WRC '15 - Who drives when at Hyundai [U]

With two of Hyndai Motorsport's drivers announcing programmes that fall short of a full season drive, the who and when of the year to come has some mystery that I think needs a little solving. So I've had a crack at it - see what you think.

Thierry has been guaranteed 13 rounds in the i20 this coming season, beginning of course with Monte Carlo. Dani has been guaranteed at least 10 rounds and up to 13, again beginning in Monte Carlo. B team driver Hayden has been guaranteed at least 9 rounds* and up to 12, bearing in mind that his first event will be round two in Sweden.

So "who will drive where" seems like a reasonable question to be asking. And by golly, I do believe they've answered it already, without really meaning to.

I'm not sure why team boss Nandan has abstained from fleshing out the details but no matter, we can use what we know to figure it out. This seems to be the plan for 2015:

Monte Carlo: Neuville [A], Sordo [A]
Sweden: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon [B]
Mexico: Neuville [A], Paddon [B], Sordo probably [A]*
Argentina: Neuville [A], Paddon [B], Sordo probably [A]*
Portugal: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon [B]
Italy: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon [B]
Poland: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon [B]
Finland: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon [B]
Germany: Neuville [A], Sordo [A]
Australia: Nueville [A], Paddon [A]
France: Neuville [A], Sordo [A]
Spain: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon probably [B]**
WalesGB: Neuville [A], Sordo [A], Paddon [B]

*Although both Mexico and Argentina are long-haul events, Dani's Spanish heritage will resonate well with the local press and Latin American fans

**And while the majority of the stages in Spain are tarmac, the rally does include a full day on gravel so Hayden will be competitive there

As evident above, Neuville will compete on all thirteen rounds already announced.
Sordo will do ten events minimum, probably twelve, but excluding Australia.
Paddon will do nine events minimum, probably ten, but will miss Monte, Germany and France.

So between them, the #2 and #3 drivers will complete 22 seats in 2015**, car condition and driver health permitting. There will be four events with just two cars entered. The one thing that cannot be anticipated is whether Dani will do Australia in place of Hayden - no doubt the drivers' competition points could influence that decision, the rally falling between Germany and France rounds, so we'll have to wait and see.

Despite Paddon scoring points from both team and driver perspectives, the team points will not be competitive with just a single car entered, so that won't be a factor in any decision. But driver points are an attactive target for the Kiwi, so the more rounds he can contest, the better his chances for a decent points haul over the season.

And to speculate a little more, the choice of teams for Paddon was likely to have been a very close call. I imagine that Matton's decision to run Sébastien Loeb at Monte had to factor into the result. For the Citroen guys to commit to a third car for a whole season would not have been taken lightly.

There's little doubt that a short four-event programme was always on the cards for WRC driver and team patron Khalid Al Qassimi, leaving nine rounds available for Hayden and John, should they be tempted. But with Seb doing the Monte as an A team driver, that would have dropped the available rounds to eight, Mads doing a round in the B team DS3.

So regardless of whatever other factors may have been present, Hyundai's guarantee of a  precious extra round's experience must have been a very compelling bait for the competition-hungry Kiwi. So it's no surprise to me that he's re-signed to the Korean squad for 2015. And I wish him, and his co-driver John Kennard, a Merry Christmas and all the best for the season in both meanings of the phrase.

Go Kiwis!

*[Update:] Motorsport Monday rally editor Martin Holmes's interview with Michel Nandan has the following information:

"Hayden Paddon will have an increased programme, with a minimum of 10 WRC rally starts" - previously that was reported as a minimum of 9, so unless Holmes is reporting incorrectly, Hayden has had an extra round confirmed, which must be a much-welcomed Christmas present for the Kiwi pairing.

The most likely additional event is the Spanish round which includes a gravel day in addition to the two tarmac days.

[Update 2:] Hyundai Motorsport have announced that as predicted, Bryan Bouffier's role in the team as test driver and occasional competitor has ended, and instead, Kevin Abbring has been signed as his successor. So we can also expect that Abbring will appear on selected events later in the season (read tarmac events) either in a fourth car or replacing Hayden Paddon in the #20 car on those events. The latter case will doubtless depend on the Kiwi's drivers championship position at that time.

[Update 3:] And typical, I do an update and it changes yet again. Hayden has just announced that it's confirmed that he'll be competing in all 12 rounds from Sweden on. Great news for the rookie - as near as dammit a full season at the top level. His fans, including me, are delighted with that news. Roll on Rallye Sweden. :-)