Press Releases - The Rally Scene: Season 42

The Rally Scene: Season 42

As the season draws to a close, we once again look back on MRC's fastest growing discipline, which for the first time offered four full fledged tiers of competition!

World Rally Series

Season 42 saw Rally inducted into MRC's top tiers of competition, sporting a 2.0 series rating. Many graduates from the WRS feeder series' made haste in applying with a wealth of knowledge gained from their respective runs in junior categories.

WRS2 champion Wynn Hunter invested in Toyota's finest machinery to continue with the success he has seen as the face for the Japanese marque, and many tipped the 23 year old to add more silverware to his cabinet. Now racing under the newly coined Fox Ache Motorsport team, the World #1 rally driver accomplished an almost perfect clean sweep of the series, finishing every event on the podium, and claiming 12 wins across 14 events to finish 98 points clear of P2. Hunter rocketed into the World Top 100 ranking as the youngest driver in the list at the time, taking just another 4 weeks to break the World Top 50.
In 2nd, was the phenomenally quick World #2 for rally, Visvaldis Ceļš. The young Latvian claimed his first season series win on his way to 13 podiums and a meteoric rise through the ranks to join Hunter as the first two rally drivers to grace MRC's World Rankings (50th and 89th respectively).
One final shout out is deserved to the timeless veteran, Britain's Jackson Storm, who at the remarkable age of 48 was able to add another discipline to his unbelievably ecclectic resume, finishing 9th in the standings, with 9 Top 10 results, and a Top 5, and many wonder where the finish line is for this jack of all trades!?

World Rally Series 2

One main familiar face remained in WRS2 for Season 42, as Season 41 runner-up Martin Vaculik stuck around for another shot at the title after missing out the last time out, but the ranking leader was in for a serious shock as many fresh faced talents made a name for themselves in the feeder series!
It was a similar story to WRS though, as one clear winner stormed the series; 22 year old Italian Leon Zitone took a remarkable 10 wins from 14 events to wrap the championship up early! A fantastic achievement, and going one step better than the previous season, in which he claimed P2 in WRS3!
Perhaps the major talking point aside from Zitone's success, was that of the comparative success of a young Greek driver, Szilvester Xalonna, just 18 years of age when the series started, this fresh face announced his worldly intentions with an almighty campaign, registering a podium in every event, along with one win, closing the season just 53 points behind the high-flying Italian!
Vaculik would continue his winning ways though, claiming three victories on his way to 5th in the standings, behind 20 year old rally debutant Jimmy Doucet, and another teenage debutant, America's Jaxson Cole, proving that the future of the rally scene could be highly competitive in the years to come!

World Rally Series 3

Each and every event, the first cars to clear the dust off the road come from the pocket-rockets of WRS3, the hotly contested feeder series providing the first real taste of competitive rally to most of the sports established names. This season, one name re-emerged as if to ensure the guys at the top don't sit back in complacency, as Britain's Raul Lee-Cross - fresh off of a debut season which saw him crowned Rookie Rally Champion - romped to his first season series title! Also racing under the Fox Ache Motorsport banner, the Yaris driver made short work of eleven event wins on his way to a 90 point win margin by seasons close, with the remaining wins spread across Italy's Mario Lavaggi, and Spaniards Xavi Cabrafiga and Raul Gavilan, who is becoming somewhat a veteran of the series, contesting for the third straight season.

Rookie Rally Series

By the numbers, at least where wins are concerned, Rookie Rally looks to have been much closer than the other series... With 5 wins to his name, Russian teenager Nikolay Rytov took home the spoils, with almost double the points tally of the chasing pack! But with eventual runner-up Roberto Filgueira III having joined after mid-season had already passed, it remains to be seen just how competitive the rookie from Uruguay could have been!?

Looking ahead to Season 43, it could be argued that Wynn Hunter looks set to reclaim his title, barring mishaps, or a late entry into the field from a competitor, at present only a few new faces look set to join the established field in a blast through the scenery. Topping the list of names; Paweł Przybylski drops in as the current #4 ranked driver, who makes a long relocation from his time in Supercars Australia. Expectedly, WRS2 champion Leon Zitone will also join the top flight. Lee-Cross will aim to continue his march of winning ways with a shot at WRS2, and will anybody emerge as a new name to watch in the coming seasons?