RALLY AUSTRALIA: Can Ogier make it a hat-trick?

With the tarmac of Rally Germany having been run and won since our expansive Rally Australia WRC preview the fight at the front of the World Rally Championship is over… almost.

In taking the chequer in Germany, Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia have the opportunity to take their third consecutive WRC crowns… as well as a Coffs Coast hat-trick.

The German victory was a first for the Volkswagen team, and erased the demons that appear to have plagued the otherwise-dominant Polo R since it entered the World Rally Championship in 2013.

Ogier also achieved a personal milestone of 30 WRC-level victories, tying him on the winners’ list with two-time Finnish champion, Marcus Gronholm. It was also the 30th Polo R victory in 35 rally appearances.

Ogier was followed home in Germany by teammates Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen, for a rousing VW 1-2-3. As a result, the driver’s championship can now only be won by a VW driver.

Despite yet another damaging incident in Germany, it’s Kris Meeke who emerges as the main threat to the VW’s superiority on the combined shire and forest roads that make up Rally Australia.

Meeke has shown tremendous pace in the Citroen DS3 WRC in his previous two Rally Australia appearances, with an off costing him a competitive podium in 2013.

Meeke was also quick in 2014, finishing fourth behind the VWs after incurring a one-minute time penalty for an excessive corner ‘cut’; without the penalty, he would have finished third.

Citroen teammate Mads Ostberg is more consistent than Meeke, but usually can’t match Kris’s pace. Look for Ostberg to take home some points here, too… but he is unlikely to hit podium pace despite sitting fourth in the championship standings, behind those Volkswagens.

Also in with a shout of the podium is Hayden Paddon, the young New Zealander excelling in his first full season (barring Monte Carlo) aboard the Hyundai i20 WRC.

He has been promoted from the Hyundai Mobis ‘second’ team into the primary effort alongside star Belgian driver Thierry Neuville for Rally Australia, and hopes to capitalise on his recent gravel pace, which has included a podium in Sardinia.

Dani Sordo, the man who Paddon will replace for Australia, will drive the third entry.

The rejuvenated M-Sport team has improved markedly with its updated Ford Fiesta RS WRCs and two young guns in Estonian Ott Tanak and Welshman Elfyn Evans behind the wheel.

Tanak in particular has shown world-class pace, which appears to have rattled the usually-controlled Evans, but it’s their combination of pace and consistency that could see the Fiestas spring a surprise…  so long as the aggressive Tanak can temper pace with the ability to finish.

Robert Kubica has decided to skip Rally Australia this season after an exciting 2014 event. He is determined to put tarmac testing miles on his newly-refreshed Fiesta before the circus returns to the Corsican tarmac after Australia wraps up.

With regular privateer Martin Prokop also staying home, the sole WRC ‘independent’ is Lorenzo Bertelli in his Fiesta RS WRC. Italian Bertelli has scored a solitary point as he has made the jump to the top category this season, but has experienced the Coffs roads in the WRC2 category previously.

Motoring.com.au will be on the ground at Rally Australia, providing daily reports and news from the paddock, so be sure to check back for updates.