Silly Season 2019

[deephouse]

And I have a feeling if he will be aboard that he will not have a full season (again) next year... For some reason Qassimi (if he stays), or Loeb or even Ostberg will share a car... we will see

[Simmi]

I'd assume all talk of Loeb at Citroen ends the second Ogier walks in the door.

[steve.mandzij]

No full season last year either.

Never a full season, if I'm not mistaken.

I'm always rooting for Breen. He reminds me of Latvala in that he lives rallying to the fullest extent. IMO he's far more promising than Evans, especially in quick rallies like Finland and Sweden.

I feel for Evans... After 2015 I was sure he'd be the one to stay in M-Sport against Tanak, seeing as he'd done quite well and had also gotten a podium in TdC, but this year he has shown barely a sliver of pace. Constantly lost, slow and away from the pack, frequent mistakes... After his spectacular Dmack season he had lots to prove on equal rubber. I don't see him staying much longer.

[Got Mail]

Malcolm will want to sell lots of his new shape Fiesta R5.

Evans would be a perfect choice to get the new car some good results in WRC2.

Elfyn won't be delighted with that 'demotion' but I'm not sure he'll have many other options.

[Zeakiwi]

Will Evans relish the chance to compete against the VW R5, any wins in wrc2 2019 could be hard won?

[GigiGalliNo1]

We questioned why Lappi didn’t return for the final day of Rally Turkey to realize that the team did not want to give him the experience of the rest of the rally as he’d be leaving the team...

[the sniper]

Talking of the new R5 Fiesta, I do wonder whether the development efforts to keep the WRC car competitive have distracted M-Sport from developing the new R5? Seems odd that we haven't see anything of it at all. Surely now we won't see it homologated until the end of 2019. If/when the Ogier distraction leaves, the focus will surely shift back towards the customer business.

The only alternative for the delay I can think of is them wanting to see what the new R5 benchmark is once the Polo is out there, so they know what they're aiming for. But, how many customers/orders do they want to lose to VAG in the meantime...?

[AnttiL]

Could actually be a nice spice up to get guys like Breen and Evans showing some measurement of pace in WRC2, in the same way Mikkelsen did last year. Would also be good promotion for their respective teams.

[AnttiL]

https://www.rallit.fi/lahteeko-esape...lin-on-soinut/

Another news piece about Lappi-Toyota situation. Mäkinen says they have placed an offer to Lappi and won't make further decisions before he has responded to that offer. He also says they could have also experienced drivers coming into the team in case Lappi leaves. Again a lot of Mäkinen's talking but not saying anything.

[Norm75]

Never a full season, if I'm not mistaken.

I'm always rooting for Breen. He reminds me of Latvala in that he lives rallying to the fullest extent. IMO he's far more promising than Evans, especially in quick rallies like Finland and Sweden.

I feel for Evans... After 2015 I was sure he'd be the one to stay in M-Sport against Tanak, seeing as he'd done quite well and had also gotten a podium in TdC, but this year he has shown barely a sliver of pace. Constantly lost, slow and away from the pack, frequent mistakes... After his spectacular Dmack season he had lots to prove on equal rubber. I don't see him staying much longer.

I think you've got it right re Evans and Breen. Onboard footage Elfyn always has his mouth wide open and a heart in mouth expression on his face, whereas Breen usually looks calm and collected. There is some great footage of Breen driving a MK2 escort in Ireland, flat out but chatting away to his co driver like he is on a Sunday afternoon drive. I think Breen is a more naturally talented driver and has another step, whereas I just get the feeling Evans is on his limit.