2016 Silly Season

[dimviii]

The fact is that 13 years of Sebs dominance have raised too much our expectations regarding young drivers.

very true.

[dimviii]

It is a kind of record? Only 33 rallies to be official driver?

EDIT: Ogier did it

Loeb became official driver for Citroen at 29 rallies.

[Simmi]

I guess no reason to assume Camilli is paying. If Wilson reportedly put two guys in cars without funding this year - having Ostberg money, plus a chunk from Bertelli puts him in a much better situation. Thinking about it if Camilli was so well funded surely he'd have done more rallies up to this point?

[Mirek]

Loeb became official driver for Citroen at 29 rallies.

And both Loeb and Ogier had very limited experience even from local French events.

[Mirek]

I guess no reason to assume Camilli is paying. If Wilson reportedly put two guys in cars without funding this year - having Ostberg money, plus a chunk from Bertelli puts him in a much better situation. Thinking about it if Camilli was so well funded surely he'd have done more rallies up to this point?

Let's not forget a lot of money from D-Mack too

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Message from Craig Breen's co-driver this morning sounds like they were hoping to get the M-Sport seat..

😡😡😡 this goes down as bad news Monday. Not a good start to my week! Knew there was a reason I didn't sleep last night ! #rally #2016

[dimviii]

And both Loeb and Ogier had very limited experience even from local French events.

i just searched Loeb palmares,and when he became Citroen official driver( at end of November 2000),he had compete outside of France,at 4(!!!) rallies only.
At 1999 Catalunya,Corsica,San Remo with Saxo kit car
At 2000 Corsica with Corolla wrc

[eestlane]

If the tenth man in WRC2 is the best man for the job then everybody else should slow down! Mystery solved!

I would be surprised if he stays there 2017. Why else is Elfyn still in the team.

2016 money drivers in

2017 Tänak and Evans in, Tänak or Evans in

[NoName]

I guess no reason to assume Camilli is paying. If Wilson reportedly put two guys in cars without funding this year - having Ostberg money, plus a chunk from Bertelli puts him in a much better situation. Thinking about it if Camilli was so well funded surely he'd have done more rallies up to this point?

Ostberg is getting paid for the seat

[rp]

In the case of Camilli and Lefebrve they haven't even proved themselves to be amongst the best in the next category down yet. In F1 it is common for GP2 backmarkers to make the jump but the top WRC drivers should be a pretty elite group.

Was thinking the same! Of course Lefebvre won JWRC last year and WRC2 in Monte Carlo, but nothing else during this season. Yes, he had many problems with the bad DS3 R5, but made also many crashes and mistakes and was not able to fight with the WRC2 top drivers. Nothing impressive also behind the wheel of the DS3 WRC, but we have to remember that Citroën seems something else and he did not need to show his speed, but just learning.

Surely it would have better for Lefebvre to try to win WRC2 Championship first and exactly the same thing with Camilli. He has so little experience at all that it will be a huge risk if he is not able to show something special next year. We know that Malcolm Wilson has always high hopes about a new driver, but after one or two years he will lost his interest if the driver is not fighting all the time with the top drivers.

But both of them are the French drivers and they are dominating the WRC nowadays, so it will be possible that they are following the route of Loeb and Ogier...