2016 Silly Season

[EightGear]

Yes, silly season is the term for speculation and rumours about driver line-up

[Mintexmemory]

So-called because as the British soccer season used to start in late August the transfer speculation was the only thing of interest in the newspapers. Parliament goes on holiday and very little happened (usually) during the month. In an attempt to boost sales the back page stories became increasingly speculative and 'silly' So the speculation before any coming sport series became known as the silly season.

[itix]

I don't expect any major changes unless Msport decide to drop Evans (I would) and Citroën decides to drop either (or both) of their drivers.

Østbergs shakedown crash in Oz hurt his otherwise relatively ok challenge. Meeke on the other hand redeemed himself for his really shitty year (apart from Argentina). Maybe a rally China entry would boost his chances to stay in the team as he seem to do well in the overseas rallies (*joke*).

Hyundai could potentially change some of it's line up... Probably run Sordo on Tarmac rallies and select events like Portugal while Abbring or other young talent drives the orher events.

[Mirek]

So-called because as the British soccer season used to start in late August the transfer speculation was the only thing of interest in the newspapers. Parliament goes on holiday and very little happened (usually) during the month. In an attempt to boost sales the back page stories became increasingly speculative and 'silly' So the speculation before any coming sport series became known as the silly season.

Thanks for explanation. Sometimes it's hard to catch exact meaning of each saying in another language.

[AL14]

VW drivers and Hyundai's have contracts until 2016, M-Sport has no money, Citroen don't have too much alternatives.

I think line ups will be almost the same with some little changes like Paddon becoming 2nd driver on gravel and Lefebvre doing more rallys or, if they want to complete their suicide, becoming manufacturer driver.

There are not at the moment suitable drivers from other categories except from Lappi who is waiting for VW's call in 2017.

The funny thing is that if somehow there will be one movements then everything will shake up. Imagine Paddon going to, let's say, Citroen in place of Meeke. I let you imagine what can happen next.

So at the end, or they keep same drivers, or there will be a sort of revolution. No middle-roads.

[pantealex]

There will be (only) 2 new Hyundai i20 WRC at MonteCarlo (and no old ones)
Source: Hyundai boss.

[Rallyper]

We also have a silly-season in WRC2, haven´t we?

And if only one driver will be dropped in WRC (in my eyes it would be Evans) we start to have a puzzle to lay. It opens quite many ways of swaps.

[all-rally]

We also have a silly-season in WRC2, haven´t we?

And if only one driver will be dropped in WRC (in my eyes it would be Evans) we start to have a puzzle to lay. It opens quite many ways of swaps.

I think that Tanak's position is much more at threat then Evans. Evans is seen as a long term investment and is ahead on points on Tanak so far.

[jacko]

My bet (and wish):
VW: Ogier, latvala
VW II: Mikkelsen
Citroën: Meeke, Tänak
Citroën junior: Petter Solberg, Lefebvre
Hyundai: Neuville, Paddon (gravel), Sordo (tarmac)
Hyundai N: Abbring (all), Sordo (some gravel events), Paddon (tarmac)
M-Sport DMACK: Evans, Ketomaa (gravel), Bouffier (gravel/ tarmac)
M-Sport Pirelli: Kubica, Ostberg

[rallyace]

Unless the market for drivers opens up and someone will suddenly be up for grabs, I doubt M-Sport would look to replace either of their current two drivers. However, from a stricly hypothetical point of view, I would argue that it would in fact be Evans getting the boot rather than Tänak if M-Sport were to get rid of one of them.

I do agree that Evans is a long-term investment for M-Sport, but I also find it difficult to believe that Malcolm Wilson would keep Evans over Tänak for 2016. Evans does have consistency, but he lacks speed. Big-time. While Tänak regularly sets stage times that rival (and sometimes beat) the very best, Evans simply doesn't. Tänak has also shown incredible pace on many rallies this season as evident in the ultra-fast Rally Poland as well as other very solid performances.

Evans has now had almost two full seasons at the WRC's finest level, but as mentioned previously in this thread, he unfortunately has not given M-Sport much reason to believe that he is worthy of a seat in 2016. His recent lack of form (stretching back to May) isn't helping his case.

The thing that speaks for Evans over Tänak would be Evans' consistency (although this has been lacking quite a bit lately). This is what Evans seems to have and Tänak doesn't. A brilliant drive in the season opener by Tänak was ruined by a silly mistake on day 2, throwing away what looked like a podium finish. We all know how Mexico went, and Argentina wasn't much better. Meanwhile Evans was putting up solid numbers - never flashy in any way, but decent, consistent Evans-like numbers. But then something happened that would have a huge impact on both drivers: Enter the new Fiesta.

In the end it might come down to this: Tänak has adapted extremely well to the new Fiesta, and that's vital, especially because Evans has had the exact opposite reaction. This is without a doubt something M-Sport look at when establishing who's in and who's out. So while Evans has lost his consistency since Rally Portugal when the new car was introduced, Tänak has been more consistent and shown incredible pace as well, regardless of the road surface. Let's have the numbers speak for themselves:

Evans before the new car: 6 - 8 - 12 - 15 (41 pts in 4 rounds) average 10.25
Tänak before the new car: 0 - 12 - 0 - 1 (13 pts in 4 rounds) average 3.25

Evans after the new car: 0 - 12 - 0 - 0 - 8 - 2 (22 pts in 6 rounds) average 3.66
Tänak after the new car: 10 - 0 - 15+2 - 10 - 4 - 8 (49 pts in 6 rounds) average 8.16

Evans' age does work in his favour as he is still young, but it seems like he has lost what he was once praised for: Consistency. It basically comes down to whether you're an optimist or pessimist regarding whether Evans will bounce back or not, or rather, whether Malcolm Wilson believes the former or the latter.

It's not an easy decision, but I would keep Tänak. Let's get a friendly discussion going to see everyone's point of view on this.