Shakedown, Rally and Power Stage. There's really not much more to win in a round of the World Rally Championship. Certainly there's not more than 28 points to collect and when they all go in the pocket of the winner of the first round in Montecarlo, it may seem that the supremacy of the pair Ogier-Wolksvagen has already set the pace for the upcoming events in just two rounds.
The German-French powerhouse didn't have it easy though, this is still racing on the seconds and when you're speeding at 200 km/h on a sheet of ice, jumping between a forest of conifers, the smallest mistake can end up in compromising your day. if not the whole round.
Let's step back now to the first event on Thursday, the shakedown.
Teams and drivers moved from the cold hills surrounding Montecarlo to the freezing taiga of Sweden. -25 C will be the average temperature for these four days and snow and ice won't be a variable here, but a constant.
Ogier is the quickest one to find the feeling with the conditions and the studded tires but he won't feel lonely. The club of fast drivers sees many memberships today and at the end of the stage Kubica, Meeke, Mikkelsen and Latvala are all crowded in within a second from Ogier, keeping each other warm.
SS1 on Thursday and SS 2 to 4 on Friday morning are prerogative of the VW army which places in order Ogier, Latvala and Mikkelsen at the top of the standings. Close after them we find Ostberg, Neuville and Meeke, all within a second from the leader.
But Friday is preserving its fireworks for later on. Between SS 6 and 9 the standings looks more like a roulette table, due to the many accidents that pushed most of the top drivers to the "peloton". Victims of this crazy afternoon are, among others, Ogier, Latvala, Evans and Meeke.
Protasov, Latvala, Mikkelsen and Neuville are the winners of the four stages and the standings after SS 9 is quite different from the morning: Mikkelsen, Neuville, Ostberg and Ogier within 30 seconds, with Latvala almost a minute after Kubica in 23rd position.
SS 10 to 14. Some of the top drivers are looking for revenge and they have to make up a lot of time to gain back the best positions. For sure Ogier put this thought on the snow better than everybody else, winning four of the five stages and starting to breathe on the neck of Mikkelsen. The Norwegian is still in first position but only less than two seconds ahead of his French teammate. Third is Neuville, still hanging on before Ostberg and Tanak. Sixth is the brilliant New Zealander Paddon thanks to consistent placements in all the stages.
Saturday ends with Stages 15 to 18 and with another move to the top of the standings. While Mikkelsen was making sure to keep his teammate Ogier behind, is the Belgian Neuville, with his Hyundai, to enjoy a pretty sweet Saturday Night, thanks to two stages wins and as much good finishes. Only one day to go and the virtual podium sees Neuville, Mikkelsen and Ogier in just 10 seconds....it might be freezing in here but the pressure will make somebody sweat tomorrow!
Sunday is the day where everybody prefers to be in first position, even better if it's Sunday night, and the quest seems to be a job for three. It is in fact the same trio to occupy the first three position before the Power Stage even if Mikkelsen is now back in first place, followed by the shadow of the the Polo who speaks French. Neuville is in third but still plenty in the mix: 4.6 seconds are not that much after all, it's pretty much how long it will take you to get to the end of this paragraph. Not bad eh?
SS 21, the Power Stage. If one of the first three wins this stage, he will most likely win the Rally plus he will cash the three extra points. As anticipated at the beginning, is Ogier who gets the en plain. Neuville sits on the second step of the podium, while Mikkelsen breaks under pressure and ends up on a snowbank which pushes him some forty seconds away from the lead to a not too bad third place overall which doesn't taste that sweet to the Norwegian that was just a step from winning his first WRC Rally.
After the top three, within 5 minutes from Ogier we have Tanak, Paddon, Evans, Meeke and Prokop.
The Championship standings is almost monopolized by the French Ogier who took an important jump ahead from the rest of the field, 23 points from Neuville and Mikkelsen, tied in second position, and 31 points from Latvala who ends the Swedish campaign in twelfth position collecting no points.
Next stop Mexico, from the hard winter to the boiling temperatures of Leon, from snow and ice to gravel and rocks. Will anybody be able to shorten the gap from the flying French?
On March 8th we might have an answer.
