.