Photo Credit: M-Sport The 2017 FIA World Rally Championship wrote its own pre-season headlines. Faster, closer, more exciting. The WRC: back to its best. The hype only increased with Volkswagen's sudden withdrawal after Wales Rally GB last year in the wake of the company's emission scandal, with the driver market exploding into action. It was a step into the unknown for everybody, with the full time return of Citroen and Toyota's first involvement in the sport this century.
But has it been as good as the billing it set itself? You'll undoubtedly have your own opinion, but I'm here to tell you that this is shaping up to be one of the best World Rally Championship seasons we've ever witnessed. The new regulations were always going to be a positive thing. A level playing field, - made even more equal with championship's most dominant team ever waving goodbye - more aggressive aerodynamics, increased speed and more noise was a recipe that had fans licking their lips. Some will argue that the action would have been as close as it is with all four manufacturer teams relatively evenly matched even if the 2016 regulations had stayed in place as VW's exit is the main reason for the even keel, and to an extent I accept that, but there are three reasons that flaw this argument. Firstly, with new regulations, as is being shown in F1 with Ferrari usurping Mercedes, the pecking order can so easily be reversed. Secondly, new and more exciting cars and with it a fresh change is always going to ramp up excitement, and finally and perhaps most crucially I doubt that Toyota would have been as close as they are to the front if they had to develop a car that others had been using in one way or another since 2011. This even playing field has accelerated from a Rogan Josh to a Vindaloo by the driver-market earthquake Volkswagen created. Each of the four manufacturers has a genuine title contender, with Citroen and Hyundai already having Kris Meeke and Thierry Neuville and VW refugees Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala joining M-Sport Ford and Toyota respectively. Better yet, because Ogier isn't 100% at one with his Fiesta WRC, he hasn't truly been the fastest man on any of the four rallies this season despite leading the championship. We have seen four different winners from the first four rallies, each victor competing in a different car for a different team. Ogier took the Monte with Latvala stunning everybody in Sweden to lead the championship, before Meeke dominated Mexico but for a late Power Stage scare and Neuville to deliver on his early season promise on Corsica. The only thing that could have improved all of this would have been Andreas Mikkelsen's inclusion in the series, as I firmly believe he would have been a major player in the 2017 title race. When was the last time the WRC witnessed four different manufacturers taking the win on the first four rallies? Good question! The answer: 1986. 31 years ago. Do you now start to see my point...? There are several factors that contribute to a great season's rallying, and it goes without saying that we will all have different views on this one. But few wouldn't include unpredictability and a good title fight on their hit list. 2017 so far is delivering both, although we may all be left a tad disappointed when Ogier inevitably lifts that fifth world title as in my opinion he is likely to do. But even that isn't as dull as it seems. Look deeper than the raw statistic and it is a major moment of WRC history. Ogier will have had to work very hard for this one against a high quality field of drivers we haven't seen the likes of for at least a decade. And in winning he would become one of few drivers to win a championship with more than one team. Only Walter Rohrl and Juha Kankkunen can claim to have achieved such a feat. That's all if's, but's and maybe's, but what can't be doubted is that I cannot wait for the remaining nine rallies of the year. In theory, it can only get better with the stories looking to write themselves. Ott Tanak and Craig Breen are on the way to becoming WRC winners while Esapekka Lappi will get a Yaris WRC for the remainder of the European rounds. Mads Ostberg could make an impact, Hayden Paddon is bound to improve and what will happen to MIkkelsen? WRC 2017: All show and no go? Quite the opposite.
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January 2018
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