WRC SHOWDOWN
Three men gun for WRC title in Australia
The World Rally Championship will reach a thrilling finale at Rally Australia this week, with three drivers engaged in the closest title fight since 2003.
Sebastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all decider in New South Wales – the first time more than two drivers have had the chance to secure rallying’s biggest prize since a fourway fight won by Petter Solberg in ’03.
Sebastien Ogier faces the biggest battle of his career to land a sixth successive World Rally Championship crown on Rally Australia this week.
Not since he started winning world titles in 2013 has Ogier been taken to the final round, with his previous five championships all being sewn up with at least one event to spare.
M-sport star Ogier arrives in Coffs Harbour with a threepoint lead over Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville, who won this event last year from second on the road. Toyota’s Ott Tanak is the only other possible 2018 title winner, 23 points down on his former team-mate Ogier.
“We have to be flat-out,” said Ogier, who also ran first on the road on the event last year. “There’s nothing else. We can’t think about anything, no tactics, no nothing we just have to drive.
“We’re in a very positive place 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.”
Ogier wants to sign off his twoyear M-sport stay with a second successive title in a Ford Fiesta WRC, as he moves to Citroen next year. He added: “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.”
Neuville has closed his mind to the fact that he’s tumbled from a mid-season 27-point advantage to a three-point deficit, with the Belgian focusing on the potential positive of running in a better place on the road.
“Recent rallies have not gone our way and we now find ourselves involved in an incredible and intense championship fight,” he said. “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 12 months ago and we’ll be targeting the same result next weekend. That will be the best way to take the title.”
Tanak’s approach is exactly the same, with the series’ form man promising more of the same speed he’s shown to win three of the last five rounds.
“I’m going to give it my all in Australia,” said Tanak. “I still have a mathematical chance and even though it is not really in my hands, I will keep pushing and not give up.”
The calculation of risk and reward is slightly more complicated for Tanak and Neuville, with both of their employers still in the thick of the fight for the makes’ crown.
Toyota leads Hyundai by 12 points. M-sport can still win, but starts the 13th round of the WRC 25 points behind Tommi Makinen’s Toyota team.
Makinen is hoping to deliver the manufacturers’ crown to Japan in just his second season in charge of the team.
He said: “We have a great opportunity in front of us, to win a championship in just our second year would a fantastic achievement. It is not going to be easy, but we have reasons to be confident: we showed good performance on gravel in Britain and in Spain and we seem to have found some improvements in these kind of conditions, which are quite similar to what we should face this week. Everybody is working hard towards our target and with a strong car and three strong drivers, I think we have a good chance to reach it.”
Of the three men chasing the drivers’ title, Ogier is the man with the strongest record in Australia with three wins from his seven starts, scoring his hat-trick between 2013 and 2015.
And on each of those occasions, Ogier won from the front having started at least the first day of the event first on the road. Neuville has started Rally Australia five times, and taken three podiums, including his victory last season. Second 12 months ago, Tanak is the most inexperienced of the trio, having only competed in New South Wales on four occasions and only finished on the podium once.