WRC Season ArchiveRally 

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GOTMAXPOWER
Rumour is that Ogier will be confirmed as an M-Sport driver on Monday...
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Would be very excited, assume M-Sport will have 3 cars? I don´t think M-Sport would have problem having 3 cars when they have Ogier. I think next year he is gonna dominate even more since these ridiculous road order rules have gone back to what it was in 2014.
 
Simmpa
Would be very excited, assume M-Sport will have 3 cars? I don´t think M-Sport would have problem having 3 cars when they have Ogier.
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It depends on availability. Tommi Mäkinen says that he is interested in all three Volkswagen crews, and that the budget is no barrier, but Hänninen is committed to a full season and a third Yaris won't be ready until Corsica at the earliest. Citroën have said similar things about preparing a third C3.
 
Škoda have announced that they won't be running rebadged Polo Rs in 2017. Apparently there was strong speculation to suggest that it could happen, but the denial was the first I heard of it.

GOTMAXPOWER
Rumour is that Ogier will be confirmed as an M-Sport driver on Monday...
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Apparently not.
 
It will probably be unveiled here : http://www.fia.com/2016-fia-annual-general-assembly

CxUVoJaUoAAJcZK.jpg

It's evolving. :D
2017 Yaris wrc once again hiding her lines.

And Ogier will test the fiesta wrc next week (If VW is ok with it) : http://www.rallye-magazin.de/wm/art...-ogier-naechste-woche-erstmals-im-fiesta-wrc/
 
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prisonermonkeys
Volkswagen have not ruled out making the 2016 Polo available to customer teams:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127133/vw-could-offer-2016-wrc-car-to-privateers

The 2017 Polo is definitely dead in the water, though.
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More interestingly there is a possibility the Polo could be run by a VW team for whichever privateer buys the cars, I might be reading between too many lines but to me that suggests a well-funded effort like Qatar WRT and Nasser Al-Attiyah have been on the phone.
 
Simmpa
6 stages are little loops wich shouldn´t qualify to be called stages so instead of 23 stages we actually only have 17
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I get that the sport wants to be accessible to fans, but this isn't the way to do it. Head-to-head superspecials like the old Langley Park are fun, but I remember the days of arena stages, where a purpose-built spectator-friendly section was included in a larger stage, like the old Murray Pines stages in Perth.
 
Mikkelsen hangs on to the lead by the skin of his teeth after day two. With just a two second gap down to Ogier he'll have to really dig deep and find some extra pace. Ogier will no doubt continue his relentless grind.
 
[Nor]MclarenF1
Mikkelsen hangs on to the lead by the skin of his teeth after day two. With just a two second gap down to Ogier he'll have to really dig deep and find some extra pace. Ogier will no doubt continue his relentless grind.
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Ogier spun this morning, so that lead is back up to 22 seconds.
 
And in News That Will Surprise No-one, Volkswagen have won Rally Australia - but this time, it was Andreas Mikkelsen who won. Perhaps most importantly, he won it on outright pace; he was gifted his win in Spain last year when Ogier fumbled it, and in Poland when Tänak got a puncture, but this time he won outright.

When they pulled up at the end of each stage, there was a piece of tape affixed above Andres Jæger's head that read HIRE US.
 
[Nor]MclarenF1
I hope this win down under will boost his chances of getting a seat for next year.
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He looked pretty calm and confident all weekend - hardly the demeanour of a man with an uncertain future. Everyone is really waiting to see what Ogier does, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that Mikkelsen has been doing the rounds of vacant seats. He is, after all, one of the drivers who can fight Ogier.
 
prisonermonkeys
He looked pretty calm and confident all weekend - hardly the demeanour of a man with an uncertain future. Everyone is really waiting to see what Ogier does, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that Mikkelsen has been doing the rounds of vacant seats. He is, after all, one of the drivers who can fight Ogier.
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Makes me wonder what will happen to Jari-Matti? This season have been his worst in years ending up as 6th with the most dominant car, will he be without a seat next year? I would really like to see Esapekka Lappi get a full seat with Toyota next year he seem like a proper Finn who could challenge for the title. Overall I would rate this season very poor, only highlight was Paddons win in Argentina and Mikkelsens victory now in Australia. I really hate how road order position pretty much completely determined who won on gravel, with Ogier having absolutely no chance to fight for victory while alot less talented drivers who only took part in few rallies could just cruise to take victory.
 
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Simmpa
Makes me wonder what will happen to Jari-Matti? This season been his worst in years ending up as 6th with the most dominant car, will he be without a seat next year?
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He's tipped for a Toyota seat. I have no idea why Mäkinen is intent on only taking Finnish drivers, but to be fair to Latvala, he's quick on his day. Certainly moreso than some of the others who have seats, like Sordo and Camilli.
 
prisonermonkeys
He's tipped for a Toyota seat. I have no idea why Mäkinen is intent on only taking Finnish drivers, but to be fair to Latvala, he's quick on his day. Certainly moreso than some of the others who have seats, like Sordo and Camilli.
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There will certainly be a bias towards nationality of whoever is in charge but most new promising drivers are Finns. Not only Lappi but also Sunninen. (noticed you quoted me before I finnished editing my post)
 
Simmpa
Not only Lappi but also Sunninen.
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Perhaps, but they're also quick. I just get the feeling that Mäkinen will opt for Hänninen, Latvala and Lappi because they're Finns when he really should be going for Tänak, Mikkelsen and Lappi because they're quick.
 
Simmpa
Makes me wonder what will happen to Jari-Matti? This season have been his worst in years ending up as 6th with the most dominant car, will he be without a seat next year?
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Would you give him a seat?

He's certainly not the first driver I'd be trying to have in my hypothetical World Rally Team. Of course I'm not a team principal, so my opinion has no effect whatsoever, but even if he's fast enough to challenge Ogier for the win once or twice in a season he's also likely to have an accident and end up out of the points completely, which isn't something I'd imagine most team principals are looking for.
 
Legro
Would you give him a seat?

He's certainly not the first driver I'd be trying to have in my hypothetical World Rally Team. Of course I'm not a team principal, so my opinion has no effect whatsoever, but even if he's fast enough to challenge Ogier for the win once or twice in a season he's also likely to have an accident and end up out of the points completely, which isn't something I'd imagine most team principals are looking for.
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Latvala been very inconsistent these last two years I would´t have choosen him. There are sure some other talented drivers without a seat who are not finns, Elfyn Evans sure have talent but for some reason Malcolm Wilson replaced him with Eric Camilli.

prisonermonkeys
Perhaps, but they're also quick. I just get the feeling that Mäkinen will opt for Hänninen, Latvala and Lappi because they're Finns when he really should be going for Tänak, Mikkelsen and Lappi because they're quick.
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Tänak is already with Dmack but even if he had no seat why choose him when he performed so poorly?
 
Simmpa
Tänak is already with Dmack but even if he had no seat why choose him when he performed so poorly?
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Not for 2017.

He's been up and down, but he's finally found some consistency. His performances in Poland and Wales are a testament to that.

Simmpa
Elfyn Evans sure have talent but for some reason Malcolm Wilson replaced him with Eric Camilli.
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I was never quite sold on Evans. He should have won the WRC-2 title easily this year, especially since Lappi struggled at the start, but he never followed through.
 
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