Photo Credit: M-Sport The 2017 FIA World Rally Championship is now well underway, with the fifth round of the season taking to the crews to South America for Rally Argentina, one of the most popular events on the world rally calendar.
After just one event having been contested on gravel so far in 2017, Argentina starts a run of five consecutive loose surface events and will more than likely completely establish a pecking order in this unpredictable WRC season. Sebastien Ogier heads the championship after Monte-Carlo, Sweden, Mexico and Corsica but wasn't in the finest of form on the Mediterranean island that held round four. That was mostly down to the Fiesta RS WRC that he was driving suffering various issues, but testament to Ogier's desire and hunger to succeed, he still managed to finish second overall to increase his championship lead. Just thirteen points behind in the title race, Jari-Matti Latvala has had a fantastic start to life as a Toyota Gazoo Racing driver. With two podium finishes and one win, Latvala was clever in Corsica, winning just one stage but it effectively netting him an extra six points as he won the Power Stage and overhauled Craig Breen for fourth by just 0.1 seconds. As a previous winner of Argentina and the pace-setter last year, Latvala will be in the mix this weekend. The nearly man delivered on his early-season promise in the French sunshine, with Thierry Neuville taking the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC's first win after squandering two chances over the winter rallies to make it four different winners in four different cars from the first four rallies. Neuville and Hyundai have arguably been the strongest package in 2017, so could the sky be the limit for the promising Belgian? Ott Tanak slipped to fourth in the drivers standings after his most disappointing rally of the year in Corsica, but the Estonian has still done a very credible job in the new and improved Fiesta RS WRC. Two podiums and three top fives is a great start to his season, and had it been any other rally his Corsican mistake wouldn't have cost him so dearly. As the WRC returns to gravel, Tanak will be looking to challenge for wins and will be very dangerous when we reach Poland in June. Dani Sordo finds himself fifth in the standings after four rallies, on the back of a peculiar podium finish in Corsica. The Spaniard never really seemed at one with his Korean machine, and with Andreas Mikkelsen testing an i20 last week speculation was rising about Dani's WRC future. Don't believe the hype though. Sordo has a contract in his back pocket for the 2018 season and no matter how frustrating it may be for us to see him struggle to match the top pace, he is a consistent points finisher which is vital for Hyundai's push for their first manufacturers crown. Sixth is where you'll find Ireland's Craig Breen in the championship, despite the Citroen star missing Mexico and contesting Monte-Carlo in a DS3 WRC. The man from Waterford has finished fifth on all three of his WRC outings thus far in 2017, so will be hoping to progress up the leaderboard in Argentina, but it'll be a tough ask with the South American stages ready to bite the inexperienced. Kris Meeke sits seventh, but is a lot of people's favourite to steal his second victory of the year in Argentina. There are a few reasons for this. The Ulsterman's lower starting position in comparison with his rivals is a good aid, plus the C3 WRC's pace in both Mexico and Corsica was sublime. Add to that Meeke's inherent natural speed and the fact he has one this event before, it is highly probable that Kris will be running at the front this weekend. "This is where my season must start," are the words coming from Kiwi Hayden Paddon's mouth ahead of the WRC's only South American round. The driver of Hyundai #4 has endured a self confessed miserable start to the season with the highlight being a fifth place finish on Mexico. Argentina looks to be the perfect place for Paddon to rejuvenate his season as gravel is his preferred surface and he won this event 12 months ago. Elfyn Evans too has had a slightly lacklustre 2017 so far, with small driver errors and mechanical issues blighting his campaign. After a season away from the sport's top flight, Evans has matured as a driver so we are just waiting to see a consistently quick weekend-long performance. It could happen in Argentina, the Welshman grabbed his maiden WRC podium there two years ago. Juho Hanninen is need of a strong result on round five of the championship after some flashes of speed have been forgotten due to his inability to keep the Yaris WRC on the road across a rally weekend. With Andreas Mikkelsen looking more and more likely to get a factory seat and Esapekki Lappi joining the team competitively in Portugal, the pressure is on the Finn to deliver and justify his place in Tommi Makinen's squad. Mads Ostberg and the Onebet Jipocar World Rally Team make a welcome return to action in Argentina. The Norwegian contested Rally Sweden but didn't score after the rear wing of his Fiesta detached itself in the Swedish forests, although Ostberg did claim the Colin's Crest Award. Argentina has been good to Mads in the past, and having had the advantage of being able to test in Argentina unlike the factory drivers who aren't allowed to test outside of Europe, could he be a real dark horse? Round five of the WRC gets underway this week, and to be honest if you ask me, it's hard to look past a Kris Meeke victory.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
WRCArticles covering the World Rally Championship Archives
January 2018
Categories |