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.

[IMG]http://motorsport.com/photos/wrc/2005/gen/wrc-2005-gen-tm-0111.jpg[/IMG]

I'm lovin' the rally Australia results for day 1.
Loeb finally had a problem and may be out :)
Petter in the lead, and Atkinson won 4 stages. If he only wouldn't have had problems on one stage he'd be in first or 2nd and not 10th.
The new Ford's are still running.
Poor Pug lost both cars within 4 stages of their last "e;ever"e; rally.

go blue cars!

Oh my god, you mean Loeb can make mistakes! I had no idea. I'll say it again
go blue cars! :D

Wow--Skoda told McRae to push--is that really necessary given his record when he's pushing? :p It's great to see him back on stage though, and Skoda has to be surprised that their car is capable of fighting for a podium :cool:

The results look great so far--Petter just has to score at least one driver's point to take second in the driver's title, but of course a flat out win would be even better and maybe put him in a better mindset for the begining of next year. And I'm grateful for the kangaroo that sacrificed itself to rid the world of a frog-sister car.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Stephanie:
And I'm grateful for the kangaroo that sacrificed itself to rid the world of a frog-sister car. [/QUOTE]apparantly the 'roo he hit didn't make him wreck. He slid off and hit a tree.
Anyone seen Muggy in the last couple days? I bet he could have gone down under, put on a 'roo suit and jumped out in front of Loeb :squash:

Petter is out :(
top 3 are Duval, Harri, Mcrae--go Colin.

Atkinson has been setting some very good times of the past couple of days. At one point he was over 10s faster than Loeb.

Petter's taken 2nd in driver points even with the retirement (one more win than Grohnholm this year). I wonder if he's going to cut his hair before next season.

GGGAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! :banghead:

if its not a kangaroo, its a rock :mad: if its not a rock, its a frog :AR15firing: add in the steering arm failure for Atkinson yesterday, and one can only hope that SWRT has expelled all their bad luck this season and can kick some arse come January.

I was hoping Duval would pull a "e;Duval"e; but looks like he won, Harri 2nd. McCrash drove it into the ground and dnf'd on the second last stage and is out. Atkinson would have won by a mile if not for that one glitch--he was 6sec out of third. :(

New Ford's setting some fast times on the last day although Toni seems to be mia on last 2 ss. If it's reliabe, Marcus could be fast next year in it. Let's hope the new nose brings new luck to the blue cars next season.

[QUOTE]McCrash drove it into the ground and dnf'd on the second last stage and is out[/QUOTE]what are you smoking, Curt? or should i say perscribing for yourself :p at the last service, they tried to change the clutch but something went wrong and they were time-barred.

[QUOTE]Atkinson would have won by a mile if not for that one glitch[/QUOTE]so would Solberg :( it should have been a Subaru 1-2 :(

Beaten by a Lancer, that's gotta hurt! :p

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vtluu:
Beaten by a Lancer, that's gotta hurt! :p [/QUOTE]Something to celebrate.

[IMG]http://www.toshiarai.com/profile/img/toshi_photo.jpg[/IMG]

[i]Japanese Subaru stalwart Toshi Arai said he's delighted to have secured this year's Production World Rally Championship title. The 38-year old sealed the Group N title by winning the Production class on this weekend's Telstra Rally Australia.

The top Mitsubishi driver was Fumio Natahara, who finished fourth in the standings.[/i]

yep, 1-2-3 for the year in GrN :p 1-2 last year, and 1-2-3 in 03 :) gotta love that 6MT ;)

I just hope the WRC car can get some wins next year.

You think Solberg will cut his hair?

he should make a hat out of the scalp of the 'roo he killed

did ya see that Ford signed Hirvonen for the second car next year?  Kinda surprised they picked him over Gardemeister. 

And Atkinson is confirmed for next year at Subaru.

anybody ever hear any news about Suzuki?  Thought they were stepping up next year, but thought I'd see an announcement before now.

[quote]did ya see that Ford signed Hirvonen for the second car next year?[/quote]

idiots.  they'll get what they deserve.  Gardemiester would have been a much better choice IMHO.

A rally was run at Monza last weekend that looks pretty cool. Info here: http://www.monzanet.it/F1_eng/rally.aspx

Pictures on motorsport.com

V. Rossi was there in a 05 spec WRC Subaru and took 2nd over Colin in a Skoda.  First went to Rinaldo Capello also in a Skoda.  Had some cool older Grp A cars there among others.  Rossi must be stupid fast in everything he drives/rides.  I know he's driven rally cars before, but can't be easy to jump in that car and beat all those other drivers.  I think he'll be at Ferrari F1 in 07.

Bud should have gone.

new Ford livery for 06 shown last weekend.  Seems a little busy, but better than this years.

http://motorsport.com/photos/wrc/2005/gen/wrc-2005-gen-tm-0118.jpg

Red Bull to run a WRC team now.  Talk about saturating the racing market.  I like that they're willing to spend the bucks but how long will it last?  As long as they keep selling that nasty-a$$ drink, I guess.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/rally/21096/

Also, they're running the Safari rally for vintage cars this week.  I remember Stephanie mentioning it awhile back.  Check it out here http://www.eastafricansafarirally.com/index.html  Stig's running and of course doing well.  Also found this comment on the old Safari rallies.  I can't even imagine all this testing.  "Bjorn Waldegård /David Cavanagh - S/RI - Porsche 911
"I remember back in the Toyota days the amount of preparation we did for this rally. There would be one month at the end of the year, before Christmas, and then back in January for another month of confirmation tests. Then we'd arrive early for the recce, deciding what we were doing for the rally, as well as doing two full surveys of the route, maybe three. In total, I'd say we did 30,000 kilometres preparation for one Safari Rally, including the event. That's why I got upset at home when people said it was easy for us!"

On the WRC front, a couple of developments:

Poor Loeb has tested the C4 and is having trouble adjusting to the new diff requirements[:O]  I specifically remember McRae mentioning before GB that some of the younger drivers might have trouble with this since the new diffs do so much for the driver (Petter has commented after some testing that he likes the new diffs since it better suits his driving style).

 

Instead of just engines being used for 2 rallies, now it's a combination of requirements on engine, chassis, and diffs: http://www.wrc.com/page/BreakingNewsDetail/0,,10111~753371,00.html  At the very least some serious leaps forward might make it into street cars in the near future under these requirements.