Will it all be done and dusted? Or are we set for a super finale? The title race in the Drivers’ and Co-Drivers’ Championship enters the finishing straight at the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC): the Rally Spain (23.10.–26.10.). The spotlight at the 12th of this season’s 13 rallies will be on the Volkswagen pairings of World Championship leaders Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) and second-placed Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN). The formula for success is simple for the remaining two contenders for the WRC crown: whoever finishes ahead of their closest rivals will have achieved their major goal for the rally.
If defending champions Ogier and Ingrassia score one point more than their only challengers Latvala and Anttila, the Driver and Co-Driver titles will be theirs. However, should Latvala/Anttila finish ahead of their team-mates, the stage will be set for the ultimate in grand finales three weeks later at the Rally Great Britain. And then another aspect comes into play, which would only ever be possible in the battle for the World Championship title: Latvala/Anttila have surreptitiously become huge fans of Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (N/N). Were the pair currently third in the World Championship to finish ahead of Ogier/Ingrassia but behind the Finnish duo – as they did in Sweden and most recently in France – that would increase Latvala’s chances of ending the season as World Champion. However, Mikkelsen/Fløene are not there to do their Nordic colleagues any favours: after five podiums in a row, the Norwegian pair are hungry for their maiden victory.
