[WRC] News & rumours (part IV) 2016

[RAS007]

Interesting analysis, however in Ogier's era we have now double teams comparing to Loeb's. This opens opportunities for more drivers so it is king of normal different to win.

Loeb came along at an interesting time: the greats of the previous decade (Kankkunen, Sainz, Auriol, Makinen, McRae) were all well past their peak, or retired, and the specialists were disappearing. Loeb was part of the new era (Martin, Solberg, Gronholm to an extent), but due to a combination of factors (e.g.: Burns' illness, Martin retiring due to co-driver death), by the time 2007 came around, the competition was all but extinct, and disappeared completely after Gronholm retired. Would Loeb have won 9 in a row had he entered the top level of the sport in 1993? Possible, but seems unlikely. Either way, we'll never know, and its hard to take a credible position against the idea that his total domination of the WRC for 9 years was very damaging for the sport. I am really just nostalgic for a time when going into any event, there were 5 or 6 possible winners, which is something that seems to be long gone, sadly. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, read any Rallycourse up until 2005. That said, I am hopeful for the future.