The World Champion was lucky even to secure fourth place after various misfortunes, and there was a podium result for Hayden Paddon who had felt ill at ease all event.Eighth place went to Richie Dalton, the top non World Rally Car on his first R5 rally, while ninth place was the best result yet in the WRC for a national ASN rules car, going to Nathan Quinn’s Mitsubishi Evo IX, which ran with MRF tyres. There seemed little competitive point in going to Australia as all the three main WRC titles had been settled at Wales Rally GB, but the Australians traditionally did their best to provide a welcome for long haul travellers. The organisers and their fans did their bit, with a repeat of last year’s end-of-season gala celebration in Sydney the day after the finish. Their weather, however, towards the end of the event got worse and worse, and two stages eventually had to be cancelled. Toyota only sent two cars, with nothing for Hanninen (his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom now has the job as the team’s Sporting Director), while Hyundai rested Sordo to provide a car for Mikkelsen.
Jari-Matti Latvia crashed out of second place on the last stage of the rally. Photo: Luke Whitten
Elfyn Evans was in quite a different zone in Australia. On Day 1 and Day 2 he did not score a single top six stage time, being resigned to using hard compound DMacks as the special soft compounds which were so successful in Britain did not work in the warmth of Australia.Then both Ogier and Evans had gear shifting problems as well, but on Day 3 both managed to score fastest times. The team suffered dramatic amounts of bodywork damaged during the event, but like Hyundai, none of their drivers went off the road! After everything, it was remarkable that three Fiestas finished in the top five! On this event there was only one entry in WRC2, this was Kalle Rovenpera’s Fiesta, which was going steadily in 11th place before he had to stop with two punctures and one spare.
It was a disastrous event for Citroen, with none of their cars completing all the stages. Photo: Peter Whitten
It wasn’t just the intensity of the downpours which were notable, so much as the sudden way the weather could change the stages from warm and sunny moments and hard firm special stages to mud baths.On Day 2 one stage had to be cancelled because a bridge had been damaged and the ambitious plan to use one particular stage four times (two on Day 1 and twice in the opposite direction on Day 3) was unachievable because of the weather. And the final word came from the winner. “This one is a special one, this one goes really to the whole team of Hyundai Motorsport. They’ve worked so much during the whole season and it wasn’t always easy, but we managed to keep the motivation high and push hard even if we lost the championship,” Neuville said. “Now we secure this win and second place in the (Drivers’) championship, so thanks to the whole team, not only the people who come to the rally, but those who are all working in the factory. Great job guys, thank you very much.” 2017 Rally Australia - final results: 1. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai 120 Coupe WRC) 2:35:44.8 2. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC) +22.5 3. Hayden Paddon / Sebastian Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +59.1 4. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:27.7 5. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3:05.6 6. Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferme (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3:49.5 7. Kris Meeke / Paul Nagle (Citroen C3 WRC) +22:58.4 8. Richie Dalton / John Allen (Skoda Fabia R5) +24:39.6 9. Nathan Quinn / Ben Searcy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) +25:03.4 10. Dean Herridge / Samuel Hill (Subaru Impreza WRX Sti) +29:52.3 Rally leaders: Mikkelsen stages 1-9, Neuville 10-21. Final positions in World Championship for Rallies (WCR): M-Sport 428 points, Hyundai Motorsport 345, Toyota Gazoo Racing 251, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi 218. Final leading positions in World Championship for Drivers (WCD): Ogier 232 points, Neuville 208, Tanak 191, Latvala 136, Evans 128, Sordo 95, Meeke 77, Paddon 74, Hanninen 71, Breen 64, etc. Final leading positions in WRC2 (4WD)(First 6 of 7 scores count): Tidemand (7) 143(158) points, Camilli (7) 91(95), Kopecky (6) & Suninen (6) 85, Veiby (6) 68, etc. Final leading positions in WRC3 (2WD)(First 6 of 7 scores count): Solans (7) 129(144) points, Astier (7) 111, Ciamin (7) 88, Tannert (6) 82, Radstrom (5) 61, etc. Final positions in WRC Trophy for Drivers (First 6 of 7 scores count): Serderidis (6) 126, Gorban (7) 100 points, Raoux (5) 79, Prokop (2) 40, Al Rajhi (1) 25.
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