Seb signs for.......................

M-SPORT !!!. Ogier and Tanak are the dream team, third driver to be announced. Excellent news, so pleased for Malcolm. Does this mean that Ford are back though as manufacturer ?.

M-Sport so excited that they spelled Tanak's name wrong !.

http://www.m-sport.co.uk/m-sport-news/fiesta-rs-wrc/ogier-and-taenak-lead-m-sport-in-2017

Fantastic, great news for Tanak too, would love to see Evans getting a Christmas present from them of some events in the 3rd car

Now thats a line up!!

hhmmm.....should be interesting.....

Now we will see if it's Man or Machine?

Really got mixed emotions about this. Thing is for me that M-Sport have got to step up to the plate and have nowhere to hide. They can produce a good car obviously however despite the impressive facility that Dovenby is the fact that it has to house the Bentley GT and customer operations as well it just doesnt have that clinical focus that the likes of VW appear to have. Also Tanak aside they havent had a lot of success at the pointy end for a while so hope that the relationship gets off to a good start for all concerned.

I think its great for MSport. For the first time since the gronholm days, they have a driver that has that xfactor. Im really looking forward to 2017 now, i just hope the cars are evenly matched and not one manufacturer dominating.

I think the Fiesta is a fabulous little car and they now finally have someone to extract it's full potential. Instantly excited for 2017 now, what a year it could be.

Looks like Seb and Ott will be running different livery on their Fiestas this year and the fantasy speculation about Seb bringing Red Bull sponsorship is no longer a fantasy - car looks fab in it.

agreed paul its a meaty looking wee thing.....plus nice to see lattvala in the toyota too....

Reports are that the new 2017 car is between 1 and 2 seconds a kilometer quicker than the old car. Considering that Meeke broke the exisiting records in Finland in 2016 using the old car, am I the only one who thinks this is utter madness. These are machines on which bits do break, driven by humans who can make mistakes. If there is an accident how far away is it safe to be from one of these projectiles if they get out of control.
For myself I want to see spectacle - that is noise and sideways not a formula 1 flash by.
I wish everyone well and I will be in Monte with Paul's dad but I have grave fears that the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.In the case of VW we see what respect they have for our sport - its ours not theirs. They are in business using our sport and in my opinion abusing our sport.
Happy New Year everyone.

JOB wrote:Reports are that the new 2017 car is between 1 and 2 seconds a kilometer quicker than the old car. Considering that Meeke broke the exisiting records in Finland in 2016 using the old car, am I the only one who thinks this is utter madness. These are machines on which bits do break, driven by humans who can make mistakes. If there is an accident how far away is it safe to be from one of these projectiles if they get out of control.
For myself I want to see spectacle - that is noise and sideways not a formula 1 flash by.
I wish everyone well and I will be in Monte with Paul's dad but I have grave fears that the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.In the case of VW we see what respect they have for our sport - its ours not theirs. They are in business using our sport and in my opinion abusing our sport.
Happy New Year everyone.

I've long been of the opinion that sponsors and not manufacturers are what makes a healthy sport, I'm not sure the small increase in speed will make a huge increase in danger, but I do think in some respects the cars were already too fast! Deliberate/regulated speed increases like we are seeing are a PR nightmare if there is any serious accideents in the next year or two though.

Evans gets the covetted number 3 car seat at M-Sport for 2017 (well,at least for the Monte) but will run on DMACK tyres instead of Michelins). camilli drops back to WRC2 in an M-sport R5.