Citroen WRT

[Allez Andruet]

Lappi better up his game. Seriously. The whole gameplan of 2019 for Citroen was to have two strong drivers so Seb II could focus on retaining the crown while Lappi would block vital points from other title contenders.

On the other hand, this is not 1997 when Armin Schwarz could be sacked in favor of Juha Kankkunen after six rallies.

[Norm75]

Lappi better up his game. Seriously. The whole gameplan of 2019 for Citroen was to have two strong drivers so Seb II could focus on retaining the crown while Lappi would block vital points from other title contenders.

On the other hand, this is not 1997 when Armin Schwarz could be sacked in favor of Juha Kankkunen after six rallies.

No, it's not even a year after Citroen sacked Meeke in favour of Mads Ostberg.

[mknight]

No, it's not even a year after Citroen sacked Meeke in favour of Mads Ostberg.

I'd say they sacked Meeke to spare funds and use them for development (with Loeb) to attract Ogier. Which they managed.

[Norm75]

I'd say they sacked Meeke to spare funds and use them for development (with Loeb) to attract Ogier. Which they managed.

Either way, my point being not much difference from 1997-2018.

[Allez Andruet]

Either way, my point being not much difference from 1997-2018.

I think you're cutting corners there. Case Meeke was a different story altogether (with bad PR, high hopes turned into failure, not even mentioning the driver profile). In 1997 (not that it would be that relevant in this topic, but anyway) there were likes of Kankkunen, Thiry and Vatanen on the sidelines without a contract, and bunch of rookies like Grönholm and Rådström waiting to be signed by someone. Now there probably isn't anyone other than Breen, who would have absolutely zero contractual obligations towards competing teams (and Östberg ofcourse in case of Citroen).

[Norm75]

I stand by my last comment, not much difference between 1997-2018.
1997-2019 however, maybe a little different, but you can trust Citroen?

[AnttiL]

I'd say they sacked Meeke to spare funds and use them for development (with Loeb) to attract Ogier. Which they managed.

I think another important point was to get rid of their number one driver to send a clear message to the big bosses that they need a new one. Anyway, it's quite far-fetched to say they sacked Meeke in favour of Østberg. He would have driven some rallies anyway and now just got more of them.

[itix]

Lappi finished 2nd in his second rally with the car (guess you forgot?). Sure with a large bit of luck after that near roll on Friday.

Also here he was quite fast before crashing (discarding the stage with puncture). Anyway I don't see him getting fired before the end of the year with the current situation on the driver market. They could use Østberg on some gravel rally, but Lappi is usually good on same types of rallies as Østberg is.

Yeah all right... Except for fast sisu oriented rallies he has struggled to get past 5th this year.

[Norm75]

I think another important point was to get rid of their number one driver to send a clear message to the big bosses that they need a new one. Anyway, it's quite far-fetched to say they sacked Meeke in favour of Østberg. He would have driven some rallies anyway and now just got more of them.

How is that far fetched. Fact is they sacked Meeke. They then put Ostberg in the car, be it because there were no one else available or not, he was still favoured to drive the car rather than retain Meeke.

[Allez Andruet]

How is that far fetched.

Because the decision was to ditch Meeke, not to make room for Østberg to have more rallies.