WRC '16 - Has the Polo lost its mojo?

Arguably the most successful single rally weapon the World Rally Championship has yet seen, it's finally looking like the VW Polo R WRC has met its match. Three and a half years of superiority is nothing to be sneezed at, mind you, so nobody should be shedding any tears for Wolfsburg's finest. It's just the "evolution" thing at work.

Taking nothing away from the VW drivers' own efforts, there's no doubt the Polo's superiority has contributed heavily to their successes, most notably Sebastian Ogier's outstanding results over the past three seasons. Three time World Champion, and looking likely to add to that total in 2016, Ogier and the Polo have proven to be almost unbeatable.

Almost... until now, that is.

Nearly half way through its first season, Hyundai's NGi20 has shown that, on gravel at least, it's a match for the Polo. Yes, it's had some teething issues with various components, weaknesses with steering/suspension elements being particularly notable, but the Korean manufacturer team learns fast, and the truncated initial development period for what is basically a one-year car, makes it seem all the more impressive that it's as competitive as it has shown itself to be.

This is not the place for muddying the waters with driver performances, an interesting topic in its own right and fodder for a future blog post no doubt - it's where we look dispassionately at the relative performances of the Polo versus its competition. And a look at the history of the VW contender paints a picture of a wunderkind who's seeing the sun set on its glory days. 2017 surely can't come soon enough for the Volkswagen team.

                     2013        2014        2015         2016

Wales           1:2:5        1:8           1:3:50        ------
Spain            1:2           1:2:7        1:2             ------
France          1:3:7        1:2:13      1:3:15        ------
Australia       1:4:6        1:2:3        1:2:4          ------
Germany      7:17          3:             1:2:3         ------
Finland         1:10:17    1:2:4         1:2             ------
Greece         1:4:10       ------         ------          ------
Argentina      2:3:8        1:2:4        17:            2:3:16
Portugal        1:3:6        1:4:14      1:2:3         2:3:6
Mexico          1:16         1:2:19      1:3:15       1:4:26
Sweden         1:4           1:2:6        1:3            2:3:16
Monte Carlo   2:            1:5:7        1:2:3         1:2
Poland           ------        1:2:5         1:2:5          ------

A quick summary of results can be expressed like this:
In their first year with the Polo R WRC, VW missed the top step just three times;
in their second year, they missed just once;
and last year, again on just the one occasion.

But so far in 2016, the team have managed just two wins from five starts - by their own astonishingly high standards, clearly a disappointing result. Hyundai, in the NGi20's development year, has so far matched the wins of the mighty VW team. And while it's still early days in the championship, the Korean competitor is looking every bit as likely on any round to grab the podium's top step as the German marque.

Ogier has made it known that development of the current Polo is at a standstill, with the team's efforts being poured into the 2017 spec car. That's no surprise, given the tightness of the time-frame until homologation, so we shouldn't expect the '16 Polo's performance to improve significantly, if at all, for the remainder of the year.

The Hyundai, on the other hand, has shown increased performance as the season progresses and with the Polish event about to take place, a round that should play to the NGi20's strengths, it would be a reckless punter who would bet against the possibility of a third top-step finish for one of the three Hyundais.

It's been said that Hyundai can't be capable of investing precious resources in further development of the one-year car when the 2017 version deadline is looming, but that thinking ignores the fact that the NGi20 is to a degree the real-world testing platform for the Alzenau team's next generation weapon - much of what has gone into this single-year evolution vehicle is new and destined to feature in the '17 car.

In Neuville, Paddon and Sordo, Hyundai's team boss Nandan has a driver resource that will be easily capable of parlaying the undoubtedly improved performance of the NGi20 WRC into further rally wins this year. It only remains to be seen how many more victories the team will accrue, and which driver(s) will get them.

WRC '17 - Does it have to disappoint? Part 2...

In Part 1 of the 2017 season preview of the World Rally Championship, we touched on a surprising lack of excitement, considering the changes afoot. We took a look at the team changes and how the new regulations might affect the performance of the cars. In this segment, the new chassis regulations get the once-over.
So read on, you rally-obsessed peeps...

Is that a classy chassis I see before me? 

 

What's with the wider track?

 I was going to offer a pseudo-technical explanation in answer to that question, but the honest truth is that I have absolutely no idea. At all. So here's some idle speculation instead.

Citoen's C3 WRC weapon in testing.

Wheelbase and track are not absolute values as I'm sure you all know, but instead are relative measures which vary in their ratio depending on what the vehicle is designed to accomplish. It makes sense, therefore, that a vehicle that navigates a great many bends, curves, turns, corners, hairpins and such should have a relatively wide track and relatively short wheelbase to enable it to change direction deftly. (Think racing karts for example).

WRC '16 - ¡Ay Caramba! in Mexico...

First points, first podium, first win for Jari-Matti in 2016

 The sun is going down over Guanajuato as I begin to type this, the dust has already settled, the post-rally fiesta has begun in earnest. And the man with the biggest grin is Jari-Matti Latvala. After two disastrous previous events where the Finn failed to score a solitary point, the win in Mexico has turned his fortunes around - with the second placing on the power stage, a nice little bonus. Latvala is back in the game.

He drove what is as close to a faultless rally as it's possible to humanly do, and he deserved the top podium step. Sébastian Ogier, coping as usual with road-sweeping duties, took as many risks as he was reasonably able to, but with Jari's optimal road position, it was always a tall order for the World Champion to beat the Finn. That needed mistakes from Latvala that for once in quite a while he simply didn't make. This was as close to the perfect drive as one could ask for and bodes well for his remaining performances in 2016.

WRC '16 - Mexico can't be as bad as 2015...

At least we hope not. The Guanajuato-based event in 2015 was, to be blunt, utter carnage. The list of those who crashed out on the first full day makes for depressing reading:

1: Ott Tanak
2; Hayden Paddon
3: Robert Kubica
4: Kris Meeke
5: Lorenzo Bertelli
6: Thierry Neuville
7: Benito Guerra

Way to hand Sébastian Ogier the rally on un plato, amigos. Where the World Champ should have been doing some heavy-duty road-sweeping on the morning of the second full day, instead he left that chore up to the miscreants comprising the start list above. The Frenchman thus benefitted big time from his 8th position through the stages, and despite his professed belief before the rally that he had absolutely no chance of winning in Mexico, he romped home. If you're interested in my analysis of last year's Rally Mexico, click here.

This year though, Hyundai have come to la fiesta dressed as if they mean to get a decent result. In the main team, newly-invigorated Thierry Neuville and the ever-reliable Dani Sordo will be ably supported by the sensational Hayden Paddon with his B team entry, all three drivers steering the evolution NGi20 model cars from the Korean constructor. Already, the greater performance of the new car is evident and barring mechanical issues, they should all apply some badly-needed pressure to the Volkswagen Polo R boys.

Kris Meeke, in his "gap year" guise, would have had no point-scoring pressure and thus would have been able to push right from the start, to go head-to-head with VW's Ogier in the semi-works Citroen DS3 WRC. This car is more or less in identical spec to last year's Mexican entrant, so Kris would tell you that the German team would have the advantage in hardware, but he'd also admit that his road position would cancel that out, and he'd be in no doubt that he was in with at least a podium shot - maybe the win. But of course, he's not entered, so that's a battle we'll have to watch on another day.

Mads finished runner-up last year, through profiting greatly from the mistakes of others it must be said, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he can equal the feat it he stays out of trouble again this year, as M-Sport's lead driver. In fact if things go well for him, you can't with hand on heart exclude the Norwegian from the top podium step. While questions may be raised about his outright speed versus SebO and Jari-Matti, Mads's consistency credentials are undoubted.

Having tasted the reservoir water on the previous Rally Mexico, Ott Tanak will be reluctant to repeat the experience, so it would be absolutely reasonable to expect a highly-focused performance from DMACK's new signing. He'll be running the same spec car as M-Sport's Ostberg and Camilli, so his speed on this event will likely be in the same ballpark as his Michelin-shod competitors.

But here's a wee wrinkle that might put el gato among the pigeons - the road order this year has its share of jokers. See below...

1: Ogier
2: Mikkelsen
3: Ostberg:
4: Paddon
5: Sordo
6: Tanak
7: Neuville
8: Latvala
9: Camilli
10: Prokop
11: Bertelli

Both Neuville and Latvala have a significant theoretical road position advantage over the first three on the road, perceived wisdom suggesting that the lower-ordered pair may threaten Ogier for victory in the event - we shall see it that turns out to be the case.

Despite all that, Sébastian Ogier is still odds-on favourite to take maximum points on the stages of Guanajuato, his blend of driving skill, racecraft and luck making his defeat improbable despite his road-sweeping duties. But a win isn't a given, regardless of what the commentators, fans and bloggers may believe, and Mexico might, just might, give us a result that turns this championship on its head.

And no matter who you support, that wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

WRC '16 - The legend of Rally Sweden

The answer to the previous post is clear. Sweden didn't deliver the opportunity for Hayden Paddon to get his first win at the sport's highest level. Not that second place overall is anything to turn your nose up at. But it was a close-run thing and the World Champion was put under the kind of pressure he rarely experiences.

As discussed in that previous post, Sébastian held a substantial lead, 26.9 seconds actually, at the end of Friday's competition, but I made the argument that conditions forecast for the following day suggested that Paddon would pick up an advantage over the Frenchman, with more snow falling equalling a larger advantage.

Well, the predictions of 20cm of overnight snowfall turned out to be somewhat optimistic, and while the Kiwi's performance saw him move to within 8.8 seconds of Ogier (from a deficit of 32.4 seconds) in a single stage, the road conditions in general allowed the VW driver to to open his lead out to 17.1 seconds at close of the day's rallying. At this point, with just the 15.87km special stage scheduled for the final day, the chance of Hayden challenging for the podium's top step had gone.

However, it's interesting to muse over how it came to pass that Ogier was able to keep the determined Paddon at bay. The fact is, as Sébastian himself candidly admits, that the pressure from the flying Kiwi took its toll. At the finish line interview, the World Champion explained...

"Yesterday was a little bit too crazy and I took risks like I had never done in my life...”

It's not every day that Sébastian Ogier, an ice-cool technician behind the wheel, confesses to losing his composure. And as fan video from the stages, and in-car footage clearly demonstrate, the Frenchman also lost control of his Polo R WRC at least three times that day and he rode his luck to the very edge of catastrophe. There's a much-viewed in-car image of co-driver Julien Ingrassia's facial expression as the Polo careers at close to 190kph, completely sideways, in search of trees to hit.

If anyone tells you that the champ never really lost control or that his skill levels are so high that he made short work of each 'anomaly', then they need to tell that to both Julien and Seb. That facial expression captures forever a study in the anticipation of impending disaster.

Yet it's not the fact that Sébastian took risks. Or even big risks. Rally drivers at this level do that as a matter of course on every rally. It's the fact that the VW #1 was forced to take risks that even he knew were crazy in order to keep his young challenger at bay. A few centimetres or milliseconds difference here or there could quite conceivably have resulted in the total destruction of their car or worse. Much worse.

That didn't happen, of course, and Ogier's gamble paid off. By taking the "crazy" risks he did, he doubled his margin over Paddon's NGi20 and effectively put the top step of the podium beyond reach of the Hyundai crew. Paddon had briefly entertained the thought of pushing for the win, and at 8.8 seconds in arrears it was still within the realm of possibility, but 17.1 seconds was out of the question. We're talking about getting better than a second a kilometre from a three-times world champion here, and that would never be likely.

So Hayden settled for keeping his buffer back to Mads Ostberg intact (he increased it very slightly, 0.6 seconds as it happens) and the dream of a maiden victory vanished. Actually, the dream was ours more than it was ever Hayden's, for as much as he would have loved such an outcome, the well-grounded Kiwi knew that he would need Sébastian to make an error for the dream to become reality. And with Ogier's track record, the likelihood of that was next to zero.

At the end of the day, Hayden and John can be very pleased with the outcome. Thierry Neuville's transmission woes on day #1 of the rally dropped the Belgian so far down the order that he was never likely to score any points for Hyundai's main team, so the burden of that responsibility fell on the shoulders of the #2 driver Paddon. His outstanding performance over the weekend has kept the team in the hunt for the constructor championship, trailing VW by just 5 points after two rounds.

That he has become the first driver from outside of Europe to gain a podium position on Rallye Sweden is something unique in his CV, and it can never be taken from him. Paddon continues to improve with each rally he completes, his speed increases and his reputation as a future world champion continues to grow. Yet with all that, he appears to be completely unaffected by his position, his successes and his prospects.

Mr Paddon, you're a legend.

WRC '16 - Did gambles pay off on the Monte Carlo?

If you read my previous post on the subject of the Monte, you'll know that it had a gambling metaphor, and deliberately so. The form guide I offered suggested that of the five names put forward, three of those would appear on the podium. A bit rash, you might think given the notoriety of the event's suseptibility to fickle climatic conditions.

As it happens, my punt paid off. No, not in the sense of financial windfalls that you might expect if I had the 'nads to put my money where my mouth is. More in the sense of "this is a very likely outcome because I am paying attention" instead.

Obviously there are lots of impossible-to-foresee random events that can influence the results of any given rally, so sticking a hand up and making predictions is a good way to get egg all over one's face. Still, there are clues as to how a rally will play out if you care to look and sometimes things even happen in line with what might actually be expected. Rarely, I admit, but...

However, the majority of people reading this blog would rather not work it out in advance and would prefer the outcome to be a surprise. And so they should. A surprise ending is almost always preferable to one which is predictable. So it's fortunate that very few of this blog's readers took my picks as anything but guesswork, promptly ignored them, or forgot that I'd ever made them. That's blogging.

To the three who messaged to point out that they were impressed that the form guide was so accurate, their initial reaction was ''well done, dude". But that was almost immediately countered by "Actually, I could have made those predictions". 20/20 hindsight? Perhaps, but it wasn't so much about which of the fifteen possibles would podium, as it was who would not. But having said that, any half-knowledgeable fan could figure it out if they have a mind to.

The thing is, most don't have a mind to. They prefer that surprise ending.

Betting against the odds...

There were other gambles being made on the Monte, by far the most influential being the choice of tyres. You could have Super Soft slicks, Soft slicks, Winter treads, and Winter treads with studs. The specific scenarios that would suit each tyre type are quite obvious, and I'm no tyre engineer so I'm going to leave that as is, other than to add that each has its strengths and weaknesses.

The thing about Rallye Monte-Carlo is it's curious ability to offer a mix of road conditions that make it literally impossible to take with you the "correct" tyres for any particular stage. A competitor can (and will) encounter ice, black ice, snow, slush, wet tarmac, dry tarmac and mud in a single stage. And unless you're Sébastien Ogier, your choosing the right tyres for the two or three stages that you're equipping for is next to impossible. You can only carry six with you, after all.

So, you look at your pace notes and check your meteorologist's predictions and stare at the ice crew's recent reading of the actual surface, then try to imagine what that stage will really be like when you arrive in it, most of the time after other competitors have slithered around it dragging snow and water and ice and mud across places where you didn't even have any concept of the road surface condition at all.

Then you most probably just copy the choice of a competitor who you think is "in the know" instead. See? It's a gamble. But sometimes gambles pay off.

Take Andreas Mikkelsen on stages 9 and 10 of the Monte. Instead of loading up with the combination chosen by his teammate and tyre-choice-voodoo-practitioner Seb Ogier, the Norwegian chose to run four studded tyres and two softs. The first stage was mostly devoid of ice or snow. So two of his tyres were inevitably studded, and as everyone knows, studded tryes don't like tarmac. Which in turn meant that he would bleed time to his competitors on that stage while shedding many of the precious studs that he gambled on benefitting from on the second of that pair of stages.

But that gamble also allowed for having four studded tyres available for the second of the two stages (SS10), though admittedly two of those tyres would be somewhat the worse for wear by then. On a stage which was predominantly ice and snow, they would afford Mikkelsen more grip and therefore better traction, braking and handling than would be available to any of the other drivers with their meagre two studded tyres.

And how did that work out for him?

Meh, as it happens. Despite Andreas's winning margin on the shortish 17.13km SS10 being a whopping 43.9 seconds, he had previously dropped 1:13.5 to the rally leader on the much longer 51.55km SS9. That's a net loss of 29.6 seconds vs Sébastien's effort. A brave throw of the dice it must be said, but given the extra length of the first stage where he would necessarily lose time to Ogier over each and every km, it does seem that Andreas hadn't thought that particular game of chance through as well as he might.

But credit for the innovation at least.

Sometimes backing the outsider is the smart move...

Citroen's unofficial entry featured lead driver Kris Meeke and WRC top tier newbie, Stepháne Lefebvre, with the "smart money" on speedster Meeke to podium. Unfortunately for the Ulsterman, his thrilling battle with the VW #1 ran its course prematurely courtesy of a rock which smashed the sumpguard of the DS3 WRC into the gearbox and causing Kris's retirement from the rally.

One of those random events I mentioned earlier.

But despite Lefebvre having an event punctuated by a crash, a moment or three and some spins, the young Frenchman took fifth overall at the finish, his best effort since his arrival in the WRC. In the atrocious slippery conditions, in just his third start on the Monte, Stepháne beat some more-fancied and more-experienced opposition. A little luck here and there of course, but also a well-judged drive for the most part.

Lefebvre himself didn't gamble to any great degree - just the same "wiggle the steering wheel and hope" approach that his fellow competitors indulged in at some point on virtually every stage - so for the real gamble here, we must turn to team boss Yves Matton. Sure, the Citroen boss already had his eyes on Lefebvre as a future member of his main team, and this year's semi-privateer status gave him an out if needed, but despite earlier statements that Stepháne was a bit undercooked for the big time, he put the youngster into the DS3 WRC on a hunch.

And that 5th overall placing means Matton's hunch has paid off handsomely.

Nobody following the Monte could doubt that this inexperienced young Frenchman has what it takes to be a future contender, and maybe not too far into the future either. Sure, his performances have shone on the seal thus far, but it'll be interesting to see how his gravel performances improve in parallel with the tarmac performances of the gravel specialist, Hayden Paddon.

Paddon was another gamble, Michel Nandan's in this case, but he too has shown that an outsider bet can pay big dividends. It's a fantastic thing that the bosses of big WRC teams are prepared to park the safe options and take a decent punt. They deserve the windfalls that may just head their way.

WRC '16 - And Hyundai's #1 driver is...

Nobody. At least that's what the Korean team's official line is.

There's been a fairly strong stream of comment in social media about the Hyundai decision, or perhaps indecision would be a better word, over its team hierarchy in 2016. In 2014 and 2015, Thierry Neuville was undoubtedly the lead driver going into each year, in line with his imminent superstardom and presumably the big bucks. Not this year though.

To briefly recap the already familiar saga, Neuville's 2015 saw him return a string of results that not only failed to match those of VW and Citroen lead drivers, but were also regularly worse than his own supposedly lesser teammates, Sordo and Paddon. In defending his performance, Thierry went public with pot-shots at his team for not delivering their next generation i20 on time, and his driver colleagues - primarily Hayden Paddon - who were routinely outshining him. Not a career-enhancing tactic by the Belgian.

That lack of circumspection and his curious petulance, combined with repeated statements that he wasn't concerned about his poor performances, have certainly combined to strip him of his previous undisputed leadership position and put his very presence in the Hyundai WRC programme in jeapordy.

Nobody at Hyundai nor at Thierry's management team have addressed this development specifically but there can be little doubt that Neuville will not be renewing with the Korean outfit in 2017. But is a parting of the ways really that likely? After all, with the new car and Thierry's need to get some decent results in 2016, there's an opportunity for him to re-boot his flagging WRC ranking and to battle for the Driver's Championship, with way less pressure than would be the case were he to be also carrying the burden of earning mega constructor points.

Well, logic suggests that even if he is wildly successful this season, it would simply make him a more attractive signing for Hyundai's competitors (Citroen or Toyota). And the probable damage that he has done within the wider Hyundai team combined with the enemies he has made there, make another contract driving the i20 a very unlikely prospect indeed.

So, Nandan and Penasse - neither being naive - will have no doubts that they're shopping for a new driver for 2017.

Taken in that light, the announcement from Hyundai that "there is no #1 driver" was probably the only practical way to resolve the current Neuville contract arrangement without major legal ramifications and even worse press than there has been already. A saving of face for Thierry; avoiding further bad publicity and possible legal issues for Hyundai Motorsport.

But the announcement that Dani Sordo is Hyundai Shell World Rally Team's nominated ten-round driver has presented some questions and in consequence, some likely answers.

Despite Hyundai's clear statement that there's no #1 driver in the WRC squad, Dani's nomination has made him, defacto, the team's new lead driver.

Even with Thierry's slump in form, he still finished higher than Dani in the drivers' rankings in WRC '15 - by a single point as it happens - and there is little likelihood that his salary for 2016 has been reduced, so why take the step of passing him over for nominated driver and annointing Dani for the role?

Who knows. But reading between the lines, there is a broad hint that Neuville will not be driving in the A team on an FIA-mandated minimum ten WRC rounds. Given the Belgian's acknowledged abilities on tarmac, then it seems safe to speculate that he will be entered in the A team on every sealed surface event - Monte Carlo, Corsica, Spain, Germany and China - as well as Sweden which is a unique surface, (and any other that the team bosses believe his record qualifies him for). But being pragmatic, from Hyundai's viewpoint, it should be safe to assume that Thierry will do six rounds in the A team; eight rounds in the B team.

Dani's performances on gravel in 2015 haven't hindered his stock with Nandan and Penasse at all, and it's difficult to make a case for the Spaniard doing any duty in the Mobius B team, so the most likely scenario is that Dani will compete solely in the A team, barring accident or illness, in all 14 rounds of WRC 2016.

That leaves Hayden Paddon. And since Hayden has shown a highly competitive turn of speed on the loose stuff, there's simply no chance the Nandan would not put him in the top team on all eight gravel events in 2016. So in effect, he'll swap cars with Thierry and drive the #10 machine in Sweden and all tarmac rounds. And yes, this is speculative, but there's no other probability that makes any sense.

Of course, things happen during a season, and form, illness and injury as well as judicial events can and often will make their unwelcome presence felt. But I'm confident that the plan for this season at Hyundai Motorsport looks remarkably like that outlined above.

Whatever happens, let's hope that Hyundai Shell World Rally Team give the Volkswagen boys a run for their money. They have themselves in the best place to do so starting in just a couple of weeks. Really looking forward to a thrilling season in WRC '16!

WRC '15 - Canny win? Corsican...

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...

WRC '15 - Coffs and snivels?

As a dyed-in-the-wool Kiwi, sport, you can probably imagine how much it hurts to say this, but s'truth mate, the Aussies put on a hell of a show for their Coates Hire Rally of Australia this last weekend.

There was absolutely somethin' for everyone during three days of the closest-fought loose surface motorsport we've seen all bloody season. The drama was there even before shakedown, and it continued right up to the last moments of the power stage that saw Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia take their third WRC championship, and their Volkswagen team clinch the constructor's championship for the third year on the trot. Fair dinkum, Blue.

The top five drivers finished inside a one minute spread, something that hasn't happened since Dame Edna drove a Capri convertible. And it's the kind of result that suggests that despite the moans and bleats about road position, look-alike machinery and long-haul events, the formula bloody well works!

It was the best rally of the season to these eyes, despite any bias over the preferred finishing order.

So what made it the Sunday treat that it turned out to be? So many things that just didn't go according to the script. And it started early.

On recce day #1, Mads and Jonas took on a logging truck and lost. The Norwegian crew didn't make it to Shakedown and Citroen's apprentice team, "Stephane squared", got bumped into starting as #2 crew for the double chevron marque. Bet they didn't see that coming. (See what I did there? Huh, huh?... oh please yourselves).

Then, when the rally proper kicked off, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti, demoted to the second tier Motorsport N team usually inhabited by Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, took full advantage of their road position and won all of the first three stages. 'Oath, mate. And the Spanish-speaking fans worldwide were over the flamin' moon.

It wasn't to last, but for a glittering moment, Hyundai again led a WRC round. But not all the fans were delighted. Those that had trekked from the Eastern side of the ditch had their hearts set on another Hyundai driver leading the event - Hayden Paddon. Instead, Northern Irishman Kris Meeke took the leader's mantle from Sordo and the Citroen fans went wild.

Kris held the top position until the penultimate stage of the day, but it was SS8 where the tide turned and the snivels began. You see, the organisers had given in to the demands of the promoter to include a night stage for added, um - "gimmickry" springs to mind - although they might prefer "interest". Whichever, only the first two or three cars completed the stage without being hampered by hanging dust. So it was here that Citroen's Meeke lost time to his rivals and he was not a happy lad.

Of course, he wasn't alone in his moan about the dark and the dust - also fellow drivers Neuville and Tanak, to mention a couple, had harsh words for the organisers' choice of stage time, especially since there had been requests to drop that night stage before the event began. It wasn't rocket surgery that it was going to be an issue for both spectacle and safety, the drivers reasoned. So at the finish of SS8, Latvala led Meeke by two seconds while Ogier took fastest time.

Day two flickered into life with a nice breeze and brilliant sunshine, just the right formula for a Kiwi on a mission. Paddon took the win on the first two stages of the day, delighting the legions of Kiwi followers who probably felt they were robbed the previous day. Although the Hyundai crew showed they were serious, the times weren't quite enough to improve their fifth place. But they opened the gap to Tanak who was lurking like a goanna on steroids one place behind.

Latvala struggled with a 6th place on SS9 and handed the lead back to Meeke, the spot the Northern Irishman kept until SS11, losing it to the resurgent Ogier on SS12. Despite Meeke's best efforts, his less advantageous road position showed in his 4th best time and he slipped to third overall.

Sunday saw Ogier in awesome form. He won every one of the five stages, his advantage increasing from 5.1 seconds on SS13 to 12.3 seconds on the power stage. Quite an extraordinary display of driving, and the best possible way to win the rally, the 2015 championship and the constructors' championship. A privilege to watch. And a credit to the Rally Australia organisers that they broadcast Wedding Bells live on both runs through the stage.

So the event concluded, with emotions of joy, contentment, relief and disappointment depending on who you were. Naturally, SebO and his co-driver were in the first category but what of the others?

Jari-Matti Latvala seemed to vacillate between contentment and disappointment, understandably, with another great drive mostly but beaten by his teammate Ogier. He must be wondering how to catch a break, but the Finn will continue to fight for the win until the championship is over.

Kris Meeke's only mistake on this rally was his choice of tyres on day one and that was really more of a calculated risk, so he was chuffed to podium and relieved to get through the weekend without the issues of recent rallies. A great drive, but the sniveling after the night stage didn't endear him to fans, organisers or the FIA reps present.

Andreas Mikkelsen took it to his teammates and rivals with a fine performance, and it was only the uncharacteristic late check in to service and its 10 second penalty that stopped his charge for the third podium spot. Yet it's tempting to think that despite his pace, Andreas was in the disappointed category. It can't be long before he gets a win though.

Hayden Paddon finished fifth, fastest Hyundai by a long shot. Paddon admitted that his Friday morning all-softs tyre choice was the wrong one, suggesting that two hards would have made a positive difference. His charge for a podium was also hampered by differential issues affecting the handling of the #8 i20, problems that were corrected in service. The remainder of the rally, the Kiwi's times were competitive with stage wins on SS9 and SS10, and he finished less than a minute from Ogier's winning time after 300+ km of competitive stages. No ambiguity here - contentment from the Kiwi.

Ott Tanak struggled to get to grips with the slippery road surfaces of Coffs in this, his first shot at the round in a full-spec WRC car. Normally trading times with Paddon on the loose, Ott was noticeably off the pace for most of the event, and his own differential problems didn't help. SS4 and SS8 saw the Estonian drop to 8th overall. However, some spirited driving on SS9 got him third fastest time, and a second fastest on SS10, and he moved up to 6th, the position he held until the finish and some 43 seconds behind Paddon. A mixture of disappointment and contentment, I'd say.

Thierry Neuville commented at the end of the power stage that he was happy with his performance which at first glance might sound strange coming from the number one Hyundai driver who was beaten by the runt of the Hyundai litter by a significant 73 seconds. But he too had handling issues during the weekend and a worse road position than Paddon for the first two days, so perhaps in that light, it wasn't such a bad result. So maybe contentment works for Thierry. Not so sure how it feels for Michel though...

Dani Sordo kicked arse on day #1, with three stage wins on the trot. I can say with certainty that it was joy that he was feeling as he headed into SS4. And why not? Spectacular performance on his first ever run at Coffs. But reality began to bite from SS9 on, with rear brakes deserting the Spaniard and his golden run fading quickly away. Finally on SS12, his team leader Neuville passed him in the overall stakes and with team orders in play, Sordo was destined to remain where he was until the finish. From joy, then, it was a descent into disappointment. This experience will have given him confidence for next year though and he'll be a force.

Elvyn Evans is another whose emotions about Rally Australia will be unambiguous - disappointment all the way. The Welshman simply couldn't get to grips with the surfaces in either sense of the word. A spin and the resulting puncture effectively removed him from competition but he was upfront about his lack of rhythm even before that incident. Another event in what has been a sequence of disappointing results that Evans will want to forget, but he must relive to establish what went wrong and find a fix. M-Sport's boss was clearly unhappy with his protege and at times, Elvyn looked and sounded to be on the verge of tears. Not so much disappointed then, as devastated?

Stephane Lefebvre always had a big task ahead of him on this event; practically without preparation, borrowed car, helmets and overalls, partial pacenotes and all. And a head-on collision during recce. An inauspicious beginning to the youngster's gravel rally career. A consistent run of 8th, 9th and 10th place times ended with a broken suspension on SS8, effectively dropping the Frenchman out of the points. Happily for Citroen though, his 13th overall put him in 10th manufacturer placing so he gave his team a much-needed single point which kept the deficit to Hyundai as it was pre-rally. Contented.

So there it was in Oz. A really exciting round despite the sniveling from some and arguably the most dramatic of the season. Certainly the closest finish in decades. Now if the other teams can get their machines and crews a bit closer in performance to the all-conquering VW Polo WRC machines, it can only get better. Looking forward to it.

WRC '15 - The championship gossip

Rallye Deutschland is over and the Volkswagen 1-2-3 finish was a triumph for the hometown heroes; Ogier, Latvala and Mikkelsen. After two bad years, this time the team got it right, much to the delight of the German fans, a well-deserved victory with the crews barely putting a foot wrong over the weekend. So a hearty congratulations for a job well done,

Fourth and fifth places went to Hyundai's tarmac experts Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville, while Elfyn Evans for M-Sport beat out Citroen's Mads Ostberg for the next two spots. The top 10 roster was completed by Fiesta pilot Ott Tanak, Hyundai's Hayden Paddon and WRC debutant Stephane Lefebvre in a DS3 WRC.

That was probably the overall result that most expected prior to the event but it didn't diminish the excitement - for the first two days at least - and despite the usual smattering of errors, the result wasn't skewed significantly by them, unlike last year.

The round was made more interesting, as it happens, by some chatter on different topics that surfaced sporadically over the weekend.

Malcolm Wilson opens up to Becs from WRC Live Radio

Wilson's interview with Becs (@becsywecsy) during service revealed that he intends to shop for a superstar driver in '16 if the sponsorship money permits, Nueville again being mentioned in context. But if no injection of fresh funding arrives, he appears resigned to continue with Tanak and Evans.

Given the availability of out-of-contract possibilities in '16 - Meeke, Ostberg and Paddon - Wilson was asked to choose who he'd prefer. His choice was the Kiwi, Hayden Paddon, who has impressed the M-Sport honcho this year.

Of course, all else being equal and assuming availability, he confessed that he'd hire Ogier in a heartbeat if the money was there. Not a surprise, but with the Frenchman believed to be contracted with VW through 2016, not really likely.

However, if anybody will entice Ogier away from the German team, it will be the big-budget Toyota squad.

Neuville under scrutiny

In the lead-up to Rallye Deutschland, murmurings about the Hyundai team's dissatisfaction with its lead driver spilled out into the media, as covered in my previous post, but according to quotes attributed to team officials by Rallye Magazin, Thierry has fired back with a defence of his performance, not too subtly decrying the i20's inability to match the competition.

There seems little doubt that this generation Hyundai fails to reach the same performance levels of the VWs, and possibly could be under-performing against the Fords and Citroens as well but that doesn't explain Neuville's lack of pace relative to junior teammate, Paddon. The Belgian's answer to that was to suggest that it was due to risk taking by the Kiwi, citing his accident in Finland as proof.

It's difficult though to equate Paddon's colliding with an unseen rock while cutting and losing his steering, with the unforced driver errors and slower pace generally of the Belgian, a point made by Hyundai's Penasse and as shown by the data recorded from Neuville's i20.

When asked at a stage end about the disparity in performance between himself and Thierry on an earlier rally, Paddon offered the suggestion that his team's lead driver might perform better it he concentrated more on his own pace and not that of others. Ouch...

It'll be enlightening to see what difference there is in Neuville's relationship with his teammates after this fifth place result. With Australia moving the comfort advantage somewhat in Hayden's direction, the pressure on the Belgian ramps up once more.

And the Meeke may not inherit...

Let's get this out of the way - Kris is quick. After Ogier and Latvala, the Northern Irishman has shown a turn of speed over the year that confirms his place as a top-flight rally driver, so why then the doubts over his place at Citroen in 2016?

In a word, "errors". Tiny, seemingly inconsequential faux pas that should result in a few lost seconds and a blush of embarrassment yet so often end in retirement or so much time lost that the crew is taken out of competitive contention.

We can all see this, including the Citroen bosses. Why then the probation period that now applies to Kris? No, I won't attempt to answer this on Citroen's behalf. Who indeed can see inside the minds of men, for that is surely where the answer lies. We can all guess, but at this point - two thirds of the way through the probation period - the simple reality is that Meeke is batting two from two in strike-outs and that offers a grim prognosis for the Northern Irishman's tenure. Whatever Citroen's motivation for this course of action, the additional pressure on their driver is unlikely to create the environment to enable him to succeed.

At this point in time, it looks increasingly like Kris won't have a paid seat at the house of the double chevron next year. I hope he's in discussions with another team right now.

Lefebvre shines in the vines

On the first of two outings promised to the WRC car debutante for 2015, the young Citroen prodigy surprised everybody with a top ten finish, with some very competitive times shown along the way, not least being 2nd after Ogier on SS12. That sort of performance certainly gets people's attention and the WRC followers are cooing and twittering (literally) about it.

It's a promising start for the Frenchman, and given the propensity for Citroen to employ its countrymen preferentially within its ranks, the French marque will doubtless include Lefebvre in its squad for 2016. This begs the question of where he will slot in, with championship constructor points dictating two bankable drivers in the main team. So I'd expect Lefebvre to run on the B team for the first half of the year at least with perhaps a round or two of tarmac as a member of the A team.

But whatever 2015 brings Lefebvre, it's certain that he's in a good position to prove his talents. Another rising star is born in WRC competition.

Who is where in 2016?

Nobody but the individuals concerned and officers of the respective companies know for certain, but what follows represents the most likely scenarios for each entrant.

Volkswagen
#1 Ogier - Contract expires end of 2016
#2 Latvala - Contract expires end of 2016
#3 Mikkelsen - Contract expires end of 2017

Citroen
#1 ? - Contract expires end of 2016
#2 Ostberg - Contract expires end of 2016
#3 Lefebvre - Contract expires end of 2016

Hyundai
#1 Neuville - Contract expires end of 2016
#2 Sordo - Contract expires end of 2016
#3 Paddon - Contract undetermined
#4 Abbring - Contract expires end of 2016

M-Sport
#1 Evans - Contract expires end of 2016
#2 Tanak - Contract expires end of 2016

Toyota
#1 ? - Contract undetermined but probably a WRC2 test mule drive
#2 ? - Contract undetermined but probably a WRC2 test mule drive

Chinese whispers...

The rush to conclusion of the vexed China question continues to gather momentum (managed to get a fair few cliches in that preamble, eh?). Driven by the promoter's desire to increase the TV audience and aided and abetted by the constructors' desire to further develop their potential market shares in the Asian mega-nation, an agreement is apparently close to being inked.

The details have begun to leak as to where exactly and when, and 2016 is now the undisputed year for the return of the oriental event. As to the position on the calendar, that will be dictated to some extent by which current round is booted somewhat unceremoniously out of the championship. And the serious money is on Corsica becoming the sad loser.

There are a couple of clues in that change, the first being that the China round will be a tarmac one. It really has to be to keep the balance of tarmac-to-gravel roughly the same as it is now. There are some within the ruling body of our sport though who would prefer a 50:50 split, something that cannot really happen while there are an odd number of events on the calendar, but with Sweden being neither, it would be a close enough approximation if one more event went tarmac.

However that would mean one of the current gravel rounds would be told to take a hike. I'm putting my dolares on that being Argentina. So one wonders then which tarmac round would be included. And on that score, I'd be wagering Japan as the lucky recipient of a bright shiny new WRC round. Although I'm sure that Toyota's return to the WRC is *cough* entirely coincidental *cough*.

Rally New Zealand's return to the WRC is looking less likely by the day...

That #@$%^&! short last day!!!

I know I bang on about this, but I can't help myself. While the promoter muses about fiddling with this and that to "improve" the WRC for spectators and teams alike, one of the ways they can inject more excitement into every event is by ENSURING THAT THE RESULT ISN'T A FOREGONE CONCLUSION AT THE END OF DAY 2!

I mean, c'mon people... if there are insufficient stage kms remaining on Sunday to close the gap to the crew in front and to challenge for position on the timing board, then the final day is a farce. That scenario played out several times this year, including Rallye Deutschland, and the final day is an utter anticlimax. How is that improving the excitement of the sport?

That any of those in positions of responsibility for the WRC can believe for one second that broadcasting live an hour of rally drivers cruising to hold their places (and taking fewer risks than their grandmothers) on a so-called Power Stage can somehow magically morph into compelling television that drags the masses in and grows the sport in any way at all, shows how blind they are to the reality.

EVEN IF IT WAS BROADCAST IN PRIME TIME, THE LACK OF DRAMA WOULD MAKE PEOPLE CHANGE CHANNELS OR BORE THEM TO SLEEP!

Okay, I'll stop shouting now. The chimera that is this mistaken belief in the "One Hour TV Package", is just that. I'm as big a rally fan as anyone and I think the power stage is boring. And I know, yes know, that it's sucking the competition out of the third day, simply because it's taking away the possibility of the drivers catching their rivals within the remaining distance.

You motorsport journos and bloggers out there - it's time to make our voices heard. If we want exciting rallying right to the end of every round, then the third day should have the same average competitive distance as the previous two days. It's not flipping rocket surgery...

Kubica Korner

I'm not sure how Rallye Deutschland could have been more of a disaster for the Polish ace. The woes began with shakedown, which revealed the Fiesta's engine was broken, necessitating a complete engine change. The crew then suffered the ignominy of walking onto the ceremonial start ramp instead of driving, and copping a 5 minute penalty into the bargain.

Driver error on SS7 saw Kubica lose 5 more minutes regaining the road and removing a broken windscreen. The crew completed the day wearing safety goggles and looking a little like WW2 fighter pilots. The following day, Robert's intimate contact with a hinkelstein (a sticky-outy kerbstone thing that punctuates the roadside on the Panzerplatte stages) resulted in busted suspension.

Rally 2 on the final day was a trial, the Fiesta handling poorly, presumably as a consequence of the suspension damage previously mentioned. Probably an event the crew would rather forget. But he'll return for Corsica, having chosen to forego Rally Australia this time around.

Paddon's progress

Hayden might take issue with the sub heading to this section, considering his often harsh self appraisal when it comes to his driving. Day one saw the Kiwi keeping true to his pre-event planning by playing himself in to the unfamiliar surface. It's worth reminding people that Hayden's only prior tarmac experience in a WRC spec car was on RallyRACC Catalunya in 2014, an event where he finished 9th overall.

SS4 was Paddon's best effort for the day. He finished the stage in 6th place, beating Tanak, Ostberg, Evans and Neuville, finishing 7.6 seconds slower than stage winner Ogier - clearly a significant improvement over his performance on tarmac in Spain the previous year.

The second day's effort was understandably disappointing to the tarmac rookie when he was unable to get close enough to his teammates' times to feel any kind of progress was being made and his stage end comments showed that he was mystified at his lack of competitive pace, even though he had expected to be slower than Sordo and Neuville.

By the end of the day though, the data from his i20 revealed a subtle but performance-sapping turbo fault that had gone unsuspected and the New Zealander completed the day in a brighter frame of mind. With insufficient stage distance on Sunday to make any impact on Tanak who lay immediately in front of the Hyundai driver, Paddon wisely chose to defend his position over Lefebvre, taking no risks and improving the pacenotes for 2016.

Back on gravel for Rally Australia, Paddon is scoring points for his team in the #8 car while Sordo takes the 20 number and drives for Hyundai Motorsport N. The Kiwi expects to do well in Australia, his target a podium; his followers' hope, his first WRC win. Roll on Coff's Harbour.

WRC '14 - Signs of change at the top

Rally Finland is done and as predicted in my previous blog entry on the WRC, Ogier didn't win this round. I hasten to mention that my prediction that VW wouldn't win either was in fact wrong, the winning car being the Polo of one J-M Latvala. However, my point remains - while last year Ogier had no real competition for first place in the championship, this year he does. Latvala's drive was brilliant, practically flawless and utterly competitive, the Finn winning more than 50% of all special stages. Jari-Matti is back!

There were some other welcome developments in Finland, not least the return to the podium of Citroen and Brit Kris Meeke. The Irishman drove an event which was a mix of great pace and mature decision-making and his third place finish was totally deserved.

And Ogier again proved his pace with a number of stage wins and second places culminating is his well-earned second podium spot. So he's still a good number of points ahead in the driver's competition and whomever topples him from top spot will have had a tough task. But it's a task that is eminently do-able even with Ogier's legendary luck in play.

This wouldn't be my blog if I didn't mention the Polish contingent, and while Kubica drove calmly and well for a large part of the event, he crashed out yet again. It's a good thing he's self-funding via his Lotos sponsorship because M-Sport's Malcolm Wilson must surely be rolling his eyes and slowly shaking his head by now.

The new boys on the block, Hyundai, had some good fortune and some not-so-good in Finland. Lead driver Neuville made a small mistake on stage 5, clipping the scenery with the tail of his i20. He completed the morning stages, albeit with no aero assistance but on his return to service, the scrutineers determined that the rollcage was damaged and the team were unable to affect repairs, so the Belgian retired from the event.

Local boy Juho Hanninen made a small error which resulted in his i20 slow rolling on stage 6. Spectators leapt to the rescue and Hanninen was able to continue with just a broken screen and a few unsightly dents to show for his mistake. He completed the rally in sixth place after a head-to-head battle with his teammate Hayden Paddon for the position.

And while we're on the subject of Paddon, he began cautiously but after getting a few high speed racing kms under his belt, he was finding his mojo, scoring times that rivalled those of both his Hyundai teammates. So it was a rather disappointing turn of events that in the first km of the first stage of the rally's final day, he lost his power steering and was unable to repair it during the remainder of the day's action.

At the time, Hayden was in a very comfortable 6th place, some half a minute ahead of Hanninen and in position to score his best ever finish in a WRC car on a WRC event. But the Kiwi was stoic about the problem, taking it on the chin and feeling upbeat about his performance up to that point. Hyundai team boss Nandan was complimentary about the NZer's growing speed and skill. It was a decent 8th place result from what Paddon regards as one of his best drives ever.

The superb running of Rally Finland proved to those who weren't pushing their own agendas that there's nothing wrong with the current format, and the WRC promoter's WRC+ web experience is a promising development in making more of the event online. And there's more to come. Let's hope that this is a watershed moment where the lunatic suggestions of compulsory tyre changes and last stage shootouts are put to bed permanently.

It's rallying, and Finland's how we rally fans like it.

WRC '14 - Echoes from Poland

WRC Poland is done and dusted. Ogier won. Mikkelsen was runner up. And Neuville filled the final podium spot. You could likely have predicted that before the event began, and actually, it's fair to say that many did. But it doesn't mean the event was boring - far from it. It simply recognises that VW still retains the supremacy over its competitors currently.

Despite Ogier's healthy victory margin, it might have ended quite differently had his 'moment' early on SS12 not had the sprinkling of luck that it did. “I had a scare in the first sixth-gear corner,” Ogier reported at stage end.

A few centimetres of car placement left or right would have seen the reigning champ doing serious harm to both his car and his chances. Other competitors had similar moments during the event but their luck was of an entirely different stripe. And they paid a price for their moment that Seb did not.

There's always a tendency to ascribe good luck to some superior driving ability, the old "The harder I practice, the luckier I get" school of thought, but clearly sometimes the margins of disaster-to-happy-outcome are so fine as to be humanly impossible to negotiate. And so it was in Poland.

What isn't obvious from those overall placings is how very possible a different result could have been, and how the VW hegemony is not as strong as it was.

So the landscape of the championship has shifted almost imperceptibly away from VW and it's ace Ogier, towards the likes of Mikkelsen, Latvala, Neuville, Meeke, Hirvonen and Hanninen. And while they may not have been immediately apparent in Poland, there are subtle signs. Finland is likely to be the first real evidence that the sea-change is underway. I predict that the winner in Finland will be neither Ogier nor VW. The WRC is getting very interesting.

On the subject of landscape, Poland showed up a flaw in the championship that may have consequences beyond the event itself. With the Polish stages, the event included Lithuanian roads. There's no official explanation for why, and it could be that Poland simply didn't have enough stage miles available, and the excursion across the border made the event physically possible. But that seems highly unlikely and the inclusion of Lithuanian roads was probably a commercial decision.

Whichever, it transpires that it was a terrible error for the rally. Even the first pass of the cars through the first stage uncovered a serious problem with the construction of the roads, the surface degrading unacceptably quickly to the point that by the sixth or seventh car through any section, the ruts exposed made tramlining the only option. Not a terrific way to showcase the WRC as a motorsport spectacle.

The same issue arose on the second Lithuanian stage, making passage through the test an exercise in frustration for the drivers - especially after the first half dozen cars had passed. The event organisers had no option other than to accept the gravity of the situation and they cancelled the repeat running of both tests.

A serious amount of time and road miles for not much benefit to the teams or the spectators.

Remember that this was not the result of force majeure - it was the conscious decision by the organisers to include what must have been clearly inappropriate roads on their event. Not a WRC round promoter's finest hour.

It seems that decisions to include 'new' events in the calendar are not attracting the scrutiny that they should (the first WRC round in Poland since 2009 and mostly new roads). If such a situation arose in, for example, New Zealand, you can bet that the screams from various motorsport representatives in European capitals to exclude the event in future would be heard loud and long - probably for years.

On the good side of the ledger, the Polish stages were seen by the drivers and teams (and perhaps more importantly, the many thousands of spectators and fans) as demanding and exciting. That bodes well for the round remaining in the championship for the foreseeable future. Just keep it all in Poland thanks.