OGIER PIPS EVANS AS THE WRC WEATHERS THE 2020 STORM
The 2020 World Rally Championship bestrode all 12 months of the Gregorian calendar, and in terms of the competition it was a cracker. Moreover, it was an inspiration in dark days for the world and our industry.
Britain dared to dream of seeing its first world champion crowned for 19 years but, such was the intensity to the competition, almost everyone had their moment in the sun.
It all began back in January, with six-time champion Sebastien Ogier claiming the first stage win in Monte Carlo on his first event for Toyota. Many harboured fears of witnessing another demonstration run for the Frenchman when armed with such a potent weapon as the Yaris, which Ott Tanak had used to finally end Ogier’s sequence of titles in 2019.
But on the very next stage, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville decided to go all Walter Rohrl on us and beat everyone by more than 25 seconds. Then Elfyn Evans, the perennial understudy at M-Sport, powered his new Toyota to the lead of the rally. And then reigning champion Tanak flew off a mountain in his Hyundai.
The magnitude of the Estonian’s accident, from being launched into the treetops and then plunging 100 feet to the road below, should never be underestimated, and both
