DAVID EVANS

“How will the story pan out this weekend?”

S ebastien Ogier is the delivery man. When VW needed a title bringing home, the Frenchman won the rally. That’s what happened for the last four years. How Cumbria would like more of the same this week in Wales.

And how M-sport has earned it. It’d be hard to imagine a more popular result, or a more deserving one. But that’s enough of that. Let’s reconvene next week and see what Sunday brought.

As for Ogier’s title hopes, the omens don’t look too bad either. In the last four years, nobody but Ogier has even had a sniff of the lead of Britain’s round of the WRC. Before Seb, Jari-matti Latvala was the last man to lead GB. And that was September ’12.

Ogier’s in the best position on the road – certainly on the first loop of Myherin, Sweet Lamb and Hafren. He’ll go hard and then look to control things thereafter. Don’t forget, however, once the classification order’s reversed for days two and three, the rally leader will be in the worst place of the priority drivers on Saturday and Sunday.

Ogier’s plan for the rest of this week will have options and outcomes. The plan for Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville is straightforward: they need to win if they want to take the title to the wire down under.

As if that’s not enough, there’s the British and Irish angle with Kris Meeke, Elfyn Evans and Craig Breen all well up for a fight at – or near – home. More spice? Try Hayden Paddon’s return to the Hyundai team. The Kiwi would love to put one over on his new team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen.

Still not enough? OK, let’s look at Toyota and the news that this is the end of the road for Juho in a Yaris. Hanninen is strong and quick on gravel and the thought of him looking to go out on a high is a fascinating and potentially very entertaining one.

And what a stage rally chiefs Ben Taylor and Andrew Kellitt have set us: a service-less Friday and into the night on Saturday. Classic. Thank you.

But now, back to another topic which has raged this week: Tanak and Toyota. Despite our story (September 27) with him insisting M-sport remained an option, I can think of millions of reasons why Ott would want the move to Puuppola.

Tommi Makinen is going to have his work cut out keeping Jari-matti Latvala, Esapekka Lappi and Tanak on the same page when it comes to any manufacturer title intentions Toyota might have.

There’s always a sadness when a driver departs, and that’s true for Tanak and M-sport. This partnership has known some highs and lows… from a maiden win in Italy to the bottom of a lake in Mexico.

Good luck Tanak.