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| Toyota Yaris WRC with huge tail wing & other aero-kit! |
In the wake of the seat crisis for the champion drivers, ex-VW'ians - after their official exit, the entire driver line-up were left out to hunt for a drive next season. Sebastien Ogier was half successful to try out the next-gen WRC cars, and the remaining half reluctant. In the heat-up, the next two & quite important drivers were nowhere heard in the main-stream media.
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| Jari-Matti, Miikka Antilla & TGR staff, during testing. |
Jari-Matti Latvala & Andreas Mikkelsen were already contenders to secure a seat in the 4-time WRC champion driver Tommi Makinen managed Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Team.
But the latest talk mentions, that Volkswagen refugee driver Latvala has a drive booked at Toyota's new World Rally Championship team in 2017. Although he is reportedly agreed team's terms, there are a lot going-on on the negotiations table and he says,
"I cannot confirm that I have signed, and have been negotiating a lot with Tommi with my manager Timo Jouhki, but I cannot tell you I have signed."
Jari-Matti's almost secured deal with Toyota makes matters unpleasant for his ex-VW team-mate Andreas, who was also favoured to land up a seat Finnish-Japanese WRC team. Today, Latvala also completed the first tests with a newly upgraded aero for the Yaris WRC.
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| Almost fully developed VW Polo WRC 2017 spec |
Also there is a strong speculation that a private funding from the Middle East and Qatari, Nasser Al-attiyah's name along with Redbull is heard to be the saviour of the project by raising sufficient funds in-time to save the Volkswagen's Polo R WRC 2017 programme. This could also provide a private seat for either Sebastien Ogier or Mikkelsen, or both!
Until the real news pops up, guesses and rumours are ruling the social media hubs!
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