Lalo
Chief Marshall
Posts: 76
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Post by Lalo on Feb 17, 2005 22:59:14 GMT
How do you think will do Subaru's new recluit Atkinson on his first gravel event for the japaneese manufacturer?
Personally, I think he might do good, hopefully inside the top 8 (maybe finishing 6th as much). I can't say much because I've never seen him driving besides Sweden (I've only seen him on tests). All I hope is not him to become the next Hirvonen. David Lapworth said Mikko was fired from the team because of his attitude and not his driving (by the end of the season, his overall points were very similar to Petter Solberg ones: 29 points [by Hirvonen] vs. 37 points [by Solberg], all of 'em in their second full season in the WRC). This attitude problem was shown by the finn at the Rally of Finland, for example, where, beacuse he wanted to make an impresion on the team and the fans in his home land, he drove too fast, he crashed in the Super Special Stage and lost part of his steering. After that, in order not to loose more time, he drove way too fast, enough to crash again and retire, leaving no WRC Sub's in the whole event. Maybe with the years, he could have changed, but heading back to this topic, I whink Chris will do fine. We'll see in Mexico...
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Post by Curt on Feb 17, 2005 23:14:09 GMT
I agree with you Lalo, I think he will finish in the points.
He seemed reasonably good in Sweden and as he is Australian, his home surface is much more like Mexico than Sweden, so he should be better there from the experience.
He is definelty an improvement on Hiroven. I was never a big fan of him from the start anyway, as he was the driver who took McRae's chance of a drive with Subaru in 2004.
I also wasn't very impressed with Sarazin in Monte Carlo this year. He seemed very unexperienced, and only got the drive from his few good results in 2004 and the fact that he is an F1 driver. Maybe a way of introducing new fans from F1 to the WRC?
I can see Atkinson doing rather well this year. What rallies is he doing with Subaru this year?
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Lalo
Chief Marshall
Posts: 76
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Post by Lalo on Feb 17, 2005 23:48:00 GMT
I think you're right with Sarazin. He only drove 3 WRC rallys and that was "enough" (for say) to get a seat in a big WRC team, such as Subaru. It's way too soon!. Maybe Sub was despered to have an asphalt specialist, like Skoda (with Bengue), Mitsubishi (with Panizzi), Citröen (both Duval and Loeb), and also Märtin in Peugeot, as he shown a big improvement on that surface, wining both Catalunya and the Tour de Corse last year. Despite Gronholm is fine in that surface, he has never won a tarmac event. Talking about Hirvonen... Sub had Burns under contract for the 2004 and 2005 (as far as I know), but this was two weeks before his brain tumor was discovered. Subaru's first option in finding a replacement was Colin, but McRae wanted a big amount of money to rally(he also requested for much more $ than Burns!). That was his only goal, I guess. Same story when he wanted to rally with Skoda for this year (where's the sport spirit???). Mikko was, briefly, a cheap driver under development, but, for Sub, was just a replacement. Despite this, he shown some improvement, sinishing 4th in two rallyes and having tho fastest stage times...
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Post by Ryan on Feb 18, 2005 19:33:34 GMT
he put in some good performances in sweden and even though its a completely different surface i think he can do quite well.
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