2022 WRC News & Rumours

[Sergiow]

That has never been a plan...

This plan was mentioned once by Yves Matton

"Matton has some objections, however. Just completing chrono rides in Ypres is not enough for the event to bear the Rally of Belgium label. That may seem strange, there are plenty of examples on the World Cup calendar where geographically restricted matches still have a national appearance." https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20210812_97231942

65 % of this plan was already achieved last year with Ypres + Spa. The inclusion of a Condroz day would have greatly reduced the 300 km liaison between Ypres and Spa ... but meanwhile Yves Matton is no longer Rally Director with the FIA, a wind of change is certainly coming from that direction ...

[Eli]

Let the rumors begin…. https://www-rallit-fi.translate.goog..._x_tr_pto=wapp

Do you know if he's going to be there instead of Breen? yes I'm aware they said he has a two year contract but the article doesn't shed much light on that matter.

[AnttiL]

Do you know if he's going to be there instead of Breen? yes I'm aware they said he has a two year contract but the article doesn't shed much light on that matter.

Know? It’s just rumors about Tänak. But Breen would make a great second driver.

[TypeR]

In addition to the speculative article..
Tänak didn't say a word about the car or team(thank them) at the end of PS. And nobody (e.g smb from the team) wasn't at the finishline either..)

Vety difficult choice either way.. (Toyota excluded)

[Eli]

Know? It’s just rumors about Tänak. But Breen would make a great second driver.

I was wondering if he had any knowledge aside from the rumour, and yeah I agree, they could make a good paring for 2023.

[mknight]

Know? It’s just rumors about Tänak. But Breen would make a great second driver.

Hard to know that. Recently he was 3rd driver and did very well after the first bad rallies and first driver which doesn't work at all (yet?).
You might say he was second on some rounds in 2017-2018 and it mostly didn't work but that was quite special situation.

Anyway before Finland I would totally say Tanak might switch, after Finland I am not so sure. Mostly due to seemingly declining speed at MSport and continuing reliability issues. The front suspension on the Puma also appears rather fragile as it's always the first to go.

A bit like previous Hyundai always lost the rear wheel.

[AnttiL]

https://www.rallit.fi/saako-esapekka...suora-vastaus/

First of all the article states that Rovanperä and Evans likely continue at Toyota for 2023, but then we have interesting comments from Latvala

- Ogier has said he wants to do Monte Carlo, but nothing is agreed upon yet
- There could still be two drivers in the third car
- Latvala would like Katsuta to continue in a fourth car but says the decision is made in Japan
- Latvala doesn't want to change the drivers at all but says it's about the budget and whether they can afford more drivers and four cars. "There's no reason to change drivers but this is depending on many factors"

To me it sounds like there won't be a fourth car and maybe pressure to put Taka into the third car with half season. This could be in line with Taka's comments in Rally Finland, saying "I don't know if I drive here next year"

[Danny0405]

https://www.rallit.fi/saako-esapekka...suora-vastaus/

First of all the article states that Rovanperä and Evans likely continue at Toyota for 2023, but then we have interesting comments from Latvala

- Ogier has said he wants to do Monte Carlo, but nothing is agreed upon yet
- There could still be two drivers in the third car
- Latvala would like Katsuta to continue in a fourth car but says the decision is made in Japan
- Latvala doesn't want to change the drivers at all but says it's about the budget and whether they can afford more drivers and four cars. "There's no reason to change drivers but this is depending on many factors"

To me it sounds like there won't be a fourth car and maybe pressure to put Taka into the third car with half season. This could be in line with Taka's comments in Rally Finland, saying "I don't know if I drive here next year"

Yeah, clearly, there is probably some pressure from Japan to promote Katsuta in 3rd car, I was surprised his name was not evoked in the summer last year but, anyway, his bad streak justified to keep him in 4th car and the new regulation justified also to deal with experienced drivers in the main team.
Now, he is quite regular even if a bit slow and it will be complicated for Latvala to resist to Japanese pressure, all the more with Lappi doing an average season so far. The main question mark with Katsuta is pure tarmac where he is really weak (not talking about Mickey Mouse stages or Monza circuit stages) but if the rumors about calendar are true, it will reduce the issue (all the more if Ogier does Monte Carlo). Maybe they could also keep Lappi as a specialist for Sweden/Estonia/Finland (would also help Katsuta to have better road positions for gravel by missing 3/4 events).

However, I would be really disappointed by Toyota if they do not have a 4th car for at least the European rounds with a 5-6 rally program for a youngster such as Rossel or Lindholm (and 2/3 rounds for Ogier eventually). I’ve no issue with them having a car mainly driven by a Japanese as long as it is compensated by giving some chance to another deserving youngster. Not really a behavior to develop rally as Toyoda is promoting.

[EstWRC]

sadly it seems there wont be any silly season at all for 2023, everything seems to remain the same

[Danny0405]

sadly it seems there wont be any silly season at all for 2023, everything seems to remain the same

No changes for the big names to be precisebut not a real surprise:
- the big 4 has a contract for next year
- M-Sport has not really proven to be an efficient solution against Hyundai or Toyota (reliability issue and, without support, they cannot keep up in terms of development so Neuville and Tanak are forced to stay in Hyundai

Then, for Toyota, with Katsuta, Lappi or Ogier, it’s clearly enough to find a solution for the 3rd car so logical to make with them (not talking about 4th car).
And for M-Sport, they have invested in Breen by making the full-year with him; would be a non-sense to fire him for next year IMO.

But then, there could be some changes for the Hyundai 3rd car and also in M-Sport line-up because clearly, neither Solberg nor Fourmaux are convincing and Loubet is not that good.
Could help some guys like Mikkelsen or Suninen to come back or a guy like Rossel, Lindholm or Huttunen (depending on the money) finding a seat.

And if Lappi has not a safe seat in Toyota for next year, why not seeing Hyundai trying to hire him.