The WRC heirs scrapping to assume Ogier's throne in 2022

For only the second time in almost a decade, a name other than ‘Sebastien Ogier’ will be etched onto the World Rally Championship trophy come the end of 2022. After racking up an eighth world title last year, Ogier, perhaps the greatest driver to grace the WRC, will no longer be fighting for the championship he has dominated since 2013.

Set for a partial campaign with Toyota this season in a third GR Yaris, Ogier’s move into semi-retirement means the title race is wide open. But who will become the heir to the Frenchman’s throne? New Rally1 regulations promise a truly unpredictable fight for the 2022 title.

“I really believe each team has some fast drivers and with the change in regulations it means it is possible we will see a bigger difference than it was last year,” says Ogier. “Now we will have to find out how the cars are compared to each other, and then maybe we can make an expectation as to who is going to win.

“But of course I certainly hope my team-mates will be able to fight at the top. Elfyn [Evans] has definitely been improving over the last two years and Kalle [Rovanpera] is still growing and getting better and better. These two have the potential to fight for a championship, and we know that the two Hyundai drivers Thierry [Neuville] and Ott [Tanak] will be there, and probably Craig [Breen] in a good M-Sport Ford can be someone fighting consistently at the front.”

PLUS: The WRC star that's earned the right to lead M-Sport's revival

Given the 2021 form of Toyota and Hyundai, those teams seem a good place to start when it comes to picking a 2022 favourite, if there can be such a thing…

Elfyn Evans

Runner-up for the past two seasons to Ogier, Evans knows he has a huge chance in 2022 to take his first title

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Evans would be a worthy successor to the WRC throne. He pushed Ogier to the limit over the past two seasons, and ended up as the bridesmaid on both occasions. The Welshman reached new heights last season, highlighted by a career best drive to victory in Rally Finland, and a refusal to give up on the title – he took the championship fight into the Rally Monza finale.

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With his nearest rival now out of the championship running, Evans has become the most experienced of the full-time drivers in the Toyota stable. Many will expect him to naturally assert his position as the man to beat following the past two campaigns, but it’s not quite as simple as that.

"The competition is high regardless and I don’t think the speed on events will change with or without [Ogier], to be perfectly honest. Everybody continues to give their best and in any case we often push pretty hard on events" Elfyn Evans

The WRC’s new Rally1 rules have created an array of unknowns heading into the new campaign as to which driver and team have done their homework in developing the new machines and adjusted to a new way of driving with hybrid. It is that factor that could prove telling after the 33-year-old revealed that he is yet to feel completely comfortable in the new hybrid-powered GR Yaris in testing.

“There are a lot of fast guys in the championship now, some of which haven’t had the best luck let’s say over the last year or so,” Evans says when asked about the title fight. “It’s going to be really difficult to predict, and of course now we have got M-Sport Ford coming into the mix again with a strong driver line-up. It’s going to be really difficult to call who will be in form, but that makes it exciting going into the new season.

“I think the form has definitely been better the last two years than any other point in my career, but that comes from a combination of many things. One of those is feeling at one and being comfortable with the car and the team. Obviously there is a big change happening in the car department now so we hope we can again find this same feeling, and that will inevitably shape anybody’s year depending on how they get on with the new car.

Evans says there is much to learn with the new cars, which means nothing can be taken for granted in 2022

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“If you generate far less of those [hybrid boost] accelerations, then your stage time is massively hurt by that. It is really hard to judge because you have no gauge of where you are [compared to the rest]. I still feel I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m sure there will be many others in the same position.”

While uncomfortable to label himself as the title favourite, Evans admits that a competition without Ogier will be different but doesn’t expect the fight for victory to diminish among his rivals.

“The competition is high regardless and I don’t think the speed on events will change with or without him, to be perfectly honest,” he adds. “I think everybody continues to give their best and in any case we often push pretty hard on events. But what was impressive with Seb was he could do it event in, event out. He was always there and can always do something special when the chips are down.

“In terms of a championship fight then of course if you take a person like that away, you could argue it is more open, but I don’t think it will change things on an event-by-event basis.”

Thierry Neuville

Neuville has finished runner-up on five occasions, four to Ogier and once to Tanak. Could the Rally1 cars bring about a first title?

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

The Hyundai stalwart will enter the 2022 season with the best career record of all the full-time drivers this year and, like Evans, has come agonisingly close to securing a coveted world title. Neuville finished as runner-up in the title race for four consecutive seasons from 2016-19. That was usually behind Ogier, except 2019 when it Ott Tanak, then driving for Toyota, who edged him to the crown.

There is definitely a case to be made that Neuville - who also finished runner-up to Ogier in 2013 - is perhaps the best driver yet to win the championship.

"We have been among the ones at the front for many years. It won’t be any more easy than it was before, it might be different due to the fact there are many unknowns this year" Thierry Neuville

Last season, reliability proved the Belgian’s downfall. Without suspension failures in Portugal and Kenya and a power-steering issue on the Acropolis, the 33-year-old could have conceivably been champion last year. Neuville is aware that reliability will be even more crucial this season as teams grapple with brand new technology.

“Sure, reliability has always been important throughout the season and it is getting even more with such close championship fights,” he says. “It is one of the key points with a new year, new cars and regulations and new technology.”

The build-up to the new season for Neuville and Hyundai has, however, been far from smooth. The marque was the last to commit to the rules, and the team was playing catch-up with car development before team principal Andrea Adamo left the squad in December due to personal reasons. Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were also lucky to avoid serious injury when their new i20 plunged into a 30-metre-deep ravine during testing in France last month.

Neuville was fortunate to avoid serious injury in a huge testing accident last month

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

But Neuville has brushed off the incident and believes he has a shot at the title despite everything that has happened in the lead up to Monte Carlo.

“I have a chance,” he says. “We have been among the ones at the front for many years. It won’t be any more easy than it was before, it might be different due to the fact there are many unknowns this year.

“We don’t know if there will be one team that has the upper hand at the start of the year, but anyhow the target has to be to take the maximum out of any event. If the car performance is good then it is our advantage, if the car performance is not there it will take a lot of work, and that is all we can do.

“There were no concerns about anything from the accident. I got back in the car and I immediately felt good again. But for sure we have to work on the car to get it to how the driver wants it to be set up, and be confident enough to get some decent performance during the first round of the year.”

Ott Tanak

Tanak is the only driver to have beaten Ogier over a season since 2013 and now in his third year at Hyundai is up to speed in his surroundings

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

There are no question marks surrounding Tanak’s speed or his ability to win a championship – after all, by tasting success in 2019 he earned himself a place in an exclusive club of two alongside Sebastien Loeb as the only drivers to beat Ogier to a WRC crown. Granted, the 2019 success came when Ogier was driving an inferior Citroen compared to Tanak’s Toyota Yaris, but the history books show that the Estonian knows how to win a title.

Last season was a year to forget for Tanak as Hyundai’s crippling reliability often saw his frightening speed go unrewarded. Now entering his third year at Hyundai, he is determined to fight back and could find himself in the thick of the title battle should Hyundai’s i20 N prove to be a competitive machine.

"The championship is always tight and there is no doubt M-Sport are always strong at the start of new regulations and they will be a team to beat as well this year. Let’s see. One thing is for sure, it won’t be boring" Ott Tanak

“Let’s say the last two years have not been too successful, for sure it’s a good chance for me to work with the guys and put a good, strong car together”, says Tanak. “It is good to see at the moment that even if we started a bit late and are a bit behind in our development, still the people are working hard. I’m sure we can fight hard this year.

“The potential is there and it seems to be a good package, so we just need to understand where the window is for this car and how it is working. The season is long and there will be many different conditions.

“The championship is always tight and there is no doubt M-Sport are always strong at the start of new regulations and they will be a team to beat as well this year. Let’s see. One thing is for sure, it won’t be boring.”

Tanak agrees that the championship fight without Ogier – the perennial yardstick – will be strange but, as he’s proven, he could be the driver to follow in the Frenchman’s footsteps.

“He has always been the guy you need to compare yourself to and I have been lucky enough to beat him once at least, so he is not going away having not been beaten, but definitely he is a great guy,” adds Tanak. “He has won many championships with many different teams, so he has proved himself more than once. For sure the championship will be a bit different, but there is still only one trophy.”

Kalle Rovanpera

Having established himself as a winner in 2021, can Rovanpera challenge for the title this year?

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Rovanpera is by far the youngest of our heirs to the Ogier throne, but don’t be deceived by his tender years. He has already displayed the speed and the skills of a future world champion.

The 21-year-old Finn has courted attention for several years, and last season the expectation was realised when he recorded his first WRC victories. The maiden triumph in Estonia was quickly eclipsed by a masterful display to blitz the field on his Acropolis debut.

Consistency is perhaps the next area for Rovanpera to conquer, having now proven his speed against the world’s best. As the WRC prepares for a season of unpredictability, the Toyota driver could stand as good a chance as any to become the youngest ever world champion.

“I think last year was good, for sure, but I didn’t do any better than what I was thinking,” says Rovanpera. “But of course two events were very good for us and it is our plan to continue into this year. I think we have just got to continue with the good results. Wins and podiums are always a good target. It will be interesting to see how the new cars and the new style will go for us.

“I’m not at the same level as my competitors in terms of experience. If I look back to last year we did quite well in the fight at least, but I know it’s not so easy to do. I think we need a bit more time but, yeah, it [the championship] is possible.”

Heading into Monte Carlo, Rovanpera is pleased with how he’s adjusted to the new machinery in testing.

“The new car is totally different in many ways but the speeds are quite close to the old ones in quite a few conditions,” he says. “At least in testing it has been quite easy. It is always difficult to say when you are not driving to the pacenotes and not trying to push the limits. We will see at Monte Carlo.”

Rovanpera is aiming to add consistency to his game in 2022

Photo by: Bastien Roux

The WRC future stars waiting in the wings

While Kalle Rovanpera heads the WRC’s youth movement, there is a growing list of young pretenders who could soon emerge as the next big thing.

The youngest of this fresh wave of talent is Oliver Solberg , son of 2003 world champion Petter Solberg. He comes from good stock and has been steadily impressing plenty of people in rallying’s top tier to secure a full factory WRC contract with Hyundai for 2022, when he shares the third entry with Dani Sordo.

The 20-year-old may only have four WRC starts in top-tier machinery to his name, but Solberg has already offered a glimpse into his potential after matching his more experienced Hyundai team-mates to finish fifth outright in last year’s Rally Monza finale.

“It is a dream come true and something very exciting and I can’t quite believe I would get there that quickly,” says Solberg Jr. “I have only been rallying for four years, so it’s quite crazy.

While Craig Breen is set to lead the championship charge for M-Sport, the Ford squad boasts a pair of young guns who could be set for bright futures

“Speed and so on I feel I have proved [myself], but there is still a lot of experience to gain as I’m still very new to everything. Having a clean and consistent run at Monte Carlo is the main thing, and then you have to look at which races you feel confident in and which you don’t where you need more experience. It is definitely a year of [gaining] experience.”

While Craig Breen is set to lead the championship charge for M-Sport, the Ford squad boasts a pair of young guns who could be set for bright futures. French rising star Adrien Fourmaux has been handed a full WRC campaign after impressing during a maiden partial season in the big time with the British operation. Last year’s highlights were a fifth place on his Fiesta debut in Croatia and a maiden fastest stage time on the Safari Rally.

“An entire season is waiting for me with the M-Sport Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, which is a pleasure to drive,” says Fourmaux. “I am so proud of this. It is a very significant moment for me when I remember that I discovered rallying with the M-Sport Fiesta R2J back in 2017.”

Fourmaux is entering his first full season in the WRC, like Breen, and made a good impression in 2021

Photo by: M-Sport

Team-mate Gus Greensmith showed encouraging signs in 2021 after scoring a career-best fourth in Kenya. Equipped with a potentially potent Puma, the Brit could also be one to watch.

“It means a lot to be representing the team going into 2022 where it seems that they’ve done a fantastic job at creating a very competitive package,” says Greensmith.

Toyota development driver Takamoto Katsuta was another to catch the eye in 2021 by claiming a maiden podium with second in Kenya. The most consistent driver in the first half of last season is back with the Japanese marque, and the 28-year-old is ready to spring a surprise.

Greensmith is hoping to make another step forward after taking a personal best fourth on the Safari in 2021

Photo by: M-Sport