2023 WRC News & Rumours

[WRC1]

just look at the times of Andreas Mikkelsen at Acropolis Rallye....of course after his big mistake on stage 1....but after this mistake he drove incredible times, he was faster than Katsuta on many stage, he drove a 3rd fastest stage time with Rally2 Fabia on a "normal" stage!!!!!

Mikkelsen is clearly the BEST available choice if Tänak is too expensive (or not available) AND after his years with Skoda he knows how to Set up a car! Seeing Breen gets a Program after this Performance and Mikkelsen not makes me wonder...

[Allez Andruet]

he drove a 3rd fastest stage time with Rally2 Fabia on a "normal" stage!!!!!

No offence and definitely no disrespect to anyone involved, but I'm not so sure if any stage can be called "normal" in which Gaurav Gill beats Rovanperä, Lappi, Greensmith and Loubet.

[AnttiL]

Massive road cleaning and Sunday driving. Also in terms of WRC2, Mikkelsen had already lost everything so he could risk it all. Others had to take it carefully to secure getting to finish. But still impressive driving.

[AnttiL]

I LOL'd again in public listening to the Dirtfish podcast where David Evans suggests that "Maybe Tänak does a season of ARA"

[Jarek Z]

Referring to the discussion about Mikkelsen, I was curious where he stands in the World Rally Ranking and found out that this initiative must have died. I only found this facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/WRRUnitedBusiness/
but the webiste www.worldrallyranking.com doesn't work anymore. I guess the owner lost interest.
Do you think it makes sense to have a rally ranking, similar to the ATP ranking in tennis?

[Lead]

Regarding Mikkelsen, team bosses dont like him as it have to do something about his personality or previous interactions rather than his driving abilities. Maybe a little too arrogant and he overvalues himself if its simply budget question? Hard to say.
Although without Rally1 experience, he is still best option out there. And I would pick him over Breen (and even Lappi) any day.

[AnttiL]

Referring to the discussion about Mikkelsen, I was curious where he stands in the World Rally Ranking and found out that this initiative must have died. I only found this facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/WRRUnitedBusiness/
but the webiste www.worldrallyranking.com doesn't work anymore. I guess the owner lost interest.
Do you think it makes sense to have a rally ranking, similar to the ATP ranking in tennis?

Yes, it was canceled before it started

[WRCStan]

Jarek, was that (related to) the FIA Global Rally Ranking attempt or (any) other? There's been a few (FIA/WRC tries) over the years, officially and unofficially. I guess that crews just don't want them.

[Jarek Z]

Jarek, was that the FIA Global Rally Ranking attempt or another?

I think it was some private initiative, outside of FIA.

But you have just reminded me of the FIA Global Rally Ranking. I tried to google it and found only this:
https://dirtfish.com/rally/fia-launc...tem-from-2022/

Has it ever started?

[AnttiL]

I think it was some private initiative, outside of FIA.

But you have just reminded me of the FIA Global Rally Ranking. I tried to google it and found only this:
https://dirtfish.com/rally/fia-launc...tem-from-2022/

Has it ever started?

I was talking about the FIA ranking, it was canceled early this year. The canceling was announced at some WMSC meeting, IIRC.