So how many incredible drives does Lukyanuk have to do before a factory team tries him out?
He should be a candidate for Hyundai, Peugeot or others.
He has impressed numerous times, and now he is at it again in Estonia! What a driver!
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So how many incredible drives does Lukyanuk have to do before a factory team tries him out?
He should be a candidate for Hyundai, Peugeot or others.
He has impressed numerous times, and now he is at it again in Estonia! What a driver!
we are not in the 80s anymore... he has to pay for some years and test himself against proper drivers in proper cars... he can ridicule class b and c drivers in toy cars all he wants but without proper backing to test himself there is no future anymore... plus investing in a 34 year old is a waste of money.
At some point M-Sport or Citroen will have to do something about their driver line up if they don't want to lose all credibility as (pseudo)manufacturer teams. Right now Meeke and Hirvonen should be on the way out, and aside lukyanuk there are very few drivers that are very competitive at an european level.
ps: lundefaret sorry I saw your PMs incredibly late, I have not been here very often unfortunately. I'll do my best to find some time to answer you.
The fact that Lukyanuk is Russian won't do him any good marketing-wise in the current political context, if we're talking about him being offered a factory seat in the WRC/ERC. Perhaps it would be more realistic for him to knock on some oil/gas oligarch's door and ask for some money to buy an M-Sport ride in selected gravel rounds. A WRC-2 programme in a RRC would be just fine as well. I suspect Lukyanuk is really fast only on familiar road conditions and close to home, but I would be happy to be wrong about him :)
Perhaps Hänninen knows something we don't? Doesn't seem very happy :)
http://i.imgur.com/pQY3Lkq.jpg
Well, I dont agree.
Even Mr Putins actions or non actions in The Ukrain does not hamper the fact that Russia it self is a very big market.
And internationally his driving style can bring back some of the entusiasm we lost with the departure of Colin McRae.
Tough Lukyanyk actually is a very Nose End First driver - and this proves that Nose End First does not need to be boring to watch (he does his ation in entries and in sections), he has some incredible moves. It would be very interesting to see if he can replicate this in a WRC car!
Lundefaret have you seen my PM? I am not sure I sent it correctly.
He was interviewed a few minutes ago on ERC radio, anyone knows how to access archived podcasts? Apparently he has nothing secured for the future and hopes that a good result in Estonia will help to be noticed by european sponsors (russian ones can't offer much more than competing in national events).
Lukyanuk second only to "The-Not-Exactly-Slow" Ott Tännak in Rally Estonia. Beats the likes of Körge, Lappi, Kruuda, Wiegand, Chardonnet, and Sohlberg, all in R5 or S2000 cars. WOW!
Top leagues need such drivers
Maybe some of You haven't watched this yes :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0kcaNTp64M
"Serious competition ahead" ;)
I think Alexey Arnautov must be Russia's most calm man... :D The pace note voice is very calm in contrast to some other codrivers, especially taking into account the attack how the car is driven.
Incredible performance by them in Estonia! Just stunning what Lukyanuk can do with Gr. N car, I especially love the way he utilizises the weight of the car in the driving. For others it's a problem, he makes it almost an advantage!
Lukyanuk is very crazy driver, very fast with production car. But he is fast on very fast stages. I would like to see him also on different type of stages (and also on different surface).
Yep but also with another car. S2000 RRC or R5. Because otherwise u cant really know his level if he's competing in ERC or .. WRC-2
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Lukyanuk is very good driver. Also very quick on not so fast gravel stages. Of course evoX is better suited to fast stages so it's easier for him than on more twisty and rough ones, but anyway he is very quick on every gravel stage. Hard to say about his pace on tarmac as he has almost no experience there! His pace with old Opel Astra was also impressive, you can check it on some videos also. And his "transformation" from Astra to Evo was really good, he was very fast immediately.
At the age of 34 he has nothing to offer to the top of the sport. Novikov was way younger than him and equally impressive and we all saw how that ended. He is very fast on roads he knows well and with lesser competition and a nice attraction to village events and B class championships. Tanak won this event very comfortably and he is the same person who crashes when he tries to be in touch with the second tier of drivers in the WRC.
quick onboard extract, the essence of his style
http://gfycat.com/ShadyKindheartedGalago
The only thing N.O.T. is you can´t compare him with Novikov. No way. Two different persons. One with money having no problem to get what he wants. The other pure driving skills without having the chance to prove what he´s able to do. 34 is no problem. He´s going to be better up to about +40´s.
Can you name someone who started a career in the WRC at 34 ?? he will need at least 2 years to get familiar with the car and the stages... and what about tarmac ? at the age of 36 most people drive one two years and then retire...
Novikov also had pure driving skills and he was 17 at the time....
Marcus Grönholm was 31 or 32 smth when he joined WRC with Peugeot.
One thing is sure, we need to see Lukyanuk driving on other roads, surfaces and cars. I do not really care about the results as he is very impressive to spectate. And I'm very sure he will do fine on any kind of gravel roads driving modern rallycars. Not sure about tarmac though.
OK, discussion is very hypothetical atm. However making negative statements before we´ve seen what he can do is for me enough of discussion. I think 99% of forum members agree we want to see him in a R5 or WRC car in the near future. Not in single events. That is not enough judging his abilities.
More than his age, his nationality is probably the biggest handicap he has right now while looking for a team or for sponsors.
With the Syrian crisis a few years ago and the Ukrainian crisis today, Russia is starting to become a more and more "rogue" state where negotiations and free trade with the outside world getting more and more difficult. Also because of Putin's foreign policies, Russia's image is getting worse and worse on an International stand point, and I highly doubt that we would see any euro/korean/japanese manufacturer or big sponsor "investing" in this market right now, actually it is much more likely to be the opposite.
I would like to be optimistic but the reality is that with every day that passes, it will get even more difficult for him to move up a category, obviously the fact that he is 34 already clearly does not play in his own favor.
PS: while I agree with rallyper that the comparison with Novikov is a bit far fetched, does anyone know why his sponsors suddenly cut the faucet? His numerous crash were hardly new, and during 2013 he's still shown some progress, I was surprised he backed off the WRC so suddenly. Couldn't it be somehow political as well?
Who?
Novikov. One year he is doing full calendar and the next year no one hears about him anymore... He disappeared from rallying so suddenly, I find it very strange.
all these drivers did not came out of nowhere... they were established champions in respectable championships and had vast experience with proper rally cars.
Lukyanuk sure deserves a chance in a proper car at least in events that are similar to the ones he drives, but there is absolutely no chance and reason for a sane factory boss to give him a drive without paying...
Still they´re selling cars in Russia, don´t they? So anyone want to sell more cars in russia, Lukuanuyk could be one reason. For sure. Don´t make political of everything. The market in Russia goes on anyway.
they are makeing crap cars there. no way of rallying them with fast speeds :)
What is he doing in Polo Cup? Looks like desperate attempts to get noticed...
http://www.almrally.ru/vwpolocup/info/122012/
1. Алексей Лукьянюк 39:47.8
2. Алексей Игнатов +1:41.0
3. Михаил Кривоспицкий +2:08.1
how is this even a competition
What class are the cars in this cup?
It's probably not FIA homologated, but looks similar to R1, very close to production Polo which is a bit boring...
http://www.volkswagen-motorsport.com...2_img_9391.jpg
onboards from his last 3 rallies, enjoy :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqXbABkdp-Y
He is not human. He is a crazy Russian :D.
He is very awesome driver
On 2,32 he flicks the car.PLEASE NOTICE THE KM!!!!
This is what is missing on WRC, this kind of driving. I know he might not be the fastest driver on the world, but this commitment attracts people.