That heading above must be the most appalling headline ever written, and for that you have my apologies. As to what took place in that picturesque island during the Tour de Corse though, you can blame the weather. Torrential downpours that caused the cancellation of two of only nine stages that comprised this year's event, and played havoc with the natural order of things.
How you felt about that depended on your perception of what defines a good WRC rally. There are those who miss the days when men were men, rally stages were as much about surviving the conditions as they were about winning by a few tenths of a second, and the tougher the challenge, the better. Then there are those who like their events neatly packaged for the spectator, fast roads and plenty of ancillary entertainment to keep one amused. And in the middle of all this, there are plenty of folk who swing both ways.
But finding a formula that suits everybody is a pretty daunting task.
However, through its adoption of a very few unusually extended stages, which the weather further reduced to just seven, the Tour de Corse achieved the seemingly impossible. An endurance style event that didn't require the spectators to clock up hundreds of kilometres each day, ran on asphalt but with all the water, mud, detritus and road damage that a fan of the old formats could possible wish for, yet with some shorter stretches of relatively undamaged wet and dry tarmac for the sprint-style afficionados to nod contentedly about.
And all down to nature adding its secret ingredient "rain" to the mix. Very effective.
So to the event. Robert Kubica and Seb Ogier shared the scratch honours on SS1, with the rest of the WRC top tier entrants more or less in order behind those two. Not entirely though, as Thierry Neuville clipped a bridge with his i20 and broke the rear right upright, retiring for the day. And rookie Dutchman Abbring had his i20 up in 7th place, just three spots behind the fastest Hyundai driver, Dani Sordo.
SS2 was cancelled because the deluge that had descended on Corsica had caused flooding, washouts and slips and they rendered the planned stage impassable in places. So the drivers and sundry spectators trundled off to SS3 which, while affected by the surface water and grunge scattered about by passing rally cars, was at least passable. Not that anybody was particularly happy with the conditions, except for one Elfyn Evans.
M-Sport's young Welshman won the stage by 10 seconds over Hyundai's Abbring, who in turn beat Stephane Sarrazin and who led Bryan Bouffier - not really the names you expect to be troubling the writers of leaderboard info.
One whose name could realistically be expected on the board in elevated position is the 2015 World Champion, Sébastien Ogier. Following a puncture and more than a minute's time loss, the frenchman's Polo R WRC died from gearbox woes on its way to service and Ogier dropped to 87th overall following his retirement and subsequent Rally 2 restart. Quel horreur!
Even previous Corsica winner, Dani Sordo, languished in lowly 19th. I don't know if these oddities in position can be directly attributed to the Corsican weather bomb, but in the absence of any other explanation, I'm going with that theory.
SS4, a planned repeat of SS2, was also cancelled, and Saturday's leg began with SS5 instead. The day dawned with blue skies and gentle breezes, the storm front having passed and in the process of saturating other bits of the European continent. But the legacy lived on in Corsica to the delight of nobody involved in the rally, with road surfaces alternately dry, greasy, muddy, wet and gritty. Evans led as the stage began but 36.5km later, Jari-Matti latvala had taken 20 seconds from him and the Welshman's lead had dropped to 1.7 seconds.
So the natural order of things began to assert itself once more, with the fastest five on SS5 comprising Latvala, Mikkelsen, Ogier, Meeke and Sordo. One slight oddity was the sixth place of Hayden Paddon, who had so little experience competing on tarmac, any tarmac, that he was treating the Tour de Corse as a practice session for the upcoming Rallye de España. Clearly the pre-event asphalt coaching the Kiwi took on the week before the TdC was paying dividends, although as usual, Paddon was quick to point out that he had plenty of work to do.
SS6 completed the second day and the crews headed for bed with a somewhat different leaderboard than that of Friday evening. Latvala now led Evans by just two seconds, who in turn had a lead of 29 seconds over Mikkelsen. Meeke had moved up to 4th, Abbring had dropped to 5th, with Ostberg leading tarmac rookie Paddon by 20 seconds. Bouffier and Sarrazin preceded Tanak and Sordo, with Rally 2 drivers Neuville and Ogier in 37th and 24th places respectively.
Unusually for a WRC event, the final day turned out to be the longest, courtesy of the stage cancellations of the previous days. So there was quite a lot to play for, for a welcome change.
Individual battles loomed large with the relatively small margins of time between various competitors, the top three places being particularly interesting, so this was going to be very exciting. The Latvala/Evans fight particularly so. When the smoke cleared, Latvala had completed a storming run over SS7, beating the Ford Fiesta of Evans by a healthy 15.6 seconds, but the Welshman held his second place with a great drive of his own to keep third-placed Mikkelsen at bay with a 21 second buffer.
Meeke, who was by then unable to catch Mikkelsen and unlikely to lose 4th place to the speedy Abbring, did just enough to consolidate his position. Abbring's lead over Ostberg was a solid 16.5 seconds making Mads's task in overhauling the Dutchman increasingly dificult. But tarmac rookie Paddon took 19 seconds off Mads, moving himself to within 2.3 seconds of the Norwegian and signalling his intention to grab 6th position for his own. VW's Ogier won the stage and moved himself up to 19th place in the process, while Neuville was down in 32nd spot, having managed only 9th quickest time.
SS8 was one for the Hyundai boys, Dani Sordo on scratch some 2.3 seconds quicker than Ogier. Ogier's 2nd fastest time moved him up to 15th overall. But surprise of the stage was the third fastest time from Paddon, equalling Jari-Matti's time and bumping Ostberg one place in the process. Not such good news for Abbring though - he left the road and was unable to regain it, having to retire as a result. A disappointing end to a superb drive up to that point. Neuville's 8th fastest looked seriously poor for an experienced WRC competitor with a reputation as a tarmac specialist, his 25th overall placing totally underwhelming.
Abbring's retirement elevated the drivers behind him one place, so Paddon inherited 5th place with Mads 6th, now 6.2 seconds behind the Kiwi. Asked at stage end what had happened for him to lose so much time to Paddon, Ostberg could only reply that he himself had driven well and could do no more. Recognising the futility of risking all for a top podium spot, Evans chose to defend his current station against Mikkelsen, driving accordingly while dropping another 16 seconds to Latvala.
At stage end, Latvala led Evans by 32.7 seconds, while Mikkelsen had closed the gap to 2nd to just 9.8 seconds. There was still a lot to play for with the power stage yet to run.
The result is history. SebO won the power stage, grabbing the three points on offer even though he didn't need them. Kubica showed his speed once more, with a great 2nd fastest while Jari-Matti nabbed the third spot. Dani Sordo finished 4th fastest and ended the rally 7th overall, a disappointing result as far as the Spaniard was concerned and he rued the puncture that had cost him a couple of minutes earlier in the event. Mikkelsen, Meeke and Evans were the next fastest WRC regulars, with Ostberg, Paddon and Neuville rounding out the top ten.
So another well-driven win to Latvala, who kept his nose clean and pushed when he needed to, offering more proof of his skills and relevance to the world championship. Evans's performance on this tough event was outstanding. Had it not been for the superhuman stage time from J-ML where he got within 1.7 seconds of the Welshman, it seems likely that Elfyn would have mounted the top step of the podium. As it was, that result was his career best effort and it goes a long way to compensating for the lacklustre recent performances from the Welshman. And his tarmac chops are without doubt.
Andreas Mikkelsen completed just 3.2 seconds behind Evans, rewarded for his efforts by the third podium spot. A great drive from a very promising competitor. A win must surely be close. Compatriot Mads Ostberg, on his first drive following the recce accident in Australia, thought he'd driven well and seemed continually puzzled as to why his times didn't reflect his impressions of the crew's performance, but to be beaten by Hayden Paddon whose experience on tarmac was virtually non-existent prior to this event, must be rather deflating. Sixth overall is not a bad result by any means, but one can't help thinking he should have finished higher.
Kris Meeke, in his usual self-effacing way, drove the rally the way he needed to and seemed quietly pleased with the result - a fourth place and a bucket of points for his team's constructor championship hopes. Citroen overtook Hyundai by a single point and I suspect that the celebrations and relief at the Citroen after-match function were mightily enjoyed. Kris can be happy with his efforts in Corsica.
Yet again, Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard finished a rally as the highest-placed Hyundai crew, which wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the fact that he's the third-ranked driver in the Korean team, and mostly unable to contribute constructor points. It's difficult to avoid concluding that the Hyundai squad will be re-shuffled next season. The thing that energed most clearly about Paddon during the Tour de Corse, is that his self-analysis and commitment are exceeded only by his ability to continually improve. That is a rare and precious gift, and the WRC team bosses will be in no doubt about what that means for the future!
Sordo drove a fine rally and did his reputation no harm at all with his competitiveness and focus. It was only a puncture that prevented his challenging for a podium, and the Spaniard will have cemented his tarmac role in the Hyundai team for next season. The superb efforts on the gravel in Australia have elevated his stocks in the eyes of many as well. However, the same cannot be said for Hyundai lead driver Thierry Neuville. Thierry has finally admitted that his driving has not been up to the standard his role in the team demands and his disappointing season so far has harmed his reputation and his opportunities. He needs to excel in Spain or I fear for his career in the WRC.
Ott Tanak, another who like Paddon lacks any competitive distance on tarmac, confessed early on that he was struggling to find confidence or rhythm on the Corsican stages. Although his times were sub-par for a driver with well recognised speed, he brought the Fiesta home in 10th, picking up a point along the way and storing the experience for the future. Right now, tarmac is not his friend, but he's a determined young man and we'll see an improvement in Spain for sure.
Pity that the Tour de Corse had more than 20% of its stage distance cancelled, because we could have had even more competitive drama to enjoy. But it was still enjoyable enough and the marathon format certainly didn't put a dampener on procedings - it was the storm that pulled off that trick.
Catch you all in Spain...
No comments:
Post a Comment