Quote Originally Posted by er88 View Post
Rich Millener said if he was running Toyota, he wouldn't look outwith Toyota's current drivers for next years lineup. Either Ogier does a full season, or on the events he doesn't do, just promote Taka to pts scorer.

So clearly he rates Taka, or maybe it says more about what he thinks of Lappi/ Suninen/ Mikkelsen or any other drivers that are available. Which could hint worryingly towards Msport running Fourmaux and Greensmith as two of their 3 drivers for next year (nothing against Fourmaux)
Maybe it also says what he thinks about Ogier "retirement". He said before he doesn't believe he won't try another title.

Yes in case Ogier does say 8 out of 12 rounds it might be "easiest" to just nominate Katsuta for rest.

Right now Katsuta looks like a decent 4-6 place points score, but compared with Hyundai driver rotation it isn't enough. Just like last year Rovanpera wasn't enough against Sordo/Breen/Loeb. It's only Hyundai reliability that will win Toyota the title this year.

If we assume that MSport car has a decent speed next year I would expect Katsuta getting beaten by Fourmaux on at least half of the events. Even this year he was already faster than him on tarmac in Croatia.

MSport seems to be heading towards Fourmaux+Greensmith in two of the cars quite clearly at the moment. As long as they put Lappi or Mikkelsen in the last car it looks decent (Suninen doesn't seem to have high standings there at the moment). The main worry is that they won't run the 3rd car with a non-paying driver. Question is if Gryazin could be the paying driver, not sure how good economy that would be though.

Anyway I'd still say it's a bit early for any decisions at MSport. Probably first after Ypres there will be some detailed "rumors".