Matton says he will be back for Finland.
Wonder will they be asking him for a top 5 or a win????
Pathetic really.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
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Matton says he will be back for Finland.
Wonder will they be asking him for a top 5 or a win????
Pathetic really.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
This. Lefebvre was actually quite impressive in Poland last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
Let's see how Mikkelsen improves his speed. At least now it should be a rally he can be fast on.
So, Citroen is now starting to get desperate and gamble...I think Matton's head is hanging from a very thin rope...Especially if he is the only obstacle in a theoritical Ogier comeback...
At least Meeke sees the problem himself and accepts the proposition, very decent of him.
Wut, what choice does he have? It's not like he can force himself to the cockpit.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigWorm
Duval comes to mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal the 2nd
Im quite sure the reality is different from the press release..Quote:
Originally Posted by BigWorm
Well what I've read it was a suggestion from Matton, not a demand. But it's probably just for the sake of PR. I'm no expert on contracts (far from), just thought as long he has signed to do the rounds he has the legal right to do so.Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Yeah, probably.Quote:
Originally Posted by wrc2017
I can't see Ogier signing with Citroën with that joke (team, car, chief).
I will be not surprised if Citroën goes out WRC in the end of the season.
If Andreas fails. They hire Loeb and Sainz ;)
After this move by Citroen, I just can't see Meeke in WRC overall next season. Very unfortunate, a likeable driver who is always a pleasure to watch driving. Too bad he bins it way too often.
Mikkelsen due to below text from Citroen need to test and work with, for him new engineers, to get the set-up of car and chemistry with the engineers to improve pace.
Maybe to get an appartment close to HQ, to be at Citroen Racing HQ to speed up the team bonding prosess would be a good idea.
Andreas' approach has been constructive and positive. Following the day of pre-event testing, we knew that the C3 WRC would need to be adapted to his driving style, which doesn't involve left-foot braking at all. Clearly, that takes time and so this rally became something of a prolonged test session. More than the actual result – eighth overall – we think we did some good work together. He managed to identify the points we need to work on first and foremost, and to achieve some initial improvements."
I cant see Citroen in WRC at this rate.Quote:
Originally Posted by [RMC]Pip
Maybe their budget can't stand another Meeke crash?
Dani Sordo
Sad to see that @krismeeke will not be in Poland. I am sure that Finland will be the Meeke of truth! All my friend Apollo!
I think this is another way of saying, "Enough is Enough Kris" Bloody shame, he's sadly not as good as his mentor !!!
Funny how everyone is jumping on Meeke when he was the only one with decent results this season in that car, a win in Mexico and he should have had two if the car didn't break down in Corsica. Whatever, let's see If Mikkelsen turns that car around.
Not totally surprising news - I still find it disappointing. Yes, he's made mistakes - but he's not helped by the car having major issues. Finishing 5,6,7th place is of no use to Citroen as they'll learn nothing for the future. He's the only Citroen driver to show rally winning pace. What will Lefebvre offer? Lower Top 10 pace - if he doesn't bin it. Mikkelsen is still getting to know the car, but you would expect improvement - but rally challenging pace?? Hmm....wait and see...
However, if Kris comes back in Finland refreshed and performs well; then it was the right decision....
Completely agree with this. I just think with 7 offs in 7 rallies though you're in such unprecedented territory - it kind of demands action. Like in any job, you can be full of potential but if you mess up that badly, that many times... I don't think Citroen can be blamed. Like others have said they are painfully aware of what they have in Lefebvre. This is maybe just a bit of a mercy move for Kris.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Would be gutting if Meeke has thrown his career away here and doesn't get a drive next year. Again though you can let Kris off on a couple of these accidents. What I found slightly worrying was that he didn't admit to making mistakes in Sweden and Argentina. He just blamed these on car issues. And I'll say it again for the tenth time, having an ill-handling car doesn't excuse you from rolling it into a ball every rally.
If Meeke can find a way to reset then I hope this break helps him. Get him an R5 car and send him to Ypres or something!
Andreas is definitely logical for Poland, with his proven ability there he had to be in the car. And they have no reason to bench Breen who is doing the best with a bad lot. They may well have felt they couldn't bench Lefebvre two rallies in a row, plus this is that one really large warning bell for Meeke to sort his sh*t out and learn to balance his approach when he can't keep up for whatever reason.
But I think that Citroen press release tells us something more interesting:
"Andreas' approach has been constructive and positive. Following the day of pre-event testing, we knew that the C3 WRC would need to be adapted to his driving style, which doesn't involve left-foot braking at all".
Andreas doesn't left foot brake. Surely he has to be the only top line driver who doesn't? Seems very unusual in this era of cars and gearboxes, I can't understand why he wouldn't...?
He obviously uses his left fot to brake, what they mean is brake and throttle at the same time to stabilize the car in certain corners. If you have a well balanced car you shouldn't need it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munkvy
Unfotunatelly for meeke he never reached the level to be considered a good option for a manufacturer, he is just like latvala but without daddys money or a manager with connections.
his style will be missed but i think its time for him to go home.
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by SubaruNorway
I think that a lot of drivers don't use left foot braking with active center differential at least that is what I heard from some Czech drivers in the past (about 2.0 WRC cars). Some said they had to learn not to do that when they switched to active cars.
Now I'm speaking clearly theoretically but in my opinion if there is properly set active center differential there is no need for left foot braking at all. It only causes brakes to heat up more and to be generally less efficient (due to simple energy equation).
left foot braking together with gas pedal, is not for not well balanced cars.
until finland.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
For me it's more surprising that all Citroën drivers do that (based on that press release). Maybe it's because none of Citroën drivers was involved in active WRC era (I don't count several Meeke's starts with private Subaru). I'm really just a theoretical guy but this maybe another miscalculation from Citroën in choosing their driver line-up, especially for development.Quote:
Originally Posted by dimviii
Food for thought,so Andreas was not using left foot braking when he <should> do it(with the old wrc genereration)nontheless he was top driver.
Finally, some proper decisions by Matton.
the 3 ex VW drivers end up developing one each of the other 3 cars.
Toyota looked terrible before Latvala came
Ford was good but slower than Hyundai, first in Portugal after considerable complaining and testing from Ogier it seems to have matched them (both Ogier and Tanak were fastest there)
Now Mikkelsen with C3. Off course it's no guaranteed he will improve it, but at min. he should be able to tell them what is bad about it.
Citroens problem is - Matton. How many drivers developed Polo wrc? Are they world champions and fully experienced? And who developed C3? - Meeke by himself. Matton should hire some experiences test-driver in 2016 to improve a car. Did they do that? - No.
From first rally of 2017 he said that in this year Citroen didn't care about championships, but more on rally wins. And now he blaming Meeke for low points at manu. championship?
Leferbve... it's a joke. Matton - you not Wilson who need a money and could take even a Duval if he pays for his drive.
And now, car was undriveable and it's proven by Breen, Mikkelsen and Meeke and he blaming just one driver. Invite Loeb for one day test and he told you. Did you do that? - nope.
And Citroen have 4th car. They can use Mikkelsen without pulling out Meeke. They do that? - Nope.
Too many strange decisions from Matton.
Citroen should throw away this season and focus for the next, deja vu...
Well said. Many very good points.Quote:
Originally Posted by KKS
Yes, Yves has lost the ball.It all started from backing Loeb instead of Ogier and Neuville and things have only got worse.And even with Loeb, Matton managed to have a fall out during the closing stages of the 2015 WTCC season and drove him away too.So, Matton managed to piss off every top class rally driver he had and somehow he still has a job.Génial, as they say in Paris...
Meeke wasn’t helping Citroen with his ‘kamikaze’ driving. This leave may help him to get back stronger. Fingers crossed for him.
From Portugal PET I’ve watched I honestly believed C3’s handling issues could be solved with a proper set up but that’s not the case and like many of you are saying for a long time, it became obvious there’s something fundamentally wrong in the car (probably related to new diff, as dampers problems doesn’t seem that hard to fix).
Anyway it's also true that Citroen Racing management doesn’t look good at the picture. Taking 8 months to get Mikkelsen (since VW pull out) and probably a lot more to solve tech issues that should never exist, after last year long development stage, seems to be a huge waste of time.
Having the Dakar experience in mind (a total flop in Peugeot ’15 debut but a serious progress after, becoming a dominating force the next years), we can only hope that PSA leader’s will soon provide more resources to the WRC program and enable Citroen to get who they really need: Ogier.
That depends on if you like to balance weight transfer. A well balanced car doesn't stop the laws of physics. I am not a professional driver, and my centre diff isn't fully active, although it is does use maps, but definitely LFB is important for balancing a car on loose surfaces, especially if you are driving on mixed surfaces, ie tarmac with some gravel. Hence I am surprised that he doesn't use LFB.Quote:
Originally Posted by SubaruNorway
You're obviously talking out of your ass. Meeke has had a terrible year but he's been picked by manufacturers twice now, Mini in 2012 and Citroen now. He had the level but he's fallen back.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
As for Latvala that's just untrue. He's not only shown maturity and consistency but speed as well. 17 wins don't come easily, and he's proven to have helped Toyota get to where it is now, easily competitive enough to put up a fight against any other.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
There is an interview linked in the Sardinia thread from saturday.Quote:
Originally Posted by nafpaktos
Mikkelsen says something like: " The car needs a very different driving style and I am not sure I want to change mine that much. From my experience (with Seb) at VW I know it's faster". It was quite clear he meant Ogier.
Also Latvala at the end of last year after VW left said that he was trying to copy Ogier too much, both his driving style and setup and it didn't work.
Reading this together with the Citroen press-releas makes me think that Ogier doesn't really use LFB either and that Latvala tried to copy it and it didn't quite work for him.
Note that Mikkelsen decimated WRC2 (Sunninen, Tidemand, Camilli...). Don't expect he used LFB there either.
Matton might get on the phone to Henning Solberg (with his active diff experience from the 307) and tee up a test with two C3 wrc cars with Mikkelsen with different settings down the same piece of road. Get a lot of setting data in a short amount of time.
The press release says 4 day test with Mikkelsen, Breen and Lefevbre, quite massive. Also there are some limits on amount of testdays for all teams.
And to think they spent a year getting ready so they could dominate in 2017; then turned up to Monte not ready.......
The Dakar program was basically saved by Jean-Claude Vaucard (designer of Xsara WRC and 205 T16 among others), who worked with them for a week, pointed out what they should change, and then left. They did 80% of what he required for 2016, and the remaining things fo this year. Point is, they won after he had his input on the car. So hopefully Citroën can get him in on a similar deal like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rally Power