2012 Monte Carlo Rally day 4: News and results
author: WRC Release
Hirvonen wins again and closes gap to Solberg
Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen continues to edge closer to Petter Solberg in the battle for third position on Rallye Monte-Carlo after he went 1.7s faster than his Ford rival on Saturday’s first stage, which crossed over the classic Col de Turini.
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Mikko Hirvonen scores third stage win on SS 14
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Hirvonen, whose time through the stage was 15m38.4s, is now 22.1s behind the Norwegian in the overall standings. “I was driving quite safely and still did that time,” the Finn told World Rally Radio. “I’m not sure it will be enough but I’m getting more familiar with the car.”
Norwegian Solberg said: “It was a really, really good stage - this is the most fun stage I’ve had for a long time. It was just proper.”
With an overall advantage of more than two minutes, Sebastien Loeb said the biggest challenge he faces is maintaining his concentration behind the wheel of his Citroen DS3 WRC. He completed the stage, held in dry and mild conditions, in a time of 15m40.3s.
“I didn’t take any risks, I’m just trying to find the right rhythm and to be concentrated,” said Loeb. “But it’s really difficult to find the right rhythm when all you have in your mind is not to make no mistakes. It’s the first time I’ve been through that stage with absolutely no snow or damp places.”
Dani Sordo, in second overall, said he wasn’t entirely happy with the set-up of his MINI John Cooper Works WRC, complaining the car was “slow and heavy” to react. The Spaniard said he also drove “too carefully”.
Evgeny Novikov said he wasn’t happy with his choice of soft compound tyre. M-Sport team-mate Francois Delecour reported a powersteering glitch from the stage start on his Fiesta, while MINI driver Pierre Campana reported an intercom problem in the closing three kilometres of the run.
Czech Ford National Team’s Martin Prokop has moved ahead of Armindo Aruajo after the MINI driver said his tyres were more worn than he would have liked at the stage finish.
TOP TEN OVERALL AFTER SS 14
1 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
3:47:05.5
2 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
3:49:32.1 +2:26.6
(+2:26.6)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
3:50:24.5 +3:19.0
(+52.4)
4 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
3:50:46.6 +3:41.1
(+22.1)
5 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
3:52:00.4 +4:54.9
(+1:13.8)
6 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
3:53:50.4 +6:44.9
(+1:50.0)
7 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
3:55:03.4 +7:57.9
(+1:13.0)
8 5 O. TANAK
K. SIKK FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
3:56:00.3 +8:54.8
(+56.9)
9 33 P. ANDERSSON
E. AXELSSON PROTON
SATRIA NEO S2000 2
4:01:20.0 +14:14.5
(+5:19.7)
10 21 M. PROKOP
J. TOMANEK FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:02:07.1 +15:01.6
(+47.1)
Solberg wins SS 15 keeps Hirvonen at bay
Petter Solberg has hit back in the battle for third place on Rallye Monte-Caro by setting the fastest time on Saturday’s second stage.
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Petter Solberg Ford Fiesta RS clinging to 3rd
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The Ford driver was coming under pressure from Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen prior to the run. He took 12m57.0s to complete the stage, 8.4s faster than Hirvonen, to pull 30.5s clear of his rival.
“I’m just trying to keep my third place for Ford, that’s the main thing for me,” Solberg told World Rally Radio. “We have to be realistic. I lost a couple of seconds with a mistake close to the finish. The car is working very well I must say, I feel very comfortable.”
Hirvonen said he lost confidence on the damp sections of the stage, adding: “Petter pushed hard, I was not so confident on the damp and took it a bit steady. That’s not so good for the podium but I didn’t want to take any chances. It’s going to be tough for the podium now.”
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Sebastien Loeb still leads easily
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Sebastien Loeb was equal on time with Hirvonen and now leads the World Rally Championship qualifier by an impressive margin of 2m20.7s in his factory Citroen.
“There was some humidity in some places but no problem,” said Loeb. “The goal is not the same when you are fighting, you try to brake not too late, not as late as possible.”
Spain’s Dani Sordo was fourth quickest on the stage and remains second overall for the MINI WRC Team. However, he was at a loss to explain why he couldn’t go faster after completing the stage in a time 12.5s slower than Solberg managed. As a result his advantage over the third-placed Norwegian has been trimmed to 39.9s.
Francois Delecour was fifth quickest through the stage despite a powersteering problem hampering him behind the wheel of his M-Sport Ford Fiesta.
Bryan Bouffier, in a Super 2000-specification Peugeot 207, was a sensational seventh fastest. The French driver won Rallye Monte-Carlo last season when it ran outside of the World Rally Championship schedule.
TOP TEN OVERALL AFTER SS 15
1 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
4:00:10.9
2 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:02:41.6 +2:30.7
(+2:30.7)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:03:21.5 +3:10.6
(+39.9)
4 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
4:03:52.0 +3:41.1
(+30.5)
5 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:05:24.1 +5:13.2
(+1:32.1)
6 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:07:00.2 +6:49.3
(+1:36.1)
7 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:08:16.5 +8:05.6
(+1:16.3)
8 5 O. TANAK
K. SIKK FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:09:28.9 +9:18.0
(+1:12.4)
9 33 P. ANDERSSON
E. AXELSSON PROTON
SATRIA NEO S2000 2
4:15:11.3 +15:00.4
(+5:42.4)
10 21 M. PROKOP
Z. HRUZA FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:15:33.2 +15:22.3
(+21.9)
Saturday Wrap: Fight is on for podium places
While Sebastien Loeb might be edging towards his sixth victory on Rallye Monte-Carlo, the final podium positions remain up for grabs with three stages of this thrilling World Rally Championship season-opener left to run.
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Sebastien Loeb still leads easily
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Driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, Loeb leads the legendary rally by 2m30.7s following Saturday’s opening brace of stages in the mountains above Monaco. Despite his comfortable margin out front, Loeb said he must continue to maintain his focus and not make any mistakes.
“I didn’t take any risks, I’m just trying to find the right rhythm and to be concentrated,” said Loeb. “But it’s really difficult to find the right rhythm when all you have in your mind is to make no mistakes.”
Dani Sordo started day four with second position all but guaranteed. However, the Spaniard said he struggled for pace on stages 14 and 15 and was unable to pinpoint exactly why he couldn’t go faster in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC. As a result his advantage over third-placed Ford driver Petter Solberg has been trimmed to 39.9s.
Solberg, in a factory Fiesta RS WRC, was coming under pressure from Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen after the Finn won stage 14. But with Hirvonen reporting a lack of confidence on the damp patches on stage 15, which Solberg won, the Norwegian is now 30.5s clear of Hirvonen prior to the two night stages getting underway.
M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Evgeny Novikov continues to shrug off his lack of Rallye Monte-Carlo experience to hold a strong fifth place on his first appearance on the event. The Russian is 1m36.1s clear of former Monte-Carlo winner Francois Delecour, whose similar car has been hit by a powersteering problem.
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Pierre Campana John Cooper Works Mini
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Pierre Campana is seventh in the second factory MINI, despite a small intercom problem nearing the end of stage 14. Ott Tanak is eighth with Super 2000 World Rally Championship pacesetter PG Andersson ninth for PROTON. Martin Prokop completes the top 10 in his Fiesta after moving ahead of MINI driver Armindo Araujo on stage 14.
Kevin Abbring is 12th for Volkswagen Motorsport with Matthew Wilson 13th and Go Fast Energy team-mate Henning Solberg 14th. Craig Breen, Andersson’s only other challenger for SWRC glory, is a solid 15th with Bryan Bouffier’s recovery from his day one delays taking him up to 16th in his Peugeot.
Michal Kosciuszko, from Poland, continues to top the Production Car World Rally Championship leaderboard in his Mitsubishi Lancer.
Following service on Monaco’s harbour front, crews will repeat this afternoon’s two stages prior, the first of which gets underway at 19:34hrs local time. The rally concludes with the 5.16-kilometre Power Stage, which awards bonus points to the fastest three drivers, on Sunday morning.
Solberg wins SS 16 edges closer to Sordo
A second fastest stage time in succession has propelled Petter Solberg ever closer to second-placed Dani Sordo on Rallye Monte-Carlo. Meanwhile, a spin for Mikko Hirvonen has all but ended his chances of snatching a podium finish on the opening event of the World Rally Championship season.
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A satisfied Petter Solberg
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Solberg took 15m45.5s to complete the stage in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. He is now 30.8s behind Sordo’s MINI John Cooper Works WRC with two stages remaining.
“It was very good, no major problems at all,” said Solberg. “I took it a little careful on the downhill with no risk. It was a fantastic stage and it was a dream feeling.”
Dani Sordo, who was 9.1s adrift of Solberg’s pace, said his decision to use a soft compound tyre resulted in a few handling issues nearing the stage finish. However, the MINI WRC Team driver said he was more satisfied than he was after the first run through the stage this afternoon.
“I’m quite satisfied,” said Sordo. “The feeling with the car was good, the tyre was a little too soft and the car was moving a lot but it wasn’t bad and I’m happy.”
Hirvonen, who was 13.5s slower than Solberg through the stage after dropping nine seconds with a spin in his Citroen DS3 WRC, said: “We spun at the start of the stage and I lost the rhythm. It was a first-gear corner and the tyres were a bit cold. It was a stupid mistake.”
Event leader Sebastien Loeb said he relished the atmosphere created by the thousands of fans watching on the stage. The eight-time world champion was second fastest, 2.2s slower than Solberg to lead overall by 2m37.6s.
“It was a very good stage, very good condition and nearly dry,” said Loeb. “It was a real pleasure to drive and there was a great atmosphere with a lot of spectators. I really enjoyed it.”
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Francois Delecour
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With the powersteering problem on his M-Sport Fiesta cured at service in Monaco, Francois Delecour set the third fastest time, 4.5s slower than Solberg.
TOP TEN OVERALL AFTER SS16
1 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
4:15:58.6
2 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:18:36.2 +2:37.6
(+2:37.6)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:19:07.0 +3:08.4
(+30.8)
4 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
4:19:51.0 +3:52.4
(+44.0)
5 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:21:34.0 +5:35.4
(+1:43.0)
6 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:22:52.4 +6:53.8
(+1:18.4)
7 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:24:17.8 +8:19.2
(+1:25.4)
8 5 O. TANAK
K. SIKK FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:25:39.2 +9:40.6
(+1:21.4)
9 21 M. PROKOP
Z. HRUZA FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:31:45.9 +15:47.3
(+6:06.7)
10 12 A. ARAUJO
M. RAMALHO MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:31:48.8 +15:50.2
(+2.9)
Solberg takes more time off Sordo
Petter Solberg has taken yet more time out of Dani Sordo on Rallye Monte-Carlo but with a margin of 18.3s over the Norwegian, Spaniard Sordo believes he has enough of a gap to hold the position heading into the final day of Rallye Monte-Carlo on Sunday.
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Dani Sordo
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“Petter needs to push a little harder because I think we have enough of a gap now,” MINI driver Sordo told World Rally Radio after setting a time of 13m17.5s on Saturday's final stage.
Solberg was fastest through the stage in 13m05.0s in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 12.5s quicker than Sordo. “Everything is so nice and easy - it’s great,” said Sordo. “Okay we had to be a bit careful in the damp areas but I’m so happy and I’m really enjoying this rally.”
Sebastien Loeb kept his overall lead firmly intact with the second fastest stage time in his Citroen DS3 WRC, 7.7s down on Solberg.
Francois Delecour was third fastest in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta with Pierre Campana impressing with the fourth quickest time in his factory MINI.
In the battle for ninth position, Martin Prokop continues to keep Armindo Araujo at bay after they both took 13m32.5s to complete the stage.
Crews are now heading back to Monaco for service and the overnight halt. The final test, the 5.16-kilometre Power Stage, gets underway on Sunday at 10:11hrs local time.
TOP 20 OVERALL AFTER SS 17
1 1 S. LOEB
D. ELENA CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
4:29:12.1
2 37 D. SORDO
C. DEL BARRIO MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:31:53.7 +2:41.6
(+2:41.6)
3 4 P. SOLBERG
C. PATTERSON FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:32:12.8 +3:00.7
(+19.1)
4 2 M. HIRVONEN
J. LEHTINEN CITROEN
DS3 WRC WRC
4:33:17.7 +4:05.6
(+1:04.9)
5 6 E. NOVIKOV
D. GIRAUDET FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:35:12.9 +6:00.8
(+1:55.2)
6 8 F. DELECOUR
D. SAVIGNONI FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:36:07.8 +6:55.7
(+54.9)
7 52 P. CAMPANA
S. DE CASTELLI MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:37:33.4 +8:21.3
(+1:25.6)
8 5 O. TANAK
K. SIKK FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:39:39.3 +10:27.2
(+2:05.9)
9 21 M. PROKOP
Z. HRUZA FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:45:18.4 +16:06.3
(+5:39.1)
10 12 A. ARAUJO
M. RAMALHO MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
4:45:21.3 +16:09.2
(+2.9)
11 9 M. WILSON
S. MARTIN FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:47:51.3 +18:39.2
(+2:30.0)
12 17 K. ABBRING
L. VANNESTE SKODA
FABIA S2000 2
4:47:54.3 +18:42.2
(+3.0)
13 10 H. SOLBERG
I. MINOR FORD
FIESTA RS WRC WRC
4:49:23.4 +20:11.3
(+1:29.1)
14 32 C. BREEN
G. ROBERTS FORD
FIESTA S2000 2
4:53:19.7 +24:07.6
(+3:56.3)
15 16 B. BOUFFIER
X. PANSERI PEUGEOT
207 S2000 2
4:56:31.1
[1:30] +27:19.0
(+3:11.4)
16 22 M. BURRI
S. REY PEUGEOT
207 S2000 2
4:59:20.2 +30:08.1
(+2:49.1)
17 71 C. ROBERT
Y. PERRET CITROEN
DS3 R3T 5
5:01:10.9 +31:58.8
(+1:50.7)
18 24 O. BURRI
J. FERRERO MITSUBISHI
LANCER EVO X 3
5:03:57.4 +34:45.3
(+2:46.5)
19 76 S. CHARDONNET
T. DE LA HAYE RENAULT
CLIO R3 5
5:05:45.3 +36:33.2
(+1:47.9)
20 14 P. NOBRE
E. PAULA MINI
COOPER WORKS WRC WRC
5:07:50.1 +38:38.0
(+2:04.8)
Day 5 will be held tomorrow and consist of the Power Stage.
The stage is due to be held at 10:11 Monaco time.
Visit us tomorrow for more reports.
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