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30 Jan 2018, 13:26 (Ref:3796866) | #6101 | ||
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Very sad to see Davidson out. He's a fast driver who made lots of exciting moves. And provided tons of interesting technical info. From these points of view it's a great loss. Hope to see him in a private entry.
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ACO-Ratel-Lotti group of "entertainpreneurs" soon will make you think that Reverse-Gear-Racing is the most professional series in the world. "Faccio il pane con la farina che ho". |
30 Jan 2018, 13:52 (Ref:3796872) | #6102 | ||
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Great news!!! It is very good that they confirmed Pechito Lopez. He is a great driver.
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30 Jan 2018, 14:23 (Ref:3796876) | #6103 | ||
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Quote:
Of course ideally and logically the would have third car at Le Mans where he or whoever else could be fitted at, but unfortunately that's not what the beam counters elsewhere have decided. It may well bring them to their doom once again, but we'll see. Anyway, I hope Alonso gets to do Sebring 1500 in 2019, though the close proximity to Australia and bPR prep with that isn't exactly helping... but Bourdais did the 12 back in 2009 so it's possible |
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30 Jan 2018, 14:24 (Ref:3796877) | #6104 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
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I don't understand the bitternes about Davidson being dropped and owing him gratitude. The only thing that matters is performance (which I think Alonso will bring and a huge amount of publicity) and to me it seemed that he was not as fast last season as before compared to the other drivers of the #8. The only other driver that could have been dropped would be Lopez and I remember him improving to the end of the season and being quite quick. If someone has the numbers maybe he could tell us how the two's pace was compared to each other.
EDIT: And the race that he mysteriously missed last year. Last edited by Irie; 30 Jan 2018 at 14:30. |
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30 Jan 2018, 14:51 (Ref:3796891) | #6105 | |
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Toyota have all the data etc so they know who is best to replace far more than anyone else does.
Still a bit of a mystery over the withdrawal for "personal reasons" last year after a poor drive. |
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30 Jan 2018, 14:52 (Ref:3796892) | #6106 | |
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Shame for Ant, but it's not like they are replacing him with a complete nobody, they are replacing him with perhaps the greatest of F1 driver of his generation. I wish him well
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He who dares wins! He who hesitates is lost! |
30 Jan 2018, 15:00 (Ref:3796900) | #6107 | |
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Who knows, might be family related (could he be wanting to spend more time at home with his spouse/significant other/kids/parents)?
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30 Jan 2018, 19:07 (Ref:3796956) | #6108 | |
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He's still part of the team. He isn't being fired. I'm sure more will come out from this, who knows if it'll be PR from Anthony or the truth, but in all likelihood, he'll race for them at Fuji since Alonso will be doing the US GP. I was hoping for a third car, but I guess that would be overkill. I don't feel this is Toyota's "last chance" to win Le Mans so bringing 3 cars is a must, but it would have been nice. I remember hearing that 2014 was their last chance when they got blown away in 2015. But it seems Alonso will do the whole Super Season bar any conflicting F1 race. That's good news imo.
This really is more than just a good chance for him to win the big one. Him racing for Toyota brings more eyes to the team and sport as a whole. It made the top story on autosport.com- the wec never gets that attention. If that is any indication of how things go in terms of exposure, the wec just got a much needed shot in the arm after the Porsche withdrawal in lmp1. |
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30 Jan 2018, 20:01 (Ref:3796976) | #6109 | ||
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Woo. Alonso! Bloody brilliant.
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Seriously not taking motorsport too seriously. |
30 Jan 2018, 22:05 (Ref:3796999) | #6110 | ||
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Yep. I get the disappointment over Davidson being dropped, but that would be the case with any of the current drivers if they had to make way (bar possibly Lopez, but then the complaint would - rightly - be that he hasn't had time to show what he is capable of). And I doubt anybody here would not make room for Alonso if they were in charge and there was no other choice.*
Focus on the positives; Toyota have just signed one of the very fastest and most marketable drivers available. *Yes, third car, but for whatever reason that's not happening. |
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BoP is democracy for racing. |
30 Jan 2018, 23:04 (Ref:3797013) | #6111 | ||
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While I find interesting to see Alonso on a P1 car, I don't like too much the way. It looks like everybody is trying to make him won the triple crown, or using his image to take some credit.
I want to see him at Le Mans or Indy500, but not if somebody else must leave his seat when Fernando is free to race. I think 2017 with Toyota with three cars was the year, not now. WEC will take the benefit, and at Totyota everything will be prepared to make Fernando's car win. I'm more enthusiastic with the private P1 cars. |
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31 Jan 2018, 05:03 (Ref:3797055) | #6112 | ||
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I wouldn't be be surprised to see him do Fiji too. It will depend on where McLaren are in F1 at that time.
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31 Jan 2018, 06:27 (Ref:3797066) | #6113 | ||
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
31 Jan 2018, 06:30 (Ref:3797067) | #6114 | ||
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Am I the only one starting to fear the friday pit walk?
The pit will be clogged right from the entry and then a desert after. |
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
31 Jan 2018, 07:33 (Ref:3797082) | #6115 | ||
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When in doubt? C4. |
31 Jan 2018, 07:52 (Ref:3797084) | #6116 | ||
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I confess I don't do the Friday pit walk any more. It's almost pointless, you can't see anything. In 2016 James, Toby and I got in on the Wednesday, when there were only a few dozen people in the whole pitlane. Couldn't do that last year though......
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96 days... |
31 Jan 2018, 14:17 (Ref:3797162) | #6117 | |
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Everyone ready for a season of hearing where one car finishes every if they end up P25 every race?
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. . . but I'm not a traditionalist so maybe my opinion doesn't count! -TF110 |
31 Jan 2018, 16:02 (Ref:3797191) | #6118 | |||
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Quote:
I'll be rooting for #7...it's been the fastest (best engineered?) car of the pair for the past two seasons, just less lucky. |
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31 Jan 2018, 16:06 (Ref:3797194) | #6119 | ||
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31 Jan 2018, 17:40 (Ref:3797217) | #6120 | ||
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I appreciate I'm quite slow to pick up these things so perhaps someone could explain to me in a line or two why Toyota have concluded that it is better to retain Lopez on the driving front rather than Davidson? (And Rennen, I'm happy for you to sit this one out..... ).
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96 days... |
31 Jan 2018, 19:11 (Ref:3797247) | #6121 | ||
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Posts: 2,052
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Lopez was apparently (I haven't looked at the times myself) very fast at Le Mans, and as a rookie in 2017 his potential for improvement has got to be seen as higher than Davidson's potential for improvement?
Having said that, I would have kept Davidson |
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31 Jan 2018, 21:54 (Ref:3797295) | #6122 | |
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Lopez was faster than both other drivers in the #9 at Le Mans. He put the #7 on pole the race after at Nurburgring. He had a bad race at Shanghai, but I remember all the other drivers had bad races with contact and incidents when it was their first year too. Even their second or third year. Conway at Spa, Lapierre at Le Mans and COTA, Kobayashi at Le Mans, Nakajima vs the Deltawing, Davidson was looked at negatively for his Peugeot 908 aggressiveness. Everyone has issues.
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1 Feb 2018, 07:57 (Ref:3797370) | #6123 | |
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I'm also very sorry for Ant, but it's done now, and for the team, far better this way than the ad hoc rotation of drivers originally proposed, in my opinion.
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1 Feb 2018, 09:50 (Ref:3797393) | #6124 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2011
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Sorry for Ant. He's not the same driver that he was. And has not been the same since 2014 or so. I personally don't think he's enjoyed driving these hybrid cars. It's something different to pure race car driving. Sarrazin seemed to go off the rails in similar fashion. All odd.
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1 Feb 2018, 12:45 (Ref:3797438) | #6125 | ||
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I think this is a general thought of the drivers. I have heard Lopez saying the cars are "particularly antinatural to drive". I think the only difference about the thought about the cars between Lopez and Davidson, is the moment of their sporting carrers. Even Lotterer when he went to Porsche have said the car have no torque at all compared with the Audi and his diesel engine. We will see a more happy Lotterer at Rebellion than at Porsche, even if he run third all the race.
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