Thirteen rounds from Monte Carlo to Australia, a cancelled China rally, and a season of crashes, cancelled stages and changing leaders.
The 2016 World Rally Championship was the 44th season of the FIA's top rallying series. It ran over thirteen rounds from Monte Carlo in January to Rally Australia in November, with Sebastien Ogier defending the drivers' title and Volkswagen Motorsport defending the manufacturers' crown.
The 2016 World Rally Championship was the 44th running of the series, with thirteen rounds from a January start in Monte Carlo to a November finish in Australia. Sebastien Ogier arrived as the defending drivers' champion, and Volkswagen Motorsport arrived as the defending manufacturers' champion. Several rounds were shaped by weather, mechanical failures and crashes, so the lead changed hands more than once.
What was the 2016 World Rally Championship?
It was the 44th season of the World Rally Championship, the highest class of international rallying as recognised by the FIA. Teams and drivers competed for two titles, one for drivers and one for manufacturers, and the points table rewarded the top ten finishers in each rally. Ogier and Volkswagen Motorsport each claimed their fourth consecutive championship in those standings.
The season ran from January to November 2016, with the drivers' title decided on points earned across every round. Power stages added bonus points, so a fast stage could matter as much as a result in the final order.
Four wins for Ogier, two for Meeke, and a season shaped by crashes, cancelled stages and a cancelled China round.
How did the 2016 calendar change?
The FIA announced the calendar in November 2015 and planned fourteen rounds across Europe, the Americas, Oceania and Asia, one more than in 2015. The Rally of China was cancelled after torrential storms and flooding in July, so the season ran over thirteen rounds instead.
Rally Australia moved from its September date to November and became the final round of the championship. Its route was shortened because dust threatened visibility in the forest stages. Rally China would have been a return to the WRC after only one earlier appearance, seventeen years before.
The Tour de Corse also changed. Its headquarters moved from Corte to Bastia, and the event used a brand-new route.
Which teams and drivers changed for 2016?
Citroen withdrew its works team to focus on its 2017 car ahead of major regulation changes, although the DS3 WRC stayed available to privateer teams. Mads Ostberg left Citroen for M-Sport, while Ott Tanak went back to DMACK and Hayden Paddon was promoted to a full-time Hyundai seat.
Citroen had also stepped back from works support once before, in 2006, when the Xsara WRC reached the end of its working life. That earlier withdrawal came while the company developed the C4 WRC as its replacement.
DMACK, the Anglo-Chinese tyre manufacturer, planned to contest the full 2016 season as a manufacturer team. It had appeared at selected World Rally Championship and WRC2 events between 2013 and 2015, and for 2016 it ran Ford Fiesta RS WRCs built and prepared by M-Sport.
M-Sport dropped Elfyn Evans from its World Rally Team in favour of Ostberg and Eric Camilli. Evans stayed with the team in WRC-2 with an all-new Ford Fiesta R5. Camilli, a Toyota test driver, made his World Rally Championship debut after competing part-time in WRC2 throughout 2015.
Hyundai's development driver Kevin Abbring took over Paddon's previous part-time role and made regular appearances for the team. He had expanded on a four-round campaign in 2015.
How did the early rounds unfold?
Ogier won in Monte Carlo, his third consecutive win in the principality, while Sweden was run on a changed route after a lack of snow. Jari-Matti Latvala then won in Mexico, his first victory of the season, after scoring no points in the opening rounds while Ogier collected a full 58.
Monte Carlo was hard on the field. Kris Meeke hit a rock on special stage twelve and withdrew with gearbox damage, and Latvala ran off the road from third and hit a spectator, though nobody was seriously hurt. Andreas Mikkelsen finished second after resisting Thierry Neuville, and only seven WRC cars reached the finish after six retirements.
Sweden was a rally of changed plans. Studded snow tyres were unsafe on roads that had begun to thaw, so some stages were cancelled. Ogier protested the event going ahead, but he took the start once the FIA approved the route changes and went on to win. Latvala had a broken drive shaft early in the second stage, and Paddon became Ogier's biggest rival as the roads froze.
In Mexico the running order followed the championship standings, which meant Ogier had to sweep loose gravel from the roads ahead of Latvala. Latvala used the cleaner roads to build a lead over the first two days. The final day included the longest special stage on the calendar at eighty kilometres, and Latvala held on for his first win of the season ahead of Ogier. A late penalty moved Ostberg onto the podium ahead of Dani Sordo.
In Argentina, Latvala was pushing for another win until a major accident in the afternoon forced him out. Paddon took the lead and then won the power stage, which decided the rally, for his first WRC event victory. Ogier finished second and Mikkelsen third, and Paddon moved up to second in the championship, while Volkswagen Motorsport kept the lead in the manufacturers' standings.
Who won the middle rounds in Portugal, Sardinia and Poland?
Kris Meeke won in Portugal, Thierry Neuville took Sardinia for his second WRC event win, and Andreas Mikkelsen won in Poland. Damage and mistakes shaped each rally, from Paddon's car being destroyed by fire in Portugal to Tanak's late puncture in Poland.
Citroen was not included in the manufacturers' standings for that round, so Meeke used the event to gain experience for 2017. Paddon and Tanak ran off the road at the same spot, and Paddon's car was engulfed in flames. On Sunday Mikkelsen took second from Ogier, but Ogier still collected the three power stage points.
Latvala went into Sardinia needing a result, having scored points in only two of five events. He led on Friday morning, but Neuville passed him before the final stage. Paddon ran off the road on stage seven and destroyed his car for the second rally in a row, while Mikkelsen and Ostberg were both caught up in incidents. Latvala finished second and Ogier third, with Ogier scoring all three power stage points.
In Poland the lead switched between Tanak, Mikkelsen and Paddon on Friday. Tanak built a lead on Saturday and seemed set to win on Sunday until a puncture on the penultimate stage dropped him to second. Mikkelsen won ahead of Tanak, with Paddon third.
Who won in Finland and Germany?
Meeke won in Finland and became the first Briton to win the event, breaking the record for the highest average speed in a rally. Ogier won in Germany, the first tarmac round since Monte Carlo, with Sordo second and less than a tenth of a second ahead of Neuville.
Finland was Latvala's home event, and he had won it the previous two years. Meeke led on Friday and held the lead, while Latvala chased him. Tanak spun and punctured, and Ogier got stuck in a ditch and dropped out of the points. Two stages were cancelled on Saturday after violent crashes by Lorenzo Bertelli and Eric Camilli, and Craig Breen took third, a personal best.
In Germany Ogier did not need to clean the roads as he had in the gravel stages, but an early mistake dropped him behind Mikkelsen. Latvala retired on the first stage with gearbox trouble, and Ogier regained the lead on Saturday. Mikkelsen fell further back, leaving the win to Ogier.
What happened on the Tour de Corse?
Ogier won the Tour de Corse after taking all four Friday events, with Neuville second and Mikkelsen third. Meeke pushed into second early on but spun and punctured, and Meeke crashed on the Saturday, which dropped him out of the points. He still finished sixteenth overall and won the power stage.
The Tour followed Germany directly because the China round had been cancelled, and it was another tarmac event. Sordo also lost second place to a puncture. On Saturday Mikkelsen overtook Latvala and tried to chase Neuville, but the order at the finish matched the one set on Friday evening.
How did the points system work?
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in the drivers', co-drivers' and manufacturers' standings. Each power stage winner also earned three bonus points, with two for second place and one for third. Those bonus points could move a driver up the order even when another driver won the rally.
Because bonus points came from stages as well as finishing positions, a driver could score well without winning. Ogier's Corsica and Portugal performances show how power stage points could move the standings even when the rally result was different.
Round-by-round results
| Round | Rally | Winner | Defining moment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monte Carlo Rally | Sebastien Ogier | Seven cars finished after six retirements |
| 2 | Rally Sweden | Sebastien Ogier | Route changed and stages cancelled after a lack of snow |
| 3 | Rally Mexico | Jari-Matti Latvala | First win of the season, ahead of Ogier |
| 4 | Rally Argentina | Hayden Paddon | Power stage decided the rally; first WRC event win |
| 5 | Rally de Portugal | Kris Meeke | Paddon's car destroyed by fire after running off the road |
| 6 | Rally Italia Sardegna | Thierry Neuville | Second WRC event win for Neuville |
| 7 | Rally Poland | Andreas Mikkelsen | Tanak second after a late puncture |
| 8 | Rally Finland | Kris Meeke | First Briton to win the event; record average speed |
| 9 | Rallye Deutschland | Sebastien Ogier | Sordo second, less than a tenth ahead of Neuville |
| 10 | Tour de Corse | Sebastien Ogier | Meeke sixteenth overall but took the power stage |
What did the 2016 season set up for 2017?
Citroen spent 2016 developing its 2017 car ahead of major regulation changes, and Meeke used his outings to gain experience for the following season. Elfyn Evans stayed with M-Sport in WRC-2 with a new Ford Fiesta R5, and Rally Australia closed the season in November.
The season also showed how much a single incident could change a championship battle. Paddon's fire in Portugal, Latvala's accident in Argentina and Tanak's puncture in Poland each cost a driver a rally result.
