Monday 13th January 2014

Motorsport On Monday: mouthing off

Want the real story on WRC? Talk to a former champion, as Dan discovers chatting with Petter Solberg

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It is accepted as a matter of fact among those who write about motorsport that retired racing drivers, or perhaps those who have switched to a lower profile branch of the sport after a long career in the top-flight, make for much better interviews than their still active counterparts. I’ve found on many an occasion that a former racing driver talks with more honesty, wisdom and often passion than those who still earn a living from the sport.

Petter Solberg has made switch to rallycross

There have been exceptions, of course, but freed from the insular four walls of professional motorsport and now in possession of the kind of 360-degree vision that can only come with time, not to mention released from the shackles of contractual and sponsor interests, these guys tend to talk more candidly and that makes for better copy.

So it was when I spoke with former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg last week as he prepares once again to project his unique brand of showmanship in international rallycross this coming season. With the Monte Carlo Rally due to kick start the 2014 WRC season later this week, I was interested to get Petter’s informed thoughts on what the series may have in store this year.

From a British perspective at least, this certainly should be the most engaging WRC season for a decade. In Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans we now have two home-grown competitors for whom to cheer, and with Hyundai joining the fray as a full works manufacturer there’ll also be more variety on the stages than we’ve seen for a long time; in the Polo, DS3, Fiesta and i20, there’ll be four individual World Rally Car models running throughout the season. An announcement last week also confirmed that BT Sport is due to live televise the series on these shores during the year.

But he still has plenty to say about the WRC

Last week’s column considered the phenomenon on the dominant motorsport competitor. I concluded by saying that, in the interest of interest, I hoped no one driver would have it all his own way in either the WRC or Formula 1 this year.

In Petter’s educated opinion, however, I may well be in for a disappointment.

“Monte Carlo is a good rally,” he began, “but it’s very different to any other rally because of all the ice and snow. I liked it, but to tell the truth it wasn’t my favourite. This year, nobody will beat Sebastien Ogier. He will also win the championship easily. The other drivers are not on the same level. Jari-Matti Latvala [VW] is good, but I think Ogier is cleverer and more controlled in the high-speed sections.

“Mikko Hirvonen [M Sport/Citroen] has a possibility to win in Sweden, but I don’t think he will beat Ogier on any other rallies this year. Thierry Neuville [Hyundai] is the best of the younger drivers without doubt. His performance on tarmac, the podiums throughout last year… Mads Ostberg [Citroen] didn’t have that level of performance at all.”

I ended our conversation by asking if we WRC fans were in for more of what we’ve witnessed for the past decade, namely the total superiority of one driver over all the others. “Yeah, I think so,” he replied, simply.  

Hyundai's arrival should spice things up

Would Petter have so glibly written off an entire WRC season were he still within the employ of one of the big teams? Not a chance. Refreshing at it was to hear him talk so realistically, one can only hope that he’s proven wrong in his assertion that reigning champion Ogier will walk all over the competition once again this year. At this moment, my faith lies in the Monte Carlo Rally’s reputation as being one of the least predictable events on the calendar, owing to the changeable weather and the unforgiving nature of the stages.  

Away from the WRC, I was pleased to receive an email last week outlining motorsport’s contribution to the UK economy. A study found that the sector achieved sales of £9bn in 2012. Motorsport Valley, loosely located along the M40, is home to some 4,300 companies within the industry, between them employing 41,000 people. If we assume that many of those will have families, we can reasonably estimate that somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 people are dependant upon the sector within the UK.

As the environmental, safety and local noise lobbies become increasingly vocal in their criticism of motorsport, those figures will serve to prove the importance of the sector’s contribution to UK plc.

[Madkat]

The championship does very much seem to be clutching at straws atm, but it is at least good to see more manufacturers taking part. But ultimately the connection between rally car and showroom has long since been lost and unless the asa and homologation change the rules it wont be any different in the future.

[shake n bake]

Is that all he said? Could have been interesting if it were more than a few sentences.

[Denorth]

since when this kind of thing is called an interview? Was ready for a mouthwatering piece, but...

and Peter do like to talk and give his opinions normally... looks like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

[rutthenut]

Denorth said:

since when this kind of thing is called an interview? Was ready for a mouthwatering piece, but...

and Peter do like to talk and give his opinions normally... looks like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

Same view here, nothing to read really, which is a shame.
See Rohrl piece elsewhere. If this had that level of content, would've been great. Guess it is hard, even for PH staff, to get time from these stars

[SAGTAFF]

As said above, not really a ground breaking interview - everyone knows Ogier is favourite by a mile. But with Elfyn Evans and kris Meeke with seats and it being shown on BT Sport we Brits finally have something to cheer and nobody cheers on an underdog better than us Brits!!

[filski666]

I am looking forward to the rest of this article.........

oh.....that is it? hmmmmmm as much of a let down as the WRC is nowadays...

[renaultgeek]

SAGTAFF said:

nobody cheers on an underdog better than us Brits!!

Ever seen the irish football team?

[Alex Langheck]

Often interesting to hear the view of people outside the 'WRC bubble'. It's miles better than it was a few years ago - but still has a long way to go.
Personally, F1 is miles ahead, but there is a gap in the market for another Motorsport series to be 'best of the rest'. Can WRC become that? Or is it WEC, or MotoGP??

[corozin]

I'm sorry but the WRC is a dead formula. The drivers are magical but the FIA in thier wisdom are happy for it to languish as they focus most of thier interest in promoting F1 pretty much to the detriment of everything else.

Those racing formula which do thrive (and series like DTM, european GT and LMP are doing well) do so more in spite of what the FIA does rather than as a result of it.

I don't have the answers as to how ot turn this around but someone somewhere in the FIA should at least accept that the WRC is on it's bloody knees.

[Madkat]

I watched the ERC in Belfast a couple of years ago and it was much more exciting than the WRC which i watched in November the Fabia WRC's seemed a world away from the current Polo's, Fiesta's and DS3's Not only that the mix of abilities and cars and transmission layouts made for some intense competition which is lost now on the WRC boys. No more Evo 8's and 44s's mixing with Fabia's and Swifts

[epom]

renaultgeek said:

SAGTAFF said:

nobody cheers on an underdog better than us Brits!!

Ever seen the irish football team?

Ya

[loudlashadjuster]

Is my browser broken? Where's the interview?

[coppice]

Ever since Dave Richards tried to sex the coverage up the WRC has been sliding into oblivion. It has dull cars and risibly small entries plodding around formulaic stages and has utterly lost the essence of what rallying was about . It has no mainstream coverage and who'd watch it anyway? As an old fart I remember 200 plus RAC entries , fabulous stages and iconic cars from Escort to Impreza via bonkers Gp B . It's a tragedy that a driver as supremely gifted as Loeb will never get the recognition he deserves because rallying has backed itself into this backwater . Thank God I can still watch decent club rallies with big and diverse entries - looking forward to Malcolm Wilson stages in March already..