Opinion: The stars of the rally in road accidents? It happens even to the best Car News

Rally stars are basically gods behind the wheel, so it’s pretty reassuring when they are involved in mundane road accidents, like Zeus coming down from Mount Olympus.

Sébastien Ogier reminded us of this during a meeting with a BMW at a bus stop in Croatia – before winning the rally a few hours later.

It was not the first time that the WRC victory had been saved from the clutches of a road disaster. Henri Toivonen was leading the 1986 Monte-Carlo Rally when he encountered a Ford Taunus head-on on a stretch of road near Aubenas, suffering the type of damage that makes Ogier (pictured above) look like a parking lot.

Back then, service crews could step in at any time, and Lancia mechanics worked a miracle to rebuild the Delta S4, despite a chassis that was irreversibly bent.

The rest was done by Toivonen himself, as he not only covered the remaining 31 mile section of road quickly enough to undo the 40 minutes that had been spent on repairs – think about it for a moment – but was also quite enough. fast on the next stage to maintain its lead in the general standings. It was despite not having had enough time to even change the tires.

Likewise, Colin McRae was on course for his first WRC victory at the 1992 RAC when he collided with a spectator’s car in Grizedale Forest. From there, things rolled out and he finally brought his battered Subaru Legacy home in sixth place.

The British round of the world championship actually has a sad history of road crashes. Armin Schwarz remembers being wiped out by an old lady at a T-junction in 1989, despite driving an Audi 200 Quattro – arguably the most barge-like rally car ever built.

Sébastien Loeb also had the surreal experience of being crowned 2011 GB Rally World Champion after being knocked out near Llandovery by a rental car driven by a Spanish spectator who forgot which side of the road we were on. were staying.

Three years earlier, Loeb took the crash over a section of road to a whole new level by colliding with another Jordan Rally contender – embarrassingly, another Citroën. As he walked out of a scene, he met Conrad Rautenbach walking towards her – and the inevitable happened.

And this is where the irony lies. The better a pilot you are on stages, the more vulnerable you may become to everyday traffic accidents. There is a lot to be said about the lack of talent.