2012 World Rally Championship

[Kol Bailey]

It's definitely more exciting Than F1...

 

[William Levesque]

The early 2000's and before are long gone though...

 

[Aidan Keranen]

they need all the classics back. plus manufacturers. hey! apparently toyota may come back......hang on...

 

[Karlip]

News before the rally:



Jari-Matti Latvala has returned to WRC after his injury break. He was out for the last rally due to a skiing accident which broke his collarbone. The Finn is now back in action.

Leg 1: Qualification and SS1

1. Qualification

Petter solberg has won the qualification stage. Qualification results can be found by going to this link: http://pastebin.com/hAyvW1BS​

Stage end commentaries from the drivers: http://bit.ly/JYHS2F​

After the qualification stage, start list was picked. In case you didn't know, then whoever wins the qualification stage gets to pick first, and so on. Last one in the qualification stage, a.k.a 13th position, is picking last. You can see what positions the drivers picked here: http://pastebin.com/wkAwY9jb​

Don't let the positions picked scare you, first position isn't that good on Gravel rallies because you have to clean the road for others, which in this case means you don't have a good driving line. The Ford duo did the right call and picked 12th and 13th respectively.​

During the Qualification stage, some drivers had problems. Martin Prokop(CZ)(Fiesta WRC), went off the road but got back on. Ott Tänak(EST)(Fiesta WRC) hit a tree during a corner and broke the steering arm. He finished the stage but had to be towed back to service. On this picture, you can see the front left wheel of Tänak's car: http://twitpic.com/9ontej (Picture courtesy: Julian Porter)​

​

2. SS1​

​

First stage of the Rally Acropolish 2012 wasn't full of dramas. Everyone passed through the stage just fine, except some smaller mistakes. Like the Estonian, Ott Tänak(Fiesta WRC), who had a small spin costing some seconds at the start of the stage. Biggest news from the stage was that the norwegian, Petter Solberg(Fiesta WRC), had taken the wrong tyres and shredded the tyres because of the wrong surface. This shows how important tyre choices are. The choice for that stage was Hard tyre compound, but Solberg took Softs. He admitted his mistake.​

The stage, SS1, was won by Jari-Matti Latvala, who had just returned from a injury break.​

SS1 Results: http://www.wrc.com/results/2012/acropolis-rally/stage-times/?category=wrc&stageno=1​

End of Leg 1.​

​

Leg 2: SS2 - SS9.

​

Jari-Matti Latvala was told that he wasn't allowed to wear his collarbone protection.​

Daniel Oliveira got ill and couldn't sleep during the night, he is still ill and can't rally. He is superrallying and might return tomorrow.​

SS2: Stage winner: Jari-Matti Latvala​

SS3: Stage winner: Jari-Matti Latvala​

On SS4, Jari-Matti(Fiesta WRC) and Tänak(Fiesta WRC) both missed a turn on braking and lost some seconds. Petter Solberg(Fiesta WRC) didn't have the feeling with his car, but still won the stage with over 9 seconds. Nasser Al-Attiyah reporting intercom problems.​

After service in SS5, Ford took 2 Hard spares with them, making the car heavier and losing more seconds to the leader Loeb. Citroen went with 1 spare.​

SS5 was won by Mikko Hirvonen.​

SS6 brought problems to Martin Prokop(Fiesta WRC), who had a spin and some other smaller mistakes. Nasser Al-Attiyah(DS3 WRC) reporting more intercom problems. Ott Tänak(Fiesta WRC) reporting not having good rythm and has front right tyre a bit off the rim. Mads Ostberg(Fiesta WRC) can't find the feeling with the car.​

Petter Solberg hits a rock going over a crest and punctures rear right wheel, damaging some other parts also. He will have to fix it or it might get worse on the next stage.​

Stage win: Sebastien Loeb​

SS7, Ott Tänak(Fiesta WRC) is in trouble again, losing 7 minutes to Nobre. He had fixed the wrong pacenote last stage so they went into this one too fast, going off and having a puncture and some damage to the suspension. Stage win: Jari-Matti Latvala​

SS8, Ott Tänak goes under superrally. Nasser has fixed his intercom problems. Novikov lost time at the start of the stage. Ostberg thinks his rear driveshaft has problems. Stage win: Petter Solberg​

SS9, Thierry Neuville(Belgium)(DS3 WRC) fixed some parts of his driveshaft before the stage and went slow because of it. Mads Ostberg(Nor)(Fiesta WRC) hit a bank and got stuck for a bit, people didn't hurry to help him out. Stage win: Jari-Matti Latvala​

Day wrap(Watch the Overall): http://www.wrc.com/results/2012/acropolis-rally/stage-times/?category=wrc&stageno=9​

​

Leg 3: SS10 - SS17

The day is shaken with the news of Jari-Matti Latvala stopping to change a wheel in SS14 and losing 4 minutes to the leader Sebastien Loeb. After the wheel change, 2nd position was given to Petter Solberg. Also problems for many people, including Evgeniy Novikov, who had a water pump failure, and Nasser Al-Attiyah, who had problems with the front driveshaft. They both had to SuperRally for the last 5 stages. Andreas Mikkelsen's battle with Sebastian Ogier was cut short when Mikkelsen's car started protesting and the water temperature went too high on Stage 16. Ogier also had problems, losing powersteering on Stage 15. On the last 2 stages, rain made its spot and gave the edge to Petter Solberg, who did all he could to get back time to Sebastien Loeb. He succeeded and the time went from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.​

Results of Leg 3: http://www.wrc.com/results/2012/acropolis-rally/stage-times/?category=wrc&stageno=17​

Leg 4: SS18 - SS22

The fight between P. Solberg and S. Loeb had an early finish when Solberg managed to rip a rear wheel off his car late into Stage 18. Problems also for N .Al-Attiyah, who crashed out, E. Novikov, whose car had overheating problems, D. Oliveira(Fiesta WRC), who also allegdly crashed out, and A. Mikkelsen, who managed to do too much damage to one of the rear wheels.​

SS18 Stage win: J. Latvala​

SS19 Stage win: S. Loeb​

SS20 offered some action as Sebastien Loeb stopped to change a puncture, only losing 1 minute and 30 seconds, keeping his overall lead! Also, Nicolas Fuchs, who was leading PWRC with a comfortable lead, had a puncture but risked everything and drove the stage, destroying the wheel. He had to retire at the end of SS20.​

SS20 Stage win: J. Latvala​

SS21: Stage win: J. Latvala​

SS22: Power stage: Sebastien Loeb takes maximum points, 28, and a rally win. 25+3 points because he has won the Power Stage, with Jari-Matti 2nd, 3rd overall, and Mikko Hirvonen 3rd, 2nd overall.​

Final results for Rally Acropolis 2012: http://www.wrc.com/results/2012/acropolis-rally/final-results/​

PWRC Results for Rally Acropolis: http://www.wrc.com/pwrc/results/2012/acropolis-rally/final-results/​

WRC Academy results for Rally Acropolis: http://www.wrc.com/wrc-academy/results/2012/acropolis-rally/final-results/​

​

Congratulations to Sebastien Loeb.​

 

[Manuel De Samaniego]

Thanks! great rally, one of my favourites. A classic!

 

[Karlip]

Breaking news: Jari-Matti Latvala had stopped for 2 minutes in Stage 14 and the fight with Sebastien Loeb is over. Before this, the distance between Jari-Matti and Sebastien was 2.2 seconds.
He has lost over 3 minutes to Loeb.

 

[Paul M Jones]

Puncture for Latvala, was really close before-hand.

 

[Karlip]

The fight between the Ford of P. Solberg and Citroen of S. Loeb is over. P. Solberg has lost a wheel in SS18, read more in the OP.

 

[Manuel De Samaniego]

Congrats to Loeb, but also congrats to the guys who finished the toughest rally of the championship and to the guys who couldn't make it, but tried.

 

[gianni123]

pictures of the ORC Rally - 2012 @ http://gyrallypictures.webs.com/fotos.htm

 

[gianni123]

video

 

[Christen Struys]

​

 

[Rui F. Martins]

the guys filming must have they're pants, it was really close

 

[Christen Struys]

jep

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Another Loeb win i think we know who will win the champ already also Jari-Matti is SOOO incident prone... Not all of it his fault but jeez rally after rally

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Full Round:

Global Rallycross Championship 2012

This is the second season of the newly founded GRC in the United States. The 2011 season was really a test season with only 3 rounds but the 2012 season will be the first full proper season for the GRC.

Those of you who don't know the GRC is really just an extention of the American X-Games which started a while ago. 2011 was the first time they took the format and made a series around it. It will be the first attempt at trying to form a rallying audience in the states along with SCCA's Rally America championship.

Personally, I'm surprised at some of the names 2012 drew...


Round 1 Entry List:

Olsberg - 2012 Ford Fiesta:

Tanner Foust

Brian Deegan

David Binks

Marcus Grönholm

Toomas Heikkinen

Monster Rally Team - 2012 Ford Fiesta:

Ken Block

Subaru Puma - 2012 Subaru Impreza:

Sverre Isachsen

Dave Mirra

Bucky Lasek

Rhys Millen Racing - 2012 Hyundai Veloster:

Rhys Millen

Stephan Verdier

Pastrana Racing - 2013 Dodge Dart:

Travis Pastrana

Scott-Eklund - 2010 Saab 9-3:

Andy Scott

Samuel Hübinette

Privateers - 2007 Subaru Imprezas:

Patrick Moro

Tim Rooney

Richard Burton

 

[Paul M Jones]

Gareth Roberts was killed competing on the Targa Florio Rally this morning.
Young Welsh star, sadly missed.

 

[Rui F. Martins]

i've heard of this accident, it is always sad when these things happen

 

[tjc]

If I`m being honest I don`t think I`ve ever heard of the bloke but it`s always so sad when these things happen...

R.I.P GR

 

[Alasdair Beck]

So sad to lose a young talent like this. He was a really cracking co-driver and he and Craig made an awesome team. He'll be sorely missed