[WRC] News & rumours (part IV) 2016

[dimviii]

eWRC-results ‏@eWRCresults 5 ώρεςΠριν από 5 ώρες

@ProkopOfficial ask our help. Please read it

[Mirek]

A quick happy end

Dear ALL,
the luggage is found!
Incredible how Facebook can help! The hotline of the airline told me today to contact Vueling as the luggage is lost...and now this!
Many thanks to Laura Diaz and Gabi Moiset!
I am very happy to get my things back this
weekend.
Have a great evening
MP

[Jack4688`]

Is it just me or does a 'short'list of 10 sound ridiculous? If I were Yves Matton I'd either be waiting to see if Lafevbre can match Breen's Finland performance at some point or, if not, then take the pressure of Breen and tell him he's earned a 2017 seat. It just a waste of time thinking to yourself there are nine other guys out there that I want to consider and would any of them have got a podium in Finland last time out????

[Lundefaret]

Is it just me or does a 'short'list of 10 sound ridiculous? If I were Yves Matton I'd either be waiting to see if Lafevbre can match Breen's Finland performance at some point or, if not, then take the pressure of Breen and tell him he's earned a 2017 seat. It just a waste of time thinking to yourself there are nine other guys out there that I want to consider and would any of them have got a podium in Finland last time out????

I dont think its that easy Jack4688.
Matton is in the same situation as Mäkinen, in that he needs to check with the factory what the strategy is/will be for the 2017 season - and beyond. And here we are talking about the marketing strategy, since every factory rally effort is a prolonged arm of the marketing department.
So for Matton, the questions will be:

1) Drivers championship or Manufacturer championship or both?
- If the main goal (not normal in Citroën) is the drivers championhsip, then they could have Meeke handle that, and this would open up for a younger, more inexperienced driver in the second seat. (Breen, Levfebre, Tanak, Sunninen, Lappi, Tideman, etc etc.)
- If the manufaturer championship is the aim, he wants to combine Meeke with an experienced driver that can go about collecting points in as many rallies as possible. Then the list is something like:
Neuville, Sordo, Østberg

2) How important are the nationality of the driver(s)?
- Would it be feasible that the marketing departement will allow an all Irish team?
- Would they want a French driver (Levefebre) or a French speaking one (Neuville?)

I think this is why its totally understandable that Matton has as many as 10 drivers on his list, and also I the answer to these questions is needed before he makes up his mind.

The same goes for Tommi: What is the aim for 2017, and 2018? How much risk do they want to take, do they want results from the first rally, or do they want to build for the future - etc etc

[Mintexmemory]

I dont think its that easy Jack4688.
Matton is in the same situation as Mäkinen, in that he needs to check with the factory what the strategy is/will be for the 2017 season - and beyond. And here we are talking about the marketing strategy, since every factory rally effort is a prolonged arm of the marketing department.
So for Matton, the questions will be:

1) Drivers championship or Manufacturer championship or both?
- If the main goal (not normal in Citroën) is the drivers championhsip, then they could have Meeke handle that, and this would open up for a younger, more inexperienced driver in the second seat. (Breen, Levfebre, Tanak, Sunninen, Lappi, Tideman, etc etc.)
- If the manufaturer championship is the aim, he wants to combine Meeke with an experienced driver that can go about collecting points in as many rallies as possible. Then the list is something like:
Neuville, Sordo, Østberg

2) How important are the nationality of the driver(s)?
- Would it be feasible that the marketing departement will allow an all Irish team?
- Would they want a French driver (Levefebre) or a French speaking one (Neuville?)

I think this is why its totally understandable that Matton has as many as 10 drivers on his list, and also I the answer to these questions is needed before he makes up his mind.

The same goes for Tommi: What is the aim for 2017, and 2018? How much risk do they want to take, do they want results from the first rally, or do they want to build for the future - etc etc

Very succinct Mr L - I'd argue that Neuville is not consistent enough to be either a points gathering tortoise or a WDC winning hare. Ostberg will get you points or maybe does under the current team set ups but maybe not so good if the opposition becomes tougher.
I think 'french' is very important and cannot be underestimated, which is why Lefebvre is being given the chances he is receiving. However, a winning combination that motivates all the support members of the team cannot be under-estimated and boy were the mechanics happy last weekend to be tasting champagne again!

[AndyRAC]

Really, it should be fairly simple. Pick the best drivers available, regardless of nationality. Good results bring the publicity and marketing opportunities. However, it doesn't always work like that.

Ideally, the 2nd Citroen driver should be pretty experienced on all all WRC events, in a WRCar - which is were both Breen & Lefebvre are possibly lacking. If you're going to take on VW in the Manufacturers championship, you need to be scoring heavy points from the start.

[aykutbilir]

for manufacturer championship Loeb team up with perfect silent partner Sordo for years he was young fast and reliable..
Most of the "experinced" drivers are not reliable as my opinion


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[Rallyper]

So Sordo to Citroen, maybe. Who replaces him? Neuville maybe to Toyota. Who replaces him? Opens for Ostberg imho. (just my thoughts)

[Simmi]

So Sordo to Citroen, maybe. Who replaces him? Neuville maybe to Toyota. Who replaces him? Opens for Ostberg imho. (just my thoughts)

Well word is that Sordo signed a new two-year deal in Poland taking him to the end of 2018 with Hyundai. So it would appear he's off the table. Like Lundefaret said there's lots of factors they need to take into account.

For sure if they went "best available" money no object then you'd pair Meeke with Neuville. But as we've seen many times in the past, having two big-name drivers doesn't always add up to success.

I'm massively biased but I'd love to see Meeke paired with Breen, then give Lefebvre as many outings as they can afford alongside Al-Qassimi when the third car arrives. He's still so early in his development that he'd benefit from time in the third car.

[Lundefaret]

Very succinct Mr L - I'd argue that Neuville is not consistent enough to be either a points gathering tortoise or a WDC winning hare. Ostberg will get you points or maybe does under the current team set ups but maybe not so good if the opposition becomes tougher.
I think 'french' is very important and cannot be underestimated, which is why Lefebvre is being given the chances he is receiving. However, a winning combination that motivates all the support members of the team cannot be under-estimated and boy were the mechanics happy last weekend to be tasting champagne again!

I had to look up the word succinct, and then when I got the Norwegian transalation I had to look up that too, so maybe not so succinct after all