Well the 2011 WRC season is just around the corner and there are a bunch of changes coming up. New cars, drivers with new teams and more. So, I thought it was a good time to do a quick update on what was going on.
Last week Ford revealed the new livery for the 2011 season for the new Fiesta WRC car. Ford said it is meant to be an aggressive looking livery. It sure looks good to me.
There has been much speculation on the fates of a few drivers and which teams they may end up with for 2011. Petter Solberg contested 2010 as a privateer and showed that he still has what it takes to win even without a team sponsorship. For 2011, Petter will be in a Citroen DS3, but will remain a privateer instead of joining the Citroen Junior team as was speculated. Petter will have the convenience of having access to the Citroen mechanics, but all managerial and logistical support will come from his own people. The Petter Solberg World Rally Team will be applying for manufacturer’s points for this year, so he will be competing against the Citroen and Ford teams for points in those regards.
Dani Sordo has officially joined the new MINI WRC team, confirming his split with Citroen. Sordo will be helping with the development of the car and running a limited schedule for 2011. MINI hopes to run a full WRC schedule in 2012.
The status of the Citroen Junior team seems to be that there won’t be one in 2011. Sordo has left and it is reported that Kimi Raikkonen has started his own WRC team for the 2011 season and will not be running with the Citroen Junior team at all. Kimi will be running under the name Ice 1 Racing Team and it is unclear if he will have enough funds to compete in the full schedule. Most likely he will only be competing in 10 of the 13 events in 2011.
The first event of 2011 is Rally Sweden on February 10-13th. It should be exciting to see the first WRC competition of the new generation of cars, the Fiesta and DS3.
