2024 WRC News & Rumours

He was great for Hyundai. He beat Ogier straight and by quite a margin at that Argentinian rally. Then he had that off in Monte, and a fan died. He couldn't do anything about it. His career started to fall off. Then he was out, and he tried to get back, his chances were reduced because of the covid situation too. It gets even harder... He tried with Ford on one rally, and he crashed the car on a test and it was the last nail in the coffin. Since then he wasn't even considered at all... Despite being so loyal to the Hyundai brand, he actually did great marketing on a probably shitty rally2 car. And for so long now, of course, with the help of Hyundai NZ, think that the whole motorsport department didn't care too much or even bother because the team is completely private. They rather ''try'' to invest in Sunine and Lindholm and we see where their careers went with some random team, despite him being so loyal and practically the only one who could do impossible. If I'm not mistaken, Meeke is next, who is doing a good job, but it's not his story... Paddon does have a successful project in the EV department which even the official motorsport company didn't achieve till this day, despite their blabering about the whole situation. We don't know what Nandan and Adamo did or he did, so he isn't considered at all. And I think that Cyril barely knows the guy. The last thing I caught this year was, that he got a shot at an old spec WRC rally car he drove at Goodwood Speed Festival and that's it.

My opinion is that they should hire him to attack WRC2 officially, but I think they realize how the car is not capable of winning so they don't bother. I think that they admit in some articles that on a national level, the car is decent or is capable of fighting for a win or a podium, but not on a world stage... But clearly, that's not true... ERC has a tough field everywhere, I think that more than WRC2 (because of regs, the guys are avoiding most of the direct fights).

So shame, I guess.

If I were him, I would go for a Toyota Rally2 program. The brand has the best sales in the country and he could convince some bosses at least for that program. He would do a great market on a national level or even more. Sorry for the language but fu*k Hyundai.

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Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

Ford don't even fully-fund their existing WRC team (M-Sport), so there's no chance of a Ford importer in NZ paying for a Paddon Rally1 drive.

This was the best they could do, sponsoring local AP4 Fiesta on their home rally...

https://www.ford.co.nz/about-ford/ne...s-sponsorship/

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Yeah. Know all that. But there should be a but...
Market shares is another.
One small bit of selling cars (not all, as been discussed here before) is rallying. Even in NZ. I´m not saying Ford importer neither should pay. Maybe some, but Ford as a whole world wide company could be on the toes... MSport themselves are doing well without Ford backing 100%...

Nice comments on Paddon, he's a top driver and been super-impressive in the ERC.

Also some good ideas... in theory. However he's so hugely connected to Hyundai NZ that he has to go back there all the time for his business, plus also compete in the NZRC. So that means WRC (Rally1 or Rally2) is a non-starter now. His time and chance has been and gone.

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Originally Posted by deephouse

He was great for Hyundai. He beat Ogier straight and by quite a margin at that Argentinian rally. Then he had that off in Monte, and a fan died. He couldn't do anything about it. His career started to fall off. Then he was out, and he tried to get back, his chances were reduced because of the covid situation too. It gets even harder... He tried with Ford on one rally, and he crashed the car on a test and it was the last nail in the coffin. Since then he wasn't even considered at all... Despite being so loyal to the Hyundai brand, he actually did great marketing on a probably shitty rally2 car. And for so long now, of course, with the help of Hyundai NZ, think that the whole motorsport department didn't care too much or even bother because the team is completely private. They rather ''try'' to invest in Sunine and Lindholm and we see where their careers went with some random team, despite him being so loyal and practically the only one who could do impossible. If I'm not mistaken, Meeke is next, who is doing a good job, but it's not his story... Paddon does have a successful project in the EV department which even the official motorsport company didn't achieve till this day, despite their blabering about the whole situation. We don't know what Nandan and Adamo did or he did, so he isn't considered at all. And I think that Cyril barely knows the guy. The last thing I caught this year was, that he got a shot at an old spec WRC rally car he drove at Goodwood Speed Festival and that's it.

My opinion is that they should hire him to attack WRC2 officially, but I think they realize how the car is not capable of winning so they don't bother. I think that they admit in some articles that on a national level, the car is decent or is capable of fighting for a win or a podium, but not on a world stage... But clearly, that's not true... ERC has a tough field everywhere, I think that more than WRC2 (because of regs, the guys are avoiding most of the direct fights).

So shame, I guess.

If I were him, I would go for a Toyota Rally2 program. The brand has the best sales in the country and he could convince some bosses at least for that program. He would do a great market on a national level or even more. Sorry for the language but fu*k Hyundai.

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Just want to add, he also was supposed to have an opportunity with M-Sport for Rally Australia 2019 (if my memory serves me right) but the bushfires (remember that?) made sure to extinguish his chances, and like you said Covid didn’t do anyone any good (and indirectly) so did a certain French mark leaving the WRC at the end of 2019. Lots of what might have been and could have been but like many here said, sadly it wasn’t to be. With that in mind, still curious as for who will be the third driver for Hyundai next year and if we’ll see them at the start line for 2027.

I think the only hope for Paddon is that cyril@hyundai might be interested in a reliable third driver who finishes every rally, rather than Adamo's rotation to exploit road position. And Paddon is one of two drivers to finish every rally in ERC so far this year.

I think the problem with Hyundai is that they don't just need "a reliable driver" or a "tarmac driver" or whatever, they need someone who clicks with their tricky WRC1 car. And I think the only way they can get that is by giving a lot of people trials to see what happens. And they don't seem like long-term planners.

We all know that the team doesn't want to give many opportunities (or long ones to build up experience). They just want straight results. And Paddon not even driving these new cars it's much harder to get him on board. But he could surprise like Sesks and Pajari. I know he has lots of experience and is way older (he is in those years like Neuville, Tanak, and Evans pack, at the last stages of their career). But as Toyota did with 5 cars in Finland, why the hell did Hyundai not give him at least one outing his year, so they would at least see, where he is. That way they would have Mikkelsen, Lappi, Sordo, Paddon, Solberg, Sesks, and Fourmaux in consideration for next year.

Regarding of finishing every rally. He did mention some time ago, that he does realize, that he doesn't need to win everything, just being there. That brings him an ERC crown and this year it's looking like he will get another.

Paddon is one of the most reliable drivers you can find on the world. Sure 2017 season was not part of that but 2018( not to mention 2016) season was quite okay in terms of speed and consistency combined. If Hyundai wants to go for the manufacture title, they better grab a driver who is consistently bringing points as a third driver. We know Sordo is there but he is at the very end of his career, Mikkelsen is reliable (he is not bad in terms of reliability especially in recent years) but his speed is unpredictable in Rally1 so far (I know that with Paddon we cannot guess what he can do with Rally1 yet but I find Hayden to be more versatile than Andreas). Of course, at the end of the day you would want to invest in young guns but if the experienced drivers are still available and doing good things I still prefer the latter since experience is something that you can't buy. Hyundai at the moment does not have a consistent third driver (apart from Dani who is not even doing half of a season). We know Lappi is a good driver, but this season is not what he wanted apart from his win in Sweden and during his whole career he has had huge problems with consistency despite having a solid speed.

IMO, Fourmaux is a perfect choice as a third driver for Hyundai. He has the tools for it and can do good things in every surface.

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Originally Posted by WRCStan

I think Mikkelsen was a Nandan signing for 2018-2019 (remember the 2 year full time drive contract dispute?). Adamo went for rotation in 2019, with Sordo and Loeb in 2019, then in 2020 they got WDC Tanak, Loeb and Neuville and there were fewer seats without Citroen. Paddon is a top driver, but not shifting these guys or the plethora of available 3rd drivers since.

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At end of 2018 Mikkelsen had 1 year left of his contract and Paddons contract was ending. Someone (I believe still Nandan, but maybe Adamo) signed Loeb who just won Catalunya in C3.
Kinda hard to argue about that.

Paddon wanted to run 2019 Finland and Australia on own money, crashed in pre-event test in Finland and Australia was cancelled. One could argue that Hyundai could have used Paddon in Finland in 3rd car but Adamo went for Breen instead. Which led to some-mini outrage among many.
Then COVID happened and he was just not in Europe to run rallies.

When he came back he took basically a year to get to decent speed and even now while good he is not significantly better than many Rally2 drivers, from Solberg and Pajari to even Greensmith and Gryazin. Hard to say how much of that is the car.

Re Paddon (who I have a lot of respect for) I believe his ex gf is now with Neuville.
Not sure of the timings or if there was an overlap.

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Originally Posted by Fitz

Re Paddon (who I have a lot of respect for) I believe his ex gf is now with Neuville.
Not sure of the timings or if there was an overlap.

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not true - from the 2018 article:

'Paddon parted ways with his fiancée Katie Lane after a 10-year relationship. The marketing manager from Napier had been Paddon's co-driver in life - organising and promoting his career from their base in Frankfurt.'

'Lane married Thomas Villette a PR Manager for Hyundai in Europe'

Source https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/mot...MJC4INM34H7HE/

and Neuville became a father on July 8, 2019, as he and his girlfriend Déborah Ghys welcomed their daughter, Camille - no conection to this rumour at all

I'm not really wanting to turn this into anything more but....

article written in August '18, split in May but married someone last month (July) 🤷

July 19 birth of child do the dates & work back to November 18.

Paddon crash Jan 17.

What happened before all of this you 'paint'.

Let's draw a line under this but I maybe would suggest don't go giving out alibis.

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Originally Posted by Fitz

I'm not really wanting to turn this into anything more but....

article written in August '18, split in May but married someone last month (July) 🤷

July 19 birth of child do the dates & work back to November 18.

Paddon crash Jan 17.

What happened before all of this you 'paint'.

Let's draw a line under this but I maybe would suggest don't go giving out alibis.

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Excuse me if I keep this alive out of curiosity. Not sure how you are linking Neuville to Paddon here. How many children are you counting, and who are their parents?

OFF TOPIC but with Hyundai kinda leaving for WEC and there was some talk about Toyota interested in F1... i was watching the F2 race in Monza to watch brazilian Bortoletto's performance (he won starting from last), and I kept seeing a Gazoo Racing car there on track. just one. its Ritomo Myiata, a 25 y.o. toyota driver who is current super formula AND super gt champ!! also a super formula lights and japanese f4 champion. jeeez this kid is a monster! cool to see an open wheel gazoo car. not sure toyota would enter a whole team because of this kid tho. just wanted to share this info. theres a black GR car in F2

Attachment 2558

2025 Points proposals under review. Four proposals to amend the points system for next year have been submitted and are currently being evaluated by the WRC Commission.

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/n...2025/10652666/

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Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

2025 Points proposals under review. Four proposals to amend the points system for next year have been submitted and are currently being evaluated by the WRC Commission.

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/n...2025/10652666/

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I hope that they wíll do some nice points system. Please keep Super Sunday and add the value of the overall winner!

Pajari with rally1 in Chile and Central Europe rally!

and Taka skips Chile.

And people said in Chile thread Taka won’t be moved at any costs anytime soon cause he is Japanese

I’m telling ya. Todays contracts and stuff doesn’t mean a thing

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Originally Posted by EstWRC

And people said in Chile thread Taka won’t be moved at any costs anytime soon cause he is Japanese

I’m telling ya. Todays contracts and stuff doesn’t mean a thing

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If you check the crystal ball thread I did write there that he’d be replaced for Finland so I got the replacement right just not the event :D

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Originally Posted by EstWRC

And people said in Chile thread Taka won’t be moved at any costs anytime soon cause he is Japanese

I’m telling ya. Todays contracts and stuff doesn’t mean a thing

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Japanese marketing for the Japanese market is something you should not underestimate, I did not say anything on the topic, but I am a bit surprised by that move.

The move indicates Pajari to Rally1 sooner or later, the question is - replacing who? I still doubt Taka will be removed completely, maybe back to a separate team.

Told ya heads will roll at Toyota. Didn't expect the rolling to begin so soon, though...

Can't see that Toyota would replace Katsuta because both are from Japan but maybe Toyota is thinking about replacing Evans so they want to evaluate Pajari.

They could get him a Rally2 car like M-Sport is doing to boost the experience. Maybe he could get a WRC2 title, since he is doing great in Rally1 car until he bin it.

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Originally Posted by macebig

Told ya heads will roll at Toyota. Didn't expect the rolling to begin so soon, though...

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You Did! Makes Silly Season 2025 even sillier.

It's just a nice opportunity to rest Katsuta while giving another chance for Pajari. Latvala has already conceded the titles so why not.

And if he wasnt Japanese, Katsuta wouldnt be in a Rally1 car in the first place...

Toyota needs to have at least three full-time drivers contesting the 2025 World Rally Championship, according to team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.

When asked if he felt there was a lot of work ahead to finalise the team’s 2025 line-up, he added: “There's things we need to now consider and we need to think about.

“I can't speak about the line-up, not yet.”

https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/...2025/10653177/

I quess Katsuta back in the 4th car, and a fulltime 3rd driver, Rovenpära, Pajari and maybe Evans?
Or can it be some surprises, like Solberg, Sesks, or Fourmaux?

Sent fra min SM-S901B via Tapatalk

Of course everything is communicated with management at Toyota. It´s playing with fire making decisions on your own in Finland.

I think it came to a point where smth had to be done. Katsuta can´t be put aside more than this at the moment.
What we´ll might see is changes for next year and this is first signal.

Next year: Fourth car between Katsuta and some other big shot or young driver. Katsuta in WRC2 while fourth car is occupied.

Let´s wait and see.
Any comments Pantealex?

its cool that toyota tries to bring japanese guys to the world stage but taka its just not at that level.
yuki yamamoto and hiraku kogure had some run in wrc2, right? nothing exceptional.
looking at recent results in the japanese championship, these names are on rally2 cars swapping results between them: daiko arai, norihiko katsuta, osamu fukunaga. they also did a round in the asia-pacific on the front. maybe toyota could try one of these next? idk, taka its a fun character, but hes just not at that level imo

From my understanding, Latvala’s speech sounds like:
- Rovanpera in 1st car full-time
- Evans in 2nd car full-Time
- Pajari full-time between 3rd car and 4th car (depending on Ogier being there)
- Ogier part-time in 3rd car
- Katsuta part-Time in 4th car Ogier is not there + Rally 2 program


They will probably try to convince Ogier to do full-Time but I think there is no way it works.

Probably some discussions with Japanese to convince them to scale back Katsuta part-time.

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Originally Posted by Danny0405

They will probably try to convince Ogier to do full-Time but I think there is no way it works.

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Of course, he will never do it. He doesn't want to be overshadowed by his way younger and better team-mate. You know he is here only for the win. And the way Neuville is winning it right now, he is pretty much nervous, making stupid mistakes and accepting drastic measures to try to ruin it. Even Evans wants a little help from him when he was in the game for the title, but he rather was egoistic and didn't want to do that. He is not Sordo. Sadly.

Don't see Evans having much of a future with Toyota after this year. Maybe he stays for 2025 if they can't get someone better, but unless he regains form, he is out after that.

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Originally Posted by saco0o

looking at recent results in the japanese championship, these names are on rally2 cars swapping results between them: daiko arai, norihiko katsuta, osamu fukunaga. they also did a round in the asia-pacific on the front. maybe toyota could try one of these next? idk, taka its a fun character, but hes just not at that level imo

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Norihiko Katsuta (Takamoto's dad) and Fukunaga are old veterans, 50+ year olds. Hiroki Arai was one of the two Toyota young guys and in the end they chose Takamoto over him.

I really want to see young drivers getting seats in Rally1. Sesks and Pajari have started but I really hope we get Solberg back. Rossel, Gryazin can be also considered imo. Because the "older" generation (Evans, Tanak, Neuville, Ogier) will retire soon since they are in their late 30s and ogier is almost 41. However if Kalle decides to continue doing the championship for a long time, good luck to others beating him !! but Kalle is not type of a guy who wants to chase Loeb's and Ogier's records. IMO he will retire with 4 or 5 championships.

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Originally Posted by macebig

Don't see Evans having much of a future with Toyota after this year. Maybe he stays for 2025 if they can't get someone better, but unless he regains form, he is out after that.

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Realistically if Hyundai will be gone, probably the sport will die, since Toyota would not be having a challenge. And I know that the sport had only two teams back then and survived... Back then the privateers did the job of competing at the top with the top cars. Right now, there is no one else who could save it, if this scenario will realized. So not only Evans, all of them will be out.

Kalle will seek another challenge in his career probably not so far from here as he is young, ambitious, multi-talented, and has an excellent resume. I kinda have a feeling he is bored all the time behind the cars. Except the next year and all afterwards there will be close battles everywhere and the titles very hard to achieve.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saco0o

its cool that toyota tries to bring japanese guys to the world stage but taka its just not at that level.
yuki yamamoto and hiraku kogure had some run in wrc2, right? nothing exceptional.
looking at recent results in the japanese championship, these names are on rally2 cars swapping results between them: daiko arai, norihiko katsuta, osamu fukunaga. they also did a round in the asia-pacific on the front. maybe toyota could try one of these next? idk, taka its a fun character, but hes just not at that level imo

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katsuta is a main favorite to rally japan 24 win!

Don't think WRC dies when Hyundai quits. Either Rally 2s take over or they do a Kronos-Citroen 2006 and allow FIA to buy some time to bring a new manufacturer from 2027 onwards.

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Originally Posted by macebig

Don't think WRC dies when Hyundai quits. Either Rally 2s take over or they do a Kronos-Citroen 2006 and allow FIA to buy some time to bring a new manufacturer from 2027 onwards.

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Dude, really? I didn't see any new team being interested even in renting a Rally1 car for one event. Even in WRC spec cars (2017-). And since Toyota joining in 2017 it's been just talking from other manufacturers. FIA holding those crucial meetings every now and then doesn't help either. They are grinding those regs for 2027 and even existing teams doesn't have a clue for a direction WRC is heading. All existing and ''those who are interested'' (I honestly believe that there isn't many or probably even none) should be already working on a new cars, but instead they are considering of leaving the sport. It's worrying situation and seems like it's not going to be easy for all.

It's not gonna be easy, but the championship will continue in some way. It's guaranteed. WEC pulled through with Toyota and a cast of misfits from 2018-2021, WorldRX is still trundling along after all, even touring cars keep going. Yes, it may not be the prettiest or the most competitive world championship, but WRC will still go on even after Hyundai.

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Originally Posted by macebig

It's not gonna be easy, but the championship will continue in some way. It's guaranteed. WEC pulled through with Toyota and a cast of misfits from 2018-2021, WorldRX is still trundling along after all, even touring cars keep going. Yes, it may not be the prettiest or the most competitive world championship, but WRC will still go on even after Hyundai.

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WTCC died. The touring championship doesn't have anything with FIA now. Maybe WRC and World RX should be bought out too and saved from somewhere else since FIA clearly doesn't have a clue what they're doing.

I'm just worried it's too soon for them to leave. I'm trying to be positive. But if no radical decisions are accepted soon, the window for new car makers will be ''closed'' (since brands usually enter in those times, when everybody has an equal chance).

It's still the FIA TCR World Tour. Yes, it may not be as illustrious as the mid 00s WTCC or have the driver list of the late 10s WTCR, but it's still going.