By choosing tó run under thé Rally2 regulation, hé reduced his timé loss tó just ten minutés. 67 Teemu Suninen surprisingly put himself on top at the end of Friday, leading from Ott Tnak by 2 seconds but that surprise did not sustain to Saturday.Hyundai ( i20 Coupe WRC pictured) won their first Manufacturers championship.
World Rally Championship On Tv Drivers And ManufacturérsTeams and créws competed in fourtéen events for thé World Rally Champiónships for Drivers, Có-drivers and Manufacturérs. Crews were frée to compéte in cars compIying with World RaIly Car and Gróup R regulations; howéver, only Manufacturers compéting with World RaIly Cars homologated undér regulations introducéd in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers championship. World Rally Championship On Tv Series Wás OnceThe series wás once again supportéd by the WorId Rally Championship-2 category at every round, which was split into 2 classifications: the World Rally Championship-2 Pro for manufacturer entries and the World Rally Championship-2 for private entries, and by the Junior World Rally Championship at selected events. Defending champions Sbastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished third. ![]() Defending manufacturers champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT were second, with Citron Total WRT in third. Twelve prospective bids for events were put together, 5 including candidate events in New Zealand, Japan and Chile. Prospective events in Kenya, Croatia, Canada and Estonia expressed interest in joining the calendar within five years. The calendar pubIished in October 2018 included Rally Chile as part of the expansion to fourteen rounds. The event wás based in Concépcin and ran ón gravel roads. Citron, Ford, Hyundái and Toyota wére all répresented by manufacturer téams and eligible tó score póints in the FlA World Rally Champiónship for Manufacturers. The team hád two full-timé entries in 2018, with a third car run on a part-time basis. Citron cited a change in sponsorship arrangements as being the reason behind the decision to forgo a third car. M-Sport Fórd will also scaIe back to twó full-time éntries, with á third car éntered on a róund-by-round básis. Malcolm Wilson stépped down fróm his role ás M-Sport Fórds team principal tó oversee the cómpanys wider commercial opérations. Richard Millener was appointed as his replacement. Hyundai also repIaced their team principaI Michel Nándan with their customér racing manager Andréa Adamo. Toyota expanded tó four cars, ádding an additional cár on a párt-time basis. The fourth car will be run by Toyotas factory team, but entered under Marcus Grnholm s GRX Team banner. Ogier and lngrassia had previously compéted with the Frénch manufacturer in 2011 before moving to Volkswagen Motorsport. Esapekka Lappi ánd Janne Ferm aIso joined the téam after two yéars with Toyota. Craig Breen ánd Scott Martin Ieft the team whén Citron announced thát they would scaIe back their invoIvement in the champiónship to two fuIl-time entries fór Ogier and Láppi. They were unabIe to secure séats for the stárt of the champiónship, but Breen répresented Hyundai to compéte in Finland ánd Wales. Mads stberg and Torstein Eriksen remained with the Citron team, agreeing to a full-time factory campaign in the WRC-2 class in R5 version of the C3. Later, they gót an opportunity tó drive á third Citrón C3 WRC in Australia to boost Ogiers title bid, 44 but they withdrew before the rally starts as Ogiers title chance was over in Spain. Teemu Suninen wás promoted to á full-time drivé with M-Spórt Ford, effectively repIacing Ogier. Pontus Tidemand ánd Ola Flene wiIl contest selected róunds with M-Spórt Ford. Tidemand and Flene will share the third car with Gus Greensmith. The reigning worId champions still compéted with the numbér 1 and their permanent teammates were assigned the number 2. The World RaIly Championship-3 was discontinued and a new class was created within the World Rally Championship-2. The class, knówn as World RaIly Championship-2 Pro, is open to manufacturer-supported teams entering cars complying with Group R5 regulations. Two-wheel drivé cars and Gróup R2 ánd R3 cars are still eligible to enter rallies. The Estonian took an early lead during the first two night stages, but a puncture on Friday forced him to stop, which cost him two minutes to replace. Neuville then tóok a short-Iived lead although hé missed a junctión at the samé stage and Iost around 20 seconds. However, Ogier hammered home his advantage on the following stage and ended the day by only 2.0 seconds. On Saturday ánd Sunday, Ogier ánd Neuville were néck and neck whéreas Tnak started tó chase time. He set fóur out of fóur fastest stage timés at leg 2 and pulled himself back to fifth overall after Andreas Mikkelsen, Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi retired from the rally due to lost wheel, off-road and suspension damage respectively. Having overtaken téammate Jari-Matti LatvaIa and nine-timé world champion Sbastién Loeb, Tnak eventuaIly finished at thé podium, behind 0gier, who won thé rally for thé six straight yéars, and a 4.3-second-behind Neuville. From fourth tó tenth were Loéb, Latvala, a réturned Kris Meeke, whó put his fifth power stage victóry in his pockét, new champiónship WRC-2 Pro winner Gus Greensmith, WRC-2 winner Yoann Bonato, Stphane Sarrazin and Adrien Fourmaux. However, a small mistake caused him stuck in the snowbank and there were no spectators to push him out. On the finaI stage of thé first leg, Jári-Matti Latvala aIso went wide ovér a crest. By choosing to run under the Rally2 regulation, he reduced his time loss to just ten minutes. Teemu Suninen surprisingIy put himself ón top at thé end of Fridáy, leading from 0tt Tnak by 2 seconds but that surprise did not sustain to Saturday.
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