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Sébastien Ogier is the defending drivers' champion and current championship leader.Reigning manufacturers' champions Volkswagen Motorsport left the sport at the end of the 2016 season.
The 2017 season saw substantial revisions to the technical regulations aimed at improving the performance of the cars and offering teams a greater degree of technical and design freedom. Toyota returned to the sport as a full manufacturer team, entering the Toyota Yaris WRC, as did Citroën, who returned to full-time competition after contesting a partial campaign in 2016. Conversely, Volkswagen formally withdrew from the championship at the end of the 2016 season.[1][2]
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia are the defending World Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions, after securing their fourth World Championship titles at the 52º Rally Catalunya.[3]Volkswagen Motorsport, the team Ogier and Ingrassia won their titles with, are themselves the reigning World Manufacturers' Champions, having secured their fourth title at the 72nd Wales Rally GB. However, the team did not return to defend their title after parent company Volkswagen's withdrawal from the sport.
^1– Rallye Monte Carlo was shortened when the first stage was cancelled due to a fatal accident involving a spectator.[7][8] The sixteenth stage was later cancelled owing to overcrowding of spectators.[9]
Calendar changes
The FIA re-organised the calendar for the 2017 season to include a greater variation in surfaces between events, bringing the Tour de Corse forward from October to April.[4][10] The decision was made after concerns were expressed about the 2016 calendar, which originally contained six consecutive gravel events followed by four tarmac rallies.[11]
The Rally of China was removed from the calendar.[5] The event had been included on the 2016 calendar before storm damage to the proposed route forced its cancellation.[11] The round was removed from the 2017 calendar to give event organisers more time to prepare for a future bid to rejoin the calendar.[12] Similarly, the FIA put the Rallies of Argentina and Poland on notice regarding safety concerns, threatening to rescind their World Championship status for the 2017 season unless safety standards were improved in 2016,[13][14][15] with drivers citing a lack of safety marshalls and expressing concerns over spectators getting too close to the cars as the main areas to be addressed.[16] Both events were subsequently included on the calendar.[4][5]
Route changes
The Rallye Monte-Carlo introduced a heavily-revised itinerary, with eighty-five percent of the route used in 2016 being revised for the 2017 event,[17] which saw the competitive distance increase from 337.59km to 382.65km and included the Col de Turini as part of the Power Stage.[17]Rally Mexico also featured route revisions, with the eighty-kilometre Guanajuato stage—the longest in the championship in 2016—removed from the schedule;[18] however, the addition of new stages and further changes to existing ones meant that the overall competitive distance of the 2017 rally was only six kilometres shorter than the route used in the 2016 event. The rally is scheduled to start in Mexico City with a purpose-built stage before moving to its traditional headquarters in León.[19] The Tour de Corse shortened its route by seventy-four kilometres, from 390.92km in 2016 down to 316.76km in 2017, with most of the changes coming from shortening each of the individual stages used in 2016.[20]
Entries
The following teams and drivers have been entered for the rallies in the 2017 World Rally Championship:
More information World Rally Car entries eligible to score manufacturer points, Manufacturer ...
World Rally Car entries eligible to score manufacturer points
M-Sport continues to operate their customer programme,[28] with Adapta World Rally Team returning to the sport and merging with Jipocar Czech National Team, starting the season from the 65th Rally Sweden.[29][N 1]Mads Østberg and Ola Fløene will compete in one, with the team expanding to two cars later in the season; the second will be driven by Martin Prokop,[29] who will himself return to the World Rally Championship after missing the second half of the 2016 season. DMACK World Rally Team will no longer operate as a customer team, instead becoming a partner and supplier of M-Sport, providing tyres and sponsorship for Elfyn Evans' entry.[27][28]
Hyundai entered a three-door variant of the i20 WRC, known as the i20 Coupe WRC,[30][31] having used the five-door model in competition throughout the 2016 season.[32] The team had previously used a three-door model in 2014 and 2015 before being forced to adopt the five-door model in 2016 for logistical reasons.[32] However, the team considered the three-door model to be better-suited to competition, and developed the i20 Coupe WRC around it.[30] Hyundai elected to retain the three crews—Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul, Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, and Dani Sordo and Marc Martí—who drove for the team in 2016 to contest their 2017 campaign.[33][34][35]
Citroën returned to the sport with a fully factory-supported team after competing part-time in 2016 to focus on the development of their 2017-generation car.[36] The DS3 WRC was succeeded by the C3 WRC, a brand-new car based on the Citroën C3.[37][38] The decision to re-enter the World Rally Championship coincided with Citroën withdrawing its factory support for the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC and its World Touring Car Championship programme.[39] The team signed Kris Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle to contest the full season,[40] while Craig Breen and Scott Martin will share a car with Stéphane Lefebvre between events—as they did in 2016—until a third C3 WRC becomes available;[40] Citroën also entered a DS3 WRC for Breen and Lefebvre. Gabin Moreau returned as Lefebvre's co-driver following an injury at the 34. Rallye Deutschland that saw him sit out the final events of the 2016 season.[27]Khalid Al Qassimi is scheduled contest selected events in a fourth C3 WRC.[40]
Volkswagen scaled back their involvement in the sport, withdrawing their entry as a manufacturer at the end of the 2016 season and cancelling the Polo R WRC programme in light of the emissions scandal that broke in 2015.[2] Volkswagen instead switched focus from a factory-supported team to a customer programme with a Polo rally car built to R5 regulations and scheduled for introduction in 2018.[2]
The 2016 specification of the Polo R WRC was retired from competition and the 2017 model, known as the Polo WRC,[46] was abandoned. While Latvala and Anttila moved to Toyota and Ogier and Ingrassia left to join M-Sport,[26]Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger were unable to secure a seat in a World Rally Car and so started the season contesting the World Rally Championship-2 in a Škoda Fabia R5.[2][47]
The sport underwent a revision of the technical regulations for 2017, introducing a variety of changes aimed at improving aerodynamic and mechanical grip,[48] with modelling suggesting that average stage speeds is expected to increase to the point where stage records could be broken by up to thirty seconds and drawing comparisons to the defunct Group B regulations. These changes include:[49][50]
An increase in the power output of the engine, from 300bhp (223.7kW) to 380bhp (283.4kW), the equivalent of a TC1-specification World Touring Car Championship engine. The engine will be capable of producing 450N⋅m (331.9lb⋅ft) of torque.[50][51][52]
A larger turbo restrictor, increasing from 33mm in 2016 to 36mm in 2017; however, the maximum allowable turbo pressure remains fixed at 2.5 bar absolute.[53]
A reduction of the he overall weight of the car, cutting 25kg (55.1lb) from the monocoque.[48][50]
An increase in the overhang of the front and rear bumpers and increases in the size of the door sills, door pillars and the fixed rear wing, permitting the inclusion of additional aerodynamic aids, all aimed at improving aerodynamic grip.[48] However, the bodywork of the 2017 model must be able to cover the bodywork of the 2016 model of car.[54]
Deregulation of the rules governing the rear diffuser to allow manufacturers to develop a wider range of aerodynamic shapes.[48] There was also further deregulation of the rules governing the wheel arches, allowing the introduction of additional brake cooling ducts.[54]
The reintroduction of an active centre differential for the first time since the 2010 season.[49] Similarly, electronic differentials are permitted in the sport for the first time.[55]
In order to promote further manufacturer participation, homologation requirements were relaxed to allow any production car that is at least 3.9m (12.8ft) long to be eligible for recognition as a World Rally Car.[53] The designs of the cars were to be finalised by September 2016 and submitted for homologation by 1 November 2016.[56]
Sporting regulations
The points-scoring system for the World Championship for Manufacturers was changed, with manufacturers permitted to enter at least two and as many as three crews in each round, with the best two results being awarded points.[4] Changes were also made to the points awarded for the Power Stage, with points awarded to the top five drivers.
The FIA will exercise stricter controls over which drivers are eligible to compete in 2017-specification cars by only permitting registered manufacturers to enter 2017-specification cars.[4][6] The rule was introduced as a response to concerns over inexperienced drivers and drivers paying for the opportunity to race being able to compete in the more powerful 2017 cars without oversight.[57] The controls stop short of a licensing system similar to the one used in Formula One to allow experienced guest drivers to compete part-time.[58] To complement this, a new privateers' championship to be known as the WRC Trophy is scheduled to be contested for crews entering World Rally Cars used between 2011 and 2016.[4][59][60] Crews competing in the WRC Trophy will nominate seven rounds at which they will be eligible to score points, with their six best results counting towards their final points tally.[60]
Further changes were made to the sporting regulations, with the rules governing the running order—the order in which crews enter a stage—reverting to the system used in 2014 to address concerns over road sweeping,[61] whereby championship leaders were forced to clear the roads of loose gravel, costing them time and exposing the harder-packed and faster road base for following drivers to take advantage of. Under the reintroduced rules, the crews will enter a stage in championship order for the first day of competition, and then in reverse championship order for the remaining legs of the event.[62]
Season report
85ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo
Rallye Monte Carlo saw Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia start their title defence with a win,[9][63] recording their fourth victory in the event and M-Sport's first win since the 68th Wales Rally GB in 2012.[N 2]Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished second on Toyota's return to the sport, with Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja completing the podium. Thierry Neuville established an early lead as the opening stages were marked by attrition; Ogier lost forty seconds when he slid into a ditch, Kris Meeke and Juho Hänninen crashed out and restarted the next day with a penalty, Stéphane Lefebvre suffered a gearbox failure, and Elfyn Evans struggled for grip on the icy surface. Neuville carried the overnight lead from Ogier, who had recovered from ninth after his off, and Tänak. Neuville extended his lead to over a minute on the second leg of the rally as Ogier took a conservative approach to the icy roads. He gradually started to recover during the second pass over the day's stages, and inherited the lead when Neuville crashed on the final stage of the day, breaking his suspension and losing half an hour. Neuville's accident also handed Jari-Matti Latvala a provisional podium position. Dani Sordo encountered problems in the sister Hyundai, struggling with a loss of power steering, while Meeke was forced to retire after a collision on the road section between stages. Meanwhile, Evans regained his confidence on the dry tarmac and won three of the day's five stages to secure sixth place going into the final day of competition. The final leg of the rally saw Tänak develop a misfire that allowed Latvala to pass him for second and left him vulnerable to Sordo. A late change in the weather on the final stage left the field contending with difficult conditions; while Ogier and Latvala drove conservatively to secure first and second, while Tänak withstood pressure from Sordo to finish third. Sordo and co-driver Marc Martí finished the event fourth ahead of Craig Breen and Scott Martin who were the leading Citroën crew despite driving a year-old DS3 WRC. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt finished sixth, while seventh and eighth place went to World Rally Championship-2 entries; driving a Škoda Fabia R5 in a guest appearance, Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger finished ahead of Škoda Motorsport team-mates Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler. Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau overcame their penalty for restarting under Rally-2 regulations to finish ninth, while WRC-2 entrants Bryan Bouffier and Denis Giraudet completed the top ten in a Ford Fiesta R5. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul scored an additional five points for winning the Power Stage.
The rally was overshadowed by a fatal accident involving a spectator on the opening stage when Hayden Paddon lost control on a patch of black ice and hit the spectator as he rolled into an embankment, blocking the roadway.[8] The stage was stopped—and ultimately cancelled—as medical attention was sought and the car cleared away, but the spectator later died of his injuries. Although eligible to re-start under Rally-2 regulations, Paddon withdrew from the event.
Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. In the manufacturers' championship, points are only awarded to the top two classified finishers representing a manufacturer and driving a 2017-specification World Rally Car. There are also five bonus points awarded to the winners of the Power Stage, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. Power Stage points are only awarded in the drivers' and co-drivers' championships.
The WRC Trophy was created in response to the new limitations on the Manufacturer's championship, eliminating the private entries. To be able to participate, the Entrant must register in the Trophy with a previous generation World Rally Car. The participant can enter in any of the 13 events of the championship but in no more than 7 events, with the 6 best results counting towards the final tally.
The season started in Monte-Carlo, where Jourdan Serderidis was the sole entrant with a Citroën DS3 WRC. He won the class from start to end, winning maximum points, but finishing 29th in the overall classification.
Under rules introduced for the 2017 season, only manufacturers are permitted to enter 2017-specification cars. As such, the Adapta entries will officially be a part of M-Sport, but will be treated as a separate entity by the team.[29]
85ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo
65th Rally Sweden
31º Rally Guanajuato México
60ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France
37º Rally Argentina
51º Rally de Portugal
14º Rally d'Italia Sardegna
74th Rally Poland
67th Rally Finland
35. ADAC Rallye Deutschland
53º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada
73rd Wales Rally GB
26th Rally Australia
