Latvia: A race troubled by passage orders

Throughout this first stage of 132,05 km timed, Thierry Neuville tried to find something positive to hold on to. It was wasted effort. Even before the launch of this 8^e sleeve, he knew that the punishment would be severe on the Latvian roads. Leader of the championship, the Belgian had the formidable handicap of opening the ball and therefore making the first mark on a road covered with a thin film of a mixture of gravel and dust. In these conditions, despite all its talent, the wheels of its i20 are rarely successful in gripping the hard surface of the road on which grip exists. With each acceleration, its tires slipped, making it impossible to exploit all the power. Each time he braked, he had to remember that he was trying to slow down on dirt... Neuville's frustration was palpable and justified at the stop points. However, he managed to maintain his calm so as not to add to the risk of making a mistake. His ordeal was further accentuated by the fact that in Latvia there are special stages which are only taken once or they have different sections at the start or finish which lengthened the distance to be covered. Even the 2^es laps were painful for the 36-year-old driver who found himself forced to redo the track after the passage of all the Rally2s which left lines other than those of the Rally1s. Despite the self-sacrifice he always shows, Neuville inexorably saw his delay grow.

A recurring problem with no solution?

For him, apart from packing suitcases without being able to do anything, it was the certainty that history was going to repeat itself which was the most despairing. Indeed, even ranking 9^es Rally1 on Friday evening, Thierry and Martijn Wydaeghe knew that they would have to endure again on Saturday. If no racing incidents occur, this will prevent them from achieving a good result at the end of the 2^e stage when the first units will be allocated. The icing on the cake, Neuville will still be very handicapped on the last day to aim for points during the “ golden sunday ". After seeing Sébastien Ogier complaining for years about this unjust rule, it is the Belgian's turn to suffer the torments. THE WRC has however evolved with this new distribution of points and also the multiple one-off participations. Everything comes together to disadvantage the leader who has absolutely no chance of defending himself. What image does a championship give in which everything is done to penalize the leader? In what other sport is this practiced? How can we explain that the leader finds himself “out of luck” having tried everything? To what extent does this discipline emerge from hearing Thierry, under the influence of disappointment, say that to aim for a title he would perhaps have to think about doing a partial program? These questions have been asked for several years, but this subject ultimately does not attract anyone's attention, which undoubtedly indicates that the situation suits the leaders. However, there would be solutions to balance the chances and make the championship even more interesting.