The penultimate round of the World Rally Championship could have been the stage on which Thierry Neuville clinched his first drivers’ title. It wasn’t to be, but the Hyundai driver did take another step closer as Toyota’s last contender fell by the wayside. There were plenty of impressive performances, but only driver merited a maximum score.
Hyundai
Ott Tänak – 9/10
It was really difficult weekend for Ott Tänak, having to balance his need to push for the drivers’ title with the need to be that little bit reserved in terms of keeping it on the road to help secure the manufacturers’ title for Hyundai.
You would imagine his mental state wasn’t helped by Cyril Abiteboul, the team principal, texting him on Saturday morning, and reminding him to measure his risk – basically telling him to slow down. You have to question the sense of that kind of message to a driver who is completely focused, a driver who knows what he has to do.
It doesn’t matter what we like or don’t like about Tänak’s makeup, and he is a good soul. At times he comes across as being quite fractious, quite difficult, but what is absolutely beyond any doubt is the fact that he knows what he has to do. He’s an intelligent driver who has as much experience as anyone. How you manage drivers like Tänak and Neuville is a measure of how well the team does. You’d have to say, Abiteboul gets it right maybe nine times out of 10. I question, though, the call to Tänak on Saturday morning.
Having said that, Tänak coped with it, drove brilliantly, never looked at his absolute best over the weekend, but did what he had to do. He wasn’t at his best because he couldn’t let it all hang out. He had to keep things together for the team while pushing for his own personal ambition.
It was an impressive performance both mentally, strategically and clearly from a driving point of view, to take his second victory of the year, keeping his hopes alive going to Japan. It’s out of his hands but he is doing all he can.
Thierry Neuville – 8/10
The coronation for Thierry Neuville will have to wait for one more rally. It’s such a shame in some ways because it would have been good to crown Neuville as this year’s World Rally Champion more or less in his backyard.
The fans are the people I feel for in this one. Thierry Neuville’s supporters have been among the most loyal, the most entertaining and the most enthusiastic of any group of supporters that we’ve had over the past 15 years, and how good would it have been to have allowed them to have their day with Thierry Neuville? I’m absolutely certain that they will make their way, a number of them, to Japan to see him crowned there.
And Neuville, much like Tänak, you have to applaud the mental strength of these drivers. The pressure, particularly on Neuville, many times runner-up in the championship and on the verge of fulfilling a lifetime’s dream, a lifetime’s ambition. Dealing with that mental pressure is a sign of just how good these athletes are, just how professional and focused they are.
We didn’t see the best out of Neuville in terms of pace, but in terms of performance, it was right up there, wasn’t it? Managing the situation really is the definition of rallying. You have to manage the situation and Neuville managed the situation almost perfectly.
Andreas Mikkelsen – 5/10
I feel for Andreas Mikkelsen. I think it’s almost certain that he will not play a part in Hyundai’s Rally1 program next year. He is driving out, potentially, his Rally1 career and Tarmac, obviously, isn’t his preferred surface. It was a bizarre decision at the start of the year to give Mikkelsen a predominantly Tarmac program.
He struggled in Monte Carlo. Did he get to grips with the car in Croatia? Probably not, but he certainly felt more comfortable here. He made mistakes though, and the mistakes then compromised his approach. The mistake that compromised his setup on Saturday’s leg, he should have avoided. And then Sunday morning when he went wide and picked up a puncture, potentially compromising what was clearly a team strategy to give Mikkelsen the best tire package for the powerstage.
Mikkelsen did in some small way redeem himself on the powerstage with that performance. He did have the best tire package, that was always the plan from Hyundai, but he delivered what he had to do. He contributed to the team’s manufacturers’ points haul. So that in itself was redemption.
Japan next for Mikkelsen. He’ll be looking to go out on a bit of a high. What can he do there? Well, again, he has to contribute to the team’s manufacturers’ efforts.
Toyota
Sébastien Ogier – 3/10
Am I really giving an eight-time World Rally Champion three out of 10? Yes I am. It was a disastrous Sunday for Sébastien Ogier. No other way to describe it. Catastrophic almost. The reason that he was pushing on that penultimate stage was that he made a mistake on the opening stage – went wide and lost eight or 10 seconds.
It is so un-Ogier like. He’s made more mistakes this year than perhaps we’ve seen him making in his eight championship winning years. Ogier felt this one really, really hard. He said it to us on Saturday night – that absolute selfish streak that every world champion in any discipline of sport needs, it’s mellowed. He doesn’t drive for himself, Sébastien Ogier, he drives for the team.
The weight of responsibility on him this year has been enormous. Elfyn Evans hasn’t performed at his best. Takamoto Katsuta hasn’t performed at his best. Kalle Rovanperä, even, has not performed at his best, and that’s a strange one to say with the number of rallies he’s won this year. But the weight of expectation has been on Ogier to wrestle the manufacturers’ title from Hyundai. And do you know what? He’s felt it. He’s felt it in the last three rallies. And is that perhaps a symptom of a part-time program? I suspect it is.
Ogier is shown in every rally this year, he still has the pace to win. Every time he turns up, he can win. But something has changed with Sébastien Ogier and these small mistakes that are creeping in; sometimes he gets away with them, but as we’ve seen on recent rallies, sometimes he doesn’t get away with them. It was a very, very small mistake that ended his rally on Sunday morning, but it was a very, very costly mistake indeed.
I have never seen Sébastien Ogier so upset, so frustrated, so apologetic at the end of a rally. He will bounce back, that is for sure. But it was not Sébastien’s finest rally by a very long way indeed.
Elfyn Evans – 8/10
Elfyn Evans won the rally, if you look at the most points scored, that’s exactly what he had to do. He was there to score points for the team. If Elfyn had delivered these kinds of performances all the way through the year, then Hyundai would probably not be leading the championship and Toyota would be in a far healthier position.
It is forever frustrating with Elfyn Evans. He can do it. We know he can do it. He won stages this weekend. The issue is, again, where he doesn’t feel comfortable, he does ship time. And it’s not just tenths of a second, it’s whole seconds, and quite often many whole seconds. It is frustrating.
Elfyn is a top-class driver, as we saw at the weekend. He delivered when the chips were down for Toyota, and that is worthy of eight out of 10, for sure.
Elfyn needs to go to Japan and deliver exactly the same performance, nothing less than this performance in Japan will do, that is absolutely for sure. But Evans is looking good ahead of Rally Japan and that for Toyota is enormously encouraging.
Takamoto Katsuta – 10/10
It is impossible to overestimate the pressure on Taka-san’s shoulders going into this rally. It is not just a personal issue, it’s a cultural issue. Taka-san feels criticism deeply. He takes his responsibilities as a representative, not just of Toyota but of Japan, enormously seriously. And to be left out for one rally was a very, very big thing indeed for Taka-san.
He went away, he reconsidered, he regrouped, he spoke to the right people and he came out with a different attitude this weekend. And my goodness me, did it pay off. Super Sunday, maximum points, delivering points in the manufacturers’ championship.
A remarkable performance when you consider the position he was in. When you put it into context, that, without any question, was Takamoto Katsuta’s best drive of his career. I’m excited already for his prospects in Japan.
Sami Pajari – 5/10
Right up until the first stage on Sunday morning, Sami Pajari was looking comfortable, he was looking confident. He was looking more than competent on Tarmac for his first outing in that Yaris Rally1 car on this surface. He learns quickly, there’s no question about that.
He did make a mistake on Sunday morning, but he was unlucky in terms of the consequences. That mistake, many, many drivers made over the weekend. We saw it with a number of drivers going slightly wide into fields, straight back on again. Unfortunately for Sami, there was a ditch that caught him and it was a slow roll.
But Pajari will take a lot of confidence from his performance here. Nothing scared him about the Rally1 car on Tarmac, and he did look good. So there is a bright future ahead for this young driver, no question about that at all.
It is one of those learning processes that you have to go through. If you’re not on your roof at some point in your career, then you’re not learning. Sami Pajari will bounce back, no question about that. But Japan is all about the Rally2 championship. Let’s see what he can do there.
M-Sport
Adrien Fourmaux – 6/10
A difficult weekend for Adrien Fourmaux. Something clearly wasn’t right with that car, and Fourmaux was not shy in telling us that it was the car and not him who was underperforming at the weekend.
He came into this event with high hopes. The car felt good after effectively what was an extended shakedown at RallyLegend. He felt good about his prospects here having won Rally2 on CER last year.
It just didn’t go for him though. Right from the start, clearly, he was uncomfortable with the car. The car was doing strange things according to Fourmaux and he couldn’t get on top of it. Very disappointing. They did seem to overcome those issues on Sunday and he looked quick.
Fourmaux is desperate, I think, to end his season on a high. Probably, I suspect, to leave a parting gift for everyone at M-Sport who has done so much to resurrect his career. They really have. Fourmaux was down and out, but Malcolm Wilson is the master at coaching young drivers. Tough love sometimes pays dividends and we’ve seen it in the past with Tänak, we’ve seen it in the past with Evans, we are now seeing it with Adrien Fourmaux.
He’s looking good ahead of Japan. I think if they have resolved those issues with the differential, then he’s got every chance of a very decent finish to his M-Sport career in Japan. (I’m making a lot of assumptions there!)
Grégoire Munster – 5/10
Grégoire Munster got through every stage. He showed us, I think, on one or two stages that there was a little bit of pace there. But I’m not sure he’s showing enough on these rallies that he’s coming back to.
It was always Munster’s plan to push a little more on rallies that he had experience of in the Rally1 car. We did have a very strong day from him in Chile where he did show consistent pace. But sadly, when we look at the good times, we also look at the bad times, and there were too many stages where his pace was way off.
And that, for Grégoire Munster, is not really what he wants to be showing at this point. He’s desperate to put in performances that persuade his backers that he’s worthy of another season in Rally1.
I always feel for drivers who have a limited Rally1 program. It is very difficult to learn and prove your ability at the same time. Very few drivers can do that. A second season in a Rally1 car, who knows what he might do? But is he doing enough right now to merit that second season in a Rally1 car? Japan is a massive event for Grégoire Munster.
Jourdan Serderidis – 5/10
It’s all about context, it’s not about results. I don’t care where Jourdan Serderidis finished, I love the man. He is what rallying is all about. Gentleman drivers have been the lifeblood of this sport for a long, long time and it put a big smile on my face when Jourdan told us that, once again, he had postponed his retirement, planning five or six outings next year.
He didn’t say whether or not they were in the Rally1 car, but I suspect a number of them will be. Jourdan does what Jourdan does – he goes out, he enjoys the stages, doesn’t care about the times, and inevitably he will get through.
He makes very few mistakes, and Jourdan Serderidis just adds a little bit of color, a little bit of something different, a little bit of uniqueness to the World Rally Championship. And while he keeps turning up, while he keeps going around, while he keeps finishing rallies, you’ll keep getting points from me.
