[gusecrync]

Given that Ott went very well in PWRC last year in France, does Juho have sufficient tarmac advantage to get a win? As far as I can see JH hasn't rallied in the Alsace before wheras Ott's notes from last year will still be very relevant

[Trikaduliana]

i think a new thread about it is pointless..you should have posted it in the official france thread.

The answer is No, but he will be close and he will win a few stages. Reason is that Fabia is better than the fiesta and Hanninen has a lot of experience on tarmac with the s2000.

[gusecrync]

i think a new thread about it is pointless..you should have posted it in the official france thread.

The answer is No, but he will be close and he will win a few stages. Reason is that Fabia is better than the fiesta and Hanninen has a lot of experience on tarmac with the s2000.

Apologies, o great arbiter of allowable threads. It's just that I wanted a specific debate without getting lost among the in-car vid stage descriptions. Anyway thanks for your illuminating answer to the question ("No") "Does Hanninen have enough to beat Tanak in France?" because "Fabia is better than the fiesta and Hanninen has a lot of experience on tarmac with the s2000." Extrema profunda!

[Trikaduliana]

ah indeed....i thought you asked the opposite...

but you have a funny perception (or none whatsoever) of rallying if you think that Ott will be the one to beat in France and hanninen will do the chasing....

can you imagine the fun we can have in here, if everyone who wants a bried comparison betwwen two drivers open a new thread ??

[MortgFinsJohnQ]

For sure Hänninen can defeat Tänak. However that doesn't mean he will. We have to wait and see.

I personally hope it is wet because Juho prefers wet asphalt.

[gusecrync]

For sure Hänninen can defeat Tänak. However that doesn't mean he will. We have to wait and see.

I personally hope it is wet because Juho prefers wet asphalt.

How about dry weather but lots of mud from the cuts like last year? I don't see anyone else intervening in this fight - Prokop has looked some way behind this pair all season.
BTW Weather forecast (Colmar) is: Friday - dry and warm, Saturday - mainly dry (10% rain chance) and warm, Sunday - Early fog, then the same as Saturday. Looks like Juho won't have favoured conditions

[Gabbavnf]

They are quite equal, but Juho has more tarmac experience. So I would say yes, Juho has what it takes to beat Tänak and vice-versa. It's down to lot of small things which can affect final result between those 2 drivers. We'll see.

Btw! Fabia nowadays is not clearly the best car as M-Sport has developed Fiesta in the right direction.

[abishiots]

For sure Hänninen can defeat Tänak. However that doesn't mean he will. We have to wait and see.

I personally hope it is wet because Juho prefers wet asphalt.

It will be bone dry. Now it is dry and it will be dry during the event. So, no hope of cutting mud.

[Abanijo]

Juho is 18p ahead of Ott, so if Ott wins both France and Spain, it is enough for Hänninen to finish 2 and 3. He will be champion with 1p difference.
Think about that!

My opinion is: Juho can beat Ott

[mr.memo]

How about dry weather but lots of mud from the cuts like last year? I don't see anyone else intervening in this fight - Prokop has looked some way behind this pair all season.
BTW Weather forecast (Colmar) is: Friday - dry and warm, Saturday - mainly dry (10% rain chance) and warm, Sunday - Early fog, then the same as Saturday. Looks like Juho won't have favoured conditions

No mud from cuts this year. Because cutting in not allowed in Rally France this year, I talked about it this summer in Mikko's tests with local French guys and there will be sticks etc. prohibiting all cutting.

Oh, and yes, Juho can beat Ott - actually quite easily I guess.

[karkinadze]

It's not over until it's over so let's wait and see.

[gusecrync]

No mud from cuts this year. Because cutting in not allowed in Rally France this year, I talked about it this summer in Mikko's tests with local French guys and there will be sticks etc. prohibiting all cutting.

Oh, and yes, Juho can beat Ott - actually quite easily I guess.

Interesting that the level of organisation will be good enough to 'block' all cuts. This all depends who the cut judge is, from my personal experience Loeb sees cuts that other drivers seem not to. Also the sticks may or may not remain in place depending on who is first on the road ;-). So the Finnish view seems to be that Juho will be happy to drive quickly enough for second place, will Skoda want the championship first and event win as a secondary consideration?

[MortgFinsJohnQ]

For sure the title is more valuable than the single win.

About cutting... I also think it's impossible to prevent all cuts especially when some drivers simply cut everywhere no matter if it makes sense or not. I remember Loeb used to be very critical about such useless cutting in old Catalunya Rally... But as a spectator I love that

[SweetCaroline]

hehe, defenetly

[Gabbavnf]

Oh, and yes, Juho can beat Ott - actually quite easily I guess.

Like he has "easily" struggled with Ott throughout the season ... gotta love you finns

[Trikaduliana]

On tarmac Juho can win for now without too much trouble (the first stages in Germany proved that), on gravel in 1-2 years Juho will not be worthy to carry otts shoes...

But Ott needs to go away from the Slowson sponsorship Plan team and go to a serious manufacturer, otherwise he can easily be the next Gardemeister.

[Wckcvhsg]

No mud from cuts this year. Because cutting in not allowed in Rally France this year, I talked about it this summer in Mikko's tests with local French guys and there will be sticks etc. prohibiting all cutting.

Oh, and yes, Juho can beat Ott - actually quite easily I guess.

There are always some cuts... They had anti-cutting poles in maybe 80% of corners also last year, and I don't think it will be any more this year. They had put it especially on the stages where they had put new asphalt (for the rally)..

[Obgrfbke]

Like he has "easily" struggled with Ott throughout the season ... gotta love you finns

I wish there wouldn't be any confrontation build between Ott and Finnish rally fans as there were between Markko and Bosse. It's useless. Personally I love seeing Ott building up his career with well-thought steps, and on stages the brand should be written "Tänak attack!".

Cali, Juho has easily struggled with Ott but not necessarily easily managed - but so far he has. :-)

[Gabbavnf]

On tarmac Juho can win for now without too much trouble (the first stages in Germany proved that), on gravel in 1-2 years Juho will not be worthy to carry otts shoes...

But Ott needs to go away from the Slowson sponsorship Plan team and go to a serious manufacturer, otherwise he can easily be the next Gardemeister.

Germany results:
SS1
Juho 14:40.2
Ott 15:07.8
SS2
Ott 14:10.4
Juho 14:24.8
SS3
Juho 12:52.0
Ott 13:10.4
SS4
Ott 14:33.5
Juho 14:48.3
SS5
Ott 13:39.7
Juho 13:44.6
Overall after SS5:
Juho 1:10:29.9
Ott 1:10:41.8 +11.9 sec to Juho

I have talked to some of the guys from MM Motorsport and first stage loss was due to tyres (remember: SS1 dry, SS2 damp), hence the better time in SS2.

Before retirement Juho was 11.9 sec in front of Ott which proves us nothing really
But clearly Juho has some more tarmac experience and is the favourite. To win this battle will not be "easy" unless one of them makes mistake or/and crashes.

[Trikaduliana]

not long before the event now and if it is dry we are going to have some good results to draw a conclusion... Lets hope they both have a trouble free run.