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Post by FordTeamRS on Dec 27, 2008 0:01:24 GMT
I think it's more to the point he's chasing down a drive for a Subaru that makes it more difficult for him. I'm not sure if Subaru have released Petter from his contract, but I think he'd be better off in a Ford or Citroen despite the fact they're as common as a cold.
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Post by Nick McRae on Dec 27, 2008 12:18:10 GMT
Yeah I've no idea why he's so desperate to get into a Subaru. If you gonna have to get funding like he is you want a proven winner so that all that hard work getting funding isn't wasted, so it has to be a Focus or a C4.
They might be very common as Rob says but in the right hands they are going to go well. Maybe Petter wants a Subaru because he's concerned he's lost some speed himself? If he got a Ford or Citroen and was off the pace it wouldn't be the cars fault... so if he keeps in a Subaru the car takes the blame.
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Post by FordTeamRS on Dec 27, 2008 13:53:10 GMT
I wonder if Gronholm thought he was getting rusty when he struggled with the 307. Of course, we all know what Gronholm was capable of behind the wheel of the Focus. I don't think Petter's forgotten how to win a rally. And what's up with the rumours of Henning Solberg looking to drive a 307 WRC next year with Bozian!? Easily my favourite silly season rumour so far. www.rallybuzz.com/henning-solberg-bozian-307-wrc-2009/
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Post by Vivski on Dec 27, 2008 14:08:56 GMT
"Henning Solberg believed to have signed (or is about to sign) with Bozian, but may yet be in an M-Sport Focus for 2009"Most, inconclusive, title, ever!
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Post by tfliprex on Dec 27, 2008 19:26:27 GMT
I guess Petter is trying to do something about his contract with Subaru so he may jump to the Adapta team. Flip
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Post by Roo on Dec 28, 2008 0:04:37 GMT
And what's up with the rumours of Henning Solberg looking to drive a 307 WRC next year with Bozian!? Easily my favourite silly season rumour so far. It's not that silly, you just have to read into a bit further, past all the typical "rally fan" speculation. Ignore the 307WRC bit, it's the team that is the interesting part... Now. Although FHI has ordered SWRT to quit the WRC, Prodrive are still in a position to serve their customers. One of their customers is Adapta. So in regards to Petter, he has three options at this point.
1. Join Mads Ostberg at Adapta and drive Subaru, 2. Quit WRC, pursue other interests, 3. Join up with Henning.
Now that last option might sound a bit odd, but with Henning out of a drive at Ford, he has been in talks with Bozian Racing. Now until recently, Bozian only had Peugeot WRC cars, i.e. the 307. Probably not the best car to go rallying with at the highest level. However, Mitch has told me that Bozian have recently acquired two Citroen C4's... Remember that the 307WRC is now close to four years old, and would certainly not be competitive at the highest level. A Citroen C4 that is one year old however, can still be relatively competitive. So at this point, I think the two likely scenarios are going to be that Petter will either: o Drive with Mads Ostberg at Adapta Subaru, or o Drive a Citroen C4 with Henning By the Way... Just be wary that rallybuzz.com isn't an official website. Most of the time, it is just news articles that react directly to rumours from the motorsportforums website. Although a lot of rumours from motorsportforums do turn out to be true, there a lot of typical dodgy ones as well.
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Post by FordTeamRS on Dec 28, 2008 3:08:36 GMT
The C4 as part of the deal makes much more sense then. Would be pretty mad to see Petter join his brother in a C4 as well, I'm quite keen to get rid of my signature
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Post by Hurricane on Dec 28, 2008 12:49:19 GMT
I'm sure Petter is allowed to jump into new teams, although he has the contract with Subaru. If I'm not mistaken, Chris Atkinson has a contract too, but he'll drive a Citroën C4 next season. And a rumour I picked up on Belgian rally forums: Urmo Aava established a program in which he will drive 8 rallies of the 2009 season in a Ford Focus WRC. And it is also rumoured that there is a possibility that the rally of Portugal won't be run in the WRC. The organisation is said to be unable to find the needed budget, due to sponsors having pulled out and debts from last year's edition.
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Post by Nick McRae on Dec 28, 2008 14:33:00 GMT
Vodafone sponsored Rally Portugal didn't they? They arn't renewing a lot of sponsorhsip deals, the England cricket sponsorship for one.
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sarah
Chief Marshall
Posts: 79
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Post by sarah on Dec 28, 2008 20:37:17 GMT
I'm sure Petter is allowed to jump into new teams, although he has the contract with Subaru. If I'm not mistaken, Chris Atkinson has a contract too, but he'll drive a Citroën C4 next season. Yep, but Petter is contracted to Subaru till end '09 whereas Chris is contracted to Prodrive till end '09. I think we've talked about this before... But they may have different stipulations. This would be why Petter flew to Japan to discuss his situation with the bosses, while Chris would only have to turn up at Prodrive to sort his situation. That really sucks about the sponosrship deals. It may be an even quieter season than we thought!
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Post by Will on Dec 28, 2008 20:54:55 GMT
SOLBERG RELEASED FROM SUBARU “Petter Solberg and Subaru have agreed that Petter Solberg is free to enter any brand of the car he elects for participation in the WRC in 2009 and beyond. Petter Solberg will use the nearest future to sort out the possibilities to re-enter the WRC for 2009.” Source - www.pettersolberg.com/html/
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Post by Nick McRae on Dec 29, 2008 14:26:25 GMT
No surprise he's been released from the contract, they could hardly keep him under contract when they have nothing to offer him! However the fact that the press release says he is free to enter in any brand of car could indicate he already has a plan or offe ron the table for Team Solberg. Question is will he drive for free or will he want paying?
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Post by tfliprex on Dec 30, 2008 16:04:49 GMT
I'm actually looking forwards to see the Proton Satria Neo S2000 in action. After all the youtube videos I've seen of it, I did a search about Proton, and I had no idea that it is the Malaysian national automobile manufacturer. It acquired a 63.75% share in Lotus Group International Limited and also holds Cagiva motorcycles under it's aquisition titles.
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sarah
Chief Marshall
Posts: 79
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Post by sarah on Dec 30, 2008 18:59:16 GMT
There are a couple of Proton models that I really like that I found while I was in Malaysia in October. This one: Was the APRC Co-ordinator's wheels for the week, pictured here at the Johor Track where all the containers were. A Proton Persona. You're missing a big thing Flip, a bunch of the cars that Proton pump out are based on Mitsubishi's. A bit of a re-badging deal. The old Satria is of course, a Mitsubishi Mirage. But the new model, the Satria Neo has a Lotus-engineered engine and very individual styling. Anyway, the s2000 version is my favourite of the new spec cars (having not seen any in action).
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Post by Hurricane on Dec 30, 2008 20:12:06 GMT
Indeed, Proton has always had the same cars as Mitsubishi: The Proton Pert is just like a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo:
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