Photo Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia clinched their fourth Wales Rally GB victory in a row, and their first gravel win of 2016 by winning the 2016 Dayinsure Wales Rally GB for Volkswagen Motorsport. Ogier has never not led the British round of the World Championship driving for Volkswagen, but came very close to being beaten in Wales at the weekend thanks to the pace of Ott Tanak. Tanak drove a blinder of a rally, with the damper than expected conditions suiting his DMACK tyres nicely. The Estonian is also very quick in the classic Welsh forests, and was giving his all to topple Volkswagen's four time champion. Ott took countless stage wins, but his challenge was somewhat curtailed by a broken intercom and subsequent puncture late on Friday, whilst Ogier's Polo's driveshaft broke right at the end of the stage. The contrast in their luck was stark, and ultimately Tanak had to settle for second this time, albeit by just 10 seconds. It was a blinding performance from Tanak, who was almost certainly driver of the rally. His performance was even more impressive when you consider his lower starting position in contrast to Ogier's premium position at the front of the field. Thierry Neuville strengthened his grip on second place in the World Championship following a fourth consecutive podium finish in Wales. The Belgian could not match the pace of Ogier or Tanak but a measured performance saw him edge out his team mate Paddon and crucially his rival Andreas Mikkelsen, with Neuville heading to Coffs Harbour in Australia with a 14 point cushion. Hayden Paddon claimed his best ever finish on Wales Rally GB with fourth place but was frustrated not to get onto the podium, having also missed out to Neuville two weeks ago in Spain. The Kiwi's rally was without any major problems, but Hayden who is his own worst critic won't be happy that his more experienced team mate edged him this time. Fifth place was a disappointment for home hero Kris Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle. Meeke has been the beneficiary of having a low starting position in rallies this year thanks to not doing the full WRC season, but in Wales it worked against him and he knew it right from the first stage. Two slow punctures on Saturday quite literally deflated him but he battled on to send the DS3 WRC out of the WRC with a fifth place. Focus now switches to 2017, where the confidence is high that Meeke and Citroen can deliver a serious challenge. After such a brilliant performance on his home round a fortnight ago, Dani Sordo slipped back into the wilderness in Wales. The Spaniard was never really at one with his Hyundai i20 World Rally Car, so opted for a cautious approach which netted him a fifth place. Jari-Matti Latvala was looking for a strong result on the event he has once twice before for Ford, but a broken driveshaft on Friday with no midday service spoiled all that. He is confident that the 2017 car will suit him down to the ground though, and I hope so too because the Finn is long overdue some success. Mads Ostberg put in another 2016 Mads Ostberg performance, a low end top 10 finish. No real dramas, but no real pace. Readers of This Is Rally will be aware by now that I haven't been impressed with the Norwegian recently, and I think it will be a great shame in many ways if he keeps his seat at M-Sport because on current performance, there are many drivers that deserve a shot more than he does. But his experience will count, and he may prove me wrong. I hope he does. The only really interesting talking point of Ostberg's rally was his co-driver Ola Floene being bitten by a snake. In Wales! Ninth was a respectable result for Stephane Lefebvre who was back in action for the first time after that terrifying accident in Germany back in August, while his compatriot Eric Camilli took a steady and sensible approach en route to tenth place. Andreas Mikkelsen finished outside the points suffering from the same issue as Latvala did in his Polo R, but earlier on in the day. The rally basically became all about the Power Stage for the Norwegian, but even that didn't work out as Tanak surged through to beat his best time, and Neuville took third so Mikkelsen only took 1 point back from his Hyundai rival. Photo Credit: me! Aside from the main WRC event, I want to talk a little bit about the National rally which took on the same stages as the big boys, but only included one run.
I was down in Deeside for the event to cover the progress of the ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship given my press officer role for the series, whilst sneaking away to watch the world's greatest drivers tackle Clocaenog on Sunday morning! (pictured above) Bruce McCombie and Michael Coutts won the event, leading effectively from start to finish in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. You can read all about it here. However their 37 second win over BTRDA driver Luke Francis is a little more significant than meets the eye. And I swear I'm not being biased when I say this, I just have increased knowledge. McCombie and Coutts were setting incredibly quick stage times on a consistent basis, but were suffering with over-heating issues in their Lancer, yet were still setting such quick times. McCombie has been known for his consistency of late, and throughout the SRC in 2015 and 16 he has been consistently quick but has never won an event. It stands to reason that he will have been a little slower due to the problems under the bonnet in Wales, but he still took a fairly comfortable win. And to me that underlines the strength and depth of the SRC. Jock Armstrong, Mike Faulkner and Mark McCulloch have all been as quick or quicker than Bruce in 2016, who managed to defeat one of the BTRDA's fastest drivers. But what a result for the pair from just outside Aberdeen. Great job lads!
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January 2018
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