WRC » Duval fastest in New Zealand shakedown

I think this pace after such a layoff from his last gravel Rally and an absence of three years from driving a decent WRC car shows what he is made of and is capable of, he could be really up there if he had a full time drive with regular testing, he always showed promise with Citroen, but I think they were to hard on him for crashing, everyone crashes if theyre really fast, look at History and some of the sports greats, Vatanen, Toivenen, Mcrae, Makkinen, Gronholm, they all crashed a fair bit, I think he deserves at least a full time drive with Stobart next season.

Look at Hirvonen when he started at Subaru... he was slooooooow. Now look at him - Loeb's closest rival! Duval deserves a similar chance to prove himself again. Be interesting to see how he does in the works Ford in Spain and Corsica.

Looking at the detailed shakedown results (which I, er, can't link to) - Duval and Latvala were the fastest, but not the most consistent...
Both seem to have spun on one run: I guess that's what you get for being on the edge.

I would be interested to get a couple of predictions from people of where they think the drivers will finish in the points this weekend, I know its an itchy subject, but tactics are more then likely from Ford and possibly Subaru, so here are my predictions for the weekend:

1. Mikko 10 points
2. Latvala 8 points
3. Loeb 6 points
4. Duval 5 points
5. Atkinson 4 points
6. Petter 3 points
7. Henning 2 points
8. Wilson 1 point

I think Henning will stuggle making new all notes and having just one pass to check them. I think Duval will be really quick on day 2, esecially day 3 if hes still going.

It has nothing to do with consistency, Duval has limited drive this year but seem more consistent than Latvala.

When you have very little to no testing you have to use the shakedown to good measure. That is why Henning and Gigi take more shakedown runs than some of the top drivers.