BLOG: 2017 Rally Australia Offers Suitably Thrilling WRC Finale: Bring on 2018!

Well, there it is... the end of the utterly compelling, thrilling, big boost 2017 WRC. Gutted.

But what a fascinating, brilliant season it was – with no less than SEVEN different event winners over the 13-round year, privateer team M-Sport taking the drivers & manufacturers' crowns, a fifth consecutive title for Monsieur Ogier and the return of the legendary Japanese brand of Toyota to world rallying. 

Awesome stuff all round I think anyone who owns a (non-2017-must-have-fashion-item!) bobble hat will agree?

And it was fantastic, fair and fitting to see the would-be-2017-WRC King, Thierry Neuville take another (his forth) WRC win down under on a very challenging and unusual, soaking wet and uber-slippery Rally Australia – netting him P2 overall and for the South Korean manufacturer, bringing so much to the WRC (and not just gear in the service parks!). 

Thierry won more stages (56) than anyone else in 2017, with a really remarkable season, but it all just ran away with him through a mixture of bad luck and judgement, playing into the master Frenchman's skilled hands – winning the WRC with an arguably slower car, on a fraction of the budget and with slower times. Go figure! Ca c'est bon nest ce pas?   

Speaking about Australia... 

“This victory is a special one that goes to the whole Hyundai team! They did an amazing job. Thank you guys! That was a hell of a ride! I kept the car on the road but it was close sometimes. I knew I could make a difference but I had to be clever. You lose grip, you lose control and the car doesn’t respond to your input,” said Neuville. 

He added on Twitter: “Teamwork makes the dream work! Massive thanks to my co-driver @nicolasgilsoul and the whole team for the hard work done again this season. I’m really proud to be part of this amazing family.” 

It was really great as well to see fellow Hyundai nice guy, Haydon Paddon bag himself a podium placement, on his "home" event, after a very difficult season for the top fella. Expecting big things from him the Kiwi in 2018. 

P2 in Oz fell to another star of the new-look WRC, Ott Tänak – which was just what he & team M-Sport deserved after a brilliant 2017, on his last drive for the team. He and Malcolm Wilson were hugging it out at the end, full of emotion, as Ott heads off to Toyota for 2018, which is surely a big budget, big driver marriage made in heaven? WRC crown next year? 

We think so...  

Hopefully, the bad-luck-struck Jari-Matti Latvala will have a better 2018 too – after his Rally Australia came to a bizarre and brutal ending in front of the Toyota bosses, on the final Power Stage. A metaphor for his whole year really. We are big #Sisu fans and are gutted for the guy. But at least he has that amazing round two win on Rally Sweden to think about over his Christmas pickled fish. 

Mixed news for British rally fans, as ever...  

Heroic Wales Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans struggled for grip on his soft D-MACKs that served him so well in Wales all weekend. But the Welshman’s persistence was rewarded with fifth (just ahead of an up and down Esapekka Lappi), on the event and overall. Nice work. 

Meanwhile, the wildly erratic Kris Meeke confounded Citroen's miserable season breaking his C3’s suspension, then returning to the action though to claim a below par seventh place, as fellow Irish man Craig Breen just got over-wrought and cried, again as het netted P10 overall in 2017. Mmm. Last chance to show their potential and much room for improvement has to be their school report, right? 

Anyway for all us rally fans, 2017 will go down as a milestone. A classic even. What a phenomenal season with the new cars, which proved to be exciting to watch and a great leveller. (Maybe they could sound better though?) 

We can't wait for 2018 and the Monte now, can you? Will Ogier sign up anywhere and be back, or is that fifth win his swan song? What will the new driver line-ups be in full? Who will be 2018 champion and more importantly, who will have the nicest livery?

Stay close to us here at Road HQ and on Twitter @roadmagazine for all the WRC crack. We love it.

2017 Rally Australia Results
P1 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 2h35m44.8s
P2 Ott Tänak/Martin Jarveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC) +22.5s
P3 Hayden Paddon/Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +59.1s
P4 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m27.7s
P5 Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3m05.6s
P6 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3m49.5s

2017 FIA World Rally Championship Results
P1 Sebastien Ogier 232
P2 Thierry Neuville 208
P3 Ott Tänak 191
P4 Jari-Matti Latvala 136
P5 Elfyn Evans 128
P6 Dani Sordo 95
P7 Kris Meeke 77
P8 Hayden Paddon 74
P9 Juho Hänninen 71
P10 Craig Breen 64

 

Pics: Red Bull TV