Saudi Arabia was a leap into the great unknown for all crews, and the conditions ultimately proved to be extremely harsh.
Almost every crew suffered tyre damage at some point during the rally, and Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen also had to endure their share of problems.
In the end, Rally Saudi Arabia was not an event worthy of being the WRC season finale. Among others, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak sarcastically remarked that the WRC was getting an “absolutely fantastic” ending. The Estonian was referring to the fact that the drivers fighting for the world championship were finishing well down the order. The rally was won by Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, and Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier, who had already secured the title, was crowned world champion for the ninth time after finishing third.
Rovanperä’s co-driver Jonne Halttunen also made his opinion of Saudi Arabia very clear in an interview with RallyJournal.com.
“There was absolutely no sense in it at all,” Halttunen fires straight out.
“Saudi Arabia can be on the calendar as far as I’m concerned. It’s only good to have some different kinds of rallies, but as a season finale it’s completely the wrong place,” Halttunen continues.
Halttunen feels that the final round should preferably always be a more traditional rally, where sporting merit would be at the centre.
“The final round could preferably be Wales or some other rally like that, where things are decided by driving, and not in that way,” Halttunen outlines.
“I already said before the rally in probably every interview that punctures would decide this year’s championship, and that’s pretty much what happened. Seb (Ogier) didn’t have those tyre problems and he won the championship. That’s how it went,” Halttunen continues.
The World Rally Championship has featured, and will continue to feature, tougher events, but in Saudi Arabia the situation with tyre damage was at times even slightly comical.
“Africa is also a really tough rally. I’m not an engineer, but maybe the sand in Saudi Arabia is somehow hotter or something, so that’s why it’s a bit tougher on the tyres. If the tyres could withstand it better, then in my opinion it wouldn’t be such a bad rally. I don’t know, though, whether any other brand’s tyres would withstand that either,” Halttunen ponders.
The Saudi Arabian WRC round will, however, bring the season to a definite close this year — and most likely in the years to come as well. A staggering ten-year contract has been signed with Saudi Arabia.
