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Last year I wrote how Neuville was on the rise, winning more than anyone else. This year his score was again good but both Ogier and new challenger Ott Tanak scored more wins, four each. While Ogier carried M-Sport Ford's colors alone, Toyota benefited from both Tanak and Latvala to claim most wins by a team.
Last year there were many different winners whereas this year every single one of the each team's wins were scored by single one of the team's drivers - except the forementioned Latvala's win. Hopefully this doesn't mean a boring years to come.
In podium category those same three drivers dominate, each claiming six podiums. Toyota's strength is proven by the fact that behind them, next most podiums went to team's other drivers Latvala and Lappi.
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Championship contenders Ogier and Neuville both retired once and thus had equal scoring ratio of 12 out of 13. As Ogier managed to finish on higher average position, he managed to outscore and claim the title.
In retirements, the worst off was Toyota which is surprising because they won the manufacturers' title rather convincingly. Their worst luck again befell on Latvala, who had three DNF's to his name and unfortunately in drivers' title race also Tanak retired twice.
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When we move on to stage winners and rally leaders, things change and may paint interesting picture for upcoming 2019 season. Driver with most stage wins and most stages in rally lead is, by a clear margin, Toyota's Ott Tanak. His score is amazing and quite dominant, but yet shy of the records Ogier set during his tenure at Volkswagen or Loeb earlier with Citroen.
Bearing in mind that Ogier and Tanak won as many events it is interesting to note that Tanak led way more often. He often led early on before encountering problems - or even retiring from the lead.
Citroen's plight - and weak lineup - shows with their modest results in both categories.
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Average speeds crept down across the board but as always, Finland kept the top spot as fastest rally. Turkey made return to the series and claimed the title of being the slowest rally.
Both stage mileage and number of competitors were slightly higher than previously but change is minuscule. Longest stages were cut down, only one exceeded 50 km mark and another came near it, incidentally both were Corsican stages.
Ford's status as the most widely used make continued as before while Skoda improved their popularity to claim the second spot. French were the most numerous nationality with United Kingdom distant second, as before.
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Tanak's season was good which shows in some but unfortunately not in every category of statistics. If his form for 2018 is anything to go by, things may be different for next season.
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