Monaco 2012

THE MONTE IS BACK! NOT BEFORE TIME - THE 2012 SEASON GETS UNDER WAY. THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE RULES, AFFECTING ONLY THOSE RALLIES THAT ARE OVERWHELMINGLY GRAVEL, AND MANY DRIVER CHANGES.

TO TRY TO COMBAT THE TACTICS OF SLOWING DOWN ON STAGES IN GRAVEL EVENTS TO ENSURE THAT THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER ALWAYS SWEEPS THE STAGES CLEAN, THE START ORDER WILL BE DETERMINED THE DAY BEFORE THE START DATE AS FOLLOWS - BY USING A PRE-DETERMINED PRACTICE/QUALIFYING STAGE OF 3 - 5 KMS. DRIVERS WILL BE ALLOWED 2 PRACTICE RUNS MAXIMUM.

THE QUALIFYING STAGE WILL THEN BE RUN, STARTING IN CURRENT CHAMPIONSHIP ORDER, AND THE WINNER WILL BE ABLE TO CHOSE A START POSITION FOR DAY 1 WITH THE SECOND-PLACED DRIVER BEING THE NEXT TO CHOSE A STARTING POSITION AND SO ON. THE STARTING ORDER ON SUBSEQUENT DAYS WILL BE THE REVERSE ORDER OF THAT AT THE END OF THE PREVIOUS DAY.

RALLIES ON SURFACES OTHER THAN GRAVEL ARE UNAFFECTED BY THESE CHANGES AS FAR AS I CAN SEE - VERY LITTLE SWEEPING IS DONE ON TARMAC!

THE MAIN CHANGES TO DRIVER LINE-UPS ARE THAT SEBASTIEN OGIER HAS MOVED TO VOLKSWAGEN IN ANTICIPATION OF THEIR ENTRY INTO THE W.R.C. AND IN THE MEANTIME HE IS RUNNING A SKODA IN THE SUPER 2000 CLASS. MIKKO HIRVONEN HAS MOVED TO CITROEN TO TAKE HIS PLACE AND PETTER SOLBERG HAS AT LAST GOT A FACTORY DRIVE BY TAKING MIKKO'S PLACE AT FORD. KRIS MEEKE HAS LOST HIS DRIVE AT BMW WHO HAD TO ACCEPT A PAYING-DRIVER, PIERRE CAMPANA, BECAUSE THEY WERE UNABLE TO FIND A SPONSOR AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME.

NOW TO THE RALLY! AMID THE SPECTACULAR, EVER-CHANGING SCENERY WITH SOME SNOW, ICE AND DRY SURFACES ON DAY 1, THE DRIVERS WERE FACED WITH THE USUAL DIFFICULT TYRE CHOICE PROBLEMS. A NUMBER OF DRIVERS CHOSE A DIAGONAL COMBINATION OF STUDDED TYRES ON FRONT/LEFT AND RIGHT/REAR AND SUPERSOFTS ON THE OTHER WHEELS. THIS HELPED JARI-MATTI LATVALA ON SS2 - HE BEAT SEBASTIEN LOEB (SOFT AND SUPERSOFT COMBINATION) BY MORE THAN 50 SECONDS AND TOOK THE LEAD BY 30 SECS.

HE CAME TO GRIEF LATER WHEN THE STAGE WAS RE-RUN AS SS4. CONCENTRATING ON ICE PATCHES, HE MISSED HIS CO-DRIVER'S CALL TO BEWARE OF A TIGHTENING CORNER, SLID OFF AND ENDED UP TAIL DOWN IN A DITCH. RETIRED AND NO RE-ENTRY AS RALLY 2 RULES (FORMERLY NAMED SUPER-RALLY RULES) ARE AT THE ORGANISERS' DISCRETION AND WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE. SEBASTIEN REGAINED THE LEAD AS RESULT.

DAY 2 SAW HIM CONSOLIDATE HIS LEAD WITH 5 STAGE WINS OUT OF 6 AND DANIEL SORDO SWOPPED PLACES WITH PETTER SOLBERG FOR 2ND AND 3RD ON EACH STAGE, SO IT SEEMED. A GOOD DAY'S RALLYING. WEATHER CONDITIONS AND RESULTANT TYRE CHOICES DOMINATED DAY 3 - PETTER GAINED HIS FIRST STAGE WIN FOR FORD ON THE FIRST STAGE OF THE DAY BUT LOEB GOT HIS CHOICE RIGHT, AS HE SO OFTEN DOES.

ON DAY 4, DUE TO HIS BIG LEAD, THE CHAMPION WAS ABLE TO DRIVE FAST BUT NOT TAKE RISKS WHILST DANI SORDO IN THE BMW DID THE SAME TO SUCCESSFULLY FEND OFF A CHARGING PETTER. MIKKO HIRVONEN HAD SUFFERED ON DAY 1 WITH A BROKEN REAR DISK BRAKE AND 4TH WAS THE HIGHEST HE COULD CLIMB BACK TO.

DAY 5 CONSISTED SOLELY OF THE POWER STAGE WHICH WAS WON, UNSURPRISINGLY, BY SEBASTIEN WITH MIKKO SECOND AND EVGENY NOVIKOV THIRD. THE RESULT DID NOT CHANGE THE OVERALL SITUATION OF LOEB, SORDO AND SOLBERG ON THE PODIUM.

A MENTION HERE FOR FRANCOIS DELECOUR, VETERAN OF MANY RALLIES BUT NOT SEEN IN W.R.C. CIRCLES SINCE HE WAS A REGULAR POINTS SCORER IN THE 2001 SEASON. HE WAS A LIVELY COMPETITOR HERE AND TOOK A DESERVED 6TH PLACE.

Rally Results posted by
David Little
23rd January 2012

  The HTML code for this page has been validated by the World Wide Web Consortium.