What happened to the power stage row?
Wales Rally GB organisers were forced to can their plan to run the Great Orme as the powerstage after the FIA questioned how much the headland stage reflected the nature of the event as a whole.
Instead, the first run through Gwydir (SS20) will offer the bonus points. This isn’t the first time the powerstage has run out of position on an itinerary – most famously, the 2013 Rally de France opened with its powerstage – a dash around Strasbourg on a Thursday night which enabled Sebastien Ogier to be crowned world champion before the event proper started the following morning.
Crucially, the compromise of running the powerstage earlier on the final day, while retaining the live TV element of the Orme has placated the FIA as well as the event’s principal backer, the Welsh government, and title sponsor Dayinsure.
Last year’s Wales Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans admitted to reservations about the first run through Gwydir offering bonus points.
Evans’ concerns lie with the potential for wet conditions offering an advantage for those running at the front of the field. “If the powerstage ran in reverse order then in wet or damp conditions, it’s their [the drivers first on the road] five points. The powerstage should really be as equal as it possibly can be and I think it would have been better to have used the second pass of the stage where the surface and conditions are a bit more equal.
“The passage of 10 cars on the first run of a stage can make a second per kilometre difference in those conditions.”
The first run through Gwydir was selected because it allowed the WRC’S live television infrastructure to move from there to the second run through the Great Orme.