MOTORSPORT: Australia could host Rally world title decider

The motorsport world could have a laser-like focus ‘down under’ in November with a distinct possibility the 2017 World Rally Championship will still be on the line at Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour, NSW.

Belgian Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville last night won Rally Poland, his third victory of the season, and is now just 11 points adrift of Ford’s championship front-runner, Frenchman Sebastien Ogier.

Poland delivered Hyundai its best weekend in the WRC, with New Zealander Hayden Paddon second and Spaniard Dani Sordi fourth. Hyundai has now closed to within 22 points of the M-Sport Ford squad in the teams championship.

Five rounds remain, with Rally Australia November 16-19 the season finale.

The prospect of the title being decided over the fast dirt roads in Northern NSW has an extra edge as Australia is currently fighting intense lobbying from New Zealand to retain a place on the WRC calendar from 2018.

Neuville has now driven his Hyundai i20 Coupe to victory in three of the eight WRC rounds so far this year, while Ogier has won two in his Ford Fiesta.

After likely victories eluded Neuville in the first two rallies of the year (Monte Carlo and Sweden), the Beglian and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul have been on the podium at all six since – and half the time on the top step.

Their success in Poland came after the astonishingly quick Estonian Ott Tanak in a Ford Fiesta squandered his chance of victory for the third consecutive year.

Tanak- who posted his maiden WRC victory last month in Sardinia – was trailing Neuville by just 3.1seconds at the start of the last leg and blasted through the first stage of the final day 4.9seconds faster than the Belgian to take the lead, but then, on the next stage, came to grief at high speed.

“It was the only muddy place in the forest. I hit a bank with the rear and it pulled the front into a tree,” Tanak said. “Was I driving too hard? You need to push hard if you want to win.”

While Tanak limped through the rest of that stage, the damage was too great for him to complete the event.

Tanak’s demise allowed Paddon to finish runner-up – his best result for a year – and for Ogier to salvage a podium with third place, despite a string of problems which included an excursion into a field on the penultimate stage.

The Frenchman was almost a minute behind Paddon at the end and more than 2minutes 20seconds behind Neuville.

Hyundai won 12 of the 22 stages and is now clearly the benchmark manufacturer in world rallying, even if that is not yet reflected in the championship standings.

The top Citroen C3 in Poland was driven by Frenchman Stephane Lefebvre who finished fifth, while last year’s Rally Australia winner, Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, was ninth in the second Citroen – almost 4¾minutes behind Neuville.

Toyota’s best was Juho Hanninen in 10th, although fellow Finn and Yaris team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala did score maximum points on the Power Stage.

A star of the weekend was Finnish debutant Teemu Suninen who, after just six stages in a World Rally Car, won a stage in Rally Poland on the way to an eventual sixth place. The 23 year-old would have placed fifth had he not spun Ford Fiesta during the event’s last stage.

And 21-year-old Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby - winner of Australia’s round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in Canberra barely a month ago - won the WRC2 round in Poland driving a Skoda Fabia R5. He led all but the first stage on the way to his first WRC2 victory and 12th outright.

Overall winner Neuville admitted Tanak’s crash “allowed us some breathing space in the final stages”.

“Our goal for the weekend was to outscore Seb (Ogier), which we did, and we have closed the gap in the championship for the second rally in a row,” Neuville added.

Kiwi Paddon employed a ‘no-risk strategy on the way to second place.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am with this result,” Paddon said. “It feels like a win after the season we have had so far.

“It’s like a weight has been lifted.

“We were focused on third place, but to take second, of course as a result of Ott’s misfortune, is an added bonus.

“We still have some speed to find compared to the guys at the front, but it sets us up nicely for Finland – and beyond.”

Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan said the battle between Neuville and Tanak had been “epic”.

“WRC is in great health with such a high level of competition, and we are honoured to be playing our part,” Nandan said.

World Rally Championship driver standings after eight of 13 rounds – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Ford Fiesta) 160 points; 2. Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Hyundai i20) 149; 3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Toyota Yaris) 112; 4. Ott Tanak (Estonia, Ford Fiesta) 108; 5. Daniel Sordo (Spain, Hyundai i20) 82; 6. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain, Ford Fiesta) 57; 7. Hayden Paddon (New Zealand, Hyundai i20) 51; 8. Craig Breen (Ireland, Citroen C3) 43; 9. Juho Haenninen (Finland, Toyota Yaris) 30; 10. Kris Meeke (Grea Britain, Citroen C3) 27; 11. Stephane Lefebvre (France, Citroen C3) 22; 12. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, Citroen C3) 21; 13. Esapekka Lappi (Finland, Toyota Yaris) 20; 14. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Ford Fiesta) 18; 15. Teemu Suninen (Finland, Ford Fiesta) 13.

WRC team standings – 1. M-Sport Ford 259 points; 2. Hyundai 237; 3. Toyota 153; 4. Citroen 117.

Swings and roundabouts for ‘Mr Versatility’ Ekstrom
Mattias Ekstrom, the Swede who excelled in the Bathurst 1000 four years ago, is leading the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) but has probably lost any chance of retaining his World Rallycross (RX) Championship.

Ekstrom missed last weekend’s World RX round at Holjes, Sweden in favour of the DTM round at Norisring in Germany.

His absence from Holjes allowed fellow Swede Johan Kristoffersson to skip 31 points clear in the World RX driver standings.

Second is Norwegian Petter Solberg (Kristoffersson’s team boss in a Volkswagen factory-supported squad) who missed the weekend’s final after stalling at the start of his semi-final.

Andreas Bakkerud, was runner-up at Holjes in a Ken Block-prepared Ford Focus RS, ahead of Sebastien Loeb in a Peugeot 208.

Loeb now heads off for the Silk Way Rally from Russia to China, driving Peugeot’s new Dakar Rally car, before returning for the next World RX round at Trois Rivieres in Canada.

Meanwhile, Audi stalwart Ekstrom’s DTM lead was trimmed to just two points at Norisring.
In the first race he drove his RS5 to third place, behind the BMW M4s of Bruno Spengler and Martime Martin.

Then, in race two, Ekstrom was fourth, behind Martin and a pair of Mercedes-Benz C63s driven by Lucas Auer and Edoardo Mortara.

While Ekstrom is yet to win a DTM race in 2017, the 2004 and ’07 champion has been on the podium 43 per cent of the time so far this season and has finished 86 per cent of the races in the top 10.

Auer, on 87 points, is the man closest to Ekstrom (89) in the championship standings, with Martin third (78), ahead of a pair of Audi drivers - Jamie Green (75) and Rene Rast (72).

Audi leads the manufacturer standings with 326 points to Mercedes-Benz’s 282 and BMW’s 248.

Runner-up good as it gets for Briscoe
US-based Sydneysider Ryan Briscoe was runner-up in the GT Le Mans class of the ‘Six Hours Of The Glen’ IMSA race at Watkins Glen, New York last night. This equalled Briscoe’s best result so far this year in his Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.

Briscoe’s British co-driver Richard Westbook was held off by the class-winning BMW M6 in a 25-minute tussle at the end.

It was the first victory in IMSA competition for an M6 – and BMW’s first in GTLM in America for two years.

The Briscoe-Westbrook Ford won the ‘Green Challenge’ for having the “cleanest, fastest and most efficient car” at the Glen.
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 shared by Kiwi Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen finished fourth in the GT Daytona class, close behind a Honda NSX, Ferrari 488 and BMW M6.

Another Mercedes, with American-based Australian businessman Kenny Habul among its driver trio, was 15th of the 17 cars in that class.

A Cadillac Daytona prototype (DPi) won outright for the sixth time this IMSA season - but this time with different drivers, a trio including Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi.