PistonHeads Wales Rally GB 2011 Preview
It's Rally GB this weekend - who knew?
Hirvonen's last chance to beat Loeb
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 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
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?
It'd be a damn sight easier to convince casual observers of that if Mikko Hirvonen can pull off the improbable this weekend.
Dan Prosser
Except that i don't have the sports channels that you have to pay extra on top of the cost of Sky Sports.
Maybe the BBC should bid for WRC rights soon as it's much, much, much cheaper. In therory anyway.
It's a real shame it's not really supported on TV.
Bring back homologation specials so people can identify with it in the showrooms which was always a major appeal of rallying.
Rally GB needs to go outside of Wales like it used to. I went to Wales in 2003 and vowed never to go back to it...wouldn't get let in for stages despite having tickets because they'd let people without tickets in and no space, the organisers weren't interested in complaints or refunds/passing the buck, the Heddlu are a bunch of t
ts as are the ludicrously low speed limits in certain areas specifically set to catch you out, and the people we came across were all pretty unfriendly.By contrast, Rally San Remo used to be awesome, but they stopped going there, even though it was one of the most established on the calendar!
I would love to get back into it, wish the manufacturers would pile back in, especially Subaru, Mitsubishi and Toyota, hell even Nissan and Porsche. Circuit racing is so dull by comparison!
Maybe if manufacturers had to build 1000 road going versions like the old days people would get more excited.
Safety is very good now so why not bring back Group B
Now that would be a reason to get wet in a forest
The only way to get more manufacturers interested is by forcing them to spend hundreds of millions of pounds building road cars that will utterly ruin their CO2 averages.Despite still having relatives there (ie free accommodation...) I haven't bothered since it became Wales Rally GB and the cars got all boring.
/Gazes out of the office window and thinks longingly about Audi quattros, 205 T16s, Celica GT4s and Delta Integrales.../
The only way to get more manufacturers interested is by forcing them to spend hundreds of millions of pounds building road cars that will utterly ruin their CO2 averages.I used to love watching WRC on Dave, but now it's moved over to ESPN I haven't caught a single stage of it this year. The WRC website isn't exactly helpful for keeping up with results and happenings either, what a pile of w
k!Still, it'll be a memorable one and if any of you have LoveFilm you can get the 2001 WRC season and watch that instead. It's a very special one as you will already know.
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