Quote Originally Posted by mknight View Post
Despite what I thought it was definitely a good idea to start here for multiple reasons.

Adamo got PR and "pressure" towards Hyundai leadership ("look we have this new star in our team")

Solberg did a bit better than expected by most people, though not drastically better (like Ogier or Suninen on their first rallies).Though I don't think it was possible to get stage win in a "consistent" rally with similar stages like this one. Maybe most surprising was his "stability" in getting similar stage times in top 5.
To make him a complete driver he imo needs three things:
1. the ability to win/get results when under pressure and expected to perform (here there was no pressure)
2. stable performances in rallies (so far he usually is like Petter, great stage times in one stage and then a mistake or a big time loss on next, that doesn't win championships against "machines" like Ogier or Loeb)
3. learn rallies that he has not started on before (here he actually had an advantage compared to most drivers)

Hard to say what is the way forward, imo he can learn all 3 things in (competitive) Rally2 car or in a WRC car. WRC car is certainly more expensive and might also add too much additional "noise", on the other hand it's also more visible and will also help him learn aero.

Which brings me to maybe the main reason why I think it was good for him to start here in WRC car. Looking at the performance of Rally2 cars and comparing the times with Arctic Rally 4 weeks ago I would say that in the current I20 R5 he'd at best be fighting for 3rd here. That doesn't not help much for points 1. or 2..... and point 3. was moot here since he already started Arctic 4 weeks ago.

So some middle strategy might be to learn rallies in Rally2, do the ralllies where he has some experience in WRC (Estonia for example) and also definitely wait for the new Hyundai Rally2.
Come on! So hypotetically said. His performance in R5...? And talking about pressure, I´d say he had pressure after day one. And made it clear he managed it.

@scn We were many fans saying same as your co-driver friend Loris.

So let´s enjoy what he did. And wait and see what comes next. Anyway he did some greta things in Arctic Rally.