Silly Season 2019

[Fast Eddie WRC]

BTW my prediction of Breen to M-Sport was only made after Ogiier's announcement and Citroen stating they would probably only run two cars. This was also following his appearance I saw at the Rally Forum with M.Wilson. They seemed to me to have some connection.

[AnttiL]

Looks like Breen vs Evans for the seat.

How? There's two seats available. It's not a fight between them, it's just if they can get a budget behind them.

Østberg to decide if they can have his money. I dont think he will want to go there as he wasnt happy with the lack of help & parts when running his own Fiesta.

I don't understand this logic. Was it mentioned somewhere Østberg had alack of help and parts? It's just the difference between buying a car and running it yourself or renting everything from M-Sport.

However, I think Østberg's primary objection is to continue the partnership at Citroen, and that was also mentioned during All Live last weekend.

[T16]

BTW my prediction of Breen to M-Sport was only made after Ogiier's announcement and Citroen stating they would probably only run two cars. This was also following his appearance I saw at the Rally Forum with M.Wilson. They seemed to me to have some connection.

Was that prediction before or after you said he may go to Hyundai?

[AnttiL]

Please guys, this thread isn't about you, this is about the WRC drivers.

[racerx1979]

MSport has 2 seats. If Evans gets sacked (which was the rumor this weekend) then it can easily be Paddon, Breen or Ostberg for seats 2 and 3.

Citroen should be begging Loeb to do more rallies. The rumor was 4-5 events before the end of his rally cross program. Maybe they will try to convince him to do more events and have Ostberg and Qassimi do the rest?

I honestly think Mikkelsen should share the car with Sordo. It's getting old to hear the same old stories at stage end. "yeah we're learning the car blah blah".

To me it looks like Ford will be Suninen, Breen and Paddon.
Hyundai is a weird one because I'm not sure who will share the car with Sordo if Paddon wants a full season. I also heard Mads was talking to Hyundai. Maybe he will share the car if Loeb decides to do more events.. still a silly season.

[AnttiL]

To me it looks like Ford will be Suninen, Breen and Paddon.
Hyundai is a weird one because I'm not sure who will share the car with Sordo if Paddon wants a full season. I also heard Mads was talking to Hyundai. Maybe he will share the car if Loeb decides to do more events.. still a silly season.

Autosport just said it will most likely by Paddon with Sordo, 7 events each.

Pierre Budar said at the end of Catalunya press conference that they haven't been yet confirmed a third car, it's down to negotiating with different partners. Maybe they are losing Abu Dhabi?

[mknight]

I honestly think Mikkelsen should share the car with Sordo. It's getting old to hear the same old stories at stage end. "yeah we're learning the car blah blah".

I don't see anyone around and available that has as good or better results on tarmac with other cars. (1 WRC win and multiple podiums with different cars)
Yes in i20 Mikkelsen has terrible tarmac speed. So if you want to change it and are Hyundai you can either
a) invest time and money in making the car-driver combination work (doesn't seem to be the case atm)
b) get a driver that was slower than him in other cars (ex. Kopecky or Camilli) and then risk going back to same situation

Atm. looks like Hyundai is not doing either and with Toyota speed on gravel they will likely put their money into gravel development instead.

[Tarmop]

Well, but there is no tarmac pace, especially when you think that he has won this event.

[mknight]

Well, but there is no tarmac pace, especially when you think that he has won this event.

Indeed, hence the two options about what Hyundai can do about it.

[BigWorm]

So the Mikkelsen arguments still go on? He drives well on gravel with the i20 but the car is obviously not suited to his tarmac driving so therefore the results are not coming, just like every other driver the car and driver must match to get the most of it. He and Hyundai needs to learn and work toward that, next season will be testament to that. After next season you could draw the conclusion that Mikkelsen should or should not be in the Hyundai, but what we know of Mikkelsen is that when he is in the right car on any surface he can perform very well.