Rally 2017 World Rally Championship

2017 WRC CALENDAR

January 20-22: Monte Carlo
February 10-12: Sweden
March 10-12: Mexico
April 7-9: Corsica
April 28-30: Argentina
May 19-21: Portugal
June 9-11: Italy
June 30-July 2: Poland
July 28-30: Finland
August 18-20: Germany
October 6-8: Spain
October 27-29: GB
November 17-19: Australia

The Teams



M-Sport
Drivers: Sébastien Ogier, Ott Tänak, Elfyn Evans
Car: Ford Fiesta WRC
Citroën
Drivers: Kris Meeke, Stéphane Lefebvre, Craig Breen
Car: Citroën C3 WRC
Toyota
Drivers: Jari-Matti Latvala, Juho Hänninen, Esapekka Lappi
Car: Toyota Yaris WRC
Hyundai
Drivers: Thierry Neuville, Hayden Paddon, Dani Sordo
Car: Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

How to follow WRC :

Redbull TV, 30 min daily highlights and a live stage on saturday :
https://www.redbull.tv/event/AP-1K1ATXB1W1W11/fia-world-rally-championship-2017/2017

WRC live radio with live interviews at the end of every stage :
http://www.wrc.com/live-ticker/live_popup_radio.html

WRC live results and timing (be sure to select the right event) :
http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/livecenter/page/4175----.html
or
http://www.ewrc-results.com

Official WRC website :
http://www.wrc.com/en/

WRC+ with live coverage, onboards, highlights, maps, telemetry, timing ... (monthly subscription) :
https://plus.wrc.com

New road order :
The championship leader will only be at the front on day one, with Saturday and Sunday running the priority crews in reverse order, which means the slowest World Rally Car first.

More rules here :
http://www.fia.com/news/fia-announces-world-motor-sport-council-decisions-

 

Here is the new i20 wrc 2017 :

 

That Livery makes the car look even better, but I got to say the new regulations don't exactly make the cars look much different in profile.

 

Reminds me of the Peugeot 205 T16s.

 

Even with an abysmal calendar, new cars and new drivers could still make it an interesting season. One driver I am interested to see is Esapekka Lappi, i will be very pissed if he get no seat for 2017.

 

The 2017 Polo is not dead yet, if you can raise x million pounds by the end of this week you can have a factory supported team and a car driven by Sebastien Ogier.

https://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127404/door-open-for-private-vw-entry-in-2017-wrc

perhaps this is why the Ogier/M-Sport deal hasn't been announced yet.

 

But I would have hard to believe Ogier would make his own team and spend millions of dollars out of his own pocket, but who knows?

 

Why would he? The Polo R WRC won't be able to compete with the top machinery.

 

Finnish news website announces Latvala has signed for Toyota :
http://urheiluuutiset.com/jari-matti-latvala-siirtymassa-toyota-leiriin/

No surprise here, it should be confirmed soon.

 

Ogier won't but Dietrich Mateschitz could (or somebody with a similar idea).

I think you mis-read, this is for the 2017 car (probably the class of the field).

 

Or news.

It's merely a clickbait article based on the existing rumours.

 

*Cough* Nasser Al-Attiyah *Cough*

Had a few echos about that Latvala deal today, even Colin Clark started to speak about it so it might not be that far from the truth.

 

It does indeed seem likely as there's often something to cause these rumours, but I can't say that I've got enough information to say whether there's a deal or not, yet.

The article, excluding the headline, which goes as far as confirming Latvala's Toyota deal before either have confirmed anything, states nothing more than what people have already stated regarding the situation, though.

 

Toyota testing somewhere in Corsica, with a new weird looking rear spoiler :

 

Ogier has narrowed his 2017 options down to two seats, while privately-run Polos are looking increasingly likely:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127417/ogier-down-to-two-options-for-2017-seat

 

Closer look of the new aero on the Yaris wrc.


Looks like this is a "new generation" of yaris those backlights look nothing like the current model :

Spoiler: For comparison

 

Good lord, this aero is ludicrous. Brilliant.

 

It looks like they literally took the HPD Indycar approach to gaining more downforce... it looks even worse than before now...

 

Autosport is reporting that Latvala will be confirmed as Toyota's second driver at the team's official launch on Tuesday, with Lappi expected to be in the third car from Corsica or Portugal. Unlike Ogier, Latvala was not allowed to test the Yaris WRC before putting pen to paper on a contract - but curiously, Latvala has said that he talked to Ogier after his test, and that Ogier was not too impressed with it. So it looks like a toss-up between M-Sport or a privately-run Polo for Ogier next year.

 

Another amazing analysis of the current situation with a lot of informations by Colin Clark (WRC live radio) :


One thing is sure, on the 16th we will know all the awnsers (closing date of the Rally Monte Carlo entry list).

 

I can't watch videos posted to Facebook on my device. Do you have a summary of what he says, by any chance?

 

Yes no problem, here is a quick summary :
- Ogier with 2 options, on one hand M-Sport on the other hand Citroën (He is currently in talk with PSA boss).
- Confirmation of Latvala deal.
- Toyota running 3 cars, with the second and third car shared between Hanninen, Lappi and Suninen.
- No seat currently for Mikkelsen, one of his only option is a private 2017 M-Sport car or VW private team.
- VW story sounds really weird and it's bad PR (In Australia, they announced they wouldn't homologuate the polo and now they do).
- Only person that can "buy" the 2017 polos would be Al-Attiyah with the support of the Qatar. Because they would have to pay 3 time what RedBull is currently paying to support the 2016 season so around 15 millions euro.
- If it happens the VW private team would be entirely run by VW themselves, they wouldn't let anyone else do it.
- We will have a lot of awnsers soon.

 

Latvala in a Toyota means he'll be in the best-sounding car in 2017 (in my opinion). I hope Toyota does well. Their glory days in the 90s with the Celica will never be forgotten. If only the Yaris was in Castrol colours!

Ogier could stay at VW and run the Polo R privately if things go ahead according to more rumours. But would he still have a shot at the title if the team is privately-run and not factory-run? Would the resources be available?

 

Today highly ranked Ford representatives are expected to have a meeting with Malcolm Wilson in Dovenby Hall at the M-Sport headquarters in a hope to bring back official ford support in WRC in 2017.

Could this be the decision that will make Ogier signing for M-Sport ?

 

So M-Sport will be bought up and be official Ford team? Kind of how Lotus became Renault in F1? I feel exctited.

 

Not really no, Ford will just help M-Sport mainly by bringing a big budget, ressources and will take care of all the media/sponsoring related stuff. (Like it was before 2013)

Just like Bentley is paying them to develop and run the Continental GT3.
M-Sport will always be a "private" operating structure.

 

Jari-Matti Latvala testing the Yaris wrc in corsica with Hanninen :

 

http://www.ewrc-results.com/times.php?e=35143&t=Rallye-Automobile-de-Monte-Carlo-2017

 

I don't think that it's any coincidence that they announced it after winning both titles but before they felt the full weight of liability for the emissions scandal. It was more about saving face and appearing to be socially responsible than anything else. But now that the controversy has died down, it makes sense for them to licence the use of the car, Esperance if they want to stay in the sport.

That strikes me as really odd, because all of the language coming from Citroën makes such an arrangement different. They won't let Ogier test without first signing a contract, and they're already committed to four drivers, so taking Ogier full-time is likely to be disruptive.

 

Concerning Ogier testing the C3 wrc. I think he might actually have tested it.

This week citroën tested a few days in a completely closed off aera. Breen was testing the car for sure (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzKaeGfWQAAhl-6.jpg). But there is not pictures or infos what so ever about it besides this one.
It would have been perfect for Ogier to test the car without anyone knowing about it.
Why ? Because if citroën really want him, they will let him test the car. Which might explain why he is still in talk with them via the PSA big boss.

Anyway this is pure speculation, just my mind going crazy (I need some sleep).
In the end the real question is : Does citroën want to win with him or risk loosing without him ? It would be huge for a french manufacturer to win the title with a french driver.