They’re back. And back by popular demand. The DirtFish driver ratings delivered controversy, consternation, contentment and celebration in equal measure. They’re designed to stimulate debate. So, tell us what you think.
Agree, disagree, join the conversation. The aim is to use the full range between one and 10, with a 10 really only to be deployed when a driver does what Sébastien Loeb did on the 2005 Tour de Corse (he won every stage).
As much as this is an entirely subjective process, we have to be mindful of driver’s experience of events. For example, what do we score Grégoire Munster in Croatia? Before arriving in Zagreb, he’d done one pure asphalt event in a Rally1 car. Yes, he finished five minutes off the front, but he made progress and improved through the event, relative to his experience.
Here goes…
Toyota
Sébastien Ogier 8/10
Croatia Rally result: 1st
Fastest times: 3
Super Sunday position: 3rd
Power stage position: 3rd
Absent since Monte Carlo, the eight-time champion’s position on the road through Friday was undoubtedly compromised as he skated his GR Yaris across the mud and gravel pulled out by the cars ahead of him. Brilliant final stage on day one moved him into the thick of the fight for a 59th career WRC win. There were a couple of moments through Saturday as he kept in touch with the two ahead and he stole the march when Evans and Neuville hit trouble on Sunday morning. Reminded the world he’s very much a class act.
Elfyn Evans 7/10
Croatia Rally result: 2nd
Fastest times: 3
Super Sunday position: 5th
Power stage position: 5th
Paid a heavy price for a single mistake on Sunday morning. Took Friday morning to feel comfortable in the car, but once he was there, the Welshman was bang on the pace with Neuville. Led for a stage on Saturday afternoon, but found his soft Pirellis were starting to lose their edge as the loop progressed. Ended the event scoring the same number of points as Neuville, so heads home in precisely the same position in which he arrived into Croatia – apart from the fact that he hates the WRC’s points system even more now.
Takamoto Katsuta 6/10
Croatia Rally result: 5th
Fastest times: 2
Super Sunday position: 1st
Power stage position: 4th
Couldn’t get comfortable in the car on Friday while running a dry set-up. Saturday’s threat of rain meant the GR Yaris was compromised in terms of stiffness and traction, but when Sunday came nobody was faster out of the blocks than the Japanese. And he stayed ahead for the remainder of the day they call Super. Keen to avoid a fourth straight sixth place in Zagreb, he went one better in the terms of the overall result. Why his mark out of 10? We didn’t want to spoil his run of Croatian sixes…
Hyundai
Thierry Neuville 7/10
Croatia Rally result: 3rd
Fastest times: 9
Super Sunday position: 7th
Power stage position: 3rd
Enjoyed the preferred position on the road through Friday, but wasn’t really able to exploit cleaner line with too much understeer from his i20. The car improved through Saturday, but it was Neuville who made the difference with an all-out attack through the afternoon. Delighted to bag all 18 points from days one and two, he was frustrated with a Sunday morning moment which tore the rear wing from his Hyundai and cost him the chance of the perfect 30.
Ott Tänak 6/10
Croatia Rally result: 4th
Fastest times: 1
Super Sunday position: 2nd
Power stage position: 2nd
Second in Croatia for the last two years, the Estonian was keen to go one better last week, safe in the knowledge that a round four win would help build some points into a title challenge that has yet to really get going this season. Struggling with understeer for much of the rally, the 2019 world champion found the roads north and west of Zagreb hard going, then suffered a brake issue which sent him off and up a bank in SS18. He’ll be hoping the switch to the gravel season will bring an upturn in confidence from the car.
Andreas Mikkelsen 5/10
Croatia Rally result: 6th
Fastest times: 0
Super Sunday position: 4th
Power stage position: 6th
A big overshoot on the opening stage wasn’t the re-introduction to the 2024 World Rally Championship the likeable Norwegian had been hoping for. Driving the factory i20 for the first time since Monte Carlo, Mikkelsen was short on seat time (his pre-event test was an entry on an Italian national event in Alba last weekend) and struggled for confidence and feeling in the car for pretty much the whole event. Repeated his top-six from Monte, but rarely looked like troubling those ahead.
M-Sport Ford
Adrien Fourmaux 7/10
Croatia Rally result: 17th
Fastest times: 2
Super Sunday position: 59th
Power stage position: 1st
Happy to be back where his journey at the very top of world rallying began (with a fifth place aboard a Ford Fiesta WRC in 2021), Fourmaux was chasing a third straight podium this season. By the end of Saturday, he was as close to the top three as it was possible to be. He lost that fourth position in the overall classification when he clipped an anti-cut device on Sunday’s second stage. Fixing the steering arm at the side of the road allowed him to take a sensational power stage win.
Grégoire Munster 5/10
Croatia Rally result: 7th
Fastest times: 0
Super Sunday position: 6th
Power stage position: 7th
The Luxembourg driver was here with one aim: to build his confidence after a tricky start to the season. He did exactly that. He struggled with the dirty road on the opening day, but kept the Puma on the straight and narrow to pick up valuable points and more experience of a car he’s still only driving for the sixth time.
