New vroom for motor sport in 2017

The growing popularity of the World Endurance Championship for sports cars, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans classic, will be tested by the withdrawal of Audi and the retirement of Australian star Mark Webber.

The WEC has not only lost its most famous driver, but also its most stalwart manufacturer team, leaving just Porsche and Toyota to contest outright honours.

Locally, Supercars will be in a crucial year of transition before big upheavals in 2018, when new rules allowing a wider variety of cars and engines will begin to have an effect, along with the likely inclusion of Asian races and a possible change of ownership of the sport.

In the meantime, an overhaul of the judicial system, and significant driver and team changes will be this season's key points of interest.

The local season starts on February 5 with the Supercars-owned-and-run Bathurst 12 Hour, which is set to continue its rise to international prominence as one of the world's great GT sports car endurance races.

More V8 drivers than ever, including record six-time champion Jamie Whincup in his 12 Hour debut, will contest Mount Panorama's other big long distance race, along with a bigger field of international factory backed GT teams.

For dedicated Australian motor sport followers, the year begins on Monday with the start of Toby Price's defence of his Dakar Rally title in South America.

Price became the first Australian to win the famed Dakar – the world's most gruelling race – in just his second attempt in January 2016.

Riding a factory-backed KTM in the motorcycle division, he is among the favourites to win the 12-day torture test run over harsh terrain in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.

For F1, the coming season is critical to restoring flagging interest after three years of crushing domination by Mercedes-Benz.

New technical rules will allow wider tyres, bodywork and wings, generating more aerodynamic downforce and mechanical grip, to give the cars a more aggressive stance and make them seconds a lap quicker.

In theory, the changes will emphasise chassis performance and allow Red Bull Racing and Ferrari to rival Mercedes, which has won all but eight races since 2014 as Lewis Hamilton swept to two world titles and Nico Rosberg won in 2016.

With a more competitive car, Red Bull's Australian star Daniel Ricciardo could challenge Hamilton and the replacement for Rosberg, who retired just days after winning his first F1 world title.

Hamilton's new partner is expected to be confirmed within days as Finland's Valtteri Botas in a trade deal between Williams and Mercedes, but Ricciardo's main threat will be his teenage teammate Max Verstappen, whose fearless speed stunned the F1 world in 2016.

The popular West Australian had Verstappen's measure – just – and will have to use all of the immense talent that saw him rated by most experts as the year's best driver to fend off the 19-year-old Dutchman in 2017.

There won't be any indication of whether the new cars will increase competition and improve the racing until after pre-season testing, which begins on February 27, and not definitively until the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 26.

The main concern is that increasing lap speeds by adding downforce will make it more difficult for the cars to run close, impeding overtaking opportunities even if they are more physically demanding to drive on bigger tyres.

F1's other challenge in 2017 will be the completion of Liberty Media's takeover of the commercial rights and what the American conglomerate plans to do to modernise the sport's marketing.

As Bernie Ecclestone is eased out of his autocratic and outdated control, it is hoped that Liberty will exploit social media and digital platforms to interest and engage the young audience F1 is losing, and revive interest among disillusioned older followers.

The World Rally Championship, which has been languishing for years, is also moving to faster and more aggressive looking cars as the series – which is run over a diverse range of three-day events on tarmac or gravel roads or snow tracks – as French carmaker Citroen returns to replace Volkswagen, which pulled out after dominating for the past three years.

Citroen will join Hyundai and Ford with the new-look WRC cars, which will feature more powerful engines and wilder bodywork aimed at making them more spectacular to watch.

France's reigning four-time world champion Sebastien Ogier has switched to the M-Sport Ford team, which receives minimal factory support for its Fiestas, after being left high and dry by VW's withdrawal.

Rally Australia, based at Coffs Harbour on NSW's Mid North Coast, will again be the final round of the WRC.

Unlike F1 and WRC, MotoGP's premier class is in rude health both racingwise and in terms of worldwide interest.

By the time the series reaches the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island on October 22, the impact of former world champion Jorge Lorenzo's move from Yamaha to Ducati – assisted by Casey Stoner in his test and development rider role with the Italian team – will be apparent.

Lorenzo will be trying to revive Ducati's brief glory years with Stoner – who won his first world title and its only MotoGP crown in 2007 – and do what superstar Valentino Rossi couldn't in his stint there in 2011-12.

Evergreen Rossi goes into his 19th season in the premier division still capable of winning a ninth 500cc/MotoGP world title as he is joined at Yamaha by fast-rising Spaniard Maverick Vinales.

Australian hope Jack Miller continues with the Honda-supported Marc VDS team looking for an accident-free season to establish himself as a regular top 10 contender and put himself in contention to be promoted to the factory squad alongside reigning world champion Marc Marquez in 2018.

In Supercars – the new Gen2 rules allowing engine configurations other than V8s and two-door coupes alongside the traditional four-door sedans – officially take effect in 2017.

But when the 26-car field lines up at the season-opening Adelaide 500 on March 4-5, there won't be any new motors or cars.

Only Holden has committed to the change, planning to switch to a twin-turbocharged V6-powered racing version of the new imported Commodore in 2018.

There is speculation a new manufacturer may join in '18, as well as conjecture that Ford teams Prodrive Racing and DJR Team Penske will replace their Falcons with V8 Mustangs.