Quote Originally Posted by krissucool View Post
This makes it double spectacular how 2 of the greatest drivers of the 21st century come from France where the sport is not even popular.
Really? I’m not French but I’ve family living there for a long time and I can assure you Rally is actually popular in France. For sure it’s not as popular as Foot or Rugby but everyone knows who Ogier is and every weekend there are dozens of rallys taking place all over the country with huge entry lists. Rally was born in France and till the mid 70’s French drivers and manus were regularly among the rally elite; actually, the first WRC manus champ was won by Alpine Renault, with the iconic A110 driven by local aces like Andruet, Nicolas, Darniche or Thérier. After a period were F1 become locally more popular, the 205T16 rally achievements made the sport noticeable again among the French and many still remember Vatanen (probably the most 'Frenchie' of the Finns) wins with it. Before Loeb and Citroen domination era, guys like Auriol, Delecour or Panizzi also managed to impress the rally world. Btw, all French manus (Citroen, Peugeot and Renault) have been directly involved in the sport, not only by running huge profile programs but mainly for providing privateers a wide range of rally cars, from low budget to top spec machines.

PS: forgot to mention Michelle Mouton; the only woman capable of winning WRC events in the series history.