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MagpieRacer

MagpieRacer

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With the culmination of the 2022 season last weekend in Japan, the WRC switches focus to 2023.

Today Hyundai confirmed their driver line up, with a surprise. Esapekka Lappi will join the team for a full campaign, alongside Thierry Neuville, having left Toyota and his part time shared duties there. Craig Breen also joins Hyundai having mutually agreed to end his M-Sport contract early and will do a shared 3rd car alongside Dani Sordo.

WRC

www.wrc.com www.wrc.com

At Toyota, who confirmed a few days ago, Elfyn Evans and new world champion Kalle Rovanpera, continue to form the main driver pairing. Sebastian Ogier and Takamoto Katstuta will alternate in the 3rd car. Katstuta earning promotion to the main line up after a series of excellent runs and replaces the Hyundai bound Lappi.

WRC

www.wrc.com www.wrc.com

M-Sport haven't officially confirmed their line up, with only the departure of Craig Breen being a definitive. Leaving a full time ride available in the Puma. Adrien Formaux being the other full time driver and the 3rd car shared between Sebastien Loeb and Gus Greensmith. Oliver Solberg has held talks with M-Sport but no announcements have been made.

The calendar isn't going to be finalised until December 7th. But there are several rounds either confirmed or with contracts in place. Monte-Carlo, Sweden, Croatia, Mexico, Finland and Kenya. With plenty of countries wanting to host rounds, it is expected the calendar will extend to 14 rounds. The British round hopes to return, possibly as a tarmac event in Northern Ireland, whilst Saudi Arabias long mooted round may appear this year. A Central European rally could also be on the cards, held around the borders of Germany, Austria and Czech Republic. With Argentina and Australia both wanting to return as well.

Finalised calendar.
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Monte Carlo - Winner: Sebastien Ogier
 
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Rumours gathering momentum of a 4th team entering under the Monster banner, running Ford Puma Rally1 machinery, spearheaded by a pairing of Ott Tanak and Oliver Solberg.

 
The WRC 2023 calendar has finally been announced, less than 2 months before the season starts.
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Great to see Mexico return, such a great rally with some iconic stages. Chile is a nice returnee as well. The most interesting addition is the new 3 country Central European rally which will span Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. Will be a tarmac event based out of Passau in South-east Germany.

Still a shame no deal or location can be struck to return to Britain but a good calendar no less.
 
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Perhaps we can see the full potential of the Puma on a consistent basis next year. I wish both Ott and M-Sport the best best of luck. I'd love to see both of them win another championship 👍
 

WRC

www.wrc.com www.wrc.com

He's officially back in WRC2


This is this the official driver lineup for Hyundai and Toyota
For M-Sport Ford however still waiting for more official announcements

Screenshot_20221210-160704_Instagram.jpg
 
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M-Sport cutting it fine. Though I'm expecting them to retain Formaux alongside Tanak in the full time seat with Greensmith and probably Loeb sharing the 3rd car. Just a case of whether Loeb will keep going, he'll be 49 in February.
 
I'm glad Loubet is still in, he showed great promise last year, hopefully he will flourish. At this point I think he's a safer bet than Formaux.
 
MrCrynox
I'm glad Loubet is still in, he showed great promise last year, hopefully he will flourish. At this point I think he's a safer bet than Formaux.
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Formaux did have a lot of incidents in 2022, retired from half of the rallies he entered. The WRC top 10 crashes of 2022 had Formaux feature 3 times, poor guy. Being withdrawn from 3 of the last 4 rallies won't have helped after his Belgium smash. Wilson did say it was budget related but fixing his car frequently will have contributed to that for sure.

He did say Formaux has a future with M-Sport at that time so I'd expect to see him in the 3rd car, perhaps rotating with Greensmith who showed some promise with strong performances and a few stages wins. Though not shy of an incident himself he did generally keep it cleaner than Formaux.
 
MagpieRacer
Formaux did have a lot of incidents in 2022, retired from half of the rallies he entered. The WRC top 10 crashes of 2022 had Formaux feature 3 times, poor guy. Being withdrawn from 3 of the last 4 rallies won't have helped after his Belgium smash. Wilson did say it was budget related but fixing his car frequently will have contributed to that for sure.

He did say Formaux has a future with M-Sport at that time so I'd expect to see him in the 3rd car, perhaps rotating with Greensmith who showed some promise with strong performances and a few stages wins. Though not shy of an incident himself he did generally keep it cleaner than Formaux.
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I think Formaux crumbled under self induced pressure last year. I think all of the main MSport drivers knew the car was more than good enough therefore they all felt that they should be at the front and each subsequently over drove and messed up. The ones with no pressure, Loeb and Loubet shone. I feel Formaux deserves another chance, after all the previous year he was doing great. Greensmith is only there because he is a paying driver. Does he deserve his seat ? I'm not sure. Solberg would have been a much better option that would pay dividends in the future imo.
 
www.wrc.com

Mikkelsen: No truth in rumours of M-Sport move

Former WRC2 champion Andreas Mikkelsen has waved away any suggestions he could sign for M-Sport Ford in 2023.
www.wrc.com www.wrc.com



“At the moment I do not have anything fixed for 2023,” Mikkelsen exclusively told WRC.com. “I think that a Rally1 drive is not possible.

“I hope to drive in WRC2 again, or at least for some rallies. But for who I will drive for, I am not sure yet.”

- Andreas Mikkelsen
 


TokSport WRT livery for their Rally2 Fabia. It's a looker alright.

Lorenzo Bertelli will take part in Sweden in a Toyota. Kinda weird seeing this livery not on Ford.
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www.wrc.com

Hyundai announces new team principal

Hyundai Motorsport has announced the appointment of Cyril Abiteboul as its new team principal. The 45-year-old is set to make his first appearance with the team at next week's Rallye Monte-Carlo (19 - 22 January).
www.wrc.com www.wrc.com

Hyundai getting a new team-principal
 
TheElbows
So, I've been a way a bit...what is Rally1...WRC2, etc? Did they shuffle up and rebrand all the categories again?
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Yeah it had a bit of a reshuffle with the introduction of the new spec WRC cars and the pyramid was simplified by the FIA to be easier to understand.

WRC championships (all 4WD)
WRC - Rally1
WRC2 - Rally2 (formerly R5)
WRC3 - Rally3 (new spec from 2021)

Non-championship , WRC round ellgiible (all 2WD)
Rally4 (formerly R2)
Rally5 (formerly R1)

Rally4 and 5 don't have a specific championship, but they are eligible to take part in WRC weekends.

Rally3 is currently just M-Sport run Fiestas but Renault are in the process of homologation a Rally3 Clio. They are basically 4WD versions of the Rally4 cars. Think of them as the modern day Group N class.
 
Confirmation that Cyril Abiteboul, former team principal of Renault F1, will be taking over as team principal at Hyundai, making his first appearance at Rally Monte-Carlo next weekend.


Will be interesting to see if he can steer Hyundai back on course.

Some outlets wondering if this is the first move that would see Hyundai end up in F1.
 
MagpieRacer
Yeah it had a bit of a reshuffle with the introduction of the new spec WRC cars and the pyramid was simplified by the FIA to be easier to understand.

WRC championships (all 4WD)
WRC - Rally1
WRC2 - Rally2 (formerly R5)
WRC3 - Rally3 (new spec from 2021)

Non-championship , WRC round ellgiible (all 2WD)
Rally4 (formerly R2)
Rally5 (formerly R1)

Rally4 and 5 don't have a specific championship, but they are eligible to take part in WRC weekends.

Rally3 is currently just M-Sport run Fiestas but Renault are in the process of homologation a Rally3 Clio. They are basically 4WD versions of the Rally4 cars. Think of them as the modern day Group N class.
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You're the man!! The whole WRC, R1-R5 thing was a bit confusing for me :) When I started to pay attention to motorsports in the early '90s, it was all about Group A and N in rally (I was alive during the Group B era but only as a small child behind the Iron Curtain) and after Group A there were the WRC cars that were very similar to the Group A, at least from the outside. For me the rally cars are still the 2-liter turbo fourbangers like the Impreza, Lancer, Celica, Escort Cossie with THE WANG or Delta Integrale - the last few generations of 1.6L cars don't entice me that much. (Sorry, just getting old day by day :) )
 
TheHun99
You're the man!! The whole WRC, R1-R5 thing was a bit confusing for me :) When I started to pay attention to motorsports in the early '90s, it was all about Group A and N in rally (I was alive during the Group B era but only as a small child behind the Iron Curtain) and after Group A there were the WRC cars that were very similar to the Group A, at least from the outside. For me the rally cars are still the 2-liter turbo fourbangers like the Impreza, Lancer, Celica, Escort Cossie with THE WANG or Delta Integrale - the last few generations of 1.6L cars don't entice me that much. (Sorry, just getting old day by day :) )
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No worries 🙂. Yeah it definitely needed simplifying and I think it's done that. I'm with you though, I'm probably a little younger than you as I wasn't alive for Group B but the mid to late 90s when I got into motorsport, those proper group A weapons and the early 2000s World Rally Cars are absolutely my favorites. Coincidentally that all coincides with the peak of popularity for the WRC.
 
Toyota officially unveiled.


Rear wing tweaks, loss of the large side air intakes and lots of technical improvements to the engine.

www.wrc.com

Revealed: Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2023

Toyota Gazoo Racing has unveiled its 2023-specification GR Yaris Rally1 ahead of next week’s Rallye Monte-Carlo (19 – 22 January).
www.wrc.com www.wrc.com
 

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