HOW T HEW R CD RIVER MARKET HAS REACHED CRISIS POINT
Withcitroendowntotwocars,thenextfewweeksarecrucialformany
Until Thursday last week Craig Breen, Mads Ostberg and Sebastien Loeb were all vying for a third Citroen C3 WRC. A day later, the seat had gone. Along with Abu Dhabi, Citroen’s principal backer for the last six seasons. Now what? With six-time World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier onboard and the charismatic and mercurial Esapekka Lappi in the second seat, all appeared to be heading towards a full assault on both championships with a full complement of drivers. but nope, that’s not happening.
Now I’m sure we’ll eventually hear the reasons why, but for me it’s all a little baffling. Sources within the Abu Dhabi camp are indicating the split is only a temporary one, they’ll be back in 2020 and that’s even more confusing. Why take a year out when you have the best chance of glory for years?
What does that decision mean for the driver market? The competition for the one or possibly two seats remaining just got a whole lot more intense.
Breen, Ostberg, Hayden Paddon and Elfyn Evans are all staring at a climb up the most precipitous rock face imaginable. how any of them find a way to the top, I’m really not sure.
The one who might yet have a choice of seats is Loeb.
Before Rally of Spain, I thought the highest level in the WRC, where you’re capable of fighting regularly for wins, had moved beyond the reach of Loeb. salou changed all that. He’s lost none of his speed, ability, reactions or guile. the wealth of experiences he’s banked in a decade of dominance is as relevant today as it was six seasons ago. He’s a contender. And that’s the important thing. if, as he’s said, he only wants to do a part-time programme, say six rallies, then he will almost certainly be capable of winning any of those events. And that’s the big difference. Our other four, highly capable, highly skilled and highly motivated pilots just aren’t at that level. yes, Ostberg has won, as has Evans and Paddon, but they are far from regular contenders for the podium’s top step.
Breen is still on the upward curve and hasn’t reached his peak yet. whether he’s allowed to determine just how high that peak might be is yet to be seen.
Loeb offers that tantalising prospect of taking the fight to our WRC elite of Ogier, Ott Tanak, Kris Meeke, Jari-matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville. let’s face it, Meeke is only at Toyota because he offers exactly the same possibilities. He can win any rally. When you come looking for a seat to any team, that line on your CV can’t be ignored.
That line could well be jumping out at Hyundai chief Michel Nandan and slapping him forcefully in the face.
Nandan and Hyundai need Loeb. They need titles in 2019. The rumours would suggest Hyundai Motorsport’s management is under the most enormous pressure to deliver. Hyundai has poured many millions of Euros, perhaps hundreds of millions over the past five years into the WRC project, and it wants a return on that investment.
Until a few days ago, Nandan had a very big headache: how do you change the outcome with the same tools at your disposal? yes, we can expect a few upgrades to the i20 but even with that in the pipeline, I’m sure he still had doubts. Many of them.
Neuville is the real deal. He’s one of, if not the best driver, of his generation. He’s come close to the title in the past two seasons, very close this year. but it wasn’t quite enough. he had to drive the wheels off his i20 just to stay in contention. And when the stresses started to show, and the results started to falter, the support just wasn’t there.
What M-sport and Ogier have shown over the past two seasons is the need for focus. It’s focus and support that win titles.
There are two ways your number one driver can benefit from the support of his team-mates. One is by his team-mates getting in front of the opposition and taking points off them, as Tanak did for Ogier in 2017. The other is by dropping behind the team leader to give him the odd point or, as we saw in Australia with M-sport, a more advantageous road position. both scenarios work if you have a defined team leader. but clearly, the stronger position is where top dog has the support of one, or ideally two teammates able to scrap at the very top and take big points away from rivals.
And herein, perhaps, lies Hyundai’s biggest problem.
In 2017, Hyundai started with two drivers, Paddon and Neuville. Both came with the intention to be drivers’ champion. Clearly, that was impossible. there can be only one winner. It was neither of them.
This year, same situation; two drivers both wanting titles. This time it’s Andreas Mikkelsen and Neuville. Again, it was neither.
For 2019, my guess is that Hyundai has learned from the past and will make Neuville the unequivocal number one with a clear objective to win at all costs.
Who supports him? Mikkelsen has won in the past but, just at this moment, he looks to be a long way from a regular winner. paddon and Dani Sordo, you could argue, are in a similar position. Yes they can be consistent, but can they be consistent challengers? i’m not sure.
Loeb is that consistent challenger. If I were Nandan I’d be pulling out all the stops to get the unemployed Frenchman onboard.
It looks as if there’s already a plan to rotate three of the four contracted Hyundai drivers next year, so it’s not such a huge upheaval to make it four drivers (Loeb, Paddon, Sordo and Mikkelsen) rotating between 28 starts.
And what would that give Hyundai? It would give them a second potential winner on at least six events. I don’t reckon Loeb wants to do too many more than that. And it gives the other three drivers premium road position for the gravel rallies, certainly in relation to Neuville’s probable opponents. You could also argue there’s potential in this plan to secure maximum manufacturer points and, as we know, that championship is often coveted more by the marques.
I think Loeb will have options. m-sport needs a winner almost as much as Hyundai. But it will come down to who can offer Loeb what he wants and who can reward him most generously for his efforts.
I’d love nothing more than to see one of the younger drivers getting any available seat, but reality surely says both Hyundai and M-sport need a winner. and the only one of our drive-less drivers showing winning credentials right now is the old man of rallying: Loeb.
The Scottish Motor Racing Club has taken a bold step with the appointment of a full-time commercial and development manager. The club has head-hunted Rory Bryant from the newly created Scottish Motor Sport organisation which is based within Sport Scotland’s offices in Edinburgh.
Bryant has been with SMS since its inception four years ago and has been the driving force behind the adoption of new ideas and practices, creating and initiating new developments, generating promotional opportunities and working directly with clubs, Sport Scotland, the Scottish Government and Motorsport UK.
In fact it was an inspired move by a club like the SMRC to make this approach and we all wish Rory well in his new post.
This is also a move which should inspire other amateur organisations. MS UK has its own commercial arm, International Motor Sports, which organises and promotes Wales Rally GB while pursuing other revenue generating streams. The British Rally Championship also has professional expertise at its helm while many other championships like British Touring Cars all have a strong professional individual or group behind them.
And perhaps this idea should be explored and considered by other events, championships and some of the bigger clubs.
Given the ever increasing complexities of event organisation, regulation and promotion these days, many smaller clubs will get left behind. That means there is a need for more clubs to work together to assemble appropriate organising skills and man/ womanpower.
If the clubs think this is a step too far, how about the Regional Associations adding this topic to their agenda for discussion at their next meeting?
Oddly enough this idea was first mooted over 30 years ago when the Scottish Rally Championship suggested that the two East and West Associations of Scottish Car Clubs join together to appoint a full-time sports development and commercial manager. Someone who could chase sponsorship for all types of event and then promote and publicise these events.
Sadly there was little support for such a bold idea then, but perhaps the time is right for such an idea to be considered more seriously once again. Bryant will need to be replaced at SMS to continue the work he started and which is currently being carried on alone by Gillian Sefton, sms development officer.
Either, SMS could broaden its brief or the Scottish Association of Motor Sport Clubs could seek to appoint their own Pr/promotional professional to generate revenue streams.
The sport needs more than development and promotion, it needs to attract more investment from commercial sponsors/partners who in turn will need specialised support and advice to generate a measurable return.
Desperate times call for bold ideas.