2006 WRC Speculation Thread

[WagonMonster]

Well, the 2005 Season is over, and the Rally Australia left me with a lot of questions.

1. Skoda: They REALLY screwed the pooch when they effed up in service and cost themselves their first podium this year and a great finish for McCrae. Nikki seemed pretty down on the team and seemed to hint that they will not be back next year. Too bad, because I think, if they signed McCrae, they'd do pretty well.

2. Francois Duval: He almost lost his ride due to a ****ty start this season, but he got better in the second half, and he WON Australia. I know he needs a ride next year, I wonder if he'll get one.

3. Subaru: I know Petter will be back next year, and Atkinson had a good season, so he probably will too. But they had wicked-bad luck with their car this year. Will they fix their gremlins enough to take advantage of no French Manufacturers in 2006?

4. Markko Martin: He obviously had a sad and tragic end to his season, but he's still young and a great driver, he also needs a ride for 2006. I wonder where he'll end up.

5. Hyundai: I hear they're coming back for 2006. If they do, that's 2 more rides for a pool of available drivers. It'll be nice to see them back.

So yeah, add your questions, answers, rumors, wild speculation, whatever.

I'm already amped up, and have my reservations for Mexico next year, I can't wait!

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

[jpsimon]

will the private teams be competing in the same televised deal that we see now? if so ill be extremely excited to see that addition to the competition

[WagonMonster]

If the private teams do well, yes, they will got coverage, just look at the 2005 OMV Team with Stohl.

[jpsimon]

how bout a wishlist?


I want live coverage of every day.... i need to find a bar that has satellite feeds from other countries that will show the events or that will never happen

[Jaxx]

1. Skoda: gone
2. Peugeot: gone
3. citroen: gone
4. ford: intersting that they gave up on the end of the 2005 season and ran the 2006 car for the last event
5. Hyundai:hopefully a year of devlopment will make them faster - but not likely
4. subaru: only team with a real budget
5. mitsubishi: has been running a 2006 spec car all year


i suspect the real competition to be between ford/subaru/privateer teams

[Rallycarperson]

Originally Posted by Jaxx

4. ford: intersting that they gave up on the end of the 2005 season and ran the 2006 car for the last event

Ford did this, because they would remain in the same manufacture spot anyways. They probably figured that Australia would be a good test to see how the car will react in race conditions.

I sure hope Subaru will do good in '06, I hope Skoda will remain as a WRC points contender, and hope McRae will get some kind of ride.


~Mark

[slowscooby]

It will be very interesting to see what Petter and Subaru can do with the changing around of teams and drivers. If he can get the car squared away and get a fresh season without pushing too hard, he should do very well.

[IamRascal]

I hope the quality of the television coverage improves. I was not impressed this year. I enjoyed watching the coverage of the New Foundland Targa rally loads more than the coverage they had for WRC.

[Impreza05]

Skoda may drop down a class, Hyundai will be back 2007 so will Citroen

[WRXedUSA]

Skoda-Auto: Who knows.
1. Probably not McRae. I think Nicky and Colin like one offs better than a full assault.
2. Most likely Keep Passonen and Kopecky
3. The team will be there. Superfund by VW. They showed speed, I'm impressed, that is what Muhlheimer wanted all year, to show potential to prove to VW that they should hold on.
4. You have to assume they will enter given thier level of involvment with the Czech Natl Championship.

Subaru World Rally Team: The same
1. Might see Toshi Arai in a car or two at NON-PCWRC scoring events a-la 2001 for reward of his 2005 PCWRC win (congrats mang!)
2. I think we will see Sarrazin with the test team w/ Pasi Hagstrom more in 2006 in Pirelli-sponsored tire development.

Ford M-Sport: Who knows
1. Likely Gronholm
2. I bet Martin shows up (asphalt 2004 wins, Corsica, Catalunya)
3. Garde and Hirvonen most likely sharing a 3rd car. Both have done well, developed nicely. Hirvonen will bring the Ponsse sponsorship if a 3rd car will run.
4. Kresta is gone. He hasnt done crap this year

Kronos Citroen: This will be a superfunded allstar team
1. Loeb (Playstation 2 sponsor)
2. Duval (Aquamass Sponsor)
3. Rovanpera and/or Stohl (OMV sponsor bearer)

Bozian Peugeot:
1. Danni Carlsson
2. Duval? Robert?
3. Henning Solberg?

RED Motorsports (Subaru)
1. They put together a few rallies before Olsbergs pulled the plug in Finland. I bet thier prepping of GroupA8 cars will garner a few rides if a driver can bring in sponsorship.

Mitsubishi Motorsports
1. Galli in the #1 car. He will shine with the new diff rules
2. Daniel Sola and or Xavier Pons will get a few rides in the #3 car.
3. Rovanpera or Panizzi trading off again #2. Gilles is getting the shaft lately, so who knows.

[WagonMonster]

Originally Posted by WRXedUSA

Ford: Who knows
1. Likely Gronholm

Definitely Gronholm, he signed with them

[AdvanSTI]

i can't wait to see Markus Gronholm behind the wheel of the focus. i think hes going to rip it up next year. the ford doesnt have all the handleing problems like the peugeot. i have a feeling its going to be alot of 1,2 petter/markus. and am i the only noticing how much faster gigi is getting? mitsubishi has been progressing slowly throughout the year and i expect big things from them next year.

and wth is skoda's problem? Colin performed very nicely. they need to sign him so they can actually be a contender. maybe skoda can re-recruit tommi makinen (all though it'll never happen)

and whats up with hyundai? are they coming back in 2006, or 2007 ?

[SparkysJDMSpeedWagon]

Hyundai is coming back in 2006? I thought I'd heard that Suzuki was coming back...maybe both teams are entering?

[steev]

Xavi Pons is going to be part of the Kronos team, so I doubt that Duval will end up there. Although I think it would be nice. I think he might end up with Oreca in a Xsara if him and Frequelin can work some type of deal for 2007.

Markko will be back at Ford, as he never really got used to the 307. Unless Subaru is smart enough to snag him again.

I think the guy to watch will be Rovanpera with Mitsubishi next year. He has already said that he was close to a deal with them for 2006. I think Galli is also going to do well with them next year. Now, when it comes to Panizzi, I say game over. He may be lucky to stay on the payroll as a test driver.

I think Skoda will go away, even though they have strong backing from VW (since that's what Skodas really are). I always thought it was a mistake to enter a brand that is only marginally popular in Europe, into a world-followed championship. But hey, I am no marketing expert. Maybe Audi will be back someday... ah ah ah!

Bozian will use some leftover 307s and probably do only a few rallies, so I don't see any serious drivers interested in that.

[Yotsuya]

I always got the impression Skoda was more a shoestring operation that VW didn't want to fund the way Ford, Subaru, and others do for their teams.

I'm starting to be more interested in Group N with its cars being closer to what you can get out of the showroom; it's partly why rallies appeal to me in the first place. Citroen can with the WRC as many times as they like, but what good is it if I can't get an all wheel drive Xsara?

[psg]

Does anyone have an exact list of what the mechanical changes are to the cars for the 06 season? I seem to remember something about changing to mechanical diffs and less electronics in general, but I can't find anything to back that up.

I'm curious as to how much slower the 06-spec cars will be to the 05-spec, if at all. Which also leads to the question, why was Ford so fast in Australia while using an "06-spec" car?

[06WRXTR]

well they outlawed water injection, which sucks, because water injection offered them great realiablity, so now they have to go back to R&D to design motors that can last....some say they might go N/A instead of turbo. I just hope all the teams will come back...it wont be WRC w/o Peugeot/Citroen/Skoda

[XenoWolf]

I hope the Subaru/Mitsubishi battle can heat up again... that's always fun to watch. It's a shame that Peugeot and Citroen pulled out for next year, but it'll be interesting to watch Loeb work it with the privateer team.

My speculations:

Petter hits a taco in Mexico
Petter hits a bowl of pasta in Italy
Petter hits an insane Volkswagen engineer in Germany

[WagonMonster]

Petter hits a Kiwi Fruit in New Zealand
Petter hits a Sushi Bar in Japan
Petter hits a Swedish Meatball in Sweden

[Impreza01]

I thought Suzuki had thoughts of joining

[WRXedUSA]

Originally Posted by WagonMonster

Petter hits a Kiwi Fruit in New Zealand
Petter hits a Sushi Bar in Japan
Petter hits a Swedish Meatball in Sweden

if you remember, he did get hit by a spectator car in 2003 in sweden that pulled an asshat maneuver on him on the way to the first stage.

I can't tell who has worse luck, Mark Higgins or Solberg

[10th Warrior]

I can't tell who has worse luck, Mark Higgins or Solberg

World Titles: Higgins 0, Solberg 1.

i think we've found your answer

[WagonMonster]

Originally Posted by 10th Warrior

World Titles: Higgins 0, Solberg 1.

i think we've found your answer

Ding Ding Ding

And it was only this year that Petter had bad luck.

[culturedetox]

As far fetched as it sounds, but AUDI may enter 2008 or 2009. With their LeMan's R8 program at its end, AUDI will be looking to market their Quattro system again. what a better place to do it in what made quattro legendary.

It could be possible with VW remaking the corrado, an AUDI coupé with a rally race program couldn't be that far off of an idea.. but still, just rumors, hear-say and hopefull wishing.

[psg]

Audi's R8 program is over, but they're coming right back with another LMP car. They will be at Le Mans in 2006 with a brand new car IIRC. I doubt that Audi really wants to get back into rally anyhow.