Ford and Citroën have reached an agreement

This week, the FIA ​​made a proposal to put an end to grotesque strategies, team strategies which, for example, disrupted the progress of the last Rally from Jordan. During the last day of the third round of WRC, Ford had sent Mikko Hirvonen onto the track in front of Jari-Matti Latvala to sweep him off the road, and Citroën had reacted by placing Sébastien Ogier in front of Sébastien Loeb, for the same purpose. Ogier and Hirvonen were thus sanctioned with several minutes of penalties, corresponding to the number of minutes ahead they had at the start of the specials. Penalized, sacrificed for the good of their respective teammates? but allowed to leave in advance.

Thus, the rule proposed this week by the FIA ​​required crews arriving early at the start of a special to wait to the side and set off at the initially scheduled time. The drivers and teams accepted the proposal but not the sports commissioners, who do not want to see the regulations modified during the season. They will therefore not apply it, for reasons of legal certainty. In addition, these sports commissioners recalled that unsporting behavior was prohibited, even if this declaration leaves room for different interpretations.

To avoid seeing the scenario of the last day of the Jordan Rally repeat itself, Malcolm Wilson, boss of M-Sport (Ford), and Olivier Quesnel, director of Citroën Racing, have decided, by mutual agreement, to no longer send one of their crews to check in early. There will therefore no longer be a driver sacrificed, sent to first position in the specials if it is not his regulatory place. This should satisfy rally and sports fans.