REVIEW: MONACO & 'ALL LIVE'
Jan Kopecky in his Czech livery Skoda Fabia R5
The World Rally Championship kicked off this weekend with an interesting opening round in Monaco.
The traditional season opener caused its typical amount of drama, as it combined three rallies in one. This is the first time for a couple of years I've paid full attention to the WRC, having just watched highlights if they happen to be on while I'm watching the TV for the past couple of season as I felt the series had started to get a bit boring.
However, I'm happy to say I feel the excitement is back.
With a wealth of talent across four teams who are all capable of winning the title, the season could be the most closely contested for years with seven or eight drivers all in the title fight.
To add to the excitement, WRC's new 'All Live' subscription service allows fans to be completely immersed in the action over a rally weekend, rather than catching a one-hour highlight show on a Tuesday.
I personally really like the All Live service. Despite having technical issues and showing very little of the action on Thursday, the service got better and better as the weekend went on. The presenters and commentators were all great, bringing interesting discussion. Also, as a Skoda fan boy, I loved the fact coverage took in WRC-2 action, showing a lot of Skoda's WRC-2 winner Jan Kopecky.
I terms of the rally itself, there was no surprise in who won. Sebastien Ogier survived a day one spin on an icy hairpin and a day two excursion into a ditch to win his home event, which was based in the reigning champion's home town of Gap.
Thierry Neuville, Elfyn Evans and Kris Meeke all hit problems on day one, leaving them out of contention for top spots. The three Toyota of Jari-Matti Latvala, Ott Tanak and Esapekka Lappi remained competitive throughout the weekend. Neuville new Hyundai teammate Andreas Mikkelsen retired on day two with an alternator issue, coming back in through the 'Rally 2' rule the next day.
However, an unbelievable Power Stage from Meeke saw him pick up all five bonus points, while Lappi made a mistake on the same stage. He slid off the road at a right hander and couldn't get the car into reverse. He dropped enough time to lose his fourth place and drop behind the day one strugglers, with Meeke taking fourth, Neuville fifth and Evans sixth.
Meanwhile in WRC-2, Eric Camilli and Teemu Suninen both retired on day two, meaning Kopecky just needed to keep the car on the road to win, something he did brillianly. The Czech national champion also capitalised on Mikkelsen's issues to pick up a point in the WRC category.
After the excitement of round one, I'm looking forward to see how the crews tackle the all snow event of Rally Sweden, having had a small taste of the condition in Mote Carlo.