Now so much seems to have changed from last year. Loeb has gone part time, Ford doesn't exist anymore but sort of does in a weird way, VW are now in and the drivers have seemingly moved about more then the hokey cokey.
But hopefully we can both learn and catch up together.
So last weekend was the start of the WRC season with Monte Carlo being our first host and with this being one of Loeb's four 2013 drives, can Loeb win his seventh Monte Carlo rally?
Day One.
Loeb is the first out on day one and with wintry conditions expected, most of the top ten have opted for the studded winter tyres. The main problem with the winter tyres is that for most of day one was it was dry tarmac, meaning everyone has to take care not to wreck their tyres for the later stages.
One of the first people to suffer with this tyre issue was Sebastian Loeb, meaning that Sebastien Ogier took full advantage and won the first stage for VW on their debut in the sport.
Stage two saw Loeb take control and storm through the field to overtake Ogier on the leader board by 6.7 seconds.
Stage three saw the fight between old team mates Loeb and Ogier intensify but with black ice all over the stage it made conditions tricky for all the drivers. Luckily for all the drivers the stage ends with cake or should I say tart. Tarte du pommes are served to all the drivers after stage three in a tradition spanning 40 years and after a tough stage who doesn't like a sweet treat.
Sadly for stage four. Thierry Neuville managed to again achieve the dubious honour of never finishing day one of the Monte Carlo rally. Sadly for Neuville he clipped the corner and broke his suspension and he was again out of Monte.
So after day one. Loeb leads quite comfortably over Ogier but the battle for 3rd, 4th and 5th is starting to hot up.
1. Loeb 1:39:49
2. Ogier + 1:20:3
3. Hirvonen + 1:46:7
4. Sordo + 2:01:2
5. Latvala + 2:32:2
Day Two.
More dry/snowy conditions for the start of day two. During Ogier's run on stage five we start to see conditions worsen as the snow starts to drive down but even with this setback Ogier is still five seconds quicker the Loeb. Stage five also sees the start of Hirvonen's up and down phase, by this I mean that one minute his confidence is up and by the next stage it's down. But throughout all this he is still super consistent over the stages.
Novikov manages to regain his composure after a slight off down a snow bank, but even this doesn't stop the speedy Russian and Novikov even manages to gain a place in the process.
The start of stage six and seven takes a slightly off turn for the mostly on form Ogier after he spins on track, luckily he gets back to business pretty quickly and doesn't lose too much time.
Sadly for Dani Sordo he hasn't got the best track record on snow and ice but he is still managing to keep up with the leaders for 3rd place.
The new rivalry on stage six and seven is with Jari Matti Latvala and Eugeny Novikov, finally on day two we start to see some of the Latvala of old. With a huge amount of confidence and taking a huge amount of risks Latvala is finally storming on his 2013 campaign. However the winner of stage six and seven was Novikov who took both stages wins and is looking very much in contention for some big points.
Stage eight was a more icy affair after the earlier stage run had took off all the loose snow. Hirvonen and Novikov continued to battle it out for 4th and 5th place but it was Hirvonen who struggled to find a good rhythm with the added problem of chonic understeer, whilst Novikov took the safe approach and chose to conserve his tyres.
At the end of day two both Loeb and Ogier had drama free days and with Loeb being fantastic and consistent as usual. He ends day two on still on top of the leader board. With Novikov taking full advantage of Hirvonen's problems and leaps into fourth place.
1. Loeb 3:16:29
2. Ogier + 1:35
3. Sordo + 2:38
4. Novikov + 2:53
5. Hirvonen + 3:22
6. Latvala + 3:43
Day Three.
Stage eleven started off with Loeb taking no risks as he attempts win number seven at Monte Carlo. Ogier sadly at this point seemed pretty content to sit behind Loeb and go for 2nd place. Ogier finished stage eleven 90 seconds off Loeb's time.
Sordo had more of a trickier time when he nudged a snow bank and spun off, luckily he managed to get back on track and keep hold of third place. Novikov was aggressive in taking time off Sordo whilst he had his problems and shaved another seven seconds off Sordo. Latvala seemed a lot more content in the car after making a few tweaks to the VW, he also gained a place due to privateer Brain Bouffier having a huge off which caused him to lose nearly two minutes.
Stage twelve saw Sordo struggle with poor grip and now with the added pressure from Novikov taking time away from him. Sadly the pressure did indeed get to Sordo with another spin on day three, he was lucky to be going at such a slow speed at the time or he would of easily been out of the rally. All the trouble for Sordo saw Novikov take over third place now 8.6 seconds up on the Spainard. Stage twelve however really belonged to Mads Ostberg who stormed ahead to take his first stage win on 2013.
Stage thirteen saw the toughest stage Sisteron, but considering this. The stage took place without much incident.
Loeb still leads. With Ogier still holding on the second place. Latvala is finally showing signs of improvement after moving into the top five and Novikov takes full advantage of Sordo's problems to move up into the last podium position.
1. Loeb 4:16:41
2. Ogier + 1:47
3. Novikov + 3:19
4. Sordo + 3:21
5. Latvala + 4:04
Day Four.
Stage fourteen threw up a huge amount of problems for many drivers, with conditions being extremely poor. Loeb himself even deemed the stage to be 'completely undriveable'.
Novikov then proved Loeb's point when he lost control and banged into two walls, leaving the car far too damaged to continue. Novikov's exit was Sordo's gain after he sees himself back in third place.
Hirvonen's run was also compromised after marshalls waved for him to slow down after an accident. Turns out that Latvala had also got himself into trouble and he too joined Novikov on the sidelines.
Then in a case of the 'threes' Juho Hanninen who had been relatively quiet for most of the rally, joined Latvala and Novikov after braking his suspension with the wall. The main person who benefited from all this chaos was Ostberg who now jumped three places to sneak into the top five.
Stage sixteen is a rerun of stage fourteen. The same stage that took out Latvala, Novikov and Hanninen. So the rerun in the dark was expected to be even more tricky. Most of the drivers opted to play safe and not to rush and take risks. Sadly for Ostberg that didn't happen, after slipping on some black ice he managed to make contact with the wall, luckily he did manage to limp back to service but not before losing fifth place to Bouffier.
Sadly for Ostberg, service would all be vain after crowd congestion and bad weather made the running the two stages impossible and for safety reasons would be cancelled. So Loeb wins in Monte Carlo for the seventh time.
So here is the final standings for Monte Carlo.
1. Loeb 5:18:57
2. Ogier + 1:39
3. Sordo + 3:49
4. Hirvonen + 5:26
5. Bouffier + 8:13
6. Ostberg +12:03
With Sweden next on the cards and Loeb back for that event. Who knows what the snow and ice will bring.
See you again in three weeks.
And remember you can also follow me on twitter @squiffany
No comments:
Post a Comment