A few weeks ago, I revealed that Nasser al-Attiyah negotiated with Skoda to get a Fabia Super2000 and compete a full PWRC season this year. His co-driver would be Tina Thörner, who would make a beloved comeback in the WRC after quite some years away just competing in rally raid. That was said to me by sources very close to Tina (so close that I’m almost totally sure they weren’t wrong). She also made no secret about it after the Dakar when she told the press that Nasser was looking to to the PWRC – and that she would co-drive. According to my sources, there have been problems delivering cars from Skoda but it seems like Nasser will finally get his Fabia, although nothing is clear.

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.