VW could copy Subaru and hire some older drivers. Vatanen and Alen were both Subaru regulars in the early nineties as Colin McRae was building up his name.
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VW could copy Subaru and hire some older drivers. Vatanen and Alen were both Subaru regulars in the early nineties as Colin McRae was building up his name.
I don't know, please enlighten me. All I know is that Citroen was pretty amazed of what Petter and FX did to the c4 last year... And Atko faster than Petter is just an urban legend, look up the stats...Quote:
Originally Posted by darkstar
Petter is a one-man show too. Yet another reason :arrow: Videoblog: Åge Hareide sitter på med Petter Solberg (30.aug 2011) - YouTube
Atko hasn`t been in the sport for some time now, unlike Petter. If Atko want`s a seat, he has to start all over again.
all i know is that i never have heard from a driver that messed up his setup so mutch that he stop´s driving and retires from a rallye. also you can clearly see here, that atkinson was better in 2008 then solberg: http://www.ewrc-results.com/season.php?season=2008§ion=1&category=0#bodovaniQuote:
Originally Posted by Viking
he had lots of podiums in 2008.
please dont take it as offense, im not a fan of solberg and not a fan of atkinson too, but you could clearly see that atkinson was better in 2008.
also it´s not really true that atkinson has no driving experience anymore, he´s doing some rallyes with the proton. but of course he wont be at the same pace as in 2008 i guess.
On the one hand VW said in Motorsport News this week that they are only considering people from IRC or sWRC for their Fabia drives and that there was "no-one" from Britain to consider, and then on the other hand they are looking at people like Lindroos, Riedemann, Gilmour. Doesn't seem to be a great deal of consistency there.Quote:
Originally Posted by danon
Will be interesting to see who they pick for the remaining rounds this year.
I guess Petter, Hanninen and Mikkelsen are three of the six.
Atko was seen at Ford in Finland. Maybe only as ordinary guest or maybe anything else...?
I honestly think Atkinson would be a good choice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
I saw him in Mini tent there... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
Maybe two years ago...now he is out of WRC for third season and it´s IMHO too much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
meh, he's young enough to bounce back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Walach
These are definitely the drivers to form the final and complete end-selection at VW. :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Meeke was away for longer (and never in a full WRC team before anyway) and he is stacking up pretty well against Sordo given his huge experience deficit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Walach
I agree that would make a good team, although you could maybe substitute one of the Ford guys for Petter if neccesary.Quote:
Originally Posted by danon
Spoke to Atko in Germany,and he said he had no chance of a works drive next year,and the chances of him competing nxt year in customer car was slim as he can't get finances.He said he had spoken with vw but nothing serious, and while there is a chance of driving in wrc again he wont give up.
I'm happy and sad to hear this. Can't Ken Block hook him up with the Monster car for an event he won't be doing anyway? I'm sorry that it has come down to money for him, but surely a APRC title in an eye-catching car like Proton would help him?Quote:
Originally Posted by fastboy
How much would Atko's chances improve if Mini were allowed to enter a third works car for him? I would think Dave Richards could make an exception for him.
I did hear something a while back suggesting he may enter WRC in the monster world rally team, I guess nothing came of it. Shame, I'd love to see him back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
I was hoping he would become a bit like Block & Rossi i.e take up a sponsorship profile with Monster and be included on its homepage as a way to promote himself and the brand. I guess this kind of thinking gets you nowhere as there is not much money to be made endorsing rally drivers when you could choose a Moto-X tool with a tattooey neck.
I imagine we could guarantee that Mikkelsen will be in the VW team. It would be mad to let go of him.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
I hope that Hanninen is not going into an end of year slump that could lead him to lose the SWRC and IRC titles. If that happens I expect he won't get higher than a Customer Fiesta for the rest of his career.
Do you think that Kopecky is being prepaired for a run at the WRC, it seems that Skoda still favors him and he has some speed in him still.
Nominations for VW test sessions.
Baumschlager/Zeltner, Lavanttal-Rallye 2011 - YouTube (Raimund Bauschlager for tarmac setup)
"Mini Countryman WRC" by Marcus Grönholm_4º Day of Tests at Ponte de Lima, Portugal 2010.avi - YouTube (Gronholm) I wonder if he created some interesting gravel test data for the Mini and feedback.
Not at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
I don't think so... I think Juho would have won in Germany reasonably comfortable without his stupid mistake and Barum is quite a tricky rally where experience seems to count a lot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
It will be interesting to see who VW pick for the remaining events this year if they have already narrowed down their search. I guess Mikkelsen will get at least one more go this year though.
When will we see the first Polo Rally car in testing, no matter what engine?
According to Autonews Magazine » WRC » Volkswagen déjà en essais avec la Polo R WRC ! , Hänninen is testing the first prototype of the Polo for VW on gravel in France. Hans Weijs jr will take over at the end of the week.
Hell yeah! Is Hänninen testing right now, or in future?
very good news...
This week according to the site.Quote:
Originally Posted by T.Maanteiden kuningas
Great! I'm expecially happy for Weijs Jr :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Fly
nice news! Waiting for photos.
That's Hanninen sorted out for 2012 then.
Great to see Hanninen testing the car!!! Goooooo Juho!
I hope we can see the car competing before 2013, maybe some rounds at the end of the 2012?! And im happy for Hanninen, he deserves it.
VW test drivers for Spain are... -> VW setzt Testprogramm mit Nachwuchspiloten fort | Automobil | MOTORSPORT aktuell
I like the shape of this thing :)
New VW Polo R WRC : Frankfurt | New VW Polo R WRC Concept | New Car Trends
http://newcartrends.com/new-vw-polo-...-wrc-frankfurt
according to this news vw will drive all wrc rounds in 2012 with the skoda: http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rallye-magazin.de%2Frallyes%2Fwm%2Fnachrichten%2Fnews-detail%2Fd%2F2011%2F09%2F19%2Fvw-setzt-auch-2012-auf-skoda%2Findex.html&sl=de&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8]vw in 2012 with skoda fabia[url/]
according to this news vw will drive all wrc rounds in 2012 with the skoda: vw in 2012 with skoda fabia s2000
translation: next year volkswagen motorsport will participate in all WRC rounds, to get the team used to the processes in the topleague.Quote:
Im kommenden Jahr will Volkswagen Motorsport an allen WM-Läufen teilnehmen, um das Team weiter an die Abläufe in der Topliga zu gewöhnen.
Will the Fabia be phased out when VW is fully competitive? I only ask as we have not heard if there will be a s2000 Polo or not. Would VW run their excess junior talent in a VW backed Fabia as I do not see have they could have more than 4 WRC cars in the field (2 for WRC pros, 1 for a German who is favored by HQ & a 4th car for other talents or a gentleman driver)
Maybe there will be a Evo 3 version of the Fabia but that has to be officially confirmed yet. A Polo S2000 will never be created because u can't make a new model S2000 only the existing S2000's may get updates that's all. So S2000 will start to die soon probably :'(. And I think it has been said here development of the S1.6t is been shut down for a while now or not?Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
Quite a difference in front overhang btw the concept ant the real thing:
http://newcartrends.com/new-vw-polo-...-r-wrc-concept
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/volks...photo-4445776/
But both look good I must say !
Don't know if it's been writen before: Abbring (Kevin in the above tranlation) also tested for VW although he got support from Citroen in the French gravel championship (according to Autonews Magazine » WRC » Abbring a également testé pour Volkswagen)Quote:
Originally Posted by darkstar