It's been quite some week for Mads Ostberg! Last Monday it was announced that he was returning to the M-Sport fold after two years at Citroen Racing. But now we have learnt that during his tests for January's Monte-Carlo, a spanner was thrown into the works as he was without his long serving co-driver Jonas Andersson.
On the Tuesday, Jonas called Mads to inform him that he had accepted an offer from EVEN Management, who manage both Pontus Tidemand and Andreas Mikkelsen. Andersson will now be teaming up with Pontus for the WRC2 next season with Skoda Motorsport. Mads was understandably stunned, and quickly sat down and got two different co-drivers to do the test with him. They were Emil Axelsson (Tidemand's outgoing co-driver) and Ilka Minor. Now though it has been announced that Ola Floene will be the man to sit alongside Mads for 2016 and beyond. He leaves behind Andreas Mikkelsen after 2 iRC titles and 1 WRC victory in Spain this season. But why? "My time with Andreas is limited to one year, the 2016 season. I’m not ready to give up my career at top level this early. I feel I have capacity for many years ahead on the highest level. Mads is one of the top drivers in WRC, who may not have been in the most competitive car for the last couple of years. To be honest, I would like to become World Champion, and I believe it is a better chance with a long-term cooperation with Mads, than to achieve it in 2016 with Andreas." It is yet to be announced who will partner Andreas at Volkswagen Motorsport for 2016, but personally I find it quite sad. Mikkelsen and Floene have a genuinely great bond, which has been seen when they won the iRC title in 2011 and Rally Spain in 2015. However, Mads and Ola could be a very strong partnership, and the team will be hoping the pair can prove the potential of the Fiesta RS.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
WRCArticles covering the World Rally Championship Archives
January 2018
Categories |