This Portuguese Rally is being marked by a conversation that has been much debated in the past, but which is now returning in force because there are several part-time drivers and with seven World Rally Championship races on dirt roads ahead of them, This issue gains importance, even though, of course, nothing will change this year. But next year, perhaps, if the pressure remains.
As we know, there is qualification in the European Rally Championship, whoever is the fastest, and so on, chooses their starting order. Currently, the order is reversed to the championship classification.
Qualifications were eliminated and the starting order was reversed precisely 10 years ago, in 2014. On the first day, the starting order is the championship order. On the following days, the starting order is reversed depending on the rally classification. This rule applies to Priority 1 and 2 pilots.
And Ott Tänak said today that he would like to see qualifying reintroduced into the WRC ensuring that top drivers prefer qualifying. The problem is that the less fast ones don’t.
The pros and cons:
Qualification is fairer, but creates even more differences between the fastest and the rest
The starting order as it stands always penalizes the best in the championship on the first day of the race and affects the remaining days, because whoever comes out ahead stays behind and on the other days comes out ahead again because they were further behind in the classification.
In fact, the true essence of rallying is this. A driver never experiences the same conditions as the previous one and the next…