Last great year - 2003 World Rally Championship
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- Опубліковано 16 лис 2023
- The 2003 World Rally Championship is in my opinion, the last great year WRC had before the spell of dominate periods the sport would end up having. In this video, I go through all the twists and turns from that amazing season.
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0:57 Aged well. Kalle is going part time in 2024, but should be back to doing it full time in 2025, hence why he’s said he wants to win more WRC titles.
19:03 Great typo from me ‘M. Markko’ 😂. Should be M. Martin. Whoops.
Crazy to think that Citroen managed to sign Loeb, Sainz an McRae in the same year. One of the most goated lineups ever created in any sort of motorsport discipline imo.
They had McRae, Sainz and some random french kid that did well in the lower categories. The crazy thing is the fact that the french kid beat the shit out McRae and Carlos.
@@bogdanrus9402 couldn't say it better
Through McRae didn’t win a single event that year which is surprising.
That kid was an actual prodigy. The fking messi of the WRC.@@bogdanrus9402
@@wolfgangvan-uber6515McRae didn’t get on with the Citroen. It was set up with a hint of understeer which is what Loeb liked. McRae not so much. He was also past his sell by date at this point imo. He wasnt the same driver after the 2000 Corsica crash.
A clash of generations. The OGs, Sainz, McRae, Tommi, the established new guard, Gronholm, Burns and the new kids, Loeb, Solberg, Märtin. One of the best WRC seasons ever.
2003 was the end of the 'second golden era of WRC', which started around 1997 when the World Rally Car regulations came in. This era had enormous manufacturer participation, with the likes of SEAT, Peugeot, Citroen, Hyundai and Skoda all joining in this period, the time when some of the most legendary names in the sport, like Burns, Solberg, Gronholm and Loeb made themselves in as well as legends of the past like Auriol, Sainz, McRae, Kankunnen and Makinen participating as well, and some of the most memorable title fights in history, like Sainz's Toyota breaking down with 400m left at Margam Park, McRae and Makinen's dramatic implosion of their title challenges in 2001 and the 2003 season shown in the video.
In many ways, the WRC's golden eras (the first being the Group B era from 1983-86, featuring perhaps the most dangerous and iconic cars ever to exist, like the Delta S4, the 205 T16 and the Audi S1 E2, pushing what man and machine to their absolute breaking point and legends like Rohrl, Vatanen, Blomqvist, Salonen and Kankkunen all battling it out) draws many parallels with what fans consider to be the two golden eras of F1, the original turbo era from 1985-88, with 1000hp + monsters and the most famous names in motorsport winning titles, like Piquet, Prost, Senna and others as well like Mansell and Rosberg, and the second golden era after Schumacher's domination from 2005-2012, with Interlagos playing host to three memorable title deciders in 2007, 2008 and 2012, the four way fight in 2010, legends such as Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen and Button all winning their first titles and the whole Brawn GP story, which is so unbelievable that some guys are making a film about it.
With F1 I look at it as one big golden age starting with the turbo era all the way until 2012. Schumi made a few years boring but his 7 titles don't tell the whole story, some of those seasons were real nail biters and he also lost many other titles, let's not forget the epic fights he had with Hill, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Raikkonen, Montoya and Alonso.
I think it started in 95 with the introduction of kit cars, colin mcrae's hunger and turbogate being funny
maybe 96' was boring I dunno
WRC needs a manufacturer or two more, maybe with more drivers fighting for the win, one team/driver domination wouldn’t be that big.
As for viewership, WRC should be more on TV. That subscription model sucks, they even put WRX behind a paywall. There was a time ago when WRC was available on TV more than it is now.
You will struggle to find a series these days sadly that isn't behind a paywall, WEC, ELM and BTCC are a number of exceptions however, but money is king.
The downfall of WRC from this epic season to 2006 was remarkable. I already said in some fan forum 2003 (despite being only 15 years at that time) that this great show (the early World Rally Car era was clearly WRC's second peak after Group B) would be ruined by electronics within a few years. Manufacturers spending crazy amounts of money to make the cars less spectacular, taking away from the driver skills was never healthy. You could see the old guard like Mäkinen and McRae struggling with these computers on wheels with launch control, paddle shift and 3 active differentials, I was even expecting a slide angle control to be developed next which thankfully never came. However, cost spiraled out of control with all this software crap and then the organizers got greedy with their 16 round calendar from 04 onwards, stressing budgets even more.
From 2004 everything came crashing down. First slowly, but in 05 things accelerated fast. In 06 we were suddenly left with 2.5 manufacturers. Great heroes like Kankkunen, Sainz, McRae, Burns, Mäkinen, Auriol and Märtin were all retired or forced to retire (Grönholm would follow after 07) and Solberg would never win a rally again. No Hirvonen, Latvala, Sordo or Ostberg could compensate for this loss of character, even Loeb and Ogier represented the new generation of corporate PR bullshit phrases repeating characters that took over all of motorsports.
It still hurts, WRC was my favorite motorsport during my childhood, but from 08 onwards I lost interest. 06 started a malaise era from which the sport never really recovered. Now it's facing even more challenge due to the abundance of information we now have. Much of the appeal of rallying is the uncertainty. Who would make it out of the night, who will be missing at the end of the stage? And why? Of course, nowadays we have all the info in real time and the audience is expecting them in real time, so going back is no option. But it takes away so much of the mystery that this sport was all about. The stuff legends were made of.
Thanks for the video, it still brings tears into my eyes seeing what happened since this amazing season. I'm happy with sports car racing now, but this era of rallying will always have a special place in my heart. It was the millennials' Group B era. Sad to see also that MotoGP is repeating all the aforementioned mistakes right now in front of our eyes.
I am with you on this, great summary of the decline.
Petter's euphoria after crossing the finish line to win the championship is great to watch.
Although it should be mentioned at that point he wasn't the champion yet. He still had to reach final time control
My forever favorite WRC Season ever. Petter Solberg is my Rally hero and this was the season that he got me watching ever since.
Really amazing season, still a childhood memory of mine when I was 8 years old. ITV ran the final day of rally GB live that day, was an epic day seeing Solbergs mad celebration.
Marko Martin was a great driver, shame about what happened. Unbelievable when he drove blind at the acropolis rally when the Fords bonnet latch failed and flip up, blocking the window, he still was up there on the fastest stage times
2003. The greatest WRC of all time. Apart from 1983, 1995 and 1998. And the last of the truly great WRC from start to finish.
Amazing video.
Miss those proper years of WRC, its not the same anymore.
2003 season felt very Peak 2L WRC regulation, with lots of Manufacturers and each team fielding 3 cars per team.
I remember the final stage of Rally GB being live on tv and that just made this Solberg fan VERY tense. I also remember this as the year that the FIA made the very weird decision to limit teams to only two full entries in 2004.
Great video and agree 2003 was the last great WRC season. Such a close season and many drivers who could win a rally or get a poduim and everyone taking points off each other. Ford had the best car in terms of pace that focus was a rocket and Markko Martin could have won the title if they had better reliability. I still think if Richard didnt have his unfortunate illness would have won the championship as his performances went downhill from San Reno which is where I think it was starting to effect him as he had a horrible rally, as a brain tumor does not grow overnight and he was easily finishing in the poduims before this.
The FIA rule to not allow 3 car teams with super star line ups was total step back for the WRC. It meant no longer a Panizzi could come up and throw a spanner in the works for the championship contenders.
2003 was the end of the golden era with Makkinen, Mcrea and Burns missing from 2004 onwards and it felt like the WRC lost some of its magic
Yeah Finland was propably a warning shot when he lost to the much slower Subaru of Petter on the last stage. He never looked strong as a driver that year.
Good video.
RIP Michael Park, Richard Burns, Colin McCrae
I was just 7 during this season but I was soo into rally and soo into Subaru's that Petter Solberg was my hero back then and the same year or year after I met him at the NEC got a picture with him and a signed poster. Blew my mind as a kid😂
All the memories & excitement from this year are coming back. Great synopsis.
2003 was a crazy year and yes, it was the last time that things were close and you didn’t know who’s going to win. Thank you for this video ! ❤
Wow this season really had everything! Both good and sadly tragic. So much information that I didn't know from this year (Apart from who won the title) Top work yet again Joe. Enjoy your break!
Man the is channel is hella underrated I don’t even watch half of these Motorsports and u got me into all of them even formula e now☠️
amazing video mate. deserves much more attention
the names in rally back thenm holy shit what a allstar lineup
In the WRC3 game there is a "fake" EVO8 WRC, they thought they would use it as a base and not the Cedia (a move that i will nevere understand, but whatever). Aside of this great video, very complete and well written 😊
great video
I think 2004 was also great, it was Loeb's first championship so people weren't bored by it, it had 5 different winners
If there was one world rally championship season you would want to win, this would be it!
Just look at the crazy lineup, almost like an allstar lineup of drivers.
Mcrae
Burns
Sainz
Makkinen
Loeb
Solberg
Gronholm
Etc.
Aside from the dominance periods and lack of manufacturers, I think one of the biggest problems WRC has had is that the 3 most dominant drivers haven't really fought each other for titles. We didn't get prime Loeb vs prime Ogier, or prime Ogier vs prime Rovanpera. Both Loeb and Ogier went out at the top, with no one to actually beat them head to head.
I always like to extend the "golden wrc era" until 2005
Love your video mate ❤. Keep it up, such a great content it is
New subscriber here
Hey Mate!
You made a very good video. You speak clearly, and that is not sth You get often in new YT channels. I run a mainly rally devoted channel in Poland, and I watch a lot of Rally videos on the internet.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers from Poland!
Can i just say how much i like the citroen xara rally car😍
RIP Richard Burns
My mom had a Citroen in a similar red color, and it was a nightmare of a car with constant mechanical issues, resulting in more than one occasion of being towed to the mechanic. Back when I was a kid, I somehow believed that the Citroen driven by Sainz and Mcrae in rally competitions was the same as my mom's car. It blew my mind to see the seemingly ordinary car at home transformed into a beast handled by professional rally drivers. What I miss most about modern WRC is that the cars have evolved into prototypes with little connection to their roadworthy counterparts.
I also had citroen xsara , and mine on the other hand was unbreakable... Only once did it leave me on the road due to a clogged fuel filter... other than that was pretty good car
I've been following WRC from 2004 to about 2010. And I still don't understand what made Loeb and Citroen so dominant. They seemed to never make mistakes and never have bad luck.
Ironically despite being a big McRae fan myself, I didn't think this season was that good compared to previous seasons but given the domination we got from Loeb and Ogier I look back on this fondly. Something that might not have been known is that at the final rally in the UK the Citroen team actually told Loeb to back off delibrately so that they could win the manufacturers title that season and told him that he'd do better the year after so had they not told him that and him not backed off then this would have been another Loeb title win.
Honestly 2003 will go down as a great WRC season along with 1997 & 1998, heck 2001 was a great season (not by the means of 2003 though) so fair to say a peak of WRC was between 1996 and 2003 as well as other eras like Group B etc.
Very insightful video though.
Solberg FTW!!
If I remember correctly, Loeb wrote in his book that he was told to not push too hard in UK as Citroen prioritized the constructors title and they couldn't afford for him to make a mistake. Perhaps he could maybe win the rally and the championship if he went all out
I don't know what it is, but something in the early to mid 2000s changed in motorsports that made prolonged periods of domination much more likely than before, with WRC being perhaps the best example of this. The Sebastians dominated in WRC and now Kalle is doing the same and only getting started, Schumacher, later Vettel and Hamilton and now Max dominated in F1, Audi and later Toyota dominated at Le Mans. Maybe it has to do with the fact that drivers now enter the sport younger and retire later?
You can not knock both Loeb or Citroen for what the following years would bring for them. as long time rally fan up until the last few years.
Having grown up in the Midlands and in the Northwest I grew up with rallying on the doorstep so to speak of. with the annual Lombard RAC Rally running through parts of Midlands.
I think the difference with why we had these multiple champions is for a few different resins the biggest factor from my view point was the move away from the Marathon stage events that made up a large part of the Championship until the late 90's and what became the sprint format of shorter stages and more or less a fixed location and ending the overnight running of rallies.
That allowed for more specialised drivers and a fixed number of repeated stages something that could not be done with the classical long distance day and night rallying were cars and drivers had to manage both their own endurance and keep the cars alive until the end of the rally.
So we saw the rise of faster higher risk driving on a fix loop of stages with good fixed services and well rested teams and drivers.
It also made it more TV friendly.
For me the other factor was lack of quality through a series of set backs and dropping interest once Citroen got rolling with their Driver and can platform they fast became unstoppable other teams could not up their game enough to topple them.
next was the world financial crisis which stripped most of the Factory teams out of the WRC and mainly all the Japanese teams were gone overnight almost and ended that area with it too until Toyotas return.
Though Like I said I have not really followed rally for a few years now basically I am not a fans of pay to view Motorsports been locked out by the FIA or SKY TV.
Nor am I a fan of the Sprint format these for sure are talented Pilots but the WRC as been grasping at straws just Like F1 for the past decades now.
bringing back old ideas like the re-packaged higher powered WRC format trying to use the legendry Group B throw back connection.
or in F1 case both Turbos and Ground Effects returning both trying to improve the spectacle to gain views and fans back .
Or in most cases just moving event to new countries and markets and a new fan base at the costs of older events mainly to Oil rich nations or at least were people are more pro patrol or car pro. Rallying will always be the distant cousin to F1 at the top of motorsport and driver talent
Modern drivers should be far better than those gone before more so now because of the event of Simulations introducing the next gen of Champions at a very young age and with the ever increasing quality of these sims you may see for a while yet given the right team more Multiple champions.
unless the format is changed again.
Apparently Kalle just announced that he’s not running a full schedule this year
Part of the problem of the current WRC are the cars. Uninspiring to say the least. Makes the action look boring
I absolutely disagree. The Rally1 Cars are awesome to watch. Especially Live. They're fast, and sound cool. But there aren't enough of them. They're too expensive to build and maintain.
@@Franko384 Bullshit, they all look the same and performance seems to be identical as well, the only variable is the driver. Most boring era of rally since group B
@@JohnDaubSuperfan369 Of course they are all the same. Just like it has been with every top category rally car since the late 1990s. And thats not going to change. The Regulations are very tight, since the introduction of the World Rally car in 1997. And it's gonne stay that way. The Cars are fun to watch live in person anyway.
Nah the Rally1 cars are unreal to watch. Just too expensive for there to be decent competition
Average nostalgia riding take from people who barely watch the events. Yea the cars and drivers back then were cool af but today would also be amazing with a little bit of polishing. Crap PR management of the events (nowhere near F1 popularity), not alot of manufacturers or interested manufacturers to say the least because its simply too expensive. When it comes to cars and driving the cars are faster than ever and margins between the drivers closer than ever plus they sound good live and because of aero fly throughout the stages. The product is simply half abandoned by this point which doesnt make for a good experience. People watching for the first time would think its a new motorsport category how unpolished it is. WRC needs major overhaul because with mimicking F1 and wanting to go hybrid the cost of the sport increased massively and pushed alot of people away. And thats todays WRC problem trying to be like F1 instead of being their own category like they used to be. The netflix saw the rise in popularity of F1 and WRC struggling jumped on the same bandwagon hoping to get popularity and its simply not working.
It's done to the fake kit cars of today