In my opinion, one of if not the best rule changes made between the 2014 and 2015 WRC seasons was the banning of in-car split times being received from the teams to the drivers. No pottering about, no dropping 30 seconds to tactically obtain a better road position, just man maximising his machine and going for it. Since the drivers no longer know how far ahead or behind they are from their rivals in a stage, they have little other option than to push as much as they dare, which is brilliant for the spectacle. This new increased tactic of pushing however has done little to improve the title race, as it is elevating one man onto a level of his very own. Sebastien Ogier has been by far and away the class act of the 2015 WRC season to date, winning all 3 rallies of the season and only being 3 points shy of the maximum total possible in the championship. And on every single rally (due to the another rule governing the championship leader runs the first 2 days first one the road) Ogier has done more road-sweeping than his rivals. As I've already mentioned, the banning of split times means the drivers have to push and hope for the best. This has increased Ogier's dominance on the field by playing to his strengths and to the weaknesses of his VW team mate Jari-Matti Latvala. Ogier - much like his championship predecessor Loeb - has an incredible ability to push his machine to the maximum without making a mistake. This, in turn, means that as he is pushing all the time and not making errors, his gap to the rest of the pack is increasing. Latvala on the other hand is not known for being so "in control" if you like. When he is on the limit he is on the edge, and is susceptible to mistakes. And this is exactly what has happened in both Sweden and Mexico, meaning he is a world away from Ogier in the championship. This more aggressive approach to the driving has also seen the rise of other drivers, most notably Thierry Neuville. The Belgian is not known for his errors (apart from shakedown in Germany, 2014) so has thrived with other drives who were more competitive in 2014 (Latvala, Kris Meeke) struggling with making silly little errors. Some of this is also down to the improvement of the i20, but Thierry has kept himself largely out of trouble.
The split time banning has been great, albeit a massive boost to Ogier's chances of becoming a triple World Champion in emphatic style. Rally Sweden this year was one of the best in recent memory, and if the drivers had been receiving splits one of them may have backed off earlier and we wouldn't have had such an epic climax to the rally. So, long may this continue! But if you're reading WRC drivers, somebody try and beat Ogier this year on at least 1 rally, yeah?
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WRCArticles covering the World Rally Championship Archives
January 2018
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