The message a WRC stalwart sent which its new king couldn’t answer

The 2022 World Rally Championship has largely been the 'Kalle Rovanpera show’, but in Spain last weekend Sebastien Ogier reminded everyone that the eight-time world champion has still got it. For a period, the thousands of fans that flocked to what is now likely to be the last Rally Spain for some time were treated to a fascinating contest. New world champion Rovanpera versus the outgoing world champion Ogier.

After Rovanpera comprehensively beat Ogier on New Zealand’s wet gravel to become the youngest WRC champion, the changing of the baton was complete. But the smooth sinuous Spanish asphalt roads offered Ogier, back on his favoured asphalt that has yielded plenty of success over his glittering career, a chance to roll back the years.

Ogier’s decision to go part-time this season to spend more time with his family and explore sportscar racing opportunities meant his name wouldn’t be engraved on the world champion’s trophy. But the desire to be the best has never left Ogier. This was evident in Monte Carlo in January, when a penultimate stage puncture robbed him of a likely win over Sebastien Loeb, and in Portugal and Kenya where tyre trouble ended bids for victory.

Ogier produced a vintage performance in Spain that even Rovanpera found hard to contend with. Determined not to end his partial season without a victory, the 38-year-old and new co-driver Benjamin Veillas were untouchable at times as they marched to a 16.4s victory over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. A combination of factors saw new star Rovanpera fall away to a distant third.

The double podium had added meaning for Toyota as the Japanese marque sealed its sixth WRC manufacturers’ crown in style, completing a WRC clean sweep of 2022 championships.

Ogier had to be patient to make his move on Friday morning as changeable weather meant it was an advantage to be at the top of the road order. Rovanpera won the opening two stages, held in damp conditions.

M-Sport’s Craig Breen, starting sixth on the road, highlighted how tough the conditions were as the cars dragged gravel from the cuts, which worsened the road surface. "I felt like a newborn calf in there – I was all over the place,” said Breen. “I had a big impact on the left at the start after a cut and I was sure I had a puncture. I was very, very cautious and I thought I would lose more time.”

Rovanpera held the early advantage before Ogier began his charge

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Ogier however seemed to avoid haemorrhaging time and remained in the hunt, before surging from third to lead after winning stage three. “We had some tricky conditions out there and starting seventh on the road was a big challenge with a lot of cuts and dirt in the road during the first two stages,” said Ogier. It was on this test that the first major incident occurred when M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet suffered a front-left puncture, costing him nearly a minute, plummeting the Frenchman to the bottom of the Rally1 order. To make matters worse, a smouldering exhaust under the bonnet would cause further delays on the next stage.

It was Neuville who emerged with a 0.5s rally lead from Ogier when the crews headed back to Salou’s service park after the Belgian won stage four. Rovanpera held third ahead of Ott Tanak, without hybrid power, with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans fifth, the quintet separated by 10.9s.

"I was a bit scared to be seventh on the road today with the amount of cuts that we had to go through, but we had a really good feeling in the car" Sebastien Ogier

The intermittent light rain showers continued into the afternoon but it didn’t stop Ogier from issuing an immediate response to Neuville. Ogier claimed stage five to complete a third lead change in five stages. But Rovanpera fought back to win the next two tests to climb back to second. Ogier, relishing the fight with Rovanpera, posted the fastest time on the day’s final stage to end up 4.8s clear. The new world champion was indeed pushing, resulting in co-driver Jonne Halttunen reaching for a seat grab after a wild moment. Rovanpera stated that his navigator was simply “enjoying a slide”.

“It's been a good day and I'm really happy,” said Ogier. “I was a bit scared to be seventh on the road today with the amount of cuts that we had to go through, but we had a really good feeling in the car throughout the day.”

The Hyundais of Neuville and Tanak, the latter battling another perplexing hybrid issue on his second unit of the day, remained in contention. Although drama in the penultimate stage allowed the top four to break away from the chasing pack.

Neuville was the only driver able to challenge the Rovanpera vs Ogier fight at the front

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Punctures struck Evans, Dani Sordo and Takamoto Katsuta, also without hybrid power, on stage seven. Evans and Sordo, who had been struggling to find the sweet spot in their respective cars bizarrely swapped positions despite both suffering front-left failures. Sordo’s smaller time loss netted the Spaniard fifth, albeit 50.9s adrift of the lead, while Evans and Katsuta trialled by more than a minute. Breen continued to lead the M-Sport charge in seventh but was among those struggling to find a rhythm, competing in his final event alongside retiring co-driver Paul Nagle.

Ogier asserted his authority on the event on Saturday, transforming an overnight 4.8s lead into a 20.7s advantage once crews navigated a technical Salou spectator stage in the evening. By midday service the lead was almost doubled and could have been further extended had stage 11 not been cancelled following the first and only accident for a Rally1 driver across the three days.

M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith, sitting in 10th, carried too much speed into a right-hander, resulting in a heavy impact with the barriers that ripped the left-rear wheel from the car. While Greensmith and Jonas Andersson were unscathed, the car blocked the road and the stage was axed. The duo would return on Sunday under restart rules.

Ogier chalked up three stage wins from the day’s six stages but his advantage was flattered after Rovanpera suffered a rare technical issue that cost him around 10s on stage 14. The Finn had already encountered a “scary moment” in the morning when he had to avoid an obstacle on the road at the end of stage 10, which according him was “luckily quite soft”.

“There was some settings on the car which went wrong on the startline and I couldn’t get them right, so we were losing time with the hybrid system,” said Rovanpera. “It was a big mess inside the cockpit as we tried to fix it on the stage, and I also think I overheated the brakes on the warm-up, so on the last downhill section I lost the brakes a bit.”

The issue didn’t rear its head again but it opened the door for Neuville as he leapfrogged Rovanpera into second. Tanak was also lucky to reach service in fourth, although 36.6s adrift, after a wild off on stage 14 for the 2019 world champion.

Tanak, who announced his Hyundai exit at the end of the event, continued to be plagued with technical gremlins

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“I was pushing quite a bit maybe outside of my comfort zone and I had an off,” said Tanak. "Somehow we got back on the road. It was quite a miracle, but it has been a challenging day.”

A charging Sordo held fifth having burst into life thanks to a mesmerising run on stage 14. The home hero had finally found the pace he was looking for from his i20 N. "I don't care about the times – I pushed like hell!” Sordo said. “I really like the stage so I just drove. I promised to my friends that I needed to set a fastest time today.”

A frustrated Evans and Breen were sixth and seventh, with Katsuta eighth. However, much of the talk surrounding Katsuta was about his unusual breakfast, which went viral. The porridge, fried egg, sausage and ketchup all on the same plate combination initially raised alarm but was explained by the Japanese as a way to save plates…

Crews faced an early breakfast on Sunday morning with the event’s final four stages beginning in the pre-dawn darkness, which required light pods to be fitted to the cars. Ogier had been in this position countless times before and elected for a cautious approach to preserve the lead. The combination of this and a charging Neuville resulted in the latter taking six seconds from the lead in two stages to remind the leader that the rally wasn’t done yet.

"Seb was flying this weekend. I could not catch him. He deserved to win" Kalle Rovanpera

Indeed, there was still a sting left in the rally but it affected drivers outside of the top two. The famous Riudecanyes caused chaos when a loose drain cover inflicted three front-left punctures. Evans, Breen and Rovanpera were the victims. Breen was lucky not to retire when the sudden deflation fired him up a bank as he tried to wrestle his Puma into a right-hander. “There was a small bump on the entry and I don't know if it popped the tyre off the bead or something, but I was a passenger,” said Breen, who dropped from seventh to ninth overall.

It was the second puncture for the luckless Evans, who lost time on the previous stage when a drove of pigs crossed the road in front of him. However, the Welshman and Rovanpera were able to maintain their positions despite the issues. But it could so nearly have been double drama for M-Sport on the stage as Adrien Fourmaux escaped a brush with the barriers.

Fourmaux led the M-Sport Ford attack on another difficult event for the team

Photo by: M-Sport

At the front, Ogier banished any thoughts of letting the victory slip to Neuville. His Toyota blitzed the final two stages to seal the victory. “It was a perfect weekend, the car was great and I enjoyed the stages and it is nice to clinch the manufacturers’ title in style for Toyota,” said Ogier, who was fined 1500 euros for over-exuberant doughnuts prior to the final podium. “The team has done an amazing job through the whole year and it is more than deserved for them.”

A defeated Rovanpera added: “Seb was flying this weekend. I could not catch him. He deserved to win.”

In WRC2, Teemu Suninen took the win but the title race will go down to the wire in Japan next month between Andreas Mikkelsen, Emil Lindholm and Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Meanwhile, another Finnish hotshot in Lauri Joona wrapped up the WRC3 title with victory.

While Ogier provided a timely reminder of his skills with his 55th WRC victory, it was another world champion that left tongues wagging hours after the Spanish seafront celebrations. Tanak, who finished fourth, turned the rally world upside down by announcing his departure from Hyundai at the end of the season. The silly season is now under way.

Ogier's first win of the season seals Toyota's clean sweep of the WRC titles

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool