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Thread: Citroen WRT

  1. #1641
    Senior Member er88's Avatar
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    Thanks a lot @tr4m, that is one of the most open and honest driver interviews you'll read (due to the nature of contracts thesedays and legal issues). It's a shame it's got so messy.

    What surprises me is Meeke saying he's reached out to Citroen to try and settle things amicably, regarding that press release saying he was a danger (which potentially could've risked future employment). Why Citroen wouldn't have wanted that is a mystery, because now that Meeke has just dropped all this and spoken honestly about everything, it makes Citroen look even worse than the shambles we saw from the outside for the last two years or so. Reach an agreement and Meeke would've said very little compared to this.....

    Also says he had possibilities at all 3 remaining teams in WRC, plus a proposal outwith WRC. Toyota always had interest due to Makinen rating Meeke highly, and Penasse had said in an interview if Meeke's available you'd look at him due to his speed, but I didn't expect Msport to have been a possibility due to budget issues and Meeke's previous relationship with Malcolm. Sounds like that has thawed over the years thougb.

    Also suggestion from Meeke that Ostberg at Citroen is no more, and Breen only has options of some rallies there at most. We knew Ostberg wasn't going to get a paid drive but what about him bringing budget?

    What Meeke says about driver starts is true and factual vs Breen, and quite a surprise to hear, but again you can't fight age imo. Reactions do slow down but maybe in rallying it isn't as vital? I get why he still feels young and will reply to comments/ criticism about his age with these replies about rally starts/lack of full seasons though. He is indeed behind a lot of drivers in terms of full wrc seasons and starts, so that does have to be taken into account when team bosses are assessing him vs the likes of Mikkelsen, Sordo, Paddon, Evans, Breen, Ostberg etc etc.

    Good interview in a time when you very rarely get any sportsmen talking so openly, and not caring about offending anyone or worrying what they can or cannot talk about.

  2. Likes: Fast Eddie WRC (9th November 2018),Micke_VOC (13th November 2018),rhm (9th November 2018),WRC1 (9th November 2018)
  3. #1642
    Senior Member EstWRC's Avatar
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    Great interview...thanks a lot!

    what still buzzes me and always will (because i have asked this before but havent got an answer) is what went wrong between 2016 and 2017....i remember him sayin good things about the new car in 2016, i think it was at finland that year where he said "just wait till I get into the new car".

    But then came 2017 and all is suddenly so wrong.
    #8 Ott Tänak - Martin Järveoja #8
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  4. #1643
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    Quote Originally Posted by EstWRC View Post
    what still buzzes me and always will (because i have asked this before but havent got an answer) is what went wrong between 2016 and 2017....i remember him sayin good things about the new car in 2016, i think it was at finland that year where he said "just wait till I get into the new car".

    But then came 2017 and all is suddenly so wrong.
    Exactly robot

    Could have been PR, or as Matton said ("all drivers were happy with tests) - something that you couldn't see on the tests.

    He did say he wanted Ogier to join at end of 2016. As we talked about here many times before, Citroen's (Mattons?) biggest mistake was not getting another experienced driver in 2016 or at least for 2017 start.

    Lot of the rest is post-divorce talk with only one side telling the story with some small details wrong (there was DS3 on Meeke's own pre Germany 2017 (EDIT: corrected) test before Loebs Catalunya test for example).

    Very interesting part for me is how he says Loeb's tirechoice on Sunday in Catalunya was obvious and he would have done the same. Meeke was at Toyota in the service park most of the weekend, dunno if he was there sunday morning, but none of the Toyotas went with those tires. Bluuford wrote about his experience and said it was against all recommendations.
    Last edited by mknight; 9th November 2018 at 18:14.

  5. #1644
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    Thanks for the interview posting!
    Quote Originally Posted by er88 View Post
    Also suggestion from Meeke that Ostberg at Citroen is no more, and Breen only has options of some rallies there at most. We knew Ostberg wasn't going to get a paid drive but what about him bringing budget?
    Where was this?
    you can't fight age imo. Reactions do slow down but maybe in rallying it isn't as vital?
    They do slow down, but you can compensate with experience. In the old days this was more of the case, with WRC careers often extending over 40.

  6. #1645
    Senior Member er88's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
    Thanks for the interview posting!

    Where was this?
    "Obviously, Citroën wanted to renew his team by getting rid of Ostberg and me. Only Craig has, perhaps, still his chances, on some rallies."

  7. Likes: AnttiL (9th November 2018)
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    Senior Member Fast Eddie WRC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by T16 View Post
    what if it's just little pages?
    What if you posted something sensible instead of pathetic attempts at point-scoring ?
    #M-SPORTER

  9. #1647
    Senior Member racerx1979's Avatar
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    I think Breen will be at M-Sport and Ostberg will be sharing car number 3 with Loeb and the Sheik. As I've said before the rumor was for Loeb to do 4-5events before the RX program was cut. I think Loeb will do 7-9 events.

  10. #1648
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    Quote Originally Posted by mknight View Post
    Lot of the rest is post-divorce talk with only one side telling the story with some small details wrong (there was DS3 on Meeke's own pre-Germany 2016 test before Loebs Catalunya test for example).
    Any evidence of this? I had a look through the test schedule based on tweets and news stories:

    #TEST1 15/04/16 France Gravel
    #TEST2 10/05/16 Portugal Gravel
    #TEST3 07/06/16 Finland Gravel
    #TEST4 02/08/16 Portugal Gravel
    #TEST5 20/07/16 France Tarmac
    #TEST6 03/09/16 Italy Tarmac
    #TEST7 30/09/16 Portugal Gravel
    #TEST8 21/10/16 Spain Gravel
    #TEST9 11/11/16 UK Gravel

    It seems #TEST5 happened before #TEST4

    A lot of the pictures only show the C3 but would be good to have that claim verified.
    Last edited by rhm; 9th November 2018 at 18:08.

  11. #1649
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    He probably meant 2017.

  12. #1650
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    Quote Originally Posted by rhm View Post
    Any evidence of this?
    Test before germany 2017 with DS3 driven as well is here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlAI3DmNOlY (35s in)
    and linked here:
    https://www.motorsportforums.com/sho...=1#post1149635
    and also on page 61 in this very thread.

    First ever test of C3 by Loeb was 6? days later. Test for Catalunya by Loeb with DS3 present was about a month? later.

    Anyway the point wasn't to nitpick. It's 14 months ago and if this was oral interview it's not like people should remember all things exactly. Just that when it's written down these kind of small things stand out.

    -----------
    It seems I introduced double confusion when I wrote germany 2016 in my post and you then responded with test schedule for 2016. Obviously C3 wasn't out before germany 2016...
    Sorry for the typo.
    Last edited by mknight; 9th November 2018 at 18:30.

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