DAVID EVANS

“Extra cars could open up rallying’s tactical play”

Regardless of how spectacular next year’s WRC 2, WRC 3 and Junior WRC cars will be – and they will be – the millions of fans standing at the side of the road are there primarily to watch Ott Tanak and his colleagues in their factory World Rally Cars.

The big cars with the big stars are always going to be the biggest draw. With that in mind, the World Motor Sport Council’s decision to ratify second, single-car teams from the WRC manufacturers has to be a good thing; anything to see another one of these stunning cars coming past.

What worries me is the potential this also offers for Hyundai and Toyota to take a tactical approach to the WRC. Andrea Adamo’s demonstrated he’s the master of such method this year, rotating his drivers (all except Thierry Neuville) regularly to ensure he had a factory car far enough down the order to take advantage of preferable day-one conditions on hot, dry rallies. Time and again we saw Dani Sordo, Sebastien Loeb and Andreas Mikkelsen used as cannon-fodder in Hyundai’s battle for a maiden world title. And who are we to criticise? Adamo got the job done in his first season as general of the blue and orange army.

And nothing’s more certain than the fact we can expect a similar approach next year. Question is: will Toyota respond? Tommi Makinen’s always been clear: he wants his crews in the car on every rally; as a former driver he understands the need for regular seat time better than anybody.

Equally, he has to be pragmatic and understand there’s a principled approach and there’s making the job harder than it really needs to be. If Sebastien

Ogier and Elfyn Evans finish 1-2 in Monte next month, then it snows like mad on the eve of round two in Sweden, Toyota’s potential for taking big points will be decimated.

Now, last week’s WMSC ruling in Paris doesn’t mean Latvala can score for the main Toyota team, but it would open an opportunity to run Kalle Rovanpera in the second squad and promote Latvala to the factory car. And Latvala running ninth on the road, having missed the season-opener in the Alps, could be a particularly potent combination. And not one easily ignored by Makinen.

The potential benefits as the season plays out from Mexico to Sardinia and all the loose gravel roads between, are even more marked.

It would be naive not to expect the teams to play the game. And there’s a big part of me that enjoys that element of a Friday and Saturday evening. It’s fascinating to watch the brains behind the respective operations trying to outmanoeuvre their opponents with one arm tied behind their back courtesy of a ban on communications between team and car once the crews are into the stage.

My concern here is the potential collateral damage if the WRC’S big two start to try to outdo each other. Where does that leave M-sport? The Cumbrians might run a third Ford Fiesta WRC on the odd outing here and there, but anything approaching the resource to fight Toyota and Hyundai is well beyond them right now. So the gap between the haves and have-nots grows again.

And the last thing we need right now is the loss of another team…