2018 Teams

[mknight]

I havent make any analysis, but by memory, without technical problems Tanak was generally quicker than Ogier on every rally accept Monte.

Monte - Ogier faster
Sweden - Tanak faster
Mexico - Ogier faster
Corsica - Ogier faster
Argentina - Tanak faster
Portugal - not taking cleaning on first day into account they had very similar speed
Sardinia - Tanak faster, but Ogier had bad road position both Friday and Saturday

So Tanak was clearly faster 2-3 times, Ogier 3 times. At best this is a draw.

[AnttiL]

surprised to see Latvala mentioned, he said he will quit his career

He took it back in the post event press conference

[AL14]

Guys please are we really comparing Tanak e Ogier?

Tanak is growing good and I am optimistic about him but sometimes I am astounded about how some of you are result oriented sometimes.
How can you not take into account how Ogier has mastered everyone since 2013? He is in another planet. Of course I hope someone will reach that planet to have some proper fight but it's not the case of Tanak at the moment.

[er88]

Ogier will stay at Ford with Tänak. Third could be Camilli or Suninen.

The rumours atm are that Ford won't be back.

[AnttiL]

Why would Camilli be back? Apart from his decent run in Sardinia, he hasn't been impressive in WRC2 this year. I'd rather hire Tidemand as a new talent. Or Suninen, depending on how the two next events go.

[Rally Power]

This is not correct, it was only the case for this year because the deadline for entry had passed. If someone has approval from VW and money they can enter the cars in 2018, no problem.

Not quite so. The problem with the ‘17 Polo was homologation rules. In order to be homologated a WRC car must be run on a 2 car team for a whole season (the team can be private, as long it's designated by the manu). The first option (Jipocar running Ogier and Prokop) would be valid but apparently it failed when Al Attiyah got in the middle, delaying the project and interfering with Ogier's chossing window. Mikkelsen's project failed because it was a one car project to be entered on selected events and the other teams didn't consent that kind of rules exception. Anyway, a new street Polo is going to be launch in September. It makes even harder to believe that VW will allow private teams to run a car based on their old model.

Btw, just a tip on Ogier future: can the 'America First' spirit, that's been developed in the US under the new administration (it'd be nice to hear javanpuura about this) and followed by many big corps (GM selling Opel isn't a coincidence), affect Ford's decision to enter WRC?


PS: no need to wait till September; like petalex said on another thread, the new Polo is going to be presented next Friday (11am CET).

[Andre Oliveira]

Malcolm Wilson are negotiating with Ford Europe

[Andre Oliveira]

Why would Camilli be back? Apart from his decent run in Sardinia, he hasn't been impressive in WRC2 this year. I'd rather hire Tidemand as a new talent. Or Suninen, depending on how the two next events go.

Because FFSA support

[Watson]

The rumours atm are that Ford won't be back.

Sources?

[er88]

Malcolm Wilson are negotiating with Ford Europe

He has been since Ogier became available late last year tbf . Let's hope Ford come back, and the negotiations will eventually result in something other than things remaining the same