2023 WRC News & Rumours

[mknight]

Well, I think that he fought for podium finish on every event, that was goal. Just he over achieved himself by fighting too much and he crashed

The progress before every one of his crashes looks exactly the same.

Mostly decent times (once even rally lead) then he starts pushing a bit harder to keep up or move up (see splits) and crashes.

As I just wrote in MSport thread I can't remember any driver having a worse season and certainly not a driver staying in the car after something like this.

Lefebvre had worse 2017 but he was out of the car after 1/3 of the season, Meeke 2019 is probably closest. So it would be hilarious if Meeke and Breen share a car at Hyundai next year.

[Sulland]

Must be tough being MSport management these days.
They had, maybe still has the best car.
The only driver that has been able to get the best out of the car is only part time driver. The number 1 driver is in 7th place, and will end up there. Next Fords are 10,11, 13 and 16th.

For 23 they need to get better drivers, where 2 can fight for podiums in all rallies.
I really hope they get that and will create more exitement in the top. We need that!

[er88]

Msports reliability has been God awful this season, unless my mind is playing tricks on me. The car is fast but not at all strong. If they got a top driver (Tanak) it would be interesting to see if they could produce a more reliable car, and develop it well throughout the year. Hard to know if they've been scrimping and saving on parts this year due to the drivers not being upto it

[Danny0405]

It's nice to see that he thinks Ott is needed in M-Sport but between that and not bringing him to the team... as many people said here before, it's not (only) his decision to make, Guess we'll find out Sunday/Monday. Just speculating of course, don't think he'll keep to his words.

Well, it’s not that simple now for Toyota even if they are not in dire situation so it’s normal they took a bit of time as they are not in a hurry with some options available. In the last month, a top driver has been free and Toyota lost a good point scorer to its main competitor whereas they thought it would be pretty much set.

Probably some political games with different views:
- Finnish side sounds like they don’t want Tanak and I think it’s more about not taking risks about Rovanpera (remember Ogier vs. Loeb 2011 and its consequences for Citroen) more than the PR stuff. And sounds like they would prefer Katsuta still in 4th car as he struggles to achieve big results and to keep same strategy than this year with Mikkelsen or Suninen to substitute Lappi.

- Probably some people in the Japanese side has seen that since mid-season, Hyundai has clearly tied Toyota and Neuville is a championship contender; they may want to hire Tanak as a revenge for 2019 + to secure the championships.

- also in the Japanese management, with Lappi gone, probably some people pushing for Katsuta at least sharing 3rd car with Ogier (and then to be assessed if the best strategy is Katsuta full-season in 3rd and 4th car depending on when Ogier drives or Katsuta only making a part-time season with Ogier in 3rd car to benefit from better road positions)

Already gave my opinion, think the best is Rovanpera - Evans - Ogier/Katsuta - Katsuta/Lindholm with 4 cars.
But it’s not an easy decision.

[mousti]

Heard soms interesting rumours this weekend.

Mikkelsen had already an agreement with Hyundai, but that went sideways due to Lappi suddenly showing up. Now he's back to testing with Skoda, seems they werent happy after Lausitz.

Breen would be back at Hyundai with an parttime deal, suprising if that would be right ..

Fourmaux is looking for an WRC2 drive, seems he's done with MSport Rally1..

To be continued ...

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[skarderud]

Rally japan is finished, when can we see the first announcements from the drivers and teams?

Hyundai: Neuville, Lappi, sordo/breen/paddon

Toyota: Rovenpära, Evans, ogier/katsuta

Ford: Tänak, Mikkelsen, Loubet

Maybe optional Mikkelsen shared with ogier if Evans goes to Ford, but i don't think he'll do.

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[mknight]

Sadly I think MSport will be down to few Loeb starts combined with Loubet and Greensmith full season and maybe Solberg half season.

I do hope for Tanak, but something like the above is far more realistic.

[EstWRC]

Hyundai will announce next week, some rumors mentioning tomorrow already. I guess Toyota week after then and M-sport will be last like always cause they are just taking the leftovers.

My personal prediction:

Toyota

Rovanperä
Tänak
Ogier/Katsuta

Hyundai

Neuville
Lappi
Sordo/Suninen/Breen

M-sport

Evans
Loubet
Greeensmith
Loeb/Solberg

[mknight]

I can understand why Hyundai would hire Lappi, hiring Breen after this season provided he gets kicked by MSport is quite hard to understand.

Mikkelsen or Suninen can cover same rallies, arguably with same amount of risk and very good recent results. While Breen has not gotten out of crashing in 7 rallies and now has a new co-driver on top.

Trying to think out of the box they might be interested in comparisons with Puma, but from technical perspective Louriaux had seen everything on Puma before he went to Hyundai.

[Danny0405]

I can understand why Hyundai would hire Lappi, hiring Breen after this season provided he gets kicked by MSport is quite hard to understand.

Mikkelsen or Suninen can cover same rallies, arguably with same amount of risk and very good recent results. While Breen has not gotten out of crashing in 7 rallies and now has a new co-driver on top.

Trying to think out of the box they might be interested in comparisons with Puma, but from technical perspective Louriaux had seen everything on Puma before he went to Hyundai.

Whoever they take between Breen, Mikkelsen and Suninen will be a risk with all of these choices having their pros and cons for almost the same profile of driver (and no other option making real sense on the contrary such as Paddon, Ostberg and Meeke who were a bit too far of the game for too long for different reasons; for Paddon would need at least one year in Rally2 to prove what he can do again). Honestly, I don’t see a no-brainer choice between these 3 (even if I had to pick, I would take Mikkelsen):

- Breen: well, his season is awful but he still makes two podiums and has driven in Rally1 which is a big advantage compared with the two others (can be an advantage especially because there is less adaptation period); and he would come back in the profile where he was the most efficient: part-time with road position advantage. But yeah, it’s a bet as he is in bad dynamic.

- Mikkelsen: probably the one who did the best season so the best dynamic; but he has not driven in RC1 rally for 3 years and never in Rally1: is he able to adapt this type of car as we saw it’s not that simple? And is his style the most efficient for a part-time driver?

- Suninen: well, he is in the team but I’m not that enthusiastic about his RC2 season: yes, he won in Finland (sport-wise) and Spain but he made a huge mistake in Portugal and was dominated in terms of «*«*normal rhythm*» by Lindholm in Greece and Japan and by Mikkelsen in Estonia (difficult to assess Sardinia with early technical issues). And he was not very good in his time with M-Sport; only reason which would justify this choice would be betting on his potential (but why not bet on Solberg in that case) and to reward his excellent job in the development of the Rally2 Hyundai.