Silly Season 2022

[Fast Eddie WRC]

2022 and only part-time Ogier...

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/wrc-w...-ogier-wilson/

Neuville: “Of course I want him to stay,” he told DirtFish. “We definitely need him for the full championship and I would like to keep him. He’s a real challenge and a tough guy to fight, but when you win against him, you win.”

Asked if he could see Wilson’s perspective, Neuville added: “I don’t think it will make it more interesting. The best needs to stay and he is definitely one of the best. It would not be a good time for the championship, but it’s not for us to make these decisions for him.”

Tänak’s response was more succinct: “Honestly, I don’t give a s*** what he’s doing,” he said.

[AnttiL]

LOL at Tänak’s response

[EstWRC]

i totally get the two different answers...both Ott and Thierry have said they want to win a title when Seb is still here. Ott managed it, Thierry not yet so far and i guess thats why Thierry would like him to continue.

well, we all know Tänak, that answer is so him

[Danny0405]

You are forgetting about ostberg. He could be a reliable points scorer, although he may not win rally's.

Interesting as a complement to Sordo and driver to still have in case of but not sure who would invest on him with such a driver market.
From what I read, he has very fresh relations with M-Sport because of the 2016 and 2017 so a return would be a surprise.
And for Hyundai, yes he is interesting with a reliable fast-gravel profile, but still, Mikkelsen also + Andreas is younger, is out of RC1 for a fewer time + Andreas knows the team (and was a contributor to the manufacturer title in 2019). So Mikkelsen would be a safer bet.

I would say his only chance would be if both Breen and Mikkelsen sign with M-Sport.
And even then, even if I personnally who choice a Sordo-Ostberg duo in that situation, I’m not sure Adamo would not try Solberg or Suninen.

Maybe if he does strong rallies in Greece and Finland

[djip]

Interesting as a complement to Sordo and driver to still have in case of but not sure who would invest on him with such a driver market.
From what I read, he has very fresh relations with M-Sport because of the 2016 and 2017 so a return would be a surprise.
And for Hyundai, yes he is interesting with a reliable fast-gravel profile, but still, Mikkelsen also + Andreas is younger, is out of RC1 for a fewer time + Andreas knows the team (and was a contributor to the manufacturer title in 2019). So Mikkelsen would be a safer bet.

I would say his only chance would be if both Breen and Mikkelsen sign with M-Sport.
And even then, even if I personnally who choice a Sordo-Ostberg duo in that situation, I’m not sure Adamo would not try Solberg or Suninen.

I had never really thought abot it but if your 3rd car is just aiming as a point producer backup (no need to really push for wins), then a sordo / Ostberg line up is pretty smart. You won't get much modiums, but you are 99% sure to bag ssome points and avoid the "all crashing" nightmare...
I don't see a difference between Ostberg and Mikkelsen TBH. They are pretty much the same to me experience-wise. And speed-wise you could argue that Ostberg has been doing a much better job in WRC2 lately ...

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Lappi said by Dirtfish to be going to share a Yaris with Ogier in 2022.

So for Suninen its either Hyundai or nothing. He could be their 'fast gravel' driver like Breen was this year and share with Sordo, assuming Breen leaves for a full-time seat at M-Sport.

[Danny0405]

I don't see a difference between Ostberg and Mikkelsen TBH. They are pretty much the same to me experience-wise. And speed-wise you could argue that Ostberg has been doing a much better job in WRC2 lately ...

I do not really say that Mikkelsen is better than Ostberg, at the moment it would be a close call between the two if you had to choose one of them. It is more a question of preference (personally, I would take Ostberg without context if I had to choose).

But from a Hyundai perspective, at the current moment, I think Mikkelsen would be a safer bet considering he knows the team (+ he was still there in 2019). But Ostberg could reverse this if he makes strong performances in the end of the season (by example, with class wins in Greece and Finland + winning the championship).

Still, the only pressure for Hyundai is about Breen; when the future of Breen is set and if he decides to leave, there will be no real rush for Hyundai because they have Solberg with a contract, Sordo does not seem to want to retire (and no contact for a seat with Toyota or M-Sport for him) and at least one driver will be available between Ostberg and Mikkelsen (and even Suninen). So they can wait November to make a choice and see what happen in the end of the season (especially Greece, Finland and Spain)

And clearly a Sordo-Ostberg or Sordo-Mikkelsen is a good choice for a 3rd car for the manufacturer championship.
Sordo-Suninen, Sordo-Solberg or Sordo-Huttunen are more risky choices.

The other option, already evoked by Adamo, is to abandon the shared 3rd car but, except for Breen or Lappi, I don’t think a driver in the market deserves a full-time seat.
Let’s see what happen for Breen first.

[Gustav Andel]

In one of the videos from the Barum Rally, it was mentioned that Adamo's position is in danger and that Andrew Jones could take his place... If there is a new boss, the approach to signing drivers may change. So we'll see

[mknight]

I wrote it yesterday in News and Rumors thread.

Breen was hired by Hyundai due to Penasse (Adamos and Breens words). But he was also seemingly on good terms with Adamo.

So a different boss might be less interested in him, but a different boss might also be less of a fan of switching 3rd drivers.
It worked great in 2020 and was the main reason for manu title. Then again in 2019 it mostly worked because Latvala and Meeke were crashing so much.
Another argument is a "long term" driver development. Katsuta for example does seem to be developing a lot and getting drivers that have podium-speed yet are happy to drive part season is getting harder imo.

[AnttiL]

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/h...ation/6658193/

Adamo has made a decision about Solberg's future with Hyundai. What that decision is, we don't know yet.