Markko Martin in a Focus? [Archive]

White Sauron

5th August 2007, 15:28

If and its a big if Marcus does retire I would would love to see Markko Martin back at Ford with Mikko lead driver.........

1. If I'm correct, on finnish YLE they said that after this victory Marcus is still in thinking about whether retire or not.
2. No way Markko... He hasn't been driving for 2 years already... He won't be a good leader... But in Finland Mikko showed he is a great successor to Bosse. And 2nd driver will be Latvala.

leno

5th August 2007, 16:42

i would also love to see Markko Martin back

Finni

5th August 2007, 16:51

Marcus will not retire - believe me.

1) As Jonkka said no driver has retired when being as succesful as Marcus now.

2) Marcus bodylanguage was revealing in positive sense when interviewed about retirement before rally of Finland.

3) Malcolm Wilson said that he believes that Marcus will continue (after being in Marcus' home in Finland)

4) New Focus' seems to be very competitive package. I think that this one is the key factor. If Loeb had outpaced him in Finland it would have been critical. But as he is now most competitive since 2002 he definitely will not retire.

5) Marcus wife has reportedly told that in one day during the holiday Marcus was handling old limonade bottles in their shop-center and she thinks that after such things Marcus is more keen to choose rallying.

Märtin has no future in Ford. I believe that Latvala has high chances to replace Grönholm in 2009 - as if Marcus will retire then.

HaCo

5th August 2007, 17:13

Marko Martin back, that would be nice for sure. Best replacement for Gronholm, if he retires, IMO is Petter Solberg. :D

Glee

5th August 2007, 17:30

Marko Martin back, that would be nice for sure. Best replacement for Gronholm, if he retires, IMO is Petter Solberg. :D

And given the newer ending problems with the Subaru that is not unlikely.

(Hope not, as I don't want to switch my to Subarus with Fords... :-) )

ste898

5th August 2007, 18:17

Latvala has a long long way to go to be a number 2 in BP Ford team

WelshLegend

5th August 2007, 20:14

I to would like to see Markko Martin back at Ford. In the recent test for the Pirelli tyres, who was co-driving for Markko?

Welshlegend

COD

5th August 2007, 22:29

It is hard to imagine Markko back in a ford as full time driver, but who knows? More likely scenario (if Marcus retires) is that with all the Abu Dhabi money in their pocket, M-Sport and Ford will buy Petter out of his Subaru contract and take him in as their new no.1. Mikko is not no.1 material despite great performance in Finland and Latvala still has a long way to even being a no.2

jonas_mcrae

5th August 2007, 22:43

5) Marcus wife has reportedly told that in one day during the holiday Marcus was handling old limonade bottles in their shop-center and she thinks that after such things Marcus is more keen to choose rallying.

What??
sorry I didnt get the lemonade bottles thing...

SubaruNorway

5th August 2007, 22:46

You know when you return old and get some money back, he's lazy

leno

5th August 2007, 23:22

Petter Solberg must stay at subaru and start winning with subaru not with Ford. Ford should rather have Marko Martin back for rally driver no.1

Simmi

5th August 2007, 23:29

Does anyone know if there is still any bitterness towards Petter from Ford dating back to his switch to Subaru? I'm sure that could be forgotten as if Marcus went a move for Petter would be beneficial for both parties. I'd just love to see a smile back on the guys face. I'm sorry but Martin is a spent force IMO as he is no longer hungry for rallying, which is somewhat understandable. To me he would be an asset as a test driver/developer but not a team leader.

Finni

6th August 2007, 00:45

What??
sorry I didnt get the lemonade bottles thing...

Ah.. with my vocabulary it's hard to express some things.. OK, Marcus and his wife owns shopping center. There is also food-shop (?) which receives old bottles. During holiday Marcus did some everyday jobs in this market-place, including arranging of empty bottles. Marcus' wife has stated that doing these things will get Marcus hungry about rallying and continuing his career.

Priorat

6th August 2007, 18:55

I to would like to see Markko Martin back at Ford. In the recent test for the Pirelli tyres, who was co-driving for Markko?

Welshlegend

I only have this photo of the codriver. If you know him, tell us

Mickey T

6th August 2007, 18:59

petter solberg will never again drive for malcolm wilson.

he might want to concentrate on finishing rallies for subaru, instead of parking up driveable cars and running out of tissues

SubaruNorway

6th August 2007, 19:02

petter solberg will never again drive for malcolm wilson.

he might want to concentrate on finishing rallies for subaru, instead of parking up driveable cars and running out of tissues

That thing they had is way past. Did you even see how the car was like

Tomi

6th August 2007, 19:05

That thing they had is way past. Did you even see how the car was like

Thats not the point, Atkinsons car was not perfect either, but he focused on the driving instead of whining.

Corny

6th August 2007, 19:15

Latvala has a long long way to go to be a number 2 in BP Ford team

Why? Mikko was quit comparable to J-M the year before he went to BP Ford..

ste898

6th August 2007, 19:20

How can Petter be to blame for the Subaru........its about time Subaru either built a decent car or gave up!!!

Corny

6th August 2007, 19:28

give up? oh no, even if they only drive outside the points, thei r car is more populair than any world champion's car

SubaruNorway

6th August 2007, 21:01

Thats not the point, Atkinsons car was not perfect either, but he focused on the driving instead of whining.

Atkinson didn't have a singel problem as far as i know all weekend but the testing they have done has been to leach out the big problems so they haven't had time to fine tune the car yet. It seems more like Petter's car had a build failiur, no one could have driven that car the way it was, if you haven't seen the tv pictures you don't know what you are talking about
:dozey:

Josti

6th August 2007, 22:24

I can´t help it notice that every thread winds up to be about Petter...

Mickey T

7th August 2007, 12:16

chris's car did have problems on the weekend. as did petter's. chris didn't have as many, though.

yes, i saw petter's car on stages and on tv. chris has had (seemingly) identical issues in previous rallies and kept going.

i've been a big fan of petter's, but i can't accept a world champion parking a car that still has wheels on it.

the ford issues may be in the past for petter, but i assure you they're still fresh in malcom's mind.

LotusElise

7th August 2007, 13:25

I can't see Marcus retiring - he'll carry on for another year at least because he is still so competitive. Since he has been at Ford, he has had a new lease of life. However, no-one can say for definite what he'll do except for him.

Petter's fall-out with Ford and M-Sport was about as acrimonious as it gets, from what I've read. It is unlikely that he will return and there may even be legal barriers, even if his feud with Malcolm Wilson is over. In contrast to Marcus, Petter has lost his way a bit and I don't think it's all down to the car. Sometimes the speed is there but it never seems to last.

Lovely as it would be to see Markko back, I think he's retired for good. He tested a Ford and drove for Mitsubishi at Goodwood last year, but I think that's the limit of his involvement.

Timole

7th August 2007, 14:07

The thread was about Markko Märtin and wether he´s got a chance to rejoin the wrc. But that theme should also be clear, at least for me it is, because as Markko has said many times before, he finished his career and will not return.

gerrycrossey

10th August 2007, 15:22

Markko came over to contest the Cork 20 international last year with David Senior (Alister McRae's old WR co-driver) sitting on, although he was a bit slow to start, he finished ahead of the current irish champion in 2nd overall. He looked very comfortable considering he only got limited testing in the s11, see the pic
http://www.irish-rallying.com/download_redir.php?download_id=061004_130150

Koz

10th August 2007, 16:07

Since everyone mentioned Petter, I need to ask a question:
What exactly happened with Petter & Wilson?

alleskids

10th August 2007, 17:17

Petter was picked up out of nowere by Malcolm Wilson when Petter send him a video of his succeses in 1999, and it was intend that Petter would drive for Ford for many years. But Petter got a better offer from Subaru mid 2000, according to Petter because Wilson would not give him a written contract. So Wilson is pissed off that his protege his having succes with another team. And when Petter became world champion Walcolm said to Petter: remeber were you came from, or something like that.