The 2016 World Rally Championship season is just around the corner, so I decided to list 5 reasons why we should all be excited for what promises to be an interesting season in the top tier of rallying. 1. Driver and Co-driver ChangesThe most high profile of these changes is Mads Ostberg, who has jumped back to M-Sport from Citroen. The 4th place finisher in last year's championship also has a new co-driver alongside him for 2016, in the shape of WRC winner Ola Floene, who has joined from the passenger seat of Mikkelsen's Polo R. Subsequently, this means Andreas Mikkelsen has a new co-driver in the form of Anders Jaeger. Mikkelsen's fellow Norwegian has minimal WRC experience, but it was planned he would join Andreas in 2017 and beyond, but Floene decided to leave a year earlier than expected, prompting Jaeger's promotion. The other moves of the off-season have also come courtesy of M-Sport. Partnering Mads Ostberg for 2016 is Frenchman Eric Camilli, who is a relative unknown but clearly has something special that attracted Malcolm Wilson's attention. 2015 M-Sport drivers Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans will both still compete in 2016. Tanak has signed for the new DMACK team whilst Evans has dropped to WRC-2 to develop the updated Fiesta R5. 2. Hyundai have a New CarIt was originally meant to break into the WRC mid-way through last season, but no matter it is here now and looks very menacing indeed. Referred to as the new-generation i20, the car has been extensively tested and is rumoured to be much quicker than its predecessor. Hyundai have retained the services of Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon so an easy comparison between both models can be expected. Let's hope it can match the VW's! 3. New RallyThe WRC calendar has now stretched to 14 events despite some of the teams' complaints, meaning the championship welcomes the China Rally. The Chinese event has been included in the WRC just once, back in 1999, where Didier Auriol won for Toyota. This all means none of the big names in the championship have any experience of the only Asian round of the season, although WRC-2 and Skoda drivers Esapekka Lappi and Pontus Tidemand have both won the event in previous years. It shall be fascinating to see who conquers this new challenge the best. 4. Final Year of Current Cars2016 will be the final season that the current WRC machines will be driven at top level, with the new regulations in 2017 making the cars lower, wider and more powerful. In theory then, 2017 is a whole new chapter so the big question is can anybody stop Sebastien Ogier rounding off this sub-era of the WRC with a fourth consecutive World title? 5. Intra-Team Battle at HyundaiIt may be being played down in the media, and all the drivers will I'm sure have the team's best interest at heart, but the rapid demise of Thierry Neuville's form in 2015 and contrasting rise to fame of Hayden Paddon has shaken things up a lot at the Korean team. Neuville signed for Hyundai in 2014 as their undisputed #1 after a sensational 2013 season where he remains the only non VW man to have finished in the top 3 in the championship since Volkswagen Motorsport entered the championship. But after a slump in form, his position at the forefront of the team has been put into serious jeopardy. At the launch of their new challenger, Hyundai stated they would be rotating their 3 drivers - Neuville, Sordo and Paddon - in the lead team and second string team in order to get the expertise of all the drivers to bolster Hyundai's manufacturers championship challenge. However, a WRC team has to nominate one driver to drive for their team for at least 10 of the 14 events. Volkswagen nominated Ogier, M-Sport and Ostberg and Hyundai plumped for Sordo, meaning Dani is effectively the team's number 1, although management insist their is no number 1. That may well be true, but there is certainly potential for possible fireworks here. 2016 is just 2 weeks away! Before that, keep an eye out for my Monte-Carlo preview, but in the mean time let's ponder if anybody can actually topple the imperious Ogier.
Personally, I think he will be pushed harder for it than he was in 2015, but I don't see either he or the VW Polo becoming weak over night to such an extent where he can be beaten to the 2016 title.
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January 2018
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