Hirvonen's last chance to beat Loeb
The 2011 FIA World Rally Championship season was going to be different, we were told. New regulations were introduced to reinvigorate the series, to attract more manufacturer teams and to promote greater levels of competition between the drivers.
But with just this weekend's season ending, Wales Rally GB still to run reigning World Champion Sebastien Loeb leads the title charge, the Citroen World Rally Team has already secured a seventh manufacturers' title since 2003 and the only competition this year has come from Ford.
On the face of it, the 2011 season has been very much like the previous few, during which time the WRC has gradually slipped away into obscurity from even the motoring media, never mind the mainstream press.
That's a shame, because as MINI World Rally Team boss David Richards says, "the pace of Rally GB this year will be, I dare say, faster than that of any Rally GB for many years." He pins that assertion down primarily to the championship battle that will rage throughout the weekend (excepting any mechanical failures or critical driving errors) between Loeb and serial championship pretender Mikko Hirvonen.
Loeb tries for two-wheeled record
The mercurial Frenchman knows a thing or seven about wrapping up World Championships and, with an eight-point lead over Hirvonen in the drivers' standings, he certainly looks the favourite to come out on top come Sunday afternoon.
The Finn, meanwhile, should be thankful to still be in the title race. He has driven consistently this year, never having finished below fourth position and with eight podiums to his credit, but he's rarely been the pacesetter. Hirvonen's two wins in 2011 play Loeb's five, but his victory in Australia rather came his way thanks to a magnanimous team-mate in Jari-Matti Latvala and the near-simultaneous implosion of their French rivals.
So two questions hang over the title battle in Wales; does Hirvonen have the pace to beat Loeb, and does he deserve to win the championship? The answer to the first is probably no, unless he can rediscover the fine form that took him to within a single point of the title in 2009 (in fact, but for a missed team-orders opportunity, Hirvonen would have been crowned champion that year), while the answer to the second is very much open to interpretation.
A few words must be spared for Citroen's reliability woes; engine failure first halted Loeb in France, then his team-mate in Spain. A repeat could be decisive.
A MINI, clearly not in Wales
Five drivers look to be in contention for victory this weekend; the three already mentioned, plus Rally GB master Petter Solberg and the remarkable (both for his speed and petulance) Sebastien Ogier. MINI World Rally Team drivers Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke, meanwhile, will do their best to muscle in on the party.
In Wales, 28 championship points remain on the table. Hirvonen probably needs to win and hope his team-mate can come between him and Loeb if he's to seal the crown. The permutations are manifold, but it looks very likely that the battle will boil down to Sunday's Power Stage, which awards championship points to the three fastest drivers and is broadcast on live television.
That's why the WRC's modest profile is a real shame. This year's Wales Rally GB looks set to be an absolute corker, not only for the dramatic conclusion of the Drivers' Championship, but also for the return to some classic forest stages and the two tours of the Great Orme (Llandudno's very own slice of Rallye Monte Carlo) that will get the decider underway today. It's a pity more people aren't going to share in the excitement.
Can MINI come good in 2012?
As for the state of the World Rally Championship? The signs are encouraging, but the new regulations just need time to settle in. MINI will be up to full strength in 2012, while Volkswagen is set to enter the series from 2013. A full and frank appraisal would be better left for a later date, but in the meantime it does seem that good times are ahead for rallying.
It'd be a damn sight easier to convince casual observers of that if Mikko Hirvonen can pull off the improbable this weekend.