Quote Originally Posted by Simmi View Post
Agree with your assessment of the drivers. Paddon certainly has more upside than Sordo at this point. I think we've seen everything that Dani can do - where as we don't know how high the ceiling is for Paddon yet. Bad year for Neuville but he should still be team leader, especially with the new car coming.

The issue the post above misses is that all three guys are under contract for next year - assuming Paddon has re-upped. So Hyundai would have to let Thierry be bought out. I think? Paddon brought budget to that #20 car - so if you roll him into the second 'factory' entry I'm not sure we'll be seeing those four-car entries that we saw at times this year.

I'd expect Sordo to share drives in the third car with Abbring. I'm sure I read a rumour about three drivers (or top two) counting for manufacturer points in the future.

Anyone know if that's true?
The original plan was for Paddon to do only 9 events this year. Abbring would jump in the 3rd car for the remaining 4 events. However, Paddon then came up with more budget so they entered a 4th car in order to let Abbring drive his rallies.

I think we won't see a 4th car being entered next year again, especially if Paddon moves up to the main team and doesn't need to pay anymore.