After 10 months and 11 rallies, the title of 2021 World Rally Champion will finally be awarded on Sunday afternoon at Rally Monza.
As happened 12 months ago, the title can only be won by Toyota drivers, but this year, it’s Sebastien Ogier that leads Elfyn Evans, rather than the other way around.
The Frenchman is odds on favourite to claim his eighth title, but as we saw last year in Italy, anything can happen.
This will be Ogier’s last drive as a full-timer in the WRC, and he’ll be wanting to go out on top, but winning the rally won’t be his prime objective.
For sure, he’d love to be the last WRC rally winner in the current World Rally Car era, but taking the championship and etching his name further into the record books will be a much higher priority.
“While it’s true that this rally will be the end of a sporting chapter for myself and especially for Julien, this is not something I am thinking too much about for now: I think this is the best way to approach it, so that I can give my best as always and focus on our target of winning both titles,” Ogier said.
“Of course, the situation going to Monza is much more favourable than one year ago, as this time I have some points in hand in the drivers’ standings. But it is not done yet and we need to stay focused.”
As for Evans, this time last year he was leading the WRC, but he slipped off the road in treacherously icy conditions and lost his chance – then graciously slowed his title rival (and team-mate) down so that he wouldn’t make the same mistake.
“It’s good to be going into the final round still with a chance of taking the drivers’ title. It’s an outside chance but Scott and I will give it our best shot,” the Welshman says.
“The approach will be just to aim for the best result possible and see what happens.”
The other potential winners in Monza are the Hyundais of Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo (main photo), and Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera. All three have nothing to lose, and Neuville in particular will be hell-bent on giving his team some late season success.
“Monza is always a very nice rally to drive, and of course is a special place for the team as we won the manufacturers’ championship here in 2020,” he said.
“I really like the format of the event, with some stages on the circuit and others in the mountains.”
Oliver Solberg and former M-Sport driver Teemu Suninen will also drive for the Korean squad on a rally that has again replaced Rally Japan as the championship’s finale.
For the past two years the WRC circus was supposed to end on Japanese tarmac, but the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to that.
Held at the iconic Monza racing circuit near Milan, Rally Monza features stages at Monza itself – making use of the super-smooth racetrack, the historic banked oval and mixed-surface service roads – as well as sections on challenging mountain roads around Bergamo.
The opening two days of the rally on Friday and Saturday will both feature a pair of mountain stages repeated in the morning, followed by stages at the track in the afternoon. A trio of stages at Monza then round out the rally on Sunday.
As always, the rally will be streamed live via the WRC website, with a 16-stage itinerary featuring 253 kilometres of competitive driving.
So who wins, Ogier or Evans?
As much as it would be nice to see the sport’s first Welsh champion, it seems highly likely that will have to wait for at least another 12 months.
Current WRC Drivers’ points:
1/ Sebastien Ogier 204 points
2/ Elfyn Evans 187
3/ Thierry Neuville 159
4/ Kalle Rovanpera 140
5/ Ott Tanak 128
Manufacturers’ points:
1/ Toyota 474 points
2/ Hyundai 427
3/ M-Sport / Ford 185
4/ Hyundai 2C Competition 58
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