After 22 years, a new British Touring Car Championship game is finally coming. The game was recently announced by Motorsport Games, the team behind the NASCAR Heat series.
There are still so many questions to answer as the game is not due out until 2022. There are a few things BTCC fans are sure to want to see in this new release, the first BTCC-centric game since 1998’s ToCA 2 Touring Cars.
With the technology available nowadays, the scope for this game is huge. In 1998 the original PlayStation could only do so much, but with the PlayStation 5 now on the horizon, the potential is huge, it’s whether Motorsport Games can unlock that potential.
Career Mode?
In the 90’s games, there was no fleshed out career mode. It’s been done before in games such as 2001’s ToCA Race Driver and Project CARS 2, the former even had the ToCA licence, but both were merely small cogs in a larger machine. This time with the support of Alan Gow and ToCA, Motorsport Games can really tailor this game to the BTCC diehards.
The options include starting in a test day and teams can scout you and sign you depending on your performance, or perhaps there is another option available.
Utilising The Support Series’
A BTCC weekend is so much more than just the touring cars. There’s also the Ginetta Juniors and Supercup, the new for 2020 Mini Challenge, British F4’s and the Porsche Supercup. Perhaps the career mode can have you starting off in a feeder series such as the Ginetta Juniors, and allowing you to progress up to the end goal of the BTCC. Again teams may scout and sign you dependant on your performances.
Alternatively you could just stick in the support series if they float your boat. The Ginetta series’ were in Project CARS 2 but as standalone championships, never have they been placed into a ToCA style package like we see in real life. Hopefully Motorsport Games have the access and ability to recreate the whole package, not just the BTCC.
Arcade vs Sim
Sim racing is growing, even more so after the Virtual F1 events we saw during Lockdown. But the balance between arcade controls and sim controls is a difficult one. Some games such as DiRT Rally and Assetto Corsa are built to be simulations, as close to the real thing as they physically can. Or we can see arcade style games, which cater to the more casual racers.
Motorsport Games have some tough choices to make, do they try and please everyone with an arcade style game, like the old ToCA games? Or, do they try and appease the diehard sim racers with a detailed, some would say tricky, game which mimics all the challenges of racing a touring car? There’s a chance they could try and merge the two, much like DiRT does, but it’s a lot more work for the developers.
Classic Content?
As brilliant as the current crop of touring cars is, it’s important to remember the past and some of the amazing cars the BTCC has seen over the years. It’s a chance we could see classic cars such as the Ford Sierra RS500’s and Vauxhall Cavaliers of the 80’s, the Renault Laguna or the Volvo 850 Estate of the Super Touring era, or the dominant Vauxhall’s of the 2000’s. It could work like the Formula One games where the classic cars are integrated into the career mode in the form of invitational events. Where you can enhance your reputation with a team with a good showing in these one off events.
Capturing the Essence
The BTCC is a special place, the paddocks are all intertwined, the access to drivers from fans is much easier than the likes of Formula One. There’s a sense of bravado and camaraderie that is seldom seen elsewhere. It is vital for Motorsport Games to try and translate that into this new game, some would argue this is the most important aspect of the new game.
Driver Personalities
There’s nothing worse in a racing game than poor AI. Computer controlled racers who are soulless and stick to one line, regardless of where you position your car. Will the developers be able to accurately install the personalities of drivers into the game? The phrase ‘rubbing is racing’ is more prevalent in touring cars than most other format. Will the AI drivers give as much as they get in terms of close physical racing?
Esports
The world of esports is growing, it is a huge aspect of gaming nowadays. Can the BTCC game have an esports aspect? With Motorsport Games having the full backing of ToCA, they can work closely together to create an esports event, perhaps at the final weekend of the BTCC season, with a huge tournament and prizes on offer.
One of those prizes could be a test in a BTCC car. The BTCC have often offered incentives to people, such as Matt Neal’s famous 1999 win at Donington Park. Famous as Alan Gow had offered a prize of £250,000 to the first independent driver to win a race outright. If a team or ToCA themselves can front the prize of a test in a real touring car, the chances for anyone to enter the series is possible. Much like James Baldwin who is now a full time professional racer, despite his background being in virtual racing.
There’s so many questions to answer, and Motorsport Games will most likely give updates to answer any questions we may have. But the potential and hype for this game will only grow more as we reach the 2022 release date.
Tom Oliiphant took his first ever British Touring Car Championship win in the third and final round at Brands Hatch GP. He held off Ash Sutton all race long with Stephen Jelley taking the final podium spot.
Jelley had the best start as he moved from fourth to second, behind him mayhem ensued. Coming out of Druids Jack Goff and Senna Proctor collided, with the latter almost spinning, sending Goff onto the grass. His car span into the path of the Toyota of Tom Ingram, taking both out.
Oliphant took the lead at the end of lap one and never surrendered it, despite intense pressure from Sutton in his Infiniti.
Rory Butcher had done incredibly well to recover from his race one puncture heartbreak to be fighting for second in the final race of the day.
Dan Cammish had another miserable race as for the second time in a row his Honda Civic broke down with mechanical issues on lap nine.
Punctures were a common theme at Brands Hatch, with Jake Hill suffering a puncture on lap 11. Two laps later and heartbreak again for Butcher as he suffered a puncture going into Paddock bend. Losing all the progress he had made in race two. On the same lap Chris Smiley in his Hyundai crashed from fourth place.
Oliphant took the win by just three tenths from Sutton with Jelley finishing third. Pole sitter Aiden Moffat was fourth with championship leader Colin Turkington fifth and Matt Neal recovering from a poor weekend to take sixth.
James Gornall secured his best ever finish with Tom Chilton eighth and Proctor ninth. Sam Osborne rounded off the top ten with Ollie Brown, Jack Butel and Nicolas Hamilton all picking up points.
Colin Turkington took a dominant win at Brands Hatch, the 53rd of his career as Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton round off the podium in a nightmare race for Honda drivers.
Of all the Honda drivers in the field, of which there are seven, only two finished, with five all retiring with various mechanical issues.
Cammish got a poor start and was leapfrogged by Turkington and Jackson, with Ingram passing the Honda driver too on the first lap. Ingram moved up into second as he passed Jackson into Sheene curve. After an encouraging weekend at Donington last weekend, Chris Smiley went off and lost a handful of places in his Hyundai.
Rory Butcher was keen to put his race one heartache behind him as he made 13 places in two laps to be 12th as the safety car came out following a collision between Bobby Thompson and Michael Crees.
On the restart after a six lap safety car period, Cammish and Ingram were chasing down Turkington. Tom Chilton passed Jackson for fourth, but his Honda broke down, with Matt Neal joining him in the pits with mechanical issues on lap ten.
Rory Butcher continued his rise up the grid as he passed Senna Proctor at Paddock, before Jake Hill became the latest Honda to retire with an engine issue coming onto the GP section.
On lap 16 Butcher passed his team mate Ollie Jackson for fifth, making it 20 places made in one race. Dan Cammish’s Honda then broke down, struggling to find any power. The Yorkshireman finally got it going again but finished way down the grid.
Turkington took the win and extended his lead in the championship over Ingram who finished second. Sutton finished third in his pacey Infiniti with Butcher inheriting fourth, and a 21 place gain off the grid. Jackson was fifth with Adam Morgan, Tom Oliphant, Senna Proctor, Stephen Jelley and James Gornall rounding off the top ten.
Dan Cammish benefited from some bad luck to Rory Butcher to win the first race at Brands Hatch. Butcher’s puncture three laps from the end saw Cammish inherit the win, with Colin Turkington second and Butcher’s team mate Ollie Jackson picking up a fantastic podium for Motorbase.
Turkington had a great start and flew up to third on the run to Paddock bend, with BUtcher holding off Cammish. Turkington’s team mate Tom Oliphant slid off later on in the lap but did well to recover and only lose a few places.
The best fight was for fifth place, which was occupied by Jake HIll in the MB Motorsport Honda Civic. Tom Ingram was first to challenge HIll, before Josh Cook slid off while fighting the pair for fifth. He returned to the pits to clear any debris out of his radiator before rejoining.
Out front Butcher and Cammish were fighting for the lead, the Honda looked more stable but Butcher’s Ford Focus ST held firm. Ingram had another go at passing Hill for fifth, and on lap 12 the Toyota driver finally passed Hill.
Meanwhile further down the grid Aiden Moffat and Matt Neal collided, Neal dove down the inside and tipped Moffat round, but the Infiniti tapped into Neal and spun his Team Dynamics Honda into the wall and out. Bringing out the Safety Car.
With a three lap dash to the flag, Cammish received a stroke of luck as Butcher picked up a puncture going out of Paddock bend and Cammish passed at Druids.
Cammish took the chequered flag and won the sixth race of his career. Turkington grabbed second and Ollie Jackson held off a speedy Ingram for the final podium slot.
Ash Sutton rounded off a fantastic day by taking the win in the third and final race at Donington Park. Chris Smiley grabbed second in a great debut weekend for Excelr8’s new Hyundai, with Josh Cook finishing third in his Honda Civic.
Smiley’s Hyundai was drawn to start on pole thanks to the reverse grid draw. Ollie Jackson in the Motorbase Ford Focus was next to him on the grid.
Jackson made the better start and led on the run down to Redgate. Stephen Jelley made a fantastic start to be third out of the first corner. Debutants Jack Butel and Ollie Brown collided at the Craner Curves, with Butel spinning, bringing out a brief safety car period.
Jackson continued to lead on the restart, Sutton moved up to sixth as he passed race one winner Dan Cammish before taking fifth from Jelley. Jack Goff’s miserable weekend continued as he span off. He retired to the pits.
Lap six and there was a four way battle for the lead between Jackson, Smiley, Josh Cook and Adam Morgan. Jelley spun at the chicane to lose his fine progress and he finished 18th.
On lap seven and Smiley took the lead into the Auld Hairpin, meanwhile Sutton joined the battle for the lead. The 2017 champion was surging forward and was second going into lap ten.
He finally passed Smiley for the lead coming into the final chicane and pulled away.
Senna Proctor started last having had a full engine refit and missed race two. He made it all the way to 15th and the points, before going off with only a couple of laps to go.
Sutton took the chequered flag with Smiley picking up a brilliant podium in the debut weekend for the Hyundai i30N. Cook finished third with Morgan and Jackson rounding off the top five.
Tom Ingram had a solid weekend and finished sixth, with Cammish and Neal seventh and eighth in their Team Dynamics Honda Civics. The two BMW’s of Tom Oliphant and race two winner Colin Turkington finishing ninth and tenth respectively.
Sutton was undoubtedly the driver of the day with his electrifying pace and fantastic determination and daring overtakes. The action continues at Brands Hatch next weekend.
Colin Turkington fought back from second in race one by winning race two in dominant fashion. He pulled out a massive lead before a safety car reeled him back in. The restart didn’t stop him as he took a fine win.
Rory Butcher finished second in another brilliant effort from the Motorbase team, with Tom Oliphant rounding off the podium.
James Gornall and Senna Proctor failed to make the start after their mechanical failures in race one. Jake Hill managed to fix his issues and get out for race two.
Turkington got the better start and took the lead on the run to Redgate. Stephen Jelley had a fantastic start and moved up to sixth by the end of the first lap.
While Turkington pulled away, Cammish came under pressure from third placed Butcher. and finally got past him on the straight towards the final chicane. Cammish struggling with the maximum ballast on his Honda Civic.
Next to pass the Honda were Tom Ingram and Tom Oliphant, who took third and fourth respectively from the Yorkshireman on lap five.
One man who was on fire was Ash Sutton, he was storming through the grid and set the fastest lap of the race before the safety car came out for the second time today. Nicolas Hamilton went wide at Coppice and once he put a tyre on the grass his VW CC spun and beached into the gravel. Turkington had a three second lead before the safety car.
On the restart Sutton battled Jelley for seventh, Tom Chilton joined the battle and the trio went three abreast going into the chicane. Sutton on the outside with the latest of late braking to pass both without incident.
His resurgence continued on lap 16 as he passed Matt Neal for sixth and then Cammish’s slide down the order continued as Sutton passed him on lap 17 for fifth.
Oliphant passed Ingram for third place making it two BMW’s on the podium as Sutton battled the Toyota of Ingram on the final lap.
Turkington took a dominant win, with Butcher and Oliphant rounding off the podium. Ingram and Sutton had a photo finish on the line but Ingram’s Toyota took it by a tenth.
A special mention to the MB Motorsport cars of Jake HIll and Sam Osborne. Hill fought from the back of the grid to be in the points before pulling into the pits a couple of laps from the end. Osborne was in the top ten and looked for another brilliant result. But he was in the pits four laps from the end with a mechanical issue.
Aiden Moffat finished 15th on the road but received a ten second penalty for a false start. Meaning Carl Boardley in the BMW 125i took the final point.
Dan Cammish struck first blood as he won the first round of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.
The Team Dynamics driver won by just seven tenths from reigning champion Colin Turkington in his WSR BMW. Rory Butcher grabbed a fantastic third place finish to round off the podium.
Turkington led off the grid, with Sutton moving up into second passing Dan Cammish at Redgate. The first lap wasn’t without its drama however as Jake Hill and Josh Cook collided, with the BTC Racing Civic of Cook falling to the back.
Sutton was taking the fight to Turkington’s BMW, and crept up the inside at Coppice, but couldn’t quite make the move stick. A lap later on lap four Sutton took the lead, albeit briefly as an initial nudge by Turkington was met with a second tap which spun Sutton’s Infiniti round. Cammish profited most from the impact as he took the lead.
Cammish was controlling the race, holding off Turkington with a lead of just under a second. However on lap 11 a safety car was called as Senna Proctor suffered an unfortunate failure while battling for tenth. This was coupled with Nicolas Hamilton going off at the final chicane.
After a four lap safety car break the green flag waved and the fights up and down the field continued. Sutton had a fantastic recovery from his early spin as he moved back up to finish 14th. Setting the fastest lap in the process.
Cammish took the chequered flag with Turkington close behind. A star drive from Rory Butcher who finished third. Tom Ingram took fourth in his Toyota before Matt Neal in the second Dynamics Honda Civic came fifth. Tom Oliphant was sixth in his WSR BMW, with Sam Osborne grabbing his best ever finish in his new MB Motorsport Honda Civic. Chris Smiley gave the new Excelr8 Hyundai i30N an eighth place finish on its debut, with Stephen Jelley and Tom Chilton rounding off the top ten.
A brilliant beginning to the 2020 British Touring Car Championship season.
Colin Turkington’s British Touring Car Championship title defence began in the best way possible as he took pole position for the season opening round at Donington Park. The top three were separated by just a tenth of a second.
The West Surrey Racing driver broke the lap record with a 1:08:998. Team Dynamics’ Dan Cammish was just 0.087 seconds behind with Ash Sutton in his new Laser Tools Infiniti 0.097 seconds behind Turkington’s BMW.
The track was greasy which played into the hands of some drivers. Rory Butcher had a lucky escape into the Auld Hairpin as the rear of his Ford Focus stepped out. The scot recovered after an off track excursion. Nicholas Hamilton was next to catch the eye as the pins holding down his bonnet failed, resulting in the bonnet flying up and hanging off. The Team HARD driver failed to set a time in the session.
The Toyota of Tom Ingram set the early pace, with Butcher and Turkington close behind. With 12 minutes left in the session Turkington set his fastest time and he claimed pole position.
After a stoppage due to a red flag, the cars came out for ten more minutes of fighting for position for tomorrow’s opening race.
After dominating the two practice sessions, Turkington and his BMW were fastest in qualifying, with Cammish and Sutton close behind.
Ingram finished fourth two tenths behind Turkington, with the second BMW of Tom Oliphant fifth. Butcher recovered from his off to claim sixth on the grid, with Jake Hill in the MB Motorsport Honda Civic sitting seventh for tomorrow.
The top ten was rounded off by BTC’s Josh Cook, the second Team Dynamics car of Matt Neal, and Adam Morgan in his Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes A Class.
We had some exciting news reported this afternoon! There has been an announcement with changes made to the calendar after the loss of many rounds through the summer period.
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Rallye Monte-Carlo 2020 22-26 January 2020 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Making its championship debut at the start of September is Rally Estonia, long rumoured during this lockdown period to be joining the calendar. Taking place during the first weekend of September, this becomes the 33rd country to host a full world rally championship event. It will be a gravel round, and I can imagine that Ott Tänak and his co-driver Martin Järveoja will be very excited about competing on home soil!
2020 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 02 / Swedish Rally / February 13-16, 2020 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Following up is the scheduled Rally Turkey, over the weekend of the 24th to 27th of September, then Rally Germany, the all tarmac round from the 15th to the 18th of October. Following those two events is the rescheduled Rally Italia Sardegna which takes place over the final weekend of October, 29th October to the 1st of November, that would have seen Wales Rally GB take place. The season will conclude in Japan in November over the weekend of the 19th to 22nd.
FIA World Rally Championship 2019 / Round 03 / Rally Mexico / March 7th-10th, 2019 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Here’s the full updated calendar for you!
Monte-Carlo 23rd to 26th January
Rally Sweden 13th to 16th February
Rally Mexico 12th to 15th March (this finished early on the 14th of course)
Rally Estonia 4th to 6th September
Rally Turkey 24th to 27th September
Rally Germany 15th to 18th October
Rally Italia Sardegna 29th October to 1st November
Rally Japan 19th to 22nd November
There also may be the addition of Ypres Rally in Belgium which could take place over the weekend of the 2nd to the 4th of October and Croatia with a date yet to be confirmed as other options.
Here’s a reminder of the current championship standings.
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 3
1
S. Ogier
62
2
E. Evans
54
3
T. Neuville
42
4
K. Rovanperä
40
5
O. Tänak
38
6
T. Suninen
26
7
E. Lappi
24
8
S.Loeb
8
9
T. Katsuta
8
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 3
1
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
110
2
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
89
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
65
Well, we are hopefully set for an exciting remainder of this season’s championship.
As ever this event started on Thursday evening with two short street stages. Thierry Neuville won both of them, whilst Elfyn Evans second fastest behind him on both, and in sharing third fastest times were Teemu Suninen in the first run, and Ott Tanak in the second run. Overall top three at this point were Thierry, Elfyn and Ott.
Friday
With ten stages covering 132.86 km’s ahead of the crews, it would be a challenging day out there, particularly as the temperature began to rise. The start list looked like this – 1. Evans 2. Neuville 3. Ogier 4. Rovanperä 5. Lappi 6. Tänak 7. Suninen 8. Greensmith 9. Sordo.
The reigning world champion set the fastest time in SS3 El Chocolate 1 – 31.45 km, making the most of his good starting position and took the lead. His closest challengers were Teemu Suninen and Seb Ogier. Championship leaders, Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville held seventh and fourth respectively.
Into SS4 Ortega 1 – 17.24 km, saw a very good time from Seb Ogier, who won the stage from Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi, whilst Ott Tanak lost 45 seconds and dropped from the lead down to eighth place, having damaged the rear of his car. Top three was now Seb, Teemu and Thierry.
A good run for Dani Sordo in SS5 Las Minas 1 – 13.69 km, saw the Spaniard win the stage from Ott, with rally leader Seb third. However, Elfyn was going well too, considering he was opening the road and he’d set the fourth best time, just 5.2 slower than the stage winner.
It was a second stage win for Hyundai, with Thierry Neuville winning SS6 Parque Bicentenario – 2.71 km from Elfyn and Seb. The former champion still held the lead from Teemu Suninen with Thierry still in third.
Well, after lunchtime service Ott Tanak won SS7 El Chocolate 2 – 31.45 km, with Teemu just six tenths slower than the Estonian, and Seb in third. Sadly, it was the last stage that Esapekka Lappi completed, as their Fiesta caught fire at the rear. It was an ignominious end for a great car, as the whole car was engulfed. Esapekka and Janne made it out okay.
The following stage, SS8 Ortega 2 – 17.24 km was cancelled. In fact, the organisers announced that SS9 was also cancelled, but subsequently was reinstated, with a start time that was 30 minutes later.
Ott Tanak won SS9 Las Minas 2 – 13.69 km and moved from seventh into third place as a result. Kalle was second quickest, and Seb was third. Teemu remained in second place overall.
Next up was SS10 SSS Autodromo Shell V-Power 1 – 2.33 km, which had two runs. The top three in the first run was Seb, Elfyn and Ott and in the second run, Seb, Teemu and Ott.
The final stage of the day SS12 Street Stage León – 0.73 km was won by Kalle, with teammate Elfyn second fastest and Teemu in third. Elfyn’s good time, meant that he’d moved up into third place as well.
Classification after Day One
1
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
1:23:09.2
2
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+13.2
3
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+33.2
4
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+33.4
5
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+35.7
6
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:16.8
Let’s hear from the drivers.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (1st)
“It’s been a good day, I’m very pleased to be in the lead tonight. This morning the times were not bad but the confidence was not at the maximum. I was still trying to get comfortable, but I made some adjustments to the setup and having some more miles in the car on this surface helped me to feel much better in the afternoon. Tomorrow will be another long day. We will have the best starting position, so we have to try to make the most out of it.”
Elfyn Evans (3rd)
“It’s been a pretty difficult day opening the road, as we knew it would be. But overall, it’s not been bad. The car was working generally very well. Both El Chocolate stages were the challenging stages to find a good feeling, but that was probably down to the road condition as the surface was very loose. In other places it went better than expected. We’ll just keep pushing as hard as we can and see what’s possible.”
Kalle Rovanperä (5th)
“It was getting better all the time today and I’m building the confidence up. It’s nice to see that I’m learning the car quite quickly. There is still some work to do, but it was a nice day. I don’t know where I got the slow puncture on the first stage this morning, but it can happen. After that I was a bit more cautious for the rest of the morning loop because we didn’t have any spare tyres, but on the second loop I tried to be a bit cleaner and faster and it went well.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak (4th)
“We’ve had a really bad day as a team. We lost a lot of time on the second stage, which dropped us back. I went wide and hit quite a big stone which damaged the rear suspension. We had some spare parts to fix it but not enough, so we had to limp to the end. Thankfully, we didn’t lose too much time, but it made for a difficult Friday. Road position is crucial for tomorrow so I am pleased we could make up some places. Everything is still possible, but it’s certainly more complicated.”
Thierry Neuville (Rally2)
“We started the rally well, considering our starting position, and I felt we had a very good run on the opening stages. We pushed hard and got some good performance from the car. We still needed to find some rear grip, but we made some changes at lunchtime service to improve that. We were still in the podium fight after the second run through El Chocolate. The following stage was cancelled but we were still focused. Unfortunately, something happened with the car in the repeat of Las Minas, which meant we had to stop mid-stage after about 5km. A very frustrating end to a tough day for the team. We hope we can re-join on Saturday, but the team needs to assess the car first.”
Dani Sordo (Retired)
“This was not how we envisaged our Rally México to turn out. We started this morning with high expectations but already in the El Chocolate stage we hit trouble when our radiator pipe came loose. I was driving normally, but clearly it wasn’t fixed tightly enough. We made some repairs and tried to push hard on the following stages but unfortunately the damage to the engine forced us to stop in the afternoon loop. These things can happen; we are all human and we have to recover from this disappointment as a team. Of course, it’s hard to take when we had such big hopes for this event but that’s rallying sometimes.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (2nd)
“It’s been a really good and trouble-free day for us. I was sending the car into the corners and driving on the limits – which is what you need to do if you want to push for the top results at this level. We will try and hold our podium place tomorrow, but at the same time I want to make sure I bring the car to the finish and will focus on myself and on continuing the good rhythm we had today.”
Teemu and Jarmo drove brilliantly all weekend. Photo credit, M-Sport Ford WRT
Gus Greensmith (6th)
“I just haven’t been able to get into my rhythm today and I’m a long way off where I wanted to be. We’ve not had the speed we were hoping for, but Teemu has proven that the car is quick so it’s all down to me! The objective now is just to focus on improvements, and bring the car home for some good points.”
Esapekka Lappi (Retired)
“On the stop line we understood that the rear of the car was on fire, but in that moment I didn’t realise how bad it was. We tried to put it out and drove on to a safer place, but when I lost the brakes I realised it was still burning quite bad – and jumped out as quickly as I could!
“I don’t know what caused it as there was no issue on the stage and it was actually a pretty good time. We were going well and fighting for the podium, so it’s a really big disappointment for us and for the whole team. But everyone is okay, and that is the most important thing right now.”
Saturday
With nine stages over 133km’s, it would be a challenging day again for the crews. The running order looked like this – 1. Neuville 2. Greensmith 3. Rovanperä 4. Evans 5. Tänak 6. Suninen 7. Ogier
Seb Ogier won SS13 Guanajuatito 1 – 24.96 km from Ott, who moved back into third overall, whist fast Finn Teemu set the third best time, looking to keep a charging world champion at bay.
Thierry showed that he could set a good time, winning SS14 Alfaro 1 – 16.99 km, from Ott and Seb. The Estonian closed the gap to Teemu a little as well who had set the same as Elfyn. The top three remained the same, and Seb had now increased his lead a further five seconds to 27.6. Sadly, Gus Greensmith stopped in this stage, losing ten minutes, before getting going again. There were some start lineup changes, with Thierry now starting the stage ahead of Ott. The Hyundai team were trying all the tricks to help their world champion get ahead of Teemu! All within the rules….
The top three in SS15 Derramadero 1 – 21.78 km was Ott, Elfyn and Seb. With his quick pace, Ott had closed the gap to Teemu a further 6.8 seconds in their battle for second place. Thierry overshot a junction and lost 7.1 seconds.
After the lunchtime service, SS16 Guanajuatito 2 – 24.96 km was next up. There was some big news however. The organisers had decided that the Sunday’s stages would be cancelled, meaning there were six stages left to decide the result of this year’s event. Covid 19 was affecting this event. The fact that the rally even started was a surprise, but the impeding travel restrictions were having their affect. The stage was won by Thierry, with Seb and Ott just behind. Teemu had a six second lead over the world champions.
The battle for second place continued between them into SS17 Alfaro 2 – 16.99 km, with Ott winning the stage from Thierry and Teemu. The Finn was just 3.1 ahead of a charging world champion. Seb was still leading by a huge 28.1 seconds.
The Estonian crew in their Hyundai were on a charge, winning SS18 Derramadero 2 – 21.78 km and moving ahead of Teemu who lost 9.4 seconds. Thierry and Seb were second and third fastest. The French pairing held a 27.4 second lead now with just three stages left.
SS19 SSS Autodromo Shell V-Power 3 was won by Thierry with Ott and Elfyn second and third fastest. The gap between Ott and Teemu widened a bit more. The Hyundai crew were making second place theirs.
The second run of SS20 SSS Autodromo Shell V-Power 4 – 2.33 km would see Thierry and Ott first and second again, with Seb their closest challenger.
The final stage then, SS21 Rock & Rally León – 1.62 km, and the top three was Thierry, Seb and Ott. Seb’s winning margin was a dominant 27.8 seconds. The French pairing had taken their first victory for Toyota. Ott had driven incredibly well to take second place, and Teemu took third, after a very good drive, much like Elfyn last year.
Final Overall Classification – Rally México
1
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
2:47:47.6
2
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+27.8
3
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+37.9
3
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:13.4
5
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2:20.5
6
P. Tidemand
P. Barth
Škoda Fabia R5
+10:29.3
7
N. Gryazin
Y. Fedorov
Hyundai i20 R5
+12:27.0
8
M. Bulacia
G. Bernacchini
Citroën C3 R5
+13:37.5
9
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+13:56.5
10
O.C. Veiby
J. Andersson
Hyundai i20 R5
+15:32.2
Let’s hear from the drivers!
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (1st)
“It’s been a good weekend. We had a good feeling straight from the start and we took our chance to take the lead on Friday morning. Today we had a better starting position and we pushed straight away and increased the gap, and then we tried to control it until the end. It’s a strange victory and it’s hard to celebrate in these circumstances. But thank you to the team, they’ve done a fantastic job this weekend. The car has been faultless all weekend. It’s been really reliable and fast, and these are good points for the championship.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“It’s not been an easy weekend for us, but I felt like we drove pretty well. This morning I think we maximised everything we could, but with the road positions it didn’t work out. This afternoon we made a few little errors and we picked up some little issues along the way, so we weren’t able to challenge. So, I’m a little bit disappointed in one way, but at the same time, fourth place after opening the road on the first day in Mexico is not so bad. All three Yaris WRCs are here at the finish, so it’s a testament to the team and the strength of the car.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 03 / Rally Mexico / March 12-15, 2020 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä (6th)
“I’m quite happy overall. It was not the best weekend, but we had a few unlucky moments, and it was nice to see that when we tried to push, we had a good pace. It’s not so easy to have good speed on the first time here, so I can be happy. Today was mostly sweeping the road, and so we went for a safe pace just to keep our position while also learning about the road cleaning. It’s been a really good beginning to the season for me: It’s nice to have had clean rallies without any big mistakes and some proper pace sometimes.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak (2nd)
“I am pleased to add another second place to my results for Hyundai Motorsport. I feel that I have pushed as hard as I could this weekend, my first proper gravel rally with the team and in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. We had the performance to win this weekend; the incident on Friday morning was my mistake, and I accept full blame for that. We then just tried to get the most out of the rest of the event, and could slowly, slowly make up time and positions. It’s been a demanding event for many reasons, and mentally quite tough, but we have another podium to our name, which is good.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 03, Rally Mexico 12-15 March 2020 Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (16th)
“In general, it has been a difficult weekend for Hyundai Motorsport. Unfortunately, we were caught out by some technical issues on the first proper day of the rally and that put us on the backfoot. It’s tough to take but it’s also part of the game in motorsport. On a positive note, we have shown that the speed is there to fight for the victory. After our troubles yesterday we wanted to come back fighting, and we did just that with a strong Saturday overall. We had some competitive runs, including two more stage wins. I tried to push as hard as possible. Together, as a team, we are going to work hard to avoid the sort of problems we’ve had this weekend, and to come back stronger than ever.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (3rd)
“I’m really happy with what I was able to do here this weekend, and really proud to bring this good result home for the team. After Sweden it wasn’t looking too good and the bosses were asking for some more pace! Then I switched the switch and was able to come back a stronger man – back on the good pace, and back challenging for the top results.
“I think it was a good drive from me this weekend and we were able to be really consistent which was important. Of course, it would have been nice to have taken the second position, but Ott was driving really fast and we had some brake issues that we had to manage. Still I think we have shown that the potential is there, so let’s see what we can do in the next rallies.”
Gus Greensmith (9th)
“It’s not been the weekend we wanted. Going into the rally we felt really good, but I just haven’t had the feeling and made too many mistakes. I would drive one good kilometre, and then one bad kilometre, and that time just adds up. But things were getting better and I really started to enjoy myself this afternoon. I’ve still got lots to learn, but we’ll get there – we’ve just got to keep at it.”
Summary
It was a very good drive from Seb and Julien to victory, their sixth in this event. It was Toyota’s first though, since their return to the championship in 2017. Last year, showed the progress they’d made, finishing at the time in second place with Ott. All three cars made it to the finish inside the top six as well. Elfyn and Scott took the opportunity to learn, as they opened the road for the first time in their careers, and it was not a perfect drive by any means, by their own admission, but none-the-less, a drive that has kept them near the top of the championship standings. Kalle was once more showing the quality that he and Jonne have shown previously, which had earnt them the drive at Tommi’s team, with a strong drive to sixth position.
At Hyundai, Ott Tänak confirmed that he was getting a really good handle on his new car, with a strong drive to second. Thierry and Dani suffered with reliability problems, which had hit their hopes both as a team, and as individuals with their own wishes for a good result. The team used some loopholes to put Thierry Neuville in front of Ott Tänak.
M-Sport showed why they are such a great team. With Teemu driving really well, he held off a charging Ott Tänak until almost the very end. Third place was a worthy result. Disaster struck Esapekka however, and a car that Elfyn Evans drove last year was completely destroyed. Gus Greensmith lacked consistency, after holding sixth coming into Saturday, he slumped to ninth place.
Well, we just don’t know now when we’ll see the next event, after Rally Argentina was postponed. The following rounds in Portugal and Sardegna may also go the same way. It all depends on the ease of travel. Once it gets back underway, we will see a big battle for this year’s crown.
Rally Mexico 2020 Podium. Photo credit, M-Sport Ford WRT
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 3
1
S. Ogier
62
2
E. Evans
54
3
T. Neuville
42
4
K. Rovanperä
40
5
O. Tänak
38
6
T. Suninen
26
7
E. Lappi
24
8
S.Loeb
8
9
T. Katsuta
8
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 3
