This year’s World Rally Championship will feature a number of changes that it hopes will generate even more interest in rallying’s premier series.
Mads Ostberg at Rally Australia.Here’s a few of them, as reported on wrc.com
1: So long split times
In recent years, thanks to improvements in mobile data and timing systems, WRC drivers have been able to monitor their rivals’ speed during a live stage via a stream of data messages sent from their team. By receiving splits, which were taken from the official timing system, drivers could speed up or ease off if necessary - modifying their strategy on the go.
It was a handy tool, and far superior to the old system that involved team personnel lurking on the roadside with stopwatches and pit boards. But from 2015 the drivers will have to do without it. At its meeting in December, the FIA World Motor Sport Council decided that ‘from 2015, the transmission of performance data or information to or from a competing car, not in relation with safety, is forbidden during special stages to help promote greater competition.’
So, although the live split times will continue to be available to teams (and wrc.com users) the drivers will have to rely on their intuition alone to judge their speed. And that’s going to make the familiar Sunday driver quote “I’m just keeping an eye on the pace of the guy behind” a thing of the past. And that’s great news.
2: Running order revamp
The order in which drivers start WRC stages is controversial because on many rallies the first through will be at a disadvantage. This is most noticeable on loose, dry gravel events, where the first competitor - or competitors - will encounter more slippery conditions than those following.
World Champion Sebastien Ogier.On the other hand, it can be advantageous to be first through some roads - damp asphalt for example - where the surface will tend to get dirtier with each passing car.
So, what is the fairest way to decide who should go first? Over the years the FIA has tried numerous different systems, from letting the drivers choose their own positions depending on their performance at Shakedown, to the 2014 system of drivers’ championship order for day one and then reverse rally classification order from then on.
This year the FIA has revamped the system again so that seeded drivers will start Friday and Saturday’s stages in championship order and only Sunday’s final day in reverse classification order.
It’s a system that will give the championship leader the worst conditions for the majority of some rallies. Understandably, this hasn’t gone down well with Sebastien Ogier, but others argue that the leading driver should be best able to overcome any disadvantage and this is the best way to level the playing field.
Is it a fairer system and will it lead to closer battles? We’ll see soon - but for the full effect we will have to wait until Rally Guanajuato Mexico in March.
3: WRC driver shuffle
While the end of every season is rife with speculation about which drivers are off where, at the start we are more concerned with seeing how the new boys will get on. And for 2015 there is plenty to to get excited about.
The most significant change is the new line-up at M-Sport, where Estonian youngster Ott Tanak will join Elfyn Evans - replacing Mikko Hirvonen who retired at the end of last season. There is change too at Hyundai, where Dani Sordo has been chosen as Thierry Neuville’s primary team-mate - a more stable strategy than last year’s rotation of drivers.
Bryan Bouffier will start the season back in a Fiesta World Rally car after outings with Hyundai in 2014. And of course at Rallye Monte-Carlo we will get to see if 14 months away has dented Sebastien Loeb’s competitiveness when he returns for a guest drive with Citroen.
Several big names from WRC2 will make the jump to the premier World Rally Car class at the opening round. Lorenzo Bertelli will introduce his new Fiesta-powered Fnucmatie team, and will go up against former WRC2 rivals Yurii Protasov and Sebastien Chardonnet. Only Chardonnet has driven the car on a WRC round before - and that was only once, two years ago.
There are graduates too in WRC2, which features three of the top-five from last year’s Junior championship: title winner Stephane Lefebvre (Citroen DS3 R5) third-placed Martin Koci (Ford Fiesta R5) and fourth-placed Quentin Giordano (Citroen DS3 R5). Joining them this year will be former WRC Academy and Super 2000 World champion winner Craig Breen, back for a full WRC2 season in a Peugeot 208 T16 R5.
4: Rally car evolutions
After a cost-cutting freeze on development in 2014, this season’s rules give manufacturers greater scope to improve their World Rally Cars. The changes will be subtle rather than revolutionary, but at the sport’s top level even the smallest detail can make a big difference.
In the cockpit, the most obvious change will be the reintroduction of steering wheel-mounted gearshift paddles, a system that replaces the 2014-spec sequential stickshift.
Under the skin, manufacturers can take advantage of a new supply of homologation ‘jokers’, enabling them to make a limited number of mechanical changes to their homologated designs. There are changes too to the minimum weights of some components, allowing greater freedom to play with weight distribution and balance.
The first manufacturer to make full use of the regulations will be Volkswagen, which will introduce a new version of its championship-winning Polo at Rallye Monte-Carlo. Citroen too will introduce changes at the opening round, with the DS3 getting a new engine, developed alongside its World Touring Car unit, new suspension and a paddle gearshift.
Two other evolutions are planned by Citroen during 2015, with an aero package scheduled for April and a second step with the suspension in the second half of the year.
M-Sport’s Fiesta RS will have a modified pneumatic gearshift system in time for Monte Carlo. More changes are planned for Vodafone Rally de Portugal, where a new engine, transmission and new hydraulic gear selection system will make their debut. Like M-Sport, Hyundai will start the season with an upgraded version of its 2014-season car, before an all-new model is introduced later in the year.
There are changes to the cars in the Junior World Rally Championship too, where this year’s competitors will drive the more powerful ‘Maxi’ version of the DS3 R3T.
Finally, fans of exotic machinery should keep an eye on the FIA’s new Cup for R-GT cars which, for the opening round in Monte Carlo, features three, flat-six Porsche 911s.
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