[WRC] News & rumours (part II)

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Originally Posted by FAlonso

I managed to find a direct link to the attachment mentioned in the 2nd paragraph. For those less "facebook-friendly". -----> http://www.motoresmagazine.net/wp-co..._Statement.pdf

After reading everything more carefully I'm certain Motorsport Italia's future in World Rallying won´t be long and/or bright.

In my eyes, and putting aside the fact that I've been a fan of Armindo for 10+ years, I firmly believe that if these allegations prove correct, there might be cause for MI's exclusion from the championship. Plain and simple.

Reading the statement, I think it's clear that a legal battle will arise from all of this. Bad for rallying, bad for Mini, bad for Armindo , very bad (I hope) for MI.

One must not forget that this Rallyart Italy branch only exists due to Armindo and his sponsors. He was running on his own dime last year and for most of this one with Mini Germany/BMW providing backing for the remaining events just to ensure the homologation process for future years wasn´t jeopardised. (after Prodrive lacking funding)

Also excuses on a sporting level are idiotic from MI's part. Even if the car made available to Armindo wasn´t s*** (which seems clear to me and many others), the only promise he made from the

start of the season was trying to do top 10 finishes.

And that was a promise made to his sponsors and fãs. Not MI, not anybody else. It´s not like being a driver at Citroen or Ford and getting fired for underperforming.

I hope that Armindo can turn this around and come back stronger at his true level (in spite of time not being on his side) . Not Loeb-Latvala-Ogier-Hirvonen-Solberg-like. But better than

these 2 years have shown, I'm sure.

Also I will be sorry if Atkinson gets caught up in the middle. We will have to wait and see how this new chapter of the Mini saga turns out.

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Araujo is behaving more like a jilted lover.

We don't need guys like MSI in sport. I believe in Armindo and Miguel version :) And suported they in the future like in the past.

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Originally Posted by Luis Pacheco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb_DAMdxB98

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Is this video from 2012? Or is it more a bit of wishful thinking he had at the start of 2011 without even turning a wheel in the Mini? There are plenty of video interviews/press releases stating what I said.

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Originally Posted by Red bull

Araujo is behaving more like a jilted lover.

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I think he is behaving like someone who has been f*cked over.

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Originally Posted by spiderem

As people seems to know a lot of things, anybody know what happened with "go fast"? Where they not supposed to have 2 cars the full season???

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I'm not really sure what happened to them, either - but I'm guessing that they found it to be very, very expensive. They went from the naming-rights sponsor of a two-car team to having a significantly smaller decale on the side of Ott Tanak's car.

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Originally Posted by Prisoner Monkeys

I'm not really sure what happened to them, either - but I'm guessing that they found it to be very, very expensive. They went from the naming-rights sponsor of a two-car team to having a significantly smaller decale on the side of Ott Tanak's car.

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Thanks. I guess the budget is slightly different for a minuscule sticker or a 2 cars team!

That's just a guess, mind you. They haven't updated www.facebook.com/GoFastWRT]their Facebook page[/url] since April to give an update on Wilson's condition and to say that Solberg missed the Rally of Mexico because of a contractual issue. The www.facebook.com/gofastsports]parent company's page[/url] is a lot more active, with lots of boobs, bike and, well, blow-hards. They appear to be trying to set themselves up as a rival to Red Bull by doing evenything Red Bull does and hoping it works.

The most-recent article I can find about the team is this, which simply states that Solberg is unlikely to appear in Mexico, and that Ricardo Trivino would drive his car (instead of Wilson's, as he was sceduled to). And although Trivino did drive in the rally, the entry list officially lists him as driving for M-Sport.

Exactly what happened to Go Fast WRT remains a mystery. They simply stopped. They were a last-minute thrown-together entry for Monte Carlo, so I'd say that their sponsors simply realised that it was much more expensive than they were anticipating, and results were much harder to come by than expected. But I find it doubly strange that we have seen neither hide nor hair of Solberg or Wilson. Even if the team collapsed, they are remarkably well-connected within the sport. Malcolm Wilson runs M-Sport, and M-Sport fielded entries for Delecour in Monte Carlo, Solowow in Sweden, Trivino in Mexico (as a non-manufacturer entry) and Kuipers in Portugal, so I half-expected Matthew Wilson to run in their third car once his ankle healed. As for Solberg, he could have made it as an Atkinson-style journeyman, filling in for other drivers as needed. But both he and Wilson have been very, very quiet. I can only imagine that Go Fast is planning a serious bid for 2013 (pending support from Ford), and so are working with the team on their entry, because the alternative is that they signed a contract that prevents them from racing for anyone else in 2012, even if the team were to collapse (which seems silly).

EDIT: Just found this, which says Wilson will be back with M-Sport for Rally GB.

DOULBLE EDIT: I've also found this picture of Ott Tanak in Finland. After Go Fast stopped full sponsorship of their team, Tanak's car carried a (much) smaller Go Fast logo. In Finland, he appeared with an FIA Action for Raod Safety decal. It appears Go Fast no longer have any presence in the category.

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Originally Posted by Prisoner Monkeys

DOULBLE EDIT: I've also found this picture of Ott Tanak in Finland. After Go Fast stopped full sponsorship of their team, Tanak's car carried a (much) smaller Go Fast logo. In Finland, he appeared with an FIA Action for Raod Safety decal. It appears Go Fast no longer have any presence in the category.

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Tänak carried Go Fast logo only in Sweden.

Nasser Al-Attiyah denies (better) the redemption of Citroën Racing in Qatar http://rallye.automoto365.com/templa...l_title_bg.gif

In the excitement of the Olympic Games, the first reaction of Nasser Al-Attiyah face rumors of takeover by Citroen Racing Qatar had been taken literally by the world of WRC. While he was enthusiasticat the time that the team can become the world champion "a bit like the PSG" , the driver now shows more balanced. Clearer, too. "No, for the moment we do not believe , we do to promote Qatar on my side. [This acquisition] was not our project, " he says in an interview with iRally, echoing the official denial of Yves Matton . "Qatar supports me and we try to do many things in motorsport to promote Qatar. We also try to save the young crazy things [that can happen] in the street, we try to support them, to spend our energy on something [to help] our country. " "We are together, we have a good relationship with Citroën, then why not work well over the long term? " added the Qatari rider engaged driving a Citroën DS3 private prepared by Technology, with a program that allows him to play the majority of the world championship rallies. 's first love Nasser Al-Attiyah is, however, on d other latitudes and announced he will leave the onslaught of Qatar early next year. "I plan to do the Dakar and hopefully play again the Olympic Games in Rio [in 2016], " he says. And regardless of whether the next edition of the rally he won in 2011 forced him to miss the Rallye Monte-Carlo : "I prefer to do the Dakar. The weather is much better on the Dakar as the Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo because that it will be very cold! " More seriously he adds: "I have a project for next year which begins with the Dakar start and I think my WRC season in Sweden. ' Nasser Al-Attiyah nie (mieux) le rachat de Citroën Racing par le Qatar | Rally | Automoto365.com - actualité photos - résultats classements officiels - interviews exclusives - forum

Yvan Muller will start the Rally of France driving a Mini John Cooper Works WRC prepared by Prodrive. The world champion of tourism has already participated in two previous editions in Alsace, will team up with Dani Sordo and seeks a place in the Top 10

AUTOhebdo.fr | Yvan Muller sur une Mini Prodrive !