2012 WRC Silly Season

[rv65]

Well the 2011 WRC is over, so now who will be driving for next year. With rumors that Ogier will drive for Ford and Hirvonen for Citroen, it all seems likely that all the drivers are playing musical chairs. This should have happened a while ago, but better later than never.

Here are some of my predictions.

Citroen WRT

1. S. Loeb/D. Elena
2. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen

Ford

3. S. Ogier/J. Ingrassia
4. J-M. Latvala/M. Antilla

Stobart Ford

5. M. Wilson/S. Martin
6. H. Solberg/I. Minor

Jipocar

M. Prokop

Mini WRC

37. D. Sordo/C. Del Barrio
52. K. Meeke/P. Nagle

Solberg????

11. P. Solberg/C. Patterson?

Ott Tanak/M-Sport

??? O. Tanak/K. Sikk

Monster WRT

43. K. Block/A. Gelsomino

I probably could look up some more, but this what I have so far.

[rv65]

VW Skoda Motorsport

J. Hanninen/M. Markkula
A. Mikkelsen/O. Floene
P. Solberg/C. Patterson (WRC testing, though could drive a Fabia, but I doubt it as he is much more interested in driving a WRCar.)

[rv65]

Van Merkesteijns will compete in a limited WRC program since the business is taking too much time for them.

[mof]

I read Al Attiyah is on the cusp of signing for a full deal with Citroen WRC... after driving a hummer at Dakar... no love with VW anymore?

[RonSkoda]

Now it seems more like:

Citroen:

1) Loeb
2) Hirvonen
3) Al Attiyah

Ford:

1) Latvala
2) Solberg
3) H Solberg

Citroen Juniors:

1) Neuville

Ford B-Team:

1) Tanak
2) Ostberg

VW Skoda

1) Ogier
2) Mikkelsen
3) Hanninen (?)

The most unclear thing is Ford. It seems the manufacturer will pull most of their backing but that M-Sport will continue with Latvala. It sounds as if Petter will get a full works spec car but it is not clear who will be nominated for points with the big boys team.

[rv65]

Latvala said that he would be the number one driver at ford, and he did say his teammate would be inexperienced. That could very well mean Tanak. Petter could be working on a deal with Mini.

[rv65]

On the PlaneteMarcus Facebook, Solberg will join Ford for next season with Latvala. He said that this is a done deal.

[RonSkoda]

Ford staying: http://ford.rallye-info.com/article.asp?sid=2&stid=9845

[RonSkoda]

Nice that Ford talks about team orders before the season has even started: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96764

[RonSkoda]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96830

Mini renting out second car to pay drivers in 2012.

Meeke will still do some events and testing.

at lack of commitment from BMW

[rv65]

Meeke had this interesting tweet.

ever wonder what it would be like to have the girl you loved tell you shes leaving you to go work as a prostitute? #MotorsportCanBeDangerous

I think this is in reference to Prodrive/Mini.

[mof]

Poor form from BMW for sure. Makes you wonder why they bothered starting in the first place. The car seems very competitive (surprise to many...), I can't imagine Danny or Kris not getting a top step of the podium this year if they had full support.

[rv65]

I think that BMW has given up with WRC, and would rather support DTM. BMW is working on the M3 DTM.

[ChrisB]

I already posted the Monte entry list in the Monte thread. But I thought I post it here again, as it gives hints to the fixed entry numbers for this season:

http://www.rallye-info.com/event_entryl ... ?event=563

As you can see, by entry numbers Proton is already better than Mini.

Well, fixed numbers so far are:

Red Bülle Citroen Rassing:
1 - Loeb
2 - Ogier

Ford:
3 - Latvala
4 - P.Solberg

M-Sport Ford:
5 - Tänak
6 - Novikov (not for all events)

11 - Pieter van Merksteijn with a long name but still a junior, Citroen
12 - Armindo Araujo (Armindo Araujo, I mean you have to devide between Armindo Araujo the driver and Armindo Araujo the car manufacturer), BMW SUV
14 - Palameirha or so (Paolo Nobre), BMW SUV

Didn't find a sponsor nor deserve decent entry numbers BMW SUV JCW WRC
37 - Daniel Sordo
52 - Pierre Campana (not for all events)

As you note there is a gap between 6 & 11. Although given to other drivers, i.e. one off driver Delecour at N°8, I guess these are for M2 teams yet to come. I.e. Mads Ostberg is to enter a manufacturer team with a pair of Fords, with the 2nd driver might be Henning Solberg or Matthew Wilson. Then I guess Thierry Neuville will not stay at N°23 all season, while he is joined by Nasser Al Attiyah from Sweden onwards. Just a guess Ostberg Fords at 7 & 8 and Al Attiyah & Neuville Citroen at 9 & 10. Just a guess, but it would make a perfectly boring top 10 with numbers 3-8 all the way through being all the same Fords.

Further down (you may have noticed many of the regularly entered drivers are so slow that I didn't bother putting them into our database) I think at the Palameirha Team Daniel Oliveira is to join Paolo Nobre during the season. With Martin Prokop at N°21 I am not sure if this is a fixed number or not, seems to be pointlessly high a number, but then so is 52 for a sponsorless works Mini. Ken Block should keep his 43 (which I believe is the name of a company he owns) and missing in the entry list with further potential on fixed numbers are Frederico Villagra and Dennis Kuipers.

[mof]

Haha Chris, I think you will find Mikko as No2 to Loeb, not Ogier any more...

[ChrisB]

Haha, yes of course, it is correct in the entry list. Still used to it, that is for WRC including start numbers being every event the same these days.