[WRC] News & Rumours 2020

[pucky54]

Was it Baumschlager's sponsor or were they just sponsoring Schmidt Motorsports in general? Also Vatanen had the Red Bull livery in his SMS Escort the following year.

https://www.ewrc-results.com/image/498552/

Baumschlager's, as he was driving a car of ROMO Motorsport in 1993...

[rallyfiend]

Baumschlager is a big mate of Mateschitz. Hence the constant Red Bull sponsorship...

[Rallyper]

Should this RB stuff more belong to Bar talk?

[dimviii]

The curtain opens. The 2020 World Cup kicks off in its traditional Monte Carlo Rally framework. A season with many novelties that will reveal to us one of its protagonists, the Spanish Dani Sordo. The Cantabrian faces his fifteenth campaign in a top-level team, Hyundai, and is therefore the best guide to show in 10 keys the main changes of the year that now begins.

1: Ott Tänak passes to Hyundai

“It's a mystery, because it has to be adapted. We will see what he can do with this car, and now what is clear is that he has the ball on his roof because he is the champion. ”

2: Sebastien Ogier inherits the Toyota from Tänak

“I think it will go as a shot, as we saw with Tänak last year. It will be interesting to see if it was Tänak who marked the differences or it was the Toyota. ”

3: Hyundai super team

“It is clear that last year there were three pilots, Tänak, Neuville and Ogier, who dominated. With the papers on the table Hyundai should always be on the podium, but it is always difficult to have two roosters in the same chicken coop. Citroën will be missed. I am sorry for his departure, especially since they had a good car and equipment. I think they should have taken a step back to come back stronger, and not leave it. ”

4: What will Dani Sordo do?

“I am very motivated, looking forward to it. I will try to win more rallies this year, and finish on the podium in everyone who competes, which will be seven or eight. But it will not be easy now that I am in a structure with more roosters. Of course, the more, the better. ”

5: Other actors

“Evans is going to be very fast and is very regular as he has shown with Ford, a team that will have to be taken into account because his car is going well in all areas. With Lappi they will be up. And we must not forget Rovanpera, who despite being so young, is also very strong. Without realizing it, Toyota has assembled a great team too. ”

6: Kenya Rally Safari returns

“I still don't know if I will run it, but I would like to. It is good that he returns to the championship, because it is a rally with a lot of history. Just hearing his name you remember the cars with the air intake above and the defenses, the animals ... but I think it will be different because it is going to be played on a particular estate. Imagine what property the owner has that fits a World Cup rally! ”

7: The New Zealand Rally also returns

“We have always done very well in New Zealand. It is a beautiful rally, with sections in which there is a lot of gravel in the first pass, but with a fluid and fast layout. It may be less advertising because of how far it is, but Hayden Paddon, who is from there, will be delighted. ”

8: Japan's new Rally

“I think that the new Rally of Japan has more curves than the Tour of Corsica, so we can get an idea of ​​the type of sections that we are going to see on asphalt. I would also like to run it, but I will not be able to do all the tests I want. ”

9: Without Rally of Spain

“It's a shame, a big loss for the World Cup, and not just because it's the home rally. The last year was ten, and that's how all the drivers and teams saw it. I'm going to have to go to what they do this year of the Spanish Championship! ”

10: Young Spaniards

“It's a pass that there are other Spaniards fighting in the World Cup. Hopefully they do it well and some get ahead, because we need it. Jan Solans has a lot of future, not only because he is very fast, but also because he does things very well out of the car. Hopefully Pepe López make a good Monte Carlo and continue his program in Citroën ”.
Carlos Sainz: "If I were a jury of the Princess of Asturias I would vote"

https://as.com/motor/2020/01/22/mas_...56_810370.html

[dimviii]

4397/5000
Character limit: 5000
This weekend starts the World Rally Championship in Monte Carlo, and Sebastian Ogier does it in front of his countrymen, his last campaign, presumably, as a pilot and premiering, at the same time, the colors of Toyota. It is the new challenge that he has assumed, after his random rentrée in Citroën, the hexacampeón of the world. A promising epilogue, undoubtedly, behind the wheel of the car with which Tänak has dethroned him in 2019 and with which he will give a unique career.

Question. What have you learned throughout all these years?

Reply. Luckily for me, I have lived very good times, in which I progressed more and more. I have very good memories of my first season with a WRC (2009). Probably, he was going too fast for the shoot he had at that time [laughs]. As a pilot, you first need to be able to go quickly; Then, find the limits and know how to manage them with solvency, which requires some time and experience. And also patience. When you start, you always have the feeling that you must continually attack one hundred percent. And that is a mistake, because it leads you to make many mistakes, as happened to me at the beginning ... Although it was also the way I had to learn. Perhaps, if I had been slower, taking the car intact to each assistance, I would not have expanded the program of six tests that I was given at the beginning, after winning the Junior World Cup (2008). You never know ...

I already showed that not only did I win by having a great car, I did it with a private one "

Q. How would you compare the Ogier of the past with that of the present?

A. I am a completely different person. As an athlete, I have evolved a lot during these ten years, but also as a man. My responsibilities and my priorities have changed a bit. Now, I live calmer. When you start on this, you have a lot of pressure on it to show that you deserve to be there and that you are able to reach something. Today, logically, with the successes that I have already achieved, the situation is different. That allows me to be more relaxed, and probably enjoy more also with what I do.
<HIT> Ogier </HIT>, with Toyota

P. He started running in 2006, and in 2013 he was already world champion. Is it still as killer as at the beginning?

A. The ambition is still there, I still have the same character, I am not someone who does things halfway. Or I go with everything or, if not, I do not. I do not contemplate being part of a competition if you do not give the maximum. But that hunger is already different. When you are young, you are willing to do anything to crush anyone in front of you in order to get what you want. You need to have that spirit to be a champion, and I still have it, although at a lower level.

P. Cesare Fiorio, the legendary head of Lancia, believed that fatherhood weakens a pilot. Have you felt that way?

A. Well, your perspective in life changes. You see things differently. When I'm doing my job, I give one hundred percent, all I have, but the most important thing for me is no longer the rallies. At first, I only thought about rallies, rallies, rallies ... Now, my son and my wife are a step above. When I was going to be a father in 2016 and they brought me this topic, I was sure that, with my helmet on, I would remain the same; but then moments or situations arise during a career in which, perhaps, you think about it a little more than before. That's for sure.

Q. Do you regret anything?

A. I am a person who always looks forward. I prefer to stay with the positive. There were some difficult moments. The first year at WRC I received a lot of pressure, I didn't know if I would have a future later. When I arrived at the official Citroën team in 2011, I had to endure a lot of tension with Loeb and the team people. I would have loved to know how to keep calm sometimes in front of the media, not saying what I thought, better controlling my emotions. But it's complicated with a strong character like mine, and, when you're young, even more.

P. Some time ago he confessed in an interview with MARCA that he hates losing. This year, they have taken the title for the first time. What does defeat taste like?


A. Basically, if I don't win, I don't feel the best anymore. Although the truth is that over time I have relaxed more. Since I am a father and I have a family, I find it easier to disconnect when I return home, leave behind what happened in a rally and live a vine


https://www.marca.com/motor/rallies/...0618b4595.html

[dimviii]

A few days ago, they cheered him again on his island as the great reference he always was. After a while in the shade, sportingly blurred with thirty-one, Yeray Lemes (the youngest ever Spanish champion, at age 22, like Sordo) has once again excited his people. The same one that, on the first weekend of the month, took him on a roundabout along the roads of Lanzarote, picking him up, almost with epic dyes, as a Canarian champion. What was budding since he was put behind the wheel when he was a kid; and even more: the last Spaniard, until the emergence of the Solans, who truly shone worldwide, where he beat the best of his generation. Among them, nothing less, the new star of the specialty: Ott Tänak. The antithesis, in a sense, of the flying conejero.

Both belong to the same vintage (that of 87). They are islanders, introverted, of few words, but tremendously admired for their peers. They became very young pilots, emulating their parents, and immediately emerged as the most promising kids in their respective countries. Now they are parents, they run their own businesses (Tänak a sports structure, Lemes a plumbing company), and they have even begun to share shield (Hyundai). Although only the Estonian has managed to fulfill the triumphant destiny that the canary began to see also almost at par.

They met in 2008, during a selection promoted by Pirelli, which eventually led to the world premiere, with a Mitsubishi Gr. N, from the Saaremaa pilot. Lemes also certified his speed, but not the level of English and physical form necessary for him to be caught too. However, Juan Petisco, former co-driver of Antonio Zanini, and historical manager of such memorable teams as the Jolly or Piedrafita Sport, wanted to bet on him.

"He had an incredible talent. He climbed into any car and, after 10 minutes, he was already going to full milk on any surface. Without a doubt, it was WRC meat, but he lacked self-discipline. Of course, by pure driving, it is what We have had the best, "says Peti, recalling the 2010 Junior World Cup, in which Yeray won rallies to another contemporary of his who, rightly, did know how to channel himself to the elite: the current runner-up of the World, Thierry Neuville.
Sainz and Volkswagen support

The following year, the Lanzaroteman ran the original version of the monarch Ford (the WRC Academy) that has conquered this Jan Solans course. But the zenith of his season, and, in general, of his entire career, came before Catalonia, when the Germans, who were already tuning the Polo R WRC, wanted to test their performance, urged by the Canarian importer and Carlos Sainz, at steering wheel of a Skoda with which he looked good.

The pace and self-confidence that Lemes showed, both on land and on asphalt, hit Volkswagen. "They hallucinated ... The chief engineer sent us his conclusions by letter, and said he had never seen a telemetry of an uncle that would squeeze the mechanics of the Fabia S2000," explains the pilot's father Emma Falcon (European champion in 2018) , car entrepreneur and supporter, even today, of the flying conejero. Even so, despite the records he credited, his language limitations, and also on a technical level, the doors of the youth team were closed to Yeray, with which, shortly after, Mikkelsen won his first official flyer at the WRC.



"They took note of how good it was, but, as it could not be understood, when it came to the assistance or communicated with the team or transmitted anything. If I had approached the issue in another way, the position would have been his, I am sure" , Petisco points out, still fervently evoking those days of October 2011 in which Lemes passed his hand over his face, a section yes, another as well, to the pomegranate of the S2000 World Cup. Including the pilot revealed that year, which was Ott Tänak.
In neutral

That demonstration was not worth much. From then on, although he continued to give some blow in the lower category of the World Cup, the projection of the canary stagnated. The train passed him, and, unlike the Estonian, who returned to the elite after having spent a whole year without running, Yeray never managed to get hooked again.

"Tänak was financed by a businessman who runs in Estonia with a WRC. He is to blame that, finally, 8 years after Catalonia where we compete together, he has been champion. Belief in a driver must be very long term. I am sure that if someone had taken Yeray from Lanzarote to train him and invest in him, today he would be earning a lot of money with him. But, unfortunately, that vision they have in other countries is not in Spain, "says Rogelio Peñate , co-pilot of Lemes since its inception.

"Sometimes I think about it, but we shouldn't regret it either. We tried, we put a lot of our part into it. It couldn't be and that's it," Lemes says with resignation. The one that has been digesting since then, in silence, until this year, finally, the Spanish Tänak has been able to regain its instinct, competing at least for the Canary Islands, and its status as a winning pilot.


https://www.marca.com/motor/rallies/...a368b462a.html

[katxal]

Suzuki Spain will be present in Portugal Rally (WRC) with 2 Swift R4.

https://www.laregion.es/articulo/mas...641920500.html

[erikli2]

Does anyone know what this Dirtfish thing is? They recruited Collin Clark as a commentator and I saw their logo on the helmet of Tänak and on one of the WRC Fiestas. Can't figure out what their business is?

[SubaruNorway]

Does anyone know what this Dirtfish thing is? They recruited Collin Clark as a commentator and I saw their logo on the helmet of Tänak and on one of the WRC Fiestas. Can't figure out what their business is?

Rally school mainly in Washington and the owner collects a lot of old cars like Burn's Impreza WRC, you can drive their area on Dirt Rally 2.0.
Hosted an GRC rallycross event some years ago.
https://drive.dirtfish.com/

[Eli]

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...-sweden-outing

Craig's response to him being nominated for Sweden. Not anything new, just each side's comments.
Also it says their (Autosport's) sources say a decision to run the rally will take place on February 3rd.

"Irishman Craig Breen has talked of his relief at being handed a "career lifeline" in the shape of a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC drive at next month's Rally Sweden.

Breen, who joins Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak in the Korean team, is delighted to be going back to the scene of his best ever WRC finish, when he posted a second place in Torsby driving a Citroen C3 WRC in 2018.

"I could see that, from the outside it might have looked like it was all over for me," Breen told Autosport.

"But Andrea [Adamo, Hyundai boss] told me to trust him.

"He's very much looking out for me and he's very much a man of his word - if he promises something he's absolutely genuine in that regard and he's come to fore and given myself and Paul [Nagle, co-driver] a career lifeline.

"At no point have I felt out of the loop, Andrea made it clear he would look after me, he told me to trust him and I do.

"I'm just over the moon to be back in the car and I'm obviously desperate to be back in the WRC to show what I can do.

"I'll do whatever it takes to stay with this team now - I really want to move on with my career with this team. It's a special place to be."
Hyundai confirmed the decision on Monday, admitting it was based partly on a tactical approach - because he missed last week's opener in Monte Carlo, Breen will start at the back of the World Rally Car pack.

The route for Rally Sweden remains largely free of snow, but if winter does arrive, running further down the order with snow swept from the line is the fastest place to be.

Adamo explained the decision, saying: "We have taken the decision to add Craig Breen to our line-up for Rally Sweden in a bid to field the most competitive package possible for the event with the best available options for road position.

"We opted to bring Craig based on his performance in Sweden when he finished in second place, and the potential he showed in our i20 Coupe WRC last season."

Autosport understands a decision on whether Rally Sweden will run will be taken on February 3, with Hyundai expected to test in the days following.