2022 WRC News & Rumours

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Originally Posted by rp

It was so public that did not remember that maybe this was 1st time confirmed :)

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I remembered it being knowledge without ever openly being spoken about in the media. Whereas Meeke to sign a multi year deal with Toyota in 2016 was more widely spoken about publicly, because Shitroën wanted it known mostly.

Citroen managed to persuade Meeke to stay by offering him wrc starts in 16, which they didn't initially want to do.

I bet Meeke regrets his decision - although you can't take away his wins that season. And I guess Suninen is also wondering how differently things could have been if he got in at Toyota too.

Suninen was also offered a seat at Skoda's WRC2 team for 2017, but with the condition that he lets Tidemand win the title.

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

Suninen was also offered a seat at Skoda's WRC2 team for 2017, but with the condition that he lets Tidemand win the title.

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I've critisiced skoda in the past for trying to manipulate which of their factory drivers wins the titles..., but was shut down on here "as it not being possible".

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Originally Posted by er88

I've critisiced skoda in the past for trying to manipulate which of their factory drivers wins the titles..., but was shut down on here "as it not being possible".

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2016 WRC2 score
Suninen 120
Tidemand 85

Both had the same car, except Suninen’s was prepared by Oreca.

With regards to 2017 Toyota lineup.

Joukhi was Latvalas and Suninens manager (and previously Makinens). While Lappi was managed by Veiby.

So it seems pretty clear that Joukhi "sacrificed" Suninen for Latvala. Hardly a surprising choice on his part.

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Originally Posted by mknight

So it seems pretty clear that Joukhi "sacrificed" Suninen for Latvala. Hardly a surprising choice on his part.

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Don't know about that. If Jouhki was about to sacrifice his own clients he probably would not have been in the biz as long as he has. Maybe he was looking at the "big picture" and with no competitive miles driven with 2017-spec cars, putting Latvala in a Yaris with the prospect of Suninen doing few events in a Fiesta wasn't such bad deal to start with. One thing we have to remember about Jouhki is that even though he has obvious and self-admitted financial targets in rally managering, his family business is worth a lot more than what the rally part could ever produce. I.e. there's no need to try and squeeze the last euro out of every contract each and every year.

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Originally Posted by Allez Andruet

Btw, regarding the topic that was also briefly touched during the interview, Suninen is just brilliant in his new WRC commentator role on Finnish media outlet CMore. Really looking forward to hear him again in Sweden.

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This was the part that interested me. Teemu mentioned that maybe he talked out too much secrets. Maybe someone heard something interesting?

And about the Betsafe interview then I also think it was very good. And also that Teemu can't talk BS. If the interviewer knew something about the background (for example the breakfast situation in M-Sport) and could describe it something along the lines then Teemu just confirmed it.

And just out of interest, how is Kalev Kruus's Finnish? Sometimes it felt that he is trying to remember some expressions etc but in general it felt smooth.

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Originally Posted by flat_right

This was the part that interested me. Teemu mentioned that maybe he talked out too much secrets. Maybe someone heard something interesting?

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I didn't catch any secrets as such on the Monte coverage. He was more telling about things like what kind of approach mixed tires require and stuff like that.

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Originally Posted by flat_right

And just out of interest, how is Kalev Kruus's Finnish? Sometimes it felt that he is trying to remember some expressions etc but in general it felt smooth.

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Smooth is an understatement. Yeah, maybe he was trying to remember some specific catchphrases at times, but it definitely didn't make any difference.

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Originally Posted by Allez Andruet

Don't know about that. If Jouhki was about to sacrifice his own clients he probably would not have been in the biz as long as he has. Maybe he was looking at the "big picture" and with no competitive miles driven with 2017-spec cars, putting Latvala in a Yaris with the prospect of Suninen doing few events in a Fiesta wasn't such bad deal to start with. One thing we have to remember about Jouhki is that even though he has obvious and self-admitted financial targets in rally managering, his family business is worth a lot more than what the rally part could ever produce. I.e. there's no need to try and squeeze the last euro out of every contract each and every year.

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The sacrifice was what happened if i don't remember wrong, 2 hours long so couldn't find it now
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Lvk4bQRj0r6Uyggd9JWMj

So the plan for 2017 was Lappi and Hänninen full season and Suninen a partial season?