Ford to stick with Toni and Kresta in 2006?
Ford TeamRS director, Jost Capito has confirmed if drivers Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta continue to progress as they have been doing thus far this year, then there will not be any changes to the teams' driver line-up in 2006.
Ford TeamRS director, Jost Capito has confirmed if drivers Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta continue to progress as they have been doing thus far this year, then there will not be any changes to the teams' driver line-up in 2006.
The comments will be a blow for the likes of Sebastien Loeb, Francois Duval, Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin, who will all be handed their P45's at the season end, when Citroen and Peugeot both quit the sport. Speaking in Sardinia Capito added that he and M-Sport boss, Malcolm Wilson, who runs the team for Ford have been 'very happy' with both of them thus far this year.
"We had fantastic start [to the season], much better than we expected," he said. "We were leading both championships after the second round. On the last two rallies we had two crashed cars, but we are getting back to normal now.
"If the two drivers develop the way we expect and the way we are seeing them develop, they will be our future. At the moment we are happy with progress, we have options next year, but if our current drivers take their chances then we have a great line-up for the new car."
Whether or not you can take his comments at face value however is open to debate - especially as strategically speaking, it would be extremely unwise this early in the year to publicly state that one or the other will be replaced next season, as that might end up being de-motivating. Something that wouldn't exactly be in the interests of the team.
