AUTOSPORT’S TOP 10 DRIVERS
and confidence in the i20 Coupe WRC, Sordo and particularly Paddon couldn’t get the car hooked up consistently. Both struggled to show anything like the surefooted speed of their bespectacled team-mate (see column, p67).
The fortunes of the other two manufacturers, Citroen and Toyota, certainly for the first half of the year, couldn’t have been in bigger contrast to what had been felt pre-season. Citroen: the return of the red army. As Volkswagen departed the winners’ circle, it would apparently be holding the door open for Citroen to march back in after a year away from full-time competition.
It was a disaster. The first two rounds revealed significant shortcomings in the C3 WRC’S suspension and power delivery. As the year wore on, fresh budget cuts brought deepening disharmony and a still-unfathomable decision to bench Kris Meeke for Poland – just when he needed more time in the car, not to disengage completely.
But in among all this angst was arguably the strongest engine and some searing asphalt pace, both of which could be traced back to Citroen’s time in touring cars. Ohlins dampers, the late-season return of former technical chief Christophe Besse, and the morale boost of seeing favourite son Sebastien Loeb back in the car have settled nerves and given some real hope for next season.
Toyota is, of course, another returning giant. But the Japanese team’s WRC glory days are further in the past than Citroen’s. And they’re rooted in Cologne under the guidance of Ove Andersson. Now Tommi Makinen is in charge. And the cars are being built in his backyard in Puuppola, Finland – a place with two fewer wind tunnels and dynamometers than the facility that spawned Toyota’s F1 programme. It was, reportedly, that association with failure (notwithstanding the success Toyota has enjoyed with its LMP1 programme) that redirected rally-car development to Finland.
The late-2016 loss of Volkswagen benefited Toyota most, with Jari-matti Latvala landing the last seat at the top table when he got the nod just ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen. In December last year, Latvala set about the car in a critical fortnight, making vital, lastgasp changes before homologation. Latvala can’t, however, take all the credit. The car was clearly nothing like as bad as many had feared courtesy of its hurried test effort last year.
Winning second time out silenced the critics and Esapekka Lappi’s breakthrough Rally Finland victory, allied to the arrival of Tanak for
2018, mark Toyota out as a genuine threat for next season.
It’s hard to remember a season that enjoyed as much hype as the one just passed. But it’s even harder to recall one that delivered so comprehensively. The new cars were everything the championship dreamed of, the sport needed and its future demanded.
When Volkswagen walked away from the WRC just over 12 months ago, the prophets of doom circled. We needn’t have worried.
Yes, the WRC misses the benchmark competition, not to mention the massive marketing effort, but the passing of the Polo helped blow this season wide open.
The name at the top of the table may be the same, but everything else has changed. Changed for good.
SEBASTIEN OGIER
He wasn’t the fastest. He didn’t lead for the longest. He didn’t win the most rallies. So what, you might ask, is he doing at number one? Simple. Ogier was still the best driver across the spread of the season. Yes, the pack has closed up considerably, but still he was the best. Points came consistently and wins were there when the opportunity arose, but most importantly the mistakes were kept to an absolute minimum. That is the mark of a champion. And that’s why Ogier still tops this table.
JARI-MATTI LATVALA
Reckoned to be drinking in the last-chance saloon when he stepped aboard the Yaris WRC, but the Toyota deal has been the making of Latvala. Gone is the look of a forever-number-two, and back is the sort of spark that’s been missing for too long. Sweden win was superb, but what was more pleasing than anything about his year was his reaction to his Finland retirement: steering-wheel-thumping fury. Save the tears, it’s more of this that we need to see. The boy is back.
OTT TANAK
Last year you still didn’t know, still didn’t completely trust him. Yes,
Tanak had the natural ability to be faster than anybody on his day, but it remained a 50:50 gamble if he’d win or stick it in the trees. This year he came of age and dramatically lessened those odds in favour of finishing first. Somebody flicked a switch in Tanak, and that somebody was his team-mate Ogier. Following Ogier’s lead, Tanak has won twice and become the complete driver. Not to mention a big threat for next year’s title.
ANDREAS MIKKELSEN
Left on the bench with only the occasional Skoda Fabia R5 outing to keep him busy at the start of the season, Mikkelsen never lost sight of his goal and, when he was thrown a lifeline by Citroen and then Hyundai, made the most of each opportunity and returned himself to the top of a sport that he should never have had to leave in the first place. Were it not for two punctures, a second consecutive Rally Australia win would have been the perfect way to end his season.
THIERRY NEUVILLE
He was the fastest. He led for the longest. He won the most rallies. So what, you might ask, is he doing at number three? Simple. Too many mistakes. Admittedly, the car wasn’t up to the job of making him world champion, but stupid errors, like when he damaged the steering in Sweden, can’t happen if you’re going to be best in the world. He was magnificent in Poland and Australia, but shocking in Finland, where he wasted the chance to take a clear lead in the drivers’ championship.
CRAIG BREEN
Hard to believe this was Breen’s first season with a factory team at the pinnacle of world rallying. He looked like he’d been there for years – a consideration underlined by the fact that the Irishman was top Citroen driver in the points for some time. Like Meeke, Breen’s fortunes were tied to the capricious C3 but, when everything worked, he was able to turn in some superb stage times. On top of that, he kept the car on the island and picked up six top-five finishes. Not bad for a rookie.
ELFYN EVANS
Without a shadow of doubt the most improved driver in the past couple of years. A true gauge of Evans’s performance remains slightly confused by him being the sole user of DMACK tyres, but as M-sport team-mate
Ogier said, you’ve still got to drive the car. And Evans did that superbly. His whole approach was different. Finally, he feels like he belongs, which he absolutely does. The pain of missing victory in Argentina by seven tenths was eased by the bliss of a home win.
ESAPEKKA LAPPI
Such is the importance of Rally Finland to the WRC that it’s impossible to compile a list of the season’s top 10 drivers and not have the winner in here. Lappi’s season didn’t start until Portugal, but by the time he got to the final day in Porto he was showing some serious form. He continued that speed through Sardinia – where he posted his first ever scratch time in a car missing first gear! The highlight of the year was, however, at home, where he took his maiden WRC win.
KRIS MEEKE
Meeke’s speed was never in doubt. But his temperament had always been in question. Until now. Like Tanak, there’s a degree more calm about Meeke these days and that’s showing in the results. He learned some fairly tough lessons this season, but he’s emerged a more complete driver. Taking him out of the car in Poland wasn’t the right thing to do: the performance that followed in Finland was easily his worst of the year. But in Spain – like in Mexico and Corsica – he was untouchable.
HAYDEN PADDON/ DANI SORDO
Impossible to choose between these two. Both have struggled terribly for the sort of form that has marked them out as potential event winners in the past, but they’re on the list because there have been flashes this season. A handful of fastest times and second overall in Poland was as good as it got for Paddon. For Sordo, the asphalt was disappointing – particularly his early bath at home in Spain – but a pacey Portuguese podium was the highlight of his year.