Continuing my recap of WRC Super Saturday, I then spoke to Toyota WRC driver Ott Tanak and team boss Tommi Makinen.
I asked Ott Tanak to rate his first year at Toyota.
We had a strong year, but at the start of the year it wasn’t easy, I didn’t know what to expect and there was a bit unknown, I believe everything went well, went better than expected, but in the we lost the championship, but still we can say it was a strong year and definitely got a good relationship in the team and we improved and developed over the season pretty well. For the future it’s definitely looking good and I believe this year, going into the season already for the second time with the same car same team same people it feels more relaxed.
I then spoke to Tommi Makinen
I asked him for his thoughts on the 2018 season and in particular how satisfying it was for the team to win the manufacturers title in the second season back.
Well, it was not looking so good in the middle of the season, but then the absolutely constant R & D brought improvements and then Ott Tanak at the same time learned the car and he was clearly fast. Now it is looking good, with reliability looking good, but there are some areas we need to improve the backup ideas, but then how it fits in with the regulations, how you do something with software, but we’ll keep working and developing.
I asked him what is it that makes the Finnish and Japanese work so well together?
I don’t know what it is, they are different cultures, but also the closest distance to the European, but I don’t know from my own career was just going with them. There was Mitsubishi and some others at the beginning of my career, there was Ford and Citroen as well. There was no target to go with the Japanese and I remember in 2001 I wanted to go somewhere and there were two possibilities, either Citroen or Subaru and I made a very careful analyst of which one would be better and followed that which is when I went to Subaru and continued with Japanese and that was the moment when it turns because when it decided the direction and I just did two years with Subaru and they wanted to continue somehow, and the co-operation and we started our racing team in 2004, started building and learning from that time.
Just thinking to this season, how was it that you came to be in touch with Kris, how did that come together?
Kris and I spoke together in 2016 and at the time he decided to continue with Citroen, which I totally understood, as we were completely new and now. Now Esapekka decided he wanted to change to Citroen and wanted something new, so after that we had to start with the different possibilities. I could see Kris there.
I asked if it was Kris that came to him, or was it an ongoing chat all the way through?
We have known each other for a long time and it was easy to go for him.
Now then, here’s a reminder of the full calendar.
Monte Carlo Rally January 24-27
Rally Sweden February 14-17
Rally Mexico March 7-10
Tour de Corse March 28-31
Rally Argentina April 25-28
Rally Chile May 9-12
Rally Portugal May 30-June 2
Rally Italy June 13-16
Rally Finland August 1-4
Rally Germany August 22-25
Rally Turkey September 12-15
Rally GB October 3-6
Rally Spain October 24-27
Rally Australia November 14-17
The calendar has grown, with the addition of Chile, which will be run after Argentina as a double header. The summer break follows Rally Italy, with Rally Finland six weeks afterwards at the start of August.
WRC launch day, Autosport International Show 2019. Photo credit, Warren Nel
We are set then for a very interesting season! Can Seb Ogier win the title again this year, or will Thierry and Ott come through to dethrone the Frenchman? Can Andreas Mikkelsen show improved form, given his terrible season, or might we see Hayden get a recall to the team to replace the Norwegian?
How will the new driver, co-driver partnerships go with Teemu, Marko, Elfyn, Scott and Kris, Seb? It all starts this week!
Look out for my Rallye Monte-Carlo preview coming this week! It’s time to get this championship going!
For the second year in a row, the World Rally Championship came to The NEC Birmingham. The only difference was that instead of just the Thursday media day, it was held on the first public day, Saturday the 12th of January.
There was massive interest around the display of full-blooded cars from M-Sport, Toyota WRC Team, Hyundai Motorsport and Citroen Racing ahead of the launch, with the cars all covered up. Then the teams arrived and the cars were unveiled. First the Fiesta WRC, followed by the Yaris WRC, i20 WRC and finally the C3 WRC.
Afterwards, I got to speak to the new co-drivers for Kris Meeke, Teemu Suninen and Elfyn Evans. They are, Seb Marshall, Marko Salminen and Scott Martin.
First up, Scott. I asked him how he came to join Elfyn in the car?
He said, well Dan and Elfyn weren’t going to continue in 2019, so the opportunity came about. Unfortunately, Craig didn’t have anything organised, no programme to offer, so yeah it wasn’t easy a difficult situation to be in, ultimately an opportunity to have a full season in the WRC and Craig didn’t have something solid, so that’s how it came all about. Since then we’ve been working hard to work together and look forward to the year, to try and put as much preparation in as we can going into Monte-Carlo.
In terms of preparing for the season and in particular Monte-Carlo, you’ve been testing?
Well, that was great to get in the car that we’ll be rallying, and I’ve never competed with Elfyn before, never sat in the car with him before. We’d done some pace note work, around my home in the UK, you know just to understand the notes a bit, we watched on board videos, I watched a lot of Dan and Elfyn from last year, just to try and understand a little bit, but until you actually sit in the car with him and actually go through the motions and get the feelings of how he drives to the notes, that’s when you really get to learn, you get areas I need to get more familiar with and then you go from there. Now there are loads of things we can be doing now and now we’ve actually done the test a lot of things work well and there’s some areas we need to work on to understand each other, so it’s a work in progress and we’ll keep working hard at it and try and be in the best possible way when we start Monte Carlo Rally.
What are your hopes for Monte?
I hope we have a clean rally, I hope we work well together and hope we have a good result.
In terms of preparation for Monte, how many kilometres have you done?
We were sharing the car both days with Teemu, but we probably got about 300km over the two days as a crew, and as a team maybe six to seven hundred. We had all the conditions you’d probably expect to get at Rallye Monte-Carlo, so this was really good. I feel like we had a good test on that point. It was always changing, we were able to do a lot of tyre work and just make sure the car felt comfortable in these tricky conditions, so I think that’s key to have a good result in Monte-Carlo. Yeah, we had a good two days. Now we’ve got to work with the gravel crew, that’s the unique thing about Monte-Carlo, that’s a relationship that Elfyn already has, need to build that up, so that when it comes to Thursday night, we know what we’re all doing.
Is Phil Mills still in the gravel car with Elfyn’s dad?
Actually, there’s been a bit of a change there. Phil Mills is a bit tied up with work, so Elfyn’s got a friend of his that’s co-drove for him before, (it’s not Dan Barritt, Scott said whilst laughing), so I’m working with him and we’re all working together and will continue that right up to the rally. Looking forward to it!
Next up was Seb Marshall.
I asked him testing and preparations have gone for Rallye Monte-Carlo?
Yes, it’s gone well. We’ve had two days before Christmas, and it was the first time that myself and Kris had been in the car together at speed and the first time with the team as well. The first day was on a road that we know quite well, absolutely bone-dry conditions perfect for feeling your way into the car in a very consistent environment. The second day, we were on a new road that in the morning had five kilometres of sheet black ice, that melted throughout the day to get the slush and mud, so it was difficult but, in some ways, it was perfect Monte testing. The feeling as good, it’s one of those events so much is down to tyre choice, that’s it’s not all down to set up, but feeling comfortable in the car.
Do you know how many kilometres you covered over the couple of days?
Something like 350km’s I would have thought. About par for a testing day.
How did the switch from Hayden come about?
Well, towards the last year Kris was in talks with Toyota, managed to sign his deal and felt he wanted to have a change of things in the car. So, he approached me, and asked what I was up to this year, if it something I’d be interested in, so kept talking across the weeks and went from there. So, its wasn’t that I was looking to leave or jump ship, it was just case that an opportunity presented itself. For me, despite I’d been around the championship for a while, I’d never done a full season. Now it’s great to compete at this level, doing anything but of course the chance to do the full championship is quite a big thing, so that was quite a big draw, you know a driver of his calibre, it’s a good opportunity!
Marko Salminen was next.
I asked how good it was that it would be that he would be doing a full season in his debut year?
Ah, well that has been my dream for many years, and now it’s coming true and I’m really looking forward to it and working with Teemu, it’s so good too. He’s a good guy and easy to work with, and I’m just enjoying it and waiting for the season to start.
Now, you were testing this week and sharing the car with Elfyn and Scott?
Yeah, we did two day’s with Teemu and luckily there were some snowy conditions and ice, that kind of stuff, so it really helped to prepare and understand ahead of the rally.
Okay, give us your first impressions of the car.
Of course, the first time, it was amazing but after a few runs you get used to the speed, but I can say that they really go fast!
Now, speaking to Teemu I asked him how his relationship with Marko, his new co-driver was?
Yes, it’s been good at the moment. I know him from 2014 when I was driving against him in the Finnish Championship, and the last two years he’s been driving with Takamoto, who has been driving in WRC2, he has good experience from WRC cars. After the season, I just had a phone call to him, would you be interested to come and co-drive me, as I felt that he had something to give me in the car.
Now, you’ve also got a new suspension partner, in the team. How has that integration gone so far?
The challenge is to change one part of the car because to see how it works with the other parts, so it’s not so easy to find a good balance in the car immediately, but I see it holds good possibilities to improve the car, but we just need the time.
Elfyn next up!
How are things going with Scott?
So far, it’s been really good, we have a lot of preparation now to do before we head to Monte Carlo, it’s probably one of the most complex events to start a new partnership just because there’s the integration of the gravel notes, the way you process the weather information, means everything is much more complex. There’s a lot to get through before Monte Carlo and we’ve only had two half days testing, so it’s a relatively short time to prepare. We’re doing a lot of recce outside of rally, just on normal roads to try and get used to one-another and so far, so good. I’m confident it will turn out okay.
I asked him about the return of Kris to the championship.
Yes, it’s great, I think Kris’ speed is unquestioned, and for the UK it’s a massive thing to have another Brit back full time. Really pleased for Kris and Seb to be there.
Hyundai Motorsport
I asked Andreas Mikkelsen about if he felt any pressure heading into his second full season, after just one podium in 2018.
Ah, no not chilled. We know we need to deliver, we cannot have another year like 2018, it was a difficult year, the luck was definitely not on our side on many occasions as well but we feel like we’ve taken some steps and we feel confident that we will be back to where we belong, where we normally are. But we know what an important season this is.
I asked Thierry Neuville about his lack of pace in Rally Finland and what he could do to improve it?
We have tried everything in the last five years and in particular the last three years to improve. We come back from testing with the feeling we are fast and then obviously we are not. It’s difficult to say now because now Toyota has clearly a big advantage with their test area in the Finnish woods and knowing that the testing, they benefit from it. The speed is extremely high, but even compared to Citroen which doesn’t test so much over there, they were faster than us there, which was a bit of a surprise.
Part two of my interviews will be up soon, so do pop back and check in.
2018 British GT champion Jonathan Adam is happy to be working with Scottish compatriots at TF Sport in 2019 as he bids to defend his overall title.
Adam, three-times a British GT champion, will be working with Graham Davidson this year as last year’s partner Flick Haigh looks to race in Europe after becoming the first woman to win the British GT championship outright in 2018.
The 13-time British GT winner will move from Optimum Motorsport to TF Sport to remain in an Aston Martin Vantage, although he will be running a new car for the first time since 2011.
“I’ve known Tom Ferrier very well and I’ve raced for him before in British GT and WEC, he’s a good friend, the preparation has already started in December, we raced in Abu Dhabi and that’s given the team good information for the season ahead.
“Graham is itching to try and get going and drive the new car in anger. He had a brief spell of 15 laps at Snetterton, loved the car and made his decision there and then that this is what we wanted to drive. He’s been fast, on and off he’s won races and for me it’s about trying to hone him and get the last few tenths out of him.”
After getting married in the autumn of 2018, Adam will be fully focused on racing with a challenging schedule over the next twelve months.
“2018 was mega for host of different reasons and 2019 is really busy. There’ll be a few more programmes to be announced and the British GT already confirmed at the moment but it could be between a 15-18 weekend season.”
The work doesn’t stop for the teams during the winter months, with it being a busy schedule as constructors sort out their entries for next season.
The new Aston Martin, which replaces the successful V8 Vantage, has been popular across both the GT3 and GT4 classes.
“We have a lot going on behind the scenes now, back in the workshop with both GT3 and GT4 cars. The four especially has been really well received, 12 brand new customers have bought the car over the last four or five weeks and they’ve really enjoyed the car, which will make life easier for the customers.”
With Haigh becoming the first woman to win overall since the series’ inception in 1993, Adam was honoured but not surprised to be a part of an historic season in British GT.
“It was nice for me last year because I personally broke a few records for the most wins in GT3 and a third championship, but when the deal was struck in mid-November with Flick and I was told of the programmes we’d be involved in, I did say around the table to Sean Goff and Flick that if we did the right testing with the right engineer and the right package, then I had a gut feeling that something could come good.
“It was no surprise to me that she went to Oulton and smashed it on pole because she tested so well, she put the mileage in. We did 9-10 days of testing, which in GT3 is quite a lot, but she was so determined to be the fastest Am out there and wrap up the championship. All round, for Optimum and British GT it was the perfect story, a new Am driver winning the championship but a female one too. You had Jamie Chadwick in 15 or 16 winning GT4 but it hadn’t happened at the top class for a female. I wish her well this season.”
This was the year that this team came closest to winning both the drivers and manufacturers. It didn’t work out in the end though. The team led both championships at certain points, but ultimately fell short. Here’s how the season went for this team in their fifth season.
Monte Carlo day one saw Thierry slide wide and lose a lot of time, finishing seventeen overall after Thursday. Andreas and Dani went well though and were second and third, less than 30 seconds from the leader. After Friday’s stages, Dani was still in third, whilst Thierry had improved to ninth. Andreas had retired after a problem with his car after the first stage of the morning loop. On Saturday, Dani’s good work came undone in stage nine when he slid wide into a ditch and had to retire from the event. Thierry had now climbed into seventh overall. Onto Sunday then and Thierry climbed a further two places by the end of the day’s action, into fifth place. The team could count that as a good result, after their troubles earlier in the weekend, and I think it’s fair to say that without his problems and subsequent pace, that Thierry would have made it onto the podium.
Moving onto Rally Sweden and with Thierry, Andreas and Hayden driving, the team had gone for its strongest line up. Boy, did it work! Thierry led a one-two-three, with Andreas in second and Hayden third at the end of day one. Thierry maintained a good lead at the end of Saturday’s stages, with Andreas and Hayden having fallen to third and fourth. Sunday saw Thierry take victory for the team, their first victory in this event, whilst Andreas picked up third place and a spin for Hayden saw the Kiwi fall to fifth place. Thierry’s victory moved him into the championship lead as well, eleven points ahead of Seb.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 02, Rally Sweden 15-18 February 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
The following event, Rally Mexico, would be a completely different challenge of course! Joining Thierry and Andreas for this round would be Dani Sordo. He would be the early leader as well at the end of the Friday’s stages, with Andreas and Thierry in sixth and seventh respectively. The Belgian crew suffered with some technical problems, restricting their ultimate pace as well as being the first car on the road because of the championship positions. At the end of Saturday, Dani had fallen to third place after getting a puncture, whilst Andreas had moved up to fourth and Thierry was sixth after a stall and two punctures. Sunday saw Dani complete a good drive to second overall, whilst Andreas and Thierry finished in fourth and sixth. Seb moved back into the championship lead, with Thierry now four points behind.
Next up was the twists and turns of Tour de Corse! Dani started his third event of the year, lining up with Thierry and Andreas. At the end of day one, Thierry held second overall, thirty seconds behind Seb. Dani held seventh, after struggling with the handling of the car, whilst Andreas suffered an off and a spin and held ninth. At the end of day two, Thierry had fallen behind a fast charging Ott, but remained in the hunt for second place. After making some changes to their cars, Dani and Andreas both improved their positions to fifth and eighth. On the final day Thierry couldn’t catch Ott, and this meant he’d finish in third, whilst Dani was fourth and Andreas seventh. It was a troubling event for the Norwegian, where he was not on the pace.
With a starting line-up the same as the previous round, there was some consistency for the team for Rally Argentina, and after the first day Thierry, Dani and Andreas were in third, fourth and seventh. Andreas had led early on, but unfortunately a puncture put him out of the battle for the lead. After Saturday’s stages, each driver had moved up the standings, with Thierry and Dani holding second and third, whilst Andreas had moved into fifth overall after making some changes to the car which helped give him confidence. On the final day, the team secured a double podium, the second in a row whilst Andreas finished in fifth after a battle with Ogier who finished a few seconds ahead. The team had increased it’s lead in the manufacturer’s championship, whilst Thierry had reduced Ogier’s championship lead to just ten points.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 04 Rallye de France 05-08 April 2018 Action Day 2 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Fabien Dufour Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Three weeks later, it was time for Rally de Portugal! Alongside Thierry and Andreas and Dani, Hayden Paddon would return to the team for this event. After day one, when the team took six stage victories Thierry held an almost twenty second lead over Elfyn, and Dani was also doing well, holding third. Sadly, Hayden and Andreas they would not finish the day. Andreas suffered some technical problems firstly with his powersteering and then oil pressure problems. Hayden went off the road unfortunately, after avoiding a rock that was hidden. The Kiwi wouldn’t restart as a precaution, after he and Seb were taken to hospital. Following Saturday’s stages, Thierry was holding a thirty-nine second lead over Elfyn, with Dani holding third after another good day for the Spaniard. Thierry continued his consistent pace through Sunday’s stages to take his second victory of the season and thus took the championship lead from Seb Ogier. Dani lost his third place due to a time penalty, which was gained after the final stage of Saturday, but fought back to within 13 seconds of third place, ultimately finishing in fifth. Andreas’ problems on Friday kept him in the lower parts of the standings, finishing in sixteenth place.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
The following event, Rally Italia Sardegna saw Hayden, Thierry and Andreas line up, whilst Dani would sit this one out. Rain on day one helped championship leader Thierry, finish day one 18 seconds from Seb Ogier who led this event. Kiwi, Hayden tried lots of things to get on the pace, but just struggled, whilst Andreas saw his hopes for a good result disappear (he was the early leader), after his car developed a transmission issue, leaving it stuck in reverse. Day two saw Thierry close on the Frenchman for the lead after he took three stage victories, closing to just 3.9 seconds of the M-Sport driver, whilst Hayden improved to fourth overall. Andreas re-joined the action and set some good times, but was rueing the problems on Friday. The final day saw Thierry snatch victory from Seb in the final stage, winning by just seven tenths of a second and he also took the maximum power stage points too! Hayden completed the event in fourth place, having increased his lead over Mads throughout the day and Andreas took fourth in the power stage and two points.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 07, Rally Italia Sardegna 7-10 June 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
After the summer break, the team came to Rally Finland and were leading both championships for drivers/co-drivers and team by a big margin. The drivers lining up were Thierry, Andreas and Hayden. This event had not been kind to Hyundai in the past. It would prove to be the same again, after Thierry, who was opening the road, was struggling for grip and then went off into a ditch during stage five finishing the day in tenth. Andreas made a mistake too, after a misheard note sent him into a small low speed roll and also a penalty after checking in late after lunchtime service. Best placed driver was Hayden, who finished day one in fourth. After Saturday’s stages, Hayden, who had driven consistently well, finished in fifth place, having been passed by 2017 winner Lappi. The Kiwi was just nine seconds from the Finn. Sadly, Thierry was still in tenth overall, after being second on the road, rueing the troubles from Friday and thus a poor starting position on Saturday. Andreas moved closer to the top ten, finishing in eleventh. The final day saw Hayden move into fourth, after Lappi went off the road. This also saw Thierry and Andreas move up a place, with the Belgian completing the event in ninth and Andreas getting tenth.
Next up was the all tarmac event of Rally Germany. Dani re-joined Thierry and Andreas. A good day one saw Thierry hold third overall behind his championship rivals, whilst Dani was sixth and Andreas ninth. The Norwegian was trying to change his driving style, but was struggling. Day two saw Dani take three stage victories and moved up into second, with Thierry now fourth after struggling with car handling and a better day for Andreas saw him move up into sixth. The last day saw Thierry finish in second, despite a mistake in the power stage. Dani’s hopes of a good result ended when he went and crashed his car into the vineyards that line the stages. Meanwhile, Andreas finished in sixth.
2017 FIA World Rally Championship, Round 10, Rallye Deutschland 17 – 20 August 2017, Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, Photographer: RaceEMotion, Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
The return of Rally Turkey to the championship saw a completely new event for all the drivers. Hayden joined Thierry and Andreas. Day one saw Thierry hold an unexpected lead over Seb, despite opening the road. Andreas also had a good day too, holding third, just 2.6 from the lead, whilst Hayden was further back in sixth place. The stages got rougher, not smoother after each car. A dramatic Saturday saw Thierry retire from the lead, after his suspension broke and came through his bonnet! Then Andreas took the lead, only then the suffer from driveshaft failure, leaving him with only rear-wheel drive and struggling for pace therefore, but he was still in fifth place. Through all of this came Hayden finishing the day in third place after a considered drive in the exceptionally rough stages. The final day saw Hayden finish in third, taking his first podium of the year after a very good drive. Andreas finished in fifth, whilst Thierry struck back, taking the power stage win and was now holding a lead of 13 points from Ott who had passed Ogier in the championship.
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 10, Rally Turkey 13-16 september 2018 Hayden Paddon, Seb Marshall, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Fabien Dufour Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Wales Rally GB followed, and was much earlier in the championship. Hayden once again was in the line-up with Thierry and Andreas. After Friday, Thierry held second place, from Ott. The Belgian had found the morning stages tricky, what with opening the road and his car not giving him that much confidence, but things improved in the afternoon. Hayden held seventh place, after sliding off briefly in one of the morning stages, whilst Andreas was all at sea, struggling with his car, and unable to set any good times. Saturday, saw a big twist in the championship! Second placed Thierry lost control of his car in the second stage of the day, and lost loads of time and places, falling to ninth, whilst Andreas found some improvements and moved up to sixth after winning three stages. Hayden drove well too, and was seventh. Thierry did improve by the end of the day, finishing in eighth, but was rueing his mistake, as without it, he would have been leading the event. The final day saw the drivers secure fifth, sixth and seventh, with Thierry leading home Andreas and Hayden.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 11, Wales Rally GB 04-07 october 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Fabien Dufour Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Rally Spain followed and Dani re-joined the team for his last event of the year. At the end of Friday, Dani held a very strong second overall, whilst Andreas was sixth. As championship leader, Thierry opened the road and struggled with the gravel stages, completing the day in ninth. After day two, Thierry moved up into fifth, courtesy of two fastest stage times. Dani took the lead briefly, before falling behind in trickier conditions in the afternoon, ultimately completing the day in sixth, but still in touch. Andreas had an even worse day though, dropping down the order to tenth. Rain on the final morning stages changed things a bit, but ultimately when the stages dried out in time for the rerun, the finishing positions were Thierry in fourth, Dani sixth and Andreas tenth. Thierry was only half a second behind finishing on the podium, and was now three points behind Ogier in their championship battle.
It was the last round and both championships were up for grabs. The gap between Seb and Thierry was very small, whilst the gap between Hyundai and Toyota was twelve points. Hayden would start as well, looking to support Thierry with his championship bid in this title decider! After day one, Hayden was the best placed of the three crews, despite tyre coming off the rim on a jump, completing the day in fourth, just a few seconds behind third. Thierry had a mixed day, winning stage five and then also after a tyre came off having landed heavily from a jump in stage six and dropping to tenth. Andreas had another bad day, after having to avoid a tractor which was repositioning some bales for the chicane in stage six, he then went off and had to retire for the day. Hayden’s weekend got better on Saturday, as he took two stage victories and moved up into third overall. With Thierry second on the road, he’d struggle to set the stages on fire, and completed the day in eighth, whilst Andreas who was opening the road continued to struggle, and was way down the order, after having to re-join under Rally2. The last day saw Hayden take the teams eleventh podium and his second of the year. Sadly, there was no championship success for either the team or Thierry, who retired from the event after clipping a tree, thus breaking his suspension. Andreas finished in eleventh place.
Summing up the year for this team, they took three victories and led both championships for long periods as well but fell short in the end. Looking at the season, I’d say their bid for the titles started to unravel at Rally Finland, where they just were not on the pace. Thierry made his best bid to be champion though, and for him, the bid ended in Wales, when he slid off the road, losing 40 seconds. As we know, Seb Ogier came through to win there and put him in a good position in the end.
Andreas Mikkelsen’s season peaked in Rally Sweden and from there, what with reliability problems and lack of pace elsewhere he didn’t really shine. He will be under pressure to deliver in 2019.
Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon did well with their part-seasons. The Spaniard showed good pace even leading some events, and that is why he has a deal for 2019.
However, despite Hayden picking up two podiums, after good drives in Turkey and Australia, he was only offered a single event. Very odd, considering Thierry and him are the only drivers to have won for the team
In the off season, we’ve found out that Seb Loeb will be driving for the team, signed to do six rounds per year in the next two years. The other news is that Andrea Adamo has become Team Director, after Michel Nandan stepped down from the team and company.
Twenty-Eighteen has been an incredible year in JWRC and WRC3, with a few R5 and AP4 outings too.
I passed a few milestones as well; I completed my travels to 6 continents (just Antarctica to go!), I made my 20th WRC start, and I earned my first WRC category win.
The year started off very cold, with Sigdal Rally in Norway as a warm-up for WRC Sweden. I really enjoy snow and ice rallying, the atmosphere is always incredible and the challenge of competing in such a harsh environment pushes my adventure buttons.
In stark contrast, the next stop was WRC Mexico – hot, high, and very dry. An extreme physical challenge, with stages lined by huge numbers of truly passionate fans. The atmosphere at the start of the rally was unlike anything I’ve experienced.
Next was one of my favourite rallies in the world – Tour de Corse, the twisting tarmac roads are a big test of co-driver skill and I relish the challenge – reading flat out for 50km (or 90 pages of pacenotes) and delivering it all exactly right is a great feeling.
After Tour de Corse, we headed to WRC Portugal, more heat and dust. A tricky event for us, but we learnt a lot and found good pace.
Continuing on the loose, in July we undertook the gravel grand prix itself; Rally Finland. I spent a lot of time in Finland during my time with Toyota Gazoo Racing, so I always feel quite at home in Jyvaskyla. This year the high-speed stages incorporated more narrow roads, which brought a whole new dynamic to the event.
News: Junior World Rally Championship co-driver Phil Hall secured his best ever result in the series last week, guiding fellow Briton @williamsrally to sixth #JWRC at the legendary @RallyFinland.
The final round of the JWRC, though not our final WRC event of the year, was Rally Turkey. There is only one way to describe this event – Brutal! A test of resilience and skilled, measured driving. Getting to the end was an achievement in itself, and managing to do so without going into Rally 2 is something I’m quite proud of. We worked hard; battling punctures, broken suspension, and the heat and dust, to return a solid result – and demonstrate just how tough the little Fiesta R2T really is.
One of the highlights of my year was us winning WRC3 on my home event, Wales Rally GB. We had a really good rally, and set a nice pace from the start. Everything came together in the rain and fog of Friday and we managed to pull out a good lead which we maintained to the end of the event, despite a puncture.
Phil Hall enjoyed a dream result at the weekend, by winning the WRC3 category and securing a top 30 position at Britain’s round of the WRC, Wales Rally GB.
The finale of our WRC season was Rally Spain, the mixed surface challenge was treacherous with heavy rainfall on the tarmac mixed with dust on the gravel. The heavily muddied tarmac roads offered a particularly tough challenge, but we were extremely happy with our pace.
Overall, an exciting and rewarding 3rd year in the WRC for me, 20 WRC starts on the board and hopefully many more to come.
In my second season review for 2018, it’s time to look at M-Sport. It was a successful year, with victories that allowed the French duo to win the Drivers crown for the sixth time, whilst Elfyn Evans/Dan Barritt and Teemu Suninen played their part for the team. They scored some good results as well.
The championship started well, with victory for Seb and Julien in Monte Carlo. Elfyn suffered a puncture on day one, but fought back with some very quick times including two stage victories on Saturday to finish in sixth overall. Former winner Bryan Bouffier made his Fiesta WRC debut as well, and drove to an excellent eighth place for the team.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Monte Carlo (FRA) – WRC 24/01/2018 to 28/01/2018 – PHOTO : @World
Sweden followed, and it was a much tougher event for the team. There had been massive snowfall in the weeks before. Seb and Julien would be leading the cars on day one, and they would be doing their best to stay on the road, but keep the time loss down as well. Teemu was the top placed driver in sixth place at the end of day one, after Elfyn got a puncture and completed day down the field, but it was Seb who struggled the most, sweeping the stages clear like a snow plough. After Saturday, Teemu had dropped a couple of places to more experienced drivers, and was in eighth place and Seb had moved into tenth place. The positions were pretty much the same at the end, with Elfyn climbing into fourteenth position at the end.
Mexico was next up. Seb would use his better road position to complete day one in fifth overall, which by the end of day two, he had taken the lead by over 30 seconds. His lead at the end was a full minute. Meanwhile, Elfyn went well, just 15 seconds from the lead at the end of stage three, before a high-speed roll that didn’t damage the car as much as you’d think in stage four put him and Dan out of the event. The reason- concussion. Teemu would also go well, before damaging his suspension, leading to loss of control of the car and retirement for the day. He would come through, gaining more experience, finishing in twelfth. Seb had retaken the lead of the championship from Thierry as well, with a four-point lead over the Belgian.
The iconic Tour de Corse followed, and with Dan Barritt still ruled out over safety, with his concussion, Phil Mills, stepped into the number two Fiesta alongside Elfyn, whilst Bryan Bouffier was driving a third Fiesta. Seb and Julien showed their class, leading the whole event and winning, whilst Elfyn and Phil drove brilliantly having had just the six runs in shakedown, to perfect their partnership for this event, clinching fifth overall. Bryan had an engine issue, causing him to retire from the event on the Saturday.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Tour de Corse (FRA) – WRC 04/04/2018 to 08/04/2018 – PHOTO : @World
Argentina followed, and Dan was back alongside Elfyn, whilst Teemu returned to the third Fiesta, making his first start in this event. After day one, Seb was in fifth place, whilst Elfyn and Teemu rounded out the top ten. After Saturday’s stages, all had moved up a few places. Elfyn in particular went particularly well, finishing in sixth overall, whilst Teemu gained one place. That’s how they finished as well at the end of the rally, and despite doing well, Elfyn was not that happy. The gap between Seb and Thierry ten points and Ott was just twenty-eight points.
Portugal was next up, and with Seb making a mistake on day one, the team looked to their younger drivers. They drove brilliantly, Elfyn finishing day one in second place and Teemu in fourth. Elfyn continued to drive well on Saturday, winning two stages and consolidating his second position. In the other Fiesta, Teemu continued a strong drive and was just a few seconds behind third place. On the final day, both Elfyn and Teemu drove well, clinching a double podium. With Seb retiring from the event on the Sunday, after the team decided to retire the car, given that they were not likely to score any points, he fell behind Thierry in their battle for the world championship.
Elfyn and Dan drove to a first podium of 2018 in Portugal. Photo credit, M-Sport.
Next up, was the very tricky Rally Italia Sardegna and the team comprised of Seb, Elfyn and Teemu. Seb would be looking to use the advantage of not opening the road on Friday as the title fight continued between him and Thierry. Elfyn and Teemu would also be hoping for a good result after their podium. After day one, Seb incredibly held the lead, but sadly there was disappointments elsewhere in the team. Teemu finished the day way down after a spin, whilst Elfyn broke a part in his steering, and after fixing it in the stage, was fifteen minutes from the lead. Day two saw the battle between Thierry and Seb intensify, with the Hyundai driver closing the gap. Meanwhile, Teemu and Elfyn continued their climb up the leaderboard. The final day saw Seb and Thierry complete their fight over the win, with the Frenchman just missing out on the victory by just seven tenths of a second. Teemu scored a point for tenth, whilst Elfyn was fourteenth.
Super-fast Finland followed the summer break, and with just six rallies left, would be an important event. The team had brought some aero updates to their car, but only enough for one, which were fitted to Seb’s car. Despite this, the best placed car was piloted by Teemu ending day one in fifth place and making the most of his road position, whilst Seb was sixth and Elfyn seventh. On day two, team orders came into play, with Elfyn giving up his position to Seb, whilst Teemu continued to be the top placed car in sixth with his teammates seventh and eighth. When the event finished on Sunday, there had been further team orders, which meant that Seb was the top placed of the three drivers in fifth after Teemu took a 20 second penalty. Teemu ultimately finished in sixth, with Elfyn in seventh.
Onto Germany next, an event of three different types of tarmac. Teemu would be making his top-level debut as well. After day one, the team were well placed with Seb in second overall, Elfyn driving really well in fourth, just 10 seconds from third and Teemu in tenth. It was all change on Saturday, when Elfyn ran wide and hit a concrete block hidden in undergrowth, damaging his suspension and putting him out for the day. Meantime, Seb also suffered a blow in his fight for the win, getting a puncture, which they changed mid stage. Teemu came through unscathed, finishing the day in eighth, with Seb now just one place ahead in seventh. The final day saw the true pace of Seb and Julien, who climbed back up into fourth place pretty quickly, limiting the number of points that they conceded to their rivals, Ott and Thierry who finished were first and second respectively. Teemu finished his first tarmac rally in a top spec car, fifth overall, whilst Elfyn came home in twenty-fifth after re-joining under Rally2 regs.
Seb and Julien drove to fifth in Finland after Elfyn and Teemu took time penalties for the team leader. Photo credit, M-Sport.
The next event was Rally Turkey, a completely new event. On day one, Seb come through after some tough stages, to be second overall, with Teemu in ninth. Elfyn continued to suffer some terrible luck, with intercom problems, followed by problems with his differential, which was replaced in service and then a puncture. However, that wasn’t the worst of it, when he suffered broken suspension, putting him out in the days penultimate stage. After day two, when Seb set some great times, but also suffered massive disappointment, he won two stages, but also damaged his suspension which needed changing in service. He then slid off the road in the first afternoon stage. Meantime, Teemu was going really well, finishing the day in fourth overall, whilst Elfyn showed what could have been possible, climbing up the leaderboard, into seventh, after a string of quick times, including three second fastest times in the afternoon stages. The final day, saw Teemu come through in fourth, whilst Elfyn clocked in five minutes early in the penultimate stage, thus getting a five-minute penalty and dropping to twelfth, giving Seb tenth place and the final point.
Teemu and Mikko drove to a deserved fourth place in the incredibly tough Turkish round. Photo credit, M-Sport.
Wales Rally was next, as we came down to the final three events of the year. Sadly, last years winner would suffer some unreliability from the normally bullet-proof engine, getting a misfire on the road section, whilst just a few seconds from the lead. Teemu also retired from the days action after going off the road. Seb meantime was sitting in fifth place, with both his championship rivals ahead. By the end of Saturday, Seb had taken the lead after a string of quick times. Meanwhile, Elfyn, having re-joined under Rally2 regs, climbed up the field and completed the day in twenty fourth place. Teemu didn’t restart, as his car was too damaged to fix. Seb completed Sunday and took victory, his first since Tour de Corse. There was no fairy-tale result for Elfyn, one year on from his victory, and he finished in twentieth place.
Rally Spain saw the team field three cars again. After day one, Elfyn was the top runner in third after a string of top times, whilst Seb was doing what he could, and guided his Fiesta to seventh. Further back, Teemu was learning, and held eleventh. A string of quick times through Saturday, saw Seb climb up to second overall, with Elfyn also doing well, completing the day in fourth. Teemu remained in eleventh, as he continued to learn the stages, particularly given the rain that fell so heavily! On Sunday, everything came together, and after some great driving the team scored a brilliant double podium, with Seb taking second place and Elfyn third, his first podium since Portugal. Teemu finished in eleventh, as he continued to learn. Seb was now back in the lead of the championship.
Elfyn and Dan drove to third in Rally Spain, their second podium of the year. Photo credit, M-Sport
A few weeks later, it was time for the title decider, down under. Three drivers went to Australia, determined to take the championship. After day one, which had seen Seb’s main rival, Thierry run wide and lose time, there was a bit of shuffling around with Elfyn and Teemu dropping behind Seb as they completed the day in seventh, eighth and ninth. After a number of very fast times throughout Saturday, Seb and Elfyn both moved up to sixth and seventh, whilst Teemu was learning still, he set some good times in the afternoon. On the final day, both of Seb’s rivals crashed out of the rally, leaving him to bring his car home in fifth place, one place ahead of Elfyn who had played the long game.
Seb and Julien on their way to their sixth World Championship in Rally Australia. Photo credit, M-Sport
Seb and Julien had won their sixth world championship in a row and the second ever for M-Sport, in their final drive for the team. Teemu had learnt loads this year and Elfyn had secured some great results and also done his part, with helping Seb win the championship. The team had taken third place in the Manufacturers championship as well.
For next year, we don’t know who will be driving, or even if the team will compete at the top level, which would be a massive shame. Possible drivers could be;
Elfyn Evans who would make a good team leader now I believe, Teemu Suninen, who is one of the young hot shots and perhaps we’ll see someone else coming up from WRC2, like Gus Greensmith who tested a Fiesta WRC in Poland recently.
Seb Loeb took Citroen Racing’s only victory this year in Spain. Photo credit Citroen Racing
It really was an up and down season for the former champions. The second season with the new C3 yielded a few podiums and just one win. Kris Meeke had his contract terminated after Rally Italia Sardegna, when he crashed again. Mads Ostberg, who had started the season as a part-time driver, then completed the year.
In Monte Carlo Kris Meeke finished in 4th place and Craig Breen 11th. A good start on the whole, given that Kris was targeting the championship.
Sweden however, saw Kris have an accident which gave him no chance of scoring points, and it was Craig who came through and scored his best result yet with second place behind winner Thierry. In his first event of the year and after a battle with Lappi, Mads scored a fine sixth place in his first drive in the C3.
Mexico was next up, the return to the event which Kris had won the year before, and it was a second consecutive podium for the lead driver, Kris finishing in third. It was a false dawn, though. Seb Loeb also impressed, challenging for the top spots, before finally finishing in fifth place.
This is how the championship positions looked after those three rounds
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Sébastien Ogier – 60 points
Thierry Neuville – 51 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 34 points
Kris Meeke – 32 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 30 points
Ott Tänak – 26 points
Esapekka Lappi – 23 points
Craig Breen – 20 points
Dani Sordo – 18 points
Sébastien Loeb – 10 points
MANUFACTURERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Hyundai WRT – 84 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 72 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT – 71 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 67 points
Next up was Tour de Corse, which again Kris had led in 2017, but an oil leak put him out then. This year he was challenging well, but slid off the road after a pacenote mistake from Paul in the final stage of Saturday whilst running in second overall. Seb Loeb was also doing well too, but slid off the road as his tyres hadn’t come up to temperature enough for the dirty road in front of them. They both finished, but down in ninth and fourteenth positions respectively. A shame given the pace that had been shown.
Argentina was next, round five. This would be the final rally Kris would complete for the team, finishing in seventh overall after getting a puncture whilst challenging again near the front. Craig Breen would also go well, until a roll which would damage his rollcage beyond repair, putting him out of the event, whilst Al Qassimi in the other car would finish twelfth.
Portugal next up and with three cars entered for Kris, Craig and Mads the team were looking for good points. Mads finished in sixth place, with Craig in seventh, but all of this was overshadowed by the crash on Saturday for Kris and Paul where the car left the road and crashed into some trees. It was a big one, and at this point there was no suggestion he was heading out of the door. Yet, six days later we got the huge news that the team had terminated their contract over safety reasons.
Italia Sardegna was next, with two cars being run for Mads and Craig. Rain on day one made tyre choice hard, with some stages as muddy as Wales, and others dry! With the following days stages being dry, the two crews ultimately finished in fifth (Mads) and sixth (Craig). For Mads, this was the best finishing position for him so far in this car.
The amazing Rally Finland was next, and the schedule had had some tweaks to make it less friendly for the non-Scandinavian drivers. Three cars were entered for Mads, Craig and Khalid. Craig suffered a puncture during Friday’s stages, leaving him to sweep the roads on his way to eighth place. Khalid went off the road, re-joining under Rally2 regs, but it was the performance of Norwegian, Mads that stood out. He held off a determined drive from three-time winner Latvala to clinch second place.
Mads and Torstein scored a brilliant second place in Rally Finland. Photo credit Citroen Racing
The summer break followed, and the points standings looked like this after eight rounds, with five still to go.
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thierry Neuville – 153 points
Sébastien Ogier – 132 points
Ott Tänak – 107 points
Esapekka Lappi – 70 points
Dani Sordo – 60 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 57 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 55 points
Elfyn Evans – 52 points
Mads Ostberg – 48 points
Kris Meeke – 43 points
Craig Breen – 39 points
MANUFACTURERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Hyundai WRT – 228 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 202 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 201 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT – 153 points
Following the long summer break, Rally Germany restarted the season after a six-week break. Mads and Craig once again would be in the cars. A tricky event, with rain on Friday, really mixed things up. Unfortunately, Mads didn’t complete the event, after going off the road and damaging the cooling system, whilst Craig finished in seventh place.
The return of Rally Turkey to the championship would definitely make things interesting. A totally new event for this year, therefore the crews would have to create new pacenotes from scratch. Three cars were entered for Mads, Craig and Khalid. After taking the lead on Friday, Craig then suffered two punctures, dropping him down the field. After climbing back up the standings, his car burst into flames on Saturday, completely gutting it. Meantime, Mads was doing well, till broken suspension followed by turbo failure then put him well down the order. Khalid also suffered turbo failure, but he re-joined and finished in fifteenth.
Next up was Wales Rally GB, and with two cars for Mads and Craig, what would this event hold? Well, after a very spirited attack, and finally getting some good luck during Friday with no punctures, Craig finished in fourth overall after challenging for a podium throughout Saturday and Sunday. Mads also had a good event running in the top five, before a spin on Sunday relegated him to eighth in the end.
Rally Spain was next, the dual surface event. Seb Loeb, Craig and Khalid would drive the cars. The nine-time champion was taking part for the last time this year and he didn’t disappoint! After good runs through Friday and Saturday, he seized the lead on Sunday after taking a gamble on hard tyres and won for the 79th time! Meantime Craig had a couple of spins on the wet tarmac, finishing in ninth and Khalid in twenty-third in his final appearance this year.
The last event of the year, Rally Australia saw Mads and Craig line-up. They both drove really well, with Mads and Craig holding first and second at the end of day one. Moving into day two, Mads continued to show good pace, but Craig suffered first with a sticking throttle, before then damaging his suspension, which he fixed after the stage, but gained time penalties dropping him down after arriving at the stage late. When the rain arrived on Sunday, Mads put a great performance together and kept the car on the road for his second podium of the year, ultimately finishing in third. Craig put his troubles from Saturday behind him and drove to seventh overall.
After leading at the end of day one of Rally Australia, Mads and Torstein came through and finished in third overall. Photo credit, Citroen Racing
The Citroen team had a tricky year, and ultimately didn’t get the results that you’d expect. Sacking Kris the way they did was certainly a surprise, and they didn’t really have the person that could really lead the team. Next year will be very different, with Seb Ogier and Esapekka Lappi joining the so-called Red Army. What this means for Mads and Craig, it’s hard to say right now. Khalid will almost certainly be driving the car at some points and perhaps we’ll see either Craig or Mads in a third car on occasions.
By signing Seb, they’re certainly making a statement of intention that they want next year’s world championship. These last two years, with finishing bottom of the pile the manufacturers championship will have been very painful for them.
The decider down under had it all! Here’s the story of how the title was won, while Jari-Matti took victory!
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 13 / Rally Australia 2018 / November 15-18, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Shakedown took place on Thursday, with these results.
SHAKEDOWN STANDINGS
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2:53.8
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) 2:54.0
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:54.0
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) 2:54.1
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) 2:54.6
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) 2:54.7
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:54.9
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:55.0
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2:55.1
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2:55.2
Østberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) 2:55.4
Friday
There would be 52km’s of stages on Friday with runs through Orara East, Coldwater and Sherwood run twice and a double run of Destination NSW spectator special at the end of the day. There were rumours of rain developing adding to the anticipation. The start list looked like this – Ogier, Neuville, Tänak, Lappi, Latvala, Mikkelsen, Evans, Breen, Paddon, Suninen, Ostberg, Serderidis. There would be a service break after the first three stages.
With Seb opening the road, he was hoping it would rain, thus giving him an advantage. However, this didn’t happen. The rain did arrive, but only in the service park, thus not affecting the stages.
The short SS1, Orara East stage, saw Esapekka go fastest, and therefore lead from his Toyota teammates, Ott and Jari-Matti. On such a short stage, Ogier was not losing too much time, completing the stage just 2.6 seconds slower in eighth place, just half a second behind Thierry who held fifth place. Craig Breen hit a kangaroo, but the car wasn’t badly damaged, allowing him to continue.
The longer SS2, 14km Coldwater stage would shake things up a bit more with the rain holding off. It was certainly very dry out there, and starting to warm up too as the final cars completed. Jari-Matti took the stage victory and moved into a shared lead with his younger teammate, Esapekka. Craig said his car was understeering, but he still was on the move up the leaderboard anyway, moving to sixth from eleventh. Meanwhile, Mads was just 2.4 seconds behind the overall leaders. Those to lose time were Ogier, who fell to eleventh, but still keeping Thierry in sight who was one place ahead.
The final stage before service, SS3 Sherwood, at 26km’s did see some drama! Sixth on the road, Andreas came across a tractor on the stage, and whilst taking avoiding action, crashed out damaging his radiator and putting him out for the rest of the day. Now there has been a lot of debate as to why it was there. One thing I know, is that it was there to help manage the chicane that was in this stage. Anyway, the stage was won by Mads and Craig was second fastest despite believing he had a cracked brake disc, and this speed moved him up to fourth! The top two in the championship were rounding out the top ten.
After service, the re-run of Orara East, SS4, was won by Ott, thus moving the Estonian into fourth overall. Ogier also went well, setting the third fastest time and keeping Thierry insight. Mads was still leading overall, now 4.5 seconds ahead of Lappi.
It was all change in Coldwater, SS5. Thierry won the stage and moved up to seventh place overall, almost ten seconds ahead of Ogier. Lappi lost time, dropping almost 23 seconds and falling to ninth. Our top three was now Mads, Jari-Matti and Ott.
There was more drama in the longer SS6, Sherwood stage though! After setting the fastest time, Craig moved up to third from fifth, now just 7.5 seconds from the lead that Mads still had. However, it was one of the championship contenders that suffered misfortune. Thierry had a tyre come off after landing from a jump, losing close to a minute and severely denting his hopes of winning the championship as he was now thirty seconds behind Ogier.
After the double run in the spectator friendly stage, Destination NSW, which completed the first days action, the only change in the leaderboard was that Craig had brought himself into second overall, giving Citroen a one-two at the end of the first day.
Here’s the day one standings then.
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) 53:37.4
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) +6.8
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +8.7
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) +12.5
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +16.9
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +28.3
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +38.2
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +45.2
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) +47.2
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:11.9
Here’s the drivers views then….
Mads Østberg
“I thought I would need time to get used to the car again, having not driven it since Wales but I felt confident in the car very quickly. I gradually got my bearings again and adjusted my driving stage by stage. In the end, I really enjoyed it. For sure, we pushed but without risking everything. Obviously, we are right in the mix and I’m really determined to stay there!”
Mads and Torstein led a Citroen Racing 1-2 at the end of Day One. Photo credit, Citroen Racing.
Craig Breen
“Other than the first stage of the loop, where I wasn’t quite on it a couple of times, I had a good opening leg. We were right on the pace all day, which you can see with our win on the longest stage. Importantly, that helped us to gain a place in tomorrow’s running order. I can’t wait to get out there again, because the second leg looks like it will be the best day of the weekend!”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“Today has mostly been very good. This morning I did some mistakes and lost a little bit of time, but in the afternoon loop in the forest stages I was really satisfied with how it went: the driving was very consistent and clean. I did lose some time on the super specials, as I had the hard tyres and I was missing some traction. Still, everything remains close and tomorrow we will have a good road position, which is going to be important.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (4th)
“We have had a nice clean day and find ourselves involved in a close fight at the front. The feeling inside the car has been pretty good on all stages. I have spent Friday just trying to get the natural rhythm back, learning to push in the car and gaining confidence. Our approach was right. We had an issue midway through the afternoon when a tyre came off the rim; we were forced to use a worn soft tyre for the second run through Sherwood. I was surprised not to lose more time than we did. We can definitely go faster, and we have to keep pushing for the team. There’s no other option.”
Thierry Neuville (10th)
“We can’t lose our hopes despite what’s happened. It’s still only the first day and although our championship chances are now reduced, we don’t know what’s going to happen over the next two days. It had been going quite well. Even from second on the road this morning, the cleaning was huge and our aim was just to stay in front of Sébastien, which we were able to do. A stage win in the afternoon was nice but then, in SS6, we were on a long right-hander with a few bumps, and on the landing of a jump we took the tyre from the rim, which lost us a lot of time. We will continue to drive and see where we end up on Sunday.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (Retired/Rally2)
“What happened today pretty much sums up my season, to be honest. We approached a crest and saw a marshal waving us down. Anders told me to stop so I slowed right down and saw a tractor driving out of the chicane. We kept going but my head was in a different place rather than the pace-notes that were coming up and we went off. I am disappointed and angry. This situation has destroyed a really important rally for us, and it should never have happened. It’s a shame because we were feeling comfortable and doing well up to that point. We will be back on Saturday but there’s not much we can do now.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Ott Tänak (5th)
“Overall, the morning loop was good and we were in a nice rhythm. This afternoon there were some mistakes from my side, which I cannot be happy about. On the first stage of the afternoon loop I hit a gate, which did some damage to our suspension. Then on the second stage, in a big watersplash we lost the front bumper so we had a lot less aero than usual. The car wasn’t easy to drive but we did all we could, and we are still in the game and everything is possible.”
Esapekka Lappi (6th)
“Everything went really well and smoothly this morning. I was quite surprised: I expected to lose more time as we were running quite early on the road. Unfortunately, one watersplash this afternoon ruined our day. I tried to approach it the same as I did on the first pass, but it didn’t work out at all. We lost a lot of time but thankfully we could continue. I have been really enjoying the driving and everything on the car is working nicely, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (7th)
“Every stage has been like a Power Stage for us today. Opening the road is really tough here and we had to push really hard through every stage. It’s always a little frustrating when you’re not in a position to fight for the top results, but that’s the way it is.”
“Unlike our rivals, we didn’t make any mistakes and we’re in a good position for the championship which is the main objective this weekend. A big thanks to my team mates also for their help this afternoon which should make our road position better for tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans (8th)
“We focused on delivering a clean and tidy drive through today’s stages. The competition was really close and I think we did a pretty good job – not far from the lead before the last gravel stage of the day.”
Elfyn and Dan let Seb and Julien go ahead of them in the standings, helping the French duo with their championship defence. Photo credit, M-Sport
“But this is a team sport as well as an individual one and we had to play our part to give Seb the best possible position going into the weekend. We’re all competitors and we all want to compete, but we’re also here to do a job for the team and we have to respect that.”
Teemu Suninen (9th)
“I think we’ve had a good day. The pace has been good and we were able to improve a lot over the second pass – just 0.1 seconds away from a stage win on the middle one this afternoon [SS5]. On the next stage we had to give the position to Seb, but that’s part of the game – he’s fighting for the championship and we need to play our part to help him.”
Saturday
Day two would see the crews tackle much more stages, adding up to 133km’s of action. The starting line up looked like this – Serderidis, Neuville, Evans, Suninen, Ogier, Lappi, Tänak, Paddon, Breen, Latvala, Ostberg, Mikkelsen.
A much longer day featured four stages run in the morning, with the loop repeated in the afternoon and then a double run at the end of the day in the spectator friendly stage.
Into SS9, Argents Hill Reverse then, quite literally run in the opposite direction to last year and Hayden started well, winning it from Latvala and Andreas. Craig dropped behind Jari-Matti who was now Mads closest rival for the lead. Thierry was also finding things hard, second on the road again and losing more time to Ogier.
The second stage of the day, SS10, Welshs Creek reverse was won by Ott from Latvala and Hayden. Mads lead was reduced by a little over three seconds and he revealed that he was not happy with his tyre choice. Meantime, Craig was suffering from a throttle that was sticking open when he was on the brakes, making the car push on and very tricky to drive indeed, and he dropped to fifth overall! Hayden moved into third as a result of this. Ogier was still in the box seat for the championship, with Thierry now 43 seconds behind the Frenchman.
Onto SS11, Urunga. It was all change in this one. Mads lost 13 and a half seconds, falling from the lead, to third overall. Those to benefit were Jari-Matti and Ott who were now first and second respectively. The gap widened even further for Thierry, now almost fifty seconds from Seb in tenth. Craig was suffering with his tyres and this led to a spin, which then resulted in damage to his left rear suspension.
SS12, so named Raleigh, saw Elfyn and Ott share honours with the fastest time. Breen however picked up a time penalty after arriving late for the stage. He and Scott worked on their car between the stages, fixing the broken suspension as best they could and they were now in tenth place.
After service, came the second run of Argents Hill, SS13, which saw Hayden take another stage victory, thus consolidating fourth overall and keeping him and Seb Marshall close to the podium positions, with Mads in third still, only three seconds ahead of the Kiwi. Thierry needed a mistake from Ogier to bring himself back into the fight, but it was hard to see him taking the title now. In fact, Ott had a more realistic chance given how close he was to the leader, who was his teammate, Jari-Matti.
The longer Welshs Creek followed, SS14, and Ott moved ahead of Jari-Matti into the lead. Also, on the move was Thierry who moved ahead of Teemu, but had actually lost a further few seconds to Ogier, who was now in sixth overall. The Belgian was going to need a miracle now, as he was almost two and a half minutes from the leader.
The second run of Urunga, SS15 saw Hayden set the third fastest time and with Mads only tenth fastest the Kiwi was now in third overall, behind Ott and Jari-Matti. Thierry was doing his best to keep the gap to Ogier under a minute, and he was a second faster than the Frenchman.
The short Raleigh, SS16 stage followed, with Ott, Elfyn and Seb the top three. Ott’s lead was now almost ten seconds from his teammate, Jari-Matti.
After the double run of Destination NSW, during which the rain came, causing all sorts of mayhem, the Estonian had widened the gap to Latvala giving him a lead of twenty seconds, whilst Hayden had consolidated his third place overall, a full twenty seconds ahead of Mads. Thierry was in eighth place, fifty seconds behind Ogier. The chance to win the title was getting more remote.
So, let’s hear then from the drivers at the end of day two.
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:07:52.0
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +21.9
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) +26.3
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) +46.6
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +50.4
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:44.8
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:04.6
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:35.2
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:49.0
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) +6:26.8
Ott Tänak
“It has been a good day. This morning, we were back in our normal rhythm and the car was feeling good. I tried to attack a bit and we managed to take some time back. This afternoon we continued to push to make more of a margin to the drivers behind. Tomorrow we know there will be some tricky stages and maybe some tricky weather too, so it won’t get any easier. But for the moment everything is going in the right direction and we are doing everything that is in our control.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 13 / Rally Australia 2018 / November 15-18, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I had a really good morning. The car was working really well, I was enjoying the driving and we were able to gain some places. The afternoon started well but I was probably too aggressive with the tyres. They became very worn, so I had to back off and I started to lose some time. Then in the super specials we were unlucky with the conditions. Still, we are in second place and we just need to bring that to the end: this would be really important for the manufacturers’ championship and for myself and to finish the season with a good feeling.”
Hayden Paddon
“It has been nice to get back onto some of my favourite stages of the year. I have really enjoyed myself out there. There’s still more pace to be found, but we set ourselves the minimum target of a podium and we’re looking in good shape for that so far. The weather might still have a role to play tomorrow so we have to keep pushing. I’ve had a great feeling from inside the car and started to really get into the groove. Winning the repeat of the Argents Hill stage was probably the most fun I’ve had in a rally car all year. We now have one final day to see what more we can do – it’s still pretty close up top.”
Citroen Racing
Mads Østberg (4th)
“We struggled a bit more today to find the right rhythm and balance, especially on the second loop of stages, then we were really hampered by the sudden rainfall on this evening’s super special stage. But together, we fought hard and gave a good account of ourselves. We didn’t give up at any point, and that’ll be our mindset tomorrow as well.”
Craig Breen (10th)
“It just wasn’t our day today. I was unlucky this morning with a minor mistake that proved to be a very costly one. It’s especially disappointing because we still had the speed to do well. Although we’ll be first on the road tomorrow, we’re going to enjoy these magnificent stages as much as possible right to the end.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“I think we have done a good job today. The gaps were quite big in front and behind me so I was a little bit in no-man’s land, and it’s hard to keep the concentration when you don’t need to push so much. In the second stage of the afternoon I tried to back off a bit and immediately I started to make mistakes, so I decided to push again and we were fastest on the next stage. That helped bring us quite close to fourth, but tomorrow the main aim is to bring the car to the finish.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (6th)
“The loose gravel has made it a difficult rally for us so far, but it’s been a positive day in terms of the championship and I’m very happy with that.”
“First on the road yesterday was really tough. Fifth on the road today was a little bit better, but we still lost a lot of time compared to the guys starting further back.”
“It was a bit frustrating sometimes, but the main target is the championship and scoring the points we need. That’s what we’re doing at the moment, but tomorrow’s final kilometres will feel pretty long and we’ll need to be focused.”
Seb and Julien at speed. Photo credit M-Sport
Elfyn Evans (7th)
“We all knew it would be difficult being early on the road today. The gravel was really loose and you could see how much it was cleaning and how much faster the road was getting with every car. Still, we delivered a clean and tidy drive and it was nice to show some speed through both passes of the Raleigh stage.”
Teemu Suninen (9th)
“Today has been more difficult for me and I still have a lot to learn about how to drive in this loose gravel. I didn’t have the best rhythm, but we got a bit better in the afternoon and now there is just one more day to go.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (8th)
“Starting from second on the road here in Australia, you know it’s going to be tough. We had to try and give it everything, to minimise the time loss but there’s only so much you can do. Despite the slippery conditions, I really enjoyed the stages and we had a reasonable run all things considered. There was a small moment towards the end of the morning loop when we broke the rear wishbone after clipping a bank, but we were able to fix that. We have had no choice but to keep pushing, focusing on our driving and have an eye on what’s happening in front in case anyone encounters any trouble. It’s a frustrating situation but it’s not over until it’s over.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 13, Rally Australia 15-18 November 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Fabien Dufour Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen (Rally2)
“Today we’ve been able to enjoy ourselves very much. It is always a pleasure to drive these beautiful Australian stages. Unfortunately, we are no longer fighting for a podium but we’ve tried to get into a good rhythm nonetheless. We haven’t been taking those final risks, which enable you to compete for stage wins but I’ve been happy with our pace and performance in the i20 Coupe WRC today.”
Sunday
The final day then. Normally, the stages are short, but we had a very large almost 84km’s to go, over six stages. To fit it all in, it was another early start, with the first stage starting before seven in the morning. The start list looked like this – Serderidis, Breen, Suninen, Neuville, Evans, Ogier, Lappi, Ostberg, Paddon, Latvala, Tänak, Mikkelsen.
The rain had arrived and the first stage, SS19 Coramba was very muddy. Jari-Matti won the stage from Andreas and Thierry. These conditions were helping the Belgian, but how much? The gap to the leaders was still big and on balance, Ott had a better chance of the title, as he was ahead of Seb. Elfyn was doing a very good job, shadowing Ogier.
So, to SS20, Sapphire then and Hayden took this one from Latvala and Mads. Ott dropped to second place, five seconds behind new leader, Jari-Matti, after suffering a spin! In fact, Craig had spun at precisely the same place earlier and he suffered another spin as well later in the stage too!
Last stage before service then, SS21 Wedding Bells, and Craig suffered another spin after clipping something that was on the line. Lappi took the stage victory from a very quick Neuville with Toyota twins, Latvala and Tanak sharing the third fastest time.
After service, the re run of Coramba, SS22 and Thierry was going for it while the rain was pouring down. After reaching the 1km board, he spun after hitting a bank! He did get going again, however a light came on the dashboard. He found somewhere to stop and retired from the rally. Jari-Matti won the stage from Lappi and Tanak was third.
The re run then of SS23 Sapphire saw more drama. Ott stopped in the stage after an off, which he had got going after earlier in the stage, and was pushed to the side of the road by some spectators. Latvala was holding the lead now from Hayden and Mads was now in third after the demise of the Estonian. This confirmed Seb and Julien as this year’s world champions, with their closest rivals now out.
The final stage then of the rally and the entire year…. SS24, Wedding Bells and the power stage. Top five was, Ogier, Lappi, Ostberg, Evans and rally winner Latvala, taking his first victory since Rally Sweden 2017.
FINAL STANDINGS
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:59:52.0
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) +32.5
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) +52.2
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:02.3
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:30.8
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3:05.1
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) +8:59.1
What an amazing rally. Seb and Julien emerged as champions again after a thrilling battle throughout the year. In their second year back, Toyota have taken the manufacturers world title. Very impressive indeed.
Let’s hear then from the drivers, top three first.
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I am so happy to win again. It was quite a relief after such a long time! The conditions today were incredibly demanding, and it would have been very easy to go off the road. Everything went my way today, and I am sorry for Ott that his rally ended in the way it did. I was very excited and nervous at the start of the final stage, but we managed to do it. To win the manufacturers’ title is fantastic. I am so proud of the team and what they have created. Everybody has worked so hard and they deserve this reward!”
Hayden Paddon
“A great weekend for us! I’m really pleased to be back on the podium and to take our best result of the season. This feels like a proper podium. I felt the last few we’ve benefitted from others’ misfortune but we’ve definitely earned this one. Each year we’ve been getting one place better in Australia, so I must be on to win it next year! We’ve made good strategy calls all weekend and I’ve felt comfortable in the car. Thanks to the team and to the travelling Kiwi fans who have come out in their droves to support us. It makes all the difference. We have to see what happens next season but I hope this result helps our cause.”
Mads Østberg
“It really has been a weekend of ups – particularly on Friday’s leg when we were leading the rally – and downs, especially yesterday when we were a little bit less comfortable on the stages. It wasn’t easy to come back after two months on the sofa and such a long break since Wales Rally GB. But we kept on fighting, we never gave up and continued to put pressure on our rivals today. Our consistency and strength today on the extremely slippery stages were rewarded in the end!”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (4th)
“Today was definitely one of the toughest days of the season: the conditions were very tricky and that meant you couldn’t enjoy the driving quite as much. It is nice to end this part of my career in this way, by helping the team to win the manufacturers’ title. I really wanted to finish on top but at least we had a good rally where we were back on the pace. Thank you to everyone in the team for their support.”
Ott Tänak (Retired)
“Congratulations to everybody in the team. They have done a great job. Personally, I can be disappointed about how it ended for me today, but in general I am really happy: I have the strongest car in the championship and strong people around me. It was a great battle all year; we were always trying our best. I went off in a really tricky stage with a lot of muddy places. I think it didn’t change too much in either championship though. I am really happy with my season and we will keep pushing next year.”
M-Sport Ford
Sébastien Ogier (5th)
“It’s been an incredible season and the fight has been so close. Not so long ago we thought it was going to be difficult to take the title again, but we never gave up. We gave it everything and had such an amazing team around us. I am so proud of all of them and of course I want to thank Malcolm for another amazing job. What we achieved together over the past two years has been really special, and I am very proud of that.”
Elfyn Evans (6th)
“Congratulations to Seb, Julien and the whole team. I’m glad they were able to secure this one and – even though it wasn’t always easy – I’m glad we were able to help them where we could. Obviously for various reasons our season didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but the speed was there and hopefully we’ll have a chance to prove that again next year.”
Teemu Suninen (DNF)
“It was a shame not to have finished this rally, but I am really happy for the team and for Seb and Julien who really deserved this Championship. Everyone has worked really hard and it’s nice to see this result for them.”
“For me, I think I showed some good improvement this weekend and was able to set some good times on Friday. On the weekend I learnt a lot about how to drive in the loose gravel, and I’m looking forward to next year when I can build on everything, I learnt this season.”
Citroen Racing
Craig Breen (7th)
“It’s been a really tough event for us, especially since our mistake yesterday meant we had to open the road on these very tricky stages today. Saying that, the positive for me is that once again we had really good pace in the C3 WRC, especially during the first leg.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“We gave it everything and had to take some risks today to try and capture the title. Even it was only a small chance, we had nothing to lose. In SS22, the conditions were really bad, and we simply went wide and clipped a tree. That was it, championship over. It has been a difficult and tricky weekend, and not the way we wanted the season to end but it’s part of the game. I would like to say thanks to the team and everyone at Hyundai Motorsport in Alzenau for giving us the car to fight for the title this year. Congratulations to Sébastien and Julien; it has been great to fight with them this year. We knew there would be one winning crew and that two would go home empty handed. It’s unfortunate we are the unlucky ones on this occasion. It’s been a great season for WRC and we’ve attracted some new fans, so now we have a short break and we can look ahead to another season.”
Andreas Mikkelsen
“In many ways I am pleased that the 2018 season has come to a close. It has been a troublesome year for me. This weekend is a perfect example; we’ve been quick and competitive at times but our event has been overshadowed by pure bad luck. Throughout the year we have made improvements and felt increasingly comfortable with the car, we just haven’t been able to translate that into results. Still, it has been a great season for the fans and it has been a pleasure to be part of it. We have had great support from the team and we’re all pushing in the right direction. We now look forward to a bit of time off, and then some proper testing ahead of Monte when we’ll go again in good spirits.”
Well, what an event! Look out soon for my season review.
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 13 / Rally Australia 2018 / November 15-18, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Well, what a year we’ve had! Just the final round left, but what a humdinger we are set for! Three crews can win this weekend. Ott Tanak is the outsider, given that he is 23 points from Ogier. However, I believe he will win the rally and quite possibly the powerstage. Now Thierry and Seb are the two of the three that are most likely to win the championship, and their chances will come down to how the cars feel on the stages.
Can Ott Tanak jump past Thierry and Seb to win his first WRC Title? Photo credit, M-Sport.
Given that the teams cannot test outside of Europe, shakedown will be really important, particularly for the Hyundai team. The car they have built is very quick as long as the set-up is spot on. M-Sport have a very good car, and they have been very good this year. However, if Thierry can get the car as he liked it in Rally Italia, we know how that Sunday finished. All he has to do, which he mentioned in my interview with him last week, is score four more points than Seb, and he will be the champion.
The challengers will be looking to their teammates to get in the mix and take points away from their rivals, which makes the job of Elfyn, Teemu, Andreas, Hayden, Jari-Matti and Esapekka even more important.
Finally, Toyota and Hyundai are fighting for the manufacturers title, and it is Toyota’s to win, as they sit at the top. A quite remarkable feat, given it’s only their second year back!
Well, let’s take a look at the stages that they have to tackle. A total of 316km’s of stages are ahead of them, and they have very tricky small stones covering the roads. If dry, the dust can hang in the air, plus the road cleaning becomes very significant.
RALLY AUSTRALIA SCHEDULE (GMT+11)
THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER
8.00am: Shakedown (5,07 km)
FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER
7.15am: Start Coffs Harbour
8.03am: SS 1 – Orara East 1 (8,77 km)
8.43am: SS 2 – Coldwater 1 (14,12 km)
9.41am: SS 3 – Sherwood 1 (26,68 km)
11.14am: Service A (Coffs Harbour – 30 mins)
12.32pm: SS 4 – Orara East 2 (8,77 km)
1.12pm: SS 5 – Coldwater 2 (14,12 km)
2.10pm: SS 6 – Sherwood 2 (26,68 km)
5.17pm: SS 7 – Destination NSW SSS1 (1,27 km)
5.27pm: SS 8 – Destination NSW SSS2 (1,27 km)
5.57pm: Flexi service B (Coffs Harbour – 45 mins)
SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER
5.50am: Service C (Coffs Harbour – 15 mins)
7.08am: SS 9 – Argents Hill Reverse 1 (13,13 km)
7.51am: SS 10 – Welshs Creek Reverse 1 (28,83 km)
8.59am: SS 11 – Urunga 1 (21,28 km)
9.47am: SS 12 – Raleigh 1 (1,99 km)
10.35am: Service D (Coffs Harbour – 30 mins)
12.08pm: SS 13 – Argents Hill Reverse 2 (13,13 km)
1.02pm: SS 14 – Welshs Creek Reverse 2 (28,83 km)
2.10pm: SS 15 – Urunga 2 (21,28 km)
2.58pm: SS 16 – Raleigh 2 (1,99 km)
5.17pm: SS 17 – Destination NSW SSS3 (1,27 km)
5.27pm: SS 18 – Destination NSW SSS4 (1,27 km)
5.57pm: Flexi service E (Coffs Harbour – 45 mins)
SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER
6.00am: Service F (Coffs Harbour – 15 mins)
6.53am: SS 19 – Coramba 1 (15,55 km)
7.36am: SS 20 – Sapphire 1 (19,27 km)
8.38am: SS 21 – Wedding Bells 1 (7,16 km)
9.53am: Service G (Coffs Harbour – 30 mins)
11.01am: SS 22 – Coramba 2 (15,55 km)
11.44am: SS 23 – Sapphire 2 (19,27 km)
1.18pm: SS 24 – Wedding Bells 2 Power Stage (7,16 km)
2.20pm: Podium
Now, according to early weather reports, there is a small chance of rain on Friday and this will make the starting position very important, as it helps those at the front of the field. We shall see what happens.
Hear from the drivers then.
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“The Championship could not be closer and we head to the final round in Australia with a slender three-point lead at the head of the standings. It’s a very positive place to be compared to where we were when we were 23 points behind two rallies ago, and the pressure is now on our rivals to overhaul the deficit.”
“Of course, we’re aware that opening the road will not be an easy task, but anything can happen and we are ready for the challenge. We’ve enjoyed a lot of success in Australia over the years and our goal is to add to that success next week.”
“We’re ready to do our best, ready to push for a sixth world title, and hopeful of ending what has been an enjoyable and rewarding two years with Malcolm and his team in the best possible way.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Australia (AUS) – WRC 16/11/2017 to 19/11/2017 – PHOTO : @World
Elfyn Evans
“I’ve always enjoyed Rally Australia and we’ll be aiming to bring our season to a close with another strong result next week. Following our podium in Spain, it would be great to end the year with another personal best in Australia.”
“There’s a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at this event and we’re made to feel welcome from the second we arrive in Coffs Harbour. But the event itself is a real challenge; and totally different from anything else we encounter throughout the year.”
“Visibility is often an issue and you have to have complete trust in your notes. Hanging dust isn’t uncommon and when the sun is low it can create a strobe effect through the trees which makes it difficult to read the road. The trees themselves also cast unfamiliar shadows and you really do need to be fully focused and concentrated throughout the weekend.”
“I can’t remember a more exciting time in the sport and I think everyone is excited to see what happens next week – ourselves included. We’re ready to give our best and will work hard to deliver the best possible result for the team.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Australia (AUS) – WRC 16/11/2017 to 19/11/2017 – PHOTO : @World
Teemu Suninen
“This will be my first time competing at Rally Australia, but my preparation is the same and I’ve been watching the videos to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be. I did the recce in 2016 but don’t have all the notes for this year’s stages. We’ll need to be concentrated on the recce to be ready to compete on the same level as everyone else.”
“As the last round of the season and with the championships being so close, this is also going to be a really interesting and exciting rally. Seb is still in with a strong chance of taking his sixth world title, and the team also have a chance in the manufacturers’ championship. I am ready to give everything in order to be a part of those fights and to end my season on a high.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“Recent rallies have not gone our way and we now find ourselves involved in an incredible and intense championship fight. All manufacturers and crews have had ups and downs this season, but we need to put all of this behind us and to focus on a perfect weekend in Australia. The benefit of dropping to second in the drivers’ championship is that we won’t be opening the road on the dusty gravel. It offers only a small advantage but everything counts now. We won from that position twelve months ago and we’ll be targeting the same result next weekend. That will be the best way to take the title.”
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 13, Rally Australia 13-19 November 2017 Day 3 Atmosphere Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen
“Australia has always been a good rally for us. We won there in 2016 and were leading after the opening day in 2017 with Hyundai. Unfortunately, we had to retire on the second day but we are usually very fast. I hope for another competitive run this time around. We have not had the season that we’d hoped so I want to end the year with a strong result. All eyes will be on the title fight and we will do everything in our power to support the team and Thierry.”
Hayden Paddon
“I am looking forward to being back in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for Rally Australia, one of the events to which we most look forward. As always, we will have fantastic support from the travelling Kiwi fans, which gives us a real boost. We finished third in the event last year to finish the season with a podium. I hope we can repeat that sort of result this time around. We’ve been building up our performance level as the season as progressed, so hopefully Australia will be the rally where we can pull the pin and really go for it. I want to end the season on a high.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Ott Tänak
“I am going to give it my all in Australia. I still have a mathematical chance in the drivers’ championship, and even though it is not really in my hands, I will keep pushing and not give up. In the manufacturers’ championship we have the advantage and I think we are in a very strong position. In particular, we can be confident in how our car has been performing on gravel over recent events. Rally Australia is always a challenging event but many of the roads are fast and flowing, and this suits us well.”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I am really looking forward to Australia. It is a rally that I really enjoy a lot. Firstly, the atmosphere is relaxed and the weather is usually great, so it’s a nice place to end the season. Then there are the stages: they have made a lot of changes to the route this year, but we have driven most of the roads before and we know that they are usually quite fast, which is of course what I like! I am going there confident after the speed we have shown recently, and I hope to get a good result to help us to win the championship.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Australia (AUS) – WRC 16/11/2017 to 19/11/2017 – PHOTO : @World
Esapekka Lappi
“I really want to finish on a high in Australia, and to help the team to win the manufacturers’ championship. Last year, this rally for me was all about gaining experience, and hopefully I can use that to have a stronger performance this time. If the weather is dry then we know that the road sweeping will be a big challenge, as there is so much loose gravel on the surface. I got some practice running first on the road there last year, but we also found that it can rain quite heavily. Then, the grip levels can change a lot through the forests.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Mads Østberg
“Although I missed this round last season, I’m delighted to be competing here again, especially as I know the stages well, given that they don’t change that much from year to year. It’s a fast event, really enjoyable to drive. I’ve always been quick here, even though a bit of bad luck on occasions has meant that results haven’t always reflected my speed. I haven’t driven my C3 WRC for a little while now but I hope that I’ll adjust to it again as quickly as possible. With our road position, in theory, we have a very good chance to do something here. It’s up to us now to make the most of the opportunity.”
Craig Breen
“Although last year was my first appearance here in Australia, I had good speed on the stages, until unfortunately I got caught out by a heavy downpour on Sunday’s leg. This year, some older sections from 2014 to 2016 have been brought back into the itinerary, but I love this rally and I’ll be doing everything possible to compensate for my lack of knowledge of the stages. I have high hopes that I’ll be on the pace, as I was during the opening leg on gravel in Spain! Given that it includes parts of stages used in the rally, the shakedown is really representative, so it should help us get our bearings.”
Craig Breen made headlines last year after rolling out during Sunday’s stages. He’ll want to make the finish this year. Photo credit, Citroen Racing
Now, we are still waiting for some driver announcements, mainly about M-Sport. I don’t think we’ll hear anything about this until after the season has concluded though. The teams fighting for the titles have too much to focus on.
Thierry Neuville took some time out for me, ahead of the WRC title deciding finale down under to answer some questions. Here is what he had to say.
Warren Nel. After your second victory of the year in Portugal, you took the lead of the championship. How satisfying was this?
Thierry Neuville. It was good to get into the lead of the championship honestly. We knew running first on the road would be more difficult after that, but still I mean for more, still being competitive, with two wins in a row was quite good, so was quite satisfying, but it makes the end of the season more difficult.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
WN. Thinking back to Rally Italia Sardegna, when you caught and passed Seb Ogier for the victory on the Sunday, sum up your feelings about your performance in the car on that day.
TN. Actually, our car was working very well all day, and I was enjoying a lot, so felt comfortable heading into the last day, catching tenths by tenths, but very stressful before the last stage, obviously there were a lot of rumours about Seb losing or missing his timing card, makes it more stressful, but we kept calm, kept pushing and were able to win, so really proud of that, was actually the first time that I felt that feeling.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 07, Rally Italia Sardegna 07-10 June 2018 Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
WN. During Rally Finland, did you look to your teammates to stop Sebastian Ogier scoring a lot of points, as you seemed to not be able to fight near the front?
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Finland 26-29 July 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
TN. Of course I tried, but at the end they were not in a position to help me, I did the maximum I could, took the points in the powerstage. It was the only thing we could fight for as our car was really uncompetitive.
WN. Rally Turkey was a very rough event, and it led to your suspension breaking whilst in the lead at the start of Saturday. It meant that your only chance to score points was going to be in the power stage. Did you feel a lot of pressure going into that stage?
TN. Of course, you feel a lot of pressure, because every point is important, the championship fight is very close so you need to give everything you can, we did it, another five points in the power stage even if we could have easily won the rally, the car was working well on that surface, and I was going as fast as I could on the new ground, where everyone had to make new pace notes, we were just dominating, especially on the first day, being first on the road.
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 10, Rally Turkey 13-16 september 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Fabien Dufour Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
WN. Which drive so far this year have you been most proud of this year?
TN. To be honest, there are plenty. We have been on it absolutely all the time, never really could release the pressure, obviously working really hard, but for sure the one to remember is Sardegna, final day.
WN. Thinking ahead to Rally Australia, an event that you won last year, you won’t be first on the road. How much of an advantage will this give you over Sebastian, and will you target victory as your best chance to win the championship?
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 13, Rally Australia 16 – 19 November 2017 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Sarah Vessely Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
TN. Obviously, yes. When you head to Australia leading the championship with only a small amount of points difference would be difficult, so now we are just behind. We need to score four more points, it’s not an easy target for sure, but I’m very sure we can do it, and really looking forward to it!
A big thank you to Thierry Neuville for his answers and many thanks to the PR at Hyundai Motorsport Nicolette Russo for her help and finally thank you Julia Paradowska, our PR for her help too.
