Rumors are it's a two car team for 2018 with third car run by PH-Sport. Meeke a full season, Breen/Loeb/Al-Qassimi in the other car?
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Really got my fingers crossed for Corsica. Although I just wonder whether it being the weekend before WRX Rd1 means he might steer clear.
Like ESTR said though, just because a WRC round doesn't clash doesn't mean he'll automatically do it.
Does someone still believe Loeb would do more than a couple of rallies? KKS just listed the possible events.
Hard to believe in that rumour once Abu Dhabi/Red Bull clash won’t happen after all. Most likely the team will continue to run 3 cars; Meeke in the first, Breen in the second and Al Qassimi sharing the third with Loeb (probably for no more than 7 events).
So, will Citroen trust the 3rd C3 car to useless Lefebvre on the remaining events or will they get reasonable and call Hanninen to do it? Hanninen would be a great choice: his form has risen hugely during the season and he’s used to development work. If not Hanninen, then Ostberg; he would still be a better option than Lefebvre.
I think that there are still 'issues' at Citroen; I certainly won't be putting my money anywhere near them.....
At beginning of the year they had 2 big issues:
- Drivers (one is not reliable, other is not top fast (yet) and third is neither)
- Car
Now they maybe improved the car a bit, though it still seems to struggle a bit on wet gravel, but the driver situation is back to where they started.
Btw. I really recommend reading that Australia/season review:
I wonder if Matton believes this or everything is just PR. A few months ago I'd say these releases are PR only, but now I am getting the scary thought that he might actually believe he is doing well. ..... or some of his bosses do since he has not been fired yet.
In many other companies Matton would already have been history.
No doubt Matton is looking as an erratic leader, but from the outside it’s not easy to understand who’s really in charge. Matton is Citroen Racing manager but there’s also a PSA motorsport manager (J.M. Finot) coordinating all group brands motorsport activities; above them, Citroen execs and, at the top, PSA board members. Somehow Al Qassimi also has a say, because Abu Dhabi is more than a sponsor, they’re a partner in Citroen WRC campaign.
In the last press release Matton subtly mentioned that this year wins target was settled by “Citroen senior management”. From the start, he's also looking a bit lost with Loeb reappearance, being unable to give details about it; we can suspect bringing Loeb at the moment Ogier talks were starting wasn’t his idea. The only positive aspect in this big mess seems to be the new tech director choice; under Christophe Besse orientation the car is improving and we can hope they’ll totally fix it before MC. Fingers crossed!
It was weird when Meeke was told to retire the car in Australia, he was clearly angry and when asked who made the decision he said 'I dont know...'
They are not going to win anything in such disarray.
Kind of get what you're saying, but they did win twice this year... I think there is a lot more to this. See Meeke's demeanour at the WRC awards? - he did not look like a happy man! I'm certain there will be an announcement, a la VW, saying global strain on the PSA group's finances means no more WRC.