Rally Review WRC Argentina: Loeb is in Argentina, so Loeb wins in Argentina

Rally Review WRC Argentina: Loeb is in Argentina, so Loeb wins in Argentina

By Martijn Kösters

Another one of those statistics unlikely to be broken, the amount of wins in the Rally of Argentina by Sebastien Loeb. Eight, eight WRC victories in a row in Argentina. It will take at least till 2022 before someone can break that record, unless Tommi Makinen comes back and wins another six.

But the action. Rally got underway with a short street stage on Thursday, with Ogier taking the early lead of 1.9s over Sordo and 2.2 over Loeb. Latvala, Mikkelsen and Hirvonen followed. Day two saw much longer stages and much more gravel. Two stages were run twice, Santa Catalina and Ascochinga. In the morning loop it was Ogier who held on to his lead despite the slippy and foggy conditions. Loeb meanwhile struggled with understeer and was not happy with his rhytm. More severe issues for Neuville and Ostberg, who both had poorly or non-functioning wipers. Dani Sordo, who was running 7th after two stages, rolled his car on the third stage, dropping a heap of time and out of the points. He did complete the stage but without power steering. Due to Sordo’s crash, Ogier got held up since Dani was blocking the road, yet Ogier still managed to be third fastest after SS3.

Second run of day two saw Ogier extend his lead on Hirvonen and later Loeb to 16.5 seconds, with both Citroën drivers close to one-another. Meanwhile Mads Ostberg became the First retirement when a steering arm broke during SS4. After SS4 it was Ogier from Loeb (12.5) from Hirvonen (16) from Latvala (27.5), Mikkelsen (1.20), Novikov (1.23).

SS5 threw more tricky conditions at the drivers, namely drizzle and fog. Both Citroën drivers weren’t happy with the circumstances, Hirvonen having troubles with a misty windscreen and Loeb with false weather info. Latvala struggled with a faulty handbrake.

Day three then, 2x2 stages plus a city super special. First stages were drive non a muddier surface then before after some overnight rain, yet this didn’t bother any of the Sebs who went fastest, the younger one edging out the older by 1.4s. Ostberg rejoined the rally again under rally2 rules. Stage 7 saw Ogier making a rare mistake in foggy conditions. Combined with some water pools on the road conditions were very tricky. Eventually it turned out Ogier went straight at a corner and needed to reverse his way out, costing him 40 seconds.

After SS7: Loeb, Hirvonen (8.9), Ogier (26.3), Latvala (44.8), Novikov (1.55), Mikkelsen (2.34)

The second run saw puncture emerge for the First time in the rally, this time it was Hirvonen’s and Ogier’s turn. Loeb increased his lead to 30 seconds whil Hirvonen and Ogier swap places. Mikkelsen thought he had a puncture, but lateron the damage seemed to be rather to the suspension than to the rubber and Andreas had to retire for the day.
The final major stage of the day sees Hirvonen encounter even more problems, an electrical glitch means the car’s master switch turns the car off completely at random intervals. Unlike a road car restarting costs more effort and more time. He drops six minutes and into sixth place. Latvala was also iun trouble on stage 9, a puncture added two minutes to what was a good run. Problems for the two finns meant that Novikov was promoted to a podium spot and Neuville found himself in 5th.
After day three: Loeb, Ogier (39.8), Novikov (2.43), Latvala (2.51), Neuville (3.32), Hirvonen (6.43)

The Final day of the rally still has some potential in it, Novikov and Latvala being very close to eachother and the battle for the lead still not over should see interesting action. Latvala and Novikov went flat out on the First stage of the day, yet the Finn only gained 0.9s in the battle for third. Also Loeb took another 15 seconds on Ogier, who admitted he treated the final day as a recce, looking after the car in the rough terrain. No need to push anyway since Loeb is no championship contender. Second stage this Saturday saw Latvala quickest again, taking 3.9 out of Novikov  with the gap now being 3.4 seconds. Part reason for this is Novikov having run the stage in Road Mode unintentionally. Further down Prokop, Sordo and Mikkelsen are within 8 seconds of 8th place. Another stage win for Latvala on SS13, and this time with a reward: 3rd place. Latvala drove Unlimited and uninformed as he didn’t have splits in the car. Further down in the battle for 8th Sordo and Mikkelsen both moved up a place on behalf of Prokop who is now 10th by 18 seconds.

The Power stage was 16km long this time and only could go to one man: Jari-Matti Latvala, who completed all four stages on Saturday fastest. Ogier and Hirvonen took the remaining PS points and Mikkelsen passed Sordo by two tenths for 8th place.
Final: Loeb, Ogier(2), Latvala(3), Novikov, Neuville, Hirvonen(1), Ostberg, Mikkelsen, Sordo, Prokop
Points: Ogier 122, Loeb 68, Hirvonen 57, Latvala 49, Ostberg 38, Neuville 35, Sordo 29, Novikov 27, Prokop 21, Al-Attiyah 20

New champion this year, but that doesn't mean he won't be French

New champion this year, but that doesn't mean he won't be French
by Martijn Kösters

Okay a bold statement here, 'Sebastien Ogier will be 2013 World Rally Champion'. I am convinced and you may remind me of this quote by the end of the year. But from what I have seen in the first three rallies of the year there is no way (apart from him succumbing to some injury) that anyone is going to beat him this year. He simply has got it all going for him.

First, there is the Volkswagen World Rally Team. New name for this year, but we all know they didn't come completely out of the blue. Skoda (one of VW's daughter brands) have been running S2000 cars with quite some success over the past years, not only were they fast but they were reliable too. So VW has the know-how of putting a decent engine in a more than decent car. Telltale signs were visible last year, when 'test drivers' Ogier, Andreas Mikkelsen and Kevin Abbring scoring regular WRC points in a S2000 car.

Second, the man himself. Without discrediting any of his former rivals, Ogier has been the toughest competitor Sebastien Loeb faced during his career. Perhaps he was helped by the outstanding Citroen C4 WRC of that time, but beating Loeb is quite the achievement. Facing other rivals Loeb always seemed in control, but when Ogier challenged Loeb's supremacy in 2011 by winning 5 out of 13 rallies, it made the 9-time Champion feel uneasy.

Not to play down Ogier's skill and talent, but his competitors are just not up to the job of catching him. Hirvonen finished three and a half minutes down on Ogier in last weekend's Rally Mexico, winning only two stages. Mads Ostberg has the potential to be quicker, and won four stages in Mexico. But gremlins in his Ford machinery prevented him from winning either of three rallies this season, and he now trails Ogier by 46 points. Dani Sordo had solid runs in Monaco and Mexico, but neither he can squeeze enough out of his Citroën to challenge Ogier.

Almost nobody seems to catch this guy, Loeb did beat Ogier in Monaco by a decent margin of 1m40, only to lose out to Ogier by 40s in Sweden a few weeks later. The margin to other drivers is close to or over two minutes most of the time.

Seems like the French supremacy in the WRC continues.

Rally Review: WRC Sweden

So after an eventful Monte Carlo we are back on snow and ice for the rally of Sweden. It is also round two for Sebastian Loeb out of his four WRC visits this year. But can he really take victory in a place where Scandinavians rule and Loeb has only won once here previously?

So who's going to take the spoils? Ogier? Loeb? Or can the any of the Finish contingent take the race.
Let's find out.

Day one started with the qualifying stage. To decide the running order for the start of day two. So it was to be that Sebastian Ogier took the spoils earning him his choice of starting position for stage two. Ogier decided to start as far down the field as he could, leaving the others to clean the roads for him. One of these unlucky people was Sebastian Loeb, who finished eighth in the qualifying stage and had to start back in tenth.

Stage two is a challenging slippery stage with a lot of grip needed to get through it. Loeb had a bumpy time of it, using the snow banks to bounce himself round the corners, he managed to not sustain any damage whilst doing this. Mikko Hirvonen was extremely wild on the stage, pushing the car to the limit. This didn't pay off for him when he hit a snow bank and launched into a barrel roll. Luckily both driver and co-driver were okay. But the time they lost wasn't okay. Crashing in a place with no spectators, this left few people to help dig the troubled Citroen out of the snow and a crushing 25 minutes were lost along with Hirvonen's chance of winning. Mads Ostberg also had a bit of trouble on stage two, his though were relatively minor compared to Hirvonen's. Just a small amount of trouble with the engine overheating. Though this was fixed at service later on. Ogier was the winner of stage two.

Stage three showed a poor progression for both the mini drivers who had huge problems with both car and conditions. Loeb meanwhile was chomping  at the bit and was staying steady in second place.

Stage four at Vargassen is always a treat for the spectators due to Colin's crest named after the late, great Colin McRae which provided some great car jumps and thrills of speed for the drivers. Though Loeb and Jari-Matti Latvala didn't want to impress the spectators and chose to play it safe on their runs. Dabbing the breaks to make sure they got a smooth landing. Latvala later said that he was enjoying himself and gaining more confidence with the car. Ogier was building up his lead over Loeb in a stage where he struggled with gear shift problems. The stage however belonged to Ostberg who after gaining a twenty second penalty for his late stage arrival, managed to risk it all and win the stage outright.

Stage five brought trouble to Dani Sordo, who being notorious for his poor show on snow and ice didn't help himself by crashing into a snow bank losing four minutes in the process.

Stage six and seven proved to be a joy for Pontius Tidemand who with his local knowledge had managed to end day one of the rally in sixth place. Latvala however had a stage to forget when communication with his co-driver failed and had to drive blind for most of the stage. To say Latvala was fuming would be an understatement.

Stage eight ended the rally with a short stage that saw Loeb eat a little into Ogier's time cushion.

End of day two results.

1. Ogier 1:16:00:1
2. Loeb + 31.4
3. Latvala +33.1
4. Ostberg +42.3
5. Novikov + 1:11.1
6. Tidemand +1:22.1

Day three started with a busy day. Eight stages in all would be raced today on some fast terrain. Stage nine was the fastest of them all, Sagen. With the cars reaching an average speed of 115km on this stage. Sadly Tidemand wasn't going anywhere fast when he had to retire with engine problems halfway through after a fantastic day two. Latvala and Ostberg were having their own mini battle for the last place on the podium. This meant that Loeb could concentrate on maintaining 2nd place. Ogier comfortably took the stage nine win.

Stage ten was the most challenging of the day with huge jumps and a bumpy road surface. Ogier lost some of his momentum whilst trying to keep his time cushion and ended up losing 5 seconds to Loeb, luckily for Ogier that Loeb was also struggling and was 0.2 slower then Ogier. Latvala though had an epic run through stage ten winning overall and talking about how he was finally learning how the car leans and how he is getting it to work for him.

Stage eleven and twelve showed Novikov pulling in some great performances and maintaining a great pace halfway through the rally. Loeb finally claimed his first stage win of the rally in stage eleven but didn't make much of a dent in Ogier's time.

Stage thirteen was a rerun of Sagen, but this time with no fresh snow this meant that the rerun would be more difficult. Novikov was putting pedal to the metal and keeping up his strong run from the morning. Latvala was worried about Ostberg being quicker then him, but ended up managing to just edge him out. Loeb started to stray a little on stage thirteen and become slightly wild, but in a strange bit of coincidence managed to post the same time as Ogier.

Stage fourteen and fifteen and the battle for third place rages on. With Latvala this time being the loser. 3.1 seconds behind Ostberg and this included Ostberg having a high speed wobble near the beginning of the stage. This means with Latvala and Ostberg focusing again on each other, this left Loeb to enjoy the spoils of second place and following Ostberg's example also managed to have a high speed wobble. Ogier has a faultless performance in the stage and grabs both forest stage wins.

Standings at the end of day three.

1. Ogier 2:18:22.8
2. Loeb +26.9
3. Ostberg +57.7
4. Latvala +1:03.8
5. Novikov +1:43.5

The last day of Rally Sweden consisted of six stages including the power stage, so there would be plenty of points up for grabs. Stage seventeen had a huge covering of deep snow. Latvala had free reign from VW to fight for the last podium position from Ostberg. Ostberg now under pressure managed to deliver and just hold on to third place. On Loeb's run the snow started to fall but Loeb is a master, even with the tricky conditions and  manages to gain 3 seconds on Ogier. Taking the win on stage seventeen.

Stage eighteen and Latvala is pushing as hard as he can to gain on Ostberg, but he knows after his mistake in Monte Carlo that he has to bring the car home in one piece. Ostberg is still not backing down, flinging the car around the snow bank like bumper cars at a fairground. Mads manages to inch three tenths off Latvala's time. Loeb and Ogier stay steady.

Stage nineteen and twenty sees Dani Sordo have more major issues when he crashes. Though this time it is terminal and he is out of Rally Sweden. Novikov after a great rally and getting himself into the top six, crashes yet again. It's not terminal but he loses a massive ten minutes digging himself out. Ogier too gets himself into trouble by crashing into a snow bank, but lady luck shines for Ogier and he manages to get himself back on the road pretty quickly.

Stage twenty one sees more of the Latvala and Ostberg saga but this time they are both matching each other on pace. Loeb is realising that his poor start on day two has hampered any chance of getting close to Ogier and is starting to settle for a decent second place finish.

Stage twenty two is the final stage for Rally Sweden. It is also the power stage, meaning extra points are up for grabs and it's pretty tense for Ogier, Loeb, Latvala and Ostberg. But the stage goes off without incident from the top four and it's only Loeb who doesn't get any points in the power stage.

Power Stage results.
Ogier 3pts
Latvala 2pts
Ostberg 1pt.

So conformation of the results of Rally Sweden.

1. Ogier 3:11:41.9
2. Loeb + 41.8
3. Ostberg + 1:24.5
4. Latvala + 1: 30.6
5. Neuville + 5:06.4

The drivers standings after Rally Sweden

1. Ogier 46pts
2. Loeb 43pts
3. Ostberg 24pts
4. Sordo 15pts
5. Latvala 14pts

So can anybody stop the wins from the Sebastiens? Who knows. All I know is that I'm looking forward to some warmth in Rally Mexico after two races on snow.

So see you in a months time for another WRC review, but if you can't wait that long I'm also on Twitter @squiffany

Rally Review: WRC Monte Carlo.

So after nearly four months away, your British rally correspondent is back and ready to take you through the 2013 WRC season.

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

Rally Review: WRC Rally Spain

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 4^th and 5^th, 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 9^th, 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 5^th 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 3^rd. Nikara and Atkinson ended another solid weekend for Mini in 5^th and 7^th, while Craig Breen took the SWRC title by finishing 6^th 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.

WRC Rally France Preview - Can Loeb clinch title #9 at home?

WRC Rally France Preview - Can Loeb clinch title #9 at home?


by Martijn Kösters



Just three rounds remain in the 2012 World Rally Championship, and the title chase could all be over on sunday. Only Mikko Hirvonen can beat Sebastien Loeb to the title, but even that will not only come down to him. Loeb goes into his home event with a 61 point lead. With the notion that a maximum of 56 points remain in the championship after the French round (2x 25 for a win, 2x 3 for Power Stage Win), a win for Hirvonen would not neccesarily mean that he could still take the title, as Loeb can comfortably finish second, win the power stage and take yet another title.

The odds are very much against Mikko Hirvonen, not only does he challenge the one man who has been reigning the WRC since 2004. He also takes on Loeb at home turf, who was born in the Alsace region. One factor might give Hirvonen some hope, Loeb did not win here last year due to an engine failure.

Action starts this afternoon (Thursday) with a small stage in Strasbourg, with real stages being driven throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. In total the rally consists of 22 tarmac stages with a combined length of 404 kilometers. Friday will see two equal loops of three stages: Hohlandsbourg(28km), Vallee de Munster(22) and Soltzeren(20), with the Mulhouse stage as added extra to the Friday.


Saturday starts a bit earlier around 8.30 CET with the Massif des Grands Crus-Ungersberg stage of 18km, followed directly by the longest stage of the rally Pays d'Ormont (43.45km). Pays de la Haute Bruche (24) and Klevener (11) complete the loop of four stages, which will be run twice.

The Sunday sees perhaps a different style to which we are used to. Six stages, all be it shorter than the rest, will be run without Service half way through. At 9.23 CET the Vignoble de Cleebourg (17) kicks off, followed by Bischweiler (8) and Sebastien Loeb's home town stage: Hagenau (6). These three stages will be run twice, but without a service.

WRC: Wales rally GB review.

So hello Rally and Cross readers. In case you don't know me I'm Tiff and I usually write about Formula One. But I do have a secret passion for the WRC.
So I was truly honoured when Martijn asked me to write a review for the Wales rally GB.
Now being British. This means I get to start by writing about my home race. Winner.

Now being British also means I get British coverage of the Rally, which sadly now is pretty dire. Ten years ago the WRC used to be on prime time terrestrial TV, then it fell in to the clutches of cable TV and then even more further into almost obscurity by being on to a specialist motors TV channel. Now don't get me wrong Motors TV which covers the WRC do a pretty good job with the limited resources they have. It just means that I'm doing a review based on just ninety minutes of coverage.
But I aim to do my best for you readers of Rally and Cross and hopefully this won't be the last you see of me on the blog.

So we head into round ten with Sebastien Loeb fifty four points ahead of Mikko Hirvonen but with Wales rally GB usually being Ford territory. It will be interesting to see if Citroen can do anything about it.
What will also be interesting is how the weather will affect play. Especially because the UK is notoriously rainy and wet and I personally can testify to this.

And of course it was raining for start of day one.

After Stage One, Ford took the rains. (Take the pun if you will) and it was Petter Solberg who took charge over Mads Ostberg and Jari-Matti Latvala.

Stage Two and Three saw a change of the guard. With Loeb starting to play catch up to a race that he doesn't even need to win. Solberg after a cracking Stage One still kept his foot in the door and seemed confident in Wales. Though Stage Two and Three didn't seem to be fun times for everyone. As Ott Tanak can testify when power steering started to fail on him.
SS3 saw Latvala take the lead of the rally and declare that this was his favourite stage.
It seems that Latvala is finally starting to enjoy himself after a dire few months.

Stage Five saw Loeb start to lose time to the Ford's meanwhile team mate Hirvonen had a case of the Jenson Button's and started to complain about a lack of grip. A gripe that would continue for most of the rally.

The last stage of day one bought one of only a few hairy moments throughout the whole rally. With Solberg almost falling off the road, even though the track was starting to dry off.
Latvala started to put consistency together to bring the Ford home and keep the lead of the rally at the end of day one.

1. Latvala 1:25:05
2. Solberg +12.1
3. Loeb +21.3
4. Ostberg + 32.6
5. Hirvonen +53.8

Day Two of the rally started off a bit like my eyesight. Foggy. Though for Thierry Neuville the start of Day Two ended up more soggy then foggy, when water started coming into the car. Even at one point ending up on the pace notes. Hirvonen was still massively frustrated with his lack of traction and grip, which still hadn't been sorted from the previous day. The start of Day Two was great for Ostberg though who took his first stage win on Stage Seven, his first stage win for three years.



The second half of Day Two was finally clear of fog and also for once stayed dry. Stage Eleven and Twelve saw Loeb attempt to catch Solberg. Loeb trying to take every point out of anyone he can, but sadly for Loeb Solberg responded to Loeb's advances and held on to second place at the end of Day Two.

1. Latvala 2:18:05
2. Solberg +24.5
3. Loeb +30.9
4. Ostberg +49.9
5. Hirvonen +1.22

Day Three saw the start of the battle for the minor placings with Evgeny Novikov and Ott Tanak. Tanak started to make a charge on Novikov but then sadly made a mistake, never truly recovered and ended up losing out on a chance at sixth place.
Talking of struggling. Ostberg started Day Three with a continuing mis-fire problem, which meant he struggled going fast uphill. Sadly this isn't good in Wales as it is pretty hilly.
In Stage Fifteen and Sixteen we started to see Loeb take charge to try and take second place away from Solberg. Sadly Solberg started to crumble and slowly started to lose small increments of time which led to Loeb taking Second place away from him.

The second half of Day Three saw Ostberg still struggling with his mis-fire from earlier in the day, but he still kept up the pace to safely secure a great fourth place in Wales. Loeb managed to keep hold on to his position and retain second place.
So we see Latvala strike an impressive performance to win the Wales rally GB. Not only with style but also with bags of confidence.
I literally can't wait to see what the next three rounds will hold.

So the Wales rally GB Top Ten ended like this.

1. Jari-Matti Latvala 3:03:40
2. Sebastien Loeb +27.8
3. Petter Solberg +28.7
4. Mads Ostberg +1.10
5. Mikko Hirvonen +1.29
6. Evgeny Novikov +3.37
7. Thierry Neuville +4.11
8. Matthew Wilson +6.00
9. Martin Prokop +6.58
10. Nasser Al Attiyah +9.32



Hope you enjoyed my review of the Wales rally GB.
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