PLUS TOYOTA’S LATVALA TAKES RALLY AUSTRALIA WIN
Running order and rain made australia a tense show down
Adramatic finale provided a fitting conclusion to one of the hardest-fought World Rally Championships ever. Toyota could argue it had the fastest car in 2018 and Thierry Neuville led the points standings for much of the way, but in the end the title went to the man who has been here before. Sebastien Ogier secured a historic sixth crown in his last outing aboard an M-sport Ford Fiesta WRC.
Not since 2003 had three drivers arrived at the final round with a chance of the crown, but the three crews in question had little interest in the past. It was the immediate future that interested them more.
Post a near-perfect penultimate round in Spain, a back-to-the-front Ogier was busy telling everybody it was better to have the points rather than a preferable position on the road.
Neuville was similarly sure second on the road would pay dividends more handsome than three points.
And Ott Tanak? He wasn’t really saying much at all. As he had for the rest of the season, he was ready to let his driving take a lead in conversation.
In an effort to tally tiredness with a time zone turning a European evening into a bright Oz morning, the teams arrived earlier than ever. For the drivers, there had been photoshoots alongside Sydney’s opera house, even a stroll along Bondi beach. The move up to coast to Coffs Harbour meant more manufactured smiles and a toboggan ride for Ogier, Neuville and Tanak.
Friday morning couldn’t come soon enough.
M-sport’s service park manager Stewart Berry couldn’t keep still. Walking, stalking, prowling, he smiled thinly. “We just need to get on with this now,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for long enough.”
He spoke for the entire service park. But, just at that precise moment, another minute or two wouldn’t have gone amiss for any of the drivers.
Ahead of the final Friday’s first loop, the teams were staring at the sky and wondering. What would the weather do? The drizzle intensified into rain. Then lifted, lightened. But the clouds were sitting heavy over the hills into which the cars were heading.
Ultimately, tyre choice was straightforward. With cooler ambient temperatures, everybody went with the softer choice.
Championship leader Ogier sat on a desk in M-sport’s command centre, surrounded by his favourite Cumbrians. Nobody said a word. Nobody needed to. There was no witty banter, no one-liners. Not this time.
A season and the champion’s reign was on the line. Team principal Malcolm Wilson emerged, serious race-face set. “He’s up for it,” he said. “It’s going to be some day…”
It was the same story next door at Hyundai. The atmosphere was an odd one. So many questions were about to be answered. For team manager Alain Penasse this was just the beginning of a very long three days. “Today is not so bad,” he said. “It’s tomorrow [Saturday] and Sunday when the pressure comes, that’s when we start to know which way this one’s going.
“Then again, Ogier could put it up against a tree, damage the rollcage and it could be all over within the hour. They could put it on a plate for us in the first stage… or we could put it on a plate for them.”
Plates were not pictured in the first hour. And neither was the rain Ogier had hoped for so badly.
Regular readers of these pages will be painfully well acquainted with the consequences of leading the championship into a warm, dry gravel rally. For the uninitiated, the gravel-strewn surface gets ‘cleaned’ – and faster – with each passing car when it’s dry. Rain is what you want if you’re first on the road.
The road facing Ogier on Friday was water-free. There was no point philosophising this one, it was a crisis in danger of becoming a disaster.
“Today’s stages are bad for cleaning,” he said, “but it’s even worse tomorrow. Tomorrow is a disaster to be first on the road. And right now, that’s me…”
Utterly hamstrung as his Ford Fiesta WRC floated across the loose surface, Ogier spent the morning spreading the stones and digging out a faster line for those following. The only crumb of comfort was that Neuville was only one place behind.
“It’s very difficult,” said Neuville. “I had a really big moment on the last stage, the car was on its nose over some of the jumps – I backed off a little bit after that. If it stays like this, the power stage will be very, very important.”
‘Like this’ was ludicrous. ‘Like this’… surely couldn’t continue. ‘Like this’ was Neuville ninth and Ogier 10th overall. The title race’s top two were propping up the top 10.
“It makes us look stupid, eh…” said Ogier. “The best drivers in the championship and we’re all in these positions. Try to explain that to your readers.”
Third on the road and ‘enjoying’ conditions fractionally better was Tanak. The current form man showed flashes of the speed that has provided the talking point for the season’s second half. Sherwood, in particular, was a blast. Until the bumps. The ones that almost caught Neuville? They got Tanak.
Struggling to get the Toyota slowed for a right-hander after the Yaris WRC had put its nose in the dirt, the rear slid wide, bounced off the bank on the outside and pivoted the front up and into the greenery.
Asked how close to the limit he’d been through the morning, Tanak smiled thinly. “I think I have been a little bit over it,” he said. “Any time you go off the road and you don’t find the tree, you are lucky. I was lucky this morning.”
Fastest time on the first Friday rerun stage and Tanak was up to fourth. Worse was to follow for Ogier as Neuville’s SS5 scratch moved him into seventh spot. Ignoring the power stage connotations, that meant the title would be heading to Belgium for the first time in history.
That was as good as it would get. The Sherwood stage had provided plenty of drama through the morning, when Andreas Mikkelsen crashed off the road distracted by a tractor being driven down the stage to put a chicane back in place ( see rally news). The histrionics continued into the afternoon. An awkward landing knocked the left-rear tyre off the rim of Neuville’s i20 Coupe WRC. Eight tenths of a second up on Ogier at split two, the Hyundai started to lose time into the second half, but it was only when he got to the scene of the tractor drama that the significance of his problem was laid bare. Unable to slow the car, he slammed into the bales and lost more time.
He arrived at the finish, 54.4s down on fastest man Craig Breen, but had little interest in the Irishman. He was looking at only one time. He’d dropped 40.2s to Ogier to relieve his rival of the unwanted 10th place.
Asked what this might mean to his title challenge, Neuville took one last look at the time, pursed his lips and said: “I have no idea.” As he pulled first and drove away, he knew only too well what it meant. It was nothing short of a disaster.
Rubbing salt into a wide-open wound, Ogier’s M-sport team-mates Teemu Suninen and Elfyn Evans pulled absolute blinders to slow down just enough to allow Ogier ahead of them, while keeping Neuville behind. Saturday’s running order was decided after SS6. The gap between ninthplaced Evans and Thierry? Two tenths of a second.
Team orders will forever remain one of motorsport’s most controversial topics, but the British squad’s decision was as understandable as the deployment admirable.
Not that anybody ventured such a point with Neuville. Now forced to run first on the road, his back was well and truly against the wall now.
The Argents Hill and Welshs Creek stages were by far the worst for cleaning; fast and flowing, these two most southerly stages carve their way through the countryside across a surface inches deep in dry, dusty gravel.
Neuville did everything he could, but he was a lamb to the slaughter. “It’s so frustrating,” he said. “I can see no line. Every corner, I know they take more.”
Urunga, the final stage of the loop, is back into the jungle. Back between the trees with a slightly better surface. Neuville knew he had to push here. He pushed. And it went wrong again. He slid wide, flirted with the trees and was fortunate to escape with just a damaged left-rear suspension arm. “It’s OK,” he said, sounding like a man trying desperately to convince himself. “I can still drive.
“What can I say? I will never give up. Let’s try again and see what happens.”
Another ninth fastest time, another 8.5s shipped. “I cannot do more,” he said. “I really pushed in there. That one was flat-out.”
The last remaining hope appeared to be with the weather. Neuville had managed to elevate himself past Breen and Suninen, but still Sunday
would bring more cleaning. Unless rained. Finally, something went right for Neuville. His rain came. Going into the season’s final day, virtual championship had sixthplaced Ogier on 212, seven ahead of Neuville. But now Tanak had come play. Toyota’s strong second half the season continued right to the with the Yaris WRCS knocking Citroen’s Mads Ostberg and Breen of their Friday night 1-2 and replacing them with Tanak and Latvala. Leader Ott sat in a provisional second in the title race, one point up Thierry. Climbing aboard the i20, Neuville looked up at the grey skies, shortly after six on the season’s final Sunday morning. The weather brought an opportunity. Now we have to use it,” he said. have to gamble. We have to push. have nothing to lose.” Wilson looked a troubled man as prepared for the last 50 miles of competition.
“I never sleep particularly well, but last night really wasn’t so good,” he said. “I kept thinking about all that rain and now this morning I’ve seen some pictures of the stages… There’s just so much riding on this. Everybody’s up in Dovenby [M-sport’s Cumbrian base], they’ve got a big screen and they’re all watching. I just hope we don’t let him down.”
Ogier was classic Ogier: utterly self-confident. Everything would be fine. Of course it would. Why wouldn’t it?
Watching the early onboard action did little to calm Wilson’s nerves: cars were all over the place, with moments at every corner.
“It’s horrendous,” said Wilson grimly after the first loop. “What I wouldn’t do to fast forward a few hours… Seb’s fine, so relaxed. He keeps telling me: ‘Malcolm, don’t worry; we’ll be world champions’. But it’s still all so close.”
But Ogier just kept on keeping on. Mistakes had been for others on Friday and Saturday, why would Sunday be different? It wouldn’t.
First stage of the last loop and Neuville’s dream was done. Visibly right on the ragged edge, he battled valiantly. But lost. Lost a wheel. Lost the championship.
“It’s the way it is,” he said. “We had to push, it was all or nothing.”
One stage later and it was everything for Ogier as Tanak pinged his Yaris off another solid Australian gum tree.
For 23 of 24 stages of the finale, the WRC had delivered a thriller, mirroring the extraordinary twists and turns of this most compelling season. But then M-sport radioed a message into Ogier’s #1 car: “Tanak out.”
Driving down the road to the final stage wasn’t how Ogier had imagined winning a sixth title. “It killed the moment a little bit,” he said. “But then there was a big relief. This was definitely the toughest fight we had for the championship. It’s been so intense.”
With intensity comes emotion. And there was no shortage of that when Ogier arrived at the end of the final stage, having won the powerstage. Naturally. “It’s incredible,” said Ogier. “I’m so happy to have done this for my team and for this guy…”
This guy was Wilson, who’d arrived right on cue. “This guy… the best boss I ever had.”
Rarely, if ever, on these pages has fifth place been so well reported. For the record, Latvala won Rally Australia. In doing so he maintained an 11-year record of winning at least one WRC round each season. More important than that, victory sealed the manufacturers’ crown for Tommi Makinen’s Toyota squad.
More than anybody, Makinen understood the hurt Tanak felt. “Next year,” said the Finn, quietly.
Forget next year, it’s next week that Ogier’s focused on now. Next week’s his first meaningful test in his new mount, a Citroen.
But what a way to say goodbye to the old one.