It was a disastrous Rally Australia for Citroen in 2017, with none of their cars completing all the stages. Photo: Peter Whitten
Harry Bates will drive for the new Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia team at Rally Australia. Photo: Neil Blackbourn
The class of 2017 on the beautiful Coffs Harbour jetty.
Regarding plans for 2019, programmes for new drivers Ogier and Lappi have already been confirmed, other plans still undecided. Decision about a possible commitment to WRC2 Pro not yet made, depending on definition of required programme of events.
Improved specifications for both the WRC and R5 cars are planned for 2019.
Hyundai
No unexpected surprises or technical issues in Catalunya. Sordo led at one point, Neuville had been second, but Mikkelsen suffered as a result of car’s set-up on the gravel stages and was off the pace on the asphalt stages.
Australia will be the 100th WRC event for Mikkelsen. Cars will be unchanged for Australia and the team will not make any testing specifically for this event.
Mikkelsen has his Turkey and Germany car, Neuville has the car he last used in Monte Carlo, Sweden and Mexico, Paddon has his Turkey car which was the car Sordo used in Germany.
https://twitter.com/HMSGOfficial/status/1061769280197283843
Both Neuville and Mikkelsen have won this event before. No decisions yet on which rallies Paddon and Sordo will run in 2019.
M-Sport
Spain produced no technical dramas, but there was an encouraging result for Ogier. No testing has been carried out with Rally Australia in mind.
It is to be the final rally with M-Sport for Ogier who is to have chassis 4 (now re-registered), last used by Suninen in Sardinia. Ogier had a hat-trick of Australia wins 2013-15 with VW.
Evans has competed in Australia three times. Suninen has never entered this event.
Both Evans and Suninen will have the same cars they used in Spain and Wales, while the team will run the non-championship entry for Jourdain Serderidis in chassis 3, Block’s car in Spain and Serderidis’ in Germany.
https://twitter.com/MSportLtd/status/1060959523597438976
All cars have original aero designs, Ogier uses Sachs damping, the other cars use Reiger.
As for 2019, no WRC driver announcement due before Rally Australia, but M-Sport are working hard on a new R5 car ready for involvement with WRC2 Pro. More aero work is anticipated on WRC cars in 2019, but the level of participation in WRC is not confirmed at this time.
Toyota
Usual three car team, with Esapekka Lappi making his last appearance with the team before moving over to Citroen next year. He was the higher placed Toyota driver on this event last year.
Esapekka Lappi in action at Rally Australia in 2017. Photo: Peter Whitten
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