I think there's more mutual respect between JML and Ott so I'm sure it will not be as dramatic.
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I think there's more mutual respect between JML and Ott so I'm sure it will not be as dramatic.
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Its safe to say that if after all this "shenanigans" Mikkelsen stays without factory seat, his Rally1 career is done. And its a little bit sad, cause I really believe he deserves another/last chance to prove himself.
Isnt Toyota going with Kalle, Elfyn, Katsuta....and Ogier entering a 4th car sometimes?
Only epic about it would be the final year of WRC because such line-up would kill the whole sport. Nobody but Toyota would win anything, or perhaps get anywhere near the podium even. Hyundai would quit, leaving WRC as Toyota one make series and they would quit too since competition without reasonable opposition is completely pointless.
And Tanak doing what? Still sounds more likely to me that he will do part time Toyota with Ogier.
Also more likely Toyota dropped Lappi for him than Katsuta. But I guess it depends how many starts Ogier does.
I think it's also fair to say he's had ample chances. 3 (almost 4) full seasons in a 1 team championship with the most dominant car in wrc history, 2years in another championship winning & rallying win team in Hyundai. And has had a lot of support over the years from skoda even before wrc or when he's been dropped from the top class. He also has sponsorship and backing. Not many drivers get it that good.
Toyota ignored him in 2017, even when Hanninen was awful for the first half of the year and JML had been broken down slowly by Ogier in the VW years. Msport have repeatedly never been interested unless he pays, Hyundai signed him then kicked him, and now have overlooked him for a full season if rumours are to be believed. It seems team bosses and teams driver analysts just aren't keen.
Imo he's clearly good enough to be in the top class considering the drivers at Msport right now. But unfortunately we don't have enough manufacturers, and plenty of other drivers who feel they also deserve a shot/a few seasons/some support/a last chance etc etc...
Signing Mikkelsen for full season "from nowhere" seemed strange and high risk.
Who knows how Rally1 change would work for him, we have many drivers that struggle (Evans, Sordo, Breen), and some that don't (even old ones like Loeb).
Lappi hasn't shown drop in performance in Rally1, so is clearly a much safer choice and Hyundai need some "safe" drivers. (Specially since Sordo's speed dropped so much).
Part time drive in 3rd car is another question altogether and depends a lot on the driver combinations. There the question is whether Mikkelsen wants to drive for Hyundai if he gets offered only 4-5 rounds, I am not so sure. With 7+ it is likely different.
Maybe its even better for Mikkelsen to drive/get paid by Skoda without stress, advertise new car, winning rallies and settle down a little. You never know, maybe after few years Rally2 cars will be the main class in WRC :D All he has to do is tune down his ambitions and grab the opportunity when it will present himself.
I clearly think Mikkelsen would take a 4-5 rounds offer if it has existed; he has no choice, if he doesn’t have a drive next year, it’s as good as over for him (too much time out of main class and not that young in a context with very little seats available).
But anyway, I don’t think Hyundai will give a 4-5 round program next year considering what Moncet said: clearly, Sordo’s season (efficient but a bit rusty) has shown you need some habits on the car and for a newcomer in Rally1 car, 4 rounds is not enough to get these habits. I clearly think they will have a better balance if their 3rd car next year with a 8-6 or 7-7 balance between Sordo and another driver (Breen, Suninen or Mikkelsen).
About Toyota, the best for the balance of the championship would be:
Rovanpera and Evans in the two first cars
Katsuta sharing 3rd car with Ogier
4th car full-time shared between Katsuta (when Ogier in 3rd) and a young driver (when Ogier is not driving) such as Lindholm.
Latvalas talk has changed a lot last two weeks https://www-rallit-fi.translate.goog..._x_tr_pto=wapp
I would like Mikkelsen to get a Rally1 drive just to prove the ”ladder” works, if you win WRC2 (possibly/almost twice) plus ERC you should be able to progress forwards.
Well, Mikkelsen seems to be likeable guy to have in WRC but actually I don't know the answer, why he is "ignored" or down in the hire-list for teams?
He was too much "till learning the car" in Hyundai and can drive only when car is "accidentally" perfect for him to drive? (Like during VW time).
The same comment I can make to Ostberg direction. But both developed Rally2 cars, so they should have good level development and setup-skills.
Well, in his case, it’s not totally the real ladder as he is a former manufacturer RC1 driver; for me, the driver who represents the ladder the most at the moment (even if it depends a bit on what will happen next week) is Lindholm.
IMO, as said above, the best deal would be Ogier/Katsuta in shared 3rd car and Katsuta/Lindholm in shared 4th car for Toyota:
- all the investments made by Toyota on Katsuta make sense only if he becomes a real manufacturer driver at one point; a 4th drive for all his career is non-sense ; this solution would allow him to put one step ahead as a manufacturer driver while still doing the full season and limiting the risk for the team with Ogier still in the mix (and Toyota’s Rovanpera-Evans-Ogier/Katsuta line-up has a real possibility of winning the manufacturer title against a Neuville-Lappi-Sordo/Suninen line-up)
- it would show Toyota is still investing in the future of rally and promoting young new drivers at the top level (and it allows to prepare the future whereas the real best 10 drivers in the world so far are all more 30+ years except Rovanpera) and Lindholm is the best young RC2 driver this season.
- Would also show the Next Generation team is not just a fake trick for Japanese drivers but a real stuff, helping to promote driver with potential.
- Toyota is looking for a driver to develop his future Rally2 car? Well, Lindholm fits the bill, he has contributed in the development of the new Skoda, the best brand of the class and he is one of the top guns of Rally2 this season so he could have a deal in 2024 with part-time Rally1 and part-time Rally2 when the RC2 car will be available. And he will know the new Skoda who has a high probability of being the reference to beat.
Yeah, there are other drivers such as Ostberg, Mikkelsen or Suninen (or even Meeke) that could develop the RC2 (and have the development experience in this class) and being a part-time driver; but not sure there gave as much advantages as this solution and they all also represent a risk considering their time out of the main class (and never had made a Rally1 rally).
Jouhki is "funny" guy. First saying, that "he did not expect Tänak to leave Hyundai" - but he did.
... and then he states really clearly that Tänak will stay at home because this is his most realistic option.
Some more surprises to come? (I don't know the answer and don't pretend to know it)
Estonian Delfi:
19.-22. january: Monte Carlo
9.-12. february: Sweden
16.-19. march: Mexico
20.-23. april: Croatia
11.-14. may: Portugal
1.-4. june: Italy (Sardegna)*
29. june - 2. july: Kenya (Safari)*
20.-23. july: Estonia
3.-6. august: Finland
31. august - 3. september: Chile
28. september - 1. october: Greece
26.-29 october: Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Czech)
16.-19. november: Japan
1.-3. december: Saudi Arabia
From what I understand from Joukhi and Suninen’s interviews, sounds like they are negotiating with Hyundai a sort of almost full-season deal with 5/6 rounds in Rally1 and 6/7 in Rally2 (to follow the development of the car).
Considering the calendar already evoked for some weeks and reminded above, it would give something like, if they succeed:
Sordo: MC, Croatia, Portugal, Sardinia, Chile, Greece, Central Europa, Japan
Suninen: Sweden, Mexico, Safari, Estonia, Finland, Saudi Arabia in Rally1 (and MC, Croatia, Portugal, Sardinia, Greece, Central Europa and Japan in Rally2 or something like that)
Well, not a bad idea even if I’m not sure I would take Suninen to replace Solberg as the first choice.
Question mark about which team will run the Rally2 program considering it’s highly doubtful Hyundai will follow with RedGrey.
I would change Sordo to Mexico and Suninen to Chile
Red Bull has defined a succession plan for the management of the energy drink group, including its Formula 1 teams, following the death of co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz last month. It was decided that the strategic-operational responsibility of Red Bull will no longer be entrusted to a single CEO, as was the case under Mateschitz, but will be divided between three people.
In a letter sent to Red Bull staff, Mateschitz's son Mark explained that a solution "proposed by my father" and "supported by our Thai partners" will be put in place. This last comment is a reference to the Yoovidhya family of entrepreneurs.
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1...hitz/10394874/
The link to the article: https://sport.delfi.ee/artikkel/1200...-rally-estonia
Just the dates for Sardegna & Safari need to be finalised. Annoying about Saudi Arabia although I guess it’s inevitable at this point and shame that they didn’t bother with reserve events, yes I know they didn’t do it this year but next year they have many more events off Europe, might as well give them a back up plan if it fails.
moving acropolis in the middle of rain season in Greece is a brilliant idea... probably they will ditch the event from 23 on so they do not really care.
Im not convinced Oliver Mintzlaff is the best person to handle redbull's motorsports arm... No RoI? Bye bye.
I think Lindholm has a lot of potential but aren't dudes pushing for him to go to Rally1 making the 'Oliver Solberg mistake' again?
I think he should spend one more season in WRC2 and win it convincingly (if he wins this year it will be a large part due to Mikkelsen's 2 engine related retirements)
Well, not exactly the same for me:
- Lindholm has almost 100 rally starts (23 in WRC), the equivalent of 8 serious seasons in rally including 5 in Rally2 and is currently in the top 3 of the best Rally2 drivers this season without a doubt (Mikkelsen is probably a bit better and a question mark about Suninen but both are formet RC1 drivers).
- When Solberg began in WRC 4th car last year, he had as an experience 4 years of rally including only 2 in Rally2 (and 50 rally starts and only 6 or 7 in WRC). And even with his 2020 Estonia class win, his ranking in the Rally2 drivers was not that clear.
For me, Lindholm is a bit more comparable to Tidemand ... and the Swedish clearly had his M-Sport opportunity one year too late (and not in the good context) to have the possibility to stay long at top level.
IMO, this is the good moment for Lindholm to obtain a shared-time program in a 4th car; he is clearly on top of the young Rally2 drivers this season (ahead of Rossel, Gryazin, ...) and in a difficult driver market, you may not have another opportunity in the future.
Also to add Toyota’s context in 4th car especially is more keen to help driver’s development than Hyundai I think (a bit more skeptical about M-Sport)
But first, he has to prove he can handle the pressure of an international championship next week.
If he can manage this and win the championship he can step up i think. Better to keep the momentum. Even if he didn't dominate he beat most of what was put in front of him so why not. Sure he got some help from Mikkelsen's engine but still he was there to pick up the points. The comparison with Solberg is not correct in my opinion. Solberg was missing a year of top level Rally2. For Lindholm this year was that year.
here is more info, focused on Formula 1 but probably relevant for all sports where Red Bull is involved. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/r...plan/10394847/
https://www.parcferme.no/vm-kontrakt...kteamet/172582
Mikkelsen had a contract running 6 rallies in a Hyundai next season, suddenly they stopped answer the phone.
Is Hyundai this extremely unserious?
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https://ralli.ee/ott-tanak-uueks-aas...pingut-ei-ole/
Tänak says he has no contract for next year. Also gives his comment about gossiping :D
as usual snooty. it's normal people want to know, he wants to get a job from the Japanese.