Andreas Mikkelsen came within kilometres of his maiden win in the WRC last weekend, until he fluffed his lines and got caught in a snow bank on a thrilling final stage of the rally that his team mate Sebastien Ogier sensationally won.
This was hard to swallow for the young Norwegian, who couldn't hide his emotions to the media as he was very tearful when he arrived back to the service park. Ogier - who now is equal with Carlos Sainz with 26 WRC victories - was kind to Andreas, saying: "Don't cry, don't cry. You will win so many rallies, I am sure." Sebastien has every right to believe Mikkelsen can win so many rallies because I too believe he can. This was the first time Mikkelsen really found himself in control of a rally, being the one that everybody was hunting down rather than being the hunter. This pressure showed at times, as on Saturday he made a few little mistakes which at point managed to slash his 20 second lead down to just 1.7 seconds. But he resiliently fought back to end the day ahead of his illustrious team mate, and on Sunday he managed to pull away from the flat-out Hyundai of Thierry Neuville. On that final stage he was doing enough, but perhaps he was over-driving his Polo. Andreas is a driver who wears his heart on his sleeve, which brings with it advantages of determination and raw speed but has a negative side where the emotions can get the better of you. This is maybe why he didn't manage to complete the job, and his World Champion team mate who is as cool as a cucumber did. If Andreas can gain some mental toughness he will shine. Jari-Matti Latvala is proof that mental state is very significant in this game. As for Ogier, well he has enjoyed his best start ever to a World Rally Championship season, winning 2 out of 2. He already has almost an event win's worth of points to protect him going into Mexico. But it is a long season and Ogier is likely to struggle in Mexico with opening the road so anything is still possible. Expect Mikkelsen to come back stronger and Latvala to be fired up. On a final note, Citroen are languishing in 4th in the manufacturers championship. 4th! I don't remember ever seeing them so low down the order.
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Day 1 of Rally Sweden 2015 was going well for Jari-Matti Latvala, fighting tooth and nail with title rival Sebastien Ogier for the rally lead. That is up until SS9, where the drama unfurled.
Ogier was first into the stage and got it wrong on a left hander, putting his Polo R into a snow bank, losing the Frenchman 40 seconds and with it the rally lead. This gifted Latvala the provisional rally lead, but he too got it wrong in the stage and buried his VW into a snow bank as well. However, Latvala was beached and he lost a lot more time, 8 minutes to be exact, all but ending his hopes of a second consecutive Rally Sweden victory and 4th in total. Latvala said after Rallye Monte-Carlo that he thought the tactic of Richard Burns' title winning 2001 season (Richard only won 1 rally on the way to the title) was one worth following due to the rule changes for the 2015 season. As the championship leader must lead the way for 2 days of each rally, this puts the leader at a bigger disadvantage on loose surface events than to previous years where the championship leader had to be first on the road on only day 1. Subsequently Latvala realised that to win the title he doesn't necessarily need to win lots of rallies but be consistent. Maybe being 2nd in the championship would be an advantage throughout the year. And that is the position he finds himself in tonight. With Ogier 4th and only seconds adrift of 2nd placed Thierry Neuville, Latvala is almost certainly going to lose points to his championship rival. However, this means he will have a favourable road position for next month's Rally Mexico, which means he has a stronger chance of winning in South America and clawing points back. So although Jari will be gutted not to be fighting for the lead and potentially winning one of his favourite rallies, he is already looking at the bigger picture. It's a marathon, not a sprint. 2015 is an important year for the 27 year old Hayden Paddon, from New Zealand. He gets his second season in the WRC underway in the sub zero temperatures of next weekend's Rally Sweden Hayden really established himself on the scene in 2011, when he ran away to the PWRC title in a Subaru Impreza, winning 4 consecutive rallies. He progressed to the SWRC in 2012 where in his Skoda Fabia S2000 he took 2 class victories - including at home in New Zealand - to finish 4th in the championship. In 2013 he did a few WRC2 events coming 3rd on 2 occasions and competed on the Ypres Rally in the European Rally Championship, sadly crashing out. Hayden got a chance with M-Sport for the Spanish round of the 2013 WRC season, and it was always going to be a challenge. However a sensible drive netted him 8th place. Paddon's big chance came last year, where Hyundai offered him a programme to compete in the WRC in their second team with the i20 WRC. He scored a healthy 19 points in just 6 events. Along the way he also claimed fastest stage times, proving he has the pace. 2015 sees an increased programme for Hayden, and it really is his chance to shine. With nigh on a full season and experience of half the calendar in a WR car, Paddon needs to prove he is worthy of a seat in the WRC. Personally I believe he is capable of some upsets, don't be surprised to see him feature in the top 5 on some events. Paddon is not known for his crashing so he needs to keep that tag and increase the pace to prove his worth, as there are lots of other drivers out there who would love his seat. Paddon will again be partnered by John Kennard for this season in the second Hyundai team. Good luck!
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January 2018
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