Toyota flexes its muscle on WRC return

WRC Sweden will forever come to be known as the rally in which the championship gained renewed vigour, thanks to Toyota’s return to the top.

There are always important moments in motorsport that define both the history of the championship or series in which they occurred, as well as of motorsport itself. The 2017 FIA World Rally Championship’s second round in Sweden will go down as such a moment thanks to Jari-Matti Latvala giving Toyota a momentous victory.

Rally Sweden was not only the first win in nearly a year for the very fast, but erratic, Latvala. It was the first win for Toyota in the WRC since 1999, who left rallying’s top tier after that season to focus their efforts on Formula 1. Although technically they were listed as entrants in the 2000 WRC season but not eligible to score any points.

Back in the last year of the 20th century, it was Spain’s Didier Auriol who won Rally China but ended up posting retirments in the final two rounds of the season to miss out on the driver’s title by just 10 points. Fast forward to 2017 and Latvala’s 17th career win sees him leading the drivers’ championship by just four points over M-Sport Ford’s Sebastien Ogier, the four-time defending champion.

Ogier yet again had to deal with having to be first on the road to start the rally and dropped down the order a fair bit before clawing his way to within 17 seconds of Latvala by the start of the final day of the four-day rally. A mistake early on the final day blunted his challenge, however, and he had to settle for third place behind teammate Ott Tanak.

Prior to Latvala’s solid drive being rewarded with a win, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville looked set to win in the i20 WRC while holding a 46 second overall lead going into Saturday’s superspecial stage at night. But turning in late to a corner and running wide resulted in a collision that irreparably damaged the car’s steering.

Hyundai lost out on the chance to try and leapfrog Toyota in the manufacturer’s standing, but instead trail by 10 points in third place. M-Sport Ford hold the lead thanks to two podiums apiece for Ogier and Tanak and the defending champion’s win in the opening round of the season in Monte Carlo.

The Korean manufacturer has long promised to hit its stride in the WRC but during Volkswagen’s domination the last four years, was unable to do so. This year it seems like its drivers have been dropping the ball instead of capitalizing what looks to be a very competitive package indeed.

Neuville and Haydon Paddon should realize that with the WRC’s start order rules still hurting Ogier, they need to grab this chance while it is available to them instead of squandering more points as the circus gets the gravel rally leg of its annual tour underway.

Citroen had a forgettable outing with the much fancied Kris Meeke only managing 12th place after his retirment in the opening round of the season and Craig Breen scoring his second consecutive fifth place. One has to wonder if the talk of Meeke being Ogier’s biggest challenge to winning a fifth WRC crown was just hyperbole. Great Britain has not had a rallying hero since Colin McRae and Richard Burns and the country seems eager to anoint Meeke as their successor. Mind you, with his victory in Finland last year, Meeke did seem to fit the description.