The Spanish round of the WRC again delivered a result that ensured it won't be forgotten any time soon. Not only did Ogier crash out on the ultimate stage, Mikkelsen won his first ever round and hometown hero, Dani Sordo, grabbed a podium finish to keep the fight for second in the constructors' championship alive.
Ogier's demise was entirely unexpected and utterly unnecessary, the Frenchman beginning the stage with a 50.9 second lead over the next best. By his own admission, he had decided to have some fun being the competitive soul that he is, and a 10cm error in line ended the Champ's rally with a shortened, three-wheeled Polo R WRC and some sore body bits. I imagine his ego was also a little bruised.
As Rallying's answer to Duckburg's Gladstone Gander, M. Ogier was probably astonished at the finality of the incident, his history over the last three years branding the VW #1 least likely to suffer serious repercussions from driver error. And imagine Mikkelsen's amazement that his team leader had just handed the Norwegian the top step of the podium. Finally, Andreas has the elusive WRC rally win he so desired and so deserved.
Dani Sordo's third place was fitting reward for a solid performance across the mixed surfaces of his home event. First Hyundai home for the fifth time in 2015, his efforts kept the Korean team in the hunt for runner-up in the constructors' championship and with Thierry Neuville's 8th place in the overall stakes, they head to RallyGB having dropped only three points to Citroen in Spain.
Thierry's woes continued in the Spanish event, with a mixture of lack of confidence and a brace of mechanical gremlins relegating him to the third best Hyundai driver, behind Sordo and 6th placed Paddon. Paddon himself had a steady run across the weekend, fastest on shakedown and SS2 and with a better result undermined by two punctures costing the Kiwi the best part of a minute. Despite his reticence to overplay their performance, Hayden and John showed good progress on the Spanish asphalt. It'll be interesting indeed to see how they fare in Spain in 2016.
But almost everybody had some mechanical issues in Spain, both M-Sport pilots Evans and Tanak having to resort to Rally 2 to finish the round, for example, despite Tanak's three stage wins. Evans was back in the doldrums in Spain. His best result over the weekend was 6th fastest on a single stage, a couple of 7ths and the remainder a smattering of 8th to 11th. Not the result Elfyn was hoping for and a regression from Corsica. A bit of work to do there for the Welshman.
Kubica was also fast in places, notably where the mechanical shenanigans were absent, and he led the rally for two stages. But again, the Pole was unable to complete the event without dramas and he failed to trouble the timekeepers in the end, finishing outside the top 10 despite a rally littered with extremely competitive times. This privateer lark isn't conducive to scoring points, it seems.
Mads Ostberg showed a good turn of speed over the weekend so it seemed a little unfair that his performance was in turn undermined by a slow puncture which ended his fight for a podium. The Norwegian was nevertheless happy with his Spanish outing, scoring a pair of stage wins before settling into a steady 5th for most of the remainder of the rally, and his confidence is high for Wales.
Teammate Meeke took the event carefully to ensure a finish and subsequent points haul for his team - the Ulsterman also picked up a point for his driver's tally with a third fastest on the power stage and finished the event a slim 1.9 seconds behind Mads.
Jari-Matti was fast, as usual and missed out on the top podium position by just 3.1 seconds from Andreas. But the Finn led the event for three stages, held second for several more before a small error - again - cost him what might well have turned out to be consecutive rally wins. Speaking after the finish, he was outwardly happy for Mikkelsen and seemed unperturbed about missing the win by such a tiny margin, but you have to wonder if that "so near and yet so far" situation hurts just a bit more than he let on.
But all eyes were on Hyundai's Neuville in Spain. Especially those of Alain Penasse, Hyundai competition manager, who has the task of helping rebuild the Belgian's confidence prior to the new season. His on-camera comments about Thierry's performance were quietly complimentary, focusing on the improved times and splits and giving his lead driver a break by acknowledging the mechanical problems faced. And he was less enthusiastic about Paddon's efforts than usual. It's clear that the team is serious in tackling Thierry's slump in form in a positive manner.
There were an unusually large number of stage winners in Spain;
Ogier
Paddon
Ostberg
Kubica
Tanak
Latvala
Mikkelsen
Neuville
This is good for the sport, and we can all hope to see the trend continue in subsequent events. A tight field is a catalyst for excitement. And excitement draws audiences.
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