Toyota Gazoo Racing is a 3-Headed Monster in World Rally Championship for 2019

Taking a cue from Game of Thrones, I created this meme for the only sport I follow. I've been watching World Rally Championship racing since the 1980's. But, only in the past 6 years, have I watched it regularly. That is because of redbull.com. They cover each World Rally Championship, (aka WRC) stop with streaming broadcasts for each of the 3 days that the events occur.

And this year, Toyota Gazoo Racing has acquired 4-time WRC race winner Kris Meeke for their 2019 effort, it seems they might be unbeatable. Hence, I created this meme as a play on the idea of a Japanese monster film from Godzilla vs Ghidrah. And well, since Kris Meeke joins Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tanak, it seems the driver talent for Toyota Gazoo WRC is going to be a tough match for the other teams this year.

While Toyota's Ott Tanak competed to win the WRC Driver's Championship up to the very last race of 2018, he gave 6 time WRC Driver's Champion Sebastien Ogier a run for his money. Also, he threatened to take 2nd place away from strong contender Thierry Neuville. But Toyota Gazoo WRC was able to secure the WRC Manufacturers Title in only their 2nd year since they launched their WRC Yaris race car.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Team including Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda celebrate their 2018 WRC Manufacturer's Championship.

However, 9 time WRC Champion Sebastien Loeb, has come back to WRC Racing with the Hyundai Rally Team for 2019. After a 5 year absence from the sport he will race up to 6 rallies and share a car with Hyundai WRC's Dani Sordo. And as the Hyundai WRC Team competed with Toyota with the 2nd most points for the manufacturer's title and their driver Thierry Neuville came in 2nd in the WRC driver's points total, the addition of a former 9 time WRC champion is not to be taken lightly.

Sebastien Loeb celebrating one of his many victories when he raced for Citroen WRC

Last year's WRC Driver Champion, Sebastien Ogier, won the points race in the final rally in Australia with M-Sport (Ford) WRC team. This was Ogier's 6th WRC victory. He had previously won the Driver's Championship with Volkswagen and M-Sport (Ford) WRC Teams. But, at the end of the season, he announced he was moving to Citroen WRC. Part of his motivation was that he stated he wanted to be the first WRC driver to win championships with 3 different automobile manufacturers. And although the Citroen WRC car had a lot of trouble last year, the car did win Rally Spain with former WRC Champion Sebastien Loeb at the wheel, (Who was a guest driver for 3 races and not considered a regular WRC team member). And it should be interesting this year, as these two Frenchmen both named Sebastien who both account for the last 15 years of WRC champions between them, face off on the WRC stage.

Sebastien Ogier celebrates his 6th WRC victory at the conclusion of Rally Australia 2018

M-Sport (Ford) WRC lost Sebastien Ogier as he moved on to Citroen. And while they enjoyed a Manufacturer's title in 2017, they fell short in 2018. And with Sebastien Ogier leaving their team, they face the toughest year they have had in a long time in this year's WRC rally lineup. However, they do have 2017 Wales Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans and strong contender Teemu Suninen back in their line up. And with the departure of Sebastien Ogier, M-Sport hired WRC 2 Driver Champion Pontus Tidemand to their line up.

WRC 2 is the class just below WRC 1 that run slightly less powerful cars that also have less aerodynamic downforce. Here Pontus Tidemand is at the wheel of the Skoda WRC car.

The M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC car has proven itself to be very reliable and fast in many races over the years. And they do stack up against the competition well enough to consider the 2019 WRC Teams as an open field in terms of predicting who will be champion. Elfyn Evans is particularly fast, and as he was ordered to slow down a few times last year by his team to support Sebastien Ogier's points accumulation last year. So, look to see Elfyn Evans speed unleashed by the M-Sport team manager this year.

Elfyn Evans hoists the Wales Rally GB trophy with his co-driver Daniel Barritt when his main sponsor was D Mack Tires

While I was motivated to create the 3-HeadedMonster Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC meme at the top of this article based on the sheer driving talent the team has acquired, the truth is the 2019 WRC field will make for a tough season for all involved. I will be surprised if there is one clear stand out in the WRC Driver's Championship. However, I do maintain that Toyota Gazoo WRC is the best bet for the Manufacturer's WRC Title.

A link to the Redbull TV WRC Rally page is below. Each event happens over a 3 day period. And one of the reasons I enjoy following this sport is that each broadcast is archived. And it allows me to view each race in the evening and not spoil my afternoon.
https://www.redbull.com/int-en/tv/event/AP-1XUH9V68N1W11/fia-world-rally-championship-2019

If you've never watched a WRC race, I highly recommend it. The action is captured beautifully in a very cinematic way by the Redbull TV WRC camera crew. And the hosts are affable and informative. The streaming broadcasts that cover each day last about 1/2 hour to a little over an hour. And they do a great job of recapping each race for followers of WRC worldwide. One trick I learned is to stay away fro my Twitter account as I follow many of the top drivers and the WRC itself. This way I do not read a tweet of the results of a race before I've seen it on Redbull TV. And hence, it's always exciting to see the winner. For more extensive coverage WRC+ is a service that gives you 25 or more hours of coverage for each WRC Rally Stop for a subscription fee. While I do value my weekends, I do not see myself subscribing to this service in the near future. But, I do believe it is a valuable service to people who are into WRC much more than I am. The link to WRC+ is below.
https://plus.wrc.com/en/