Will Loeb be allowed to win in 13, or priority on championchips for main drivers?
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Will Loeb be allowed to win in 13, or priority on championchips for main drivers?
If they wouldn't allow him to win, I don't think he would be competing... ;)
Of course he is allowed to win and I assume he will be nominated for team points when driving too. And like tommeke_B said, he wouldn't be driving at all if not allowed to win.
More to the point will they have the cojones to tell Loeb to hold position against Mikko or Dani if either of them are leading by a small margin going into the last stage - and would he listen anyway?
Just for French fans - the car or the driver? If Ogier is fighting for the win with Mikko....
Personally I don't care, I'm not of fan of Ogier and not of CItroen too. But I prefer Dani and Mikko as Ogier, so Citroen :) ... and most of all, Mads !
But in France, for sure interest of media in WRC will only exist if Ogier wins.
Will be very interesting to see if Loeb will taste his own medicine of supporting the number 1 driver ?!
But his status whitin the team means that he probably will be allowed to do as he wants, and the other championship is the most important for PSA Sport.
I think Loeb will be number 1 no matter what happens on the rallies he does. I am still not 100% sure they will not enter Loeb on another 4 rallies so he could win the title.
Loeb would need a lot of results to go his way if he was to be World Champion on the back of just four events. For one, he'd need to win all four of them. And then he'd probably need everyone to have some serious problems at some point or other throughout the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
No, I think the more interesting question is what Citroen will do with him if Mikko Hirvonen is embroiled in a tight championship fight come the Rally of France. It would be his home event and his last rally (for the foreseeable future; he might do half-seasons again in 2014 and beyond) at the WRC level, and a win there would be very popular - but forcing Hirvonen to play second fiddle to him could cost Hirvonen the title.
True. I think he may do 8 rallies this season if Mikko doesn't dominate from Sweden (just my little guess). I just want to enjoy this season as I feel we are going to see what the drivers are really like without Leob being there all the time.
I don't know ... I think Citroen will be eager to prove that they can win without Loeb, even if they don't say it outright.
Perhaps, if it comes down to it, they will tell Loeb that if he wins in France, then he wins in France. They won't attempt to stop him for the sake of Hirvonen's title bid, but nor will they give orders to Hirvonen.
What is this 'Hirvonen's title bid' of which you speak? A new Finnish book to rival '50 Shades' perhaps or some other work of fiction?Quote:
Originally Posted by Prisoner Monkeys
It's a fictional movie script that shall never be filmed.....
Realistically, who else is going to win it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Loeb is only doing four events. Ostberg and Neuville have the raw pace, but need work on their racecraft. Novikov is Novikov and is probably going to park it in the barriers sooner rather than later. Hanninen is only doing a limited campaign. Ogier and Latvala might have the works Polos at their disposal, but the team isn't expecting to fight for wins, much less the titles. And while Sordo is good, he can't hold a candle to the likes of Hirvonen.
"And while Sordo is good, he can't hold a candle to the likes of Hirvonen."
Wouldn't quite be so emphatic on that point if I were you.
And I wouldn't discount VW, they may not be title winning material yet but they can certainly influence the outcome.
As my erudite Irish friend has indicated it doesn't do to compare Sordo as dutiful No2 to Seb with Sordo 2013 edition 'If I don't win a rally this year I'm giving up'.
I don't see a lot of difference between them so far on the Monte and in a well-sorted car they are both behind Ogier with JML catching them. The doubt was, would VW hit the ground running - early days but stage wins would indicate they have.
Throw a consistent Ostberg and an improving Novikov into the mix and I'd say we have a completely open championship with wins having to be earned not inherited. Mikko is going to have to push more often than previously on his favoured events - and then there's tarmac.
:D :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by A.F.F.
I can see Loeb doing the whole championship this year only if he thinks he can win it mind. I think he's using Monte Carlo and Sweden to see if the can compete against Volkswagen and seb 2.0
I don't think so. Conclusions made on the results of Monte and Sweden are rubbish anyway, there are no further snow rallies to come :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ilsit
I think the fight within Citröen is going to be a killer this season. Hopefully there won't be any team orders until the end f the season if those are needed. Hirvonen and Sordo have their strong and their weak points, let's see who raises to the top.
Contratule to Meeke and Ostberg with new job.
2014 will be fun, with no french and no finn!
Vive l'entente cordiale - It's the best thing that the Citroen will have Union Jacks on it somewhere!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordini
Now I glad I got that Citroen WRC T Shirt in Australia after all. I am so pleased to see that Kris now has a full season to show what he can do. I hope he finnishes plenty of events as the learning curve will be steep after so long out of full time competition. Relying on Rally2 will no longer be "good enough" for him as he will need to think about Drivers and Makes Championships and I hope he drives accordingly. All I know for certain, it will be a very exiciting season next year.
Mads says he will be paid to drive for the first time in 14.
Good for him, payback to Adapta maybe? :p
Question:
Only 1 team with 2 cars (3 in Sweden,Portugal,Sardinia and Catalonia when Al Qassimi is driving)
or
2 Teams ?
and if 2 Teams: Who is driving when Al Qassimi is not driving?
I hope that Citroen gives the opportunity for Tanak
Citroën Racing will unveil its entire rally and track racing programme for 2014 today, at a press conference in Versailles. The event will be broadcast on the site http://www.citroen-wrc.com at 14:30 (GMT+1).
Would really prefer it without both the Union Jack and Crash Meeke. You just know that Citroën isn't serious with the WRC commitment with that line-up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
It looks like only one team this year. Al Qassimi will just drive in the 3rd car in the same team as Østberg and Meeke.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
Still, much better line-up than last year Sordo-Mikko duo. This team can atleast guarantee speed, because last years's duo wasn't able to guarantee neither speed or consistency.Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeD
And if they need a quick course on how to master asphalt better, they can only ask Loeb or Muller, that are in the same team with Citroen Racing.
Sorry but are You joking? I have nothing against Meeke and Ostberg but some common sense in Your statement would be welcome...Quote:
Originally Posted by Francis44
You said Sordo and Hirvonen couldn't guarantee speed and consistency...
Together they won 16 WRC events (15 Hirvonen, 1 Sordo) and reached 102 WRC podiums (66 Hirvonen, 36 Sordo). They finished on WRC podium in 39% of all their starts (44% Hirvonen, 33% Sordo). Hirvonen finished 84% of events he started, Sordo 83%. All stats including starts with lower tier cars.
Fact is that Ostberg and Meeke are nowhere near that record. Of course they can do well but praising them as clearly better than Hirvonen and Sordo is at the moment very very exaggerated.
did they change their livery for next year?
Clearly statistics support your opinion. However looking at last year Mikko had an abnormal number of mistakes, and so did Sordo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Looking at last years results solo paints a very different picture
Let's not talk about speed either, because that was even worse.
Not based on the first team photos publishedQuote:
Originally Posted by Eli
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbnOCwVIQAAM9Aw.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbnQfdkIEAAmCiu.jpg
And Ostberg's season was so much better then? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Francis44
Rolls should be counted next season...
I also felt that Citroen with that lineup maybe not taking this season seriously. Mads wont be their favorite on tarmac events, I am not sure how Kris perform on tarmac, is he fast on tarmac as well? From this year lineup, it seems both M-Sport and Citroen does not have a tarmac expert driver.Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeD
Also, any news from today press of Citroen Racing about their program in WRC in the forthcoming years?
Yes Kris Meeke has been fast all his career on tarmac. We need to wait to see if he will carry that into WRC with Citreon but he will comfortably faster than Mads on the black stuff. BTW where were you Frostmourne in 2009,2010 when Meeke was in irc , did you not follow irc no ;)? He won ypres on his first attempt and his performance on the 2nd day in Samero 2009 was superb to win him the championship. I await to be shot down by some on here, but with Thierry and Dani Sordo both in hyundai il state IMO Meeke will be 2nd fastest driver on tarmac next year- close with Jari-Matti.
Let's face it; Citroen weren't going to win either title with the team of Mikko and Dani. They won't win either with Meeke and Ostberg either but at least it's a different strategy, and besides I don't see anyone available who could take on Ogier and VW unless Loeb wanted to make a comeback.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostmourne
Maybe Kubica will be nominated for tarmac rounds for Ford?
I think Kubica will be registered as different team.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS