Lapi, Thierry Neuville, Hyundai discussed on The Autosport Podcast
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
Management skills could be exactly what hi and I need to pull this team together to really take on Toyota. Well, this time last year, like you say, Hyundai were in Dire Straits, you're about to head off to Monty. I think Thierry neuville, who was the highest place finish finisher for them, was something he was something 7 or 8 minutes off to leave. But they turned it around. Can they continue that in 2023 given that some people have said they screwed up by losing their star man? Well, this is interesting thing. So Tyrion Neville is still going to be there as the team leader, but they've brought in esophagus from Toyota, which is actually quite a shrewd little signing there. And they've got cry bring from M sport to share the third car with Danny solo. So all four of those are experienced heads and I'm three of them have won rallies, so they've got plenty of experience there to deliver what they need. For me, lapi is quite an interesting sign, because yes, he's going to take some time to get used to the car and everything, but having spoken to him after his first test in the Hyundai. He actually said there wasn't much of a gap between that and the toilet. He's just driven at the car that won the world championship last season. So clearly, if lapi thinks that there isn't much of a gap between the two cars, then we are probably set for quite some challenge and some championship this year. So yeah, from that side of things, I think lapis solid he will get you podiums. He will, he will challenge for victories. He's shown that he has the pace, but for me the area is probably the team leader still. And he's your best chance at a title, but a high and dive that's in control of itself and not chasing their title for 6 months. Could be quite a fearsome prospect for the rest of the field. Yeah, I think I agree with you that I think Thierry neuville is the undisputed team leader he's been there since the start cut him an eel bleed Hyundai. It's his team, but it's a full season for esope lappi. And I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him, a really nice guy, but once he's behind the wheel, eyes are really, really fierce competitor. Although, a lovely chap, like most of these guys are, but fiercely driven. So do you think there could possibly be a battle for number one status in that team? Going to assume that it's him our editor, Kevin Turner said on a recent podcast, it described him as always the bridesmaid never the bride. But I'm wondering is 2023, possibly Thierry time. Yeah, it could well be. It could well be for today but the problem he's got though is he's got obviously to try and stop calling and also we should mention often Evans in that mix too because he's definitely going to be in the mix as well. It's actually, yes, the entries are quite small in terms of rally one, but if you look at the quality of them, you could argue it's one of the best from terms of quality of driver that the championships had for a long time. Because they're all very capable. So yeah, it could be for Terry, but the thing with Thierry is he's got to he's got to perform better on the rallies that he doesn't like. So the rally Finland that those sort of areas. He sort of you could see last season he just felt I'm comfortable, so I'm just going to settle for four 5th or 6th. He kind of has to really push, I think, a bit harder if he really wants to win this championship because the likes of Robin pair and tan are not going to just settle in rallies where they think they're not going to be on the pace. And for Thierry, he has to cut out mistakes like Belgium last year when he crashed out the lead. You have got I don't think you can make any mistakes really this year without being punished because that's how close it could be. So for me, he's got to tardy himself up a little bit, but there's no questions about his commitment or his work ethic, he will, as you said, you cut him. He believes he will do everything possible. And I think it's summed up last year in Croatia where the car broke down. But yeah, he was willing to push it for a kilometer to get to the service. This guy just doesn't give up. He's an absolute warrior in terms of that. So yeah, it'd be interesting. As I said, lapi could be very useful to him because yeah, there was a bit of, should we say the relationship between Thierry and I wasn't the best, shall we say? And I think with lapi, he's a bit more, you know, I think he's a bit more amiable, shall we show you? It's unusual for a finite, it's a big stereotype, but when you talk to Tessa pecker, he's quite open lives to talk a lot. He likes to have a joke. You can he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's very sort of open and I think it could be a good mix. Okay, we've done two teams. We'll get on to the next one and we've made our listeners wait for our youngest ever world champion Callie Robin perra in the history of the sports. In a way, obviously winning the title last year was mega. But possibly, coming back to my thesis of this podcast that WRC is about to wake up as a sleeping giant that's been maybe waking up a little bit in recent years, but this year, if it all plays out how we think it might do with all of these top top drivers in different teams, could this be a more difficult challenge to defend his championship? I obviously agree.