[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[Mirek]

Don't be so protective just because you are Czech - Mirek.

That's not the case

Although it's their decision why they are where they are. We will not change that. But I would be really happy and maybe others too if they would step up to the big game. How bad that could be even if they would suck at the beginning. They have experience in lower class in the highest too. Budget I think wouldn't be a problem at all even for a caliber like Ogier or Loeb type investments (others I think are not that much expensive). Maybe they are really waiting for right oportunity like some guessed (new Fabia introduction or new regulations).

One of the issues is that it's not their decision. At least it's not them alone who can decide and the smallest word of all decision makers has the motorsport department itself which is more a tool in the hands of the marketing strategists.

I mean it's kind of strange why they invest in 5 drivers ths year. With 2 of them being in fight for the title and then ''offer'' Kopecky a prestigious title (maybe for his loyalty - he definetly deserves it).

Agree that this was really strange and I have personally no idea what was behind that.

Then build a new facility for what project? (they have talk about it and then nothing). I don't think that is that just for building their R5 machines. Or it's producton so huge that they need serial production lines for faster, cheaper building of that cars.

That's how they actually present it. The truth is that the old facility was non-suitable for the motorsport department and especially for the volumes of the R5 cars being built and serviced there. They build approximately 80 R5 cars per year. that's quite a lot.

Are they working on new R4 cars or R2?

To my knowledge not and I would be very suprised if they would. It seems they are not interested at all.

Then let's move on, then the fired Veiby (OK understandable he show something that he was not allowed to). Obviously they let go Nordgren too and keep only Rovanperra (he had a valid contract) and Kopecky. Tidemand have another offer too but he declined it and go seeking new oportunities. Well if Skoda was intend to bring their programme to the WRC then that would be a stupid idea to go out of the team.

I still think that at some point there was a possibility to launch the WRC project (as that was the only logical explanation for hiring those five). Let's not forget what Veiby himself leaked - the company counts with massive decrease of profit in the comming years due to high investments mainly related to electric vehicles. That's the most likely factor behind the current planning. It's a big company and in such companies decisions take time. That's why sometimes some actions look illogical when they actually happen because we do not know when decisions were taken and in which sequence.

Next thing some guy in Skoda Motorsport department say that their plan is not coming to the WRC and that's it. I think that they have maybe consider it and then change their minds, at least for a while. With their herritage in that kind of motorsport I think that they will be here for a long time and maybe when they will be ready they will come officially. We can only wait for their real intentions and hpe that this day would someday come. I think that Skoda coming is more possible than Mitsubishi and Subaru combined. These two manufacturers even don't make proper cars for that project.

I am quite sure the motorsport department would like to do that and that it's not afraid of that at all. The issue is that the global strategy of the company and the VAG most likely doesn't count with that.

Then there is another thing with interesting guessing. Skoda maybe will closely look at WRX and ES Motorsport activities. And if they will be succesfull why not try over there and support the team with factory money (just my guessing).

They can support that of course (I guess they already do to some degree) but for sure I don't expect a true factory involvement there. Anyway I'm nowhere close to be knowledgeble about RX so it's only my assumption.

What I'm really sad is that sponsors don't invest more in this sport (WRC). They are rather in F1, or some football related sports. But novadays a lot of people invest in their cars and closest sport is rallying. Now I need to stop haha

In my eyes this is actually the most somewhat fair side of the game. The sponsors simply support what gives them something back. The level of sponsorship activities is a perfect mirracle of the marketing value of the sport. It's not an F1 and it will never be (and of course it's absolutely nowhere close to football) but it's not that bad. It's the second most popular motorsport (per Citroën marketing study from few years back).