Well, whaddya know, time flies when you’re having fun and Rally Mexico is almost upon us. By the barest of margins here’s your chance to check out the ice cool pics from Rally Sweden, which was one of the most exciting WRC events we’ve ever seen.
Let’s hope Rally Mexico provides as much entertainment and another chance to look at those silly hats!
Sebastien Ogier won Rally Sweden on the weekend, but this was not just any rally win. It was one of the most exciting finales to a WRC event we have been lucky enough to see. And the final deciding stage was live on television.
Going into the last special stage, a power stage offering bonus championship points, Andreas Mikkelsen held a narrow lead from Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. All three drivers had led the rally at various stages over the weekend.
Neuville was the first of the three leaders to go and did his part by setting the fastest time, more than five seconds faster than Mads Ostebrg’s previous best. Next was Ogier and in that 16km final stage we saw what he is made of. The dual world champion was blistering and went 4.8 seconds faster than Neuville. Wow!
The pressure was on the young shoulders of Andreas Mikkelsen, could he defend his lead and claim his maiden WRC victory?
Alas for the 25-year-old Norwegian he made a small mistake about two-thirds the way through the stage. Like many before him during this event, he ran a fraction wide on a corner and was sucked into one of the soft snow banks. There was no damage to his car, but the 40 seconds he lost relegated him back to third place, behind Neuville and eventual winner Ogier. It was a cruel blow and ended hopes for what would have been a very popular win.
With his second win from two races Ogier is already building a sizeable gap in the championship; he has 53 points and leads Mikkelsen and Neuville, both on 30 points.
The next rally will take place in Mexico in around three weeks from now.
Rally Sweden will be held this weekend. It’s the only genuine snow and ice event on the WRC calendar and with that comes unique technical requirements and driving methods for the teams and drivers.
After the break we’ve assembled a few preview clips to bring you up to speed on what to expect this weekend.
Jari-Matti Latvala took a peek around the shadow of Sebastien Ogier by winning Rally Sweden on the weekend. It was a dominant result for Volkswagen with rising star Andreas Mikkelsen claiming second and his first WRC podium result.
Defending Rally Sweden winner Ogier gave Volkswagen cause to hope for a clean sweep of the podium when he led the rally in its early stages. An uncharacteristic and simple mistake saw the world champion run wide on a corner into a soft snow bank. No damage was done to him or the car, but his victory chances were shot after taking four and half minutes to get back on course. The best he could manage was a climb back to sixth position.
Mads Ostberg was happy to pick up Ogier’s slack and did so by coming home in third, his first podium result for Citroën. The Norwegian stepped up to take maximum points in the power stage as well.
In fourth place was Mikko Hirvonen who was almost on the pace but not quite in the Fiesta RS WRC. He’ll be happy to lock away some good championship points. Something his teammate Elfyn Evans wasn’t able to do. The Welshman’s inexperience showed in Sweden, although he was heading for a top 10 finish until a late off pushed him out of points contention.
Kris Meeke, who did so well in the very difficult conditions in Monte Carlo, was one of many drivers to succumb to Sweden’s snow banks and he finished in P10, more than 11 minutes behind Latvala.
The raw pace of Robert Kubica can’t be denied, but his propensity to find trouble where others don’t must be starting to become a concern. It’s true that conditions found in Sweden are never likely to be his favourite, but he had a tough time all the same and finished a lowly 24th more than 36 minutes off the pace.
And then we get to Hyundai who endured another trying weekend. Thierry Neuville was joined by Juho Hanninen for driving duties at this event and both were putting in respectable performances running comfortably in the top 10. On Day 2 both drivers clipped rocks on the apex of a corner which put them out of contention for the day. Neither driver was out of shape prior to their respective incidents, it was just bad luck for both.
The Hyundais resumed under Rally 2 conditions on the final day and were able to chalk up some good experience. Hanninen’s 36m leap was enough to win the prize for the Colin’s Crest longest jump. Ogier managed a record 41m jump later in the day, but it wasn’t eligible for the prize as it wasn’t on his first run.
Latvala now leads the championship from Ogier and Ostberg. It was at this event in 2013 that Ogier took the lead in the world championship and he hadn’t relinquished the top position until now.
Rally Mexico is the next rally on the calendar, taking place in early March. Chris Atkinson will get his turn in the Hyundai i20 WRC and will be hoping he has more luck than his teammates have experienced so far in 2014.
More after the break.