Who will drive in what car in 2018?
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Who will drive in what car in 2018?
Officially it's not confirmed anything at the moment.
My predictions:
Peugeot Sport (Peugeot 208)
-Sebastien Loeb
PSRX VW (VW Polo)
-Johan Kristoffersson
-Petter Solberg
EKS (???):
-Mattias Ekstrom
BMW??? (???)
-Timo Scheider
Hyundai??? (???)
-Niclas Gronholm???
Prodrive Renault (Renault Megane)
-Guerlain Chicherit
Then there is Hansen family (I think that they will still be with Peugeot). Bakkerud is without a seat at the moment. As I said we don't know much only Loeb and Peugeot are talking and Megane is in the works.
PsRx:
Solberg Petter
Kristofferson
Solberg Oliver (some races)
EKS:
Ekstrøm
Bakkerud
Peugeot:
Loeb + Citroen in WRC
T Hansen
Renault:
Chicherit
Button
KIA:
ChiChi
Grønholm
Adapta: (Ford)
Østberg
Henning/Pontus
BMW/ Mercedes
Scheider
A Rental
Lada:
Timur
A new team led by a multiple champion skier will run Renault Clios in @FIAWorldRX next year https://t.co/tmkMZEzZni https://t.co/wijSh44WMM
Just a "Junior Team" for ERX, FranceRX and some WRX races : http://www.lemagsportauto.com/rallyc...rx-team/27907/Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
I'm guessing something like
Johan/Petter - VW Polo
Loeb/Bakku - Peugeot
Timmy/Kevin - Peugeot
Ekstrom/Nitiss - Audi
Marklund/Janis - VW Polo
>>(OR Eki and Marklund with VW Polo)
Scheider/Hirvonen - Mini
>> OR Riku Tahku, OR Liam Doran
Niclas/Eriksson - Hyundai l OR Niclas and Sordo/Paddon
Chicherit - Renault
>>(As far as I understood, Kalliokoski and a second driver will compete in EuroRX with that team/car. Chicherit and maybe a 2nd driver will compete in World,Euro and French series. Is that right?)
I think OMSE, STARD and MPJ will be around too
Updated guesses!
There might be some truth in there. But being backed by RedBull I don't see why Topi Heikkinen should leave EKS RX. And I think that Andreas Bakkerud is still a Monster Energy Athlete. This would make it impossible for him to join Peugeot.
STARD and MJP will be seperated teams again. The relationship between Stohl and Pucher is rather difficult after last year...
So here is my guess:
VW PSRX - Kristoffersson / Solberg
Peugeot Sport - Loeb / Jeanney?
EKS - Ekström / Heikkinen
Hansen / GRX - T. Hansen / Grönholm / selected rounds K. Hansen
OMSE - Eriksson / Eriksson
GCK - Chichérit / Bakkerud
MJP - Scheider / Nitiss?
STARD - Baumanis / Timerzyanov
Big cover story in Motorsport News today is that Marcus Gronholm is closing in on that much rumoured two-car Hyundai team.
Not works backed at this point, but he's hoping to get factory support in the future. I think a web link to the story will go up today at some point.
And here is the story in full: https://www.autosport.com/wrx/news/1...i-for-world-rx
Hirvonen and Scheider racing the BMW Minis would be pretty cool
About the Hyundai, maybe Kev Eriksson could be the second driver. Marcus and Andreas are great friends and OMSE gave Niclas/Kev a Fiesta 2 years ago. Maybe its payback time haha
I saw people saying Bakkerud would be on the Hyundai, but I dont believe that. I think he will race with Loeb and Peugeot.
I can see Hyundai fitting Sordo and Paddon in WorldRX too.
I saw this tweet from September 27
Huttunen, el seleccionado por Hyundai, pertenece a la empresa de representación de Marcus Grönholm (GRX), junto a Niclas y Joni Wiman
I was thinking Joni was not even alive anymore haha
Wiman is one of three GRX drivers and has been since GRX started. That does´t mean he is Hyundai driver 2018.Quote:
Originally Posted by giu canbera
I don´t believe that Bakkerud will end to bad team or new team, he is one of Top5 drivers and will race in Top team 2018 (Audi, PSA or VW)
Looks like DA Racing switch from Peugeot 208 to Renault Captur.. Nice one. Maybe will be in World RX too if the cars are made for superar regulations.
That's for Andros Trophy only, I think..
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yes true but this andros trophee is sceduled from now to feb next year, world rx starts in april, it would be awesome if they have a go there tooQuote:
Originally Posted by Arnold Triyudho Wardono
Far from it, space frame, engine in the back and rear wheel steer.Quote:
Originally Posted by ESTR
Scheider and BMW in talks
https://www.autosport.com/wrx/news/1...d-rx-programme
Eki hoping for a Factory Backed team
https://www.autosport.com/wrx/news/1...th-audi-rising
The interesting part is that BMW is also interested in the Electric Class.
Audi will compete in FormulaE as a factory team now and they are producing TCR cars. Now Eki is saying he needs factory support and I kinda believe Audi WILL join WRX. And its no secret VW/AUDI WANTS to race the e-RX class.
BMW will enter FormulaE (via Andretti, in 2019) and WEC (next year - GT class) with factory support.
THey want to make TCR cars... especially now that WTCC will run TCR machines...
And now this RX/Scheider talk... and the e-RX thing for 2020.
Hmmmm IDK, eh? Maybe DTM is in real danger.
Eki says he think that S1 is great for the sport, but not for sales. Maybe they want to enter with A3/S3, TT, or Q3 (my guess)
Q3 :rolleyes:
If bakkerud not get a seat in wrx next year, he is in talks with several teams, a season in WRC 2 is a possibility.
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He done only 2 rallies with Fiesta R2, he's talented driver, but WRC2 with that amount of experience?..
https://parcferme.no/nyheter/derfor-...vergang-rally/
Here is the link!
He want to show that rx is not only for retired rallydrivers, and he knows that it's going to be lots of work to be "up there" before he can do Wrc2, ut could also be necessary to move from Bergen to east Norway...;)
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Would be nice seeing both Bakkerud and Nitiss doing some more rallying. Private entry WRX is so freaking expensive that move to rally would kinda make sense.
Bakkerud racing for DA Racing in the Andros Trophy, possible sign of where he's going?
I didn't see that comingQuote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Hope not, he deserves much better team/car.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
I don't think so. Bakkerud wants a winning team not a private team like DA. It's just for fun or for testing a Renault car.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
better than no drive at allQuote:
Originally Posted by Sub_Skoda
My thoughts too...but there probably aren't a huge number of decent seats (assuming that Peugeot don't split from Hansen and EKS continue with 3 cars) so I'm not sure that he'll be able to pick and choose too much if he wants to stay in RX.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sub_Skoda
Time will tell, my gut feel is that he will be at one of the bigger teams or will race elsewhere (maybe GRC with Block).
Is he doing GRC in 2018? Thought it was promo films and stage rally on the agenda?Quote:
Originally Posted by MrJan
Maybe will be in Renault Megane and this is just for his training??Quote:
Originally Posted by tomhlord
BTW... No big news on GRC 2018 yet
Nobody knows if RedBull will continue. Honda may not return.
Subaru said it will sell cars for privateers. VW will be there.
The Fiestas are kinda OLD. They need MSport (or OMSE?) to build new cars to be more competitive.
No news on new brands. And there was a talk about a schedule with only 7 tracks - All doubleheaders (like the short course off road series in America - TORC and LOORRS)
However, Casey Mears seems to be looking into GRC and Stadium Super Trucks for next year.
Polaris Razor will have a new category in GRC (Kinda Like Stadium Super Trucks had this year.. Something almost like that TerraCross championship, but with less dirt on the tracks)
TOTAL signed a big partnership for next season.
Topi Heikkinen is out from EKS Audi
He just announced it himself, will tell in January what is going on for him.