WRC | Citroen Withdraw From World Rally With Immediate Effect

[FinFan]

Indeed, he had an opt-out clause. It was performance-based though the details are not known.

Thanks for the info. Now it begs the question if Toyota came to him first offering him a seat after analysing the situation or if Ogier pulled the trigger without knowing he would land safe and well. Ultimately it doesn't matter, Manufactures come and go in any series.

 

[Deleted member 379375]

Quite easy to spot who doesn't follow WRC at all.

Since 2017 WRC has been in a amazing spot. With 2018 being one of the best season WRC has ever had, if not the best one. And just look at some of the highlights of this season, how is this motorsport "boring" ? :

Now on the subject of citroën.
They have done everything to sabotage themselves for a few years now, they were just a shadow of their past glory.
And if Ogier didn't sign with them at the end of last year you can bet they would have left immediatly.
The brand (or more likely Linda Jackson) was looking for an exit door for a while now.

Also just a quick note, it's kinda sad too only see articles related to WRC here when it's associated with bad news or to a F1 driver.
There were 0 articles about Tanäk title this year despite a nail biting season...

With those cars it looks like a typical school run

 

[DrRob]

The WRC Cars are just expensive prototypes. They should create a new class similar to the 90s WRC (that were modified street cars.... or at least less prototypes than now). 2010 was the last interesting year in my opinion.

R5 aka WRC2?

 

[Raymond 18]

The main problem is - as for the WEC championship and especially Le Mans - when a manufacturer is coming to a discipline, it will spend many $$$ and will leave abruptly leaving behind it confusion.
Won't it be more a more long-term strategy to limit as possible the costs? Because you can't prevent manufacturers to 'invade' disciplines of course but you can help private teams to do competition with them at - almost- equals arms.

 

[cangrejin]

I am following the wrc, since 2016. Each season is much better than the last. every year is much more challenging ...If you watch the videos, they will know that they already surpassed Group B in speed ... (not in limits ... that group b was unlimited in mechanics)

as many said here: it is easy to know who did not watch the 2017-2019 seasons carefully ... (boring? ... LOL)
I only regret the exit of citroen ... and I am very sorry that in 2022 it is hybrid ... it is already the last "fortress" of the "noisy" engine.


.. and as my final opinion ... the era of group A 1991
(ONLY that year) was by far the best.
-lancia delta hf (old vercion) vs toyota celica gt four (old vercion)
-Kankkunen/piironen vs Sainz/Moya the final battle
-kankkunen finally won the "1000 lakes"
- fight for the championship until the last round
-Last drivers championship won by Lancia
-Last year of lancia as a team
-first victory of the "kkk" championship in lancia

...Everything changed after that.

 

[Ceolmor]

Well Peugeot left WEC when they entered RX, now Citroën of PSA group leaves Rally so Peugeot can go back to WEC...in 2022. That's how it works.

Complicated by the proposed merger of PSA group with Fiat group. How about a return to rallying for Lancia?

 

[Celestiale]

I always wondered why here are so few posts about WRC. By now, WRC is the only motor sport i am still following, which means quite a lot. I think this season was the best WRC season for 10-15 years.

As for Citroen..they just had a crap car and didn't see any way to catch Hyundai or Toyota in the following years. They could either play backmarkers for the next years to go or just leave. I guess with their head-high mentality, leaving was the only option now. I don't feel sorry for Citroen, never symphatized with them. But only two main manufacturers with Ford via Msport as third car are not ideal for the season. I hope there are others going to join when the hybrid era starts..probably plenty of manufacturers already engineering hybrid rally cars to get a good start by then.

 

[Celestiale]

and I am very sorry that in 2022 it is hybrid ... it is already the last "fortress" of the "noisy" engine.

Why are you sorry for hybrid? You do know what a hybrid engine is, do you? The petrol engine will stay the same, they only get an electric engine in addition (for additional power and emission free driving between the stints). The cars will stay just as loud.

 

[Jonny Austin]

I used to follow rallying in the 80s.I watched live,standing a metre away from the Group B Quattros,205 T16s,Lancia S4s & 6R4s doing 100mph & everything after that in rallying gradually became boring & controlled.

WRC would be 100% improved if they adopted the TCR class cars,made them RWD only & had 400HP.The current cars have way to much grip & traction.

 

[Turk]

I don't get Citroen sometimes. They take part in racing but then don't put that racing heritage to use in the range of cars they sell to the public.

All they seem to care about now is SUVs and soccer moms. They make quirky looking cars that are kind of dull.

I have a 2005 Citroen C4 van and I actually love the thing. It's like the little van that could, I abused that car for 13 years and it took everything I threw at it. I have it in a shed now, I became emotionally attached to it and hope I can do something to give it a new lease of life some day.

 

[flykas]

I used to follow rallying in the 80s.I watched live,standing a metre away from the Group B Quattros,205 T16s,Lancia S4s & 6R4s doing 100mph & everything after that in rallying gradually became boring & controlled.

WRC would be 100% improved if they adopted the TCR class cars,made them RWD only & had 400HP.The current cars have way to much grip & traction.

But isn't it exciting to watch them trying to push the limits? You would want them to keep driving funny cars with no grip? I understand that it is funny to watch, but it is really amazing what they are able to do with current gen cars.

 

[Ross McGregor]

WRC has been fantastic the past 3 seasons. The cars are simply insane, and so are the drivers!

Looks like the beginning of the end for this era of WRC though. Really disappointing, but i guess these cars are unsustainable. Look at the number of privateers that have a modern WRC- i’ve counted only 2 Fords in private hands, but nothing else springs to mind.

Citroen just couldn’t make a good car, so this was their get-out opportunity.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

R5 aka WRC2?

Yup, slap some generic hybrid system on R5's and call that WRC. WRC 2 can be R5 without hybrid.

But isn't it exciting to watch them trying to push the limits? You would want them to keep driving funny cars with no grip? I understand that it is funny to watch, but it is really amazing what they are able to do with current gen cars.

While it is amazing, and I know that Rally Sweden is a bit unique. I must admit it's not that amazingly much more awesome to watch the new WRC cars compared to the top R5 drivers. Yes they look quite impressive, and they are faster, but it's not like the R5's are boring to watch.
And I am very much aware of the hypocrisy that I find it boring with so few WRC cars, but that's more because it feels somewht pointless.

Looks like the beginning of the end for this era of WRC though. Really disappointing, but i guess these cars are unsustainable. Look at the number of privateers that have a modern WRC- i’ve counted only 2 Fords in private hands, but nothing else springs to mind.

4 private Fiestas. OT Racing (The old Østberg/Prokop one), Bertelli, A random Italian team (not Bertelli) and Janpro (Janne Tuohino). That's the privateer cars.

 

[Incredible Hulk]

Quite easy to spot who doesn't follow WRC at all.

Since 2017 WRC has been in a amazing spot. With 2018 being one of the best season WRC has ever had, if not the best one. And just look at some of the highlights of this season, how is this motorsport "boring" ? :

Now on the subject of citroën.
They have done everything to sabotage themselves for a few years now, they were just a shadow of their past glory.
And if Ogier didn't sign with them at the end of last year you can bet they would have left immediatly.
The brand (or more likely Linda Jackson) was looking for an exit door for a while now.

Also just a quick note, it's kinda sad too only see articles related to WRC here when it's associated with bad news or to a F1 driver.
There were 0 articles about Tanäk title this year despite a nail biting season...

Watching this "security camera quality videos" it's obvious that this great sport has TV presentation and marketing problems. I see they are working on things like WRC LIVE TV and hopefully drones and onboard cameras quality will improve.
I mean, right now, watching Dirt Rally or RBR replays looks waaaaaay better

 

[MrLonguinha]

Maybe in the near future, we have the return of Italian multi-champion Lancia, who knows the Japanese Subaru and Mitsubishi, and a German, Audi ?? It doesn't hurt to dream ..

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Nice, so many comments on a WRC thread. Hope more news gets posted in the future. This is by far the biggest thread discussing this subject I have seen anywhere.

Here's a pic I took at Rally Argentina 2019. These cars are awesome. Would be a shame to lose them, but then again if they're unsustainable in the long-term then changes are inevitable.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Pleased to see how popular this rally thread has been.... something I've never really covered in the past.

Happy to post more news on the series going forward if the community has an appetite for it?

No idea why I haven't covered it in the past tbh, a case of too much to do, too little time to do it I suppose! Will rectify that going forward - more WRC news on RD FTW

P

 

[aka2k]

I liked the privateers teams from eons ago. WRC was so much fun before the big car makers took it and shaped it.

 

[cangrejin]

Nice, so many comments on a WRC thread. Hope more news gets posted in the future. This is by far the biggest thread discussing this subject I have seen anywhere.

Here's a pic I took at Rally Argentina 2019. These cars are awesome. Would be a shame to lose them, but then again if they're unsustainable in the long-term then changes are inevitable.

View attachment 335651

sos de argentina o fuiste a ver el rally?

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

sos de argentina o fuiste a ver el rally?

I live in Bariloche. Drove 1000 miles to Córdoba. First time I went since 2003.