World Rally Championship drivers feel Rally Saudi Arabia’s unique challenges deserve a place on the calendar, but the event is too extreme for the cars and tyres to host a title decider.
Saudi Arabia made its WRC debut at the weekend after signing 10-year deal with the championship to host the final round for at least five years of the deal. The rally, based out of Jeddah, delivered a drama-filled event offering a completely new challenge for the WRC thanks to its mix of brutal desert and rocky stages.
For a brand-new event the rally ticked many boxes. It provided stunning visuals for the broadcast, and tested crews to the limit, while the organising team deserved credit for a smooth first running of the event.
But it was the incredibly rough sections of stages that provided a talking point throughout the event, having triggered a spate of punctures and tyre delaminations across the WRC field. Every Rally1 crew suffered at least one tyre issue, with Hyundai’s Ott Tanak picking up four tyre failures across three stages on Friday afternoon.
The amount of tyre failures and the lottery of them occurring drew criticism from the drivers who suggested that some man-made stage sections of the stages were too extreme for both the WRC cars and Hankook tyres.
While Sebastien Ogier ultimately sealed a ninth world title, before the event he felt the rally wasn’t the correct event for a final round to decide the title due to its extreme nature.
“It is very extreme and the roads will need to be better prepared to give a chance for the tyre to survive, and also it is not the place to do a final. I don’t say that we shouldn’t come here but not for the final,” Ogier told Autosport.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera also felt the stages were not “for these cars and tyres” given the amount of tyre failures.
Rally winner Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville declared the challenge exciting and one that fully deserves a place in the WRC calendar, but feels it should be placed earlier in the year to avoid a title being decided by punctures.
“For a title-deciding rally it is definitely not a good one, it shouldn’t be the last one of the season. Elfyn [Evans] has been leading the championship for the whole year and coming here his chances are very little [due to road position] and then with the puncture it made everything complicated for him,” said Neuville.
“This rally has its place in the championship because it is exciting and the pictures are great, and the driving is fun, but I think we need to work a bit on the reliability of the tyres and put the rally bit earlier in the season.”
M-Sport-Ford team principal Rich Millener was full of praise for the rally organisers for what they delivered in their first year, but agreed there are tweaks to be made to some of the stages in the future.
“All the stages ran on time and everything was done well, the service park was good and all the shared facilities that were promised happened, and everything they [the organisers] said they would do, happened, so you cannot knock them for that,” said Millener.
Joshua McErlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
“Maybe next year we need to work harder on some of the roads to be a bit stronger and harder base, they have got more than enough space to do single passes through stages, but then you double the road cleaning effect.
“There are some tweaks that could be done for sure, and I think if the title wasn’t being denied on the last stage we might talk about it differently anyway. In general, they have done a good job and it deserves a place on the calendar, it was a good first edition.”
FIA will listen to driver feedback
Responding to the comments made by the drivers FIA deputy president Malcolm Wilson, who attended the event on Friday, felt the event delivered “what rally is about” and was impressed by the event’s organisation.
Wilson did confirm that the FIA will listen to feedback following the event, and could consider moving the rally to a slot earlier in the year in the future.
“There is lots of things you can look at, it is the first time the event has run and we will get a lot of feedback from everybody and obviously we will listen,” said Wilson. “Personally, I think it is what rallying is all about and we have seen a great story unfold. Maybe, and we need to look, it could be an event we could put in the middle of the year, it would be difficult with the temperatures in July or August, it is something we can look at.
“But I think if you look at the event as a whole for the first time it has certainly created some talking points. From what I have seen I think the event has done a really good job and it has not been easy for them. I didn’t have any doubts that they wouldn’t put on a good event to be honest.”
Hankook tyres
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Hankook to work with FIA to ensure its tyres are appropriate
Given the unknown nature of the event and the fact that this is the first year for Hankook as the WRC tyre supplier, Saudi Arabia was always going to be a challenge. The Korean brand says it will take learnings from the event and already has some improvements in the pipeline to ensure it has a product suited to the conditions.
“I think all things considered the performance could have been much worse,” said Hankook representative Steven Cho. “While there is lots of leanings and things we can take, there are many developments in the pipeline that should make some improvements, but we have heard many comments about the appropriateness of such rough stages.”
Asked if Hankook needs to develop a new tyre to cope with Saudi Arabia’s roads in the future, Cho added: “I think we will see how the event unfolds in the future and how rough is appropriate and we will follow how those discussions will go.
“It is fine balance, punctures are a part of rallying and it makes it exciting but it is fine line to make sure it is on the right side of sporting and fan excitement. We will keep monitoring that and work with the FIA to make sure we have an appropriate product in the future.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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