Hyundai has the fastest car, Toyota has a new star man, Citroen has a point to prove but M-Sport has Sebastien Ogier.
Ogier silenced his last remaining doubters last year, winning his fifth consecutive world championship with effective privateers M-Sport after four supreme years with the all-conquering Volkswagen.
His rug of comfort and support was ripped from underneath him with VW’s shock withdrawal, and it’s easy to see why retirement seemed like a realistic option. Fortunately for us, he decided to stick around and chose the Fiesta as his vessel for 2017.
By joining M-Sport he had nowhere to hide. Coupled with fired-up young team-mates and rivals Thierry Neuville and Kris Meeke looking incredibly strong pre-season, the pressure was on.
When Ogier put his Fiesta in a ditch on Friday’s second stage, it looked like he might have been better off putting his feet up for a year, but he bounced back in true Ogier-style.
With his main rival Neuville binning his Hyundai i20 out of the rally lead, typically it was Ogier who was best-placed to pounce, scooping up a maiden win in a Fiesta on his M-Sport debut.
Monte was a perfect microcosm of Ogier’s fifth title season. He wasn’t the quickest driver, topping just three of Monte’s 15 stages. Ogier stole Neuville’s win in the season opener and he carried on putting his Fiesta in places it had no right to be.
A win in Portugal five rounds later was the second and final win of the year, and yet Ogier romped away with his fifth championship, beating Neuville, who won four rallies, by 24 points.
Some may suggest Ogier was fortunate with other drivers, namely Neuville throwing away big points, and simply Neuville lost the title and Ogier simply lucked his way to another title. After all, Ogier won just 22 stages all season, putting him fifth in the list, just two wins ahead of Kris Meeke and six ahead of part-time WRC rookie Esapekka Lappi.
However, this short-sighted attitude overlooks Ogier’s supreme ability to play the number’s game. Like nobody else in the field, Ogier knows when to push for the victory, and when to hold back and take the fourth place.
His Fiesta seems to sing from the same hymn sheet. It’s the most consistent, reliable, and versatile car in the field. The i20 proved to be fragile at multiple points during the season, take Rally Catalunya for example, where the Hyundai trio were all crippled by rocks while all three-Fiestas stood firm and all but sealed the title.
On both fronts, there is no reason why that won’t change in 2018. The Fiesta will still be the class of the field, if not the fastest over a single stage. Neuville will have learnt lessons but it’s going to take a big step to take on Ogier for a whole season.
M-Sport has increased Ford backing so its minnow status compared to its rivals is no longer as valid. Ogier has also had his first proper winter of testing so Monte will not be the foreign venture like it was last year.
2017 may have been a close run affair, but it’s fair to see although he was pushed to his limit on certain rallies, it always felt like Ogier had more in reserve. He rarely looks vulnerable even at his highest gear, but perhaps this is because he has rarely been pushed to that limit over the past five years.
His rivals have to force Ogier to take more risks in 2018 and thus make more mistakes than one per season as seen in recent years.
If his rivals can’t make that step, no leap, then it’s hard to see Ogier not winning a sixth world title, even if 2018 proves to be his toughest WRC season yet.
Ogier isn’t the only driver at M-Sport
Elfyn Evans could do no wrong in 2017… or right.
His domination of the Welsh forests was superb, losing a lead of over an hour raised serious questions in Argentina, but both events had a big question mark over them, a recurring doubt – the tyres.
Evans was the only WRC driver on DMACKs for the majority of the season, meaning it was hard to judge Evans’ performances inside the cockpit.
His performance inWales went a long way in silencing the doubters, as well as racking up 27 stage wins, only Neuville and Tanak achieved more.
In 2018, he will have nowhere to hide, and although that may initially seem like a daunting prospect, Evans will be keen for his chance in the spotlight. Beating Ogier over the season is a bridge too far, but doing what Tanak did in 2017 is more than within Evans’ reach.
It’s finally his chance at the big-time; a full-time drive on the same tyres as everyone else. There is no doubt he will seize that opportunity with both hands.
Why rotating the third car isn’t a hinderance
When the news broke that M-Sport was going to rotate its third car, images of lesser talented drivers with deep pockets handicapping M-Sport’s title chances formed, but the reality is anything but.
Monte specialist Bouffier is first up, he will be tackling his favourite event as well as Corsica in April. Teemu Suninen will be partaking in at least eight events, and that can only be a positive. He showed extremely well in his guest appearances in 2017, and expect more of the same this year as he continues to throw caution to the wind, while also soaking up vital lessons and experience.
As for the remaining three events, it’s unknown who will be driving or if M-Sport will even be running a third car. Either way, Bouffier and Suninen in particular, should be able to bag the points when Ogier or Tanak fail to, as well as being a genuine contender for podiums.
