January 22nd sees the start of the vastly exciting World Rally Championship for 2015. As ever the most famous rally on the calendar starts things off as Monte Carlo and it’s mixture of weather once again becomes the main attraction of the motorsport world.
World Rally Championship 2015 Preview
We had a vintage year of action in 2014 and 2015 is looking even more exciting with new drivers and new cars ready to test themselves to the ultimate.
There really is nothing quite like rallying. I’ve written before of my admiration for the drivers and co-drivers who go as quick as they can inches away from trees, piles of logs, the edge of mountains and of course the spectators who go and stand in the middle of nowhere supporting their heroes. Yet, as soon as they finish a stage, then down goes down the window, the helmets come off and the media are chatting away to the drivers their faces beaming with smiles. Amazing characters every one of them .
So let’s look ahead to 2015 ;
Volkswagen have dominated things for the last 2 seasons and it’s hard to look past them again. Sebastien Ogier champion for the last 2 years and Jari Matti Latvala will take all the beating again and one of them will surely be champion. Their third driver Andreas Mikkelsen is a talented young man and whereas I don’t expect him to be in the Chanpionship running he may well win a couple of rallies this year.
Over at Citroen Mads Ostberg and popular Irishman Kris Meeke will again lead surely the biggest challenge to VW. Meeke established himself in 2014 as a winner in waiting and came frustratingly close when crashing out whilst leading in Germany. He is the best British talent since the golden days of the the early 2000’s and surely he will win a rally during 2015. You know what to expect from Ostberg. He will be a consistent top 5 finisher again and cannot be ruled out of a win this year. In Monte Carlo the pair will be joined by legendary multi champion Sebastien Loeb so a win cannot be ruled out to start the year.
Hyundai will be much more of a threat during 2015. Thierry Neuville the shock winner of Rally Germany in 2014 is again joined by Dani Sordo and you would imagine they will continue to improve in preparation for a full out attack at the championship in 2016. Hayden Padden will drive the third car.
At M Sport’s Ford team Welshman Elfyn Evans returns with new team mate Ott Tanak. They will be hoping to run much nearer the front this year and towards the end of 2014 there were signs they could do so. The pair will be joined by Martin Prokop and I expect the team to steadily improve during the year.
Other drivers we will see again are former Formula One driver Robert Kubica and Henning Solberg. Kubica’s main aim in 2015 will surely to stay on all four wheels as far too often last year he finished upside down. He needs to deliver if he’s to still be around in 2016.
We will doubtless see wildcard entries throughout the year from Craig Breen and maybe Nasser Al Attiyah who are both fine young talents within the European Rally championship. One man we won’t be seeing is the now retired Mikko Hirvonen who has been replaced by Tanak. It remains to be seen if he is seen as a team manager in years to come.
So who will be 2015 World Rally Champion? It’s hardly original but I have to go for Ogier to win a third title in a row. The VW suits his style of driving perfectly and he just seems to be able to find time where others can’t. Latvala will push him all the way but it’s Ogier for me.
One thing we know for certain is we are in for some fantastic entertainment throughout 2015. I wish every driver the very best luck and hope to see all finish safely ready to battle again in 2016.
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