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Journal / Motorsport
WRC Monza 2021
A Championship With No Room to Breathe
Monza supplied the history. Ogier and Evans supplied the tension. The camera had the comparatively easy job of trying to keep up.
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The Temple of Speed changes the question
Monza usually invites a very simple thought: faster. Rallying arrives and makes the conversation considerably more complicated. Suddenly the famous circuit is part of a wider test, and familiar stretches of asphalt acquire unfamiliar demands.
For the 2021 WRC finale, the stakes were rather larger than a pleasing photograph. Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans were settling a world championship. Nobody needed additional motivation, or much in the way of small talk.
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Six changes at the front
The two Toyota crews exchanged the lead six times during the rally. Going into the final day, half a second separated them. That is a wonderfully small number if you are measuring a camera exposure, and an appalling one if you are trying to sleep before a title decider.
Ogier and Julien Ingrassia ultimately took the win and their eighth championship titles. Toyota also secured the manufacturers’ crown. The statistics explain the achievement; they leave the photographer to explain the pressure.
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A circuit with another face
The visual attraction is the contrast between place and purpose. Monza’s architecture speaks of circuit racing, while the rally car brings a different stance, rhythm and relationship with the road. A wide frame can let those two histories share the same sentence.
Closer compositions tell a more concentrated story: the direction of the front wheels, the balance of a car under braking, the narrow gap between perfect control and a very expensive correction.
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An ending with some weight
This retrospective follows the trip from Greece to Italy as part of Wrangler Media’s first year photographing motorsport. The setting changed, but the useful questions remained: where is the tension, and what does it look like before it becomes a result?
Monza 2021 offers an excellent answer. It is a story about a title earned under pressure, in a place already rather well acquainted with racing history. The sort of weekend that makes a camera bag feel like a sensible travel companion.