New Zealand rally fans are in for a treat with 11 Rally1 hybrid cars on the entry list for this month’s World Rally Championship return.
Four Toyotas, four Fords and three Hyundais will tear up the classic North Island gravel stages, headed by Sebastien Ogier, Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville.
First, though, the WRC teams need to encounter the hot and rough stages of the Acropolis Rally in Greece this weekend.
One of the most famous rallies on the world calendar returned to the WRC last year, but unseasonably wet weather played havoc with the stages.
That won’t be the case this year though. The three days of the rally will see temperatures of 33 degrees or higher, adding extra spice to an already enticing encounter.
After a miserable run of luck over recent events, M-Sport Ford receives a massive boost with the return of Sebastien Loeb, a three-time winner of the rally (see main picture).
“It’s not an easy event, but it’s great to drive, so I’m looking forward to that. I will try my best, I will prepare as best as possible and I just hope I’ll be able to get into a good rhythm like I had in Kenya and Portugal,” Loeb said this week.
“Hopefully we will do a bit better, without any mistakes or problems; that’s the goal.
“Our test went well, it was good, the feeling with the car was correct and quite good. We tried to address a bit of the setup with suspension, diffs and hybrid which all seemed to go quite well.”
Last year’s winner was Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera, but running first car on the dry stages will prove to be a big disadvantage for the championship leader.
“Greece was a really nice rally for us last year, but our chances this time will probably depend a lot on the weather,” the Finn said.
“If it’s going to be dry then I think it’s going to be really tricky for us to open the road on Friday. If so, it probably won’t be much easier for our rivals just behind us, and hopefully, we can still make the best of the situation.”
On that front, it means that Loeb’s road position of eighth will be a huge advantage, as will that of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, starting ninth.
“This is going to be a very demanding rally, as it is going to be hot conditions for the cars as well as us in the cockpit,” Sordo explained.
“The gravel roads are also very tough on the tyres, so it will not just be about the speed in Greece.”
In WRC2, a good battle will ensue behind Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda), Yohan Rossel (Citroen), Teemu Suninen (Hyundai) and the Skoda Fabias of Nikolay Gryazin, Eyvind Brynildsen and Emil Lindholm.
After starting the rally with a super special stage in the Athens Olympic Stadium, crews face seven gravel stages totalling 108km on the opening day.
Leg 2 is the toughest with nearly 150km over six stages, while the final day sees just three stages and a further 45km.
Following the Acropolis Rally, competitors and teams have just three weeks to prepare for Rally New Zealand, which gets underway at the Auckland Domain with a super special stage on Thursday evening, September 29.
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