[WRC] News & rumours (part IV) 2016

[Rally Power]

Sordo's talking with Citroen, not Toyota! AS newspaper asked the Spaniard about Motorsport.com article and he was pretty clear: never said it was Toyota. He ended revealing to AS journo that besides Hyundai the other manu he’s in talks is Citroen, but he’s happy in Hyundai and they want him for next season.

http://motor.as.com/motor/2016/05/12...97_318773.html

[Simmi]

Sordo's talking with Citroen, not Toyota! AS newspaper asked the Spaniard about Motorsport.com article and he was pretty clear: never said it was Toyota. He ended revealing to AS journo that besides Hyundai the other manu he’s in talks is Citroen, but he’s happy in Hyundai and they want him for next season.

http://motor.as.com/motor/2016/05/12...97_318773.html

Interesting. I wonder if that means that Citroen have moved away from their interest in Neuville? It also wouldn't surprise me if Hyundai cut their losses after this season too, especially given the public animosity between Neuville and their new lead driver.

Don't think I've heard Thierry's name mentioned in reference to Toyota. He may well end up at M-Sport after all!


Just for fun this is what I could see happening next year:

VW: Ogier, Latvala, Mikkelsen
Hyundai: Paddon, Sordo, Abbring
M-Sport: Neuville, Evans, Camilli (part-season)
Citroen: Meeke, Lefebvre, Breen (part-season)
Toyota: Ostberg, Lappi, Hanninen

[AL14]

Interesting. I wonder if that means that Citroen have moved away from their interest in Neuville? It also wouldn't surprise me if Hyundai cut their losses after this season too, especially given the public animosity between Neuville and their new lead driver.

Don't think I've heard Thierry's name mentioned in reference to Toyota. He may well end up at M-Sport after all!


Just for fun this is what I could see happening next year:

VW: Ogier, Latvala, Mikkelsen
Hyundai: Paddon, Sordo, Abbring
M-Sport: Neuville, Evans, Camilli (part-season)
Citroen: Meeke, Lefebvre, Breen (part-season)
Toyota: Ostberg, Lappi, Hanninen

The estonian guy is going to kill you... lol

By the way, I think Citroen will try hard to find another top driver to form a lineup with Meeke. Lefebvre is not ready yet, and Kris alone is too much of a gamble given his crashes attitude. The talks with Sordo prove it.

[Rallyper]

Same time mentioning Abbring, Camilli and Lefebvre there must be other names beside these guys well worth given the light.
Quite sick and tired of these worthless names. (now I´m sounding like NOT...)

[stefanvv]

Same time mentioning Abbring, Camilli and Lefebvre there must be other names beside these guys well worth given the light.
Quite sick and tired of these worthless names. (now I´m sounding like NOT...)

No You just would put Bergkvist there
I agree for Camilli & Lefebvre though, the spark is missing. Abbring well he was quite good in ERC, I don't know what happened to him in hyundai.

[Simmi]

Same time mentioning Abbring, Camilli and Lefebvre there must be other names beside these guys well worth given the light.
Quite sick and tired of these worthless names. (now I´m sounding like NOT...)

I'm with you that I wish there were more opportunities for young drivers. I picked who I think we'll see - not who I want to see. Reasons being that Abbring has done a lot of work for Hyundai and I think either Neuville/Sordo will leave. Camilli has a two-year deal at M-Sport (they also have first option on him in 2018), but I can see him being demoted next year.

Citroen have put a lot of resource into developing Lefebvre. I agree with AL14 that they really need a second stronger driver to sit alongside Meeke.


For me Tanak is in a difficult position to prove himself. If he beats Ostberg in stage times every says "so what". And if the tyres are as bad as everyone says then how does Ott stand out from the crowd?

I think it's far too early for Bergkvist. Best scenario for him would be to be picked up by a manufacturer at R5. E.g. if Abbring moved up he could be Hyundai's R5 guy. Toyota seem to be more interested in developing their Japanese duo. Skoda look like they have enough guys and that Kreim is the next driver on the ladder.

[Zeakiwi]

If Latvala has a few more crashes he might end up at Toyota and the VW team cut to two cars like the Porsche endurance team has been cut to two cars.

[DoubleD]

Porsche and Audi only ran 3 cars at 2 events, Spa 6HR and Le Mans 24HR so in real terms it wasn't a huge cut...Porsche did cut the factory backed GTE Pro cars too tho...

[sete]

my rumours about 2017 line up

VW: Ogier,Mikkelsen
VW II : Tidemand,Al-Attiyah?
Citroen: Meeke,Breen/Neuville
Ford: Latvala/Neuville,Tanak
Hyundai: Paddon,Sordo
Toyota:Hanninen,Sunninen/Lappi

Supposed to some drivers drives R5 cars again: Evans,Camilli,Abbring
Its also pretty sure that Tidemand and Lappi leaves Škoda for WRC car drives.So i expected Bergvist should be new choice number 1 for Škoda motorsport

[Simmi]

Okay some talk about Latvala, but the man himself appears to have a deal in place for the next couple of years - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122552

So you'd have to imagine he's not leaving unless his deal gets bought out (if Makinen won't, no one will) or he gets paid out by VW? And why would they do that?