WRC 2012 Monte Carlo Rally end day 1: Loeb leads; Latvala out
author: Autosport
Sebastien Loeb leads Monte Carlo Rally after Jari-Matti Latvala's crash
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Sebastien Loeb leads at end of day 1
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Sebastien Loeb holds a comfortable lead at the end of day one of the Monte Carlo Rally after rival Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out of first place.
Latvala had been 30 seconds in front of five-time Monte winner Loeb going into today's final stage, but rolled his Ford and was forced to retire.
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Latvala rolls out of Monte
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All of Loeb's nearest competitors had tough ends to their days, with Ford's Petter Solberg ruing his use of two snow tyres on what was now a mostly dry SS4 and Loeb's Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen damaging a brake in a minor impact with a wall.
Their delays allowed Dani Sordo to move back into second for Mini despite damaging his suspension in an error this morning, although the Spaniard is 1m04s behind Loeb and just 1s ahead of Solberg.
Sebastien Ogier therefore holds an astonishing fourth place overall in his S2000 Skoda - thanks to some very rapid stage times as well as the WRC field's issues. The ex-Citroen WRC driver is just ahead of Evgeny Novikov's M-Sport Ford and the delayed Hirvonen, with Francois Delecour holding a highly respectable seventh on his WRC return with another WRC Ford. Thierry Neuville retired from his Citroen debut on the day's final stage.
P-G Andersson's Proton holds 10th overall and leads the S2000 class, albeit as one of only two cars still running in the poorly-supported division.
Leading positions after SS4:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1h30m30.1s
2. Dani Sordo Mini + 1m04.2s
3. Petter Solberg Ford + 1m05.2s
4. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 2m21.1s
5. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 2m26.5s
6. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 2m30.0s
7. Francois Delecour M-Sport Ford + 2m49.9s
8. Pierre Campana Mini + 4m09.7s
9. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 4m14.0s
10. P-G Andersson Proton + 4m33.8s
Who needs a WRC car? Ogier enjoys S2000
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Sebastien Ogier Skoda Fabia S2000
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Sebastien Ogier says that he enjoys fighting for the top six with his Skoda Fabia S2000 just as much as he did fighting for victory with the Citroen DS3 WRC.
The Frenchman is driving on all 13 rounds of the World Rally Championship this year in a Skoda Fabia S2000, as he prepares the all-new Volkswagen Polo WRC for its debut next year.
But although he is minus 20 or so horsepower – and more crucially a turbo – compared to the car he drove last year, Ogier is having just as much fun doing some giant-killing in the lower class. Having set stage times in the top three overall in Monte Carlo, Ogier is now sixth overall in the Skoda and well-placed to move further up the order.
"This car is different, but it's a lot of fun," he said. "The challenge for me now is how much progress I can make against the others, and when you are fighting it is always fun. Of course there is a big picture too: this is part of the team training, so it's very important for me to get to the end of the rallies so that everybody can take as much experience as possible. But the competitive feeling is the same."
Ogier's team mate Kevin Abbring has also impressed, setting sixth-fastest on the snow-affected second stage and moving up to 12th overall. "I really didn't want to disappoint anyone, so I took it very easy on the first stage, and just a bit quicker on the second," he said
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION TOP TEN AFTER SS 3
Pos No Driver
Co-Driver Vehicle Cls Total
Time
[Penalties] Diff
Fastest
(Prev)
1 3 J. LATVALA
M. ANTTILA FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
1:09:41.8
2 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
1:10:11.9 +30.1
(+30.1)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
1:10:23.7 +41.9
(+11.8)
4 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI
JOHN COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
1:10:33.8 +52.0
(+10.1)
5 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
1:11:12.3 +1:30.5
(+38.5)
6 15 S. OGIER
J. INGRASSIA SKODA
FABIA S2000 2
1:11:30.9 +1:49.1
(+18.6)
7 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
1:11:37.1 +1:55.3
(+6.2)
8 23 T. NEUVILLE
N. GILSOUL CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
1:12:13.6 +2:31.8
(+36.5)
9 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
1:12:26.4 +2:44.6
(+12.8)
10 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI
JOHN COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
1:12:27.9 +2:46.1
(+1.5)
(Source of scores: Best-of-Rally-Life)
Latvala upstages the Monte master
So often in Monte Carlo Rally history, making a bold tyre move in tricky conditions has been key to pulling off a rally win - and one such piece of tyre genius, coupled with incredible pace, saw Jari-Matti Latvala burst into the lead after SS2 today.
The Burzet to St Martial stage was peppered with patches of snow and ice, prompting Latvala and Sebastien Loeb to take the seemingly bizarre choice of one studded tyre on the front, and one on the rear on the opposite corner, plus two slicks.
But there was a crucial difference between them, with Latvala's slick tyres supersofts and Loeb using softs. On the dry asphalt of SS1, Latvala's supersofts had not paid off and he was back in fourth place - but in SS2's winter conditions, the Finn flew to an extraordinary time - 52 seconds quicker than Loeb. That vaulted him into a half-minute overall lead after just two stages.
"The tyre plan for this stage was perfect. We did a really good choice," said Latvala. "Okay, we lost in the first one with the super soft tyres and I was panicking about how it was going to be, but it was perfect on this stage."
Neither man had tested this 'crossover' tyre combination before, and Loeb admitted it had been an adventure - and that his slicks had been too hard.
"It was very tough, very, very tough. We had some snow in the stage and a strange tyre choice - a mixed tyre choice with a stud on front left and on the right rear. It was very strange to drive but it was okay," said Loeb.
"We had a good compound for the first stage but for this one the slicks were too hard. I didn't want to take big risks, it's only the start of the rally and it's very tricky."
Almost as remarkable as Latvala's pace was his Ford team-mate Petter Solberg setting the second-quickest time, 28s behind Latvala and 24s quicker than Loeb, with an all-slick tyre choice. That put Solberg third overall, ahead of stage one hero Dani Sordo, who clouted the scenery and bent his suspension, though he made it to the stage finish and expects to reach service.
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