TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT

[Danny0405]

Appart from him being from Finland and previously driving with them....

The main sporting reason would be that he is better match for switching with Ogier.
Lappi is likely better than Mikkelsen on the fast gravel/snow rallies that Ogier definitely won't do and comparable on slow gravel. He is worse than Mikkelsen on tricky tarmac like Monte or say Northern Irland (if it were to happen) or wet/tricky gravel but Ogier wants to do most of these kinds of rallies himself.

And we can add some other valuable reasons:
- less time outside of a WRC car (he still competed with M-Sport in 2020 whereas Mikkelsen hasn’t been in a WRC car since 2019)
- more convincing outings last year in Rally2 (even if he was in a different position than Mikkelsen) => confirmed by Latvala in interview
- highest development potential as he has around 40 WRC outings (I mean in top class) against more than 75 for Mikkelsen,

Even if I don’t like to see an incumbent WRC2+ERC champion without at least some outings in Rally1 (maybe in a 4th M-Sport car as Red Bull sponsored him a lot, they called him as a backup in Dakar for example).

[mknight]

And we can add some other reasons:
- less time outside of a WRC car (he still competed with M-Sport in 2020 whereas Mikkelsen hasn’t been in a WRC since 2019)
- more convincing outings last year in Rally2 (even if he was in a different position than Mikkelsen)
.

- Actually until Finland Mikkelsen drove much more kms in WRC than Lappi in 2021, and some 6-10 testing days in 2020

- that one I find a bit funny. He drives two rallies and wins both, only one vs Mikkelsen and including being stuck in the snowbank and lucky to get out. And it's considered as more convincing than winning two championships at the same time with one less rally than anyone else and with more wins than anyone else.

[Danny0405]

- Actually until Finland Mikkelsen drove much more kms in WRC than Lappi in 2021, and some 6-10 testing days in 2020

- that one I find a bit funny. He drives two rallies and wins both, only one vs Mikkelsen and including being stuck in the snowbank and lucky to get out. And it's considered as more convincing than winning two championships at the same time with one less rally than anyone else and with more wins than anyone else.

Yeah I forgot the Pirelli tests but not sure it can be considered as competitive as making 7 real outings in 2020.

For the other one, the main point to remember is that Latvala took his decision quite early (it was pretty clear from him that if Lappi makes a good Rally Finland, he would clinch the spot and as soon as the end of the rally, he confirmed Lappi will be there in 2022). And Mikkelsen was not really efficient before September: not in a good position against Ostberg in WRC-2 standings even after Estonia (with one win in MC and another in Estonia but dominated by Lukyanuk for the class win and slower than Ostberg in pure speed there) and, in ERC, still behind Lukyanuk before Barum (and 1st win only in September).
He really reversed the tendency only from end of August or beginning of September and then becomes dominant again.

So clearly, at the moment Latvala made his preliminary choice, Lappi had better outings in Rally2 (even if, as I said, their goals were not the same in the category which can be tricky). Rally Finland was only a sort of validation job interview for Lappi who had the most convincing Rally2 outings until August (among him, Mikkelsen, Huttunen and Suninen who were the most evoked names).

[cali]

- Actually until Finland Mikkelsen drove much more kms in WRC than Lappi in 2021, and some 6-10 testing days in 2020

- that one I find a bit funny. He drives two rallies and wins both, only one vs Mikkelsen and including being stuck in the snowbank and lucky to get out. And it's considered as more convincing than winning two championships at the same time with one less rally than anyone else and with more wins than anyone else.

He crushed that 2-time champion on those 2 rallyes so yeah it was pretty convincing to say the least. He had nothing else to prove after he mopped the floor with Mikkelsen who looked like a kid who's candy was robbed

Nice huge norwegian classes btw

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[mknight]

He crushed that 2-time champion on those 2 rallyes so yeah it was pretty convincing to say the least. He had nothing else to prove after he mopped the floor with Mikkelsen who looked like a kid who's candy was robbed

Nice huge norwegian classes btw

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Counting to 2 isn't that hard is it?

Winning a single rally in your home country on a surface run on one rally in the championship means a driver is automatically better everywhere and has nothing to prove...

[cali]

Counting to 2 isn't that hard is it?

Winning a single rally in your home country on a surface run on one rally in the championship means a driver is automatically better everywhere and has nothing to prove...

1) I don't recall EP being also Portuguese and if I can now count to 2...
2) that crushing was good enough for most of the fans and most important of all for TGR

Also being norwegian AM should be very familiar with snow and if I recall right all the excellent drivers were very good on unfamiliar rallyes (Loeb, Ogier etc)

I guess even in factory teams counting to convincing 2 is enough.

But go ahead, start your wordgames and twisting...

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[AnttiL]

Hiring a driver is not as simple as "this is the best performing driver out there". It's about getting a "package" and being there at the right place at the right time. Lappi has been with the team before, they know they can work together and he has a promising future. Also, he made contact to the team as early as after Arctic Rally Finland. We don't know whether Mikkelsen had his eggs in the basket of M-Sport all the time or started negotiating only later? Also, Lappi is still under the wings of Even Management but does Mikkelsen now manage himself? Finally, Mikkelsen's Hyundai career could have hurt his reputation, when he made quite many mistakes and had rallies where he was out of pace (also on gravel), whereas one could have expected him to be on a rally-winning level having been at VW's team for many years.

[Päss1928]

Finally, Mikkelsen's Hyundai career could have hurt his reputation, when he made quite many mistakes and had rallies where he was out of pace (also on gravel), whereas one could have expected him to be on a rally-winning level having been at VW's team for many years.

This is the key point here imo. For some reason, all Rally1 teams seem to have lost faith in Mikkelsen, similar to Meeke, Ostberg etc. Still good drivers, but nobody is willing to give them another chance in Rally1.

[dimviii]

This is the key point here imo. For some reason, all Rally1 teams seem to have lost faith in Mikkelsen, similar to Meeke, Ostberg etc. Still good drivers, but nobody is willing to give them another chance in Rally1.

Mikkelsen wasnt the driver that would go to court Hyundai when there was a problem with his contract?

[Danny0405]

Mikkelsen wasnt the driver that would go to court Hyundai when there was a problem with his contract?

There were some tension between his management and Hyundai because Adamo wanted him to skip some rallies whereas Mikkelsen’s management said he has a full-time contract.
But it was solved in the end.

I think the issue is more about the number of valuable seats that is very limited after Citroen exit:
- Hyundai decided to hire Tanak after a new Neuville failure to bring the WDC and their 3rd car strategy with Sordo/Loeb/Breen helped to clinch the 2019 manufacturer title so no big need to keep Mikkelsen (and 2020 proves them to be right)
- Toyota needed a big name after Tanak leaves so Ogier was the only one. Then, Evans was more convincing than Mikkelsen in 2019 (the same number of points in the same number of rallies but less favorable calendar for Evans and Evans close to the win in Corsica).
And Rovanpera was so hyped than it was difficult not to take the risk.
- For M-Sport, Lappi had the big advantage of being free and M-Sport didn’t have money to spend on a driver in the last 2 years of the old regulation.

And for 2021, the changes were not that big except Breen to M-Sport (but Breen was more secured in terms of recent performance) and Lappi to Toyota (not idiot for the reasons already evoked).
And M-Sport cannot pay for 2nd and 3rd driver (or didn’t want to).

The only case which is questionable is Solberg vs. Mikkelsen. Maybe the past tense relations between Mikkelsen and Adamo has played a big role in the decision.