Toyota announces WRC plans

[Arnold Triyudho Wardono]

nice to read that Toyota commitment to WRC will continue until at least 2022

Unlike a certain Japanese manufacturer who decices to run away after Le Mans humiliations.

BTW, can we back to main topic..? Otherwise, this thread would be blocked..

[Rallyper]

Main topic is also about where they will place HO.

But for sure I dont understand the guys who cant live with the fact it´s situated in Finland.

[Simmi]

Max Rally saying Loeb to Toyota might not be pie in the sky:
http://www.maxrally.com/2015/12/29/l...mmi-and-toyota

[AL14]

Max Rally saying Loeb to Toyota might not be pie in the sky:
http://www.maxrally.com/2015/12/29/l...mmi-and-toyota

"Probably" "would be" … Just speculations. I wonder how many years will we have to go through until we will stop speculating about Loeb's come back. Probably never.

[traxx]

If Loeb would come back that could be done with Citroen and now he is with peugeot because he does not want that...

[AndyRAC]

The rally journalists seem desperate for Loeb to return, and any story gets headlines; like the Sebasten Loeb Racing running a JWRC programme was "Loeb returns to the WRC....."

Get over it, he's doing other things that interest him. Rallying isn't the only Motorsport around.....

[Simmi]

Get over it, he's doing other things that interest him. Rallying isn't the only Motorsport around.....

You say that - but Loeb is directly quoted in Motorsport News today saying that he wanted to do some rallies with Citroen in 2016 but he was dropped. It doesn't sound like it ended all that well with Citroen - nor does it seem to be the case (like we assume) that he could just switch back between Peugeot and Citroen at his will.

On Citroen: "They could have had a good opportunity to take me, but they closed the door."

Loeb on his post-Dakar plans: "It's difficult to say at the moment, I am working on different ideas. What I think is that I want to do more than three or so rallies in the year, so I need to find something. There are different opportunities at the moment, but it's too early to speak clearly about this year."


So it sounds like it didn't end well - and it sounds like Loeb is fairly hurt or pissed off at Citroen. And he wants to do more rallies. So it's not exactly crazy that he could be talking to Toyota. If this article isn't up on Autosport by later on today I'll post a few of the other quotes.

[AndyRAC]

I've just read the piece ( I very rarely buy MNews anymore; also, getting rid of Jerry Williams was a mistake). It just confirms what I thought at the time; signing for Peugeot was far more significant than people realised. It was a proper split - not a 'transfer' across to the sister company. He won't be back at Citroen.

Could he do a few events in the future? Possibly looks like it. I don't think we'll see him full time though.

[seb_sh]

Also look at the following two phrases in Loeb's statement after Citroen's announcement:
"I was surprised when I learned that I won't move forward to defend the colours of Citroen Racing in 2016."
"I am disappointed that the adventure stops after two years because I had the desire to go get this title."
Translated from his official website on autosport: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122150

This was followed by a statement from Citroen that Loeb wasn't "fired" and just moved over to Peugeot.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122150

There's lots of other PR stuff in the statement but these two lines indicate he didn't want it this way. If he wanted to retire it would have been more about mutual decisions and time to stop (and even then it's not sure it's true ). So it looks like he's not happy with Citroen but does that mean he will go to a rival or return to the WRC? Or will he go back to try Le Mans or something like that? He may not be happy with Citroen's decision but he sour so that he would go against them?

[Lundefaret]

Loeb with a limited program for Toyota, well... that would be interesting (and an absolute dream scenario).

Toyota/Tommi Mäkinen have several options:
- Thierry Neuville (Tommi would be the man that could get him back on his horse)
- Petter Solberg (if Petter could be a little of his former humble self, and let him be tought by Mäkinen, and let Mäkinen have a big say in set up, this could be really good.)
-Eric Camilli (Toyota has money enough to break every contract, and Camilli COULD be a future star)
And off course others.

Loeb would be great for Toyota and great for the WRC.