Volkswagen Polo WRC - a Citroën DS3 killer?

It’s been rumoured for a long time and confirmed for a few months that Volkswagen will enter the WRC with a new Polo WRC in 2013. However, the team plan to make their competitive debut already in Rally Finland in the end of this month – and then compete all remaining rallies this year except for Australia. Already from day one, Volkswagen have sent the signals that this is a serious challenge (nothing else could be expected) and in my opinion this can only be seen as another sign of that, maybe the strongest so far. Considering the price of competing one and a half year in the WRC (I guess that Volkswagen will continue to run even the next season), it shows with clarity that Volkswagen is willing to invest money not only to compete but even to win the WRC.

Of course, winning is not only about the car – but also a lot about the team in terms of personnel, drivers and co-drivers. Petter Solberg is rumoured to be close to signing for the team, but so far Volkswagen seems to be using the excellent strategy of signing young, talented and local drivers – at least if judging from the Rally Finland entry. Andreas Mikkelsen of Norway will be driving one car, and I guess he will be their first driver for the rest of the season and local ace Joonas Lindroos will drive the other car. By signing Mikkelsen they get someone that can act as a young and promising second driver in the works team later on while still being experienced enough to work as a good test driver. In Lindroos they get a local driver in Finland that can contribute with unique knowledge about the local conditions.

It’s quite obvious that Volkswagen will be competing at the highest level of WRC and I expect them to enter the series on a much higher level than any other debutant teams have done in recent years. For Citroën this means a team that can really challenge them for both the drivers and the manufacturers title. It will be interesting to see their next step. Will they fight back and how? (Especially with the possibility/speculations of Loeb ending his career or moving on quite soon…)

Now, even Rally NZ seems to have understood the truth. Chris Carr, chairman of the rally, says that “it’s always fire behind the smoke you see”. Interesting enough, Neil Allport, former NZ Rally Champion, says that lack of money is behind the decision and that the government should put the adequate money in. Strange, since NZ from what I know always have been backed by nothing else than a loooot of government money… However, I can understand they’re disappointed – and I am too. NZ is a traditional rally with wonderful views and an exotic kind of environment… The thing is probably that their market is too small.

The big fail in this discussion may be Rally Norway. They’ve made two good rallies – but they’ve also done mistakes. They have overestimated themselves big time (and that’s their biggest mistake if you ask me). I remember their plans for 2007 that I once got presented – and it was utopia. They had got quite a lot of government money, but they also calculated huge incomes from spectators, sponsoring, etc.The figures was almost 10 times the corresponding numbers of Rally Sweden. Norway did all kinds of extravagancies that year, and of course they blew it totally from a financial point of view – no matter any government money. From what I know, they lowered their calculations drastically for their next event, but obviously not enough. There was less delight of the news from the public in Norway in 2009, and the reports I got from competitors in the rally was that there was really few spectators.

No matter the economics, you can’t take from the Norweigans that they have arranged two really good events – with the media coverage in the 2007 event being my favourite point. Their problem now is unstable economy, the fact that they’re not a traditional event and the fact that they’re running on snow. But maybe even management!? They have always been so overconfident. Now it seems like their managers expected Norway to be first reserve for 2011 – but according to the latest news Poland (that has been completely silent so far!) is the first reserve. Erik Veiby, chairman of the Rally Norway board, says this is just speculations and of course it is, but honestly… I agree that nothing is decided and that things can for sure change – but it’s obvious to everyone that Rally Norway is now in deep shit. I bet that (no matter what Erik Veiby says!) they are now working hard with lobbying on all kind of levels and trying to get to know why they’re out of the calendar and how they can change it.

The approach from organisers struggling to find the grip needed to stay in the calendar is starting to look like an interesting game. The silly thing is that all this started a few years ago with the FIA letting people “buy” candidate events to the left and right by just paying a big fee to them (read more in my post on the rotation system from last year). After the organisers have paid those fees, they of course expected to get an event for it! So, FIA made this stupid rotating calendar and everyone got their events. Now, they have realized the obvious – that it doesn’t work. And many of the payers (and some others) stand there without their events again like they never had one… It’s stupid multiplied by a thousand.

No matter what, I’m looking forward to see how this game continues – and I hope (but doubt – Abu Dhabi on special built roads, come on!?!) it ends up with the best events!

PG Andersson in his JM Racing Skoda Fabia S2000 on the Karlstad Super Special Stage earlier this month. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

According to today’s NWT, PG Andersson is hoping for four more appearances in the Skoda Fabia Super2000 this year with the Czech JM Racing team following his superb win in the S2000 class in Sweden. The team is planning to enter six WRC events, and PG is aiming to drive four of them. The other two will probably go to other drivers, where one driver is already planned for Rally Japan.

The rallies PG is planning to enter is Rally Portugal followed by Rally Finland, Rally of France and Wales Rally GB. However, according to NWT, Andersson is still lacking around €200000 of his budget and if he doesn’t manage to get all the money he may skip France or GB.

The previous talks about Rally Sardinia is currently put on ice in favour of the mentioned four events.

According to my sources Mads and his father (also team boss of the Adapta team) had a meeting with MINI representatives during Rally Sweden together with their friends at Prodrive. I have no clue what was said in the meeting (if it really did happen) but I would really like to know

Andreas Mikkelsen's test place in Kall, Sweden a few days ago when Marcus Grönholm was testing the car. Today, Monday, it's Andreas' turn to do the testing. Photo: andreasmikkelsen.no

It seems like Andreas Mikkelsen has decided that he will use the Ford Fiesta Super2000 for this years campaign (source: Verdens Gang) in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Earlier, I have reported that Mikkelsen was still in the choice between the Fiesta and the Skoda Fabia Super2000 – a decisiong that now has been made.

First off and as we already know, Andreas will do Sweden in the Fiesta. Then he will follow up with a seven round programme in the IRC with the hope to go back to the World Rally Championship in 2011.

Mikkelsen’s manager, Erik Veiby, says:

- We have been working purposefully to get Andreas and Ola in a competitive car, and a team that can win the IRC series this year.

We’ll see if that’s correct…

At the same time, more info has came about Chris Atkinson – who was rumoured to be included in a 2 car Monster World Rally Team before the announcement came. Paul Turner, manager of Atkinson, confirms that discussions with the Monster team have been held for a long time, but he also says that it’s unlikely for Atko to show up as a driver in the team before 2011. However, he and Atkinson seems to be working hard to get Atko in the ultimate position for next year by placing Atkinson as an advisor and gravel notes crewmember this year. If that is just their hopes or a completed deal is not known though.

The new target for 2010 is likely to be S-WRC and the Super2000 class. The team reckons that they won’t be able to get a Ford or Citroen car, and I guess they consider S2000 a good warm-up for the 2011 WRC1.6T regulations. The team hopes to have a Super2000 alternative ready for Rally Jordan in the beginning of April.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we got another Fiesta in the S-WRC from Rally Jordan on…

PG himself, who makes his debut in the class, says:

- It will really be fun to test this class – and especially on my home soil.

Now, we have an even more interesting fight to look forward to in group N with Andersson, Sandell, Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Prokop among others. My guess is that this will be the closest and most intense fight in the rally, with a lot of young guys wanting to win like nobody else.

PG Andersson’s group N wildcard has been given to Jocke Nyman – and PG will get a new wildcard from the organisers for the S-WRC instead. His car will be managed by Czech company JM Racing.

Magnus Samuelsson, probably the strongest man in a rally car?! Photo: Gustafssons foto

Now it’s confirmed. As I revealed earlier today, Magnus Samuelsson (World’s Strongest Man) will start Rally Sweden 2010. The team aims to start in the World Rally Championship round, but since they still don’t have a full budget a Swedish Championship start may  be the case instead. Magnus is backed by Fredrik Eljas and Olof Eljas, and the later of them will be responsible for giving Magnus the training needed (not physical, huh!?!) to do the start.

The team will run a 280bhp Subaru Impreza group N of latest spec. Magnus Samuelsson himself comments the start as follows:

- This is my dream as a young boy coming true. I’ve tried “folkrace” before but the dream has always been to drive a real rally car. It will be a true adventure and just the thought of being at the start line along with Loeb and the other boys is breathtaking.

Read the article (in Swedish) at RallySweden.com

The question for me is how the entry will be solved? Magnus is not entered in the WRC round, nor the Swedish Championship. In the Swedish Championship part Hasse Gustafsson is entered with an Impreza – but I doubt the driver can be switched after the entries close. I think that the organiser can accept a late entry if the other competitors in the class accept it, and maybe that’s the way to choose. Or, they may blame the fax and say the entry got late because of their technical problems? A reason that may also be completetly true, of course…

Read more about Magnus Samuelsson on his own website

Obviously the recruitment will be a major boost for Brynhildsen. He has already had an experienced co-driver in Giraudet, but he will now have a fellow countryman, speaking his own language and with heavy experience alongside himself. Also on the marketing side, I think Cato will be good with contacts and his familiar face to media. The only negative aspect I think is the important contacts that Denis Giraudet has, especially since he’s a frenchman – and it’s widely known that the French guys in rallying appreciate to work with their countrymen. This means that Brynhildsen (this is on a very inofficial basis) loses some contacts and goodwill among the French actors in rallying, that Cato maybe cannot weight up.

No matter what, it will be really interesting to see what the Norweigan duo can do. Both are real talents and under the right circumstances I think they really can surprise!

Also S2000 will be interesting to follow, where home ace Patrik Sandell will be hunted by skilled drivers as Mikkelsen, Brynhildsen, Prokop and Tuohino. Also Solowow, Sousa and Hunt and heavily experienced home ace Per-Arne Sääv, running on the organizers wild card, are entered in S2000 cars.

My current most interesting list (to be updated, for sure!):

• Loeb vs. Hirvonen + Latvala
• Petter vs. Henning
• How fast can Grönholm and Räikkönen be?
• What happens to the Swede superfight in group N: Andersson + Flodin + Nyman?
• The Super2000 superfight: Sandell vs. Mikkelsen + Brynhildsen + Prokop + Tuohino

Every single one of the points above will probably be world class entertainment – and of course I’ll get back with more comments, interviews etc. related to the entries. This is just the start…!

Read the full entrylist here

Solberg expects to have his budget complete in the end of next week, and announce his team and sponsors after that. Until then, read todays announcement here.

Patrik Flodin himself, that is now the first ever non-Russian Russian Champion (nice scentence, huh?), says:

- It will be incredibly fun to drive on home soil again. I’m really looking forward to the rally!

Read my interview with Patrik from the 4th of January here

- I will do the rally in my own Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. I’ve been testing and discussing with them all, Skoda, Ford, Peugeot… Everyone. But in the end, price the made the decision…  There still is a small chance that it will be another Evo IX, a brand new one. But it’s not very likely…

Price has been a big factor to PG when deciding – and that’s no big surprise. Talking on the prices of a Super2000 car, PG says that the price level has now reached where WRC was five years ago, which means around €100 000 per rally. A start in his own car makes PG save half the money for later…

Andersson will do the rally with co-driver Anders Fredriksson, who also sat alongside him in this weekend’s Sigdalsrally in Norway. The duo will probably perform a test the weekend before the rally – and the next few weeks PG will spend on rebuilding the car to get it in good shape. Talking on his chances in the rally, Andersson doesn’t say much:

- I don’t know what my chances are. I hope to be able to keep up to speed with some of the Super2000 guys, but it will be hard to go as fast as someone like Mikkelsen, for example. We’ll see…

Even if rallying nowadays is very much about money, a crucial thing for a driver like PG – a clear talent that is without a contract – is to be seen and get PR. Going into the season it seems like S-WRC will take a role of “mini WRC” as it’s the upcoming big class for next year (and despite the until now weak entry list for the S-WRC championship), and that it will therefore render some extra interest from media. The production car championship will therefore probably be even more in the shadows than before. Asking PG about what he thinks about that, he says:

- It’s all about scoring results – as always – but yes, it seems like the PWRC wont get much attention. However, hasn’t it been like that for the last few years? It’s compareable to the JWRC that rendered some interest during the first years when I drove, but it has then fallen and become more and more hidden…

Regarding the rest of the season, PG confirms that he is looking at Sardinia and that it now looks a bit better for the rest of the season than it did earlier. He also says that he has the budget neccessary to do both events, but it’s still not at all certain that he will enter the Italian IRC round. So, for us fans we’ll just need to have patience, hope for a good result for PG in Rally Sweden and then we’ll see!

Besides Petter’s entry, the list contains no big surprises. However, Polish driver Michal Solowow is entered in a Peugeot 207 S2000 – something that has been rumoured but as far as I know not confirmed until now. A lot of names should still come in the entry list – the time expires tomorrow at 15PM local time for WRC entries.

Read the current entry list here (external link)

Go to my previous post about Guy Wilks
Read more on Guy Wilks website

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to femtyfem for the video.

Tomorrow is the final day for entries to Rally Sweden, and a lot of things should conclude during today and tomorrow. One of the things expected to be announced today is the car for local driver and rally wildcard PG Andersson. As I have previously reported, he is currently considering wether to go for his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in group N or a rental Super2000 car.

Gardemeister himself plays down his chances in the rally, and even though I think Gardemeister has potential to do a really good race – I have to agree he’s unlikely to win the event. Only half a day of testing and the fact that the Punto is a weaker car than the Peugeot and the Skoda (and possibly even the brand new Ford) wont favour him, but Monte is Monte and under the right (or wrong?) circumstances anything can happen.

The news comes short after the confirmation that Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica will drive the Rallye Monte Carlo in a Renault Clio R3 later this month. The Monte Carlo Rally is part of the Clio R3 European Trophy, consisting of three events, and the manufacturers registration for the IRC makes sure that the trophy drivers will be able to score points for Renault in the IRC events.

- If things work out then I will have a girl in the car with me this year. It will be good for me, and for the sport too – at the moment there are no females competing at this level.

Thinking logically there are not much girls to choose from, as Henning is completely right in that no females are competing at the very highest level in the world. I can only think of two girls that are close enough to Henning to be potential, and they are Veronica Engan and Maria Andersson.

However, Veronica Engan is very less likely than Maria Andersson. Maria just quit her cooperation with Anders Gröndal – and the replacement is noone else than Veronica Engan. It seems unlikely that Veronica would quit after just one rally. But more important, I consider Swede Maria Andersson by far more expecienced. She has been doing a lot of drives in the Production World Rally Championship with Patrik Flodin, one or another WRC drive with Flodin, a season with Gröndal in a WRC car and also one or another WRC drive with George Tracey a few years ago. Besides that, she has partnered Mikkelsen in WRC and Brynhildsen in group N occasionally.

Engan has mostly been doing a group N drives with Brynhildsen, and even though I don’t have her complete record I think that the experience of Andersson makes the choice quite easy. In the end of the day, I can’t imagine that Henning talks of anyone else than Maria Andersson for his WRC challenge 2010 – given that it’s a girl.

The whole competition will be a test where PG tries wether he can keep the speed up with Eyvind Brynhildsen in his Skoda Fabia Super2000. PG says that renting a Super2000 car costs twice as much as doing the home rally in his own Mitsubishi – and if he can, he will save the money for later:

- I’ve got the money it takes, but if I can do two rallies instead of one for them I would prefer that, says PG.

Besides the start in Rally Sweden, which now seems to be totally confirmed, PG is looking at entering the IRC round Rally Italia Sardinia in June. For that rally he would rent a Super2000 car. However, the first thing after Sigdalsrallyt for PG is to do ice notes for Guy Wilks in Rally Monte Carlo later this month. As I revealed yesterday, Wilks is expected to confirm his agreement with Skoda UK today announcing a drive in the 2010 IRC.

- Joining the IRC allows us to offer our customers the chance to make the most out of their participation on the series, as well as the opportunity to showcase our products in new markets. Initial testing with the Ford Fiesta S2000 has gone extremely well, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing our car make its competition debut with Mikko Hirvonen in Monte Carlo later this month.

This is Mikko Hirvonen testing the Ford Fiesta Super2000 in December last year:

Click here to view the embedded video.

First off, the safe names are Federico Villagra in Munchis WRT, Ken Block in Monster WRT, Petter Solberg in Solberg PSWRT – and the almost safe (?) Matthew Wilson in Stobart WRT. So far no problem. But then comes Henning Solberg as expected in Stobart – and that’s a little bit more uncertain. I know that Henning targets a seat in the WRC again, but I also know that this very much depends on a renewed contract with Expert for 2010. The second questionmark is Gigi Galli and PG Andersson – where one of them or even both are said to be joining the PSWRT. I know nothing about Galli, but when it comes to PG I know he was in discussions regarding the PSWRT early this autumn – but then he has announced that he probably can’t collect the money needed. I’ll get back with a small post on PG’s future later today.

So, it would be really intersting to know what facts are behind the article. If Evans get three right out of three on the uncertain things, it would be like heaven to any rally addict. I guess the future will show…

Here is a clip of a close moment for Wilks in the Skoda during last years Rally of Scotland:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video by CalumFraser.

The world is upside-down for Henning? Cato Menkerud splits with the Norweigan driver and no deal is still signed for the WRC 2010. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud splits their co-operation after many years together. According to Norweigan media, the decision was taken this week – and the older brother Solberg now has to find a new codriver for his WRC challenge. If there will be one, this is – nothing is still known about Henning’s plans and rumours have placed him in rallycross instead of WRC this season.

According to Norweigan newspaper VG, Henning and Cato has been dissentient for a long time regarding what the next step should be in their World Championship plan. Cato Menkerud claims that the two are still good friends, but says:

- We’ve worked together for many years, but the cooperations hasn’t been as inspiring lately.

Henning, who has been driving with Menkerud since 2002, says:

- We’ve been keeping on for many years, and there’s nothing wrong.

According to VG, Solbergs plans for the season are still to be decided – and there is no deal signed. Menkerud is looking for a new driver to co-drive, and two different drivers should be more interesting than others.

The charge by Block, who is the first American ever to do a larger assault for the championship, seems to be on a long term, since he says that he’ll not promise any podiums the first year:

- Racing in the WRC has always been a dream of mine, but, I’m not going to promise podiums in my first year. I’ll be going up against the best drivers in the world. My main objective for 2010 is to develop into a competitive driver for 2011, and beyond, says Block.

Sad enough, Block – who is co-founder of DC Shoes and a former snowboarding, skateboarding and motocross star – is set to skip Rally Sweden and start of his WRC challenge with Rally Mexico in March. No matter what, the WRC will really be boosted this year with two superstars in Raikkonen and Block joining the championship.

I’ll get back later on with more info and some reflections on Ken Block and his chances in the championship.

Monster World Rally Team launch video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More info at: http://monsterworldrallyteam.com/

Find the list online here: http://www.rallysweden.com/wrc/en/?page_id=63

Patrik Sandell is confirmed in Red Bull Rally Team and the Skoda Fabia Super2000, Photo: Red Bull Rally Team

As I revealed already in December, Patrik Sandell with his co-driver Emil Axelsson will do the S-WRC in 2010 with Red Bull Skoda. Patrik himself tells:

- I’m very pleased to be able to drive for the BRR team again this year. It’s a very professional team, and I very much enjoy working with them. I believe they are the best. We will be able to build upon last year’s experience and progress accordingly. The target can only be the SWRC title!

Also Raimund Baumschlager, team manager, is optimistic and reveals that there will be an updated version of the Skoda Fabia Super2000 in the summer this year, called Evo2. He claims that the Fabia is a winning car and looks forward to the battle even more as Ford enters the scene with their Fiesta this year.

The team will start testing for Rally Sweden already next week, and will then drive seven events in the S-WRC calendar.
I will get back later with an interview with Patrik himself.

Red Bull Rally Team, Patrik Sandell / Emil Axelsson, calendar 2010:

February 12th – 14th Sweden
April 2nd – 4th Jordan
May 7th – 9th New Zealand
July 30th – August 1st Finland
August 20th – 22nd Germany
October 1st – 3rd France
November 12th – 14th Great Britain

Flodin admits that times are tough, but still shows a glimpse of optimism:

- Currently I’ve got nothing to announce. For a full WRC or IRC campaign it looks dark, but I’m trying to get together a start in Rally Sweden and then we’ll see. Nothing is decided about the car, but I’m looking at renting a Subaru or Mitsubishi grp N. I’ve got some local sponsors onboard but nothing is finalised with the big ones.

Even though a larger programme looks dark to the Swede, he underlines that things may happen later in the season. Many drivers are switching for IRC, but Flodin is still looking primarily for the World Championship:

- I’d like to do the World Rally Championship, and the dream would be a Super2000 car… The new class [S-WRC / WRCCup] would be perfect for me.

So, I guess we just have to wish Patrik good luck and hope we’ll see him in Rally Sweden and more rallies during the year.

In Hamar Dagblad, the young Norweigan says that his goal is to win the IRC this year, have a works seat in 2011 and win the WRC in 2012. A tough goal, if you ask me – but why not?

Patrik Sandell, photo: redbullrally.com

According to the local Swedish website Zport, Patrik Sandell is currently doing final negotiations with Red Bull and Skoda about a drive in the 2010 S-WRC. The Swede says that he “hopes” that everything will work out before the last entry date on the 4th of January. However, he doesn’t seem too worried – since he has just left for a vacation in Thailand. I think we’ll see Patrik in the Skoda, questions is just what they’re waiting for…? I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a 2 car team from Red Bull next year.

Ford Fiesta Super2000, Photo: MSport

Andreas Mikkelsen is close to seal a deal for 2010, most probably in the Ford Fiesta Super2000. However, according to NRK the young Norweigan is also talking to Skoda – so nothing is for sure. What seems to be totally sure is that Mikkelsen will start in Rally Sweden in February, and it seems that he is aiming to do the S-WRC championship. Nothing is known about any IRC participation, but my guess is that Mikkelsen will stick with only S-WRC. The Norweigan treats 2010 as another year-in-between (2009 was his first) and expects to be back in full power in 2011 able to expect even the top guns of rallying, where he mentions Loeb and Solberg as the men to beat.

I’m not sure if I believe he will be able to challenge those guys in 2011 no matter how big differences there are on the 1.6T-cars compared to today’s WRC cars – but for sure Mikkelsen has all chances to do a good season this year if he get’s a good car. Let’s wait and see…

Anyway, let’s hope Betti comes to the startline and until then we’ll enjoy his drive on this video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brynhildsen will start the year by doing the local events Sigdalsrally and Mountain Rally and then continue with the S-WRC season in Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Portugal, Germany, France and Wales.

Another interesting note from Norway is that Petter Solberg loses one of his main sponsors, the John Lunde Marine group. The company made a loss of 90.3M NOK last year, so why they had to pull the plug to their sponsorship seems quite obvious. However, I hope and I think that Petter has a good plan.

If it does, I wouldn’t complain… Nothing is better for rallying than stars with already big names entering the sport. However, I think Kovalainen would have to watch out – none of the F1 guys will have an easy ride in a brand new car and in a so different sport. Probably they would both be happy not to be in the same class – so they at least don’t have to be compared to each other…

Picture: Sebastien Ogier in last years Rally Monte Carlo, photo: ircseries.com

According to French site Auto-Hebdo, last years winner of the Rally Monte Carlo Sebastien Ogier will drive a Kronos Racing backed Peugeot 207 S2000 in this years edition of the rally. Also the French asphalt ace and mixed rally/circuit driver Stephane Sarrazin will join the team in the same type of car. Not very much information is available, but for sure is that the Rally Monte Carlo will be a true joy for anyone interested in rallying considering the impressive lineup of drivers the event is starting to collect.

My opinion is that getting PG into a good team in the WRC and with a mentor such as Petter would be really great and that is of course big news. However, one should remember that the amount of money still missing  is huge, and from what I know it forms around half of the budget of a Super2000 season. This means that the news is still just half a seat and there is a long way to go.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that PG and Petter get everything well together!

If Petter doesn’t get fresh parts of the Xsara the car isn’t good enough for him to be happy, and if he does get fresh parts the car+driver mix is way too good for Citroen’s taste.

As soon as Petter got his new gear in Sardinia, Loeb was forced behind Solberg in fourth place. For sure Loeb had some bad luck, but without Petter he would get six points instead of five… I’m sure the Citroen bosses are worried that Petter will steal more points from Loeb and more important from the manufacturer team later this year.

As I see it, there are two main scenarios that are really simple:

• Scenario one, Citroën accepts Petter’s speed and the fact that he may take a few points away of Loeb, Sordo and the junior team (the effect on the junior team is small, as they normally aren’t good enough to pass Petter even with his old gear) during the rest of the year. They let him have the 2006 parts, a good engine mapping and the passive differentials – that all allow him to be fast. (The parts are already given to him, and it will be hard to take them away – but Citroen are still able to give him a weaker engine mapping to make him go slower…)
• Scenario two, Citroen think they cannot afford Petter to be fast with his Xsara, and they reduce his chances of a win by not giving him any further upgrades and by making changes to his engine mapping. However, I’m sure Petter wouldn’t accept that (PSWRT and cheif engineer Fx Demaison are probably staring like eagles on the performance of the engine after the turns with Citroen), and I’m quite sure they he want to see continous progress on the car – otherwise they’ll leave Citroen for Ford or possibly even the Peugeot 307 (read more here and here).

I think the decision for scenario one or two will be done partly by Petter’s feeling in Sardinia, if he’s happy enough or not – but also by Loeb’s and Sordo’s pace in the next few rallies. If the Citroen management see Ford getting closer in the race for the manufacturers title, I’m quite sure they won’t allow Petter to continue taking points away from them. However, if Loeb remains unthreatened for the drivers title and if Citroen can keep their distance in the manufacturers championship, maybe it’s OK. Citroen have probably already got used to the fact that their juniors aren’t able to beat Petter more than on random occasions…

The future will tell…

UPDATE:
Read more (in Norweigan) about Petter’s performance in Sardinia on the following (external) links:

http://www.dagsavisen.no/sport/article417284.ece
http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/05/24/sport/motorsport/rally/rally-vm/petter_solberg/6374198/ 
http://www.vg.no/sport/motor/artikkel.php?artid=547805

Anyway, it will be fun to see what they can achieve. From what I’ve heard, Engan is a good co-driver.

Link: Read more on WRC.com

Also, I want to post a short excuse on the lack of posts here the last few weeks. A lot of things to do at work, including some travel, is why. Actually I’m currently writing from my hotel room in Las Vegas, where I’m staying until tuesday. From Thursday on I’m back home so stay tuned!

One day I’ll take the time to write that story to you guys reading this blog. It isn’t really the time yet, I guess, but it’s certainly coming closer. Until then I’m just really happy about the comeback and the strength Daniel is showing. His mistake was unacceptable, he can’t blame anyone – and he let everyone down. But… He let himself down more than anyone else – and he has been knowing that every day since then. Now he’s back – and just the fact that he makes the comeback is just amazing. Hope the rally makes it even better!

The scene of the comeback will be South Swedish Rally (part of the Swedish Championship) on May 15-16 2009. The car, a Ford Focus WRC05, will be engineered by AP Däckservice Engineering Team in cooperation with the guys at Tätab and Dom Buckley Motorsport.

Read more (in Swedish) at www.danielcarlsson.com
If you don’t speak Swedish and still wonders something, feel free to ask me questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer them!

Rally Poland runs the 26-28th of June this year, and is quite similar to the Neste Oil Rally Finland – Grönholm’s home rally that he has previously said he hopes to drive.

Last weeks rumour comes from the Estonian newspaper Postimees, and is written by a guy called Peep Pahv. Pahv called Urmo asking questions about the matter, and Urmo told he had no comments. Pahv chose to interpret that as if he was right in whatever information/ideas he had about a Suzuki comeback – and wrote the article. So, basically Urmo said nothing but Pahv still rendered a big article on the Suzuki comeback.

Quite opposite to the comeback rumours – Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima has brought Suzuki to court after a conflict starting with Tajima’s retirement from the Suzuki WRT top position last year and the retirement of the team. My contact, who has very good insight into the WRC scene, believes that Suzuki is very tired of rallying after all problems related to the WRC assault, and that a comeback to rallying is really far away.

So, I guess the conclusion is that we shall forget about the Suzuki rumours and go back into the position we were two weeks ago, when a Suzuki comeback was still quite far away. Not very good news to the WRC, I’m afraid.

I hope to get back with an update after having talked to Patrik himself…

- I have a good relationship with the Suzuki team from driving for them in the JWRC. I am hoping to get to test their S2000 car sometime in the next year and maybe I can do some rallies with them at the end of 2010 season.

They (Suzuki WRT) are currently bulding an S2000 car but I can’t say anymore. For the 2011 season they will probably do a full WRC programme.

Maybe PG will do some more starts in the Skoda in Norway – and in the most optimistic situation also in Finland or Poland – but in a whole I fear his career will be on hold for the rest of his year. Hopefully he manages to get something together for next year though, but it will be tough.

Anyway… He’s a hell of a driver and a good entertainer. Go PG!

No matter what, Volkswagen will make at least one more try in Dakar – meaning that the former WRC champion Carlos Sainz will get one more chans to win the desert rally – and also that the WRC will have to wait before the German brand gets into the championship.

So, when comparing speeds, Grönholm will probably keep that in mind. In fact – that’s probably why Marcus chose the Impreza. He can make his comeback in a safe way where he can’t lose, making a half bad result and then blaming the car. I think he realises that it wouldn’t be very smart to get into the Focus, a car that today is the back pocket of Hirvonen, Latvala and to a large extent even Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson. In the same manner it would be stupid to get into the Citroen of Loeb and Sordo. He would risk getting crushed – without anything to blame.

Probably the most interesting question is wether this is a one time outing, or if Grönholm will try to make a true comeback to a full (or close to) season in the WRC? Grönholm himself says it’s a single event and nothing more. But he fills in that after this he will analyse his feelings and decide on the future – indicating that he may do a larger scale comeback…

Imagine that larger comeback, what would it mean? I’m well aware Grönholm negotiated a full season for Subaru before the marque retired from the WRC in December but I can’t think of a full comeback in the Subaru Impreza. Why would Marcus get back to rallying full-time without the real chance of winning? That’s not really a former WRC champion’s style… No, it would probably be in another car – but who would be interested? Marcus is good for sure, but not an upcoming name. So, given the fact that WRC works teams doesn’t really grow on trees – I don’t know, actually…

Anyway, let’s assume Marcus did get a good car, perhaps a Ford. Would he win? And would it be good? Honestly, maybe he’d get few podiums, but in the big picture I don’t think it would be so good. He is getting older and all careers have their end. Running in the Peugeot 307, Marcus made himself an even larger WRC profile than before by being bitter of the car. It worked out really well and was entertaining, but to do that without being considered a boring person requires quite big – and fresh – star quality. It also requires reasonably recent good results – and Marcus doesn’t have all this anymore. People would no longer consider him a genious in a bad position – just a bitter old man not knowing when to end his career.

Counting all those parts together, I really hope that Marcus enjoys his one time comeback in Portugal – and maybe a few more guest entires. But I hope it ends there. Not that I don’t wanna see Marcus drive, I would love it. But I don’t wanna see a good star and a fantastic WRC profile fall off his heights and become a struggler that just didn’t know where to stop. Marcus has proven what he can do – and I think he knows himself that a full time comeback would just be stupid. So, that gives you my bet; don’t expect a full scale comeback.

Seeing Mikkelsen in the Fabia would be really interesting. After Mikkelsens extremely good times in his group N Subaru in Norway fighting with Sandell, he seems to me like the optimal opponent to measure Sandell.

The question now is just what the deal depends on, more than the traditional show-stopper: money. I know that Skoda have had problems to deliver enough Fabia Super2000s to meet all requests – but I think Mr. Baumschlager (Red Bull team boss) have the best possible priority there. Let’s just hope to see Mikkelsen/Floene in the Fabia – that would be awesome!

Now, it also seems that Aava’s budget is far from complete – and Stobart is just paying a small amount of Aava’s budget this year. From what I know, the rest is mostly paid by some local Estonian companies and the Estonian tourism authority. Obviously, Aava is having problems to get enough money out there, which may cause him to miss some or all of the remaining rallies in the season.

Aava’s schedule until now has been Rally Ireland, Rally Norway, Rally of Portugal, Rally Italia-Sardinia, Rally Poland, Tour de Corse (France), Spain and Wales Rally GB.

The strange this is… It will not be with Tina. In today’s VF (Swedish newspaper), Tina says that she considers to end her rallying career (this is nothing new, last time was a just one or two years ago what I can remember) and that she will certainly not do the PWRC in the Skoda. More exactly, she says:

- No, I wont co-drive [Nasser in the Fabia]. I think it will be hard to win the championship without a works drive. Then there is no need to drag around when I can do other things that are fun. I’ve got so many assignments so I wouldn’t have the time anyway.

I don’t know if it’s only me – but isn’t it strange? A few weeks ago she was going, now she’s not. She blames her assignments – but have her bookings rushed so much those few weeks and hasn’t she been able to say no? Strange… Also, she blames the unability to win the championship when they’re not driving for a works team. But honestly, when she said they were going to do the PWRC… What works-team did she think about then? From what I know, there is no pure, totally factory supported works team in the championship? All are ran by private teams (URT as an example) or by local outfits (RalliArt NZ). Or have I missed out on one?

To me, Skoda seems like one of the best opportunities. She would get a strong car (if in doubt – check out the Monte results) with a factory that would probably give her and Nasser quite high priority – because of the fact that they were one of just two Skoda’s in the championship.

Conclusion is… Of course Tina’s time isn’t the problem. Maybe the lack of factory support could be the problem, yes – but that would surprise me. Weren’t she at all aware of the circumstances in WRC these days?! No, more likely is that there is some other problem that she doesn’t wanna tell us – or maybe she just changed her mind. It probably doesn’t matter very much at all – but I just wonder one thing:

Why didn’t she just say that she changed her mind?

Note: Chris Patterson is likely to be Nasser’s co-driver in the PWRC instead of Tina, according to VF.

Asking what brands PG has been in contact with, he lined up Proton (as we already know), Fiat (not unexpected), Peugeot (not unexpected) and Opel (a little bit more unexpected).

The Opel outfit is ran by MSD – the same team that ran the Hyundai WRC team with the Accent WRC world rally car. From what I know they’ve developed a Super2000 version of the Opel Corsa, but I have no information about any rally starts or results. However, I’ve heard that Gareth MacHale from Ireland will use the car in an IRC assault this year. Without knowing any details, my guess is that the car will not be one of the top competitors among the Super2000 cars on launch, but it remains to see if I’m right. I would love to be wrong! [ Do you have any more details on the Open/MSD Super 2000 project? Please contact me on info@maxattack.net. ]

So, looking on the future of PG Andersson – it’s the same for him as for many other drivers; it depends on money. A qualified guess is that PG will spend his efforts on getting anything good, probably in a Super2000 car, for the 2010 season. If so – I think it would be a wise decision…

Nasser has previously been co-driven by different people – but this time Tina Thörner would be his choice. Tina is a unique profile and her co-driver career started already in 1990. She has gone with different drivers in both rally raid and WRC, including legendary names as Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae, Jutta Kleinschmidt and this years Dakar winner Giniel DeVilliers.

So, let’s hope that Al-Attiyah, Thörner and Skoda get their pieces together. To start in Norway is too late, but for PWRC you can exclude two events of the year – so that’s not a problem. To see them going into the PWRC could make up for a decent fight and comparison with Thörner’s countryman Patrik Sandell – who drives Skoda for the Red Bull Team. Taking into account that also Flodin competes in the PWRC with the Uspenskiy Rally Team, it would mean three Swedes able to fight in the PWRC top.

Grøndal has previously driven earlier versions of the Subaru Impreza WRC in his own team. He is joined by Swedish co-driver Maria Andersson.

• He is entered and will do Rally Norway in a Citroen Xsara WRC of  modified -06 spec. 
• Petter has tested the Xsara just once (same chassi used by Conrad Rautenbach on Galway International Rally on Ireland a while ago), to be able to make his decision. The test took place in Torsby, Sweden last weekend. Before Rally Norway Petter will do more winter tests in Finnskogen, Norway.
• Petter’s team will not be run by PHSport or any other known Citroen satellite team – instead it will be a stand-alone team based in France.
• Chief engineer will be very experienced Francois Xavier-Demaison, who has previously worked with Petter in Subaru.
• Modifications on the car will include switch of dampers and brakes.
• Petter and his co-driver Phil Mills will use safety equipment from Italian manufacturer OMP as a result of a recently signed sponsorship deal.
• Petter’s plan is to compete all remaining 10 WRC rallies after Rally Norway. However, not necessarily with the Xsara WRC.
• Petter’s sponsors are not completely – but almost – in box. MSN/Microsoft is one of the sponsors that will be present on the car. (Petter has previously launched a rally game for mobile phones with MSN)

Feel free to add more in the comments if I’ve forgot anything or if you know something I don’t know.

Maybe, and also probably I’m afraid, it will be regarding the Adapta World Rally Team. Adapta announced already last year that they would do a large assault this season with Mads Östberg in a Subaru. Maybe it’s some kind of up-hotted release regarding that? Perhaps they’ve managed to get an even better deal following the Subaru retirement, a second Norweigan driver besides Mads Östberg and even better Prodrive support? Not big news, I guess – but eyy… Let’s hope for something better until tomorrow!

Read more: www.pettersolberg.no

- Egentlig kan jeg si at jeg har startet å roe meg litt. Det begynner å nærme seg med samarbeidspartnerne. Det er i ferd med å ordne seg, helt klart, sier Petter Solberg til TV 2 Sporten.

Maybe Petter and Henning has managed to get a deal together with Ford/Stobart creating their own team, run by Ramsport? Ramsport is close to MSport and have previously worked with Andreas Mikkelsen, so they’ve already got a Norweigan connection. It would be nice to see it happen!

Expect more turns before it’s over…

However, the Red Bull contacts are still very useful, he has a good contract for the 2009 and he has all possibilities for the next few years, so there should be no big worries.

The story will go on…

However, the strange thing is that Petter himself has not made anything official regarding this. Maybe this is to avoid speculations regarding himself switching to a Le Mans career, but that doesn’t really make sense. Rumours about Petter in Le Mans has already been out in Norweigan as well as international media, so there wouldn’t be much to lose by telling about the test in public. Now, Petter just gives the flora of rumours surrounding him even more power when a team confirms him in a test without Petter’s own official announcement.

UPDATE: Petter seems to have confirmed that he will test the LC70E car in Norweigan newspaper Verdens Gang.

The Munchis team is lacking one driver, so there are certainly at least one fresh Ford to get. Maybe Galli is back soon?

- There are still some issues to sort out regarding which car I will be driving this season, but a decision will be made during next weekend.
Petter S.

So, finally we know when a decision will come – and this time the date is confirmed by Petter himself. Speculation has been running high for a while, with Citroen and Ford mentioned as marques – but lately even a Proton development/test role has been mentioned as an alternative, following Petter’s meeting with the Proton management.

Check out the lists here:

FIA Production Car WRC Entrants
FIA Junior WRC Entrants

In this video you can see an interview, the test with and even Atkinson taking notes for the test:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Atkinson himself, who has previously spent all his WRC career in a Subaru, was really impressed by the Citroen. We’ve heard it before regarding both the C4 and the Xsara, that you can attack hard into turns and still have very good control and balance of the car – facts that Atkinson immediately agreed on and told the journalists.

Looking forward to Ireland, Atkinson is probably happy to have done a full day of testing on roads that he thought were representative of the roads back in Ireland. The last time he went out of a rally car before that was in Wales, were he crashed badly and was transfered by helicopter to hospital – luckily unhurt though. Anyway, it must have been a psychological relief for him to manage to do some good testing between the accident and the rally – especially considering what happened with Subaru and that he’s now getting into a totally new car for him. After all the years struggling in problematic Subaru, it will also be really, really interesting to all of us to see how Atkinson can perform in Citroen.

Finally, just as a parenthesis, I think it seems more and more obvious that Atkinson is not planning to do just one rally in Citroen. Considering the fact that he’s launching a new website soon, he has started a Citroen branded YouTube user, he promotes the Australian Citroen dealer in his YouTube movie and other things – it seems unlikely he would do everything just because of a one-time rally. If he’s not doing a full season (except Norway) in the C4 – I at least expect that all rallies he manages to start in this season will be in the Citroen.

Another option for Petter is to use the car only for testing – but that doesn’t seem very likely considering the extra engines and gearboxes he bought. Anyway, let’s assume that Petter will use the car competing in the WRC – at least in Norway.

So, what’s my opinion then? I think his results will very much depend on what gear he has managed to get from Citroen. A Xsara WRC must not be the same as a Xsara WRC – the quality may (as on any other WRC car) vary a lot depending on what parts the car is equipped with.

My own experience of that comes from Daniel Carlsson’s time with Kronos Racing in the Xsara WRC in 2007. After seeing Sebastien Loeb, we all know what a right-fitted Xsara WRC can deliver. For Carlsson in Kronos 2007, exactly the same specification as Sebastien Loeb’s 2006 World Champion car was promised from Citroen/Kronos. However, the car that was delivered was equipped with some parts that weren’t -06 and not even -05 spec. It took a long time before anything was updated, and the car was never even close to the spec of Loeb in 2006. From what I’ve heard, even Manfred Stohl was furious regarding the Xsara WRC delivered from Mr Van Dalen and Guy Frequelin.

So, the Xsara WRC may be a good car – but let’s hope Citroen doesn’t try to trick Petter Solberg. They have their own works team and also their Junior Team to take care of – so I guess Petter Solberg’s Xsara will not have the highest priority – even though he’s a star. Best for himself would probably be if he had his totally own team fitting the car with the best parts available on the market. Let’s hope that’s how it will be – otherwise Petter’s (potential) Xsara WRC experience will be a disappointment.

It’s a long shot – but knowing about Valentino Rossi’s interest in rallying (he has driven a few rallies in the WRC) combined with his good connections to Fiat you can’t avoid to dream about a Fiat superstar team with Petter Solberg and Valentino Rossi.

Will it be true? Probably not, but it’s a sweet dream.

The story goes on….

For me, this means that the header of the article (“Petter can be refused”)  seems a little bit too dramatic and for short it means that Petter can change car until the checkin of the rally, as long as he stays in one of the two classes (or one class if he enters only one, which of course seems most likely since Petter for sure is aiming for to start in the WRC/A8 class). That’s at least how it has been before – in Sweden – and the same rules should apply everywhere.

However, there is one thing I really don’t get here. Eyvind hasn’t even put a press release regarding his drive on his own website? He’s got BrynhildsenTV there, but he hasn’t got any updated news on his new deal!? That’s quite… Strange. I thought he along with the other Norweigan guys were those supermanaged, professional young guns knowing exactly how to play their cards to get on top of the World Rally Championship – at least to know that they wont fall on anything other than pure driving skills. You need to do better, Eyvind!

After this little burst, I just wonder one more thing. Is Brynhildsen still working on the rumoured Lancer WRC05 (with ’07 upgrades) deal for the Norweigan Championship along with MML Sports? If he could manage to secure that, he seems to have done his homework quite well anyway (but why not Super2000?), allowing him to drive both group N and WRC during 2009. The Lancer is a good car and he should be able to perform good in the Norweigan Championship. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t had time to update his website…

However, it’s quite a cheap price for the whole championship. What happened? In fact, Henning’s deal is more golden than you can imagine. Just the day before he announced his plans for 2009, he still thought he would do the season in a Peugeot 307WRC. Then – in the last hours – he got a call from Ford, offering him a drive 50% financed by Stobart (of course this means there will be some Stobart branding on the car), with testing, etc etc.

So, for Henning – that already had a car and just waited for his sponsors to commit – the decision must have been very easy. Switch back to the car he has already used for two years (before he had even left it), but in an even better deal, and save some money and problems. Crystal clear.

Confirmed and potential drivers in Ford are now:

• Mikko Hirvonen
• Jari-Matti Latvala
• Khalid Al-Quassimi
• Matthew Wilson
• Urmo Aava
• Henning Solberg
• Federico Villagra
• (Potentially another 2nd driver in the Munchis team – may still be one of above though)
• Peter van Merksteijn
• Peter van Merksteijn Jr
• Gigi Galli
• Francois Duval
• Petter Solberg (?)

From what I know all these entries except(?) for father and son Merksteijn is to be entered and served by MSport. Seems like a huge job for MSport to drive up to 9-10 drivers per event, but they have previously proved with a lot of entries that they seem to have the capacity.

Let’s now hope that both Galli and Duval get their pieces together!

Now it seems to be true. Sources claim that Atkinson will do no less than 9 rallies in the C4WRC – a deal that is rumoured to be complete. However, with nine rallies already set I would almost be surprised if Atkinson didn’t manage to get together a deal for all twelve rallies in the season.

Let’s wait and see…

Petter himself tells the newspaper that a solution could come today but even in 2 weeks – which would mean to late for the Rally Norway. There are many speculations on what Petter may be doing in England, where a meeting at MSport is probably the most common as well as a rumour about the Ramsport Ford team. However, England is currently hosting the Autosport Show which means that probably most manufacturers are present and the country has a lot of private teams. One example is MME (Mitsubishi Motorsports Europe) – the team that ran the Lancers in the WRC in previous years. That means that speculations are probably quite useless.

• Red Bull has proven to be one of the most loyal of all motorsport sponsors the last few years. They have spent huge amounts of money in both the WRC and the Formula 1 Championship, and if Sandell can impress here – money wont be a problem. Also, long time Red Bull protegee Andreas Aigner has left the team, and that opens for Sandell to be the star driver for Red Bull not only for one year, but for many…
• Super2000 will be the main class in the WRC from 2010 and on. The WRC Super2000 class will be modified with turbocharger etc, but experience from Super2000 will still be a big advantage – and the Red Bull deal now means that Patrik Sandell has two years of full championship experience from two different Super2000 cars. According to Sandell himself, no other driver at all have two years of S2000 experience in a row. No matter what, no driver have driven two different Super2000 cars in competition – and Sandell has done it a lot.
• Sandell drives the PWRC, not the IRC. Most S2000 drivers do the IRC, which is quite logical. However, to get a good start for the WRC 2010 it’s much better to have driven the car in the very same championship. That gives more experience from the rallies used in the championship (some rallies may match in IRC too, for example Monte Carlo, but not as many). Also, the WRC is more attractive to sponsors, and I consider it much more likely for Sandell to meet sponsors willing to spend their money on the WRC in the WRC than in the IRC. It’s not a big secret that the WRC as a true world championship is a lot more prestigeous for a rally driver than the IRC.
• The Skoda Fabia S2000 is a quite new, and interesting, car. Skoda do have quite a lot of experience from the World Rally Championship with their WRC Fabia’s and Octavias, and the factory seems to have high ambitions on supporting motorsport projects. They haven’t been very successful, but they know what it takes and now, when classes are changing, costs are being reduced and everyone starts at zero they have the chance to impress. It seems like one of the best S2000 cars to be in.
• Everyone else is going down – Sandell is going up. Just the fact that Sandell manages to challenge despite a lost contract with Peugeot Sweden and the financial crisis striking at it’s best is a proof of Sandell’s talent to open the right doors.

The PWRC 2009 starts off in Norway, which I guess will be a huge party for Sandell and his sponsors. The season then continues with Cyprus Rally, Rallye de Portugal,Rally Argentina (excluded for Sandell), Rally d’Italia-Sardegna, Acropolis Rally, Repco Rally Australia (excluded for Sandell) and last off Wales Rally GB. If Sandell can manage to get some good testing in the car the season could be really good to him allowing him to shine in the PWRC and most important create a very good platform for the WRC 2010.

Read more at Sandell’s own website, www.patriksandell.com, or Red Bull Rallye, www.redbullrally.com.

Petter could use 2009 to adapt to the Super 2000 cars that will be used in 2010. Will he? No. He wants to compete against his old rivals – and win! That ends the discussion regarding Petter in a S2000 car.

So, going for a WRC car, what’s left?

Subaru Impreza WRC? Yes, that’s a possibility. Petter obviously has good connections with Prodrive and I think he should have a car there, since Prodrive expected him to drive until just before christmas. But I also think that the japanese manufacturer doesn’t want to get Petter Solberg running around the world in their cars – almost like a manufacturer driver. That’s too close to how things were last year, and Subaru has retired since then. That would make the japanese bosses “lose their face”.

Ford Focus WRC? If Petter wanted to rent a car from Malcolm, it would for sure be possible. If Malcolm didn’t have the car – he would build it. The problem is that Petter probably doesn’t want to be driving using the same gear as Henning. Also, Henning is from what I’ve understood first driver in the Stobart team, which means he has got quite high priority. Petter would never go with lower priority than Henning. But anyway, I don’t think he’s willing to risk to lose against Henning in the same car… The Solberg-brothers fight is good PR for Henning – not Petter.

Citroen C4 WRC? Citroen would be a good choice to Petter, but their factory team is full and their team of young drivers too. Added to that, Petter is not a young driver – and more important I don’t know how Citroen can manage to get enough cars. Counting on their M1 and M2 team they should already now have to work quite hard to get cars enough out to the rallies…

Suzuki SX4 WRC? I don’t know if the Suzukis are for rent, and I doubt they are. But if they are, I don’t think Petter is interested. The cars are quite new, a lot of problems still remais and Petter wants to win – not develop a car. So, no…

Mitsubishi Lancer WRC? No, the Lancer is just not good enough for Petter.

Skoda Fabia WRC? No, the Fabia is just not good enough for Petter.

Peugeot 307 WRC? Those cars are run by Bozian, they are for hire – and they have been developed quite a lot since Peugeot left the WRC after 2005. It’s an old car, but I still consider it a fully possible choice for Petter to use in the WRC.

If I were to bet regarding this today, I would put my money on Petter Solberg in a private team using a Bozian run 307WRC.
Am I sure? No, not at all – quite the opposite. But it’s my best shot.

Here follows some pictures of the 307 WRC at Daniel Carlsson’s test in February 2008 in Sweden – a spec that is probably close to what Petter could be driving in 2009.

At the moment, Flodin is having an unintentionally extended christmas break after getting caught speeding by the Swedish police. However, he will get his license back on the 17th of January, so no rallies of the season are in danger.