real life 2020 FIA World Rally Championship

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

Ya, what in the world is wrong for Meeke. Its painful to watch him crash now because I know it just moves him closer to being out of the team. Ott is doing an amazing job at Toyota. I did not expect him to be the best out of his team right out of the gate.

[bogani 760]

Yeah, Meeke just seem to have to drive too much on the edge at take too many risks to contend for the top times.

Latvala is another one that is really going down hill. He can do well on certain rallies but he just isn't fast enough on a regular basis to fight for the championship.

[warpengage 177]

Meeke almost got himself, and his co-driver, killed. When I saw the pictures of the car, I couldn't believe they just walked out of that.

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

That just shows how strong those cars really are. Props to the manufactures for making them so strong.

[RallyDriven 398]

Wow! Meeke and Citroen have parted ways! Apparently due to safety concerns! Sounds like Citroen are worried about Meeke injuring himself

[warpengage 177]

RallyDriven said:

Wow! Meeke and Citroen have parted ways! Apparently due to safety concerns! Sounds like Citroen are worried about Meeke injuring himself

Unfortunate for Meeke, but I can understand Citroen's decision.

[Etirion 2]

Very odd way to dump him though.
Just maybe half an hour earlier he posted that he is happy to have the support from Citroen and looking forward to Sardinia on his facebook page, so this all looks like they just fired him over twitter without speaking a word with him.

[Madhun1967 54]

yeah WTF ? i hope he didnt have to find out that he has no job ,by reading Twitter 

[Pfei 106]

Madhun1967 said:

yeah **** ? i hope he didnt have to find out that he has no job ,by reading Twitter 

Citroën being Citroën, it wouldn't surprise me. 

[bogani 760]

LudwigVonMises said:

Madhun1967 said:

yeah **** ? i hope he didnt have to find out that he has no job ,by reading Twitter 

Citroën being Citroën, it wouldn't surprise me. 

Hyundai and Citroën should make a trade. Mikkelsen for Meeke!

[tbtstt 2,405]

Absolutely gutted for Meeke. Probably unlikely to happen, but I would love to see another team give him a shot and for him to absolutely annihilate the C3's, just to confirm that it is the car at fault. 

[dwkGravey 0]

RallyDriven said:

Wow! Meeke and Citroen have parted ways! Apparently due to safety concerns! Sounds like Citroen are worried about Meeke injuring himself

I think it's a well-timed excuse and Citroen are more worried that Meeke is an expensive and inconsistent driver. He (and the C3) seemed to be having a better season, and if Budar really wanted to drop him then it would at least wait for the end of the year. But I guess Budar couldn't wait and the excuse presented itself.

I hope someone else gives Meeke another chance. This is good news for Ostberg at least.

[KevM 44]

They’ll do nothing now, but hover around the mid-field and come last in the Manu Championship.

He drove the car at 11 tenths to just about keep within reach of the rest of the field.  I think the car/team put him under massive pressure to overdrive 

[Dytut 91]

A bit surprising, yet not that surprising. He has had waaaaay to many really dangerous crashes, and a lot of them have been when he's not fighting for top spots so they're just unnecessary. 

[Scyy 0]

bogani said:

Yeah, Meeke just seem to have to drive too much on the edge at take too many risks to contend for the top times.

Latvala is another one that is really going down hill. He can do well on certain rallies but he just isn't fast enough on a regular basis to fight for the championship.

I don't quite agree about Latvala. There have been a fair number of times he's been in contention for a very strong finish and his car has just broken down since he went to Toyota. A fair number of times he's crashed out too but he would be looking much better points wise if those break downs hadn't happened.

[dwkGravey 0]

Scyy said:

bogani said:

Yeah, Meeke just seem to have to drive too much on the edge at take too many risks to contend for the top times.

Latvala is another one that is really going down hill. He can do well on certain rallies but he just isn't fast enough on a regular basis to fight for the championship.

I don't quite agree about Latvala. There have been a fair number of times he's been in contention for a very strong finish and his car has just broken down since he went to Toyota. A fair number of times he's crashed out too but he would be looking much better points wise if those break downs hadn't happened.

Yesterday's episode of the Absolute Rally podcast touched on this, how Latvala seems to suffer more breakdowns than Tanak, and how often his Polo broke down while Ogier's carried on. So at what point is it bad luck, and when is it driving style?

The episode's discussion of Meeke post-Portugal was almost painful to listen to. Can't wait for next week's now.

[Scyy 0]

dwkGravey said:

Scyy said:

bogani said:

Yeah, Meeke just seem to have to drive too much on the edge at take too many risks to contend for the top times.

Latvala is another one that is really going down hill. He can do well on certain rallies but he just isn't fast enough on a regular basis to fight for the championship.

I don't quite agree about Latvala. There have been a fair number of times he's been in contention for a very strong finish and his car has just broken down since he went to Toyota. A fair number of times he's crashed out too but he would be looking much better points wise if those break downs hadn't happened.

Yesterday's episode of the Absolute Rally podcast touched on this, how Latvala seems to suffer more breakdowns than Tanak, and how often his Polo broke down while Ogier's carried on. So at what point is it bad luck, and when is it driving style?

The episode's discussion of Meeke post-Portugal was almost painful to listen to. Can't wait for next week's now.

True enough, can't discount that his driving style might be rougher on the car. 

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

Man that really sucks for Meeke. It would be a cool redemption story if he joined another team to fight back Citroen. Maybe if Evens underperforms (although he looks like he is improving) Ford M-Sport would give him that seat in the Fiesta.

[Dytut 91]

dwkGravey said:

Scyy said:

bogani said:

Yeah, Meeke just seem to have to drive too much on the edge at take too many risks to contend for the top times.

Latvala is another one that is really going down hill. He can do well on certain rallies but he just isn't fast enough on a regular basis to fight for the championship.

I don't quite agree about Latvala. There have been a fair number of times he's been in contention for a very strong finish and his car has just broken down since he went to Toyota. A fair number of times he's crashed out too but he would be looking much better points wise if those break downs hadn't happened.

Yesterday's episode of the Absolute Rally podcast touched on this, how Latvala seems to suffer more breakdowns than Tanak, and how often his Polo broke down while Ogier's carried on. So at what point is it bad luck, and when is it driving style?

The episode's discussion of Meeke post-Portugal was almost painful to listen to. Can't wait for next week's now.

I think Latvala has finally started to understand this himself, he did bring up that maybe it's his driving style that's too rough. And yes, many times his car seems to die out of nowhere, but it's such a pattern that he has to question himself if it's not due to him putting too much strain on the car somehow.

[Dytut 91]

But dafuq is up with Citroens internal communications? About 45 minutes before the news of him being axed for the rest of the season he posts about getting ready for Sardinia and having the full support of the team. Quite unprofessional to say the least.

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

That kind of stuff just makes me mad. To do that to your leading driver who has worked his butt off is so uncool.

[RallyDriven 398]

KevM said:

They’ll do nothing now, but hover around the mid-field and come last in the Manu Championship.

He drove the car at 11 tenths to just about keep within reach of the rest of the field.  I think the car/team put him under massive pressure to overdrive 

You say that, but Loeb lead in Mexico in the same car without pushing it to the absolute extremes (yeah I know road position helped). To some degree, he was under a lot of pressure to deliver results in possibly the worst out of the 4 cars, but huge accidents when you aren’t even in contention for a win don’t look good.

People like to compare him to McRae, but The difference is Colin won a driver’s title, almost two.

anyway, I like Kris, and he’s an incredibly talented driver, so I am sad to see him go.

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

RallyDriven said:

KevM said:

They’ll do nothing now, but hover around the mid-field and come last in the Manu Championship.

He drove the car at 11 tenths to just about keep within reach of the rest of the field.  I think the car/team put him under massive pressure to overdrive 

You say that, but Loeb lead in Mexico in the same car without pushing it to the absolute extremes (yeah I know road position helped). To some degree, he was under a lot of pressure to deliver results in possibly the worst out of the 4 cars, but huge accidents when you aren’t even in contention for a win don’t look good.

People like to compare him to McRae, but The difference is Colin won a driver’s title, almost two.

anyway, I like Kris, and he’s an incredibly talented driver, so I am sad to see him go.

I wonder if Loeb will join full time in the next year or so. But for now I wonder what will Meeke do? He can’t go to another team unless someone makes an opening for it. And who will Citroen replace him with?

[Dytut 91]

Yeah I wonder who they'll go for as no 1 driver for next year. They have two solid backups in Breen and Östberg, but neither of them are quite at the title challenger position unless they make some hard improvements over the end of the season. 
Loeb could come back for a full season, though i doubt it. 
There are some drivers that are decently fast on the board, that might be available. Sordo, Paddon, Latvala. But I'd say Latvala is the only one with the pace of them, and he crashes as much as Meeke. Ogier is always a possibility, but he seems to be happy at M-Sport as long as they keep him competitive. Ott won't move again next year, he's right where he wants to be.

[dwkGravey 0]

If Citroen is serious about sticking around then they could play the long game and invest in younger drivers. Ostberg can bring in points every rally, and Citroen can develop Breen and Lefebvre. In a while Lappi, Suninen, Tidemund, and Rovanpera could be available. I doubt that next season Toyota would be willing to give up Latvala, or M-Sport Tanak, or Hyundai any of their drivers.