ok, this is kinda long, but there's quite a bit of news about next year.
as reported on motorsport.com:
Rally Catalunya started out with a bang on Thursday -- not during the Shakedown stage, but in the news arena. Citroen, who is currently chasing their third World Rally Championship manufacturers' title, started off the fireworks with an announcement that they will return to competition in 2007.
PSA Peugeot Citroen had announced, as the 2004 season came to a close, that they would withdraw from WRC competition at the end of the 2005 season "e;due to tougher conditions in the car market"e;.
At that time, the parent company stated that both of the sister marques would announce their future endeavors in the world of racing at a later time. In June, Peugeot's Managing Director Frederic Saint-Geours announced that the French firm would develop a prototype sportscar to compete in the Le Mans Endurance Series with an eye on the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007.
Yesterday, Citroen announced that they will return to the fold with a new WRC car based on the C4 Coupe, which is currently under development. The reason why was simple, according to current team principal Guy Frequelin.
And to add salt to the wounds already given over the past three years by the dominating French-based factory team, they have retained the services of Frequelin.
The question remains where will Sebasiten Loeb land? Rumours already had Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena driving for a privateer effort in 2006 in a Citroen Xsara WRC.
Frequelin gave a hint to Loeb's future, "e;The contract with Sebastien at this time is a gentleman's agreement."e;
"e;There are four teams under consideration -- Piedrafita, PH Sport, Oreca and Kronos. The two which have the technological capacity at the moment are Kronos and Oreca,"e; said Frequelin on the teams being considered for next year's effort. "e;Obviously we were waiting for the definitive decision on 2007 before making a decision on the team. The decision will be made not later than the end of next week."e;
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The World Motor Sport Council met on Wednesday in Rome on decisions that have caused a bit of stir and at the same time positive thoughts amongst the teams. Citroen already showcased their pleasure in the cost-cutting agreements with a commitment on the future.
Subaru's Luis Moya commented on the new calendar for future years beginning in 2007 and how the summer break will affect his team. "e;I think the idea of a break in the middle of the season is good. The only thing I'd say is that I'd like to see it in August.
With regards to the points, the following step were taken:
* In order to score points in the Championship, each manufacturer must take part with two cars of the same make in all the event rallies.
* The driver of the first car should remain the same throughout the season. The driver of the second car may be changed for each of the rallies in the Championship.
* In order to be classified at the end of the season, a manufacturer must have competed in all the rallies.
* The 2007 season will be made up of eight or nine rallies run from January to May. The World Champion for each of the titles will be known at the end of that period. The 2008 season will be run over two calendar years, beginning in August 2007 and ending in May 2008.
"e;I think it's a good idea,"e; Moya said on the short 2007 season. "e;If we're trying for a winter series then we're moving away from Formula 1, which is a good idea. The only problem that I see is that the situation of rallies now is very healthy -- we have 16 rallies and at least eight interested in getting into the championship. We have 24 countries interested in rallies, which I don't think has ever happened before. We need to find a way of getting those rallies into the championship."e;
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In a surprise move by Mitsubishi, Galli received the nod to score points for the team over Panazzi who is considered an asphalt ace. Yet, Galli has the ability to sort out the Lancer and with the problems they endured at the recent Tour de Corse event last weekend, the team is concentrating on the future more so than the present.
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Today was the final shakedown run for the current Ford Focus WRC. Amongst the Ford entries, Toni Gardemeister set the best time as Ford bids farewell in Corsica to the current model.
The new Focus RS WRC will debut at the season finale in Australia for what the BP-Ford World Rally Team considers to be a major "e;actual event test"e; prior to the new car's official introduction in 2006.
Based on the Focus ST road car, the team ran a three-day test on gravel recently in England. The car completed nearly 500 kilometres. On Tuesday, they ran a one-day 220km test.
04 WRX
84 RX7 IT7
99 Expedition
03 M5