Photo Credit: Citroen Racing You've just clapped eyes on the car many predict will not just win next month's Rallye Monte-Carlo but come out on top after 13 gruelling tests all around the world in the hands of Kris Meeke: the Citroen C3 WRC. It's fair to say that Citroen's latest WRC challenger has been long awaited, considering the French marque's decision to not compete full-time in the 2016 WRC in order to develop the car that will be driven by Meeke, Craig Breen, Stephane Lefebvre and Khalid Al-Qassimi. And isn't she gorgeous. Properly and beautifully aggressive yet elegant, with splashes of yellow and black donned on the red paintwork. Visually exciting is the best way to sum up my feelings towards the C3. And exciting on the stages it promises to be, with Kris and Stephane piloting the beast on the first round of the new era of the World Rally Championship. Meeke in particular stands in very good stead on paper given his testing time with the car this year, and the fact he basically designed it to fit his requirements. And what further strengthens his position as a pre-season favourite is a lot of his main rivals are in a far less luxurious position than the Brit. Thierry Neuville took a while to work out where he'd be driving in 2017 so hasn't done as many kilometres in the i20 Coupe as Meeke has in the C3, Jari-Matti Latvala has joined a new team in Toyota meaning he hasn't had a lot of testing time and the car may not be up to scratch, while Ogier is in a similar situation where he is relatively unfamiliar with the Fiesta RS WRC. Of course, Citroen's car may not be up to the standard, but I sincerely doubt that given Meeke's expertise and Citroen's incredible development ability. Photo Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing It isn't just Citroen that officially unveiled their 2017 contender since I last wrote on this page about Malcolm Wilson's appointment of Sebastien Ogier, Toyota officially launched their Yaris last week and revaealed their 2017 driver line-up of Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hanninen, with Esapekka Lappi making it an all Finnish affair as test driver. Lappi is expeceted to get a run on at least 7 European events in the all new car. The Toyota Yaris WRC has divided opinion amongst many journalists and fans over the last few months, both in terms of its apparent performance and its aesthetics. Addressing the first issue, the main uproar came when videos emerged of Ogier testing the Toyota on wet Spanish tarmac, with the Yaris appearing to understeer, but it's worth remembering those are very tricky conditions. All footage revealed recently of Latvala in the hot seat appears much more promising, with the 16 time rally winner targeting podiums from Argentina onwards next year. The second matter: the looks. And I'm not so sure I like it. It's not ugly, but it's not as nice as the offerings from Citroen, Hyundai or M-Sport/Ford through my eyes. The front and side angles are fine, but there's too much going on at the rear. For me, there are far too many grilles and fins, and the rear wing is borderline ridiculous. But will it be quick? I'm certainly hoping it will be, and if it isn't initially I'm sure the team will be up to speed in no time at all. You of course can make your mind up for yourself, and let me know what you think by checking out my Twitter and voting in my poll as to what you think the best looking WRC 2017 challenger is. Photo Credit: Skoda Motorsport Now for some more driver discussion, and for today we're focusing on Skoda and three of its drivers past and present in Juho Hanninen, Esapekka Lappi and Andreas Mikkelsen.
Mikkelsen and co-driver Anders Jaeger (pictured above) came through the ranks at the wheel of an S2000 Fabia winning the iRC twice in a row, before joining Volkswagen Motorsport and taking three wins at the wheel of the Polo R WRC. But with VW's shock departure from the sport, Andreas and team mates Ogier and Latvala were left without a drive for 2017. The Frenchman and the Finn have since found employment at M-Sport and Toyota respectively, but the Norwegian has had no such luck, and the picture above says it all. Does he look happy? Not one bit. Mikkelsen's plan now is to do as many rallies as possible next year before hopefully obtaining a full time drive and mounting a serious championship assualt in 2018. He will be in Monte-Carlo next month, but at the wheel of a Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5 as a guest driver. It's poetic in a way that he should drive for Skoda, the team who fed him into the WRC and who he enjoyed great success with, but much like Elfyn Evans this year Mikkelsen simply shouldn't be without a WRC drive. It's an absolute travesty and genuinely does upset me. This brings me back to the other two drivers mentioned at the top of this sub-section, Hanninen and Lappi. Both Finnish men have joined Tommi Makinen's Toyota team for 2017, but can either one seriously claim that they are more deserving of that position than Andreas? Lappi I think can, as he like Mikkelsen has been superb with the Skoda factory team winning the APRC, FIA ERC and WRC-2 so the WRC is the next logical step for the talented youngster. I think he can count himself unluckly not be contesting all 13 rounds. Juho Hanninen however.... hmmm. There is no denying the Finn's talent behind the wheel of a rally car. Again chiefly with Skoda, Hanninen was supreme at the end of the last decade and the beginning of this, winning the iRC, SWRC and FIA ERC championships in consecutive years from 2010-2012. He had a shot in the WRC on selected rounds with Hyundai back in 2014, and I think it's fair to say he wasn't electrifying. For 2017, Toyota brought him in to develop the Yaris wanting a driver with experience. To be fair to their decision, when Hanninen was appointed neither Ogier, Latvala or Mikkelsen were available in the driver market as they were all contracted to Volkswagen and incredibly unlikely to jump ship, no matter how much money Toyota could have offered. With Latvala who Toyota took and Mikkelsen being available, the appointment of Hanninen seems even more ridiculous as they now have an experienced driver who not only is more experienced but is faster than Juho as well. That isn't Toyota's fault, but even if experience is what they were solely after was Hanninen even the best option? Dani Sordo may have been difficult to obtain or persuade but as a WRC winner he has plenty, and has worked for great teams alongside great team mates in Citroen and Sebasiten Loeb most signifcantly. And then there's Mads Ostberg, who has driven for two different works teams and is a reliable set of hands. Hanninen could of course prove me wrong, but seeing Mikkelsen in an R5 and Hanninen sitting with a full 2017 campaign stretching before gets to me, because Mikkelsen is more than deserving of that privildge. I'm not sure when you look at the current crop of talent in world rallying, that Hanninen is. On a cheerier note, this is likely to be my final post before Christmas unless any shock news is unveiled so I'd just like to wish everybody a fantastic Christmas period with family and friends. Keep an eye on This Is Rally though over the next few weeks, as I preview the 2017 WRC season which is now only a month away, and I'm currently working on a bumper preview of the 2017 MSA British Rally Championship so make sure you don't miss that! P.S. I'd love to believe all the Meeke hype, but I still can't see anybody beating Ogier.
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January 2018
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