Rally: Ogier triumphs in Monte Carlo!

Motorsports fans have a tendency of thinking of Formula One drivers as the best drivers in the world. Who stops to question if that honor bestowed upon F1 drivers is actually true? I will agree that they are the commanding officers onboard the world’s most technologically superior race-machines, but, it is an an unavoidable fact that they compete on the best surfaces available and unless there is a shower of rain, they, for the most part compete in a predictable and consistent environment – only disrupted by concerns relating to fuel use, tyres etc.

Compare that to the gladiators who ply their trade in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The nature of the surface – gravel, tarmac, a rock-laden path, etc., has no influence or provides no impediment to forward motion. If you are reckless enough to place yourself close to a corner on a rally Stage, you will be startled repeatedly, by machines which represent the tangible products from engineering minds, minds which are obviously trapped in a fuel-driven dementia!

How else can you explain the constant spitting, wheezing, cackling, clinking and whistling sounds that the modern WRC machine makes as it hurls river-bed type stones and quarry-like gravel and then blasts like a bending bullet, in Angelina Jolie’s – Wanted – to the next corner. The repertoire of skills required to accomplish such a feat with poise and finesse over a 2- 3 day period, before victory is assigned, must catapult the drivers’ status to the Best Drivers in the World category. Think on these things and then ask yourself -  Are F1 drivers the best (drivers) in the world?

Ogier

While the debate burns a hole through your brain, the  WRC defending champion, Sebastien Ogier has made it abundantly clear that he has lost neither his determination nor his ability in the time that has elapsed between the end of his successful 2013 WRC campaign and the beginning of the current 2014 championship. Unlike most other disciplines, the WRC’s break from competition is a F1 pit-stop – it is brief.

The 2014 WRC season is currently underway and the first round of the championship – the Rally Monte Carlo – is now history. The season-opener hid the fortune it promised to the defending champion on Day 1. He struggled. But, like all champions, he displayed resilience even in the weakest moments. Ogier slipped, slid, recovered and drove to victory. Not a bad way to begin the season!

The best drivers in the world? Rally Monte Carlo – 2014 (click below).

WRC Monte Carlo – 2014

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer