[WRC] News & rumours (part IV) 2016

[BigWorm]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report...ogier-for-2017

In the Autosport article Matton gives no signs of intention of him opening negotiations with Ogier.

[RS]

In theory how difficult would it be to transfer the work VW have done from the Polo to a Fabia chassis? Not very, i'm guessing. Although I suppose they'd still want a year to test it.

When VW are cutting thousands of staff also cutting the competition programme can be justified quite easily. Skoda are not having to do that as far as I'm aware (in fact they are struggling for production capacity)

[smsgrafica]

In the Autosport article Matton gives no signs of intention of him opening negotiations with Ogier.

On the contrary, Matton stops just short of saying it's Ogier's decision. If he wants to drive for Citroen, he'll make sure to let it happen. Not so for JML or Mikkelsen, because they are neither French nor World Champions, although I suspect it's a nice way to say they just aren't good enough to justify the stress that signing one of them would bring.

It would obviously be a big commitment for Citroen, because Matton doesn't want to sacrifice his young drivers by axing one of them just after signing a 2 year contract. So this would leave him with only one solution: running a 4th car.

The problem now is that Citroen already knows they'll only have 2 C3s at the Monte, with Breen and Lefebvre taking turns at the wheel of it and the old DS3 until the third car arrives. Logic would put Ogier in the second C3 and the youngsters in two DS3s for the first rounds, until the other C3s will be ready.

[denkimi]

He says he will talk to Ogier. But it is impossible to have a 4th C3 ready in time, so they would have to find a solution for that.

i smell bullshit here. if they can't build an extra one in 2 months time, what are they gonna do when meeke and breen bin it on monte? not compete for the next 2 rally's?

imo they can have 10 c3's ready if they want too. they might have to hire a few extra staff, but as a full factory team, that shouldn't be a problem.

[smsgrafica]

i smell bullshit here. if they can't build an extra one in 2 months time, what are they gonna do when meeke and breen bin it on monte? not compete for the next 2 rally's?

imo they can have 10 c3's ready if they want too. they might have to hire a few extra staff, but as a full factory team, that shouldn't be a problem.

VW didn't have a car ready for Mikkelsen at the start of 2013, remember?

[BigWorm]

''Every driver is interested in the C3 WRC'' Matton said a few months ago. Time to prove it.

[Simmi]

with Breen and Lefebvre taking turns at the wheel of it and the old DS3 until the third car arrives. Logic would put Ogier in the second C3 and the youngsters in two DS3s for the first rounds, until the other C3s will be ready.

Has this been confirmed anywhere regarding the older DS3s? Seen quite a few people talking about it like it's a done deal. Not sure if I've missed something or it's just people's assumption about what will happen?

[BigWorm]

Has this been confirmed anywhere regarding the older DS3s? Seen quite a few people talking about it like it's a done deal. Not sure if I've missed something or it's just people's assumption about what will happen?

I have not seen that anywhere except for this forum.

[macebig]

From Yves Matton:Si je devais aligner une quatrième DS3 pour le Monte-Carlo cela ne poserait pas de problème, mais je sais déjà que seules deux C3 seront prêtes…"
Translation:To run a 4th DS3 for Monte Carlo won't be a problem,but I say that only 2 C3s will be ready...

[Fast Eddie WRC]

With Breen and Lefebvre under contract they arent going to not drive while waiting for their C3. Driving a DS3 will keep them sharp. They may even pick up points if some new WRC's are unreliable...