Rally Monte Carlo 2012

 Rally Monte Carlo 2012

Racing data
1st of 13 races of the 2012 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Monte Carlo
Date:	18.-22. January 2012
Begin:	Monte Carlo
Exams:	18 tests over 433.36 km
Distance:	1772.52 km
Covering:	Asphalt, ice and snow
Podium
First:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
Second:	Dani Sordo Mini Cooper WRC
Third:	Petter Solberg Ford World Rally Team

Sébastien Loeb 2012

The 80th Monte Carlo Rally was held from January 17th to 22nd, 2012. A total of 18 special stages were driven on asphalt and partly on snow and ice.

Reports

Day 1 (Wednesday, January 18)

With the best time in the first and second special stages, Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) took the lead on the morning of the first day. Sébastien Loeb in the Citroën followed, half a minute behind . The choice of tires was extremely difficult because the track was partly snowy. In the fourth special stage, Latvala overturns and retires, Loeb takes the lead without a fight. Despite a small accident that ended in a snow wall, Dani Sordo was in second place with the MINI at the end of the day. They were followed by Petter Solberg (Ford) and Sebastien Ogier (Skoda).

Day 2 (Thursday, January 19)

Loeb / Elena extended their lead in special stages 5 to 7. Solberg and Sordo fought for second place, the duel ended with a 3.7 second lead for Solberg. Ogier is out in the afternoon and loses control of his vehicle in a fast corner. The duel between Sordo and Solberg changes constantly in the afternoon. After the second day, Sordo was back in front of Solberg. Mikko Hirvonen , Loeb's new team-mate at Citroën, was fourth, 3.40.4 minutes behind.

3rd day (Friday, January 20th)

The choice of tires on the third day was not easy either. The roads were sometimes wet, then icy and there was also snow on some special stages. Loeb had found the ideal mix and continued to extend the lead. Sordo consolidated second place, taking over a minute from Solberg in the course of the special stages to be driven. In SS 12 Solberg had chosen the wrong tires and in SS 13 he had a puncture. Evgeny Novikov (Ford) was in fifth place just 5.4 seconds behind Hirvonen.

4th day (Saturday, January 21)

World champion Loeb managed his lead and was already close to his sixth victory in Monte Carlo on Saturday, as only the power stage was driven on Sunday . Hirvonen won the special stage at the Col de Turini and got along better and better with the Citroën as his driving experience increased. Dani Sordo lost time, but was able to maintain second place ahead of Solberg, who won the 16th and 17th special stages. In the overall standings nothing changed for the top five.

5th day (Sunday, January 22nd)

On the last day of the Monte Carlo Rally, the roughly 5-kilometer power stage was on the agenda. Sébastien Loeb secured the victory of this special stage and won the rally, which he led from the 4th special stage. At the finish, Loeb was over 2.45 minutes ahead of Sordo. Petter Solberg was third on the podium of the top three. The winner's comment: "It couldn't be better."

Classifications

Bottom line

rank	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	World Championship points + power stage
WRC
01	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën DS3 WRC	4: 32: 39.9		25 + 3
02	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	4: 35: 25.4	+2: 45.5	18th
03	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 35: 54.1	+3: 14.2	15th
04th	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Citroën DS3 WRC	4: 36: 46.7	+4: 06.8	12 + 2
05	Evgeny Novikov	Denis Giraudet	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 38: 43.3	+6: 03.4	10 + 1
06th	François Delecour	Dominique Savignoni	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 40: 27.8	+7: 47.9	8th
07th	Pierre Campana	Sabrina de Castelli	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	4: 41: 11.3	+8: 31.4	6th
08th	Ott Tanak	Kuldar Sikk	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 43: 14.5	+10: 34.6	4th
09	Martin Prokop	Zdeněk Hrůza	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 48: 50.6	+16: 10.7	2
10	Armindo Araújo	Miguel Ramalho	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	4: 48: 56.5	+16: 16.6	1
SWRC
01 (14)	Craig Breen	Gareth Roberts	Ford Fiesta S2000	4: 57: 06.2		25th
PWRC
01 (30)	Michał Kościuszko	Maciej Szczepaniak	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5: 35: 14.8		25th
02 (54)	Louise Cook	Stefan Davis	Ford Fiesta ST	7: 02: 39.6	1: 27: 24.8	18th

Special stages

Day	WP number	begin	WP name	length	WP winner	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 (January 18th)	01	09:03	Le Moulinon - Antraigues 1	36.87 km	Sébastien Loeb	24: 04.0	91.92	Sébastien Loeb
	02	10:21	Burzet - Saint-Martial 1	30.48 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	21: 28.2	85.18	Jari-Matti Latvala
	03	14:21	Le Moulinon - Antraigues 2	36.87 km	Sébastien Loeb	23: 47.0	93.01
	04th	15:39	Burzet - Saint-Martial 2	30.48 km	Sébastien Loeb	20: 18.2	90.07	Sébastien Loeb
Day 2 (January 19th)	05	09:33	Labatie d'Andaure - Lalouvesc 1	19.00 km	Sébastien Loeb	11: 22.5	100.22
	06th	10:14	Saint-Bonnet - Saint-Julien Molhesabate - Saint-Bonnet 1	25.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	12: 37.7	119.83
	07th	11:37	Lamastre - Gilhoc - Alboussiere 1	21.66 km	Sébastien Loeb	13: 41.8	94.88
	08th	14:50	Labatie d'Andaure - Lalouvesc 2	19.00 km	Daniel Sordo	11: 14.9	101.35
	09	15:31	Saint-Bonnet - Saint-Julien Molhesabate - Saint-Bonnet 2	25.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	12: 29.6	121.12
	10	16:54	Lamastre - Gilhoc - Alboussiere 2	21.66 km	Sébastien Loeb	14: 00.1	92.76
Day 3 (January 20th)	11	10:02	Saint-Jean-en-Royans - Font d'Urle	23.28 km	Petter Solberg	12: 08.6	115.03
	12	10:43	Cimetière de Vassieux - Col de Gaudissart	24.13 km	Mikko Hirvonen	15: 47.7	91.66
	12	15:11	Montauban sur l'Ouveze - Eygalayes	29.89 km	Mikko Hirvonen	17: 08.7	104.60
Day 4 (January 21)	13	15:11	Moulinet - La Bollène-Vésubie 1	23.41 km	Mikko Hirvonen	15: 38.4	89.81
	14th	15:54	Lantosque - Lucéram 1	18.81 km	Petter Solberg	12: 57.0	87.15
	15th	19:34	Moulinet - La Bollène-Vésubie 2	23.41 km	Petter Solberg	15: 45.5	89.13
	16	20:17	Lantosque - Lucéram 2	18.81 km	Petter Solberg	13: 05.8	86.17
Day 5 (January 22nd)	17th	10:11	Sainte-Agnès - Col de la Madone ( Power Stage )	5.16 km	Sébastien Loeb	3: 27.8	89.39

Web links

• Official site of the WRC

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SS16–17: Loeb is facing a sixth “Monte” victory. Retrieved February 16, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Loeb: "It couldn't be better". Retrieved February 16, 2014 .