While eight time World Champion Sébastien Loeb, finished in sixth place after an excursion that saw him stuck in snow bank for two minutes on the first full day of the event, a delay from which he was unable to recover.
Nevertheless, Loeb retains the lead in the World Rally Championship drivers’ title chase thanks to a combination of the points for sixth place and the bonus points for winning the final ‘Power Stage’ of the event, while his points and those collected by Hirvonen, who moves into second place in the Drivers’ Championship, maintains Citroen’s lead in the battle for the 2012 Manufacturers’ Championship.
Mikko Hirvonen made a good start to Rally Sweden and after day one, disputed for the most part in Norway, he was well placed to fight for the win, sitting in second, 16.8s behind the leader, Latvala. Sébastien Loeb had a less successful day, losing two minutes after sliding off the road and into a snow bank. Back in seventh, Loeb’s was now to aim to pick up as many points as possible.
Prior to tackling the ‘real’ special stages, the rally began on Thursday evening with the super special stage at Karlstad racecourse. And before that, the crews had to define their starting positions for day one, the owner of the best time in the qualifying stage having first choice, and so on. Keen to drive on as “clean” a line as possible, Mikko Hirvonen and Sébastien Loeb chose to start in 18th and 19th positions respectively.
The cars left parc fermé at 5am to head for the Hagfors service park. The day did not get off to a good start for Sébastien Loeb, who picked up a ten-second penalty.
“We arrived at the control point a minute late because the team had to make some last-minute changes to the set-up. It's a shame because the differences in the times are always very small here,” explained Seb.
Except for the first few kilometres of SS2, the morning’s stages were disputed within Norway. On SS3, Sébastien Loeb set his first fastest stage time of the rally. And then Mikko Hirvonen got into his stride: the Finn set the fastest times on Kirkener and Finnskogen (SS4 and SS5), enabling him to grab the lead at the half-way stage of day one.
“It’s a good start, although I think I can go even faster. I am still a little unsure when it comes to braking,” explained Mikko at the Kongsvinger remote service park.
In fourth position, 12s adrift of his team-mate, Sébastien Loeb moved up another place after he set his second fastest stage time of the day on Opaker 2 (SS6). But his hopes of winning the rally evaporated a few hundred metres after the start of Kirkener 2.
“I was caught out when I got a little bit too sideways into a left-hand bend, which lead onto a right hand hairpin. I couldn‘t manage to turn the car and slid off, ending up stuck in a snow bank. Some spectators came to push us back onto the road, but we lost almost two minutes. I’m out of the running for a place on the podium; we now have to make sure we make it to the end and pick up as many points as possible.”
Despite winning the Kirkener stage again, Mikko Hirvonen could not hold off the in-form Jari-Matti Latvala in the afternoon. Forced to back off after his tyres lost many of their studs, the Citroën Total World Rally Team admitted he felt somewhat powerless. “The car was sliding so much that I couldn't push. We were so close today that it is frustrating to lose so much time. Everything is still to play for, however. I’ll be pushing hard tomorrow to try and catch Jari-Matti.”
Day two was disputed on roads around Hagfors, with two runs on four classic stages of the rally. Lying second, 16.8s behind Latvala as the drivers started SS11, Mikko Hirvonen’s aim was clear for all to see: the Finn wanted to fight for the win! By the Vargasen control point, he had nonetheless lost 2.2s to the leader. Latvala picked up a further 9/10ths on SS12, just before Mikko hit back on Fredriksberg. With the fastest stage time, the Citroën Total World Rally Team driver confirmed that he would be pushing his fellow countryman all the way.
As the drivers arrived for service at the half-way stage of the day, the gap stood at 18.6s.
“I'm trying everything I can, but we’re very evenly matched and so it’s not enough,” acknowledged Mikko. “I can't push any harder, we’re very close to the limit. I have to keep doing the same thing this afternoon while remembering to look after my tyres, so I don’t have the same problems as yesterday. There is a lot of gravel on the stages, so it will be difficult to get the balance right between pushing hard and managing the studs.”
The afternoon’s racing unfolded in more or less the same manner as in the morning: although Hirvonen went quicker on Fredriksberg, he lost a few seconds on the other stages. The gap widened to 23s after SS18.
“Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed that I haven’t managed to reduce the gap, because I would really like to win this rally for the third time running“ concluded Mikko. “However, I am particularly pleased with the feeling I am getting in the car, and that's very encouraging for the next few rallies. Under normal racing conditions, for sure, I won't be able to win the race. But you never know, something unexpected might happen. I‘ll keep putting Jari-Matti under pressure tomorrow.”
Sébastien Loeb could only look on as the two Finnish rivals fought it out for victory. Seventh overall, over two minutes off the pace, the eight-time World Champions were nonetheless determined to move up a place. They managed to do just that, after a long and difficult day.
"I won’t keep fond memories of today’s stages, but we achieved what we set out to achieve despite spinning and picking up a puncture… The gap to fifth means that there is not much more I can hope to do at this rally. Bring on Rally Mexico!”
With clear gaps already established between the frontrunners, the third and final day of Rally Sweden saw no changes at the top of the overall standings. Much shorter and compact than the first two days, day three of Rally Sweden was disputed on stages not far from the service park: Lesjöfors, Rämmen and Hagfors, a stage previously used in 2010 and also the venue for the Power Stage at the end of the rally. A fine layer of fresh snow had fallen overnight and covered the roads as the drivers set off through the fir tree forests.
Lying second, 23s behind Jari-Matti Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen had few illusions early this morning about his chances of making up the ground under normal rallying conditions. During the first loop of the three stages, he lost about ten seconds to his rival.
“I wasn’t comfortable on the first stage, we made some changes to the set-up but I found the car difficult to drive on the narrow sections,” said Hirvonen
Sébastien Loeb, who wasn’t particularly looking forward to the Power Stage, pursued his somewhat lonely race in sixth.
“I have rarely driven on stages as unpleasant as those here. Obviously, it’s very slippery but there are also large rocks everywhere, so it’s difficult to push hard without taking huge risks.”
More comfortable on his second runs, Mikko Hirvonen closed the gap to Latvala to 8.4s after his rival picked up a puncture on Lesjöfors 2 (SS22).
“It was a very complicated stage, with a lot of gravel. I am pleased that I felt good in the car again. Jari-Matti’s puncture puts him under a little bit of pressure, but I’ll keep to my race plan. First and foremost, we have to finish the rally.”
After Latvala gave himself some breathing space on the penultimate stage, attention turned towards the Power Stage.
Having looked after his Michelin X-Ice North tyres during the two long stages, Sébastien Loeb decided to push to try and get the fastest time and the three bonus points that go with it. He achieved his final goal, covering the stage over a second quicker per kilometre than second-placed Petter Solberg!
“I can’t be happy with the result, but we managed to do the main thing, which was to achieve the best possible point scoring in the circumstances,” acknowledged the eight time World Champion. “We still lead the World Championship going into a long series of gravel rallies. Unlike Sweden, I have always done well in Mexico and I can’t wait to bounce back there.”
Runner-up Mikko Hirvonen moves up into second position in the Drivers’ World Championship standings.
“I can’t be totally satisfied as I didn’t win but the result is nonetheless a positive one. We worked well with the team and my feeling in the car has improved further. Although we are going to totally change surface for the next few rallies, all of this will be useful to me in the next event.”
“Loeb and Hirvonen top the Drivers Championship and Citroën is also top of the Manufacturers’ standings: these are the key points we’ll take away from Rally Sweden,” concluded Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal. “We think the DS3 WRC more than matched its competitors in terms of out-and-out performance, but the rally just didn’t quite go our way! I am also pleased that our five cars made it to the end of the rally without any mechanical problems at all. That’s a great performance, which is down to the work put in by every member of the Citroën Racing team.”
2012 Rally of Sweden
- 1 Latvala / Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:18:28.3
- 2 Hirvonen / Lehtinen Citroën DS3 WRC +16.6
- 3 Østberg / Andersson Ford Fiesta RS WRC +38.8
- 4 Solberg / Patterson Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1:14.3
- 5 Novikov / Giraudet Ford Fiesta RS WRC +2:41.4
- 6 Loeb / Elena Citroën Citroen DS3 WRC +2:55.0
- 7 Solberg / Minor Ford Fiesta RS WRC +3:49.5
- 8 Sandell / Parmander Mini JCW WRC +5:08.9
- 9 Prokop / Hruza Ford Fiesta RS WRC +5:30.0
- 10 Brynildsen / Menkerud Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6:27.1
- 13 Neuville / Gilsoul Citroën DS3 WRC +10:03.7
- 17 Van Merksteijn Jr. / Chevaillier Citroën DS3 WRC +15:19.2
- 21 Al-Attiyah / Bernacchini Citroën DS3 WRC +17:10.1
FASTEST TIMES
- Day 1 - SS1: Sordo – SS2: Østberg – SS3: Loeb – SS4 and SS5: Hirvonen – SS6: Loeb – SS7: Hirvonen – SS8: Latvala – SS9 and SS10: P. Solberg.
- Day 2 – SS11 and SS12: Latvala – SS13: Hirvonen – SS14: Tänak – SS15 and SS16: Latvala – SS17: Hirvonen – SS18: Loeb and Tänak.
- Day 3 – SS19 and SS20: Latvala – SS21 and SS22: Østberg – SS23: Latvala – SS24: Loeb.
BEST PERFORMERS
Latvala, 8 fastest times – Hirvonen, 5 – Loeb, 4 including 1 tied – Østberg, 3 – P. Solberg, 2 – Tänak, 2 including 1 tied – Sordo, 1.
LEADERS
SS1: Sordo – SS2: Østberg – SS3 and SS4: Latvala – SS4 to SS7: Hirvonen – SS8 to SS24: Latvala.