10 key motorsport questions of 2024

We're only two weeks into 2024, and technically the global motorsport season is already underway. High-profile national rallies have taken place, and the gruelling Dakar Rally is still ongoing.

But with 50 weeks (including this one) still to go, there's plenty for us to look forward to!

With that in mind, Minoia's Luke Barry and Rob Hansford have sat down and pondered the 10 key questions they can't wait to see answered over the next 12 months.

Will the WRC’s new points system work?

It's probably the biggest question hanging over the new World Rally Championship season: will the new points system work?

After months of important discussion between all the key stakeholders, Sundays were identified as a weak point of the current WRC format, resulting in a revised points structure which awards the top 10 with points after Saturday and then the fastest seven drivers on Sunday. 

The incentive is clear, but will it work as desired? Plenty already have an opinion, but the first few rallies will truly provide the answer - and indeed if any further problems have been created.

LB

How good will Toyota’s Rally2 car be?

Last year, Skoda's Fabia RS Rally2 was the car everyone wanted in WRC2. Citroen-mounted Yohan Rossel did his utmost to upset the applecart early doors with two victories from the first rounds, but Skoda cleaned up for the rest of the season.

The chasing pack isn't far behind though with the C3 Rally2 constantly developing, and M-Sport Ford making great strides with its Fiesta Rally2 model. However, if there's one car Skoda bosses will be fearing it's the new kid on the block - Toyota.

The GR Yaris Rally2 is an extremely important car for the current dominators of world rallying as it represents Toyota Gazoo Racing's first foray into a proper customer car and programme.

But, as it stands, nobody knows how good it is.The 2024 season will provide us with that answer, although already it's hard to imagine it'll be far from the pace if not setting it.

LB

Can anyone stop Verstappen’s dominance?

Max Verstappen enters the 2024 Formula 1 season as the clear favourite to win the championship for a third successive season. But nothing is guaranteed.

Just because regulations are remaining stable from last year, it doesn’t mean teams have stopped working over the winter and will rock up with exactly the same car. There’s every possibility that someone might be able to get their car on par with the Red Bull.

The end of last season showed that Ferrari and McLaren were the two closing the gap to Verstappen (Red Bull), and if anyone is going to put an end to his dominance, these two teams are the likely candidates.

On his day, Charles Leclerc is as fast as anyone, as proven by the pole positions he grabbed late on last year, but in 2024 he needs Ferrari to give him a car that’s capable of fighting Verstappen over a full race distance. Leclerc’s team-mate Sainz shouldn’t be ignored either. He’s shown that he can win races given the right car, it’s just going to be a question of whether Ferrari will actually deliver a car that builds on its momentum of 2023, rather than taking a backwards step which has happened so often over the last few years.

Lando Norris is the likelier of the two McLaren drivers to give Verstappen the strongest fight over the duration of the whole season, but like Leclerc and Sainz, Norris needs McLaren to capitalise on its momentum in the development race.

But while the focus is on Ferrari and McLaren, you still can’t rule out Mercedes. It might have been a tough season for the Silver Arrows in 2023, but it is still a world championship-winning team and has promised to ditch its flawed design concept of 2022-23.

Testing in February will give the first indications of where everyone stands, and the hope will be that not just one, but three teams could have Red Bull firmly in their sights by the time the lights go out for the opening race of the season.

RH

Will we see a totally different Rovanpera?

While Max Verstappen's reign in Formula 1 could still go on, Kalle Rovanpera has willingly sacrificed his WRC crown. Only an absurd set of circumstances could result in the Finn netting a third world title on the bounce.

It's hard to envisage a scenario in which Rovanpera isn't extremely competitive during his part-time rally season this year. Shed of the road order handicap applied through success in the championship table, Rovanpera should be capable of winning any rally he starts. It'll be interesting to see how high these expected strong results can elevate him up the standings!

But more than that, I'm curious to see if we see a difference in Rovanpera's demeanour and approach. With far less pressure on his shoulders, he should feel more free and I expect that to show in his driving. Time will tell if I'm right or not.

LB

Can Evans become a world champion?

One thing we already know though is Rovanpera's decision to scale back alters the gravity of his Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans' season greatly. Never before - on paper at least - has he had a clearer shot at the world title.

The question is: can he take it?

The argument can be flipped either way as to whether Evans, or Hyundai's duo of Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, has the advantage. On the one hand Evans has the edge with a more proven car, more stable team and unlikely any internal battle for supremacy from his colleagues.

But that comes with a great bout of pressure. The Hyundai drivers - especially Tanak who already has a world championship to his name - have a lot less to lose than Evans, who'll surely never have a better chance than this.

Rovanpera's made his choice for himself, but he's done us all a favour too. The race to be 2024 World Rally champion is that bit more intriguing without him in it.

LB

How will WEC’s hypercar revolution fare?

This is the World Endurance Championship season fans have been waiting for for a few years now.

Last year Ferrari, Cadillac, Porsche and Peugeot joined the party to do battle with Toyota in the hypercar arena, but this year there are even more manufacturer giants - including BMW, Lamborghini and Alpine - joining the grid.

This huge influx of manufacturers will, naturally, increase the size of the spotlight shining on WEC, and now it has to capitalise on it. For so long, it’s been Toyota that’s dominated WEC, but that could all be about to change - heightening the excitement further.

Of course, the loss of LMP2 is a disappointment, and if there is a lack of on-track racing in the top tier, it won’t be long before people start pointing towards the loss of this class resulting in a reduction in some of the spectacle. But with 19 hypercars on the entry list for the season, you can’t help but think those complaints about LMP2 could swiftly become a thing of the past.

This year feels like something of a new beginning for WEC, and if it lives up to the hype, it has every opportunity to put itself firmly back on motorsport’s centre stage.

RH

How good will Button be upon his return?

Jenson Button will return to top-line racing full-time in 2024 when he returns to compete in WEC for Jota, driving its Porsche 963 alongside Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen.

It’s great to see the 2009 F1 world champion back behind the wheel to contest a full season, having spent the past few years dabbling in different categories including Nitro Rallycross, NASCAR, IMSA and the Le Mans 24 Hours with the NASCAR Garage 56 entry.

That drive proved Button still had the pace to race at the sharp end of sportscars, but a question still remains about just how much pace he still holds over the course of a full season.

Button’s last season in WEC was in 2018-2019 when he competed for SMP Racing in the championship’s LMP1 class. He contested four events, finishing on the podium once and ending the year 15th in the championship, but this time it will be a different kettle of fish.

He will need to be on the ball all season long, dovetailing driving commitments with his continuing media gig at Sky Sports. The workload will be high, and it’s definitely not going to be an easy challenge to rise to.

But there’s one element he can be content with already: the team. Button will be sharing a capable car with two young and successful drivers who have both won in their class in WEC previously. It means that he has at his disposal all the ingredients to make a successful season, one that could offer plenty more success if he and his team get everything right.

RH

How far can M-Sport challenge?

Losing Ott Tanak to Hyundai is clearly going to be felt by the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team this year. While talk last January was of the drivers' title, this time around ambitions are more measured - but just how well can it do in 2024?

Adrien Fourmaux arrives back in the Rally1 scene a rebuilt driver, impressing immensely throughout his season in Rally2. The Frenchman must surely fancy a podium or two this season, but he'll need to show that his new-found composure applies to his performances in the more powerful Puma Rally1 as well.

Gregoire Munster is a bigger unknown, with just two top-line starts to his name thus far. But he's shown himself to be a solid performer already, and has a big opportunity ahead of him this year. What both drivers - and indeed M-Sport as a team - can achieve in 2024 will be an intriguing storyline to follow.

LB

What can Mikkelsen achieve on his Rally1 return?

Andreas Mikkelsen's 2024 task is to prove he's still an impressive top class rally driver, and not just an impressive secret-keeper having kept his Hyundai move impressively quiet last December!

But as richly deserved as the Norwegian's return to the WRC's elite is, Mikkelsen needs to replicate his supreme WRC2 performances of the last few years to prove Hyundai made the right call in re-hiring him.

That means not just fulfilling his quota of acting as rear-gunner to full-time drivers Neuville and Tanak, but performing stronger than particularly Esapekka Lappi does to show Hyundai he is the best bet for a bigger programme in the future.

Let's see if he proves to be just that or not!

LB

Will Loubet prosper in WRC2 like his rivals have?

It's quite unheard of for a driver to return to the supposed feeder series they won five years ago, but that's exactly what Pierre-Louis Loubet is doing in 2024 with a WRC2 programme in a Toksport Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.

But WRC2 is a far cry to what it was when Loubet conquered it back in 2019. Despite the cars being less capable than the Rally1 cars at the head of the field, the competition is just as, if not more, fierce, meaning it is certainly no step backwards.

What's intriguing is whether the move pays off for Loubet like it has for fellow former Rally1 pilots Oliver Solberg, Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux last year. All three 'stepped back' into WRC2 last year and all three looked better for it; Fourmaux even earned himself a Rally1 return, taking the same programme Loubet has now traded in.

The clear WRC2 benchmark (Mikkelsen) has left the chat, but with Solberg, Greensmith and Loubet in their trio of Fabias, coupled with the likely challenge from Sami Pajari in the new Toyota, the Citroen pair of Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin and 2022 WRC2 champion Emil Lindholm (and probably Teemu Suninen) in the Hyundai, WRC2 is shaping up rather nicely once again in 2024.

LB