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At least Hänninen gets paid by Škoda. I believe PG as well. Rallying is not only WRC.
Paddon will be works driver or thereabouts. Still young.
Don't get me wrong, I've been Meeke fan as long as he started driving Pug 106 in BRC, but sitting at home is not doing good favours for him.
He doesn't have a rich Dad and has nothing to prove in S2000 - what else is he supposed to do?
Exactly! He's very little chance of getting any sponsorship, coming from the UK, and if he did - what good would 1 or 2 events do? Nothing. It's just another poor reflection on the sport. There does a time when you say enough is enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
If I was advising a youngster going into Motorsport, at the moment, I'd tell them to go circuit racing, so much more opportunities.
How do you know Tanak is getting paid? As far as I know at the bigging of the season he's budget was some 800000 euro.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Oh, so Hänninen and PG both have rich dad's! Good to know.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
And you have always something to prove, but I guess sitting back at home gives you advantage over guys who are doing 10-14 rallyes per season.
You still have provided nothing but excuses. The fact is that Kris is not driving and thus chances of him getting factory seat is getting smaller each day. Only real chance for him is Prodrive getting proper funding, hopefully. :)
What do you want him to do? Visit the money tree at the bottom of his garden? Like everybody else he has bills/ mortgage to pay....British companies aren’t interested in a minority Motorsport with no mainstream coverage.
He is at least doing some test & development work for Citroen – as a qualified engineer...so his feedback is good.
^ +1
Additionally what good other than paying the mortgage is PG's Proton drive doing him - at best he trails Breen and Paddon (who are trailing Ogier and Mikkelsen). At worst he is beaten by a rookie team mate. Great for Juha, long term S2000 driver but apparently not good enough for VW. So they may not have rich Dad's but are they really demonstrating ambition? Mikkelsen is a very lucky bunny, I understand he'd just about used up the Dad-cash when Skoda UK and Italia came calling (although this looks like VW at work back then because he was fast and perhaps importantly, having not won anything at that stage, cheap).
Sadly, unlike Sweden, there aren't enough UK hard-core fans to pay for a ride as a one-off for Kris, but what good did that do PG?
I thought Ott had a 5 year contract with M-Sport or is that just an option to give Malc lots of cash? Can you shed any light on that relationship
Nah, you forgot this bit (2009 and 2010 season) I think we can say it was Erik Veiby (Even Rally) that saved Mikkels career.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
"The global financial recession put the brakes on Andreas’ rallying career. Having contested 15 rounds of the WRC in a Focus WRC in the last two years, scoring points and building up extensive experience, he was to contest just one WRC event over the next two years.
Erik Veiby, who as chairman of the Rally Norway board had been so instrumental in bringing the WRC to Norway, asked Andreas’ father if he could help, and so began a new partnership where Erik looks after Andreas’ rally interests. As manager, Erik was aware of the slight jealousy some felt towards Andreas’ ability to drive a Focus WRC at such a young age, but Erik could only see his talent. It was time to put Andreas head-to-head with is adversaries in identical cars.
It was a brilliant plan. In 2009, Andreas became Group N Norwegian Rally Champion, he dominated the Subaru Cup and scored outright victory on the Rally Costa Brava in Spain – silencing his critics and gaining even more fans with his skill, honesty and sportsmanship. His only WRC event that year, in a Škoda Fabia WRC owned by Erik, ended prematurely with engine problems on Rally Poland. There was some Škoda joy that year, when Andreas finished 3rd on Rally Bohemia in the Czech Republic, driving a Fabia S2000.
Having finished 2nd in S-WRC and 11th overall on the Swedish Rally, Andreas gained important IRC experience by contesting seven rounds of the series later in 2010, finishing in the points on four occasions. He came a close second to Juho Hänninen (Škoda) on the RACMSA Rally of Scotland, and won the inaugural Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally in a Hankook-backed Ford Fiesta S2000.
Having rallied a Škoda Rally Team Italia Fabia S2000 on the Rallye de France (Round 11 of the 2010 WRC) Andreas took the car to a sensational S-WRC victory on Wales Rally GB, finishing 10th overall on the final round of the WRC. He ended a successful 2010 by winning the WRC class on the Solberg Extreme MotorShow in Oslo and the Super 2000 class at the Bologna Rallysprint, which was part of the Bologna Motor Show."
Andreas Mikkelsen | Andreas Mikkelsen
Sorry mate, don't know lot about Tänak's contract with M-Sport. I only know that before Ott was mechanic in MM Motorsport, but he doesn't work there anymore. He is also established small rally team called "Oti rallkiklubi". Based on that information one can conclude that he receives somekind of salary from M-Sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
I posted a couple of weeks ago re Kris's future... got some information this lunchtime that they are fine tuning a Citroen campaign, nothing finalised but getting there. Hope so
Thanks for the clarification, what a shame our MSA doesn't concern itself with 'proper' assistance for top UK talent (and before I'm flamed, all of the current RAC MSA programmes fall a long way short of the sort of assistance described by Viking)Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking
BTW V, you don't happen to work in PR by any chance ;)
Hmm, think that's an old problem. RACC, FFSA, ADAC, KNAF, etc all support their young drivers......MSA offer PR coaching, driver training and physical aptitude tests...but no cash.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
MSA/IMS couldn't even put Kris (ot another Brit) in a car for their home event.
:(Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
What a shame. I'm reading the flying scot's book at the minute and remembering the media crazyness when he and Burnsy competed in GB. We need more of that!
With some luck Elfyn Evans and Craig Breen, very talented drivers who can perform on both asphalt and gravel. :)
One is British, one is from Eire.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
Does it really matter?Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
What's the problem with that? They both speak the same language and after all the 2 countries are just next to each other... No? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Most important - both belong to the human race ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
:rolleyes: Don't make me have to go through it all again. Despite both being members of countries that have celtic languages promoted by their respective 'governments (and therefore having more in common than either country has with England) They are only 'next' to each other in the same way that UK is to France, i.e. separated by more of the wet, flowing stuff than the Straits of Dover.Quote:
Originally Posted by cali
Yes both fine members of the human race, and to all knowledgable rally fans both exciting prospects.
However, Breen is not British and is not promotable as such to increase UK rally interest. EE, like it or not, is hard to promote to Joe Public outside of Wales; which is part of the problem, as I understand it, that his Dad had in securing works drives. Hope that the MSA PR work gives Elfyn the ability to get the wider profile he deserves (and needs).
It's not a problem. Though Irish fans don't like their drivers being thought of as British; for example: Breen, Cronin, etcQuote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
Anyone heard anything new? Meeke has had nothing on his website since doing Baja.
Reminds me of guys like Duval and Galli... Very talented, but at some point when they were without a seat, they seemed to be too picky... Maybe that is the case with Kris Meeke as well? If you accept only the best (let's say a contract in a WRC-team), there is a chance you end up with nothing. With youngsters like Neuville, Ostberg, Novikov, Mikkelsen, Tanak etc showing themselves more and more, I don't expect a bright future for Kris Meeke (but I hope I'm wrong, he's a great driver).
Tom, the bottom line is he has no money to buy a drive and no one is offering anything - I'm sure if there was a WRC2 or ERC offer he would take it but there isn't a vacancy anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
I’m not sure if people are aware how bad the situation is in the UK/ Ireland. There is very little sponsorship money around – especially for a non-visible sport. Unless someone gives him a drive – he, and others like him, will be sitting on their backsides.
I know what you mean Andy. I think the situation in the Uk/Irl cannot be underestimated and it probably does have a huge baring on his situation. For example, I read a few years back that Kris thought he was lucky to get the Kronos drive back in 2009 despite the economic situation, and that was 3 years ago. With Prodrive in some difficulty I don't think we will be seeing him in rallying for quite some time yet. Paddon in NZ is in much the same position, we just do not have enough money for him to drive a customer wrc car at the moment, unless Red bull take a chance on him.
I would like to know why Motorsport Italia chose Atko and not Meeke and how Prodrive was so cash strapped they could not give him a ride anywhere.
I suspect becaus Atko already had a Proton income he was prepared to do the MI gig for peanuts or free. He needed a shop window and MI wanted to show they had aproduct worth hiringQuote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
http://yfrog.com/scaled/landing/735/g8uocr.jpg
So the rumours of being linked with Hyundai aren't true. In fact, more rounds at the wheel of the DS3 are possible. Driving in Finland is a stand-in for Khalid Al Qassimi (the choice is between Kris & Atko).
Meeke tested the car in October:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKlHM...ature=youtu.be
I think it was October Meeke had that test, but no odds. Hopefully something will happen.
Yep, little mistake :) . I'd prefer him linked to a long development programme with Hyundai, as VW's one last year, though it's better than nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel157
Fingers crossed for Kris, would love to see him competing in a proper car!
Reminds me of hearing someone (jokingly) say that in Ireland at the minute it's a case of 'Buy 1 WRC, get 1 free'. Things seem to be quite bleak at the minute, even entries for the Wyedean were quite a bit down.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Meeke last year before the Wrc Sardinia tested the Ds3 WRC of Ph Sport!!! The test Was Italy
It has improved a bit over the last couple of years.Our national championship (2nd tier) attracts full entry lists, with sometimes 7 or 8 WRCs. Our main championship (the Irish Tarmac) sometimes struggles for entries, mainly because of the multi day format and high entry fee. Far cry from the mid 2000s, when we had sometimes over 20 WRC cars on each rally, of which maybe 5 were driven properly. In Ulster 2006, Meeke lead for a while in a C2 S1600, then in 2007 he won Killarney (first time in WRC on tar, new co driver in Jonas Andersson) and the Ulster, which he dominated. A lot of the sponsorship in rallying here was provided by building companies, of which most have closed due to the economic collapse, therefore entry lists sufferedQuote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Forgot to mention Kris has entered into a long term contract....
He got married to Danielle last week. Congratulations.
who is she? pics needed
Peugeot UK Rally 2010 - Kris Meeke in a TV Ad - YouTubeQuote:
Originally Posted by SlowSon
Peugeot 207: Kris Meeke (Shopping Rally) - YouTubeQuote:
Originally Posted by SlowSon
Thanks, I've seen these before but hadn't known she is his real partner. Good choice, congratulations!
I was joking, clearly....
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