[WRC] News & rumours (part II)

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

Hmmmm.... let me think.... Hmmmmmm... maybe a guy they invested a serious amount of cash on this year ?? maybe a young guy with consistent scoring throughout the year ??? maybe a guy who proved is he third to none on tarmac and has experience with a team and happens to be from a country with a huge market ???

are these three enough ???? or you think they will go for a guy with a consistent crash record and who has really shown he cannot beat any of the other rivals ???

about the filter.... no posts for people below 20 and above 50... that should ensure my mental health...or whats left of it at least...

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Okay, neuville : i think he crashed quite a lot this year didn't he? and yet to finish on the podium...
Tanak : well last year at the same period, people where saying that he had to potential to be factory driver for Ford, yet to finish on the podium
Novikov : yes big country with huge market potential, quite fast and consistent this year, but did he not had the choice to drive a citroen for the second half of the season? why did he choose to stick with Ford?

So i personnaly think that atko can easily mix with them 3, he still has more podiums than the 3 put together, and the podium he had was with a dying impreza...

Unless I don't understand who you are thinking of...

If Loeb does stop, then Citroen will no doubt have a few potential candidates in mind. I suspect they're setting Mikko Hirvonen up as Loeb's successor - and Hirvonen's move to Citroen only really makes sense if he's been promised a team leadership role once Loeb moves on - so what they're really going to be looking for is someone who can fill Hirvonen's role as the number two driver. Neuville seems to be the most-likely candidate, but I wouldn't put it past Citroen to try and poach Ostberg or maybe Novikov.

Citroen's biggest problem is that they don't really offer anything in the way of support for customer teams. Outside the Citroen WRT, only a handful of customers have appeared in DS3s compared to the other teams. There have never been more than five WRC-spec Citroens on any entry list; for example, they fielded Loeb, Hirvonen, van Merksteijn and al-Attiyah in Portugal. Compare that to Ford, who had nine WRC-spec Fiestas - for Latvala, Solberg, Tanak, Novikov, Oliveria, Kuipers, Ostberg, Ketomaa, and Prokop - at the same event. They really need to knuclke down and find someone who can run a customer Citroen team or two at as many events as possible in 2013 if they want to stand any chance of finding some talent to move up into their works cars. They need to look to the junior categories and pick up drivers like Breen, Guerra, Kosciuszko, Paddon, Evans and Meeke, and nurture them, because the alternative is to try and steal drivers away from the other teams - and with Volkswagen entering in 2013, and with Mini hopefully stepping up their involvement (Prodrive screwed up, but the Araujo-Nobre combination hasn't worked at all), they're going to be caught with their pants down before long. Ferrari did exactly the same thing in Formula 1 when they missed the boat on establishing young driver programs, and they were forced to watch as their rivals picked up the likes of Hamilton and Vettel. It was years before they were able to get the program up and running and find anyone of their own (Perez), and in the meantime, they have been stuck running the uncompetitive Felipe Massa. If Citroen aren't careful, they're going to find themselves in exactly the same position. They're at the front at the moment, but that just means that everyone else has more to gain by snaring young talent.

neuville is great, he show´s he´s really fast and of course also crashes here and there but thats normal. and i also think that atkinson is a very good driver. he´s out of wrc for quite a while bu he´s still fast and i still believe that he´s better then solberg. he was faster than him in the impreza in the last season. i´m exited what he can do with the mini.

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

Even if he wins all stages and all events from now on, that thing is not going to happen. At best he is going to get support to drive some events next year as well...

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BS arguement as this will never happen, but if it did I am sure team bosses would overlook Atkos erratic past, his lack of seat time and his age.

Ps, how about a post number filter? Anyone with as much to say as you should surely be a journalist by now and being paid rather than limiting your wisdom to this place?

Abbring qualified as second, Ogier as eigth at the Nurburgring :)

Results

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Originally Posted by spiderem

Okay, neuville : i think he crashed quite a lot this year didn't he? and yet to finish on the podium...
Tanak : well last year at the same period, people where saying that he had to potential to be factory driver for Ford, yet to finish on the podium
Novikov : yes big country with huge market potential, quite fast and consistent this year, but did he not had the choice to drive a citroen for the second half of the season? why did he choose to stick with Ford?

So i personnaly think that atko can easily mix with them 3, he still has more podiums than the 3 put together, and the podium he had was with a dying impreza...

Unless I don't understand who you are thinking of...

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lol....1 out of 3 correct..... you fail.

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Originally Posted by Nornbugger

BS arguement as this will never happen, but if it did I am sure team bosses would overlook Atkos erratic past, his lack of seat time and his age.

Ps, how about a post number filter? Anyone with as much to say as you should surely be a journalist by now and being paid rather than limiting your wisdom to this place?

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that is the beauty of the interwebs... all my knowledge and insight are for free.... i am a very nice person.

I do not consider journalism a profession.

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Originally Posted by tommeke_B

@Prisoner Monkeys: Neuville his talent was discovered by Ford, that's how succesful their strategy is... He won a contest and got to drive a year with the Fiesta supported by RACB (Belgian federation) in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy in Belgium. He showed that he had a lot of talent. But there was no support from Ford to help him up the ladder. Fortunately Citroën helped him. The only thing Ford has now are paying privateers, they are good, but I don't see any of them becoming a champion. Neuville is on the same pace in his first year in the WRC while they have 3 or more years of experience.

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Nevertheless, Citroen need to do more. They cannot simply count on luring the best talent Ford has to offer over to their side of the fence every single time. Especially since more manufacturers are coming into the sport. I can see Volkswagen supporting a second non-works team (like Ford with M-Sport), and I hope Mini realise their mistake in the way they handled the Prodrive issue.

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

lol....1 out of 3 correct..... you fail.

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I did fail because your posts are as clear as mud.
Please put some name on your assumptions, to help us understand you, and maybe protect your mental health... or whats left of it... as you very well quoted ;)

What's great about Neuville?!