The second round of the 2012 World Rally Championship after the opening race at Monte Carlo is the only event held on snow, which means that making predictions about the outcome of Rally Sweden is almost impossible.
In tests carried out before the race, some teams experienced freezing temperatures and most expected heavy snowfall during the event. However, during the race, there was much less snow than initially anticipated – and that was a game changer for most teams.
Citroen’s new signing, Mikko Hirvonen, put things into perspective before the beginning of the race: “I’ve seen the stages in better condition and I’ve seen them in worse condition. In the end, there’s no point debating it much, because there’s not a lot you can do.”
The Finn was right but he drove brilliantly to finish the race in second place, trailing Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala by only 16.6 seconds. Two stages before the end of the race he was less than 8 seconds behind, having a chance at scoring his first victory for his new team at only his second race.
The driver who claimed third place, Mads Ostberg in the other Fiesta RS WRC, summed up Latvala’s win perfectly: “Mikko is quick in Sweden. But Jari-Matti is a bit crazy.”
Crazy or not, the winner joked afterwards that he needed “to get to hospital to check my heart rate… it’s incredible how exciting this sport can be.” It was Latvala’s second win in Sweden, and an effective morale-booster after retiring in Monte Carlo.
On the other hand, eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, who won the season opener, was never fond of snow. His accident on day one didn’t help much, either, but he managed to maintain his lead on the championship by finishing in sixth place.
2 Comments:
It really sucks that we don't get to see WRC racing live here in the states, nor any coverage at all while it's Actually happening because http://www.speedtv.com/ chooses to run crap like Pimp My Ride and Dumbest Stuff on Wheels in prime time and then sell all their late-night viewing time to infomercials. It's really sad that the people who run that network can't figure out a way to make money broadcasting races, the primary reason why the majority of people pay their cable services to get Speed TV in the first place.
Soon I imagine it'll be 24 hour infomercials on Speed so their ownership can give themselves bigger year-end bonuses, it all comes down to bonuses, follow the bonuses.
Followed the rally closely from start to end and it was one of the best for a long time. Fight for seconds till the end was exciting and I'm happy that Latvala won. Best of luck for him this year. Can't wait for rally Mexico.
The WRC is back in the better days, and finally there is some competition to Loeb with more to come next year. And those cars are awesome, at first I was skeptical, but the fact that they are little and light makes them cut corners so easy. Now I really want Countryman, Fiesta or DS3 just because they look so great in WRC. WRC rocks!
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