So in the end, did Breen quit M-Sport or did they fired him?
Printable View
So in the end, did Breen quit M-Sport or did they fired him?
Personnally, I think (but only my opinion) that it’s a sort of mutual agreement: M-Sport maybe told him that they will not give him full-time drive next year considering his poor performances
And in that case, if Hyundai came with some interest, between being part-time with Hyundai or M-Sport, I think it was a no-brainer choice for Breen in that context (and for M-Sport, a good financial news).
It's more of a "no-brain" if Hyundai choose Breen instead of Mikkelsen.
Its a collective brain stroke in Hyundai if they chose a crashprone without a decent result over the best WRC2 driver in the business. I don't understand it.
And if Mikkelsen is a duscebag, its already one in that team.
Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk
Mikkelsen is testing in Croatia with Skoda. i guess he is staying there.
Rally Monte Carlo organisers might be forced to rethink their schedule. The famous Col de Fontbelle in the stage Saint-Geniez - Thoard is not going to be aloud to drive trough. The road is damaged and pieces of rail are missing, so safety can not be garanteed. If they can't use this stage the rally will be shortened by 40 kms or they have to find another stage to run.
If tanak goes to M-Sport he might end up like neuville, being in the wrong team for almost all of his career.
Tänak is going home, he Will not drive next season
https://twitter.com/BenConsty/status...59758471356422
An interesting idea (Tänak renting M-Sport cars and driving together with Solberg in his own team?). Our guy Gerard Quinn also liked this tweet. :D
Solbergs visited Monster’s office and they wrote in twitter that something cool is coming.
So the rumors were mostly right, Hyundai spot on, Toyota only Loubet is missing but his codriver is there. I suppose we will soon hear Tanak is driving a Ford in some way or another. Let's see what Malcolm can put together.
this is purely my own speculation but something like:
Tanak
Greensmith
Loeb/Loubet
is not too bad, and hoping Loeb does more than 4 rallies after he got the taste of victory back.
After Huyndai announecment that leaves Ott or out or at blue oval.If its the 1st it will be a big loss for WRC.
Lets pray for Malcolm make his moove, but that takes some time.
Well now that Toyota and Hyundai are set there is no rush to announce anything. MSport will take their time as usual and they don't even need to decide the full year in advance. When is the Monte entry deadline?
For the championship I’m really glad we didn’t see Ott jump ship to Toyota, however if he doesn’t go back to Cumbria it will be a huge loss for all involved, understandable but he will be missed in the service park.
None of the two drivers were a threat to Rovanpera this year.
But I don't base my opinion on this year, but on how Neuville managed to lose 2017 and 2018 championships with own mistakes (and 2019 with poor mid-season) He just doesn't seem to have that last bit of reliability in.
My takeaways so far.
So far, the sad one - If previously Toyota was always with 4 cars and Hyundai sometimes with 4 cars, then we kind of lost 2 cars - now both are with 3 cars.
The next potentially sad one is if Tänak retires or even stays out of full season competitor.
But, logic says, that M-Sport should not let go Breen if they don't have better plan (and I'm personally doubt that Breen volunteered to switch full-season to unknown half-season in another team).
Another logic says, if Tänak wanted to retire, he could do it and announced it already. What could be the logic to wait?
Let's take a look to Sweden Hybrid failure for Tänak - take this one away and picture is really different.
And it makes sense to never underestimate anyone, including Neuville, because he was not on the top step on the podium and the end of season. Or Evans, because he didn't find the match with car setup this year.
Thierry had 23 point lead over Ott after Portugal and managed to loose with 12 points in the end
Interesting Calculations from est forum
If first 4 rallies not included this season:
Tänak 168
Rovanperä 149
Neuville 133
If first two rallies taken out :
Rovanperä 209
Tänak 200
Neuville 161
First half of the season Tänak earned 62 points and Thierry 80 points. That includes Tänaks 3 retirements in Monte because of him and in Sweden and safari because of the car while Thierry retired once in sardegna
Second half of the season since Estonia Tänak got 143 points and Thierry 113 points. Tänak didn’t retire at all and Thierry did in Ypres because of his mistake.
Fact is that Thierry got beaten 2-1 in overall standings by Ott during those 3 years together and we have seen the previous years how Thierry just can’t put it together.
Sadly indeed, at the moment it looks like we will have fewer cars than last year, but depends how many customers MSport gets.
If we are doing a bit of analysis of the teams I would say Toyota looks good they lose Lappi but Ogier is doing more rounds than last year and Evans looked finally better in Japan. On the other hand Hyundai ticked some interesting boxes:
- knowledge of both Yaris and Puma
- two drivers good on tarmac and slow gravel
- two drivers good on fast gravel
- only Neuville is clear title favourite
Of course losing Tanak is a big blow but the lineup has some logic. For the manufacturers title it's similar to how they won in 2019, for the drivers title they are going all in on Neuville but if he gets a good year he can be in the fight.
There's a fourth Toyota going free for the events Ogier isn't competing in... nothing announced for it yet, but I don't see that seat remaining empty...
Remember Latvala said his phone has been ringing a lot and I would be surprised if someone like Mikkelsen, Loubet, maybe even Solberg, Lindholm or a gentleman driver is in that 4th car at times.
Personally I don’t see a competition for Toyota.
I’m afraid Breen and Lappi will struggle quite a lot with the Hyundai
Sadly, if Tänak retires, Rovanpera will probably run over everyone next season. Maybe if Evans can get the season started strong he will find the motivation, but if not, mentaly it will affect him too much if Rovanpera will dominate him from the very start.
Only contender i see is Tänak if by some miracle he goes to Ford and they can fix the reliabilty, because we know the speed is there, despite what everyone here keeps saying. If 48 year old Loeb can show top times then Tänak in his prime can do the same. But it stays a BIG IF in my opinion since my gut says it will be a no Tänak season...
Neuville i dont think will get close to Rovanpera mainly because of his lack of pace on fast gravel and snow, that will already give a huge edge to Rovanpera atleast on 3 rallies.
https://www.wrc.com/en/news/2022/wrc...Z5POQ9Oo9DAfN8
“It is now clear that our line-up is what we will go with for the season,” said Latvala, referencing Friday morning’s announcement. “But, of course we have been considering that - on [seven] events where we have a fourth car available - we would consider a renting option."
So Katsuta will have 7 events in the main team.
If he has a mathematical chance in the last couple of rounds i would call that in the fight. Didn't say he has a good chance to win. Depends how it goes, if Rovanpera repeats this year then no one is in the fight. If it's something like 2018 I can see him there. He won 2, almost 3 rallies this year and has repeatedly challenged for the title in the past. If you say no way to him you have to say no way to almost all drivers. Maybe you are a fan of someone and you are biased but otherwise it's a bit foolish to write Neuville off in a team built around himself in a car built around himself.