UNRAVELLING OGIER’S PENALTY CASE
Outrage as french man was the only one hit with post-stage censure
The direction of this year’s World Rally Championship title took what could yet be a decisive turn last week. Not at round six in Portugal, but in Paris, where the outcome from the FIA’S International Court of Appeal was announced.
At Rally Mexico in March, Sebastien Ogier was stripped of his four powerstage bonus points after he hit a chicane in the final stage. He was one of six drivers to hit the barrier in Las Minas, but he was the only one given a penalty.
In what’s rapidly turning into the tightest fight for the drivers’ title in years, those four points could be crucial at the end of the season.
According to many in the service park, that decision has exposed shortcomings in the regulations and set a potentially troublesome precedent – with Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and Toyota man Esapekka Lappi penalised under the same regulation at the Rally of Portugal.
Motorsport News has obtained key evidence from the appeal, which raises further questions over the decisions taken following the events of March’s Rally Mexico.
A quick recap…
The Las Minas stage ran twice on the final day of Rally Mexico in March – SS21 and SS22, the latter being the points-paying powerstage. After watching Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC collide with all three parts of the chicane, clattering the plastic barriers, M-sport Ford World Rally Team co-ordinator Iain Tullie contacted the event organisers seeking clarification of the consequences of hitting the chicane.
By return email – to all of the teams – deputy clerk of the course for Rally Mexico Jaime del Palacio said: “Any deviation from the route specified by the roadbook, specifically not going around the elements of the chicane at box 18 on SS22 will be referred to the stewards for further investigation.”
Ogier hit the first two elements of the chicane in SS22, was referred to the stewards and had 10 seconds added to his time for the stage. He dropped from second fastest to seventh. Second quickest brought four points, seventh gave him zero bonus points from the powerstage.
M-sport appealed that decision. The appeal was heard by the FIA’S International Court of Appeal on Friday May 4 and last week the decision was announced stating it upheld the stewards’ decision.
Making the chicanes
The FIA’S Rally Safety Guidelines offers advice on how to make and space chicanes sensibly and safely. It states chicanes should be made from straw bales, water tanks, a wall of connected tyres or a concrete barrier. The Las Minas chicane was made of plastic so light M-sport presented evidence of a child pushing one of the barriers along the ground.
Some of the most compelling evidence from M-sport comes in the numbers from Ogier’s car in the stage. The data trace of Ogier’s Fiesta between 10,920 and 10,980 metres in the stage – the location of the chicane – shows significantly more steering input as the Frenchman attempts to negotiate the first element of the chicane on SS22 than on SS21, but after that the input is the same. Crucially, the car speed in that 60-metre section of the stage is virtually identical.
What’s good for one stage
Ogier contravened sporting regulation 14.2 in Mexico. In a nutshell, that rule stipulates crews must follow the route as laid out in the roadboook. In the stewards’ eyes, he failed to do that and was penalised.
Key figures in the sport are questioning why Neuville wasn’t penalised in the same fashion after he hit the chicane in SS21 – and, therefore, similarly failed to follow the designated route. The same rules apply to every stage.
Deviation from route
M-sport directed the appeal to a stewards’ decision from the 2014 Rally Poland, when Andreas Mikkelsen was found guilty of deviating from the route – a contravention of the same regulation which Ogier fell foul of.
The Norwegian’s Volkswagen Polo R WRC was caught cutting a corner with all four wheels on the grass. He was handed a €5000 [£4300] fine and no time penalty. At the time, Mikkelsen’s route was both shorter and faster. M-sport has offered evidence to demonstrate Ogier’s route through the chicane in SS21 could not have offered an advantage of more than a tenth of a second.
Not all barriers are equal
What’s not widely known is that at least four other leading drivers hit the same chicane in SS22. The pictures opposite show Sebastien Loeb, Jari-matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and the powerstage winner Ott Tanak all colliding with the chicane. According to the ICA, the important aspect of their collision is that they hit the second and third barriers.
The FIA ICA outlined the reasons it felt the first barrier was more important