2023 WRC News & Rumours

[mknight]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/breen...drive-in-2024/

"BREEN TARGETING FULL-TIME HYUNDAI DRIVE IN 2024
A RETURN TO A FULL SEASON AND A MAIDEN RALLY WIN ARE AMONG HIS AIMS FOR THE YEAR"

That's some big aims and words after having the worst season of any driver I can think of the last 15 years or so. Even Duval's 2005 was better (with maiden win), yet Duval basically never drove full season for a manu afterwards.

Surely it is better PR to show he wants to improve rather than saying he just wants to keep a job. But the contrast is astonishing.

[bandit12]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/breen...drive-in-2024/

"BREEN TARGETING FULL-TIME HYUNDAI DRIVE IN 2024
A RETURN TO A FULL SEASON AND A MAIDEN RALLY WIN ARE AMONG HIS AIMS FOR THE YEAR"

That's some big aims and words after having the worst season of any driver I can think of the last 15 years or so. Even Duval's 2005 was better (with maiden win), yet Duval basically never drove full season for a manu afterwards.

Surely it is better PR to show he wants to improve rather than saying he just wants to keep a job. But the contrast is astonishing.

in life there must be goals to strive for. without them, life would be just vegetation

[typhoon]

It looks like they listened to the need of having a logistic partner in the field. Ok, it's not a massive one like DHL, but there's a new sponsor on wrc.com: WSA (logistic partner for MotoGP and other top-class events). Is there any hope for the teams?

[TypeR]

Jeez.. these finnish journalists can't just give a break about 24/7 thinking/talking about Tanak..

https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/...0080#gs.mfkmk2

Ott Tänak loses his temper with M-Sport's car.

Ketomaa: To lose. My guess is that unfortunately it will be difficult to survive. It's a private team and not a full factory team, and not everything will go like in the movies. If he could just keep his deck together, he'd have a chance to win races, but I'm afraid the collaboration won't be very rosy.

[mknight]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/im-st...yundai-return/

2nd Breen article in two days, starting to look like last year at this time. Anyway one interesting info.

According to them before Lappi jumped ship from Toyota, Breen was supposed to drive full season and Sordo and Mikkelsen share the 3rd car.

- IMO none of these 3 deserve full season at this point, each for own reasons. In that case I would expect 4 drivers (these + Suninen) sharing two cars much more than Breen getting full season.

- At this same time Neuville was openly saying in media that he wants Evans, Sordo and Mikkelsen as teammates.
a) Neuville seemingly does not have that much to say about drivers at Hyundai (old news)
but
b) Either he did not know Breen was on the way or maybe he knew and did not like it trying to put pressure trough media?

[EstWRC]

Jeez.. these finnish journalists can't just give a break about 24/7 thinking/talking about Tanak..

https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/...0080#gs.mfkmk2

on top of that he predicts Lappi to beat Neuville

[EstWRC]

Tänak:

“The car is giving some good feedback and is reacting well, so it’s just about finding the set-up to find the optimum balance and also the peak performance.”

“But as a base I would say the Puma is definitely not a tricky car.”

More https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-...m-monte-carlo/

[Allez Andruet]

Jeez.. these finnish journalists can't just give a break about 24/7 thinking/talking about Tanak..

The story was not about Tänak, but there were five deliberately controversial predictions for which they asked Jari Ketomaa (who's working as a WRC commentator for Finnish media outlet CMore) whether he agrees or not.

1. Kalle will win his second title
2. Tänak will grow disappointed with the Puma
3. Lappi will beat Neuville in the championship
4. Latvala will drive a GR Yaris Rally1 in Finland
5. Breen will be sacked by Hyundai before the end of the year

Personally I think the first two are the most likely to materialize of these if any. There is a possibility that Toyota and Hyundai will be out of reach for M-Sport at some point during the season. And IF that happens, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a frustrated Tänak at the stage-end interviews. Fingers crossed it won't happen and we have three teams fighting for victories throughout the season.

[Rallyest]

The story was not about Tänak, but there were five deliberately controversial predictions for which they asked Jari Ketomaa (who's working as a WRC commentator for Finnish media outlet CMore) whether he agrees or not.

1. Kalle will win his second title
2. Tänak will grow disappointed with the Puma
3. Lappi will beat Neuville in the championship
4. Latvala will drive a GR Yaris Rally1 in Finland
5. Breen will be sacked by Hyundai before the end of the year

Personally I think the first two are the most likely to materialize of these if any. There is a possibility that Toyota and Hyundai will be out of reach for M-Sport at some point during the season. And IF that happens, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a frustrated Tänak at the stage-end interviews. Fingers crossed it won't happen and we have three teams fighting for victories throughout the season.

Well, considering that most likely Ford and RB helped back up Tänaks hiring financely, there is a big possibility they will also make sure, that all the money they spent wont go to waste because car will not be competitive, and probably will help M-sport cut some costs regarding development also and performance. That is what seems logical to me, but who knows, maybe RB and Ford are happy if at the first half of the season Tänak can show a win or 2 and constant podiums before letting it all go to ruins. Sure hope it wont go that way. But They have repeated multiple times that M-sports goal is Tänak as WDC, so i think they have planned a little bit ahead.

[cali]

Hehe what you guys don't know is that there is rumours Tänak is now co-owner of M-Sport (remember the insta post “The Boss and The Boss“?). This prediction no. 2 will be hard to materialise if you're the co-boss and you just don't critisize your own team.

PS! I had this information before that Instagram post

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