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The Rally Scene: Season 44

20.12.2021 - As usual, let's take a look at what the gritty world of rally has offered MRC this season.

World Rally Series

It was another season in the books for WRS and not a whole lot has changed since last season, as two familiar faces took the top two trophies home.

Champion for the third year running was Britain's Wynn Hunter, after two top flight years with Toyota, the now 26 year old painted his new M-Sport Ford in his synonymous white/fuchsia pink Eclipse OEC colours and went about resuming his march at the top. Hunter rather brazenly admitted that his goal for the season was to sweep the series with 14 straight victories, a feat many would have said was audacious at best! Alas, this is exactly what was achieved, in a remarkable, record setting season, Wynn amassed 350 points at the top of the table on his way to accomplishing his second goal, and claiming UK#1 rank (and World #7) on his 26th birthday!

A lot can be said for the patience of second place Visvaldis Ceļš, the Latvian rally master periodically taking crowns off of Hunter in R5 and P3 disciplines respectively, but didn't manage to add to his WRS win tally in Season 44, despite coming agonisingly close in Germany, leading by a handful of seconds going into Day 3, before ultimately finding the wall and retiring. The 23 year old looks primed for his best ever season in 45, with an ever-increasing skillset!

It was a new face in P3! As Portugal's Felipe Campolargo took third in the standings, after two previous agonising attempts resulting in P4 finishes in the championship! Felipe only finished 18pts away from Ceļš at seasons end, and may well be looking to challenge the sports established front runners next season!

World Rally Series 2

Not all that much changed in WRS2 either, with
Pankrác Zatáčka once again stamping his authority on the series, with a phenomenal 12 wins from 14 events. The 23 year old continues to impress at his young age, and may yet find himself tempted by a jump up to the top flight for Season 45! However, the fight behind him was the talking point of the season, as only 4pts separated 21 year old Szilvester Xalonna, and America's Jaxson Cole. Both drivers repeating their form and championship position from last season, proving that consistency can bring home the silverware in lieu of winning events outright!

It was also a solid performance for series newcomer and Formula 1 alumni Vincent Ritter, proving at 41 years young that there is still plenty of competition to be fought at any age!

World Rally Series 3

Latvian drivers continue to make their presence felt in the rally world, as new WRS3 champion Artis Rezervists debuts at #1! Winning 8 events in total, this was the first competitive season of any kind for the 21 year old Rookie, and a fantastic way to announce yourself to the world!

Coming home in P2 in the standings was 18 year old Jan Hájek, another new face to the series went on to claim two wins, but a fantastic twelve appearances in the Top 5 ensured they kept their points tally high! And engraving his name on the 3rd place trophy for the second season running was Nikolay Rytov!

Rookie Series: Rally

Season 45 saw a very well established manager trying his hand at Rally, with debutant teenager Colin Crash taking the Rookie Series Rally title in emphatic style. Performing under the wise management of British manager MrMonaco, who is no stranger to tintop series having steered Alex Cooper to double championship success in 911 Supercup, as well as stints in DTWS and TCR, Crash may look to continue into higher tiers of rally and keep the champagne flowing!