Dytut

I don't even understood if it's only local Polish rallies or in WRC? I had to go by the facebook translated text so I have no clear idea either :-) But it was shared on facebook by the WRC facebook page so I assume it's for WRC event(s).

So if I understand it correctly Kajetan Kajetanowicz will run a WRC'17 Fiesta in 2019 courtesy of M-Sport Poland. From what I can gather not for a full program, so most likely a few rallies. 

Still a bit confusing about what's keeping Hyundai. Sure, Breen would be an option for the third car, but can he really outpace Paddon? If that's what they're discussing, that is. Might be internal discussions of letting Mikkelsen share car with Sordo and have Paddon go full season for all we know. That'd make some kind of sense, seeing how Mikkelsen has been outperformed by both Sordo and Paddon, but we know that Sordo isn't interested in a full season.

To be honest, I believe both Paddon and Breen could do with a fresh start of sorts in a new team. I think the Fiesta will actually fit Paddon better than the current i20.

Loeb pretty much just went in the Citroën and was quite fast, so Ogier in that car is definitely a title contender. Tänak in the Toyota looks to be fastest, so I think he's the one to beat. Neuville will try his best, but I fear he'll have to overdrive that i20 if he wants to keep up and will most likely start crashing out again. If Hyundai manages to develop the car a bit more he might still have a chance. Meeke is a far outsider to get involved in the title fight, but I doubt he'll be able to outpace Tänak.  Heard some strong rumours about Paddon in a new car next year, anyone know more? I'd guess he's off to M-Sport.  Wonder if Citroën will give us some news on their potential third car next year. Will it be shared between Breen and Ostberg (and Loeb?), or will they cut Breen from the team? If I was to choose between them I'd go for Ostberg, he's shown more reliable speed. 

Yeah was a great season. I would love to see someone new win the chanpionship, but guess we'll have to wait another year for that. Very impressed with how Ogier managed to bring it back this year, he's clearly a worthy winner. But Evans also has a large part of this win, dropping down the order on numerous occasions to help out, something Neuville has lacked from his teammates most of the year. And getting that title with a car that's showing lack of pace in many rallies really impresses. 2017 the Fords were the best package overall, this year I'd say they've been struggling to keep up. Will be interesting to see how next year goes. It's a given that Tänak is the one to beat, given his insane pace the second half of the season on all surfaces. We know the Toyota is fast, but neither Latvala or Lappi could keep up with what Tänak has done. Hope Toyota manages to put some extra protection for the radiator, or that Tänak puts all the dangerous jumps into his pace notes. Hope Neuville will be able to bounce back and fight again, he's looked a bit lackluster lately. And I hope Hyundai manages to develop the car a bit more, feels like they've been a bit on the back foot in 2018. Citroën has made leaps forward, Toyota looks like the car to beat, while Hyundai appear to be at about the level of the Fords. I expect Ogier to be on podium form pretty fast in the Citroën, probably winning Monte Carlo.

That's it, I'm going to bed. Ogier won fair and square, hope Toyota will let Latvala win at least. 

Looks like a complete disaster for Neuville with that puncture and Mikkelsen out so he only has one teammate. Both of Ogier's mates does the team game and steps in between them. So as it looks now it's the 6th title for Ogier unless his cars breaks... but judging from this season it'll probably be a sudden puncture or gearbox issue on saturday evenning that suddenly evens it out and they'll be neck and neck again.  Or Ogier's car breaks down on Sunday, relegating both him and Neuville to fight for 8/9th place, while Tänak does the drive of his life andlands that perfect 30 points and grabs it. It would somehow be a fitting end.

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/140050/hyundai-gives-neuville-19-engine-for-title-bid Gaaaaaaah! Please don't let it be decided by an engine failure. For either of them.

And both NZ and the BDA will be in game... *droooools*

Yeah there's been a few floating around, but do we have anything new about it? If it's a new WRC entry I'd be kind of surprised, but it might be an announcement of a new marque that might go for an entry in late 2019 and do a full season in 2020. Mitsubishi? Seat? Subaru?  Or it's an R5, which is more likely since that's not quite the same level of commitment. 

With Australia getting closer, what do you think about the title fight?  Disregarding power stage points, Neuville wins if he wins the rally by 4 points. If Neu-Ogi get 2nd-3rd or 3rd-4th they're even on points. If Neuville ends up 4th or lower he needs to beat Ogier by two places to have a points advantage. And I seriously doubt that Ogier will end up more than one place behind Neuville. So it's quite likely that power stage points will decide the drivers title.  As usual, Tänak is most likely to win. But then I think it will be Ogier and Neuville who will fight it out for the 2nd/3rd place. Really looking forward to this one :-D

The FIA is splitting WRC2 into 2 categories. Pro will be only for manufacturer backed cars with professional drivers just like the normal WRC class. The regular WRC2 will be just for privateers. By doing this the FIA hopes to attract more privateer cars who they think that couldn't be bothered because of the factory entered cars. We'll see if it flies. I feel like they should've decreased the number of counted rounds for privateer WRC2 at the same time. Maybe just 4 best round counted. Just to keep the cost down.

Ah, M-Sport and Gus published a testing video of him, ending in "2019?". So that sounds rather probable now. So what do we reckon? Evans, Suninen, Greensmith for M-Sport?  Evans has the speed but not the consistenct, Suninen might be a good team asset if he can up his consistency a bit, and Greensmith a complete wildcard. Not the strongest lineup, but it might land them one or two rally wins. Probably not enough to fight for manufacturers even if Evans start to shine.

Out of curiousity, why whouldn't a boxer engine be allowed? Or is anything else than a straight 4 forbidden now? 

Where did you read about Gus going to M-Sport?  If M-Sport can't really find any top driver for next year (which looks increasingly hard), then doing a year with development drivers wouldn't be that bad of an option. Greensmith, Tidemand, Kopecky are all on the board and given a 2-3 year deal might be able to fight for a championship in 2020 if things pan out. If not, then at least they probably aren't that expensive. Who knows, maybe 2019 is the year the Evans finds the consistency he lacks. He's a bit like Tänak was earlier now, can show incredible speed on all surfaces but lacks the consistency to really kick off.

Oh... now that would be highly unlikely, to say the least. Would be fun, though :-) If I was Malcolm I'd make an attempt aswell :-D 

Yeah I kind of liked the D4 livery editor. Simple and effective. BTW, have we seen anything about damage models in 2.0? I'd love to be able to set it to realistic levels so we'd really need to fear the cuts. Both DR and D4 were waaaaaaay too nice with the damage, going off wasn't anywhere near scary except for the time loss. Old mode would be nice for the casual crowd, but I'd love a hardcore mode for leagues and dailies.

I heard Paddon wasn't interested in a part drive?  I've heard so to, guess it comes down to options. If that's the only choice he has, will he turn it down? I can see him going to M-Sport if that means a full time drive, but with his ties to Hyundai he might take a step back and take a year at home in the AP circuit. We'll see. I personally would love to see him get a full time drive at M-Sport.

In other news, Sordo confirmed for a part time program next year. Most likely Paddon will partner up again.  In the unlikely event that it's not Paddon, my bet would be on a development driver (Huttunen maybe?) or one of the other homeless current drivers (Ostberg?). I'd wager Evans will get signed for M-Sport soon enough, finally he got a rally with no issues and got to show of his speed.

I really hope it'll be decided on pace and not on some random mechanical issue.  Tänak will go for the win as usual, so the optimum excitement would be to have Neuville 2nd and Ogier 3rd before the power stage, then it'll be decided on who wins the last stage of the season.

GIMMEH PORSCHES ON GRAVEL! GIMMEEEEEEHHH!

Have we gotten any word on tyre mixing btw? Would love to know if we get to switch the tyres around after each stage and get to decide where to put them, or if all tyres are the same.

Loeb, what a bloody legend. Spain this year has been incredibly exciting. 3 points lead for Ogier before Australia. Which means he has to sweep. Small enough of a difference that it might go down to power stage points to decide the win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTRWz7fablg Yeah, deep rut and maybe a bit high car. Looks like it just flips.