[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[T16]

Rally Japan candidate WRC event announced there will be 2 manu cars, a Yaris (driven by Katsuta) and an i20 without naming the driver.

The event is the weekend before Australia, which is why I think it's unlikely that Neuville drives cause he will be important in Australia no matter what title they are fighting for.

Sorry if that point wasn't clear.

No, sorry, I didn’t realise you were talking about Japan.

[the sniper]

DMACK Global (renamed Sinon UK at the end of last year) has gone into Administration in the UK, owing nearly £10m to M-Sport/Malcolm Wilson. Other noteworthy creditors include Skoda Motorsport Italia (£44k) and DMACK SRL (£535k), the Italian operation Dick Cormack is running with...

Administrator's report is the latest addition here: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/c...filing-history Creditors on page 27.

Thanks to 'pear' on the British Rally forum who posted this news there.

[steve.mandzij]

DMACK Global (renamed Sinon UK at the end of last year) has gone into Administration in the UK, owing nearly £10m to M-Sport/Malcolm Wilson. Other noteworthy creditors include Skoda Motorsport Italia (£44k) and DMACK SRL (£535k), the Italian operation Dick Cormack is running with...

Administrator's report is the latest addition here: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/c...filing-history Creditors on page 27.

Thanks to 'pear' on the British Rally forum who posted this news there.

What a shame... They had seemed to have been making progress for a while, but I'd always wondered where all their sponsorship money came from.

[Allez Andruet]

https://yle.fi/urheilu/3-10880580

Latvala and Jouhki pondering JML's season and his future in WRC. Latvala admits hitting the low point in Corsica, where he was "lacking motivation" (I just hate to see that excuse being used by a full-time rally driver). JML says that the tight fight in manu championship is what brings him motivation at the moment. Regarding next season, Jouhki says that it's "impossible to know what the Japanese think at the moment", but admits Latvala must start delivering results from Finland onwards.

For me all these things combined don't sound like a receipe for success for Latvala. Hopefully he proves me wrong in Finland.

[EstWRC]

Last year he had a very good second half from Finland onwards, maybe this time too.

but i personally think if he underperforms in Finland, then maybe its goodbye for him.

[mknight]

https://yle.fi/urheilu/3-10880580
For me all these things combined don't sound like a receipe for success for Latvala. Hopefully he proves me wrong in Finland.

In the absolute rally podcast last week he sounded like a broken man (well he does that like every 2 months..). Saying how he could have fought for drivers championship in 2014 if he didn't crash in Germany and how he enjoys historic rallies much more cause on normal rallies there is so much pressure and competition.

He really needs a podium in Finland (just like Meeke does). However with Toyota's known Finland advantage it should be possible even with less than perfect driving. Technical issues are not likely there and it's not that often people crash, no big stones or something like that either.

That said there can always be surprises from other teams. Last year nobody really expected Østberg to be that fast in C3. Similarly nobody expected Fiestas to be so fast on Corsica this year.

[er88]

but i personally think if he underperforms in Finland, then maybe its goodbye for him.

From what I've heard he's apparently already out the door at Toyota. Hope that's maybe not the case but if he can get back in at Msport it would maybe be a good reset for him and less pressure...

Other than that I'm not sure what options he'd have.

[mknight]

If Citroen gets 3rd car they will want a stable points scorer, Evans or even Østberg sound more likely, or Mikkelsen if he wants to go that way.

Basically same for Hyundai except Østberg is not likely there.

[Barreis]

he will sell some seats

[steve.mandzij]

From what I've heard he's apparently already out the door at Toyota. Hope that's maybe not the case but if he can get back in at Msport it would maybe be a good reset for him and less pressure...

Other than that I'm not sure what options he'd have.

It'd be cool if you could link that, but judging by his own comments and the fact he's relying on the unpredictable Japanese to keep him on for the PR it sounds likely