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Seriously now, Wales is probably the end of the road for Meeke. If he does well there, he may continue in 2018.If not, I feel he is done.
Matton is actually defending both Meeke's SS crash (by saying the stage was bad) and also subsequent slow speed on Friday.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
This part was interesting:
This is the only place it is mentioned in the whole article why his place for Catalunya might be in danger. Not a single word about what happened before and caused the first benching. Instead unless you followed the season closely you get the idea that the benching alone caused him to loose form afterwards.Quote:
Citroen benched the Northern Irishman for Rally Poland at the end of June and he has subsequently struggled to replicate the form that helped him win Rally Mexico and dominate in Corsica earlier in the season.
Not hard to see why people talk about british jurno bias.
The articles from motorsport news and autosport are written by David Evans who for me is infamous for having a very let's say interesting mix of facts and opinions and speculation in his articles, not to mention always drops one or two controversial details in there or puts some semi clickbaity title. I'm sure he knows better but he needs those views, David Evans gotta eat.Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Some noise on Twitter that Carlos Tavares himself (CEO PSA group) will choose the team manager and drivers for 2018 soon. Matton might be out.
The best decision is probably to change Matton, while the blame for the situation is not just down to him, the list of mistakes he seems to have made is quite long:Quote:
Originally Posted by Francis44
- relying too much on just Meeke for C3 development
- not jumping to get one of the VW drivers
- starting with Lefebvre as a full season driver
- mixed signals to the press; maybe also conflicting orders to the drivers
- seemingly chaotic handling of the lineup mid season
The team needs a shakeup to change the way of handling things, a good place to start is with Matton.
Highlighted the main issues for meQuote:
Originally Posted by seb_sh
- when the only experienced driver developing the car is Meeke they should at least listen to him (which Meeke claims they didn't), if they don't believe him then get someone else experienced for an opinion. Note that even Hyundai did 1 day test with Mikkelsen for feedback on the car.
- so much the second point, to quote Breen I sound like a broken record but Mattons "arrogant" quote where he said he was not interested in Latvala or Mikkelsen in December really has to go down in history.
- Lefevbre actually did ok last year showing signs of speed, rather similar to this year's impression of Suninen tbh. Prbly the crash in Germany also had negative effect. So letting Lefebvre drive wasn't so bad, letting him drive instead of hiring one of the VW guys was. Also they had so many rallies including one in Belgium? to pick one of them, yet they kept going with 2 young drivers. Could have put Lefevbre in R5 for a season, but problem is they don't have an R5 that can compete with Fabia or Fiesta.
- yep the pre-event press for Finland was most telling. In one sentence he says Meeke should bring back info to engineers (finish) and in next he says that everything below podium was bad, similar in other situations. For example publicly announcing after Corsica that Meeke should just go for rally wins did imo contribute to his crashing spree.
- partly agree, when he finally started to handle he could have outlined some plan for 3-4 rallies ahead for all drivers. That said we have no idea about contracts and money situation.
I do think Matton could be bang in trouble - for a number of the reasons listed above.
If VW had pulled out of the sport, or at least hinted it, a couple of weeks earlier then Citroen probably aren't in this situation. As it was Matton ended up signing two inexperienced drivers to medium-term contracts. I don't think Citroen have the budget of (Hyundai/Toyota) so it's not a great idea for them to be paying Latvala for example, and then trying to either pay out a contract of Lefebvre/Breen, or find them other drives. Hence why he said only Ogier (a proven champion) was potentially worth that trouble.
AnttiL*@AnttiL_WRC
If #WRC rallies lasted only for the first non SSS stage, Kris Meeke would still lead despite not scoring in Germany https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...ubhtml*…
That's a pretty pointless metric.Quote:
Originally Posted by dimviii
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Why?Quote:
Originally Posted by steve.mandzij
"Still" ?!?Quote:
Originally Posted by dimviii
Still, as in he was leading that statistic before Germany (made a second fastest stage time on SS2 in Finland) but was outside top 10 on SS2 in Germany, but still no one comes close to his score. At the same time, Esapekka Lappi has rarely been attacking right on the first stage, but has almost always scored power stage points. You can also see that Ogier has suffered a bit from being the first car on the road. Also notable that Tänak is the only one who's been in the top 10 for every first proper stage of the season.
Maximum Attack is the term attached to Markku Alen because of his ability to win time to his rivals on the very first stages of the rally because he was already on the pace right from the start, whereas others usually needed some stages to warm up.
Ah I see, I wasn't aware of such statistics, however this is somewhat pointless as the first "real" stage is more like a warm-up (see Neuville for example - he had some really bad 1st days this year, but drives much faster the remaining) & and drivers to check their "clocks" to the competition. But anyway about Meeke - yes he is the most overdriving among the whole bunch, his luck there works for 1-2-3-several stages, but no more. Likeable driver for spectating, but mostly brings disappointments to his fans. When he is driving at "comfortable" pace this year, he is not faster than Breen.
Citroen taking more risks on C3 WRC development for 2018 Monte
Citroen has started gambling on the development of its C3 WRC to ensure it can fight to win the 2018 World Rally Championship opener in Monte Carlo next January.
The French manufacturer withdrew its works entry for the 2016 WRC, focusing on a year-long development programme with the C3 built to the new-for-2017 rules.
Citroen has failed to achieve the success it hoped for, with Kris Meeke's Rally Mexico win the only triumph in a tricky season.
That has forced Citroen to rethink on several areas, notably the suspension and driveability, and team principal Yves Matton told Autosport it was now starting to ramp its work up ahead of 2018.
"We already took some risks with the development," Matton said.
"I told you already that since Sweden we have been working harder and harder and really looking already towards next season - this is where the focus is for the team now.
"But we know we have to take more risks and put more and more new parts on the car with less time for validation.
"This isn't the way things are done and it's the first time that we have really done this, but it's the only way we can work towards the timetable for the start [of next season]."
Swedish suspension firm Ohlins is working more closely with Citroen and the eight-time manufacturer champion has replaced technical director Laurent Fregosi, the man who designed the C3 WRC, with Christophe Besse, who had been involved with Citroen's early success in rallying.
Fregosi remains at Citroen, but returns "to a more technically focused role."
Citroen has been rotating drivers this season, benching the under-fire Meeke and drafting in ex-Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen for certain rallies.
Only Stephane Lefebvre has been confirmed for next month's Rally Spain, but Citroen must reveal its plans by next Tuesday (September 5), when entries for the Salou-based event close.
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...on-c3-for-2018
Well it will be Lefebvre, Meeke and Breen or Mikkelsen in Meekes place. I don't see them putting Breen aside, but it's Citroen so ya never know. I guess we will know in a weeks time.
Confusing as always...
Some say that Matton will not be team principal at 2018. So or Matton didn't take this crucial decision for 2018 or he ruin another season for Citroen already.
Citroen could enter 4 cars, so they could gather more info and "real conditions" testing using Lefebvre, Meeke, Breen and Mikkelsen. They testing more than year and still no result. Loeb continue testing?
The closing date for Spain entries is 5-th SeptemberQuote:
Originally Posted by racerx1979
I guess once they've put in the entries Citroen might as well come out with the news themselves. Better that and get out in front of the story rather than have it leak out - especially if they've made a big call like benching Meeke.
It would make sense to make the announcement prior to the posting of entries.
The last day to send entries is 5th September, but it will take another week for FIA to approve it and thus the rally to publish the entry list. So it could be 2 weeks of waiting before we know.
Rally Guide 2 will be published on the 7th. My guess is that the first FIA approved list is published on the same day. Similar happened with at least Rally Finland. I have not followed other events that closely.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
http://www.rallyracc.com/2017/en/inscritos.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Hartusvuori
Quote:
Entry list will be published after FIA's approval (approx. between 12th to 14th September 2017).
Loeb will test in Spain in September.
Wow, Citroen working hard to sort things out. Maybe Loeb drives before the end of 2017 :)
so Loeb, Breen and Lefebvre in spain ? :p :p :p
Loeb to Catalunya, anyone?Quote:
Originally Posted by racerx1979
The arab team of nobodies tires to save the year with publicity stunts... pffffft better for them to withdraw from the championship.... they are a joke.
https://twitter.com/citroenracing?lang=en
has anyone seen their latest video clip here?
Saw that. In house engine building (if they don't already do that) or something even more less interesting to take the heat off the team...?Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
No clue what so ever unfortunately...Quote:
Originally Posted by noel157
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C3 R5 engine
Also, Martin Holmes notes for Australian RallySport Magazine that Citroen will enter their favorite middle eastern driver in a 4th C3 WRC at Rally Australia which makes no sense!
If they don't have Mikkelsen in their car who WON in 2016 they really have no hope!
i think its logical to favor their countrymen over mikkelsenQuote:
Originally Posted by GigiGalliNo1
"their favorite middle eastern driver" pay the bill
Money for nothing and chicks for free?Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...ally-australiaQuote:
Originally Posted by GigiGalliNo1
You mean this? It's just assumptions. I don't think Citroen would have four cars in Australia as it's expensive anyway to go there, but I guess Australia would be a more likely event for Al-Qassimi to drive than Wales or Spain.
Khalid funds the team with the Abu Dhabi backing, therefore he drives.Quote:
Originally Posted by GigiGalliNo1