The 2016 World Rally Championship season got underway in traditional fashion in the mountain roads around Gap and Monaco for the Monte-Carlo rally. Let's look at how the main contenders got on in this historic event Photo Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport The 3 times champions opened their 2016 campaign in much the same way as they closed their 2015 assault, with victory and a double podium. Local hero Sebastien Ogier won the rally from young team mate Andreas Mikkelsen, who was competing for the first time with new co-driver Anders Jaeger. Ogier took his 33rd career win, his 3rd in succession in Monte-Carlo and with it a handy 9 point lead in the championship. Jari-Matti Latvala had a poor weekend as he struggled to match his world champion team mate early on, and then damaged his suspension after a trip through a ditch. The question is, could the main title threat to Ogier from within VW be coming from Andreas in 2016? Photo Credit: Hyundai Motorsport On what at times appeared like an indifferent debut for the team's all new New Generation i20 WRC, Hyundai ended round 1 equal at the top of the manufacturers standings with Volkswagen. Monte-Carlo rookie Hayden Paddon in the old car ended leg 1 an impressive 5th overall, but couldn't continue that form into day 2. He slid wide on the same treacherous corner that caught out Robert Kubica, Elfyn Evans and Eric Camilli, damaging his wheel against a tree and ending his points scoring chances. Spaniard Sordo finished 6th, disappointing given his asphalt credentials. He and Neuville were not happy with the car on Friday's stages which held them back, and Sordo damaged his suspension on Saturday. But the car got to the end which is a positive for the team. Thierry Neuville drove a consistent, measured rally which after Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala's dramas netted him a 3rd place finish. Not only was this a debut podium on the car's first event, it marked a return to form for the Belgian who had looked a shadow of his capabilities at the back end of 2015. More of the same if not more is unquestionably the target. Photo Credit: M-Sport New livery, new driver line up for M-Sport as they kick started their 2016 WRC campaign. Returnee Mads Ostberg equalled his 2015 Monte finish with a solid 4th place for the Cumbrian based squad. In typical Ostberg fashion, he was consistent and profited from others' misfortunes. It wasn't an easy ride for the Norwegian though, and not just because of the hazardous driving conditions. He had to adapt to a new car in the Fiesta RS and a new co-driver in Ola Floene. All in all not a bad result. Watch out for him in Sweden! As for M-Sport's WRC debutant Eric Camilli, he understandably took it cautiously for the first few stages. However, even when being careful mistakes can happen, and he slid off the road and damaged his car too badly to continue. A disappointing debut for the Frenchman. Ex-WRC driver Elfyn Evans drove the firm's evolution of the Fiesta R5 on the Monte, and dominated the WRC-2 class. Despite being 2 minutes off the lead twice after suffering two punctures, Evans won the category by well over 2 minutes! A very good drive and possibly a statement to Malcolm Wilson? Photo Credit: Citroen Racing Representing the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team in the French Alps were Kris Meeke and Stephane Lefebvre. Lefebvre came home a credible 5th with new co-driver Gabin Moreau, which is the Frenchman's best WRC result to date. However is Dungannon's finest that was making all the headlines. Meeke was in red hot form on the Monte, taking the fight to Ogier from the off. He was the overnight leader after day 1 and was firmly in contention throughout Friday and most of Saturday, until a rock ripped the sump guard clean off his DS3, which critically damaged his gearbox. Game over but a scintillating performance. That concludes the review of round1 of the 2016 World Rally Championship. Rally Sweden is next in 3 weeks time.
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Photo Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport It's January, and to most people that may mean it's time to get yourself down to your local gym, but for any rally fan it means one thing and one thing only: Rallye Monte-Carlo is about to begin. And along with it, so is the next WRC season. Welcome then to one of the most exciting articles I will write this year, previewing the first round of the 2016 World Championship, where excitement, expectation and anticipation are all higher than ever. And what a place for the action to get underway. Rallye Monte-Carlo is the jewel in the crown, the most prestigious event in the history of rallying, with it first running over 100 years ago in 1911. 2016 marks the 84th running of the event, which has been part of the World Championship for nigh on every year since its birth in the 1970s. The rally is run on closed tarmac, often mountainous roads. But what it makes it so special is its unpredictable weather. Run in the Winter, snow and ice is often a constant hazard, and it can either claim the ego of the fancied ones and bolster the reputation of the underdogs. It is a supreme challenge for the drivers to conquer, making any victor of this rally an unprecedented great of rallying. Like any of the greats, the Monte-Carlo rally has its own centre-piece, in the shape of the Col de Turini. This legendary mountain stretch of tarmac has over the years seen all types of car and all those brave enough to tame them roar through its beautiful landscapes, and has claimed a few victims in its time too. The Col is like holy ground to die hard rally fans. Photo Credit: Hyundai Motorsport It isn't just the setting that's worth getting excited about. The characters are also sure to cause quite a stir. Volkswagen Motorsport head to the principality as favourites, with triple world champion Sebastien Ogier surely the individual that is odds on for the win. However, Mikkelsen is ever improving and Latvala will be eager to mount a serious title challenge so even within the sport's top team, there could be a bit of a battle. However, it's Hyundai Motorsport that are going to be creating the most headlines next week. The team are debuting their new next generation i20 WRC, and the battle between the drivers there to gain supremacy within the team has the potential to be explosive. The largest question though will be whether the new car can be a consistent match for the Polo R. The team and certainly most neutrals will be hoping that it can be. An interesting reference for the team is Hayden Paddon as for Monte-Carlo he will be running a 2015 spec i20. M-Sport have undergone a big change in the off season and are to start 2016 with two new drivers: Mads Ostberg and Eric Camilli. Camilli has minimal experience so will be treating the Monte and probably the whole upcoming season as a place to gain experience, whereas Ostberg will be hungry for rally wins and a potential title challenge. Mads was with the team with 2013, so it will be interesting to see how much the Fiesta has progressed since then. Citroen will be represented at the Monte too, under the new Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team banner. They won't however be competing in the full season. For round 1 of the championship Kris Meeke will be partnered by Stephane Lefebvre, but there are to be appearances for Khalid Al-Qassimi and Craig Breen alongside Meeke to come throughout the year. Other WRC drivers to look out for are Ott Tanak, who is to undergo a full campaign for the new DMACK World Rally Team, and Robert Kubica who after uncertainty is back for a third season. Lorenzo Bertelli also returns for a second season at the sports's top level. The battle in WRC-2 is poised rather nicely as well. Skoda Motorsport will be back for 2016 but are not competing in Monte-Carlo, although Fabia R5's have been entered for Finnish drivers Esapekka Lappi and Teemu Suninen amongst others. 2014 & 15 M-Sport WRC driver Elfyn Evans is set to push them all the way though in the upgraded Fiesta R5, so this one is definitely worth keeping a watchful eye on! Don't discount the likes of Julien Maurin for a win on the Monte either, who has switched from Ford to Skoda power. And last year's JWRC Champion Quentin Gilbert, who begins his prize of a WRC-2 drive in his DS3 R5 on the Monte. Make sure you don't miss next week's rally! Who will make the dream start to 2016? You'll have to watch to find out.
The 2016 World Rally Championship season is just around the corner, so I decided to list 5 reasons why we should all be excited for what promises to be an interesting season in the top tier of rallying. 1. Driver and Co-driver ChangesThe most high profile of these changes is Mads Ostberg, who has jumped back to M-Sport from Citroen. The 4th place finisher in last year's championship also has a new co-driver alongside him for 2016, in the shape of WRC winner Ola Floene, who has joined from the passenger seat of Mikkelsen's Polo R. Subsequently, this means Andreas Mikkelsen has a new co-driver in the form of Anders Jaeger. Mikkelsen's fellow Norwegian has minimal WRC experience, but it was planned he would join Andreas in 2017 and beyond, but Floene decided to leave a year earlier than expected, prompting Jaeger's promotion. The other moves of the off-season have also come courtesy of M-Sport. Partnering Mads Ostberg for 2016 is Frenchman Eric Camilli, who is a relative unknown but clearly has something special that attracted Malcolm Wilson's attention. 2015 M-Sport drivers Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans will both still compete in 2016. Tanak has signed for the new DMACK team whilst Evans has dropped to WRC-2 to develop the updated Fiesta R5. 2. Hyundai have a New CarIt was originally meant to break into the WRC mid-way through last season, but no matter it is here now and looks very menacing indeed. Referred to as the new-generation i20, the car has been extensively tested and is rumoured to be much quicker than its predecessor. Hyundai have retained the services of Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon so an easy comparison between both models can be expected. Let's hope it can match the VW's! 3. New RallyThe WRC calendar has now stretched to 14 events despite some of the teams' complaints, meaning the championship welcomes the China Rally. The Chinese event has been included in the WRC just once, back in 1999, where Didier Auriol won for Toyota. This all means none of the big names in the championship have any experience of the only Asian round of the season, although WRC-2 and Skoda drivers Esapekka Lappi and Pontus Tidemand have both won the event in previous years. It shall be fascinating to see who conquers this new challenge the best. 4. Final Year of Current Cars2016 will be the final season that the current WRC machines will be driven at top level, with the new regulations in 2017 making the cars lower, wider and more powerful. In theory then, 2017 is a whole new chapter so the big question is can anybody stop Sebastien Ogier rounding off this sub-era of the WRC with a fourth consecutive World title? 5. Intra-Team Battle at HyundaiIt may be being played down in the media, and all the drivers will I'm sure have the team's best interest at heart, but the rapid demise of Thierry Neuville's form in 2015 and contrasting rise to fame of Hayden Paddon has shaken things up a lot at the Korean team. Neuville signed for Hyundai in 2014 as their undisputed #1 after a sensational 2013 season where he remains the only non VW man to have finished in the top 3 in the championship since Volkswagen Motorsport entered the championship. But after a slump in form, his position at the forefront of the team has been put into serious jeopardy. At the launch of their new challenger, Hyundai stated they would be rotating their 3 drivers - Neuville, Sordo and Paddon - in the lead team and second string team in order to get the expertise of all the drivers to bolster Hyundai's manufacturers championship challenge. However, a WRC team has to nominate one driver to drive for their team for at least 10 of the 14 events. Volkswagen nominated Ogier, M-Sport and Ostberg and Hyundai plumped for Sordo, meaning Dani is effectively the team's number 1, although management insist their is no number 1. That may well be true, but there is certainly potential for possible fireworks here. 2016 is just 2 weeks away! Before that, keep an eye out for my Monte-Carlo preview, but in the mean time let's ponder if anybody can actually topple the imperious Ogier.
Personally, I think he will be pushed harder for it than he was in 2015, but I don't see either he or the VW Polo becoming weak over night to such an extent where he can be beaten to the 2016 title. |
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January 2018
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