Changes Dominate WRC Headlines from Australia

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

Not all the teams go to Australia for the World Rally Championship round there. It’s expensive for teams based in Europe to get all their people and parts halfway ’round the world.

But there were headlines in Australia this weekend. The biggest was Sebastien Ogier of France winning his third straight World Rally Championship all with Volkswagen.

With Sebastien Loeb’s nine straight, that means a French man has been the best rally driver in the world for 12 straight years. It used to be a championship controlled by Scandinavians especially the Finns. In fact, a Finnish driver won 14 of the previous 27 World Rally Championships before Loeb and Ogier took over.

Another headline, though, is more serious. Driver and fan safety has become more important after some fatal accidents in national rallies this year.

The drivers in Australia expressed their frustrations when heavy dust compromised driver vision on one night stage. Earlier FIA meetings in Europe last week ended with officials promising better safety conditions going forward.

If drivers keep complaining, maybe those safety changes will happen faster.

Peace.