Quote Originally Posted by mknight View Post
You think that if MSport came and asked if he wants to drive for them instead of Evans or as a 3rd car he would say no and that he wants to hope for more rallies at Hyundai? I doubt that.
Don't see how he wasn't "available" to them as he had no contract, just hope.
MSPORT money making policy is another matter though.
That was well before Hyundai NZ had said they were happy for him to drive for a different WRC team without compromising his long-term relationship with them in NZ, and while there was no contract it wasn't just 'hope' either, from what I've heard Hyundai WRC made him a lot of promises that they never followed through on.

MSport do seem to sabotage their own potential by taking less capable pay-drivers over fast, experienced drivers who are available but can't afford to (and shouldn't have to) buy drives. If they do lose Evans to Toyota then Paddon, Mikkelsen and Suninen would be a pretty strong team of available drivers who won't pay but probably won't cost too much either - but more likely they will take Suninen, Greensmith paying (I'm not saying he doesn't have potential, but he isn't a contender yet) and a third car swapping between other pay drivers.

A month or two ago Paddon was trying to put together a half season with MSport for next year, but maybe that has fallen through. It could be that Aus being cancelled = no return on investment for his sponsors that were paying for that round = not enough funding to make an MSport deal happen for next year.