OffRoad Motor Sports *spoiler*

[Jonzu95]

I'm really interested what teams are coming in 1-2 years...

All I know, is that in 2011, There will be 2 or 3 Teams

- Ford
- Citroen
- Mini (Not sure)

There is lots of other manufacturers, example: Skoda, Fiat, Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Subaru & Proton. Hopefully we can see some of those in 2012.

[Lukeno94]

Subaru don't really have a 1600-size car to use, they'd have to use an Impreza and be at a disadvantage.

[Mad Dan]

Teams in 2011 WRC

Manufacturers teams competing in teams/manufacturers championship
Citroen Total WRT - Citroen DS3 WRC
Sebastien Loeb - Daniel Elena
Sebastien Ogier - Julien Ingrassia

BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Mikko Hirvonen - Jarmo Lehtinen
Jari-Matti Latvala - Miika Anttila
Khalid Al-Quassimi - Michael Orr

MINI - MINI Countryman WRC
Kris Meeke - Paul Nagle
Dani Sordo - Diego Vallejo
MINI is going to make their 1st start at Sardegna or Portugal Rally and 8-10 other rallies.

Citroen Junior Team - Citroen DS3 WRC
Peter Van Merkstejin Jr. - TBA
TBA - TBA
Citroen should confirm 2nd driver in late January.

Stobart M-Sport WRT - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Henning Solberg - Ilka Minor
Matthew Wilson - Scott Martin

Munchi´s Ford WRT - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Federico Villagra - Jorge Perez Companc

FERM Power Tools World Rally Team - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Dennis Kuipers - Frederic Miclotte

Other major entries not registred as manufacturers
Monster WRT - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ken Block - Alex Gelsomino

Adapta WRT - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Mads Ostberg - Jonas Andersson

Van Merkstejin Motorsport - Citroen DS3 WRC
Peter Van Merkstejin Sr. - TBA

Petter Solberg World Rally Team - Citroen DS3 WRC
Petter Solberg - Chris Patterson
there is possibility that this will be manufaturers team

ICE 1 Racing - Citroen DS3 WRC
Kimi Raikkonen - Kaj Lindstroem

Brazil World Rally Team - MINI Countryman WRC
Daniel Oliveira - Carlos Magalhaes


Other not confirmed entries
Armindo Araujo - MINI Countryman WRC (At least at Rally Portugal but I think he is going to do few more rallies too.)
Janne Tuohino - Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Rally Finland for sure, maybe few more too, depends on money)
Pieter Tsojen - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Martin Prokop - Ford Fiesta RS WRC/MINI Countryman WRC, he tested both in Decembre, maybe he will continue with Fiesta S2000 in SWRC
Nasser Al-Attiyah - Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Jevgeni Novikov - tested both Fiesta and DS3, price will decide

New Manufacturers?
MINI is going to race few rallies in 2011 and in 2012 they will be at all rallies.
Saab is considering about WRC.
VW group is most likely to join WRC, surely with car based on current Škoda Fabia S2000 with 1,6T engine and different silhouette. Audi or VW. maybe Škoda but who knows.
Toyota is also thinking about Corolla S2000 which can be easily upgraded on WRC
General Motors - Opel Corsa

Subaru, Suzuki nad Mitsubishi will not build new WRC, Subaru and Mitsubishi will keep in N4/R4 class.
Peugeot is going to stay in S2000 category because PSA already has WRC.
Fiat abandoned Punto S2000 and is not going to build WRC.
Proton is small birtish group of engeniers, not even supported by manufacturer (yes, they have name but only limited budget....). They are going to stay in IRC.
Škoda is going to compete in few rallies IRC (Zlín, Ypres, Monte Carlo,......) and in SWRC .

[Mad Dan]

Possible designs of Ford Fiesta

[Jonzu95]

And here is possibly Loeb's Car...

[Mad Dan]

this isn´t possible this was announced as an official livery for 2011 already . Ford hasn´t revealed their designs (only car) . And these pictures posted by me are just ideas of fans made in photoshop...

[1nsane]

Has Opel dropped their S2000 class car? Weren't they supposed to be doing one from a Corsa?

[Lukeno94]

Opel/Vauxhall haven't consistently made an effort anywhere since the Group B days.

[Mad Dan]

There was Opel Corsa S2000, I think just two cars ever made. It raced few times in 2009 and the project was based on the simmilar base as MG S2000 and Proton Satria Neo. As far as I know this car isn´t competing anywhere. It hadn´t succes even when it wasdriven by Toni Gardemeister and Andreas Mikkelsen.

First car was in Hankook Team and second did 3 rallies in Greece .

http://www.s2000rally.com/car-detail.php?car=160
http://www.s2000rally.com/car-detail.php?car=151

[Alonsomania]

Opel/Vauxhall haven't consistently made an effort anywhere since the Group B days.

Corsa S1600, Astra Group N.


Van Merkesteijn to Citroen and Kuipers driving for Ford, great!

[Mad Dan]

Yeah these are really wealthy guys . Sadly I think that Van Merkstejin is not fast enough to keep the pace of the others from factory drivers , even M.Wilson is lot better....
But Kuipers has some potential and he already raced in Fiesta S2000 which is really close to WRC.

[Lukeno94]

Opel/Vauxhall haven't consistently made an effort anywhere since the Group B days.

Corsa S1600, Astra Group N.


Van Merkesteijn to Citroen and Kuipers driving for Ford, great!

Corsa S1600 was part of my point, they put in a lot of effort into making the car, then pulled out before it could get the results it promised, and Group N Astra? Never heard of it, I did research on the cars and didn't find one before, I know of the F2 Astra, and that was about as half-baked as the S1600 Corsa attempt, except the Corsa was a well-developed car.

[The Noose]

Probably one of the most famous rally videos.

[Mad Dan]

New design for factory team Škoda Motorsport for 2011 . (green-white one)
At Monte Carlo Rallye there will be 4 drivers in Škoda Motorsport: Juho Hanninen, Jan Kopecký, Freddy Loix and Nicolas Voullioz. Andreas Mikkelsen is going to compete with Škoda UK and Mark Wallanwein in Škoda Auto Deutchland Team. It is most likely that Loix and Kopecký will race for Škoda Motorsport in few other races in IRC 2011 (Tour de Corse, Barum Rally Zlín, Ypres Rally,.....). Mikkelsen will race more with Škoda UK approximately 10 races. Hanninen is going to appear only at Barum Rally Zlín.

Also Juho Hanninen and Hermann Gassner Jr. are going to compete in SWRC 2011 with Red Bull Škoda Rally Team. With this design (Blue-silver-green-red one)

[1nsane]

Oh wow, that factory team livery looks soo nice. Even though I'm against having the cheezy rallye stickers on a normal road car, I wouldn't mind that look on a Fabia.

The Red Bull on the other hand...

[Mad Dan]

Yes that one is ugly . Too many colours but I still hope they will change it

[1nsane]

Yeah, and there are colors that don't really fit together... Dark/dirty green and dark blue don't really mix together too well. But no matter, the most important thing is to have the cars rolling! (Not literally) Let's hope Hänninen will get some good results.

[Mad Dan]

I updated my post about WRC 2011

also here are photos from test of Škoda Motorsport and design of Guy Wilks (Peugeot UK) for Rallye Monte Carlo 2011.
Full gallery here

I simply can´t wait for Monte Carlo . Did you knew Petter Solberg will race there?

[Mad Dan]

official for design for WRC 2011

[The Noose]

Looks good.

One of the greatest talents in the history of rallying.

[Mad Dan]

First photos of MINI without camouflage . And Citroen tests before sweden rally 2011. I just can´t wait .

[1nsane]

I guess I will never get used to that Mini being used in Rallying. It just is so weird to see it sliding on gravel.

[Mad Dan]

My guess is that mini will be extremely uncompetetive and mini team will leave after season 2012 .
Yes it is not the most beatiful rally car at all

Funny fact about MINI: It is not "mini" at all, it is about 10 cm longer than Fiesta WRC and DS3 WRC . In fact mini is biggest WRC now

[Martyn]

Mini has such a strong rally history, and the team is being run by Prodrive, the same team that were behind Subaru's WRC effort. I can't see Mini being that far off the pace in 2012

[Martyn]

Just found this

http://wrc.com/video/browse-all/wrc-201 ... riverid=-1