Quote Originally Posted by Simmi View Post
The proof will be in the stage times for sure.

It does remind me a bit of the Nissan LMP1 situation that happened recently. You started to get rumblings from inside the project that things weren't going well and they couldn't attract drivers. There's no smoke without fire as they say. But I don't subscribe to the theory that there are people in the sport that want to see Toyota fail. Who does that really benefit? Despite people loving bad news, surely the better storylines are if they beat VW/Ogier.

What Nissan did have that Toyota don't was PR and social media across the programme. Really the only information we find out is when Tommi picks up the phone to a journalist or gets interviewed at a rally. It continues to be a massive missed opportunity and people fill the space with rumours. That said, Nissan made such a big noise about their Le Mans programme that when it did tank it added up to massive humiliation. Toyota have made no noise about their WRC programme.
Interesting you use that example. Darren Cox got plenty of air time promoting the programme - and then plenty of grief following the debacle.
Toyota have a PR department - so why isn't it being used? The WEC programme is fairly open for the press, and RLM have had special programmes about Cologne. Yet the WRC programme seems to be the complete opposite. Maybe it just reflects Tommi, who wasn't known to offer 'sound bites' and interesting interviews.