Hyundai WRT

[doubled1978]

That's a quite sad reason

It is, but I can’t argue with the logic from Adamo really. If they believe Huttenen is fast and they can use him as a test driver without using up test days by not starting him in a WRC event, then it’s in their interests to do so.
I would have liked to have seen him the 3rd car in Finland for sure, but now the reasons for him not are becoming apparent, I can’t argue with it.

[wrc2017]

That is what I was wondering too.
It's a pity they're giving space to every driver possibile but not considering a future promise. I get that they're going all in for this year manufacturers at least but they are completing messing their longterm involvement

Their long term involvement depends on them wining a championship

[AnttiL]

That's a quite sad reason

At least it's a rational one.

[AL14]

Their long term involvement depends on them wining a championship

Then they should have hired Ogier back in 2017 and/or this year.
They will win manufacturers this year (maybe) but what about next years? If their long term involvement depends on them winning today, their long term success depends on them investing on drivers today.

In the latest years I've seen only them and Citroen swapping drivers all the time. They won nothing.

I don't know if this is Adamo's logic or he's just doing what Hyundai told him (winning something this year) but I find sad that they're hiring a 5th drivers letting their young gun at home. Not to talk about Paddon.

[Tarmop]

They have been there for 5 full seasons and Korea is getting tired, they demand a title, so put Adamo in charge of this goal. Simple as ABC really imho.

[er88]

What potential drivers next year?

Adamo's first plan will be to try and get Loeb to do as many rallies as possible. After he sorts that out and retains Sordo, only then will he think of who does what rallies, whether Mikkelsen is content with not a full campaign and whether they need to bring someone like Breen in on a more regular basis etc etc.

As of now this rotation is working, they lead the manufacturers and could end up winning it. However Toyota have had a lot of bad luck with punctures ruining events, mechanical issues and driving mistakes, so Hyundai might need that to continue to have a realistic chance. They need to limit the damage as much as possible in Finland as a Tanak/ Jari 1-2 looks very likely.

[AnttiL]

I think it's better for both parties that Mikkelsen and Hyundai don't continue their co-operation for next year. Breen might play an interesting role in this equation.

[BigWorm]

I think it's better for both parties that Mikkelsen and Hyundai don't continue their co-operation for next year. Breen might play an interesting role in this equation.

First, we must see how he fares in Finland. I would find it very interesting to let Breen do Germany as well with Neuville and Sordo if they are really out to ditch Mikkelsen next year given his struggles with the i20 on sealed surfaces.

Both have the experience from driving the C3 and both were somewhat successful in some rallies (I reckon Mikkelsen's brief stint was quite good with what he achieved in Germany) in that car so let's watch this space.

[doubled1978]

I think it's better for both parties that Mikkelsen and Hyundai don't continue their co-operation for next year. Breen might play an interesting role in this equation.

For sure, Breen is now another spanner in the works for Mikkelsen. I suppose for Mikkelsen staying at Hyundai for a partial programme or not will depend on whether he can get a seat anywhere else..
Toyota - seems impossible
Msport - maybe, but looks like would need budget
Citroen - if they run a 3rd car maybe...Red Bull might help a bit I suppose

[mknight]

I think it's better for both parties that Mikkelsen and Hyundai don't continue their co-operation for next year. Breen might play an interesting role in this equation.

Breens role would be that is likely willing to do part-time season, while Mikkelsen will do all that he can to avoid it as well as try to get away from Hyundai... unless the car finally changes on tarmac now that they put Loeb full time to work on changing that.

First, we must see how he fares in Finland. I would find it very interesting to let Breen do Germany as well with Neuville and Sordo if they are really out to ditch Mikkelsen next year given his struggles with the i20 on sealed surfaces.

Both have the experience from driving the C3 and both were somewhat successful in some rallies (I reckon Mikkelsen's brief stint was quite good with what he achieved in Germany) in that car so let's watch
this space.

Finland won't decide much. Hyundai was always terrible there and for Mikkelsem it's also basically his weakest rally. Even if the car improves there and Breen fights for 4-5 place while Mikkelsen is 7-9th the event is so special and different from rest of the season not much will be decided based on that. Maybe for Breen it could increase his chances for GB outing.

As I wrote before I think there is close to zero chance of Breen doing Germany instead of Mikkelsen for a long list of reasons. Familiarity with the car on tarmac, need for extra testing, historically no good results for Breen in germany and very good for Mikkelsen, Adamo's focus on short term results over long term etc.

Provided Mikkelsen drives one of the two remaining tarmac rallies the pace there will imo make the final decision for both parties. If he doesn't have pace, Hyundai will only offer part-time program (if anything) and Mikkelsen wouldn't not want to stay in a car that he can't compete with on tarmac. This is another big reason why I think he will do one of the tarmac rallies.

Adamo's first plan will be to try and get Loeb to do as many rallies as possible. After he sorts that out and retains Sordo, only then will he think of who does what rallies, whether Mikkelsen is content with not a full campaign and whether they need to bring someone like Breen in on a more regular basis etc etc.

I am not so sure about how geared he is for Loeb atm. So far his hiring (done by Nandan) has been quite a disaster in terms of results and speed, basically 1 good and 1 ok results and 3 very weak events.
Sure PR is good (as expected) and when Loeb had the fight with Ogier in Chile the headlines were everywhere. It indeed looked promising on gravel after Chile but then came Portugal which was another disaster with no speed and crashing out without pressure.

Loeb's stuggles with I20 on tarmac in Monte and especially Corsica are imo even bigger than Mikkelsens. Cause Loeb certainly is a better tarmac driver than Mikkelsen, even at this point, and he was getting a beating by Suninen in his first tarmac outings as well as both his teammates (on Corsica). Off course this might change given then mentioned focus on tarmac development for Loeb atm.

But as it is now, Adamo might instead try to get Sordo to do as many rallies as possible only leaving out the events he really has troubles on (SWE, FIN, GB), having Loeb do the "contracted" number of events and having the last driver fill the gaps. Looking at what rallies need to fill this guy might easily be Breen or Østberg.

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Generally as many pointed out Adamo atm. seem to have extremely short term focus. I agree that if they stay next year this might backfire in multiple ways.