THE SWITCHBACK

It’s all change in 2019, with the WRC-2 Championship split in two and a few new challengers in both championships.

 

The new ‘WRC-2 Pro’ category has been formed for factory entries, such as Skoda, Citroen and M-Sport Ford, while WRC-2 is open to privately entered competitors.

 

New machinery will now feature regularly in the championship as well. The Citroen C3 R5 and VW Polo GTI R5 enter their first full year of competition.

 

Monte Carlo saw Gus Greensmith not only claim the first ever WRC-2 Pro victory but saw him be to sole top ten M-Sport finisher overall, with his drive to victory enough to seal seventh overall. A tidy drive on a notoriously difficult rally was a good start to a big year for the Mancunian. He didn’t have such luck in Sweden, issues throughout the weekend meaning he would finish third almost five minutes behind the winner. The healthy helping of points from Sweden do extend his lead in the championship.

 

Sweden’s winner was former WRC driver Mads Ostberg, who has dropped down a category to help Citroen develop the C3 R5. Despite a comfortable victory margin-wise for the Norwegian, it wasn’t comfortable for Ostberg, saying he felt ‘afraid and uncomfortable’ in his Citroen. He sits third in the championship having only appeared in Sweden so far.

 

Hasn’t been an ideal start for consecutive four-time champions, Skoda. The Czech brands golden boy, young Fin Kalle Rovanpera showed he was quick, very quick, winning 25 of 35 stages over the first two events. However, a crash on the opening stage on Thursday night in Monte saw him drop masses of time with broken headlights and an excursion with snowbanks in each Friday and Saturday in Sweden saw him manage only two second place finishes.

 

Skoda’s other entrant in Sweden, Eerik Pietarinen retired on the final stage, failing to finish and scoring no points in his first factory outing. It hadn’t been a good weekend for the Fin, who lost his windscreen on day one and almost rolled his Fabia R5.

 

The 2018 champion Jan Kopecky is yet to drive this year, the 37-year-old no longer the Czech outfits priority as they look to nurture Rovanpera, although the six-time Czech Rally Champion will get outings in 2019.

 

There have been two different winners in the privateer WRC-2 class. Yoann Bonato won in Monte Carlo in his Citroen C3, with a gap of more than two minutes to the Ford Fiesta of Adrien Fourmaux.

 

The VW Polo GTI R5 claimed it’s first victory, winning in Sweden at the hands of Ole Christian Veiby. The Polo took a 1-2-3 on the snow with Emil Lindholm and Johan Kristoffersson completing the podium. Veiby also sat atop the table in the combined 2 Pro & 2 standings.

 

Jari Huttunen in a Skoda Fabia R5 was forced to retire one stage from the end of the rally, but his day one performance caught the eye, as the Fin won stage eight overall, beating the entire WRC field.