[WRC] News & Rumours (part V) 2017

[Simmi]

3rd in WRC 3 years in a row. Beating Ogier in same car in straight fight in Portugal and Australia. 2 rally wins in 2016 (Ogier 6, MIkkelsen and Meeke 2, others 1), without start position advantage. Clearly better than his teammate Latvala in 2016 (You know, the guy that is leading WRC atm.). Won the last rally of the season by his speed only (not like Duval back in a day).

Instead you have at least 4 drivers which are clearly worse than him driving "factory" seats:
Hanninen (has always been inconsistent, with 6th place as best ever result, 2 years away)
Breen (not (yet) there, even though he's improving a lot)
Lefebvre (not (yet) there)
Evans (fast on tarmac, too bad most events are gravel)

Btw. Mikkelsen is 10 years younger than Meek, 2 years younger than Paddon, 1/2 year younger than Evans and 1/2 year older than Breen.

Most people also noticed how the team bosses of both Citroen and Toyota went public in October/November complaining about the lack of good available drivers. Then VW pulled out and they didn't hire a guy that is clearly top 5 in the world atm.

Sure you can argue about contracts, but where there is will there is a way.

Must have seen this same post about 20 times.

He's absolute class but is he worth either a courtroom battle or the expense of adding an additional car out of thin air? Clearly team bosses didn't think so. The only place I think he had a shot is Dmack. But who knows how those negotiations went. Maybe he wanted paying. There are also things called loyalty and honour when it comes to contracts, agreements and relationships.

[Allez Andruet]

3rd in WRC 3 years in a row. Beating Ogier in same car in straight fight in Portugal and Australia. 2 rally wins in 2016 (Ogier 6, MIkkelsen and Meeke 2, others 1), without start position advantage. Clearly better than his teammate Latvala in 2016 (You know, the guy that is leading WRC atm.). Won the last rally of the season by his speed only (not like Duval back in a day).

Instead you have at least 4 drivers which are clearly worse than him driving "factory" seats:
Hanninen (has always been inconsistent, with 6th place as best ever result, 2 years away)
Breen (not (yet) there, even though he's improving a lot)
Lefebvre (not (yet) there)
Evans (fast on tarmac, too bad most events are gravel)

Btw. Mikkelsen is 10 years younger than Meek, 2 years younger than Paddon, 1/2 year younger than Evans and 1/2 year older than Breen.

Most people also noticed how the team bosses of both Citroen and Toyota went public in October/November complaining about the lack of good available drivers. Then VW pulled out and they didn't hire a guy that is clearly top 5 in the world atm.

Sure you can argue about contracts, but where there is will there is a way.

There's no need argue with any of that. Mikkelsen had a fantastic 2016 during which he without a doubt outperformed Latvala. It's just vulgar and funny at the same time, how people (i.e. the fans) are demanding him to replace one of the contracted guys in (pick team) after just two rallies. Ofcourse he has a better resume than any of the guys you mentioned. It's not about that.

VW announced its withdrawal in November - it's somewhat surprising that 2/3 of the VW drivers have a full-time seat for 2017. What happened to Solberg and Atkinson in 2008? Or to Auriol, Kankkunen and Schwarz in 1995? That's just the way it goes and VW is the one to blame.

In a nutshell:
Does Mikkelsen deserve a full-time seat in WRC? Yes.
Should that happen at the cost of any of the current WRC guys (either young or old or somewhere in-between)? No.

[Rallyper]

Should that happen at the cost of any of the current WRC guys (either young or old or somewhere in-between)? No.

Maybe not now. But if you invest in something and it sooner or later turns out to become more or less a driverfailure, Mikkelsen will turn up in a WRC seat. Be sure of that.

[AdvEvo]

levebre out mikkelsen in.

[Franky]

Currently I'd prefer N.O.T out and Mikkelsen in

[A FONDO]

Breen delivers points for Citroen when Meeke crash but do you see him defending a podium? Absolutely not. He is Sordo2, silent waiting to inherit 6th place from 8th.

This is not the appropriate thread anyway.

[AL14]

Breen delivers points for Citroen when Meeke crash but do you see him defending a podium?

He actually did it last year in Finland. At his only fifth event with a WRC car...

[WUff1]

Breen delivers points for Citroen when Meeke crash but do you see him defending a podium? Absolutely not. He is Sordo2, silent waiting to inherit 6th place from 8th.

This is not the appropriate thread anyway.

Lefebvre is doing the same, and he´s slower than Breen at the moment.

[dimviii]

too early to judge Breen.Till now he performs better than most waited.
Latvala after 10 years in a row at wrc last year had a very bad year.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Bertelli to drive 2017-spec M-Sport Ford in Mexico. https://t.co/Gk7433XAbE

Money talks.