2016 Silly Season

[nafpaktos]

After Lappi/Tidemand I can't help but feel there's a bit of a gap to the next group of young drivers. Breen can maybe get the benefit of the doubt if he can start beating Kajto consistently.

I dont think even if he achieves what you say he has true hopes to do the next step.He is just a mediocre driver.i dont remember a great performance from him.Erc is the ceiling for him.

[wia5958]

Can see meeke staying at citroen and ostberg out for leuvbre reasoning being that if citroen want to be on verge of winning rallys meekes their only real option yes he has had his offs this year but they havent been big offs if he can irradicate that the rest of the season n maintain his speed he will b safe young seb can do ostbergs job of being a safety net and points collector while getting experience of the rounds ostbergs excuse for lack of speed on tarmac just isnt good nough hes been in the wrc nearly 10years. rest of teams to remain the same with paddon and sordo chopping n changing for first teams depending on gravel/tarmac events

[Rallyper]

Lefebvre's second WRC car outing will be Corsica - http://www.citroenracing.com/2015/ac...orse-ds-3-wrc/

He's also doing the reccy for Australia.

Lefebvre hasn´t let us down yet. So big hopes in him, not to mention from Citroen I suppose.

[wia5958]

I dont think even if he achieves what you say he has true hopes to do the next step.He is just a mediocre driver.i dont remember a great performance from him.Erc is the ceiling for him.

Would being a former wrc academy champ and swrc champ suggest he is a bit more than mediocre and is still only 25 lots of years in him yet

[Simmi]

Would being a former wrc academy champ and swrc champ suggest he is a bit more than mediocre and is still only 25 lots of years in him yet

Was listening to Breen on the Absolute Rally podcast and he was talking about ideally moving on upwards next year into the WRC with a WRC car. Not entirely sure how he's planning on that or what rides (beyond the obvious) are out there.

One thing that sprung to mind was Dmack. I'm sure I read that they were planning to get their tyres back on WRC cars next year. Not sure if that's still the case or if there is any budget floating around/been diverted elsewhere? No idea but something to monitor maybe. Could be a lifeline to someone.

Certainly got my fingers crossed for Craig either way. Super nice guy.

[janvanvurpa]

Can see meeke staying at citroen and ostberg out for leuvbre reasoning being that if citroen want to be on verge of winning rallys meekes their only real option yes he has had his offs this year but they havent been big offs if he can irradicate that the rest of the season n maintain his speed he will b safe young seb can do ostbergs job of being a safety net and points collector while getting experience of the rounds ostbergs excuse for lack of speed on tarmac just isnt good nough hes been in the wrc nearly 10years. rest of teams to remain the same with paddon and sordo chopping n changing for first teams depending on gravel/tarmac events

wowitsbeenawhilesincewehaveseenacompleteairheadedp ostwiththeoldclichednot
capsnoperiodsnoeffortnocaretypeofcrappostedheredid youreallydothatunnintenionally
orisitaparodyandhowthefuckarewesupposedtoknowthedi fferenceareyou12?whatsirradicatewhatmean?

[Simmi]

wowitsbeenawhilesincewehaveseenacompleteairheadedp ostwiththeoldclichednot
capsnoperiodsnoeffortnocaretypeofcrappostedheredid youreallydothatunnintenionally
orisitaparodyandhowthefuckarewesupposedtoknowthedi fferenceareyou12?whatsirradicatewhatmean?

Still made more sense and provided more value than anything you've posted recently.

[rallyace]

In case Citroën decide to part ways with either Meeke or Østberg at the end of the season, I'm sure the opportunity of luring Thierry Neuville into the team (as mentioned by a few others earlier in the thread) is an intriguing thought. However, I do believe that it would be very unwise of Hyundai to let Neuville go, especially at this time when Hyundai is looking to be a contender in 2016 with their new i20. Paddon looks like a lock for Hyundai for 2016 which leaves only one spot up for grabs, and it'll likely be a great fight between Sordo and Neuville as to who will get it.

This means Hyundai will have a driver in Paddon who will be able to challenge for wins on some rallies (mostly on gravel) as his pace, with very limited experience at that, has been stellar, but he will quite likely not be as consistent a point scorer immediately as Hyundai might wish.

So Hyundai need consistency for 2016 whilst Paddon needs time to develop into a prime driver who will be at the very top of the WRC drivers' standings in the future. Even though Sordo has been praised as a very reliable and consistent driver for the past decade (especially on tarmac), I do find it difficult to see Hyundai keeping him over Neuville. Not only has Neuville been better than Sordo this season (currently 5th in the drivers' standings compared to Sordo's 10th, and that's even despite Neuville having a very bad year), but Neuville undoubtedly also seems like the driver with the most upside when compared to Sordo.

Situations such as these are of course nearly impossible to predict as even the slightest change can have a big impact, but in my opinion they make for some great debates between rally fans in an effort to share own views and hopefully be enlightened by the views of others. It'll certainly also be interesting to see how things pan out in reality for not only Hyundai, but for all works teams.

[Simmi]

Agree with your assessment of the drivers. Paddon certainly has more upside than Sordo at this point. I think we've seen everything that Dani can do - where as we don't know how high the ceiling is for Paddon yet. Bad year for Neuville but he should still be team leader, especially with the new car coming.

The issue the post above misses is that all three guys are under contract for next year - assuming Paddon has re-upped. So Hyundai would have to let Thierry be bought out. I think? Paddon brought budget to that #20 car - so if you roll him into the second 'factory' entry I'm not sure we'll be seeing those four-car entries that we saw at times this year.

I'd expect Sordo to share drives in the third car with Abbring. I'm sure I read a rumour about three drivers (or top two) counting for manufacturer points in the future.

Anyone know if that's true?

[Mirek]

I dont think even if he achieves what you say he has true hopes to do the next step.He is just a mediocre driver.i dont remember a great performance from him.Erc is the ceiling for him.

In this moment I would put my money on Emil Bergkvist. Sure he is at the start of his career but for me he seems to be the most promissing young driver available.