[WRC] News & Rumours (part V) 2017

[mknight]

https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/...poland-924434/

Someone has big dreams

It's the same article as autosport.


Direct quote:"Andreas Mikkelsen is confident he and Kris Meeke could have challenged for the WRC manufacturers' title for Citroen if they had worked together all season."

So if anything it's more of criticism of Matton. Saying "you should have hired me in December".

I retrospective he is probably right. Whether they would fight for title is one thing, but clearly the car would get changed much earlier.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I accept that Mickey Mouse stages have been around for years, but at least a ponce around Chatsworth had some roads to it. A trotting track?! And at the end of a day messing around silly stages they headed north and a full rally of proper stages through places like Dalby and Kielder. Those are the stages that grab people.

But Watson is right, we're dinosaurs. Sport is consumed differently these days, gone is the time that you'd sit and watch rallying on Grandstand because there were only 4 channels.

I take your point absolutely re the Towyn 'SSS' .

A short 'proper' stage would be much better and would attract just as many fans. Like the SD in Poland today, hugely popular:


I'm sure they could find a better alternative than this trotting track and in an accessible place.

[dimviii]

Hayden Paddon‏*@HaydenPaddon
Tomorrow we will be hosting our Facebook live Q&A at 10am CET (8pm NZT) Get your questions in early at http://Facebook.com/haydenpaddonwrc* #paddonspack

[spiderem]

not sure if it's the correct thread but i wonder why Tanak is not backed up by Red Bull like 90% of the field (or almost)? they seem to sponsor lot less talented drivers now...

[USER47]

Interesting interview with Martin Prokop. Sorry for google translate, I know it doesn't work very well with Czech.

Apparently the team struggles quite a lot with new car, at least financially.

According to him the new Fiesta is hugely complicated, he had to hire bunch of additional engineers to work on it, and it's much more expensive to maintain and repair than the old car. From his statements it seems like they might not sustain the situation till the end of the season. I seem to remember they planned to have two 2017 Fiestas later this year, which is apparently off the table now.

Doesn't look like the 2017 WRC cars are very privateer friendly.

[noel157]

Interesting interview with Martin Prokop. Sorry for google translate, I know it doesn't work very well with Czech.

Apparently the team struggles quite a lot with new car, at least financially.

According to him the new Fiesta is hugely complicated, he had to hire bunch of additional engineers to work on it, and it's much more expensive to maintain and repair than the old car. From his statements it seems like they might not sustain the situation till the end of the season. I seem to remember they planned to have two 2017 Fiestas later this year, which is apparently off the table now.

Doesn't look like the 2017 WRC cars are very privateer friendly.

Does he mean hire tech people from M-Sport? Much like the old Subaru S10-12s etc? You could not look at one without a Prodrive (£500 a day) tech guy plugging his laptop in to get the car moving.....If so sounds like another of Malcolm's little earners.

[Eli]

Interesting interview with Martin Prokop. Sorry for google translate, I know it doesn't work very well with Czech.

Apparently the team struggles quite a lot with new car, at least financially.

According to him the new Fiesta is hugely complicated, he had to hire bunch of additional engineers to work on it, and it's much more expensive to maintain and repair than the old car. From his statements it seems like they might not sustain the situation till the end of the season. I seem to remember they planned to have two 2017 Fiestas later this year, which is apparently off the table now.

Doesn't look like the 2017 WRC cars are very privateer friendly.

Well they do cost €750,000 so... Makes a lot of sense... Shame really that the FIA isn't doing anything to help the situation, well I guess they don't really care do they? (please correct me if I am wrong).

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[Mirek]

Actually he did not say that the main problem is money (although he said it is very expensive) but the massive amount of work compared to the older car. He said that that his people are totally exhausted and that the team has to make a decision how to continue.

[USER47]

Does he mean hire tech people from M-Sport? Much like the old Subaru S10-12s etc? You could not look at one without a Prodrive (£500 a day) tech guy plugging his laptop in to get the car moving.....If so sounds like another of Malcolm's little earners.

Not sure if he got some people from M-Sport, but at least some guys came with Mads.

According to Prokop, there are troubles with engine, differentials...And all the carbon parts that break off easily on the stages and are very expensive to replace. They are big time over the budget and in the summer they need to sit down and decide how to proceed.

They are used to run quite an economical operation, but with this car it's just not possible, if it's supposed to run well.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I do have sympathy with the Prokop/ Østberg team, but it was their choice to try to run with the big boys with a '17- spec car.

The ex-works 2016 cars were meant to be used by any privateers (hence getting their own Trophy) but they chose to try to run the latest car and finance was bound to be a much bigger issue..