WRC '16 - Who deserves to be there?

It's a point of much debate right now, this WRC driver lineup business, and despite the deadlines for team entries looming ever larger, there are still gaps in our knowledge. I'm done with speculating now, having been utterly oblivious to the possibility that Citroen might have a year's sabbatical while concentrating on developing their WRC 2017 weapon.

Not that I'm kicking myself too much about missing such a possibility - it seems that nobody had picked that eventuality, despite at least a few rally pundits having actual sources and inside info yet still being none the wiser. And let's face it, none of the other teams have felt the need to bin the 2016 season so that their '17-spec car could be competitive, so what Citroen has decided probably has factors influencing decisions other than simply car development. But as I said at the outset, I don't wish to speculate.

Citroen's bombshell was followed up a couple of days later by M-Sport's own eye-opener. While we've been aware of Ott Tanak being supplementary to requirements next season, we still hadn't seen anything from Malcolm to suggest who would fill that role. Now we know. Both Tanak and Evans have been given the shove and their places filled with Mads Ostberg and Eric Camilli. While Mads's appointment wasn't a surprise to many, Camilli's was. And it's there that this season takes a turn for the very interesting.

M-Sport's announcement of the 2016 team lineup was short of a fairly crucial piece of info - who's paying for this. And the fact that no major sponsor has been announced is evidence that there isn't one. So how does one go about affording to run a podium winning operation without somebody footing the rather hefty bill that such an undertaking requires? The answer is that you don't. Which in turn means that to fulfill M-Sport's stated aim of winning rallies next season, something it wasn't able to achieve in 2015, the Cumbrian coffers will have a dosh injection of significant proportions despite that notable lack of sponsorship announcement.

It so happens that Mads is well connected in terms of the folding stuff, mainly through his family's enterprise, and no doubt bringing with him the funds to support a further year in the top level of the WRC has solved a problem that Malcolm was facing in terms of both a competitive steerer and the thorny issue of paying for him. Somewhat akin to what I posited in my last blog post... a Discount Top Gun. And if you carefully read that particular post, I suggested that an Enthusiastic Young Gun who would drive for free for the experience and exposure would likely be the perfect partner. Not that I was thinking about Camilli when I wrote that, I hasten to add, but my overall projection seems to have been neatly fulfilled. Yay me!

So the news from M-Sport has left me feeling quietly satisfied, after all, M-Sport is still in the WRC and there were signs that pointed for a while toward there being just VW and Hyundai competing in 2016. Happily, that rather tragic situation has been avoided and everything has turned out nicely.

Except that it hasn't.

There are many outspoken social media commentors who are very unhappy with Malcolm's decisions. A significant proportion are, understandably, the Brits who have seen their WRC heroes Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans unceremoniously removed from the WRC next season. M-Sport's 'A' team from this year, Tanak and Evans have been dumped and there are loud cries that Wilson's new choices are incredibly unfair to the pair, especially the luckless Evans who will be fortunate indeed to have even a partial season in 2016 and it won't be in the 'A' team either. Tanak, of course, was picked up by the newly-created WRC top tier DMACK World Rally Team and a full 14 round 2016 season is assured.

Kris Meeke is in negotiations with Citroen over the possibility of a partial season competing and a role as test/development driver for the French marque's 2017 car. Nothing official has been announced by Matton yet and there's no current timetable for such an announcent anyway. So the British fans have been hit hard, and recriminations have swiftly followed the M-Sport and Citroen announcements, the tenor of which is a mixture of disbelief and annoyance - expressed particularly along the lines of unworthy drivers getting scarce WRC seats through buying them.

They have a point, of course, but it should be remembered that priviledge has long been a facilitator for drivers looking to get an opening into the highest levels of a chosen sport. Few are the likes of Kris Meeke who boasts, apparently sincerely, that he has never in his career paid for a drive. Who else can say that?

The short answer is "fuck all".

In fact, motorsport in general is riddled with personalities who would never have achieved any kind of top level competition were it not for their backers, sometimes family money, sometimes sponsorship through sporting bodies set up to support upcoming talent, sometimes mysterious benefactors. In fact, if you think of ten potentially championship-winning drivers in any branch of motorsport, you'll discover without looking too hard at all that without the generous financial support from their backers, they would have accomplished nothing of note at all.

So yeah, Eric Camilli has been bumped up to the premier level of his chosen sport somewhat quicker than say the Kris Meekes of the rally world, but without him and his backers, M-Sport would be in a position where they would be joining their competitor Citroen in SabbaticalLand for 2016 and there would be two fewer seats available for anyone.

And as fourth highest drivers' champs finisher this season, who can say that Mads doesn't deserve a seat on a team that is in dire need of getting better results, and soon.

Yes, it's a tough break for young Evans, but the world is a cruel place for those that aren't fulfilling their potential. Malcolm Wilson has made his choices in order to get the best results the team is capable of, and he shouldn't be lambasted for wanting his company to succeed.