Monte Carlo Rally Day 3: News and results
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Solberg has green light to fight for second
David Evans Autosport
Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson says Petter Solberg will be allowed to fight for second place on the Monte Carlo Rally, rather than having to drive for points on the World Rally Championship opener.
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Petter Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRT
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There had been speculation that Ford returnee Solberg would be held back in the wake of team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala's first-day crash, but Wilson is adamant that is not the case. Solberg ends the second day of the event third, but just 3.7 seconds behind Dani Sordo's Mini.
"Don't get me wrong, I want the [manufacturer] points, but at the same time, he needs to be learning the car and finding out what it's all about," said Wilson. "I just want him to continue. He was conservative on the last stage and he wants to finish without making a mess on his first rally with us. I still think he can beat Dani."
Solberg and Sordo have traded second all day, with both drivers spending time in the provisional runner-up spot, behind runaway leader Sebastien Loeb.
Solberg said: "It's been a fantastic day. The car has been very, very good all of the time and it's a great battle."
Solberg snatches stage 11 win
Petter Solberg has shot ahead of Dani Sordo in the battle for second place on Rallye Monte-Carlo with a sensational performance through Friday’s opening stage.
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Petter Solberg
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Solberg, in a Ford World Rally Team Fiesta RS WRC, completed the run in a time of 12m08.6s to pull 9.5s clear of the Spaniard in the overall standings.
Meanwhile Sordo, in a MINI John Cooper Works WRC, was fifth fastest, taking 12m21.8s to tackle the run, which was reported to be extremely slippery due to rain.
With a lead of more than 1m30s starting day three, eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb could afford to adopt a slightly more cautious approach in his Citroen DS3 WRC.
However, he put his time, which was 16.7s slower than the flying Solberg, down to his decision to use studded tyres at the rear and slick tyres at the front in preparation for stage 12, which is understood to be coated in snow and ice in parts when he will be able to bolt on his two spare studded tyres at the front in an effort to achieve maximum grip.
“I expected to lose much more time because I had two studs and two slicks,” Loeb told World Rally Radio. “But for the next one where the is more ice I have full studs but even with this choice I will have to be very careful.”
Evgeny Novikov, driving an M-Sport Fiesta, continues to impress on his Rallye Monte-Carlo debut. The Russian set the third fastest time, 8.5s slower than Norwegian Solberg.
Another standout performance came from French legend Francois Delecour, whose time in a privateer Fiesta was 3.3s off Solberg’s stage best. Estonian youngster Ott Tanak also shone by going fourth quickest in his M-Sport Fiesta, 11.2s slower that the fastest time.
Dramatic stage win for Hirvonen
Mikko Hirvonen has claimed his first stage victory for Citroen in the World Rally Championship powered by Nokia after going fastest through Friday’s penultimate stage to move into fourth overall.
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Mikko Hirvonen first stage win in Citroen DS3
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The Finn, who switched to Citroen from Ford at the end of last year, made the most of his decision to run a full set of studded tyres on the ice-coated test.
He is now 36.3s behind third-placed Petter Solberg after the Norwegian struggled through the stage without the luxury of studded tyres on his Ford Fiesta.
“This time we definitely had the right tyre choice and for once we were brave enough in this car,” said Hirvonen. “It was very, very slippery but there’s still two and a half days to go so it’s game on.”
Rallye Monte-Carlo leader Sebastien Loeb completed the stage in a time of 15m51.4s, 3.7s slower than Hirvonen while young Corsican driver Pierre Campana impressed with the third fastest time, a 16m05.1s, in his factory MINI, which used a full set of studded tyres.
“For sure it was the right choice of tyre [with full studs] but even with that it was very difficult to keep the car on the road,” said Loeb. “The conditions changed a lot since my [safety] crew passed but I knew I had the best choice so I just went through. I’m happy to be at the end.”
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Dani Sordo John Cooper Works Mini
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Despite electing not to use studded tyres for added grip, MINI driver Dani Sordo was able to move back ahead of Solberg in the overall standings. His advantage heading back to service in Valence is 1m00.6s.
“It was really, really tricky,” said Sordo, who ran with a full set of ‘winter’ tyres. “We didn’t take tyres with studs and lost a lot in the last part where there was snow and where it was really bad.”
Solberg started the stage on a high following his fastest time on the previous run but was soon in trouble on stage 12.
“I had slicks on the rear and no studs on the front and there was so big aquaplaning from the start,” said Solberg. “I almost went off, it was unbelievable. There was so much water and black ice. It was much worse than I expected.”
Henning Solberg completed stage 12 with damage to the rear of his Go Fast Energy Fiesta following an impact.
PG Andersson continues to lead the Super 2000 World Rally Championship despite his PROTON’s front windscreen demister failing on the previous test. The Swede said the fault meant it was difficult for him to see the road.
TOP TEN OVERALL AFTER SS 11
1 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 3:14:13.6
2 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 3:16:22.6 +2:09.0 (+2:09.0)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:17:23.2 +3:09.6 (+1:00.6)
4 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 3:17:59.5 +3:45.9
(+36.3)
5 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:18:39.3 +4:25.7
(+39.8)
6 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:20:33.5 +6:19.9
(+1:54.2)
7 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 3:21:38.3 +7:24.7 (+1:04.8)
8 5 O. TANAK
K. SIKK FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:22:31.5 +8:17.9
(+53.2)
9 21 M. PROKOP
J. TOMANEK FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:28:23.9 +14:10.3
(+5:52.4)
10 12 A. ARAUJO
M. RAMALHO MINI COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 3:28:30.3 +14:16.7 (+6.4)
Solberg and Patterson not giving up
Ford ace Petter Solberg and co-driver Chris Patterson are refusing to give up on finishing second overall on Rallye Monte-Carlo despite slipping to more than one minute behind their closest rivals Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio.
Solberg and MINI driver Sordo have fought out a close battle since the World Rally Championship powered by Nokia got underway in Valence on Wednesday morning. Solberg thought he’d got the upper hand with a commanding run through Friday’s first stage only to slip back when his choice of tyres proved unsuitable to the rain and ice-hit 12th test.
“We tried the best we could,” Solberg told World Rally Radio. “On the first stage there was no problem but the second stage was full of water from the start and there was big aquaplaning so we really backed off. Then there was more water and full ice in the forest - we didn’t have a good feeling and we didn’t want to end up in the ditch. Of course we’re still battling and we need to make a better choice next time.”
Patterson said: “We really struggled on the last stage, especially on the ice on the downhill [section]. We had a spin at less than 3kph and a stall but we’re still here and we’re still fighting. There’s a long way to go so we won’t give up.”
Ford team chief Malcolm Wilson added: “Stage 11 worked really well for us, but on stage 12, the conditions had deteriorated quite a lot since the [safety] crews had gone through it. Petter had a huge moment very early on, resulting in a 100-metre slide - as similarly happened to some other drivers - and after that, he sensibly decided to just get through to the end of the stage. He wanted to protect his podium rather than risk anything rash. Going forward, stage 13 this afternoon is likely to have rain, and of course we've still got the famous passes through the Col de Turini to go, so I very much believe anything can still happen."
With one stage of day three remaining, Solberg is trailing second-placed Sordo by 1m00.6s. Sebastien Loeb, driving for the factory Citroen team, continues to lead the event with an advantage of 2m09.0s.
Hirvonen wins Stage 13 too
Mikko Hirvonen has made it two stage wins out of two on day three of Rallye Monte-Carlo to close to within 20.8s of third-placed Petter Solberg on the opening event of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.
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Mikko Hirvonen second stage win
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Finn Hirvonen set a time of 17m08.8s through the test as Solberg lost ground after breaking the front-left rim of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC cutting a corner too tightly a handful of kilometres from the stage finish. He reached the stop line nursing a front-left puncture with the fifth best time.
Sebastien Loeb was second fastest through the stage, 2.9s slower than fellow Citroen DS3 WRC driver Hirvonen. The eight-time world champion will head to the overnight halt in Monaco leading by a commanding 2m12.4s. He said: “It was hard to make the right tyre choice this morning but for this one it was like a normal Tarmac stage. I was not taking any risks.”
Dani Sordo, in a MINI John Cooper Works WRC, was 3.4s slower than Loeb in fourth position. However, he has increased his advantage over third-placed Solberg to 1m09.8s: “We got a big gap in the stage before,” said Sordo. “It was the first time for me on this stage but it’s unbelievable, really, really nice.”
Evgeny Novikov shone with the third fastest time in his M-Sport Fiesta, a 17m41.1s. Francois Delecour was sixth quickest in a time of 17m30.8s. Pierre Campana took 17m32.0s to complete the stage with fellow MINI driver Armindo Araujo 3.6s slower.
Crews are now embarking on the 239-kilometre road section to the overnight halt in Monaco ahead of Saturday’s four stages.
TOP TEN OVERALL AFTER STAGE 13
1 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 3:31:25.2
2 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI COOPER WORKS WRC WRC3:33:37.62 2:12.4 (+2:12.4)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:34:44.4 +3:19.2 (+1:06.8)
4 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC3:35:08.2 +3:43.0
(+23.8)
5 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:35:53.4 +4:28.2 (+45.2)
6 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:38:04.3 6:39.1 (+2:10.9)
7 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 3:39:10.3 +7:45.1 (+1:06.0)
8 5 O. TANAK
K. SIKK FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:40:10.0 +8:44.8
(+59.7)
9 33 P. ANDERSSON
E. AXELSSON PROTONSATRIA NEO S2000 2 3:44:46.0 +13:20.8 (+4:36.0)
10 12 A. ARAUJO
M. RAMALHO MINI COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 3:46:05.9 +14:40.7 (+1:19.9)
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