|
|
             |
For the past four years, Ogier has been quite dominantly the driver with most wins but not so this year. Whether it's down to new team, dwindling interest or just opposition upping their ante, Ogier managed only two wins. The driver to score most wins was Thierry Neuville who scored four times, twice as many as nearest rivals.
Interesting trend that we saw started in 2016 is ever increasing number of winners. In 2017 there were no less than seven different winners which hasn't happened in past 15 years. No fewer than three of these winners were ones scoring their maiden WRC wins (Tanak, Lappi and Evans).
Reason why title went to Ogier instead of Neuville is revealed in number of podiums as Sebastien scored one podium finish more than Thierry. Even that score is in downward trend for him.
|
|
 |
One category where Ogier didn't falter was consistency. He scored on all events except one, further underlining why he won the championship. The only other driver to score 12 times was Sordo, whose scoring ratio was perfect 100% as he didn't start in all rallies of the season.
Incidentally, M-Sport's strength is evident in this category as all of their drivers (Ogier, Tanak and Evans) were among the most consistent points scorers.
Retirements statistics tell the bleak story of Citroen's falter. Citroen's cars retired a whopping eight times, five of which befell to Kris Meeke. Toyota and Hyundai fared a little better, but both teams had team member retiring while leading which affected their respective points scores accordingly.
|
|
     |
Even more telling than rally winner statistics is stage winners category. Neuville dominates here as well, with very clear margin while Ogier's score plunged to just third of what he had managed in 2016.
An interesting observation is that both of Ogier's team mates won more stages and led for more stages, yet were outscored in the championship table.
In rally leaders, Neuville holds the top spot. His nearest challenger on this category is again Tanak but third spot goes to Meeke while Ogier manages only 7th best score.
|
|
 |
Even with new and more powerful cars, the average speeds didn't change at all. As tradition demands, Finland was fastest rally with Poland and Sweden next up. Mexico was slowest and surprisingly Monte Carlo wasn't that much faster this year.
Rally route length stayed between 300 and 400 kilometers while number of competitors continued to slide downwards and cannot be explained entirely by new regulations.
Longest stages were familiar ones, Mexico's El Chotolat, Corsica's Antisani and Australia's Nambucca all over 50 km mark or at least near it.
Most popular make still is Ford, with considerable margin whereas Citroen's use seemed to be fading, though still second most common make during the season. French were the most common nationality, though there were fewer of them (proportionally as we must bear in mind that number of competitors fell during 2017).
|
|
|
 |
Statistically, Thierry Neuville had best season in almost all other categories except most championship points. He won most rallies and stages, led more - but also made more mistakes.
 |
|
