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Shock decision however Phil does have other business interests including his MK2 Escort historic rally preperation company. Perhaps it's a reflection of the pace needed to keep up with Loeb etc that is in the back of his mind and the thought of the potential next big accident...
If that would be the case, it would be the time to call it off. He was very lucky to come out alive from that Germany crash in 2004.Quote:
Originally Posted by sal
I personally believe that safety was the issue for Phil. I actually thought that this was coming for a while (though not halfway through the season), look at any of the footage of him when he and petter are going off the road.
All this is just speculation though...
there has to a ''real'' story of phil leaving the quotes from the web site are a good PR speak,but i wouldnt think that it was a fall out and he was sacked but maybe phil has lost the love for the fight.
one thing for sure Petter will i belive, never be the same without Phil and it will be hard to find a replacement .
I wonder if money is an issue? Petter will be scraping as much as he can together and perhaps Phil is being short paid?
just a thought.
being an aussie, I vote for Dale to co-pilot for Petter :)
Cannot believe this news. It's an end of an era.
Replacements? Prevot, Menkerud? Not sure who he'll go for.
I would think, that the money he got from private team with Petter was not enough to compensate the risks involved. Phil is a wise man and very nice person and he must have thought this through in his mind very thoroughly.
What about Nicky Grist?! I know is not a young guy but surely a very professional person.
It can also be looked at from the other view, and if it's a true "personal reason" (I was boarding a plane to fly to one event when I just decided I didnt want to codrive anymore, so I can relate if it is) then it takes a lot of courage to leave mid season, especially when the results that were missing for so long are now starting to come good.
The risk sounds likely to be a part of this decision. It's many years where they have been driving on (only) 99% as there was not really any point to push more with the equipment they had. Personally I was hoping that Petter had matured from this, and learnt to drive on steady maximum pace and calculate his risks. However in NZ he decided with full conscience to go all-or-nothing on a single stage, with pretty poor odds. Also I didn't really appreciate that he didn't even ask if Phil was ok, but jumped out to look at the damage. Perhaps this moment was the realization for Phil that to complete this season would be on a level of risk that is just slightly out of his comfort zone. As no win would almost not be an option for Petter this year. He would have laid it all out through the rest of the season, and they would likely take the highest risk of all the cars competing. If you already are looking towards retirement, then it's understandable that he felt it was time to pull the plug. After all, it has to be done one day, and it's gonna be hard no matter what.