The final round of the 2016 World Rally Championship will be the end of an era, as both Volkswagen and the 1.6 litre WRC cars say goodbye at Rally Australia.The 2016 Kennards Hire Rally Australia will be the end of an era, as the World Rally Championship bids farewell to Volkswagen and the current WRC cars.
With both the Drivers’ and Manufacturer’s titles sowed up, you would think that Sebastién Ogier and Volkswagen would enjoy a relaxing drive to the finish line.
However, after the shock news of VW’s exit, the German manufacturer will be using Rally Australia as a fitting swansong to their time in the WRC.
VW will be hoping for the sort of performance that has defined its time in the WRC: complete domination.
Their soon-to-be redundant drivers will be looking to showcase their skills to state their cases for inclusion in the remaining teams in the WRC order.
While their World Champion teammate Ogier’s letterbox is rapidly filling up with offers, both Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen will have to prove themselves in order to have a seat for next year.
Extreme WRC cars on the way
Credit: @World/Citroën Racing
The other fond farewell will be to the 1.6 litre WRC cars which first appeared in 2011.
2017 will bring in more radical cars, featuring lighter more powerful with aerodynamics, which hark back to the days of Group B.
The current generation will wave goodbye with a four-way fight for second in the driver’s championship.
Mikkelsen was the longtime holder of the position but his mechanical dramas in Wales has dropped him 14 points back from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Neuville’s teammates Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo are also within a sniff of the runners-up position, being 17 and 24 points down respectively, with 28 points up for grabs.
From open farmland to Jungle
Credit: @World/Red Bull Content Pool
The stages are based around New South Wales and feature an entertaining mix of stages.
The fast, flowing hard road stages across the open countryside around Coffs Harbour are often coated with loose gravel, giving a benefit to those further down the running order, such as DMACK’s Ott Tänak.
In stark contrast, some of the Aussie action takes drivers through soft, secluded stages in the jungle. The narrow roads require a more technical approach with dense trees letting in chinks of unexpected sunlight to test the driver and co-driver’s focus.
Thursday’s rally show launches the event before drivers’ head south on Friday to tackle a double loop of four main stages around Macksville followed by a blast through the Super Special Stages.
Saturday is the toughest day of the rally when the 50.8 kilometre Nambucca stage is tackled twice while Sunday heads north to Wedding Bells State Forest for five final day tests.
Rally Australia will hopefully provide a fitting farewell to an end of an era for these current WRC cars when action begins with the pre-event Shakedown on Thursday 17 October 20