A year ago, there was much grumbling that Sunday in WRC rallies had become a bit of a joke. Drivers were holding back, conserving their tyres to have fresh rubber for the Power Stage and the bonus points that came with it.
A change was needed. But the adjustment to the points system this year was too radical.
Conditional points were introduced for Saturday evening, based on the overall standings (18 points for first place, 15 for second, and so on). Sunday now has its own set of points (a maximum of 7), while the Power Stage remained unchanged (a maximum of 5 points).
There are two major flaws in this system: the rally winner isn’t awarded a single point for the overall victory, and often, the event winner doesn’t take home the biggest points haul for the weekend.
These issues were highlighted early in the season, and since then, a change to the rules has been eagerly anticipated. A new proposal has reportedly already been submitted to the World Motor Sport Council for next season.
According to DirtFish, next year there will be no more points awarded on Saturday. Instead, points will be handed out based on the final rally results, using the traditional system of 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. Additionally, “Super Sunday” will remain, with the change that the top driver of the day will earn five points. The Power Stage will still offer a maximum of 5 points. This means that in the future, drivers could collect a maximum of 35 points over a weekend (compared to 30 under the current system).
This plan makes sense. The rally winner will be properly rewarded with WRC points. Plus, Sundays are unlikely to become boring, as there will still be plenty of points on offer.
But why wasn’t the other major issue fixed properly?
Even under this new system, it’s possible that the rally winner won’t end up with the most points for the weekend.
Here’s how that scenario could unfold: a driver leading the rally by a clear margin takes it easy on Sunday’s stages and doesn’t score any points for the day. Meanwhile, the second-place driver pushes hard, scoring at least 8 points on Sunday. In this case, the winner would finish with 25 points, while the runner-up could end up with 26 or even 28 points.
Of course, this scenario is highly unlikely, as in reality, multiple drivers will be fighting for Sunday points. Especially those who retired earlier in the rally will be going flat out, since they won’t be getting any points from the overall standings.
But this loophole still exists. If you’re going to fix something, why not fix it properly?
Believe it or not, this unlikely scenario will happen sooner or later. And then we’ll be back to the grumbling and complaining again.