Monday 23rd January 2012

Monte Carlo win for Loeb

There have been some behind the scenes upsets in WRC but it's business as usual on the podium

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After its winter of discontent, the World Rally Championship breathed a sigh of relief as it leapt back into action on the stages of the 2012 Rallye Monte Carlo. The shock collapse of the series' promoter, North One Sport, was perfectly offset by the predictability of the result: eight-time World Champion Sebastien Loeb collected his sixth career Monte Carlo victory.

Latvala lost his early lead after a crash

The early stages of the rally fooled us all into believing that the ever dominant Frenchman mightn't have it all his own way, however. The perennially promising Jari-Matti Latvala raised a few eyebrows by leading the event in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC by no fewer than 30 seconds after three stages. An icy corner, a missed pacenote and a six-foot wall put the Finn out of the lead and, with no restarts permitted, out of the rally.

So Loeb inherited the number one position, eventually finishing 2min 45.5secs ahead of Mini World Rally Team lead driver Dani Sordo, with three extra bonus points to his name having also won the Power Stage.

"I am happy to win a rally that means a lot to me," said Loeb. "It's a big gap to second, but I wouldn't say that this was an easy win. We had to deal with all sorts of conditions and my lead was largely built on better tyre choices."

If Loeb's victory was foreseen by all and Latvala's exit frustrating, the final standings were littered with reasons to smile; Sordo's third podium for Mini in seven rallies, Petter Solberg's third position for the Ford World Rally Team on his return to a factory squad, Mikko Hirvonen's trio of fastest stage times following his defection to Citroen and, perhaps above all, 49-year-old WRC-returnee Francois Delecour showing a host of next generation rally winners how it's done by finishing a fine sixth overall.

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For more Monte Carlo analysis check back later on today as PH rides shotgun with Citroen's new team boss

Hirvonen gets to grips with his Citroen	Nobody could get near Loeb's pace
Solberg took third place for Ford	Sixth Monte win for eight-time champ Loeb

[dtrump]

Loeb wins. Who'd a thought it

[Ranger 6]

The significant result is a Mini in second - maybe now there'll be some more budget from BMW.

[rwindmill]

It doesnt really matter how you dress it up, it was a poor event. When i heard the event was to be held over 5 days, for a soplit second i was hopeful that at last the Monte would be the challenge that it used to be in the golden days. But that hope was dashed when the announcer said that there were only 18 stages. 18 stages over 5 days!?!?!??!, how long before we are down to one stage a day?
The result was as predicatble as ever. I dont take anything away from Seb, he is a great driver, but even he has got to be getting bored with the whole thing by now. Surely he wants a challenge!?!?! He will undoubtably go down in the history book as one of the worlds greatest rally drivers, but his legacy will be very open to critical analysis. Sure 8 world chamipionships, but at a time when there was no one else to challenge him and always with the same manufacturer.
Come on Seb, test yourself and try something new.

[Stew2000]

It's an interesting indication of what the year will be like.

1. Sebastien Loeb - 28
2. Dani Sordo - 18
3. Petter Solberg - 15
4. Mikko Hirvonen - 14

[Zajda]

Delecour - just hats off for this man. Some 2nd and 3rd stage times, getting used to a new car and if you look at the 4th day results alone, it's a very interesting comparsion: http://www.ewrc-results.com/leg.php?e=3363&s=2...
Also it's worth mentioning that on the 5th day his retiring codriver and friend Dominique Savignoni get a gift and driving the last stage

Another star of the rally was Ogier - held 6th place overall with Fabia S2000 until his high speed crash, really showed what S2000 car is capable of when conditions are tricky.

Edited by Zajda on Monday 23 January 09:21

[melvster]

Loeb is a driving god as Richard Hammond would say, spectacular talent although IMO he is not the best driver ever as his competitors i dont think are as good as the 90's early 2000's when it was Sainz, Makkinen, Kankunan, McCrae, Burns etc..... Loeb has had it easier.


Great result for Mini, nice to see Petter Solberg on the podium, he has had quite a tough few years and is a shadow of his 2003 season. Hope he can finish strong this year.

[Jag-D]

I used to be a massive fan and enthusiast for rallying, but for me it all went downhill when McRae, Burns, Kankunnen, Sainz et al all retired.

Loeb is a fantastic driver, but it's all just a bit boring now

[Stew2000]

If Tommi never retired would he be able to beat Loeb for 1st?

[666 SVT]

Lobe should have been beaten year before last when he won by one or two points. Miko would have pipped
him that year if Ford had used team tactics properly and made Latvala give up a place to Miko ?
Still think this will develop into a good year and am really hopefull of a win for Petter at some point as it was a joy
to see him so excited at having a competitive car again.

[Ronnie10]

Agree that Loeb has had a relatively easy run, but think he is well and truly up there with Kankunnen etc.

He continuing to win might be repetitive but give me WRC any day over Formula Yawn..

[Crow555]

Stew2000 said:

If Tommi never retired would he be able to beat Loeb for 1st?

Tommi Makkinen and Leob have raced each other. Makkinen beat him but only after Loeb was given a penalty for an illegal tire change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_Loeb#2...

Many seem to forget the Leob/Gronholm battles of the mid-2000's. Hirvonen has been a poor foil to Loeb.

[robmlufc]

Amazed they kept the WRC program going and binned off the LMP. All credit to Loeb though!

[nickfrog]

Ranger 6 said:

The significant result is a Mini in second - maybe now there'll be some more budget from BMW.

Or maybe less if they look at the 2.45 min gap... ;-)

[dandarez]

nickfrog said:

Ranger 6 said:

The significant result is a Mini in second - maybe now there'll be some more budget from BMW.

Or maybe less if they look at the 2.45 min gap... ;-)

Loeb is a master, so it's no disgrace.
Far from it. MINI not only got second place but had 3 cars in the first 10!

(and following on from their outright win in the Dakar, in which they had 5 cars in the first 10).

[Stew2000]

Crow555 said:

Many seem to forget the Leob/Gronholm battles of the mid-2000's.

All I remember of it was Gronholm swearing at the 307

[DodoRacing]

I'm guessing that 2012 will be witness to more battles than just the Loeb-Hirvonen one we've been watching in recent years.

[BBS-LM]

There a surprise for you.

[havard01]

Generic repsonse about how good Rallying used to be in the old days and how much shorter the stages are.

You could buy petrol for 60p a litre and a Mars bar for 25p too, things change. Get over it.

I enjoyed what I saw of Rally Monte Carlo.

[crossle]

havard01 said:

Generic repsonse about how good Rallying used to be in the old days and how much shorter the stages are.

You could buy petrol for 60p a litre and a Mars bar for 25p too, things change. Get over it.

I enjoyed what I saw of Rally Monte Carlo.

Bobble Hat. Scotch Egg. Anorak. Pitch black forest stage. Hypothermia. Bliss.

[Stefan DS3R]

It's a shame Citroen Racing can't make a decent road car!

I've just rejected Citroen DS3 Racing #2 with the same engine fault as the first one, and I'm not alone.

Stef