New FIA rally director Andrew Wheatley has only been in the job a matter of days, but he’s already made his first important decision. The question is: was it the right one?
After hybrid failures for both Ott Tänak and Elfyn Evans on Rally Sweden that were outwith the control of either driver or their Hyundai and Toyota teams, you could sense change was coming.
Hyundai – and Tänak – pushed for it; feeling that a problem that they did not cause and could not rectify shouldn’t have destroyed Tänak’s result on the second round of the World Rally Championship.
The matter was debated at last Saturday’s World Motor Sport Council in Paris and a conclusion was reached: instead of competitors being penalized 10 minutes for each stage they miss for a hybrid-related failure (as they did in Sweden and would for any other conventional retirement), from Rally Croatia onwards they will be deducted just two minutes.
Has this amendment gone far enough? Was it even the right call to alter the sporting regulations, or has the FIA got this one spot on?
Listen to this week’s SPIN, The Rally Pod to hear the thoughts of stand-in host David Evans, Colin Clark, George Donaldson and Luke Barry to find out – and let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.
As well as the hybrid-orientated discussion, there’s a look back to last weekend’s dramatic and occasionally controversial 100 Acre Wood Rally which counted as the second round of this year’s American Rally Association presented by DirtFish National championship.
