https://i.imgur.com/RWCS3Jc.jpg
Mikkelsen testing a Fiesta WRC, reportedly Tuohino's car.
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https://i.imgur.com/RWCS3Jc.jpg
Mikkelsen testing a Fiesta WRC, reportedly Tuohino's car.
Weird, why would someone use that car in Sardinia?
MSport has own cars no? and this car likely doesn't have nowhere near latest MSport specs?
Or is this supposed to be "all private" undertaking? Why would he want to do that instead of paying at MSport.
Maybe it's cheaper to rent from Tuohino?Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Depends on what should be the purpose of testing this.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
If it's in some direct way related to MSport it doesn't make much sense to me. The thing that would make sense is that he wants to try the car "before" talking to MSport about possible drives this year, but then we get back to the point where this car is likely not same spec as current cars.
how can he test when he is on the rally? (recces the days before and Monday test)
M-Sport doesn't have too many spare cars either.. + money, like said before..
Tuohino's car should have at least 2020 summer spec(like Gross).. as it was driven in RedGrey rally(Lappi driving), Rally Estonia and Arctic Rally this year..(no new engine ofc).
Maybe Mikkelsen will be driving in Acropolis w Fiesta?
Toksport tested on Sunday (ref Vlog). But I agree it's all kinds of weird, not quite sure it happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
Ok, then it would make a bit more sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
Possibly considering a WRC drive later this year?Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Tuohino him self posted pics of his Fiesta in Sardinia, so car is there.
Last Saturday was that test day.
This has been mooted for a while. He may need to show his speed and experience in a WRC car again to get a 2022 deal. This will have to come soon if he's to be allowed to test the hybrid car.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
2-3 events i think he wanted to doQuote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Merke back to WRC with Subaru in 2023?
Drunk BS-dreams from some irish pub, or is it anything in it?
https://m.facebook.com/groups/112202...0600/?sfnsn=mo
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Been a fair few rumours flying around about a Subaru return for a while now.Quote:
Originally Posted by skarderud
Last I heard was the Meeke one, testing and development next year with a full scale return for 23. Latest I was told was Meeke/ Solberg + a championship challenger driver was their preferred approach for a 3 car lineup in 23. But can't imagine Hyundai would let Oliver go without a fight.
Ofcourse rumours can be bullshit and most are, but when they don't go away/ get stronger over time, it's only natural to start paying attention to them.
Fingers crossed - the championship could do with an extra manufacturer. And Subaru returning would be massive considering their history. Would be a huge boost for the sport.
A lifeline, more than a boost. The WRC will not survive in its current form much longer if it remains with expensive cars and just two full manufacturers, and I think today exposed that very well. We better hope Subaru, or anybody, really gives it a shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
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I could believe Subaru returning. But adding Meeke to it makes it look like a pub dream.44 year old guy kicked from last 2 teams for crashing too much and not driving anything for 2+ years.
Might be that it's a real rumor combined with pub dreaming.
No one else wanted to commit to the program, requiring skipping whole 2021 and 2022 from driving to other teams? Difficult to say.Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Solberg in Subaru is a highly potential thing, both as teamboss and driver. Petter is still big star in Subaru, has been in Japan several times last years.Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
Who is the title contender? Evans? Mikkelsen? Lappi? Paddon? Not Ogier, Tänak or Neuville.
Østberg talked about something going to be presented by Stellantis this autumn, Opel, Peugeot or Alfa Romeo in Rally1?
If 2 New brands shows up in 2023, then it can be interresting.
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https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/team-...ndai-priority/
I laughed....Quote:
When asked by DirtFish if Hyundai should consider backing just him in the drivers’ championship, Neuville said that was against the ethos of the team.
“As I’ve always said, I’m more of a team player than maybe some other drivers,” he said.
There are whole articles with Neuville complaining how team should prioritize him harder from 2018. Based on how MSport prioritized Ogier over Evans and Suninen for example in Finland that year.
As one of the results other Hyundai drivers were not allowed to push on PS from about mid 2018 unless in a direct fight with someone else not to steal "Neuville's" points.
Consequently this led FIA to change rules so that from this year, manu points are also earned on PS.
However changing your mind isn´t wrong. Maybe he has learned something since 2018?Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Note he says "As I've always said ...."
probably depend on who's is in the team?Quote:
Originally Posted by mknight
Huttunen expected to drive the new i20 rally2 in Estonia, but won't happen(neither anybody else). Maybe in Belgium.
To me the new i20 rally project looks quite a failure..
Tons of testing since Nov 2020 and still nothing(it's already mid-season). Customers don't buy old ones and can't wait for new.. they will simply go for Ford, VW, Skoda or Citroen..
We already wrote about it in the R5/Rally2 thread under ERC.
In a way the delay is a fail that reduces Hutt imens and Solbergs chances om WRC2. On the other hand, the new car will be there for a while. So it's better to introduce it a bit later and make sure it works and is competetive, rather than risky reliability issues.
Polo had reliability issues in the start (fuel tank fires, rear axle breaking off) while Fiesta Rally2 had performance issues. Both seriously hampered initial sales and took quite some time to fix.
Old i20 R5 is no more in productionQuote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
Polo production has ended
Today Skoda made last Fabia
so I don´t see Hyundai losing many customers, maybe few to Citroen but that´s it.
So rushing it like M-Sport did with their last Fiesta is a better option? Once the car is homologated, you're pretty much stuck with it. The competition has very strong cars. Also with the narrow "frame" of rules to make a new Rally2 car in, it's probably very difficult to make something better than what's already available. No surprise it takes a long time to develop... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by TypeR
from Italy: rumors on Monza replacing Japan (maybe just a wish...)
Molly Taylor has just announced she has done a deal to run a Rally 3 Fiesta in three rounds of the WRC, starting with Estonia. Seb Marshall will be back beside her.
Can see that happening. Hopefully if they run Monzo again, we spend 2 full days up in the mountains - or only run a stage or two at the track at the end of a days rallying etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler
yep. would be the best wayQuote:
Originally Posted by er88
The rules of the fia state that a world championship has to visit 3 continents.Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
So if they don't go to japan and kenya they might not be able to award a world title.
But then again, the fia has proven last years that their rules have no actual meaning.
Covid is very valid reason for not going to some locations.
Do we have 3 safe continents ?
So Toyota to keep the same driver lineup according to David Evans for 2022, which we all totally expected. Only question mark is whether Ogier does a half season with Lappi, or Seb does the whole year.
Leaves Msport without a top driver - having not being able to attract any of the big 4 Malcolm talked about.
With Fourmaux staying at Msport, Greensmith remaining (if he pays), leaves the likes of Mikkelsen/Suninen/ Lappi (if Ogier stays for another full year) and possibly Breen in trouble for a seat, depending on what happens at Hyundai.
Got a slight worry Msport will just go with whatever driver can bring some budget out of that lot now - which could help Mikkelsen who has spoken about being able to bring some finance. Would be a shame if they did that, considering there was money there to potentially pay millions for a top driver.
I would love to see a 3 car team at Msport with 2 of Breen/Lappi/ Mikkelsen alongside Fourmaux, with Greensmith in a 4th car. That would be a nice team, but highly doubt that'll happen now.
Wait a minute, I thought Ford were improving their backing/ commitment to M-Sport? The proof will be what drivers they have.....
Dream team at this point would indeed be Lappi, Mikkelsen and Fourmaux + Greensmith in 4th. (Breen still hasn't shown decent results on anything but fast gravel/snow, but it is true he did not have many opportunities).Quote:
Originally Posted by er88
But I agree with you that it's more likely Fourmaux+Greensmith + one that brings most money out of those 4 (Lappi, Mikkelsen, Breen, Suninen).
I terms of money it probably is Suninen>Mikkelsen>Lappi>Breen, but that's just guessing.
Latvala: Small possibility Ogier will do full 2022 WRC season
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/l...2-wrc/6596811/
WRC: Hyundai separates from team manager Alain Penasse
After rebuilding a team for Hyundai's return to the World Rally Championship, after 8 years of collaboration, after 2 World Championship titles with manufacturers, Hyundai Motorsport has decided to do without the services of Alain Penasse, the team. team manager.
It was after concluding negotiations for the new Neuville and Tanak contracts a few weeks ago that Alain Penasse learned that he was no longer part of the plans of the South Korean structure:
"I was surprised by this decision, I didn't expect it. It's a management choice in South Korea. Now I know it's the kind of job that can't last forever."
It has been decided that Alain Penasse will step down after the next Rally Estonia which will take place in mid-July.
At this time, the name of his successor is not known.
Alain Penasse has more than 30 years of experience in motorsport, in rallying in particular, relationships, contacts, issues that he knows like the back of his hand. His departure is a loss for the structure based in Alzenau but also for Thierry Neuville who sees an ally leave, a person who has always supported him:
"My best memory is when Thierry was leading the Monte-Carlo in 2017, we finally had a car that was able to beat the others. I enjoyed working with Michel Nandan and Andrea Adamo, two completely different personalities. but with whom the flow was going well. I had wonderful years, I had fun and I realized a childhood dream by working in a top team "
The team manager adventure at Hyundai will therefore come to an end in a few weeks for Alain Penasse, the team manager does not yet know what his future will be like but passionate as he is, we should very quickly see him working in the world of motorsport. .
https://www.rtbf.be/sport/moteurs/ra...se?id=10791283
Well in a way he is not really needed for next year or so. They are set with Tanak, Neuville and also Solberg has some contract for next year. The only real question is how they set up Solberg/Breen/Sordo combination or if they loose one of them.
Still since it's so unexpected is there some
other reason too? I can only think of two issues:
- Delayed new I20 development (but he likely doesn't have much to do with that?)
- Redgrey operation and sales... after a grand opening as a "factory" team at start of 2020 they are now basically invisible. Gryazin left after terrible season and is immediatelly competetive in a Polo. Veiby that surely was paying got himself suspended and no new paying drivers seem interested. This is likely to change with new car off course. At the same time Huttunen has been quite consistently beating the RedGrey team drivers while running with KOWAX from CZ, already since Sweden 2020. But again how much has Penasse to do with all this?
Forgot to add that it seems Solberg is basically being denied starts with RedGrey. (still don't get why he didn't drive in Croatia even out of WRC2 points, especially after doing the testing rally in Italy just before).