Photo Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Jari-Matti Latvala and Miika Anttila sensationally took Toyota's first win since Didier Auriol on Rally China1999 on the 2017 edition of Rally Sweden, elevating themselves to the top of the drivers championship table.
This marks the first time any driver other than Ogier has led the championship in three whole years, and means the Yaris WRC's introduction to the WRC has matched that of the Polo R which grabbed second in Monte-Carlo and its debut win in Sweden the following event in the hands of Sebastien Ogier back in 2013. Latvala was immediately on the pace in Sweden, leading the event on Friday before falling behind Thierry Neuville. However, after the Belgian retired Latvala had the charging Ott Tanak and Sebastien Ogier behind him heading into Sunday, but a blistering performance all day saw him win all of Sunday's stages including the Power Stage to take his first win in just under a year and his fourth on the Swedish snow. This performance shows the rejuvenation Latvala showed on the Monte was no fluke, and means we don't have a dominating force in the WRC this year which, quite frankly, is bloody fantastic! The podium featured the same three drivers as round 1, making Sweden another positive event for M-Sport who continue to head the manufacturers table. Estonian Ott Tanak was quick all weekend, and came within 3 seconds of Latvala before falling back on Sunday. But this equals his career best result. Ogier was left playing catch-up on Friday acting as a snow plough for his rivals, but turned in some decent speed in the afternoon loop. However, he was never the man to beat in terms of pace so had to settle for third, but two podiums in two rallies with his new team is hardly a bad turnaround. And better still for the World Champion, he won't have to face any road sweeping duties in Mexico unless he Rally 2's on Saturday. Fourth place went to Spain's Dani Sordo for the second successive rally in a row, and much like the Monte it was another fairly anonymous performance from the Germany 2013 winner. However, points make prizes and Sordo's job this year is likely to be to secure Hyundai Motorsport their first manufacturers title. Craig Breen got his first taste of the C3 WRC in a competitive environment in the frozen Swedish forests, and but for a troubling Friday with a few mistakes it was a fairly solid event for the Irishman. Breen's rate of progression has been incredible, and fifth in the championship would not have been expected at the start of the season. DMACK driver Elfyn Evans grabbed sixth at the wheel of the third M-Sport registered Fiesta WRC. The Welshman suffered a puncture on Friday and from then on was always on the back foot. Still, the defending British Rally Champion did well to hold off Hayden Paddon. Interestingly, the top 6 from the Monte featured the same 6 drivers as it did in Sweden; for all you stats buffs out there! In actual fact, there was a real sense of deja vu from Monte-Carlo in Sweden but more of that later. Hayden Paddon took seventh overall in his i20 Coupe WRC, just 3 seconds behind Evans in sixth place. Seventh is not what either Paddon or Hyundai are striving for but we can forgive the Kiwi for his struggles given what happened in Monte-Carlo. It won't be long before we see him right back at the sharp end I'm sure of that. Stephane Lefebvre took eighth in a 2016 spec DS3 WRC, while home hero Pontus Tidemand dominated WRC2 to take Skoda Motorsport's second win of the season in ninth overall. M-Sport new-boy Teemu Suninen edged Ole Christian Veiby in his Fiesta R5 to take second in WRC2 and tenth overall. Four high profile names finished outside of the top 10. Thierry Neuville was the biggest casualty. The Belgian took off where he left off on Monte-Carlo this weekend, battling and defeating Jari-Matti Latvala throughout Friday in his i20 Coupe WRC. His job on Saturday was to control and protect his lead, and he managed that beautifully actually extending his advantage. That is however right up until the super special stage where he clipped a bollard with his front left wheel and that was it, steering damaged and the chances of a maiden Swedish win evaportated. The circumstance was exactly the same as Monte-Carlo which raises two key points. The first of these is Thierry Neuville is looking like the man to beat this year in terms of speed. His driving has seemed effortless and he is building on the consistent run of form from the back end of last year. If he had won in Sweden, it would've been Neuville's third career win, but crucially it would have come on a third different surface. This shows the marks of a complete driver, so Neuville is looking like the real deal. That leads me on to my second point, and that is he needs to learn to keep his head. Thierry will probably argue he was unlucky and to a certain extent he has a good case, but two rallies in a row now he has thrown away a tremendous position and questions therefore need to be asked of his mental ability to hold on to a strong lead for an extended period of time. Questions also need to be asked of one of the pre-season favourites: Kris Meeke. The Northern Irishman was running in fifth overall, battling Ogier for fourth in his C3 WRC which had a fairly shocking debut considering the amount of testing it had gone through last time out. However, on Saturday's final forest stage the back end of Meeke's Citroen snapped away from him on a yumping right hander, sending him into a snow bank where he was stuck fast. 8 minutes and any chance of a decent result were all but gone. Should the finger of blame point towards Meeke? I don't necessarily think so, although it could be argued that Kris is almost too similar to the man that mentored him (Colin McRae). His raw speed is unquestionable but his on-the-edge style makes winning championships that little more difficult. But in Sweden the error looked like it was with the C3. The car looked to just break away from Meeke's control, and I don't think you would've seen that if Kris had been driving a Fiesta or an i20 for example. On to Mexico. Toyota's number 2 Juho Hanninen was another to in effect repeat his Monte performance, crashing into a tree on Friday. That sidelined him from the top 10 and after that he was nowhere. Hanninen badly needs a finish in North America. Mads Ostberg's return to the WRC with the Onebet Jipocar World Rally Team was eventful. The Norwegian lost his rear wing on Friday, and with the aero package being as crucial as it is this year that forced his retirement. Saturday was all about nailing the Colin's Crest Award, and his mammoth leap of 44m was enough to win this year's competition but not long enough to topple Eyvind Brynildsen's effort from last year in a Fiesta R5. Ostberg looks a lot happier though back in a private outfit, so we could see him some strong results from him later in the year. So we are 2 rallies in, with 11 still to go. Already though it is quite clear that nobody is going to run away with it this year. All four cars are there or thereabouts, and I'm so relieved that the 2017 formula that had promised so much is delivering, and delivering in bounds!
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Photo Credit: M-Sport The new era of the World Rally Championship is very much alive, and there is no rest for the drivers and teams as just 3 weeks after the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo, the WRC heads to the frozen forests tracks of Sweden and Norway for Rally Sweden.
The Swedish round of one of the world's most challenging sports is truly like no other in the WRC, with special studded tyres available for extra bite on the snowy tracks and then there is the simple fact that, in the vast majority of previous years, the event has run in snowy conditions. This presents a truly unique challenge for the world's best, and is something that traditionally comes second-nature to the Scandinavian drivers who have always gone well on the WRC's second round. Only Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier can claim to be non-Scandinavians who have won this rally, and it's the latter of these two men who surely starts as favourite to grab Swedish victory number 4. The French quadruple World Champion came into Monte-Carlo on the back foot with limited seat-time in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC, but did that stop him? Did it heck. It only took Ogier one event to give M-Sport their first win in over four years and with that confidence, he shall not be discounted from the battle at the front in Sweden. M-Sport team mate Ott Tanak was equally if not more impressive than his illustrious team mate on round 1. The Estonian's all-new Fiesta was dogged with mechanical issues, notably gear-select issues then an engine problem that dropped his WRC car to just two cylinders on Sunday. However, a spirited and ballsy drive down a treacherous Col de Turini netted him third place despite all his issues. The Estonian is one to watch in the Swedish snow. The third and final M-Sport car will be piloted by Welshman Elfyn Evans, who showed great pace on Saturday in Monte-Carlo on the DMACK tyres. Don't expect the same sort of heroics this time round as asphalt is Evans' surface of choice, but since being dropped in 2016 Elfyn is a lot more resilient than before so could well spring a surprise. Hyundai came into 2017 as the favourites for the manufacturers title with VW's withdrawal, and left Monte-Carlo having seemingly done a great job with their all-new i20 Coupe WRC. I say all-new, but Hyundai have carried over the most parts from their 2016 challenger, but given the pace of the new-generation i20 WRC that's no bad thing. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul should have won last time out, make no bones about it. They had a comfortable 50 second lead heading into Saturday's final stage, but for an innocuous looking knock to the rear after running a tad wide broke the Hyundai's suspension and ruined his rally. Was Neuville going for glory in a bid to claim the first clean, pure-pace stage win of 2017? Who knows, but I think David Evans' theory certainly stacks up. The Belgian has done well in the past in Sweden, don't forget he was involved in that epic shoot-out in 2015, so will be a certain podium contender this year. Dani Sordo had a very Dani Sordo-esque rally on the Monte. Not blindingly fast as he opted for caution in the tricky conditions, but not eratic either. The Spaniard was rewarded with a strong fourth place finish, but unless many fall by the wayside expect Sordo to be further down the top 10 in Sweden. And what of Hayden Paddon? It really is hard to tell how he'll do on the wintry classic. On the one hand he could do very well indeed. The Kiwi took a sensational second place behind Ogier last year, and is a force to be reckoned with on the fast rallies, and Sweden is among those. On the other hand however, he has next-to-no rally experience in the i20 Coupe after the SS1 crash that tragically took the life of an onlooker on the Monte. This is bound to effect his confidence, so Hayden can be excused if he isn't quite where he or we would expect him to be in Sweden. Sweden is a critical event for Citroen Racing. Having conducted the most rigorous testing programme of all the teams ahead of the WRC's new era, Citroen were expected to have got it right. Some have been claiming they haven't already at this early stage, which I frankly find ridiculous, but there can be no debate that Citroen's performance in Monte-Carlo was substandard at best. Both Kris Meeke and Stephane Lefebvre's C3's suffered separate and different mechanical issues throughout the rally, and both drivers made mistakes. Stephane ditched his C3 on Thursday night and Kris wrecked the front right corner of his Citroen on Friday after misjudging his entry speed to a left-hander. Citroen need a better performance in Sweden, but the performance will be there that can't be queried. Meeke was running second overall before he went off and Lefebvre claimed a stage win and a second on the Power Stage. And excitingly, Craig Breen who was ever so impressive on the Monte in a 2016 DS3 WRC with 80bhp less than the new machines, will be behind the wheel of a C3 WRC on the Swedish snow. Don't be too shocked if the Irishman ends up on the podium his rate of progression has been that impressive. 'Impressive' is a good word to link us on to the fourth and final team contesting the 2017 World Rally Championship: Toyota. After an 18 year absence, the Japanese/Finnish outfit returned last month and incredibly managed to grab a second place finish courtesy of Jari-Matti Latvala. This debut matches that of VW who took second overall with Ogier in 2013. However, unlike Sebastien who claimed the Polo R WRC's first ever stage win on literally its first ever competitive stage, the Yaris WRC is the only one of the 2017 machines to have not yet taken a stage win, but are you going to bet against Jari-Matti Latvala doing that in the Swedish forests, on an event he has won twice before? I wouldn't either. Toyota's Monte performance has raised expectations among the camp, and with the possible exception of Latvala and Juho Hanninen's home round in Finland, they may not get a better chance of a win than in Sweden. Latvala is looking far more relaxed as a number 1 driver rather than being Ogier's shadow, and with everybody suffering teething problems with their cars the path could be paved for the blistering Finn to take advantage. I'm not going to discount Hanninen either. I've been critical of his position in the team in the past, but his third place overall after day 1 in Monte-Carlo has forced me to pipe down. A Scandinavian on a Scandinavian rally predominantly equals fast. Finally and excitingly, Mads Ostberg will be in action in Sweden at the wheel of a 2017 Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The Norwegian has joined forces with Martin Prokop in a private outfit this year, and will be the team's sole representative in Sweden. Ostberg's ice and snow credentials are well-known, but with a lot less experience of these new cars than his rivals he may struggle to repeat the podium performances he has done so many times in the past. As for a prediction? I'm going to go for an Ogier win, but I think it will be very close with the likes of Latvala, Tanak, Neuville and Meeke. Sweden isn't the best representative of pace as it's a one-off event so to speak, but it could yet reveal more as to who has done the best job in 2017. I can't wait! |
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January 2018
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