Rally
Review: WRC Rally Spain
by
Martijn Kösters
The
2012 WRC Season rapped up in Spain. It will be the final rally for
the Ford Factory team and the Mini WRT run by Prodrive, as well as
the final rally for the Production WRC (PWRC), WRC Academy and SWRC
in their current form. Moreover the Rally of Spain was the last rally
for Sebastien Loeb's full campaign, as from next year on he will be
driving only his favourite events and no longer challenge for the
title. Jari-Matti Latvala drove his last stages for Ford, as he joins
VW next year.
The
fact that many drivers/manufacturers were going to leave or move
somewhere else provided an excellent recipe for a thrilling rally.
Helped by changing conditions their was no dominating team throughout
the weekend, and the win wasn't decided until the final
stage.
Stage two put the field upside down when a downpour during the stage meant that the drivers who ran first found themselves in the best road conditions. These were not the Citroëns, nor the Fords or even the Minis. Both Tanak and Ostberg topped the table after the second stage, setting an equal pace of 15.54.5. Mikko Hirvonen followed 17.5s down, Loeb lost 25s, Latvala 33. More drama on the stage included Solberg and Neuville, who slid off the road and retired. Ostberg and Tanak proved not to be a one-hit wonder after matching the Citroëns pace on stage 3, where Latvala was over-cautious and lost more time even when weather improved.
Stages were still slippery on Friday afternoon, something which caught Tanak and Hirvonen who did not dare to take as much risk as Loeb did, who was fastest by 5 seconds. Where Hirvonen and Tanak dropped to 4th and 5th, Loeb closed the gap to leader Ostberg to 27.2 seconds at the end of day 1. Latvala was third on 47s.
Saturday started with Loeb and Latvala hunting on Ostberg, who dropped back after a wrong tyre choice on SS8. “We had some information that the stage was 50 per cent dry, we put some hard tyres on, but for sure it was not. We went off quite early and lost 40s or something.” Ostberg dropped to third, a couple of seconds ahead of Hirvonen. Further down Novikov nursed braking problems, but still made it up to 9th, allbeit 12 minutes down on the leader.
Stage two put the field upside down when a downpour during the stage meant that the drivers who ran first found themselves in the best road conditions. These were not the Citroëns, nor the Fords or even the Minis. Both Tanak and Ostberg topped the table after the second stage, setting an equal pace of 15.54.5. Mikko Hirvonen followed 17.5s down, Loeb lost 25s, Latvala 33. More drama on the stage included Solberg and Neuville, who slid off the road and retired. Ostberg and Tanak proved not to be a one-hit wonder after matching the Citroëns pace on stage 3, where Latvala was over-cautious and lost more time even when weather improved.
Stages were still slippery on Friday afternoon, something which caught Tanak and Hirvonen who did not dare to take as much risk as Loeb did, who was fastest by 5 seconds. Where Hirvonen and Tanak dropped to 4th and 5th, Loeb closed the gap to leader Ostberg to 27.2 seconds at the end of day 1. Latvala was third on 47s.
Saturday started with Loeb and Latvala hunting on Ostberg, who dropped back after a wrong tyre choice on SS8. “We had some information that the stage was 50 per cent dry, we put some hard tyres on, but for sure it was not. We went off quite early and lost 40s or something.” Ostberg dropped to third, a couple of seconds ahead of Hirvonen. Further down Novikov nursed braking problems, but still made it up to 9th, allbeit 12 minutes down on the leader.
The
afternoon saw a great comeback by Dani Sordo who set two fastest
stage times after a great repair by his team. Ostberg had setup
problems as his soft setup was less and less suitable for the drying
stages, he would find himself in fifth by the end of the day. Latvala
couldn't quite match Loeb's up front, for similar reasons as Ostberg,
increasing the gap to 27s by the end of day two. Only happy Ford
driver was Ott Tanak, who might be in for a podium as he happily kept
up with Hirvonen.
A
small mistake cost Ott Tanak dearly as he slipped down to 5th
after a spin on Stage 14, but was lucky to still be in the rally: “We
went off, it was quite a big crash and I’m surprised the car is
still running. We lost at least 10 seconds, it was quite a big
accident.” Sordo must have been content with the morning pace of
his Mini, setting three fastest times in three stages. Further down
WRC Debutee Hans Weijs couldn't complete his debut with a points
finish. He ran in sixth but retired with suspension damage.
Latvala
started one final charge on sunday's second loop. Taking 4.9 seconds
out of Loeb on SS16 he closed the gap to 19.8 with two stages to go.
Tanak crashed, granting fifth place to Jarkko Nikara who experienced
an excellent WRC debut with Mini. Dani Sordo could not save his
weekend by winning the Power Stage, as a fully committed Latvala took
another 10.7 seconds out of Loeb's lead and gained three extra
points. Yet with only 4 competitive kilometers left it was unlikely
any major position changes would take place. Loeb would eventually
win the rally by 7 seconds over Latvala, as Hirvonen kept Ostberg at
bay for 3rd.
Nikara and Atkinson ended another solid weekend for Mini in 5th
and 7th,
while Craig Breen took the SWRC title by finishing 6th
overall.
Final
World Rally Championship Standings:
1
Sebastien Loeb 270pts
2
Mikko Hirvonen 213pts
3
Jari-Matti Latvala 154pts
4
Mads Ostberg 149pts
5
Petter Solberg 124pts
6
Evgeni Novikov 88pts
7
Thierry Neuville 53pts
8
Ott Tanak 52pts
9
Martin Prokop 46pts
10
Sebastien Ogier 41pts
The World Rally Championship starts its 2013 season in the second weekend of January with the Rally Monte Carlo WITH Sebastien Loeb competing.
The World Rally Championship starts its 2013 season in the second weekend of January with the Rally Monte Carlo WITH Sebastien Loeb competing.
