[WRC] News & rumours (part II)

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Originally Posted by Marcco

You missed the point. Paddon has winner mentality. Some people just have that mentality and they are good at anything they do. In my opinion Loeb and Ogier has same mentality, and look at their career path - they were early winners.

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Yeah. And what was Paddon won so far? A production cup in which we had by far the best prepared car and team. In the years before we took a beating from Armindo and he has not proved anything so far. I hope Paddon is in fact a future star but he is far away from being compared with Ogier.

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Originally Posted by rage82

From Planete Marcus twitter: "Today rumours speak Neuville will be in M-Sport Qatar Wrt with Ostberg & Al-Attiyah..."
Sounds interesting, doesn't he have some sort of contract with PSA?

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Very interesting. Citroen may be struggling to have budget to run Neuville since they will run 3 official cars for atleast 5 rally's. Let's hope Neuville gets a seat.

Apparently Citroen only has budget for Neuville for a maximum of 9 rallies.

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Originally Posted by rage82

From Planete Marcus twitter: "Today rumours speak Neuville will be in M-Sport Qatar Wrt with Ostberg & Al-Attiyah..."

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I don`t think that M-Sport will work with driver without budget.

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Originally Posted by Xsara Fan

I don`t think that M-Sport will work with driver without budget.

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From what I understood from the talk of Nasser, the sponsorship from Qatar covers most of the budget Ford gave M-sport as an official team.

So in the end it's more or less like last year. I think they can afford 2 "official" drivers.

Interesting from JB @planetemarcus "Today rumours has Neuville at M-Sport Qatar WRT with Ostberg & Al-Attiyah” Silly Season

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Originally Posted by &quot

From Planete Marcus twitter: "Today rumours speak Neuville will be in M-Sport Qatar Wrt with Ostberg & Al-Attiyah..."
Sounds interesting, doesn't he have some sort of contract with PSA?

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It's a big News.. Big team with big fast drivers just One is a little bit dangerous !!

about the neuville rumour:

Al-Attiyah will Neuville zu Ford holen*:: rallye-magazin.de

Google Übersetzer

al attiyah wants neuville, they are kind of friends and they might offer him a whole season. all is payed from qatar then of course. might be a good choice for neuville or also a bad. but i think he will stick with citroen(or at least psa), cause they always believed in him and he would be nowhere without them. also he might have a bright future there, depending on what hirvonen and sordo will do next year and what neuville himselve is capable of. on the other hand that could be the wrong decision, if hirvonen and sordo will be good there´s not really a need for neuville for the next years. while ford defenetly lacks of top drivers at the moment. neuville to me is one of the best young guns, together with tänak. think they both will be (or could be)future champions.

Colin Clark's response to the rumours about Thierry (from Twitter):

Heard from Thierry "still talking with Citroen and we have plans together" Sounds like he's being a clever boy and keeping all options open!

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Originally Posted by Xsara Fan

I don`t think that M-Sport will work with driver without budget.

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Maybe Thierry can bring some budget to M-sport who know's?

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Originally Posted by Sulland

How reliable is the source for the M-Sport/ Østberg rumours?
rallynoticias.es as far as I know.

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There was Quatar Redbull WRT presentation in Paris yesterday apparently and Nasser told the press Mads will be leading driver, he does 7 rallies (first Sweden) and Malcom decides second driver seat. How reliable sources are I don't know but I got it from few.

If Thierry betray Citroen and go to Ford, it would be suicide for him. French team will not forgive him.

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Originally Posted by Xsara Fan

If Thierry betray Citroen and go to Ford, it would be suicide for him. French team will not forgive him.

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What about Evgeny? my pm box is empty :D

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Originally Posted by dimviii

What about Evgeny? my pm box is empty :D

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I was also going to ask the same Dim! :)

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Originally Posted by dimviii

What about Evgeny? my pm box is empty :D

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He will take part in WRC :)

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Originally Posted by Xsara Fan

He will take part in WRC :)

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thanks very much!!Is is confidential?

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Originally Posted by Xsara Fan

He will take part in WRC :)

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Gret News! Together with ilka as co-driver?

It was not a secret that in 2013 Evgeny will start in WRC. From the beginning of 2012 he said that next year he will take part in World Rally Championship. But with what team and how many events - still a secret.

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Originally Posted by MikeDeHigh

Gret News! Together with ilka as co-driver?

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Yes with Ilka. Denis is still recovering.

Let´s hope things will settle now. Mads # 1st driver at Ford WRT is inside the box. (One more right for my prediction a couple of weeks ago :) )

Let´s just hope MW doesn´t throw away Petter, because as some of you guys says above he´s one of not too many who has the speed. He just needs a shrink to rubber out Loeb in his memory - and tada! we´ll have a brand new Petter winning wrc-round again!

I´d like to see PG as well in M-sport beside Tanak and Novikov would be a strong combination.

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Originally Posted by Rallyper

. He just needs a shrink to rubber out Loeb in his memory - and tada! we´ll have a brand new Petter winning wrc-round again!
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the problem is that Loeb will be at 2013 again for 5 rallies. :p

http://biser3a.com/international-rallie … er-lineup/

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Originally Posted by dimviii

the problem is that Loeb will be at 2013 again for 5 rallies. :p

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Petter makes same mistakes when Loeb is already out so I don't expect any change...

How does one know that Petter has the speed to win, when he hasn't won in 7 years.
Really guys, seven years without a win. How is that speed to be seen?

The purpose of this isn't annoy Petter fans, but I'm truly having a hard time seeing that winning pace.

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Originally Posted by Mise

How does one know that Petter has the speed to win, when he hasn't won in 7 years.
Really guys, seven years without a win. How is that speed to be seen?

The purpose of this isn't annoy Petter fans, but I'm truly having a hard time seeing that winning pace.

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I see your point, and in my view it's the pace to be the best on any given stage. He won an awful lot of stages last year bearing in mind how bad a season it was for him, and if he can combine that pace with consistency then he has the ability to win. He's not as fast as Loeb, but last year he beat Mikko and JML in straight fights, and has beaten Sordo in the past too when Dani was in good machinery. Therefore with Loeb out the picture and if he can get his head in gear he should be podium-ing on most events and should be capable of winning a round or two as well, especially in Greece/GB/Mexico where he's always fast. Yes the lack of win for 7 years is worrying, but Dani hasn't won ever and most would say he has the pace to win events.

Petter is in my opinion number 3 in pure speed overall of next years drivers, after Latvala and Ogier right now.
But if he gets a moral boost from a win, we will see the good old Petter back, and then he will be able to fight the other two for the title again

7 years without a victory does something to your head, that is natural for anyone. But he qualifies by a mile as the best option left on the market!

Østberg still need one more year to be a title contender, he is still driving with a bit too much safety, but he will get there.

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Originally Posted by Sulland

Petter is in my opinion number 3 in pure speed overall of next years drivers, after Latvala and Ogier right now.
But if he gets a moral boost from a win, we will see the good old Petter back, and then he will be able to fight the other two for the title again

7 years without a victory does something to your head, that is natural for anyone. But he qualifies by a mile as the best option left on the market!

Østberg still need one more year to be a title contender, he is still driving with a bit too much safety, but he will get there.

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Agree almost entirely! Maybe there is some sub-conscious bias towards Petter from me but I just still see him as one of the fastest guys in the world still. Just needs to get his head in gear.

BTW Kubica rules in Rallye du Var, 1.25 m advantage after 4 SS from second Loix.

Don't forget there's 5 years age difference between their cars...

That's the question.. It is really only the car..?

I have never said that.

I believe that, Solberg can still win a WRC rally. This year, he was so unlucky. He is still ambitious as a new driver who wants to prove himself. He is the biggest candidate of 2nd seat of road. But on the other hand; Meeke and Hanninen is idle.

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Originally Posted by rp

Maybe, but he is not perfect at all. In France he had a accident on the last day when leading the SWRC almost 2 mins and also in Spain retired due to the accident on the SS3..

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True - but that came at the end of something like 3 years with no driver errors. He's definitely the most consistent young driver I've seen in a long time (that is, consistent while still being fast). Won 60% of stages he ran this year. If I were his management next year I'd be either trying to dominate SWRC or get some WRC private drives to show what he can do at top-level. But yeah he is not ready for a manufacturer seat - yet. Unless it's in a junior team like Neuville and Ogier were given.

Too bad he's from NZ and not, I don't know, Western Europe, and doesn't speak French. Maybe Hyundai would be interested in time... I get the feeling that Paddon and Breen both may find this stage of their careers more of a financial/sponsorship challenge than a test of driving abilities.

Norwegian sources say Petter Solberg will be launching a campaign for next years WRC with Citroën Norway early next week.

So what is happening with Prodrive for next year, with all the talk over Ostberg and Solberg along with M-Sport that leaves one if not potentially two seats available with the mini.

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Originally Posted by ToughMac

So what is happening with Prodrive for next year, with all the talk over Ostberg and Solberg along with M-Sport that leaves one if not potentially two seats available with the mini.

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Whoever brings the money, Sandell, Atko etc.

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Originally Posted by Sulland

Petter is in my opinion number 3 in pure speed overall of next years drivers, after Latvala and Ogier right now.

Østberg still need one more year to be a title contender, he is still driving with a bit too much safety, but he will get there.

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OK. But in 2012 Mads was 4 overall, Petter was 5 overall.

Mads vs Petter:

11 starts / 13 starts
1 win / 0 win
3 podiums / 5 podiums
0 DNF / 1 DNF
149 points / 124 points

Petter is better? But the results indicate the opposite...

Ostberg won on Hirvonen's disqualification, nothing more to say. Solberg had to push more as factory driver should, so went off few more times.

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Originally Posted by Xsara Fan

OK. But in 2012 Mads was 4 overall, Petter was 5 overall.

Mads vs Petter:

11 starts / 13 starts
1 win / 0 win
3 podiums / 5 podiums
0 DNF / 1 DNF
149 points / 124 points

Petter is better? But the results indicate the opposite...

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check yhe ratio of stage wins over the last few years. Petter has made stupid midtskes this year, my assesment is because he was over driving.

I am reading Kubica will be in a private DS3 next year.... Don't know how reliable it is though.

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Originally Posted by MJW

check yhe ratio of stage wins over the last few years. Petter has made stupid midtskes this year, my assesment is because he was over driving.

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WRC Stage Wins: Solberg (rally starts) vs Ostberg (rally starts)
2012: 42 (13) vs 10 (11)
2011: 30 (13) vs 3 (12)
2010: 51 (13) vs 0 (6)
2009: 12 (10) vs 1 (7)

That's 135 vs 14 WRC stages won over the last four years. Solberg started in 49 rallies, Ostberg in 36.