We all probably agree on the essential: current starting order rules aren’t needed anymore. They were made to limit VW and Ogier dominance but now competitors are clearly showing they’ve progressed and the technical gap that existed since 2014 is being closed.

Meeke and Paddon wins are no longer lucky wins like those of Neuville in ’14 Germany or the Scott last year in Argentina. In this year MC and Sweden they were already matching Ogier pace and that came as a surprise to almost everyone (including VW guys). After Argentina and Portugal there are very few doubts left.

The funny thing is that VW staff just can’t accept it. It’d be pretty simple for them to say openly the obvious: look, these rules doensn’t makes sense anymore because we’re no longer superior, our competitors have managed to progress.

Admitting this is probably too much for VW’s proudly German ego and ironically they’re hurting themselves by not doing it in a clear way. Instead they’ve come out with the 2wd lines issue in Argentina and now in Portugal they’re saying there’s a problem about random entries of top competitors.

It sounds ridiculous and almost gives us the will to see them suffer a bit longer, but honestly the rules aren’t fair anymore even for Hyundai and Citroen: with these starting order issues they can’t claim undoubtedly that their wins are a deserved compensation for their development work or their drivers improved skills, as they truly are.