2010 had finally arrived as the start of a new decade and since the turn of the century hadn’t
really changed in any significant way since. The actual podiums created as an end result of these
championships was also at a bit of a standstill- Citroen had won the manufacturer’s title for the
past 3 years, and Loeb had won the driver’s title for the past 6 years. It was clear that if anyone
else was going to attempt to take either title, a little bit of a shakeup would be required.
Not beating about the bush, 2010 was another year in this anthology- Citroen on consecutive
manufacturer win number 4, and Loeb on consecutive driver win number 7. And, yeah,
2011 continued this, with identical standings. It is also important to note the significant changes
that were implemented at the start of this season, the biggest the sport had seen since
the introduction of the World Rally Car back in 1997. Most notably, the cars were to be based
mostly on the previous Super 2000 class of racers. Though unlike those cars, which were fitted with
naturally aspirated 2L engines, these new versions were to be fitted with 1.6L turbo engines.
Plus, cars could be fitted with kits, such as a rear wing, though these items must be removable
within a predetermined time limit. The final major change was the introduction of something called
a power stage. Basically, the top 3 finishers at the final stage of any given rally would be given
bonus points, no matter where they placed in the stage as a whole. First would get 3 bonus points,
2nd would get 2, and 3rd would get 1. This idea was actually trialled twice in the 1999 season at
Rally Finland and the Tour de Course. Still, these changes were no skin off the teeth of Citroen and
Loeb, adding yet another point to their tally of consecutive wins. At this point it seems a little
outrageous that one teams and one driver were able to dominate so, well, effortlessly. I mean, 7
consecutive wins? There surely has to be some sort of bribery going on. On the contrary, there was
plenty of competition- Ford was furiously trying to fight back with their Focus and team of drivers
such as Mikko Hirvonen, as were a number of other teams. No, instead it was more that Citroen
had simply perfected the rally car for the time, it really was a truly incredible machine of power
and agility. As for Loeb? A genuinely incredible individual with not only buckets of natural
talent, but also a truly inspirational level of drive, pun intended. Something was going to be
needing to come in and shake up the championship once more, and some new faces might help do that.
One of these quote unquote “new” faces, was the return of a very old competitor- Mini. The reason
I say new is because Mini hadn’t competed in rally since the 60’s and had actually never competed in
the WRC until this point. They had obviously been one of the most iconic racing teams in history,
undeniably being the icon for rallysport in the 1960’s and the pre-WRC era, but after decades of
hiding in the shadows they were ready to return. Not to mention the fact that the Mini of today
and the Mini that revolutionised the roads of 1960’s Britain were, to put it bluntly,
vastly different. The Mini John Cooper Works WRC was their baby of choice this time- though
not based on the Cooper like many would expect, instead being built upon the design of the much
more rugged Countryman, fitted with a 1.6 number courtesy of BMW. It was entered in a limited event
in the 2011 WRC, but would not be raced fully until the 2012 season, under the Prodrive team
who previously had worked with the Subaru Impreza. However, as one manufacturer entered the fray,
another one left. It was announced at the end of the 2012 season that the Ford World Rally
Team would be ending its participation in the WRC as Ford was cutting its sponsorship.. Obviously,
multiple teams had left the championship before, but this was a huge moment for the sport as this
Ford team had been competing continuously since 1978, in that time winning 3 titles to their
name. The Ford World Rally Team, in its then current form, had been operating since 1997,
but traces its roots further back as the Malcolm Wilson Motorsport team, also known as M-Sport.
M-Sport had been competing also with Fords, but after the official factory arm of Ford departed
in 2012, M-Sport became the official name under which Fords would continue to race after they
found other sponsorships to secure funding. At this point too, Citroen was also shaking
up their offerings. The C4 had won them 3 world championships, and now its replacement was here
to continue this legacy. THe Citroen DS3 WRC, obviously based on the Citroen DS3.
The DS3 was quite different for the manufacturer, being the first car launched under the “DS”
brand of Citroen, and from 2016 onwards, wouldn’t even be marketed as a Citroen.
Mechanically, it was pretty sound, downgrading to a 1.6L turbocharged inline 4 making 300hp.
To be honest, introducing so many of these cars back to back can appear fairly monotonous,
however, there is actually a reason for this. As some people have pointed out in previous episodes
and from general observations, the WRC saw a shift throughout the 2000s from the popularity
of sedan based racers to hatchback based. By the time the 2010s rolled around, the entire
championship was contested by only hatchbacks. There is a multitude of possible reasons for this,
such as hatchbacks being lighter, easier to work on, easier to develop and simply the fact that
sales dictate that hatchbacks have overtaken the sedan in terms of popularity. Of course,
there have been successful similarly sized and scaled cars throughout the history of the sport,
such as the Peugeot 205 and the Lancia Delta, but they were comparatively few and far between.
This means that most cars in the WRC share a very similar silhouette, a far cry from the likes of
the Group B era, where every car was instantly recognisable and distinguishable from one another.
This would be a continued story for the next big entrant into the sport- Volkswagen. Like Mini,
Volkswagen had competed in rally before. They predominantly performed throughout the 80’s with
their Golf GTIs. However, with not much success or luck, they formally withdrew from the sport
in 1990. However, in 2013, this aspect of their history was revived and they appeared once again.
This time, they presented the VW Polo R WRC. Unlike most cars entered throughout history,
the Polo didn’t have the early stepping stones and settling to do, being that the team managed
to take their first ever constructors title in the same season that the car was debuted, with quite a
sizeable margin over Citroen too. The driver’s title would once again be taken by Sebastien,
but not Loeb. Sebastien Ogier was another Frenchman, and one that managed to usurp
Loeb from his throne. Ogier had started his rallying career in the mid 2000s racing small
rallies for Peugeot. He moved over to the WRC in 2008, and was actually the first ever Junior WRC
driver to score a point in the WRC, as he not only placed first in the juniors championship,
but 8th overall, scoring him a single point. After a brief stint with Citroen he would move
to Volkswagen to spearhead their new Polo WRC project, and it seems that was a good choice.
However, Ogier’s victory did mean that Loeb’s consecutive run had finally come to an end,
with an astounding 9 year domination of the title between 2004 and 2012. Its also worth noting in
2013 that both the WRC 2 and WRC 3 categories were introduced. This was a reorganisation of
the Group R classes, they themselves introduced in 2008. While there is a lot to unpack, the WRC
2 basically homologated 4WD cars from the previous R5 class, such as the Skoda Fabia R5, while the
WRC 3 homologated 2wd cars from the R1, R2 and R3 classes, such as the Renault Twingo RS R1.
There is a lot to this aspect, so let me know if you want me to cover them in a separate video to
keep this one running too long. The 2014 season was largely a similar story to the previous year.
Volkswagen took their second title with a point total over double than that
of Citroen’s in second, and Ogier would easily take his second driver’s title. Interestingly,
another fairly large name in the sport would return this year after 11 years’ absence,
this time being Hyundai, who had last competed in 2003 with the Accent WRC. This time, they debuted
a new, smaller motor to better fit in with the modern landscape, that being the I20 WRC. With
not much success in the early years, it would soon come into its own, as we shall soon see.
Many people overlook this period of the sport as it may not seem as interesting or iconic as past
championships. However, with the second generation of World Rally Car Rules being
implemented and a number of new and old faces mixing up the battle for the title,
the stage was yet again changing dramatically. Plus, with whispers of such ludicrous things as
hybrids and all electrics entering in the coming years, no one really knew what was to follow.