2017 Retrospective, Part Five

Hamilton equal Cheers et Hag
He was the favorite to succeed his favorite former rival Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton did not disappoint the expectations of the supporters. Despite the unexpected resistance of the Team Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel until the summer, the Briton knocked out the competition with five successes in six events at the start of the school year. At the wheel of his Mercedes W08, showed exemplary consistency, the key to winning a fourth title and becoming the record holder for poles (72). It’s not his decline, after obtaining the crown in Mexico (accident during testing in Sao Paulo, 2nd in Abu Dhabi), which will tarnish a remarkable picture.

Le Mans faithful to its tradition
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, if we thought we would see a calmer edition than the 2016 finish, the 2017 scenario held many surprises. In Sarthe, fans thought they were choking when they saw an LM P2 prototype, that of Jarvis-Tung-Laurent’s Jackie Chan DC Racing, en tête à une heure de l’arrivée. La Porsche 919 Hybrid frappée du n°1 de Bamber-Hartley-Bernhard, returned from the Vauvert Devil after a fifty-minute stop to regain the upper hand in the finale. As if continuing a tradition, bad luck overwhelmed Toyota. Two of the three machines abandoned during the night, in incredible circumstances. In GTE Pro, the fight between the Corvette C7 (Magnussen-Garcia-Taylor) and the aging Aston Martin Vantage turned at the last minute to the advantage of the latter in the hands of Jonathan Adam.

The comeback of Loeb
It made him itch. From Monte Carlo 2015, Sébastien Loeb had no longer participated in an event WRC. The Alsatian carried out a few test sessions at the wheel of the Citroën C3 WRC during the year, just what was needed to get back into the deep end of world rallies. Always accompanied by his faithful partner daniel helena, the nine-time world champion will return to service in 2018 au Mexico, Corsica and Catalonia. The person concerned returns " to have fun ", but make no mistake: Sébastien Loeb doesn’t put his helmet back on to simply “ride around”.

Ogier goes a little further into the history of the WRC
The challenge was at the height of his abilities. A few weeks after learning of the end of the Volkswagen program, Sébastien Ogier se rabattait sur un volant au sein de l’écurie privée, mais passionnée, de M-Sport. Associated to Julien Ingrassia, the Frenchman was not the most impressive on the timesheet and collected two victories against four for Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul. However, while the Belgian pair tore off wheels here and there, Sébastien Ogier did not hurry and pocketed crucial points. Delivered on the land of his boss Malcolm Wilson, the Gapençais became the first champion driver within a private team since Ari Vatanen in 1981… also on Ford.