2023 WRC News & Rumours

[mknight]

https://www.wrc.com/en/news/2022/wrc...Z5POQ9Oo9DAfN8


“It is now clear that our line-up is what we will go with for the season,” said Latvala, referencing Friday morning’s announcement. “But, of course we have been considering that - on [seven] events where we have a fourth car available - we would consider a renting option."

That's good for similar stunts like Huttunen in Finland and maybe much safer option, cause Huttunens start got ruined by Pumas reliability.

Then again so did Latvala's 2020 Sweden, but he got promised an extra event for that (which didn't happen due to Covid).

[Jarek Z]

Big news from Poland - all rounds of WRC, ERC and WorldRX will be broadcasted live on Polish cable TV called Motowizja:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6dSKU_LskI

source in Polish:
https://motowizja.pl/tego-jeszcze-ni...BLKLJSSmmWlsyM

Where to watch it:
https://motowizja.pl/gdzie-ogladac-motowizje/

[seb_sh]

Actually would be great if Toyota runs the spare car with various drivers. It's always nice to see someone new

[TWRC]

That's good for similar stunts like Huttunen in Finland and maybe much safer option, cause Huttunens start got ruined by Pumas reliability.

Then again so did Latvala's 2020 Sweden, but he got promised an extra event for that (which didn't happen due to Covid).

So, Loubet possibly for those 7 rounds?

[240RS]

When alls said and done, two dominant ex-champions will come out as key players in the sport.

Seb Ogier electing to tackle a higher number of events must be a major reason Esapekka Lappi shifted allegiance. And must have also meant Toyota weren't too worried about him leaving. It also clearly gave Toyota confidence to promote Katsuta. They know they can ease the Japanese star gently in the main team.

The other Seb, Loeb, remaining active also has ripple effects in the driver market. M-Sport know they will have a benchmark on the events he does turn up, and crucially his presence devalued somewhat whatever bargaining power Craig Breen may have had. Of course you can't ignore the impact of what Ott Tanak doing a deal there would mean.

As it stands, you would have to say as long as those two start, Hyundai will be lucky to have two cars running competitively in the top 5. Toyota's two main championship chasers will have to fight it out with Neuville and the Sebs.

[seb_sh]

When alls said and done, two dominant ex-champions will come out as key players in the sport.

Seb Ogier electing to tackle a higher number of events must be a major reason Esapekka Lappi shifted allegiance. And must have also meant Toyota weren't too worried about him leaving. It also clearly gave Toyota confidence to promote Katsuta. They know they can ease the Japanese star gently in the main team.

The other Seb, Loeb, remaining active also has ripple effects in the driver market. M-Sport know they will have a benchmark on the events he does turn up, and crucially his presence devalued somewhat whatever bargaining power Craig Breen may have had. Of course you can't ignore the impact of what Ott Tanak doing a deal there would mean.

As it stands, you would have to say as long as those two start, Hyundai will be lucky to have two cars running competitively in the top 5. Toyota's two main championship chasers will have to fight it out with Neuville and the Sebs.

Breen devalued himself regardless of Loeb, Tanak or anyone else. He was supposed to be a constant podium challenger and possibly title pretender, instead he got 2 podiums and 6 crashes...

[mknight]

Breen devalued himself regardless of Loeb, Tanak or anyone else. He was supposed to be a constant podium challenger and possibly title pretender, instead he got 2 podiums and 6 crashes...

More like MSport tried to upvalue Breen.
Never in his WRC history has he been a top driver in the team, usually only 3rd (besides some rounds in 2018).

This year he suddenly went from part-time 3rd driver to top driver in a team and expected by the British fanboy press people to fight for title.

On top of that he got instant shock/pressure when Loeb won Monte. Repeated again when Loeb led a rally every time he came back

Maybe not so big surprise Breen collapsed.

[seb_sh]

More like MSport tried to upvalue Breen.
Never in his WRC history has he been a top driver in the team, usually only 3rd (besides some rounds in 2018).

This year he suddenly went from part-time 3rd driver to top driver in a team and expected by the British fanboy press people to fight for title.

On top of that he got instant shock/pressure when Loeb won Monte. Repeated again when Loeb led a rally every time he came back

Maybe not so big surprise Breen collapsed.

I like Breen but you can't blame MSport alone. He was calling for a full time drive at every rally last year, saying he knows that's what he's missing to go for the win. He had good results that year so it was worth a shot to try to step up, unfortunately it didn't work out.

[mknight]

I like Breen but you can't blame MSport alone. He was calling for a full time drive at every rally last year, saying he knows that's what he's missing to go for the win. He had good results that year so it was worth a shot to try to step up, unfortunately it didn't work out.

Not alone but it is also partly MSports fault.

As they even admitted themselves Breen was "alone" as the one experienced driver expected to deliver results on a lot of rallies (also on all those where he crashed).

So you can blame MSport for putting Breen into too risky position. They could have opted for at least one more experienced driver. Their bet on Fourmaux and Greensmith improving didn't work at all.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

All driver's have to take the pressure at some point if they want to be at the very top level. Breen now aged 31 and with lots of experience had no excuses for his very poor performance this season.