Rally Sweden 2014

oh ye of little faith.... you reckon ogier will catch him back up then?

He has been 1 to 1.5 seconds a kilometre faster than Meeke most stages. Meeke is 2.20ish in front of Ogier so the possibility is there. Just how much Ogier can regain is the interesting question. Not sure if he can get higher than 7th without someone retiring or stuffing up.
 
Mikkelsen has been a surprise.

doesn't matter will meeke come close to Mikkelson or Latvala? Can he beat Ogier? As much chance as George Bush Snr becoming president for a 2nd term at the next election; more chance that Meeke will join Ogier in hitting a snowbank or rolling the car; or doing something stupid that will lose him that seat

but as we know m8, there have always been certain drivers who excel on particular surfaces....remember the tarmac kings used by lancia only for certain events? one would never claim meeke to be on a par with the ice-masters from the north, so let them take their glory....if he can be there or thereabouts with the rest of them, i'll be happy enough...points are points, and there are plenty of non-snowy events to come.....   

You basically asked if Meeke could win to which I replied I doubted it. I also doubt he could get on the podium.
 
I always find it enjoyable that when you have someone who is damn good on most surfaces lose lots of time and therefore has nothing to lose points-wise, go hell for leather. I love predicting just how high they can climb back up the ranks. McRae was like that. Would only give up when the car was totally rooted.

mal.......sorry m8 you misunderstood what I meant, I asked if he could the first non-scandinavian, meaning the 'best of the rest'........ its all good m8   

ahhh, sorry. Misunderstood. But I think he will lose the spot to the new FFLP.

He won't be the first non-scandenavian to win regardless cause Loeb already did that
He won't be the first non-scandenavian at the finish because he shows a complete inability to actually learn from past mistakes......his offs always come when he can't actually achieve anything further and is in a solid finish.........someone like Ogier will eat him up cause he has the talent to pull 30sec from Meeke in a stage and when he has nothing to lose can easily put a minute on him without Meeke making a single error

aye Michael its true that meeke has something to prove to a lot of doubters...but he's not the first to be a bit reckless and others, mcrae, vatanen, did ok.... if he can keep the head, like he did on the monte, and grab a few points, I think that would be a good result for him..... of course after all this, hope he doesn't go and stuff it and prove all my hopes worthless!!!     

if he was McRae et al then he would have reigned in his recklessness about 3yrs ago; instead he still shows himself to lack anything to prove the doubters wrong. McRae was too fast then reigned in; Meeke isn't as fast as the best even when he does he it between the trees; which is rare

Atkinson is faster than Meeke and has better car control yet even he doesn't have the talent to make it to the top of the podium

Mal wrote:He has been 1 to 1.5 seconds a kilometre faster than Meeke most stages. Meeke is 2.20ish in front of Ogier so the possibility is there. Just how much Ogier can regain is the interesting question. Not sure if he can get higher than 7th without someone retiring or stuffing up.
 
Mikkelsen has been a surprise.

 
Better make that 6th. looks like Hanninen has gone missing.

Edit - 5th, Kubica has stuffed up.

getting interesting .....  

Yep, I mean my prediction of how far up the board Ogier can get. I still think he will get Meeke, took 20 seconds off him in that 15km stage, with another 40km today and even more tomorrow, I think it is inevitable he will catch him. I don't think Ogier will get any higher unless people stuff up/car breaks.

Mal wrote:Yep, I mean my prediction of how far up the board Ogier can get. I still think he will get Meeke, took 20 seconds off him in that 15km stage, with another 40km today and even more tomorrow, I think it is inevitable he will catch him. I don't think Ogier will get any higher unless people stuff up/car breaks.

 
 
Oi Billy, you completely changed you post you bugger. I answered a post that disappeared.

Sounds like some people here dislike Meeke.
He may be far back in 7th but at least he's still there. Look at Neuville.2 non finishes first 2 rounds.
Meeke seams to be just driving his own rally and not getting to carried away. As he said he's not worried about the times at the front. It's not his best surface to be on, get to the finish and get as many points as you can is the way to go

mal.....lol m8, yeah I was so engrossed in our meeke debate I thought you were talking about him, not ogier.....don't digress please m8, I can't keep up!!!      

tim, ............. its all good m8, we all have our opinions, of course the aussies will have sympathy towards Atkinson, just as I and other Ulstermen lean heavily towards meeke........... what I can't tolerate though is the obsession in the motoring media over kubica..... he seems a decent bloke and has done really well, but would he be getting the hype had he not come from F1 and the cr_p that comes with it?

nowt wrong with wishing the best for your fellow countrymen...... I just hope meeke justifies his selection.....many a previous irish/ulster driver hasn't been given the chance due to money/politics/etc......    he's doing well so far, let's just give the guy a break and see how far he can go.....

meeke holding 6th on ss13, ogier flying, now up to 10th, def looking like he will catch kris if nothing dramatic happens......   

Tim, I don't dislike Meeke, I was objectively answering Billy's question. If you read Meeke's tweets etc, he has stated he is driving at 90%. Not so sure if that is a good or bad thing. Maybe he should have been competing in snow events in his early career since he has been trying to break into the WRC for quite a long time. Something he maybe kicking himself for not doing by planning ahead.

Billy, about Atko, I always wanted, and still do want Atko to do good. But after two years he showed he was mainly making up numbers. Won't stop me following him though. I do wonder how much of him not performing was the last two Subarus being pigs. Even Solberg could not get it to do good. The two were pretty even.

Meeke is doing a great job on his first attempt on snow

Don't expect much from atko he's never done much and seems like a playboy to me

I do wonder how much of him not performing was the last two Subarus being pigs

aye they def weren't good yokes, Subaru seemed to take their eye off the ball in their last two years......   

srsmodels wrote:Meeke is doing a great job on his first attempt on snow

Don't expect much from atko he's never done much and seems like a playboy to me

Totally agree. Long as he finishes who gives a s@*#

day two over............ meeke still 6th   

srsmodels wrote:Meeke is doing a great job on his first attempt on snow

Don't expect much from atko he's never done much and seems like a playboy to me

All i'll say is Kris Meeke's first wrc event was 2002 Rally GB in a Ford Puma has completed 39 wrc events in total with 11 in WRC machinery with 7 retirements and 1 podium - 3rd in Monte this yr - in 20 of the events he ran he has retired; Kris has driven for 2 manufacturer teams

Atkinson has competed in 68 WRC events with his first event in NZ 2004 with 64 in WRC machinery with 11 retirements and 6 podiums - 3rd in Japan 2005; 3rd in Monte and Finland 2008; 2nd in Mexico and Argentina 2008 - in 12 of the events he ran he has retired. Atkinson has driven for 3 manufacturers.

Let's say we even things out - despite Kris having much more experience let's just focus on the drivers first 11 outings in WRC machinery to see where things lie - so Meeke 11 for 7 retirements and 1 podium; Atkinson 11 for 3 retirements and no podiums [but he scored a podium in his 12th outing]

How about speed then? Atkinson 41 stage wins Kris has 2; both are the same age but one managed to reign things in and hold down a seat in a wrc team despite absolute minimal funding yet the other even with support couldn't get a team to take him. Personally i'm not a huge Atkinson fan; think he's good but i'd expect less from Meeke. I give him a yr in that seat maximum

Seems that it will take an error for Latvala not to win this one; nice to see Mikkelsen in a firm 2nd place; this guy is showing why VW signed him. Ogier highest placed non Scandinavian and up to 6th

Meeke......well    

ah well, 10th atm....... apparently he got stuck on a snowbank and there were no spectators to help...... one of the other front-runners reported the same thing on a previous stage, but said he was was lucky to have spectators there to help..... not the end of the world...top six on snow after two days was more than impressive for the Ulsterman.....