The Wales Rally GB begins on Friday, with champion Loeb set to appear. Maurice Hamilton reports
WALES RALLY GB will attempt a return to respectability with the inclusion of classic special stages when the three-day event gets serious on Friday.
The recall of tough and uncompromising forest tracks in mid-Wales will halt the increasing criticism in recent years that the route chosen for this international competition never strayed beyond the same gravel roads in the Carmarthen and Port Talbot regions.
The revised route may be a small step but it will make the rally more accessible to fans in Liverpool, Manchester and places farther north, where the event in its former guise as the RAC Rally was a frequent and welcome visitor.
It would be a mistake, however, to write off this final round of the world rally championship as a parochial affair. The stages are among the toughest in the world, thanks mainly to the vagaries of the British weather in December, the 80 crews preparing themselves for anything from fog and rain to ice, snow and, inevitably, miles of mud.
Rheola may be a traditional venue well-known to rally drivers but that does not lessen either the challenge or the risk as cars frequently reach more than 160km/h on the 17 miles that twist and plunge through a dark forest high above Neath.
One mistake by the driver, or a missed call by the co-driver reading the pace notes, could result in the sort of high-speed visit to the trees that severely injured the French co-driver of a leading crew in the Rally of Japan.
Rallying's spectacular nature, as drivers constantly visit the edge of adhesion and control on slippery surfaces, may not translate into compelling television but that will not prevent thousands of spectators from engaging in the seasonal rally ritual of facing the elements, often in the dark, while waiting for the world's best drivers to strut their stuff.
It will matter little that the championship has already been settled by Sébastien Loeb for a record fifth time.
"I've hardly had time to catch my breath since Japan," says Loeb. "The Wales Rally GB is an event I enjoy. The atmosphere is always very special, especially on the stages run in semi-darkness. The terrain is also highly specific and never easy.
"The muddy conditions can produce differing levels of grip from one corner to the next, while other portions can be impressively fast and technically challenging, especially given how little grip there is, when there is grip."
The Frenchman will gently steer his Citroën from the ceremonial start ramp in Cardiff on Thursday evening, knowing that a significant gap remains on his CV. Despite having won 10 of this year's events and 46 in total, Rally GB is the only absentee on Loeb's list of classic victories. The world's most successful rally driver will be aware that 218 miles of bad road run against the clock in all conditions may once again prevent the final box from being ticked.
- Guardian