[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[BigWorm]

I wouldn't write off Camilli in the future yet, his rise through the ranks is remarkable and has earned the admiration of Malcolm, which is not a bad thing to have.

[tomhlord]

but with only two events so far his career seems stagnant.

Camilli has been testing with Volkswagen in the middle of this year, a nice manufacturer testing role. Quite surprising to see him in an M-Sport car again after that.

On the topic of properly bad drivers at M-Sport, I think there's no way in hell Evans stays.

He's a clear number two that backs up Ogier when needed with no arguements. He's not been quick this year, but has played the political game which could help him keep a seat.

[Rally Power]

He said he is mainly focused on performance.
Given Loebs speed in Sweden and Corsica and recently Østberg in Finland (right before that interview) I don't see how that excludes Citroen.

Actually he said he's focused on performance in order to win often and get titles; for that he obviously needs a winning car.

Btw, I’ve been defending Citroen for a long time but I’m starting to lose my faith on them, making hard to imagine that Ogier would choose the weakest car and the most troubled team to end his career.

It may sound lunatic but I still believe there’s some anti-Ogier mood inside Citroen, perhaps to defend Loeb’s legacy and active presence at PSA; otherwise it’s beyond comprehension how they managed to fail hiring him after VW pull out or even last year.

Ogier is a driving force able to boost any team he joins and Citroen desperately needed his guidance in both occasions, just as they need it now. Will they succeed this time? I seriously doubt, but frankly I hope to be wrong.

[tomhlord]

Actually he said he's focused on performance in order to win often and get titles; for that he obviously needs a winning car.

Btw, I’ve been defending Citroen for a long time but I’m starting to lose my faith on them, making hard to imagine that Ogier would choose the weakest car and the most troubled team to end his career.

It may sound lunatic but I still believe there’s some anti-Ogier mood inside Citroen, perhaps to defend Loeb’s legacy and active presence at PSA; otherwise it’s behind comprehension how they managed to fail hiring him after VW pull out or even last year.

Ogier is a driving force able to boost any team he joins and Citroen desperately needed his guidance in both occasions, just as they need it now. Will they succeed this time? I seriously doubt, but frankly I hope to be wrong.

For me, it hangs on the level of support he will get from teammates (clear number one driver), a commitment from Tavares that there is a significant development budget in place, the maximum level of testing allowed in appropriate locations and perhaps who is emplyed in the engineering team. I don't believe it's a question of wage for Ogier, if Citroen can provide those four things he can move and gain satisfaction from turning a team around.

[denkimi]

It may sound lunatic but I still believe there’s some anti-Ogier mood inside Citroen, perhaps to defend Loeb’s legacy and active presence at PSA; otherwise it’s behind comprehension how they managed to fail hiring him after VW pull out or even last year.

I believe there is at least just as much anti Citroën sentiment in ogier. And who can blame him? If i where him i wouldn't go back, i would let them lay in their misery. They did it to themself.

[spiderem]

this is a bit off topic, but why did kopecki never really made it to the WRC level? I remember him doing wrc with the fabia back in 2007 / 2008 (?) and then nothing and now he is back and winning quite a lot in wrc2 over the last few years... bit of strange career path.

[mknight]

Well he was driving wrc with Skoda in 2005-2007. Won some stages in Germany as well even though final result wasnt very good. On gravel he was always slower than his teammates though (Paasonen etc.). So when Skoda left WRC his performance wasnt anything that would make other teams pick him and he didnt have money to pay for the drive. So he stuck with Skoda for IRC and then R5 slowly going better on gravel. He is now decent on it, but decent means somewhere around 8-9 place in WRC given competitive car. On tarmac he could be around 4-5th depending on the rally. Was loosing quite a lot against Mikkelsen in same car last year on Monte and Corsica though (even without puncture), but was faster than Suninen.

[Tarmop]

Škoda WRC-s were rubbish, then came the period of paying drivers and two manuf. For sure there were other reasons also, but quite hard to get a competitive seat that time...

[Mirek]

Well he was driving wrc with Skoda in 2005-2007. Won some stages in Germany as well even though final result wasnt very good. On gravel he was always slower than his teammates though (Paasonen etc.). So when Skoda left WRC his performance wasnt anything that would make other teams pick him and he didnt have money to pay for the drive. So he stuck with Skoda for IRC and then R5 slowly going better on gravel. He is now decent on it, but decent means somewhere around 8-9 place in WRC given competitive car. On tarmac he could be around 4-5th depending on the rally.

I'd like to correct You a little bit. He drove only one single gravel event for Škoda Motorsport when he was 21 years old (Wales 2003). It wasn't fast but that could be hardly expected with his experience. 2005 was the last season before the Škoda Motorsport department was dissolved and in these years he drove only few selected asphalt events.

In 2006-2007 he drove privately run WRC car with no teammate. The team was run by his father and it actually somehow exists till today. They keep preparing Jan's car for Czech national events. Take into account that the development of the car was very limited despite Škoda actually granting homologation to number of improvements developed by the team. The main problem was pretty weak obsolete 20V engine of the Fabia WRC especially in terms of torque where it was lacking around 100-200 Nm against the competitors. He did only selected events and scored some good results considering he was a privateer (5th in Germany and Catalunya, 7th in Acropolis and Corsica, 8th in Finland, Monte Carlo and Norway).

In 2008 Škoda Motorsport was reborn and the development of the Fabia S2000 was ongoing. Jan was doing a lot of the job including collecting experience with other S2000 (207, Punto). He also drove the S2000 prototype on number of events. In 2009 Škoda entered IRC on Monte Carlo. IRC was very popular in that time and the competition was made largely of today's WRC drivers. If I'm not mistaken Jan finished 3x 2nd in the all season standings (behind Hänninen and Mikkelsen). He also drove in Italian championship for Škoda Italia. After that he was sent to win ERC which he did and to win APRC which he also did (fun fact - Lappi didn't manage that). And further You know it. He is taking mandatory Czech titles and drive what he is given in WRC2. He was very close to a WRC deal two years back but everything collapsed when VW stopped and its drivers got in the game. Now it's too late I would say. He won 4 major gravel events - 2x Sardinia in WRC2, Acores and Sibiu in IRC/ERC.

[AnttiL]

Like I said elsewhere, Hyundai should hire him as a tarmac specialist, since they seem to lack good tarmac drivers.