If Steven Spielberg was to write the script for a movie about the World Rally Championship, then it would pretty much play out exactly like the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally.
As rallying entered a new era with hybrid power, less aerodynamics, passive differentials and space frame chassis’, the intensity of the competition was next level.
The fight for victory went right down to the last stage, and the drama proceeded until the very last time control, but it was an intense story of drama right from the time the cars first turned a wheel at shakedown on Thursday morning.
Rather than giving a blow-by-blow account of what went on (a quick browse through social media will keep you entertained for hours), let’s just say that the following:
1/ The Sebastiens, Loeb and Ogier, had a battle for the ages
2/ M-Sport delivered in spades with first, third and fifth places
3/ Hyundai have major issues, both with their car, and seemingly, within the team
That Sebastien Loeb could return to the WRC nearly two years after he last competed and be the fastest driver, right from the very first run of shakedown, says plenty about the man who many call the “GOAT” (or the Greatest Of All Time).
It would seem impossible to come back into the WRC in a brand new car that he’d barely tested, straight after three weeks on the Dakar Rally, and take a record-equalling eighth Monte Carlo victory.
But there you go.
Surprisingly, but perhaps not so, depending on your point of view, the new Rally1 hybrid cars from Ford and Toyota were incredibly well matched, and victory came more down to luck than the fact that one team had a distinct advantage.
That’s often the case in Monte Carlo, and Ogier’s penultimate stage puncture, along with his last stage jump start, not only cost him the lead, but victory as well.
Hyundai had a totally miserable rally. Thierry Neuville took one stage win, but other than that, the team that still doesn’t have a Team Principal (after Andrea Adamo’s departure) went home licking its wounds.
Ott Tanak slid off the road and holed his i20 N’s radiator, Oliver Solberg was withdrawn after a rally-long problem with smoke in the cabin finally took its toll on the crew, and Neuville himself suffered a myriad of mechanical problems.
All is not lost though. Monte Carlo is the most specialised rally of the season, and if Hyundai can quickly get their ducks in a row, there’s no reason why they can’t bounce back strongly next time out in Sweden.
However, Ford and Toyota will also increase their speed as well, and the Korean team is starting from a fair way back.
In the meantime, it would be fun to imagine that Spielberg and his team are currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on the first WRC blockbuster, aptly titled “Monte Madness”.
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