Prodrive Mini WRC

**Sulland** · 14th Nov 10, 14:46

Apparently Sordo has signed for Prodrive during Rally GB.
He joins Meeke, so that settles that.

http://translate.google.com/translat...er-mini-i-2011

**Barreis** · 14th Nov 10, 14:54

Good for him..

**ste898** · 14th Nov 10, 14:59

Originally Posted by Sulland

Apparently Sordo has signed for Prodrive during Rally GB.
He joins Meeke, so that settles that.

http://translate.google.com/translat...er-mini-i-2011

So once again Ford misses out on a top driver to replace hirvoslow.

What planet is Wilson On these days

**ste898** · 14th Nov 10, 15:01

Gutted for Petter but he was never gonna win on times as WRC is all driven too splits now and that is why it is so boring and will continue to be

**alleskids** · 14th Nov 10, 15:26

I am happy for Sordo to find a team that really wants him for his talent. But I am unhappy that Find missed the oppertunity to kick Citroen's balls on tarmac with the Fiesta WrCar.
Nothing personal, but I think that Stobart would love to pay for Sordo being on the Stobart car instead of Wilson's son

**Bobcat** · 14th Nov 10, 16:46

Originally Posted by Sulland

Apparently Sordo has signed for Prodrive during Rally GB.
He joins Meeke, so that settles that.

http://translate.google.com/translat...er-mini-i-2011

Ok and what Andersson? http://www.eurosport.se/rally/p-g-ak...10/story.shtml

So that the Mini team with Meeke, Andersson, Sordo and "Bosse"...?

**urabus-denoS2000** · 14th Nov 10, 16:57

Great for Sordo , now he has no limitations ! Hopefully the Mini will be competitive

**Juha_Koo** · 14th Nov 10, 17:15

Originally Posted by Kaffi

they are real sportsmen and women in that team, and results speak for them. Congrats to double chevron team.

ROFL!

Yeah, real sportsmen and women! Unlike Ford, they have utilised incredibly ruthless team tactics (remember Rautenbach in Poland?) for many years. Versus the Ford, letting JML win in Sardinia back in 2009, etc.

Now these "real sportsmen" will kick out Dani Sordo, the real man behind Citroen's manufacturer world titles. A guy who has done terrible amount of work to gain more speed and shown unconditional integrity and obedience towards the team. The team's reward to him? "Sorry, you have no car in our team next season. Kthanxbye!"

I'm very happy for Sordo for having a go with Mini.

**urabus-denoS2000** · 14th Nov 10, 17:26

Both Citroen and Ford have shown sport-killing tactics over the last years , so non of them are 100% sportsmen

**urabus-denoS2000** · 14th Nov 10, 17:39

Here's proof ... France 2008

SS15

1.1S. LOEBM3:26:25.70.00.0
2.4F. DUVALM3:27:51.1+1:25.4+1:25.4
3.8J. LATVALAM3:28:23.8+32.7+1:58.1
4.3M. HIRVONENM3:29:55.3+1:31.5+3:29.6

SS16

1.1S. LOEBM3:42:58.00.00.0
2.3M. HIRVONENM3:46:22.7+3:24.7+3:24.7
3.4F. DUVALM3:46:29.6+6.9+3:31.6
4.8J. LATVALAM3:46:35.5+5.9+3:37.5

I dont think comment is neccesary

**ridder** · 14th Nov 10, 19:29

Originally Posted by Kaffi

Sordo is fantastic asset to have in a team. This guy has a lot of knowledge of Citroën cars from the past years. David Richards is smart to hire him.
They can now benefit from him to develop their car further, together with Markko Martin and Kris Meeke those three drivers are a very complete package.

I see success very soon for Mini.

You know what car was the last car Prodrive and Markko Martin developed together?

2008 Impreza, the one with huge grip/handling problems on low-grip surfaces which nobody ever found a solution to. Even Østberg prefers to drive the 2007 Impreza on these surfaces over it.

Makes me rather skeptical about Prodrive Mini.

That said Sordo is the best available choice for them, he's faster than PG, by a lot on tarmac and probably even on gravel and has tons of experience. Only other comparable choice would be Solberg, but neither him nor Prodrive want to work together anymore. Can't really blame Solberg for that, telling them for 3 years that the car is bad, to be mostly ignored in the end.

**cali** · 14th Nov 10, 21:18

Originally Posted by ridder

You know what car was the last car Prodrive and Markko Martin developed together?

2008 Impreza, the one with huge grip/handling problems on low-grip surfaces which nobody ever found a solution to. Even Østberg prefers to drive the 2007 Impreza on these surfaces over it.

Makes me rather skeptical about Prodrive Mini.

That said Sordo is the best available choice for them, he's faster than PG, by a lot on tarmac and probably even on gravel and has tons of experience. Only other comparable choice would be Solberg, but neither him nor Prodrive want to work together anymore. Can't really blame Solberg for that, telling them for 3 years that the car is bad, to be mostly ignored in the end.

Markko did not develop the car. He was testing it after it was developed. He was called in to help, because this car was born dead. Get your facts right

**ridder** · 14th Nov 10, 21:40

Originally Posted by cali

Markko did not develop the car. He was testing it after it was developed. He was called in to help, because this car was born dead. Get your facts right

Thanks, didn't know that. Nevertheless it doesn't seem he could help.

**PLuto** · 14th Nov 10, 22:22

Originally Posted by Bobcat

Ok and what Andersson? http://www.eurosport.se/rally/p-g-ak...10/story.shtml

So that the Mini team with Meeke, Andersson, Sordo and "Bosse"...?

Andersson is out...

**tmx** · 14th Nov 10, 22:22

Originally Posted by ridder

That said Sordo is the best available choice for them, he's faster than PG, by a lot on tarmac and probably even on gravel and has tons of experience.

What? I've never seen the two go head to head in similar performance car. A manu C4 is faster than a SX4, can't count that one-off with Stobart.

**Barreis** · 14th Nov 10, 23:16

Turan was faster on some stages.. Bad mistake for Turan when turned to Stobart..

**TKM** · 15th Nov 10, 02:48

Originally Posted by Juha_Koo

ROFL!

Yeah, real sportsmen and women! Unlike Ford, they have utilised incredibly ruthless team tactics (remember Rautenbach in Poland?) for many years. Versus the Ford, letting JML win in Sardinia back in 2009, etc.

Now these "real sportsmen" will kick out Dani Sordo, the real man behind Citroen's manufacturer world titles. A guy who has done terrible amount of work to gain more speed and shown unconditional integrity and obedience towards the team. The team's reward to him? "Sorry, you have no car in our team next season. Kthanxbye!"

I'm very happy for Sordo for having a go with Mini.

Damn straight. And Loeb also won the championship last year because of Sordo. Sordo would've easily won Spain last year and stopped on the last stage of day 2 to let Loeb take the lead and then backed right off on day 3. Without those extra 2 points Hirvonen would've won the title. You didn't see Ford holding back Latvala in Italy to ensure Hirvonen won as all Wilson is concerned about is the manufacturer's title.

I hope Sordo finally gets the wins he deserves with Mini.

**grugsticles** · 15th Nov 10, 06:52

Im happy for Dani, maybe now he will be allowed to win a rally!
The guy can obviously drive, but hes always been driving Seb's car. Im sure there are little changes he would have linked to be incorperated to the C4 to suit him if he was the team leader.
Now with Prodrive/Mini, I think his greatest battle will be with communication as we all know his english isnt the best, not a great thing for an english speaking team (presumably).