Petter Solberg WRT

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Originally Posted by Tarmac Tommy

:(

Didn't Quesnel more or less tell Meeke a while back that if he was French hed be driving the car, but due to the fact that Ireland and Britain dont bring much to the party for Citroen commercially he wouldnt be getting a seat :(

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Maybe you can post a link to the a link to the full story?

Tomi, he can't because it's the other way round.
Citroën expressed some real interest for Meeke as for the UK market, the main issue was, again, down to a question of money and that's why it failed despite both sides efforts. Meeke certainly won't deny it.

And as far as rumors go, it is said that the UK motorsport body wasn't that much intesrested. Even heard Fréquelin in an interview (after some testing with Meeke) saying he was surprised and disapointed at how the project got them bored...

Don't always blame the manufacturer... Loeb, Ogier, Sordo, the Finns and many others woulnd't have made it to the WRC, hadn't they been helped by someone in their own countries, whether the motorsport body, managers, private companies, etc.

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Originally Posted by Karukera

Tomi, he can't because it's the other way round.
Citroën expressed some real interest for Meeke as for the UK market, the main issue was, again, down to a question of money and that's why it failed despite both sides efforts. Meeke certainly won't deny it.

And as far as rumors go, it is said that the UK motorsport body wasn't that much intesrested. Even heard Fréquelin in an interview (after some testing with Meeke) saying he was surprised and disapointed at how the project got them bored...

Don't always blame the manufacturer... Loeb, Ogier, Sordo, the Finns and many others woulnd't have made it to the WRC, hadn't they been helped by someone in their own countries, whether the motorsport body, managers, private companies, etc.

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A sad state of affairs for the sport in the UK. We often hear that the UK is a big market for the WRC, but in reality, is it?

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Originally Posted by 6789

Petter has launched his merchandise store for 2010. The team shirt looks pretty cool

http://www.pscollection.no/no/t-shirts.html

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Looks like a wolfshirt. NICE!

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Originally Posted by Karukera

Tomi, he can't because it's the other way round.
Citroën expressed some real interest for Meeke as for the UK market, the main issue was, again, down to a question of money and that's why it failed despite both sides efforts. Meeke certainly won't deny it.

And as far as rumors go, it is said that the UK motorsport body wasn't that much intesrested. Even heard Fréquelin in an interview (after some testing with Meeke) saying he was surprised and disapointed at how the project got them bored...

Don't always blame the manufacturer... Loeb, Ogier, Sordo, the Finns and many others woulnd't have made it to the WRC, hadn't they been helped by someone in their own countries, whether the motorsport body, managers, private companies, etc.

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Exactly...Citroen has a big presence in the UK so Meeke would be a great choice.

He's also far better than the likes of Duval, PG etc.

So this means, that you have to be from a country that sells a lot of Citröens or Euro Fords, to make it in the WRC. .
The Finns must be here on borrowed time then? What about Swede's, Norwegians, Danish, Dutch, Icelandics, Russians, Americans, Australians, + + + +. .
Or if you're really lucky to have insanely much money and maybe not much talent..or if you're a really really really good talent,, that also is a really good sponsorhunter..

No not at all merely that Meeke is both talented (IMO faster than everyone aside from Loeb, Ogier and maybe Hirvonen on a good day) and makes sense from a marketing perspective. Peugeot runs TV and print adverts in the UK with him in them.

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Originally Posted by Karukera

Tomi, he can't because it's the other way round.
Citroën expressed some real interest for Meeke as for the UK market, the main issue was, again, down to a question of money and that's why it failed despite both sides efforts. Meeke certainly won't deny it.

And as far as rumors go, it is said that the UK motorsport body wasn't that much intesrested. Even heard Fréquelin in an interview (after some testing with Meeke) saying he was surprised and disapointed at how the project got them bored...

Don't always blame the manufacturer... Loeb, Ogier, Sordo, the Finns and many others woulnd't have made it to the WRC, hadn't they been helped by someone in their own countries, whether the motorsport body, managers, private companies, etc.

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The other way around? Please explain.
I think you're confusing various instances over the years where Meeke's future was discussed and yes, money was an issue. Citroen have always had an interest in him and he continues to test for them in R3 and WRC (C4 in the past and now DS3).
Quesnel did say to Meeke that if he was French things would be rather different.
As for no support from UK motorsport bodies, what's new.

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Originally Posted by I am evil Homer

No not at all merely that Meeke is both talented (IMO faster than everyone aside from Loeb, Ogier and maybe Hirvonen on a good day) and makes sense from a marketing perspective. Peugeot runs TV and print adverts in the UK with him in them.

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It sure makes sense, however before joining in a full WRC program he needs some extra support and that's where a national governing body can help.

By the way, Quesnel or anyone else at Citroën never said his nationality was an issue, on the full contrary. But some naives still want to believe that silly rumor and blame it on others in the vaccuum of local manufacturers, go figure... :s tare:

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Originally Posted by Karukera

It sure makes sense, however before joining in a full WRC program he needs some extra support and that's where a national governing body can help.

By the way, Quesnel or anyone else at Citroën never said his nationality was an issue, on the full contrary. But some naives still want to believe that silly rumor and blame it on others in the vaccuum of local manufacturers, go figure... :s tare:

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Strangely enough a person who was involved in the conversation with Quesnel and Meeke would disagree with you. But, hey, you know better.