|
|
            |
In terms of wins, 2023 was pretty even season for drivers at least. Three Toyota drivers Evans, Ogier and Rovanpera all won three events each, leaving two wins to Neuville and Tanak apiece.
Podium-wise things were somewhat different. Rovanpera was best Toyota driver, finishing on as often as Neuville, in total eight times. Evans got close with sevent podium finishes whereas Ogier with only partial programme was quite a lot lower. Interestingly, Evans outscored Neuville by quite a bit despite having less podium finishes during the season.
|
|
     |
Only Ogier who did just partial programme finished every rally he started. Evans, Rovanpera and Tanak came closest but each missed out one rally each.
At the opposite end of the scale, Lappi crashed out on four occasions but still managed to keep his seat at Hyundai into 2024. Also Loubet had four non-scores but only three of those were due to crashes.
|
|
    |
Rovanpera's domination is evident in stage wins category. He won almost twice as many stages as the next fastest driver Neuville (72 to 40 wins). In addition, just like last year, Kalle also won six power stages which netted him lots of additional championship points.
What is interesting is the fact the Ogier, despite starting only in eight rallies, held lead more often than eventual champion Rovanpera and yet, they both won as many rallies. This is likely explained by Ogier's favourable road position on first day of most rallies he entered.
|
|
|
|
Some things never change, like Finland and Sweden being the two fastest of the season. Just like last year, season-ending Japan was slowest rally which is a bit odd for a tarmac event. Rally route lengths continued recovery to more normal levels, with only one event having less than 300 kilometers of special stages.
Rallies with most and least competitors on the start line were familiar ones, Portugal with 82 and Mexico and Safari with just 31 entries. Sardinia had monstrous, almost 50km long Monte Lerno stage back which overshadowed last year's longest stage, Portugal's Amarante (still in calendar at same length). In 2023, average speed exceeded 140 kph on two stages, one in Finland and another in Sweden.
French no longer were the most numerous nationality in entries as events favouring them were reduced and top spot was (re-)taken by Finns. Skoda enjoyed success and popularity in Rally2-category and was most popular make during the year.
|
|
|
 |
Evans scored three wins, seven podiums and had an almost perfect points scoring record. Yet, he missed out the title but as Rovanpera and Ogier are both on limited programme next year, will it be Elfyn's turn to lift the trophy?
 |
|
