Analysing the key moves in WRC’s 2022 silly season

The World Rally Championship silly season hit a metaphorical sixth gear over crest last week as a raft of driver confirmations were announced ahead of 2022’s new hybrid era.

Announcements from Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport arrived in the space of 48 hours ensuring the majority of the field is now locked in, with only two seats at M-Sport Ford, Toyota’s fourth car and Hyundai’s 2C Competition’s plans yet to be officially announced.

As the WRC prepares for a new dawn with its hybrid Rally1 regulations, Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport have been thinking about the next season earlier than in previous years, with resources being pulled to develop all-new hybrid cars while the curtain falls on the WRC car era.

Such a focus on 2022 has prompted an earlier silly season than perhaps normal, with Hyundai making the first move in May by re-signing long-time servant Thierry Neuville and 2019 champion Ott Tanak to multi-year deals.

An assertive move to nail down two of the sport’s most coveted drivers triggered months of speculation as to who will drive where for 2022 with several of the jigsaw pieces coming together last week.

Now the cards have largely been dealt the analysis can begin as to which team has made the shrewdest moves in the driver market.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Toyota
Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanpera sign new deals
Esapekka Lappi rejoins to share third car with Sebastien Ogier

The biggest storyline of the silly season has surrounded the future of seven-time champion Sebastien Ogier, who extended his full-time stay in WRC into 2021, having originally stated in 2019 that last year, which resulted in a seventh title, would be his last.

A COVID-19 shortened 2020 prompted Ogier to push on into 2021 but after much speculation regarding his plans for 2022, the Frenchman confirmed this season would be his last full-time campaign and will contest only a handful of rallies for Toyota next year. Although how many rounds, outside of the season opener in Monte Carlo, he will drive is yet to be determined, as Ogier wishes to pursue a World Endurance Championship drive with Toyota - a rookie test in the WEC car is scheduled for November in Bahrain.

Ogier’s decision to scale back his WRC commitments left Toyota with a sizeable hole to plug and finding a driver to replace one of the greatest the sport has ever produced was always going to provide a few headaches for boss Jari-Matti Latvala. Several names were bandied around from M-Sport refugee Teemu Suninen to Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, WRC2 rising star Jari Huttunen and former Toyota, Citroen and M-Sport driver Esapekka Lappi were all labelled as contenders.

Lappi emerged as the favourite before receiving the official nod following an outing in a fifth Yaris for Rally Finland in what was effectively an evaluation for the seat.

The move has been labelled as a homecoming of sorts for Lappi, who drove for the factory Toyota team in a part season in 2017 and full 2018 campaign, before leaving for Citroen in 2019 and ultimately M-Sport in 2020, before losing his seat for 2021.

It’s also a lifeline and a valuable second chance for Lappi to rebuild a career that was once filled with great promise but has stalled in recent years. The Finn was plucked from WRC2 to join Toyota midway through 2017 and on his fourth WRC event - Rally Finland - he won, justifying Toyota’s move to sign the young star. However, many believe that win came too soon, and it was always going to be tough to live up to the expectation after winning one of the WRC’s classic events so early in one’s career.

Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä, Sébastien Ogier, Esapekka Lappi, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Three podiums followed in 2018 before a call to move to Citroen for 2019, which proved to be a difficult final year of the marque’s factory programme. Lappi had hoped to learn from team-mate Ogier and now strangely finds himself in the same car as the Frenchman for 2022.

But has Lappi done enough to secure this second chance at Toyota?

Only in time can this be truly answered but he no doubt showed what he’s capable of during a run to fourth at Rally Finland, a feat made more impressive having been out of a WRC car for some 10 months. Of course, if there was an event where Lappi would shine then it would be on home soil on roads he’s previously conquered.

However, Lappi does seem to have a renewed hunger to return to the WRC and recapture the form that offered so much promise in 2017 and 2018. Prior to Finland’s outing, he contested two WRC2 rounds at Arctic Rally Finland and Portugal, winning both events, which again outlined that a determined rejuvenated Lappi deserves a second chance and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Lappi will certainly have his work cut out to impress as Toyota will be spearheaded by Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera, who have shown the last two years that they are ready to lead the Japanese marque. Evans ran Ogier close to the title in 2020 and again is pushing the Frenchman for this year’s crown after wins in Portugal and Finland.

Likewise, Rovanpera, just 21 years old, has shown skills and pace beyond his tender years scoring a maiden WRC win at Estonia before following that up with a domination of the Acropolis. To add to the talent, the rapidly improving Takamoto Katsuta, who scored a maiden podium in Kenya this year, is likely to be retained in the fourth Yaris.

If Lappi can gel with the new generation Rally1 cars then Toyota may have found the best candidate on the market to partner Ogier as the team begins its transition towards a future without the seven-time champion.

Breen M-Sport

M-Sport-Ford
Craig Breen leaves Hyundai for two-year full-time deal

M-Sport has been focusing on 2022 even before this season began after electing to push the majority of its limited resources into developing its new Puma Rally1 car for next year.

The British squad has made a habit of nailing new regulations and you only have to look at the last time new rules and cars were introduced in 2017 to see why on paper this is a smart decision. The squad claimed drivers and manufacturers crowns with its new Fiesta piloted by Ogier and Evans. A second driver’s title came the way of Ogier in 2018 before he moved to Citroen for 2019, so the history is there to be repeated.

For M-Sport, the introduction of Rally1 rules is a valuable chance to reset having struggled in the final years of the current regulations, its last win arriving at Wales Rally GB in 2018. Its 2022 prospects have been further boosted by an increase in support from Ford, whose interests have been piqued by the new hybrid regulations. Over the last 18 months the blue oval has been working closely with M-Sport to develop the new Puma and noises from within the team suggest the car could be a weapon straight out of the box.

While the focus has been and developing the Puma, the car is only part of the battle to be successful in 2022 - a strong driver line-up is required.

Ford Puma WRC Rally1

Photo by: WRC.com

Once Neuville and Tanak were locked away at Hyundai and Ogier confirmed his plans to scale back his WRC commitments, M-Sport’s options for a true top line driver were reduced. A return of Evans to the fold he called home from 2013-2019, was a consideration before he pledged his future to Toyota.

However, the first piece of that puzzle is now locked in and M-Sport has played the driver market well securing perhaps the best lead driver available in Craig Breen. The Irishman is enjoying the form of his life and has played a key role for Hyundai this season in a part-time driver capacity role held since 2019. The 31-year-old incredibly sits sixth in the championship despite only contesting five of the 10 rounds to date, while enjoying a run that has included three consecutive podiums - second in Estonia and Belgium, followed by a third in Finland.

Breen has shown incredible speed and maturity to secure the results but given more time in a car, now provided by a two-year deal at M-Sport, it is clear the likeable Irishman will be ready to challenge for wins. It is a move thoroughly earned offering a coveted first crack at a full WRC season Breen has yearned for his entire career.

It’s a win-win for Breen and M-Sport as the former has secured the full-time drive he’s always wanted and M-Sport has armed itself with a real talent that will extract the most out of its Puma. It looks like a great bit of a business.

There are still two seats to be filled as the team looks to expand from two to three entries. One of those seats looks set to be handed to rising French star Adrien Fourmaux, who has impressed for M-Sport on his WRC debut this year, scoring a pair of fifth place finishes and his maiden stage win at the Safari Rally.

Fourmaux has featured heavily in the development of the Puma this season and M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson told Autosport earlier this year that it’s highly likely the 26-year-old will be part of the team’s plans.

But what of the other seat? M-Sport has been talking to a range of drivers and one of those being the WRC’s greatest nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb, but any deal to entice him back to the championship would likely only be tailored around a partial campaign given the Frenchman’s Extreme E and Dakar commitments.

Current M-Sport driver Gus Greensmith remains a contender, while Andreas Mikkelsen could be seen as a smart option given his WRC experience, but again budgets will be a factor in any driver decisions.

Oliver Solberg, Hyundai Motorsport

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Hyundai
Oliver Solberg promoted from WRC2 to third WRC car

After moving quickly to re-sign Neuville and Tanak in May, Hyundai only had to finalise plans for its third car. The squad has elected for a blend of youth an experience with Oliver Solberg graduating from its WRC2 programme to the seat, alongside the experienced Dani Sordo, who has been in the Hyundai fold since its returned to the sport in 2014.

Once it was clear the squad couldn’t offer Breen the full-time drive he wished, a vacant spot was open for 2022. Hyundai has earmarked Solberg, the son of 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg, as a talent for the future having invested in the 20-year-old’s future courtesy of a WRC2 programme for this season, including four outings in the WRC car.

Although a big leap from WRC2 to WRC, Solberg has shown glimpses of his potential, namely a run to seventh on his debut at Arctic Rally Finland, and while a crash plagued his Safari outing, he scored a victory on tarmac at Rally di Alba - an event that also featured Hyundai star Ott Tanak.

The team’s boss Andrea Adamo has been impressed by the young gun which has resulted in call up to the WRC squad next year alongside Sordo, although the rallies each will contest is yet to be revealed.

Clearly Solberg has the speed and skills to become a WRC force but expectations should be tempered come 2022. It is a big leap, and as we have seen with Rovanpera, it takes time for potential to transform in results. There was plenty of hype surrounding Rovanpera when Toyota handed the then teenager his WRC shot last year and it is only this season his true talent has come to the fore.

It’s admirable that Hyundai is willing to thrust young talent into the sport’s top tier and partnering with Sordo could provide a valuable experienced mentor, alongside his father Petter, to speed up the adaptation process.

The move to offer Solberg a WRC chance is bold but could repay Hyundai handsomely in time.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

WRC 2022 field to date
Toyota: Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin
Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen
Sebastien Ogier/Benjamin Veillas and Esapekka Lapp/Janne Ferm
Toyota WRC Challenge: Takamoto Katsuta/TBA (Expected but not yet confirmed)
Hyundai: Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja
Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe
Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera and Oliver Solberg/TBA
M-Sport Ford: Craig Breen/Paul Nagle
Adrien Fourmaux/TBA (Expected but not yet confirmed)
TBA/TBA