2012 Monte Carlo Rally

2012 Monte Carlo Rally 80ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo
Round 1 of the 2012 World Rally Championship season Next event →
Host country	Monaco
Rally base	Monte Carlo
Dates run	January 18 – 22 2012
Stages	18[1] (433.36 km; 269.28 mi)[1]
Stage surface	Tarmac and snow
Overall distance	1,772.52 km (1,101.39 mi)[1]
Results
Overall winner	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WRT
Crews	82[2] at start, 54 at finish

The 2012 Monte Carlo Rally, officially 80ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo was the first round of the 2012 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. The rally took place between 18 and 22 January 2012.

Report

Introduction

The rally, which returned to the WRC calendar after a three-year absence,^[3] started in Valence on Wednesday 18 January and covered over 1,339 kilometres (832.0 mi), including 433 kilometres (269.1 mi) of special stages. Stages were run in both daylight and at night, and the route included two passes through the famous Col de Turini stage on Saturday.^[1] The rally became the first in the modern era of the sport to be held over the course of five days. 82 entries were registered for the event.^[2]

Leg One (18 January)

2011 World Champion Sébastien Loeb took an early lead when he won the first stage of the rally, Le Moulinon–Antraigues. However, icy conditions on the second stage, Burzet–St Martial meant that Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala took the lead when he adopted an unorthodox tyre strategy, using super-soft and studded tyres on opposite corners of his car. By the end of the stage, Latvala had established a thirty-second lead over Loeb.^[4] Latvala's lead was short-lived, as he crashed out on the second running of Burzet–St Martial when he missed a pace note warning that a corner tightened on entry.^[5] His car fell over a short drop, but could not be retrieved. Ford later confirmed that Latvala had retired from the rally, as the event was not run to "Rally 2" – formerly super-rally – regulations which would normally allow Latvala to restart the rally the next day.^[6]

Latvala's accident meant that Loeb reclaimed the lead of the rally, one minute ahaed of Mini's Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg in the second works Ford Fiesta. Sébastien Ogier finished the day fourth in his Škoda Fabia S2000, which he credited to the mixed conditions minimising the differences in performance between the WRC and Super 2000 cars. Evgeny Novikov was fifth, the first of the privateer WRC cars.^[7]

Leg Two (19 January)

The second day of competition saw the running of six special stages, five of which were won by Loeb;^[8] Sordo won the second run over Labatie D'Andaure–Lalouvesc. Ogier crashed out of the rally on the final stage of the day, the second pass over Lamastre–Gilhoc–Alboussière.^[9] Ogier had been running sixth at the time of the accident. His co-driver, Julien Ingrassia, injured his arm in the crash, though the exact extent of his injuries was not revealed except to say that it was "not broken".^[10]

At the end of the second day, Loeb's lead over Sordo was one minute and thirty-seven seconds, with third-placed Solberg a further three seconds behind.^[8] Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson admitted that he felt Solberg was being "too conservative" with the car and encouraged him to chase Sordo as it was more important for Solberg to become familiar with the car's abilities than it was to score manufacturer points.^[11] Loeb's team-mate Mikko Hirvonen was a further two minutes behind Solberg, holding a narrow lead over Novikov.^[8]

Results

Event standings

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
Overall
1.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën DS3 WRC	4:32:39.9	0.0	28
2.	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	4:35:25.4	2:45.5	18
3.	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4:35:54.1	3:14.2	15
4.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Citroën DS3 WRC	4:36:46.7	4:06.8	14
5.	Evgeny Novikov	Denis Giraudet	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4:38:43.3	6:03.4	11
6.	François Delecour	Dominique Savignoni	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4:40:27.8	7:47.9	8
7.	Pierre Campana	Sabrina de Castelli	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	4:41:11.3	8:31.4	6
8.	Ott Tänak	Kuldar Sikk	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4:43:14.5	10:34.6	4
9.	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
11.	Matthew Wilson	Scott Martin	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4:51:30.9	+18:51.0	0
12.	Kevin Abbring	Lara Vanneste	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:51:36.2	+18:56.3	-
13.	Henning Solberg		Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4:52:56.2	+20:16.3	-
14.	Craig Breen	Gareth Roberts	Ford Fiesta S2000	4:57:06.2	+5:30.0	25*
15.	Bryan Bouffier	Xavier Panseri	Peugeot 207 S2000	5:00:05.3	+8:29.1	-
S2000 / SWRC
1. (12.)	Kevin Abbring	Lara Vanneste	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:51:36.2	0.0	-
2. (14.)	Craig Breen	Gareth Roberts	Ford Fiesta S2000	4:57:06.2	+5:30.0	25*
3. (15.)	Bryan Bouffier	Xavier Panseri	Peugeot 207 S2000	5:00:05.3	+8:29.1	-
Production Class 4 / PWRC
1. (18.)	Olivier Burri	Jean-Jacques Ferrero	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5:08:10.4	0.0	-**
2. (25.)	Richard Frau	Frédéric Vauclare	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5:21:55.6	+13:45.2	-**
3. (27.)	Stéphane Cornu	Fabrice Nedel	Renault Mégane RS	5:24:15.6	+16:05.2	-**
4. (28.)	Jerôme Aymard	Sandrine Aymard	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	5:27:11.8	+19:01.4	-**
5. (30.)	Michał Kościuszko	Maciek Szczepaniak	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5:35:14.8	+27:04.4	25
Production Class 8 / PWRC[12]
1. (42.)	Martin Rada	Jaroslav Jugas	Alfa Romeo 147	5:48:32.2	0.0	-**
2. (54.)	Louise Cook	Stefan Davis	Ford Fiesta ST	7:02:39.6	+1:14:07.4	18

* Only team eligible for SWRC points that was classified.

** These teams do not score points in PWRC.

Special stages

^[1]

Day	Stage	Time (UTC+1)	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
Leg 1 (18 Jan)	SS1	9:03	Le Moulinon – Antraigues 1	36.87 km	Sébastien Loeb	24:04.0	91.92 km/h	Sébastien Loeb
	SS2	10:21	Burzet – St Martial 1	30.48 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	21:28.2	85.18 km/h	Jari-Matti Latvala
	SS3	14:21	Le Moulinon – Antraigues 2	36.87 km	Sébastien Loeb	23:47.0	93.01 km/h
	SS4	16:20	Burzet – St Martial 2	30.48 km	Sébastien Loeb	20:18.2	90.07 km/h	Sébastien Loeb
Leg 2 (19 Jan)	SS5	9:33	Labatie D'Andaure – Lalouvesc 1	19.00 km	Sébastien Loeb	11:22.5	100.22 km/h
	SS6	10:14	St. Bonnet – St. Julien Molhesabate – St. Bonnet 1	25.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	12:37.7	119.83 km/h
	SS7	11:37	Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussière 1	21.66 km	Sébastien Loeb	13:41.8	94.88 km/h
	SS8	14:50	Labatie D'Andaure – Lalouvesc 2	19.00 km	Dani Sordo	11:14.9	101.35 km/h
	SS9	15:31	St. Bonnet – St. Julien Molhesabate – St. Bonnet 2	25.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	12:29.6	121.12 km/h
	SS10	16:54	Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussière 2	21.66 km	Sébastien Loeb	14:00.6	92.76 km/h
Leg 3 (20 Jan)	SS11	10:02	St-Jean-en-Royans – Font d'Urle	23.28 km	Petter Solberg	12:08.6	115.03 km/h
	SS12	10:43	Cimetiere de Vassieux – Col de Gaudissart	24.13 km	Mikko Hirvonen	15:47.7	91.66 km/h
	SS13	15:11	Montauban-sur-l'Ouvèze – Eygalayes	29.89 km	Mikko Hirvonen	17:08.7	104.60 km/h
Leg 4 (21 Jan)	SS14	15:11	Moulinet – La Bollène Vésubie 1	23.41 km	Mikko Hirvonen	15:38.4	89.81 km/h
	SS15	15:54	Lantosque – Lucéram 1	18.81 km	Petter Solberg	12:57.0	87.15 km/h
	SS16	19:34	Moulinet – La Bollène Vésubie 2	23.41 km	Petter Solberg	15:45.5	89.13 km/h
	SS17	21:17	Lantosque – Lucéram 2	18.81 km	Petter Solberg	13:05.8	86.17 km/h
Leg 5 (22 Jan)	SS18	10:11	Ste Agnès – Col de la Madone (Power stage)	5.16 km	Sébastien Loeb	3:27.8	89.39 km/h

Power Stage

The "Power stage" was a 5.16 km (3.21 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held between Ste-Agnes and Col de la Madone.^[1]

Pos	Driver	Time	Diff.	Avg. speed	Points
1	Sébastien Loeb	3:27.8	0.0	89.39 km/h	3
2	Mikko Hirvonen	3:29.0	+1.2	88.88 km/h	2
3	Evgeny Novikov	3:30.4	+2.6	88.29 km/h	1

References

1. "Supplementary Regulations" (PDF). www.acm.mc. Automobile Club de Monaco. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
2. "Engagés 2012". www.acm.mc. Automobile Club de Monaco. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
3. "WRC calendar for 2012 confirmed". World Rally Championship (International Sportsworld Communicators). 26 September 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
4. "Jari-Matti Latvala flies into Monte Carlo Rally lead as tyre gamble pays off". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). 18 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
5. Evans, David; Beer, Matt (18 January 2012). "Jari-Matti Latvala crashes out of Monte Carlo Rally lead". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 20 January 2012.
6. Evans, David (18 January 2012). "Ford confirms Jari-Matti Latvala cannot continue in Monte Carlo Rally". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 20 January 2012.
7. "Sebastien Loeb leads Monte Carlo Rally after Jari-Matti Latvala's crash". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). 18 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
8. "Sebastien Loeb in charge after second day of Monte Carlo Rally". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). 19 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
9. Evans, David (19 January 2012). "Sebastien Ogier crashes out of Monte Carlo Rally". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 20 January 2012.
10. Evans, David (19 January 2012). "Sebastien Ogier's co-driver Julien Ingrassia hurts arm in Monte Carlo Rally crash". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 20 January 2012.
11. Evans, David (19 January 2012). "Ford gives Petter Solberg green light to fight for second in Monte Carlo". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 20 January 2012.
12. Official final classification

External links

• The official website for the rally
• The official website of the World Rally Championship