2011 WRC season guide

CITROEN

Having won seven straight drivers' titles with Sebastien Loeb and clinched six of the last eight manufacturers' crowns, Citroen was indisputably the top dog of the previous rules package. But it has hinted that it could start 2011's new era as a relative underdog, with Ford considered to be further advanced with the development of its Fiesta than Citroen is with the new DS3. You still wouldn't underestimate a team with Citroen's recent record, though.

Sebastien Loeb

Nationality: French
Age: 36
Co-driver: Daniel Elena
Team: Citroen Total World Rally Team
WRC starts: 126
WRC wins: 62
WRC titles: 7

Will this be the year Loeb's title run ends? Will it be his final year in the WRC? Loeb quickly moved to clarify hints that he would bow out after 2011, but with the ambitious Ogier under the same awning, and a Ford team adamant it is ready to overturn Citroen's domination, Loeb seems to be facing tougher opposition than for many years. Yet he still had the competition so utterly under control in 2010 - taking it easy in Japan to make sure he could clinch the title at home in France, for instance - that he starts 2011 as an overwhelming title favourite, even if it might be a closer-run thing this time.

Sebastien Ogier

Nationality: French
Age: 27
Co-driver: Julien Ingrassia
Entrant: Citroen Total World Rally Team
WRC starts: 26
WRC wins: 2

For the first time in many years Loeb has a team-mate determined to actively challenge his number one status rather than settling into the number two role - and Ogier and Loeb share more than a nationality and a first name, their talent looks comparable too. Like any young driver, Ogier has had a few wobbles. But his poor start to 2009 and crash-strewn end to 2010 are overshadowed by his brilliant wins in Portugal and Japan last year, and by beating Loeb to second in Finland, their first rally as works Citroen team-mates. Ogier still has a huge experience deficit and it would be a massive shock if he beat Loeb to the title this year - but he's clearly Citroen's next legend.

Kimi Raikkonen

Nationality: Finnish
Age: 31
Co-driver: Kaj Lindstrom
Entrant: ICE 1 Racing Team
WRC starts: 11
WRC wins: 0

Raikkonen could've quietly slipped away after his less-than-impressive first WRC season, so it's a great credit to him that he's sticking with his rallying career, albeit on a slightly shorter programme this year. Getting used to a life of pace notes and tree-lined stages isn't a quick process for someone switching from Formula 1, and Raikkonen needs mileage - something he often deprived himself of by crashing out of rallies early (or even before the start...). He should be allowed
at least another year of learning before he is judged, though he does have to improve both his pace and consistency in 2011.

Petter Solberg

Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 36
Co-driver: Chris Patterson
Entrant: Petter Solberg World Rally Team
WRC starts: 160
WRC wins: 13
WRC titles: 1

After some scares over the winter, the 2003 world champion managed to put a deal together for a third season under his own banner. This year he has the advantage of the DS3 being a fresh start for all the Citroen crews plus more works assistance than before. Money is still very tight, though, and Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel wasn't shy about saying he didn't put Solberg in the works team simply because he doesn't think he's as quick as Loeb and Ogier. Nevertheless, this season is definitely Solberg's best chance of winning rallies since 2005.

Also in Citroens

Unlike M-Sport and Prodrive, the factory Citroen team doesn't have to put such an emphasis on selling customer cars, so there won't be many DS3s on the stages. But Dutch driver Peter van Merksteijn Jr will contest nine rallies in a factory-supported car, with his father Peter Sr also getting some outings.

FORD

Ford sees the 2011 regulation change as its best chance to turn the tables on Citroen, and M-Sport has put a huge effort into ensuring its new Fiesta hits the ground running. The S2000 Fiesta, out of which the WRC variant has grown, famously won on its debut in Monte Carlo last year, and the team has its sights firmly set on not just a debut rally victory for the new WRC, but the manufacturers' title if not the drivers' as well.

Mikko Hirvonen

Nationality: Finnish
Age: 30
Co-driver: Jarmo Lehtinen
Entrant: Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
WRC starts: 109
WRC wins: 12

A year ago Hirvonen seemed to be on the cusp of deposing Loeb: he had run the Frenchman extremely close in the 2009 title race, then kicked off 2010 by winning the Monte Carlo in Ford's S2000 car and then taken the WRC opener in Sweden too. But he hasn't won at all since then, as his 2010 form nosedived amid a loss of confidence. He finished the year a distant sixth in the standings, and was rarely on team-mate Latvala's pace in the second half of the championship. If it's the '09-spec Hirvonen who turns up for 2011, expect a title bid. If it's the 2010 version, he'll be supporting Latvala instead.

Jari-Matti Latvala

Nationality: Finnish
Age: 25
Co-driver: Miikka Anttila
Entrant: Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
WRC starts: 68
WRC wins: 4

It's taken a little while, but Latvala's days of rolling cars down valleys, crashing within sight of rally finishes and miscellaneous other misadventures guaranteed to distress team boss Malcolm Wilson seem to be behind him. Which is great news for Ford, because when he keeps it on the road, Latvala might just be the fastest man in modern rallying - the driver with the pure pace to halt the Loeb steamroller or prevent Ogier from dominating the next decade. Ordered to be Hirvonen's number two in 2010, this year his instruction is to make sure Ford wins the manufacturers' title.

Henning Solberg

Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 38
Co-driver: Ilka Minor
Entrant: M-Sport Stobart Ford Rally Team
WRC starts: 90
WRC wins: 0

The elder Solberg loved the S2000 version of the Ford Fiesta, which reinvigorated his form last year just as his career looked to be on the slide. In recent seasons he had faded from being a man who could take occasional podiums on speed alone to a regular sixth-place driver who needed attrition ahead to do much better. But if he gets on with the Fiesta WRC as well as he did with the S2000, then Solberg might be back to his best in 2011.

Mads Ostberg

Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 23
Co-driver: Jonas Andersson
Entrant: M-Sport Stobart Ford Rally Team
WRC starts: 27
WRC wins: 0

The rise of Ogier underlined that Ford lacked a comparable young talent on its books. Enter Ostberg, who has spent the last few seasons mostly in private Subarus - sometimes being extraordinarily quick, sometimes extremely frustrated with his car, and sometimes climbing out of it after a shunt. This is the Norwegian's big chance to show what he can really do in a stable, works-assisted environment with up to date machinery, and to earn himself a place in the WRC's future alongside Ogier and Latvala.

Matthew Wilson

Nationality: British
Age: 24
Co-driver: Scott Martin
Entrant: M-Sport Stobart Ford Rally Team
WRC starts: 74
WRC wins: 0

When Ford made a grab for Ogier's services last year, Citroen boss Quesnel mischievously pointed out that Ford had a young driver of its own in Wilson... But the young Briton's rise has not been stratospheric like Ogier's. After five years in the WRC, Wilson has become a solid points-scorer and top-six regular, but is yet to
challenge for his first podium. At present, he is only confirmed for the first half of the 2011 season.

Evgeny Novikov

Nationality: Russian
Age: 20
Co-driver: Stephane Prevot
Entrant: M-Sport Stobart Ford Rally Team
WRC starts: 11
WRC wins: 0

This young Russian knows only one speed: flat-out. That meant a lot of mangled Citroens (and some spectacular YouTube footage - check out his famous jump in Finland) when he was part of its Junior line-up in 2009, but when he was the right way up, Novikov was a match for team-mate Ogier on pure speed. After a funding shortfall sidelined him for 2010, Novikov will be back in a Ford from Mexico, at the start of what AUTOSPORT understands will be a fully-fledged return.

Ken Block

Nationality: American
Age: 43
Co-driver: Alessandro Gelsomino
Entrant: Monster World Rally Team
WRC starts: 7
WRC wins: 0

For a late starter in rallying with near-zero international experience, Block's stage times at the start of his limited 2010 campaign were very impressive. But after a few accidents cost him much-needed mileage, his desire to reach the finish at all costs blunted his speed a little - and then his car kept breaking on him anyway. This year he has a full-season programme and the Fiesta is a fresh start for everyone, two factors that will be a huge boost for the popular American.

Also in Fords

Multiple Middle East champion Khalid Al Qassimi continues his learning curve in a factory car run under the Abu Dhabi banner; Dutchman Dennis Kuipers steps up to top-level machinery as part of the new FERM team; regular points-scorer Federico Villagra will run in Munchi's colours again, and former Suzuki WRC driver P-G Andersson will be spectacular in a Fiesta in Sweden before focusing on his Proton Intercontinental Rally Challenge programme.

MINI

The first new manufacturer to commit to the WRC since Suzuki's short stint began in 2006, Mini's arrival is massive news for rallying - bringing an iconic brand, and a top team in Prodrive, back to the sport. Only on a limited programme this year, it is expected to make its debut in Italy. Prodrive has made a big point of its unusual strategy for this project: it designed what it classed as the ultimate WRC car, then found a manufacturer with a product that fitted that base, rather than having to contort a road car into a WRC framework. Given Prodrive's achievements with Subaru, Mini shouldn't need long to get up to speed, and if it proves a newcomer can threaten the Citroen/Ford establishment, that could entice more manufacturers back to the stages.

Kris Meeke

Nationality: British
Age: 31
Co-driver: Paul Nagle
Entrant: Mini WRC Team
WRC starts: 2
WRC wins: 0

Meeke's outstanding run to the 2009 IRC title proved he was ready for the WRC chance that had eluded him during his promising but erratic rise through the ranks in the early 2000s. Forced to push too hard in a Peugeot that was losing sight of the improving Skodas last year, his title defence was comparatively scrappy, but that's no reason to doubt what he'll be capable of once he's got through the inevitable learning period in the world championship.

Dani Sordo

Nationality: Spanish
Age: 27
Co-driver: Carlos del Barrio
Entrant: Mini WRC team
WRC starts: 72
WRC titles: 0

Four-and-a-bit years at the wheel of an all-conquering Citroen have given Sordo plenty of experience of what a top WRC car should feel like and how a top team should operate, and it's that knowledge that Prodrive wants to tap into as it gets the new Mini up to speed. But while Sordo is an ideal signing for this development period, there's a question mark about whether he's a driver who can take Mini right to the top. There's no shame in being outpaced by Loeb in the same car, but when Loeb hit trouble, it was Ford that picked up the wins, not Sordo, and Ogier was instantly a greater threat to Loeb in the works team than Sordo ever had been.

Also in Minis

Prodrive is keen to see customer cars in action, and former IRC midfielder Daniel Oliveira is the first to commit to one. The Brazilian will start off in the S2000 derivative of the new car.

WHAT'S NEW FOR 2011

New cars - After 14 seasons of the old-style World Rally Cars, the new generation machinery takes S2000 rules as a starting point and adds turbocharged 1600cc engines and aerodynamic changes. The cars will be slower, but more spectacular and cheaper.

New teams - Mini becomes the WRC's first new top-class manufacturer in five years, and the change of rules has already enticed a promising number of new customer entries for all three brands.

Power stages - Each rally now features a live televised stage - normally the final test of the event - for which bonus points are on offer for the fastest three drivers. With the points allocated on a 3-2-1 basis, it won't have a disproportionate effect on the title chase, but could make a real difference if the title fight is very close.

Real opposition for Loeb - Ford believes it could have the car to beat, which would give Hirvonen and Latvala their best title shot yet, while Ogier comes into Citroen determined to take the fight to Loeb rather than just being the seven-time champion's wingman.

The WRC Academy - Spotting emerging talent in the WRC could now be easier than in many years, with the Junior series replaced by the new WRC Academy. This will see 24 young drivers competing in identical Ford Fiesta R2s with Pirelli control tyres, and budgets are limited to 135,000 euros for the six-round calendar. Although the J-WRC produced Loeb, Ogier, Sordo and Andersson, entries had waned in recent years and the Academy is a very welcome refresh for the WRC feeder system.