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I very much doubt it. Nasser Al-Attiyah said this in Spain:
A Qatar backed 'Junior' Toyota team could be an interesting proposition. Rovanperä, Katsuta, Loubet? (Already Qatar sponsored this year), with Al-Attiyah doing the likes of Kenya, Turkey, Sardinia... Looks good to me!Quote:
“I wish to do this race because it looks fit for us. We know Safari from longtime and now its back. I think we have a good chance to do since we plan to do a few WRC events if we have time,” he said.
“We have a good relation with the Toyota team and Tommi, so we can do events with a Toyota Yaris next season,” said Al-Attiyah.
No reason why Abu Dhabi/Al Qassimi couldn't go back to M-Sport though. ;)
Info on Insta from Italy
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIyuJB_X...pg&name=medium
Guestimate:
Citroen: Ogier & Lappi
Hyundai: Tanak, Neuville, Sordo/Loeb
Toyota: Evans, Meeke, Latvala/Katsuta/Kalle rotate car 3 & 4
MSport: Suninen... Paddon/Mikkelsen/Breen/Ostberg...?
Did I forget anyone?
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So they're useless but it still requires millions to get rid of them?
I still struggle to figure out why on Earth would 1) Toyota pay millions to buy-out Ogier's current contract (and pay additional millions to Ogier for his services in 2020) and 2) Ogier switch to a team for which no-one with options seems to be willing to work for? Yes, the car is quick, that we've seen, but there are signals it's no longer the monster it was with the bigger rear wing. And as Ogier has said many times, 2020 will be his last season in WRC - why would he play such a big gamble?
What part of it do you not understand?
The police will not come to put tommi and ogier in jail if they break the contract. It will either be setteled internally, or it will go to a judge who will put a price on it.
And if toyota want to win a title they need better drivers than what they are left with. They need ogier.
And for ogier staying at citroen is perhaps an even bigger gamble than going to toyota. With the current c3 he will never be world champion, and there is no way to know if the car will get on the same level as the competition next year. With the toyota and hyundai budget, it is unlikely that citroen will catch up. Most likely they will just fall ever further behind.
I'm quite sure that company like Toyota won't touch anything that can have legal consequences. Especially if it's something as serious as breach of contract. The contractual buy-out clauses usually call for quite substantial amounts of €. Just my guess, but I would assume that in case Ogier we're talking about seven figures. Maybe just, but anyway.
What comes to the claim of Ogier never being a champ with the C3, I think it's quite an overstatement. Yes, they couldn't match Tänak and Toyota (especially Tänak IMO) this year, but it's not like he's heading into the new season against the Hyundai's etc. with a 205 Rallye.
In a nutshell: if Citroen pulls the plug, then yes, Ogier might very well end up at TGR. In all other scenarios, no way.