Strange goings on at Hyundai - and the rumours about a dual WEC/ IMSA programme are getting stronger. Ganassi have been mentioned to run the IMSA programme possibly under the Genesis name.
only top 2 from maximum 3 cars score manufacturer points, and those 3 cars are nominated by their team before each event. I think they want both both Kalle and Ogier driving so they don't need to rely on Katsuta scoring manufacturer points
Very interesting points here. I wonder about that Hyundai situation too, Neuville entry pulled from warm up event. That does sound very strange. I understand they have built a whopping 30 Rally1 cars so far, around 10 of which never used, so it is not that they didn’t have a spare car. Interesting what you say on team tactics for the coming events. Hyundai is stronger on the rough? Not sure, last year in the Acropolis Rally Toyota had a 1-2 and Rovanperä had one of his strongest victories of the season I thought. That said, Neuville lead until his steering broke, but the other Hyundais did not look that strong. But for the championship, maybe Toyota has to turn it round in the fast gravel. I think it is clear for the manufacturers the makes title is above everything. And that is one thing about the new points system that isn’t really talked about yet. There is so much criticism of that system, but one thing I really noted so far, is that teams can’t really make a difference on single events. It is so complex, aka difficult to explain. But I try to formulate and you can check if this applies to the events so far: As a manufacturer you can’t make a difference on speed! If you lead the rally, you want to keep that win. If you retired at any point during the first 80% of the rally, you can go for full points on Sunday. See, we had at least two occasions where Toyota had a 1-2 but Hyundai got similar or even more points. That means the only chance to make a difference is if a team has at least 2 of its cars retire on Sunday. Even problems on Sunday is not enough, see Poland, Mikkelsen had problems but Hyundai kept points for 2nd on Saturday. A team MUST have 2 cars retiring on Sunday to make a difference, and sorry, A) this is extremely unlikely, B) not the way anyone wants to have a makes title decided! Once you have 2 of your cars retiring, you need 10 rallies to fight back, and that makes for a boring and stupid points system. Well, think about it, I would bet whoever has a 10points lead after Finland has that makes crown already booked, which is boring and stupid, but that is how that stupid system is.
Thanks for the comment! Perhaps you're right to suggest Hyundai's rough event form isn't guaranteed, but there early season performances certainly appear to have made Toyota reconsider their approach. Perhaps it's more that they just feel that they need to take advantage on events that should favour them. It's a fascinating battle that's for sure. You're absolutely right about the points system. It's making it very difficult for the manufacturers' championship, and making it more difficult to use drivers tactically or utilise team orders to shuffle the order. I really hope they ditch it for next year and find something more sensible!
I dont like Dirtfish too much since they definitely put more opinions into their articles than actual well researched information sometimes - like when they did their whole non-hybrid push and definitely contributed to a heavily mislead fan base, that doesnt understand corporations and their cash flow. Hyundai has the resources to run Neuvilles test, but looking back at 10 years of strange decisions regarding drivers sometimes, I doubt that it has anything to do with money, only thing I can imagine is that they decided that the event wouldnt help a lot and that they do testing at their finland base, but no test for Neuville just because Tänak crashed seems strange. Also Sesks was very quick in a championship full of specialists. I d like to see all 3 manufacturers give him, maybe Pajari and maybe Gus (phenomenal championship overall last year) or Oliver (phenomenal speed) a seat in a extra Rally1.
Strange goings on at Hyundai - and the rumours about a dual WEC/ IMSA programme are getting stronger. Ganassi have been mentioned to run the IMSA programme possibly under the Genesis name.
only top 2 from maximum 3 cars score manufacturer points, and those 3 cars are nominated by their team before each event. I think they want both both Kalle and Ogier driving so they don't need to rely on Katsuta scoring manufacturer points
Very interesting points here.
I wonder about that Hyundai situation too, Neuville entry pulled from warm up event. That does sound very strange. I understand they have built a whopping 30 Rally1 cars so far, around 10 of which never used, so it is not that they didn’t have a spare car.
Interesting what you say on team tactics for the coming events. Hyundai is stronger on the rough? Not sure, last year in the Acropolis Rally Toyota had a 1-2 and Rovanperä had one of his strongest victories of the season I thought. That said, Neuville lead until his steering broke, but the other Hyundais did not look that strong.
But for the championship, maybe Toyota has to turn it round in the fast gravel. I think it is clear for the manufacturers the makes title is above everything.
And that is one thing about the new points system that isn’t really talked about yet. There is so much criticism of that system, but one thing I really noted so far, is that teams can’t really make a difference on single events. It is so complex, aka difficult to explain. But I try to formulate and you can check if this applies to the events so far:
As a manufacturer you can’t make a difference on speed! If you lead the rally, you want to keep that win. If you retired at any point during the first 80% of the rally, you can go for full points on Sunday. See, we had at least two occasions where Toyota had a 1-2 but Hyundai got similar or even more points. That means the only chance to make a difference is if a team has at least 2 of its cars retire on Sunday. Even problems on Sunday is not enough, see Poland, Mikkelsen had problems but Hyundai kept points for 2nd on Saturday. A team MUST have 2 cars retiring on Sunday to make a difference, and sorry, A) this is extremely unlikely, B) not the way anyone wants to have a makes title decided! Once you have 2 of your cars retiring, you need 10 rallies to fight back, and that makes for a boring and stupid points system. Well, think about it, I would bet whoever has a 10points lead after Finland has that makes crown already booked, which is boring and stupid, but that is how that stupid system is.
Thanks for the comment! Perhaps you're right to suggest Hyundai's rough event form isn't guaranteed, but there early season performances certainly appear to have made Toyota reconsider their approach. Perhaps it's more that they just feel that they need to take advantage on events that should favour them. It's a fascinating battle that's for sure.
You're absolutely right about the points system. It's making it very difficult for the manufacturers' championship, and making it more difficult to use drivers tactically or utilise team orders to shuffle the order. I really hope they ditch it for next year and find something more sensible!
I dont like Dirtfish too much since they definitely put more opinions into their articles than actual well researched information sometimes - like when they did their whole non-hybrid push and definitely contributed to a heavily mislead fan base, that doesnt understand corporations and their cash flow. Hyundai has the resources to run Neuvilles test, but looking back at 10 years of strange decisions regarding drivers sometimes, I doubt that it has anything to do with money, only thing I can imagine is that they decided that the event wouldnt help a lot and that they do testing at their finland base, but no test for Neuville just because Tänak crashed seems strange. Also Sesks was very quick in a championship full of specialists. I d like to see all 3 manufacturers give him, maybe Pajari and maybe Gus (phenomenal championship overall last year) or Oliver (phenomenal speed) a seat in a extra Rally1.