2011 IRC: rallies, drivers, teams, plans?

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Originally Posted by alleskids

According to Maxrally, Skoda Motorsport has the intention to do every rally in the IRC 2011, but "only"' with 2 factory cars

“At this moment, we suppose [we will do every round of the IRC next season],” said Skoda Motorsport team manager Pavel Hortek. “Because we are selling cars constantly I don’t think we will run more than two cars. At the moment, we’ve already sold 25 cars and we should pass 30 before the end of the calendar year. We are calculating quite a lot of customers and private teams to come to us and the IRC series next year.”

Current Skoda driver Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky are under contract to the firm for 2011 although their schedule remains fluid. Maybe 2 cars but with different drivers on several rallies?

http://www.maxrally.com/news/entry/s...actory_effort/

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The Fabia is seen as a better car than the 207...but sells LESS ??? :s

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Originally Posted by Tom206wrc

The Fabia is seen as a better car than the 207...but sells LESS ??? :s

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I suppose is a problem of capacity of production abilities. I guess Peugeot can make more cars than Skoda although Fabias may be better than 207 nowadays

Skoda Motorsport is only a team of some thirty people. If they are out on rallies, they can't build new cars ;)

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Originally Posted by Mirek

Skoda Motorsport is only a team of some thirty people. If they are out on rallies, they can't build new cars ;)

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There was a nice three spread (+ cover) article on Juho Hänninen and Skoda Motorsport on the latest issue of Vauhdin Maailma (VM). It said the same that the team is not that big and they are busy with the number of cars they maintain now. There were also some pictures from the Skoda Motorsport garage which were said to be rare.

On the article Hänninen was hoping to take part on some rounds of WRC or even SWRC season. He was especially interested in doing the WRC rounds that will most likely remain a part of the championship in the future. So far, of 2011 season, he knows it'll start in Monte but rest is undecided.

So if Hanninen is doing SWRC, will Skoda MSport split up into 1 IRC camp and 1 WRC camp, and will they run two cars in each championship - or just 1 camp and 1 car in each series ?

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Originally Posted by Sulland

So if Hanninen is doing SWRC, will Skoda MSport split up into 1 IRC camp and 1 WRC camp, and will they run two cars in each championship - or just 1 camp and 1 car in each series ?

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I think Hanninen's WRC events will be in addition to his IRC programme.

Edit: I just read the news and rumours thread on the WRC forum. It seems Hanninen is being groomed for VW's programme.....

Kopecky and Loix for Skoda in IRC?

Mikkelsen will either do a full IRC or a full SWRC season with a Ford or a Skoda, aiming at WRC in 2012. They are still negotiating with teams for the different options !

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Originally Posted by Tom206wrc

The Fabia is seen as a better car than the 207...but sells LESS ??? :s

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It's about the money.. Six months ago diff. in prize was about 50000 euros..

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Originally Posted by Sulland

Mikkelsen will either do a full IRC or a full SWRC season with a Ford or a Skoda, aiming at WRC in 2012. They are still negotiating with teams for the different options !

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Skoda is better, but Ford gives him a nice potential step up for 2012 into a factory seat.

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Originally Posted by Barreis

It's about the money.. Six months ago diff. in prize was about 50000 euros..

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No, that's not true. Recently Peugeot base price for asphalt up-to-date car is 264 thousand Euro. Price for Škoda in asphalt spec. used to be 245 thousand if I remember right. It's about manufacturing and service capacity which is completely different. Škoda Motorsport is very small compared to Peugeot Sport.