Toyota driver Elfyn Evans stands on the middle podium after the Finnish World Cup rally. He has conquered Jyväskylä for the third time in his career. However, the Welshman doesn’t exactly vent.
He is disappointed. After all, second place is Hyundai Thierry Neuville caught him in the World Series.
Evans’ points score is well reflected by the fact that he stopped the race once Kalle Rovanperä has caught only eight points less than Evans.
The point king of the race is Neuville’s teammate standing on the third pole of the podium Esapekka Lappi. A 25 point pot is hefty. Lappi isn’t really venting either, because he is saddened by losing the second race victory of his career.
So who actually won the World Rally Championship?
The invented scenario described above can be a complete reality in the season that is about to begin. The points system of the World Cup has been renewed in a historical way, which is why the answer to the question is not so clear-cut.
What has changed?
The points system of the Rally World Series has been unchanged for a long time. Since 2010, the fastest driver in the rally has been awarded 25 MM points.
In 2011, additional points were introduced in the World Championship, which also awarded the fastest drivers of the last special stage of the rally, i.e. the Power Stage. Since 2017, points have been awarded to the five best drivers in the closing stages.
The system meant two things: it was possible to collect 30 points from one rally and the winner of the rally always got the most World Championship points.
This will not be the case in the coming season, even though the highest possible score has not changed. In the future, three different points will be awarded for one rally.
The first race within the race is run from the start of the rally until the end of the day on Saturday. After that, the biggest point pot is awarded.
However, the points are officially recorded only at the end of the rally. For example, if a driver who was in the lead after Saturday retires on Sunday, he loses his Saturday points.
The drivers who were next in the results will thus move up one place in Saturday’s table.
On Sunday, points will be awarded to the seven fastest. Times are calculated only from Sunday’s special tests, i.e. drivers who continue after stopping the rally can aim for Sunday’s points.
In the future, the drivers who have stopped in this way will not only save their tires for the final stage of the rally, but all drivers will have enough to contribute, since on Sunday you can collect points both for the whole day and for the Power Stage performances.
While previously winning the rally and the Power Stage was enough to collect 30 points, in the future more will be required: 18 points from Saturday, seven points from Sunday and five points from the Power Stage.
At the same time, the victory in the general competition is historically no longer awarded with World Championship points. Therefore, the official winner of the World Cup rally does not necessarily reach the biggest points pot.
This is what the change means in practice
Welcome to follow the imaginary Finnish World Rally Championship 2024!
As usual, the rally starts on Thursday from Harju. On Friday, there will be a long driving day, after which the home crowd’s favorite Kalle Rovanperä will be in the lead.
On Saturday, the situation will change. Rovanperä slips out and the Finn has to interrupt. After Saturday, Hyundai’s takes the top spot Ott Tänakwhich thus gets the attachment to 18 points.
The Toyota mechanics worked hard on Rovanperä’s car and he will be able to continue the race on Sunday. Good thing, because Rovanperä can still reach up to 12 MM points.
The day starts dramatically when Tänak has to stop due to a technical problem in the opening half. Hyundai freezes and Tänak loses his Saturday points at the same time.
Tänak’s teammate and Hyundai’s triple driver Esapekka Lappi will catch up to Saturday’s highest score, but he will make a small driving mistake in the next special test and lose his chance for Sunday’s top positions. He gets to continue, but drops two places in the overall competition.
This is how Elfyn Evans becomes the winner of the rally. Thierry Neuville is faster than Evans on Sunday, but can’t quite catch him. Of course, this doesn’t really matter, because you don’t get World Championship points from the ranking of the overall competition.
In Sunday’s special tests, Rovanperä has the fastest pace. Flashing its speed from time to time Takamoto Katsuta has not been able to perform consistently in the rally, but on Sunday he will do well and challenge Neuville.
Rovanperä also achieves the highest points on the Power Stage. Lappi gets permission from the team to try to drive with extra points for the brand championship.
Toyota won’t order Katsuta to slow down for Evans as he tries to keep Neuville behind him in Sunday’s overall time.
And this is how the Finnish World Rally Championship 2024 has been completed. Evans wins, Neuville is second and Lappi third.
But which of the drivers has collected the most points?
What does the change mean?
By comparing the number of points, it can be concluded that the new points system benefits the drivers who stopped before Sunday, but continue the race later.
In this imaginary Finnish World Cup rally, Kalle Rovanperä scored 12 points instead of five extra points. The winner of the race, Elfyn Evans, got only eight points more than Rovanpere.
You can get an overall picture of the revolutionary change of the new points system when you look at what kind of points from the imaginary Finnish World Rally Championship would have been awarded with the old points system.
With the old system, Evans would have received 22 points more than Rovanperä, now only eight.
In the beginning season, the value of a single World Cup rally victory will therefore collapse, because the victory of the general competition is no longer important in terms of World Cup points.
Rovanperä and Evans both achieved three race victories last year. Rovanperä got a full 90 World Championship points from these victories. Evans’s corresponding figure was 80, when he missed the Power Stage bonus points twice.
With the new points system, Rovanperä would have collected 85 points from his victories, Evans 72 points.
Collecting maximum points will therefore be even more difficult in the future than before. There is no room for making sure if you want full points from the competition.
On the other hand, you don’t necessarily have to aim for full points from one race to the next, because achieving maximum points is also more difficult for others.
When the tip is narrow, it is possible to collect good points from race to race, even if the speed is not enough to fight for victory.
Today, Sunday, at Urheilustudio, the upcoming rally season was discussed by an expert Henri Haapamäki and Kalle Rovanperä’s karttur Jonne Halttunen.
The World Rally Championship season starts in Monte Carlo from the 25th to the 28th. January.