[WRC] News & Rumours (part V) 2017

[Allez Andruet]

"To be honest, I'm a professional driver and I don't think I should have to pay to drive."

"I've done it before and I won't do it again."

"It would show the sport in a really negative way if I had to do this."

"I don't think I have anything to prove to anybody, it's not so long since Australia or Monte Carlo."

Jesus Christ... there's only VW to blame, no-one else. Ofcourse he'd deserve to be in WRC, no doubt, but hey, it was his employer who pulled the plug in November! The teams are allowed to make their own decisions and at the end of the day it's them who decide who's got a seat. So all this childish talk that "I don't think I have anything to prove to anybody"... aargh, it's not what you think, or what your fans or anyone else think - it's the decision the teams make. And if you're sitting mid-February without a car, then yes, you do have something to prove. Simple as that. And for the millointh time, he wasn't left without a seat as it's often being drawn out - his team just quit. There's a huge difference there.

And this "It would show the sport in a really negative way if I had to do this."... how hypocrite is that? We've had guys like Camilli doing full season, Al-Qassimi drives a factory Citroen every now and then and suddenly, if Mikkelsen would have to pay for a drive it'd "show the sport in a really negative way"?

What did Vatanen do in 1982 (as a defending World Champ)? Or Petter in 2008? They both could've used the same excuses Mikkelsen is using, but instead they actually DID something.

[bowler]

motorsport is littered with people who think they deserve a drive, and most of them do. Some are just unlucky and miss out.

[jparker]

Hyundai & Citroen ditched VW, now they are ditching themselves. I hope they are not religious.

[mknight]

..and show that he still has the speed...

Sure he suddenly lost all speed after not driving 1(2) rallies.
Btw. consider who has drives now: Evans after missing a season (and not like he beat 4 times world champion in same car before that) and Hanninen after 3 seasons away and at best mediocre results before that. Also Ogier became WC after "missing" a season.

I totally agree with the first part of what he says, he barely could have done better in 2016 to "deserve" a seat. I also agree that there is no point in driving a 2016 car. Apart from doing the recce on all rounds (which indeed is a good idea), I'd say he should also drive a few just to stay even better updated on the stages. I do understand that he doesn't want to get committed to building own team or long-term car renting if he thinks he has a very good chance of getting a factory seat "soon" (latest for 2018).

So the question is what to do before he gets a seat. Buy a few rounds in a 2017 car? Only choice there is Ford and the Fiesta didn't look all that impressive in Sweden. Also there is a real danger that "client" Fords will quickly loose competitiveness as the factory cars are further developed. So my guess is that he will wait 1-2 rounds at least before deciding on further actions. Overall the best short term option would be to drive some rounds in an R5 that he does not have to pay for.

[EstWRC]

i didnt say he lost the speed but it is a fact we havent seen him driving with a 17 machine and we dont know how fast he would be.

anyway this topic is done for me and i really hopes he gets some outings this year.

[Franky]

i wanted to write the same but i thought i would be the only one here.

I was ready to take the hit

But I won't drag it any further as pretty much everything has been said already.

[Munkvy]

How much have Autosport taken this out of context/made more of it than there really is? As it's about the only ongoing story around to beat on in the WRC, other than Citroens poor results? Could well be that he had one interview and they have turned it into a repeating story to keep people talking/reading their site...

I think everyone agrees he got a raw deal, but such is life, now is the time to do something about it.

[MrJan]

I don't agree with some of you guys. Where is the prima donna here?

Bitching about it to the media. As bowler says, loads of drivers in motorsport deserve a drive but don't have it, and loads have a drive but don't deserve it. Mikkelsen isn't that special...other than having been on a cushy VW/Red Bull number for the last 4 or 5 years while others didn't get a shot.

[jbmarcus21]

Marcus testing today with Fabia R5 ➡ http://bit.ly/2llVYCl

[Thousandlakes]

Grönholm said in newest finnish rally magazine (vauhdin maailma) that he is going to secret test. OK now we know that test is with Skoda. Just guessing is it somekind start of Skodas wrc project or just r5 test without any big secrets??