Photo Credit: @World 'Who do you fancy?' A truly terrifying call to hear from one of your mates as a growing boy. But an either tougher predicament when peering into your crystal ball ahead of the 2018 World Rally Championship season. The possibilities are endless. The 2017 WRC season was one of immense change. Sebastien Ogier swapped his pristine Volkswagen overalls for those of M-Sport, and the weapons leaving the service area were now lower, wider, more powerful and visually more aggressive. What resulted was genuinely one of the most unpredictable seasons in the sport's illustrious history, with seven different winners from all four teams. Was it Ogier's masterclass or Hyundai's capitulation? It's now just a chapter in the history of the sport, with a new page waiting to be written next week as Rallye Monte-Carlo gets underway. But who should we fancy - there's that question again. The obvious answer would be Sebastien Ogier. But then, depending on how you view 2017, the obvious answer would be Thierry Neuville. The Belgian really stepped up a gear last season. He and the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC were the ultimate pace setters across the year, but had to settle for silver thanks to a costly combination of driver erorrs and mechanical failures. You can be certain that Neuville has learned his lessons from 2017 though, and let's not forget he heads into 2018 in the best form having won the season closing Rally Australia in November. With a more intelligent outlook Neuville could become impossible to match this year. However, the challenge will also be coming from within his own four walls. Andreas Mikkelsen was drafted in with three rounds to spare last season, but this year he will be a Hyundai driver for all 13 rounds of the championship, and could well be Neuville's biggest obstacle in becoming World Rally Champion, Mikkelsen endured a torrid start to 2017, after being left out in the cold in the wake of Volkswagen's sudden departure from the WRC. Odd appearances in a Skoda R5 followed before he got a crack at the new breed of world rally cars with Citroen. Sardinia and Poland didn't exactly go to plan, but a second in Germany was more like it and it was enough to see him join Hyundai to aid Neuville's championship bid. But there'll be no such helping hand this season. Mikkelsen has made his desire to win the championship no secret and having shown speed on all surfaces in the WRC, he can't be ruled out. It's going to be a big year for the Norwegian. Neuville and Mikkelsen will be supported by Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon this season, with Mikkelsen's signature forcing Sordo and Paddon to share driving duties in the #6 i20. For Sordo this isn't such a big deal - the Spaniard can now fully concentrate on achieving the maximum results possible on the rounds he will enter as he bids to add more than one victory to his CV. For Paddon however, it's a huge slap in the face and almost an admission from Hyundai that they don't see the New Zealander as a superstar of the future. It's been a bizarre turnaround when you cast your mind back two years to when Paddon was making a real name for himself and Neuville was bereft of his famous self confidence. Make or break just about sums up 2018 for Paddon. The WRC was launched at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham last week M-Sport head into 2018 with a real swagger about them. The Cumbrian outfit marched to both world titles last season despite their privateer status and hold two aces up their sleeves ahead of the new season. Sebastien Ogier has remained for another shot at glory, and the extra backing from Ford Performance the entire service park had been craving has arrived; the team will now be known as the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. On the downside, the team's fledgling star Ott Tanak has departed to Toyota, but the Estonian's exit may be a blessing in disguise as it's forced M-Sport to re-evaluate its approach. Ogier will be partnered by Elfyn Evans for all 13 rounds of the 2018 WRC, with the Welshman stepping up from the now defunct DMACK World Rally Team and filling the void left by Tanak. The third car however will be driven by a number of different drivers, in a move that sees speciality return to the championship for the first time in over a decade. Frenchman Bryan Bouffier will drive the car on Monte-Carlo and in Corsica, with Finn Teemu Suninen taking the wheel for Sweden, Mexcico, Portugal, Sardinia, Finland, Turkey, GB and Spain. No driver has currently been confirmed for Argentina, Germany or Australia. Suninen is a star of tomorrow and has already won stages in the WRC during sporadic appearances last year, while on the back of his maiden win on Wales Rally GB, Elfyn Evans has all the hallmarks of a championship dark horse. Bouffier is a previous winner of both the Monte and Corsica so his experience will be invaluable. But the one they're all looking to topple is Sebastien Ogier. The Frenchman's stock went up considerably last year and that's no mean feat given he started the season as a four-time world champion. He will be concerned about the lack of speed he showed throughout the year but it gave him a chance to show just how clever he is as a driver. The problem is all of his competitors saw that too, and with their searing speed clear in abundance, Ogier has a mammoth task ahead of him to make it six world titles. Hyundai, Toyota and Citroen are all looking to stop M-Sport Toyota's return to the WRC went better than even they could have expected. Two rounds in they were winners, and for much of the season Jari-Matti Latvala was in the hunt for the championship. Quite some turnaround for the man that looked a mere shadow of his former self during the latter years of his Volkswagen tenure. Toyota has given him a new leash of life; it's his team, and he's driving better than ever. You get the sense though that 2018 is the Finn's last real chance to earn that world title he so desperately craves. The competition within the camp has become a lot stronger though. Esapekka Lappi was immense in his debut year, taking a surprise home win in Finland, before somewhat fading towards the end of the year. Lappi has no experience of the opening rounds in a WRC car but is as cool as they come, and evidently frighteningly quick. Latvala's real challenge comes in the shape of Ott Tanak however. The Estonian's move to Toyota was the only major driver transfer from last year to this, and it was done with championship aspirations in mind. Tanak recently spoke of how he felt he would have been lodged as Ogier's number two at M-Sport, so jumped ship to the financial powerhouse and vastly improving Toyota outfit. Piloting the pick of the bunch last year in a Fiesta, Tanak's technical input is sure to drive the Yaris forward and his own individual performances proved he is the real deal. Tanak's mental game is also incredibly strong, which could go a long way against Latvala for inter-team supremacy. It'd be a headache for Tommi Makinen but a situation he's sure not to turn down if push came to shove. Citroen are a hard one to fathom Citroen Racing once ruled the roost. And really they should've done last season after pulling all their resources into developing the C3 WRC in 2016 instead of competing as a factory team. They even canned their immensely successful World Touring Car programme to develop their WRC challenger.
For whatever reason, the C3 was unpredictable at best, scary at worst. The handling took a long time to sort out, by which time lead driver Kris Meeke had been benched and Mikkelsen brought in, only for the Norwegian to wave goodbye to Paris the second Hyundai came calling. Say what you like about Citroen's past; 2017 was unacceptable. Aiming for the constructors championship, they came plum last and looked out of the race from round one. Aiming for Sebastien Ogier or no one in the driver market, they got no one. Meeke and Craig Breen remain with the squad for 2018, but there will be no permanent third driver. The disappointing Stephane Lefebvre has been dropped to WRC2 to demonstrate the capabilities of the C3 R5, with a third car appearing on occasion for Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi. All of this will help Meeke though. With the manufacturers championship no longer the priority for the first time since we can remember, the Northern Irishman is free to chase his own championship dream. Breen will be out to get more podiums and experienced, but will only conduct a 10 round campaign as his car will be occupied in Mexcio, Corsica and Spain. That's because the PR dream has become a reality: Sebastien Loeb is back in the WRC. Let's not get distracted by the headlines; it's only for three rounds. And robbing Breen of those three rounds is frankly criminal. But, and it's a big but, Loeb has a genuine chance of succeeding on all three of the rallies he'll start. So Citroen may not be in championship contention and are facing a last minute change of leadership with Yves Matton departing, but they have a real chance of winning the most rallies across 2018. As for the world championship, I'm afraid I'm not bold enough to single out one individual. At least five drivers start the season with a real chance, and that number could well increase. The World Rally Championship is back to its very best, and it's only getting stronger.
1 Comment
Marcus
1/19/2018 05:51:10 am
Great preview! Great read!
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