The World Rally Championship’s new points system, that is complicated upon first glance, has divided opinion in the service park and among fans. Several drivers voiced their criticism of the revamp in the lead up to the rally, with the most common gripes being that it is too complicated and devalues the victory. Both opinions are of course valid, but these could certainly change in time.
The new system effectively splits a WRC event into two, and is designed to create more excitement on the final day of rallies where drivers in the past have cruised persevering tyres for the Power Stage. Continuing from last year, a maximum of 30 points can be scored by a crew and the winner of the event is determined on overall time from start to finish.
What is new is the fact points are now distributed differently, with a scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 awarded to the top 10 at the end of Saturday, but only to those crews who reach the finish on Sunday. Softly launched under the banner of ‘Super Sunday’ in Monte Carlo, the final day now offers up a separate points allocation [7-6-5-4-3-2-1] to the top seven fastest crews across Sunday’s stages. This is in addition to the 5-4-3-2-1 in play for the rally-ending Power Stage.
Did it have an impact in Monte Carlo?
The short answer is yes. But it didn’t have the negative impact some drivers were fearing. The winner of the rally, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, did leave the event with the most points.
Under the new system, there is the prospect where the event winner could leave with less points than another driver. Motorsport.com has applied the 2024 points system to last year’s rallies and this circumstance did not eventuate, but in Chile last year winner Ott Tanak and runner-up Neuville would have left the event with the same points.
In Monte Carlo, Neuville topped the standings both on Saturday and Sunday evening, as well as winning the Power Stage to achieve a perfect score. Interestingly, the prospect of Saturday points did play a part in Neuville pushing to achieve that top position on the day’s final stage.
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
Concerns that the rally winner might not score the most points were abated by Neuville’s superb showing
“Yeah for sure, it was in my mind,” he said. “The points you take are taken and nobody can take them away, so that is something we will always have to remember on the Saturday. For the lead it is three…
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