Photo Credit: Hyundai Motorsport After four rallies in the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship, we have seen four different winners for four different teams in four different cars on four varying surfaces. On one of the most prestigious rallies of the year, the Tour de Corse, it was Thierry Neuville who finally got his and Hyundai's first win of the season that had been destined to happen for some time.
This result marks the Belgian's third victory at world level having won Rallye Deutschland in 2014 and Rally d'Italia Sardinia last year. Neuville, unlike in Monte-Carlo and Sweden where he threw away his potential victory, didn't lead this one from the front. Instead, despite pushing to and sometimes over the limit, the Hyundai star struggled to match the front running pace of Kris Meeke and Sebastien Ogier on Friday, but come Saturday the i20 Coupe WRC had caught and passed Ogier's Fiesta RS WRC for second place which became first with Meeke's exit. An epic fight was on the cards between Ogier and Neuville but when Ogier too hit troubles Thierry managed his pace to take a well deserved victory that elevates him to third in the drivers standings. Sebastien Ogier took in many ways an unlikely and frustrating second place, but kept up his run of scoring a podium on every rally this year. The local man dominated the Tour de Corse six months ago for Volkswagen but couldn't quite match Meeke's Citroen, and was never allowed to challenge Neuville's Hyundai after his M-Sport machine developed a hydraulic issue. Worse still, on Sunday morning his car developed a mysterious electrical issue that left the 2013, 14, 15 and 16 World Champion agitated, frustrated and tight lipped. Second was a welcome surprise given he had slipped to third prior to the Power Stage. Dani Sordo capped Hyundai's best weekend of the year so far with third place on the Mediterranean island in his i20 Coupe WRC. It was a strange event for the Spanish ace, who is known for his skills on the black stuff. Sordo came to the stage ends utterly bewildered and unhappy as he had no feeling at all in the car. Sometimes he would be a lot slower than expected, other times he would be there or thereabouts and actually on the front-running pace. He surrendered third in the final stage but wasn't annoyed to see a man he felt deserve the place come out on top. Jari-Matti Latvala had a fairly anonymous Tour de Corse in his Toyota Yaris WRC, but did enough to maintain his hold on second place in the championship thanks to a fourth place he snatched from the hands of Craig Breen by the smallest of margins, 0.1 seconds. The Finn put in an inspired drive to claim the place, claiming all five bonus points in the Power Stage to take 17 points home to Finland. He's missed the podium the last couple of events, but this has been a fantastic start to the season for Latvala and Toyota Gazoo Racing. Craig Breen's agonising loss to Latvala in the Power Stage summed up Citroen Racing's weekend. Breen, who has good experience of the Corsican rally, was setting impressive times all weekend in a rally that reminds of him of the narrow lanes of native Ireland, but a broken intercom and fading brakes slowed his charge. He therefore netted fifth like he has on his previous two outings this year, but was deserving of more in all honesty. Nevertheless it's been a fantastic start to the year for the C3 WRC pilot. It certainly hasn't been a fantastic start to the season for New Zealand's Hayden Paddon. The Kiwi was hoping to properly start his season on Corsica after taking second on Rallye Sanremo in an i20 R5 but a lack of confidence put him into No Man's Land with nobody to battle. He was entertaining in the event closing Power Stage, pulling the handbrake excessively for the fans as he longs for the WRC's return to gravel for the next five events. Andreas Mikkelsen took his second WRC2 win of the year and continued Skoda Motorsport's monopoly of the category in seventh overall, ahead of Teemu Suninen, Stephane Sarrazin and Yohan Rossel. Four R5 cars in the top 10 tells you that Corsica, as always, was ready to bite the world's finest with several big names falling foul to the treacherous mountain roads. Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans both slid their Fiesta RS WRC's wide and off the road on Friday and Saturday respectively. There may not have been much damage done but the end result was just as disappointing for Malcolm Wilson. Juho Hanninen was another to fall foul. The Finn heavily misjudged a left hander over a bridge and smacked his Yaris WRC off the side of said bridge, which led to his retirement. He set an impressive time on Saturday before binning it on Sunday, and with Mikkelsen's comfortable WRC2 win this weekend, Juho needs to pull something out the bag in Argentina. Latvala has proved the car is capable. The unluckiest men in France were Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle who were in charge of the event coming into Saturday's second stage, having won three of the previous five tests to hold a 16 second lead. It was looking like all the pre-season hype was coming true, following on from his dominant Mexican win Kris was out front on tarmac too. However, towards the end of SS6 the C3 WRC decided it wasn't going to help the Ulsterman to his first World title, and its engine blew with oil spewing from the car. No points scored. Disastrous, as it leaves Meeke 50 points down on Ogier after just four rallies. At least he got to enjoy a steak baguette and a beer in the Corsican sunshine. Citroen team mate Stephane Lefebvre rubbed salt into the wounds for the French team after breaking his suspension on Saturday. The youngster has failed to make it to the finish without incident at the wheel of a C3 WRC, and will be under pressure to bag solid points in Portugal when he returns to action. Corsica is over, which means we are four rallies down with nine to go. Sebastien Ogier remains in control despite not being the fastest, but that's what makes him so hard to beat. Even on a bad day he is there ready to pounce. The next round of the WRC is Rally Argentina in three weeks time. Look out for my analysis of WRC 2017 so far, coming soon to This Is Rally, where I examine what we have learnt so far this season, and whether 2017 has lived up to the high billing it set itself.
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January 2018
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