Rally France has been finished now. The weekend was full of action and rumours, it was actually bit hard to follow. The weekend started with crazy collision between Kimi Räikkönen and Henning Solberg. They were moving from SS2 to SS3 and as I wrote on my earlier blog text about Räikkönen, Solberg was in front of Räikkönen even Kimi's starting number for the SS3 was higher that Solberg's. Kimi had to overtake Solberg, but Solberg didn't see Kimi was behind. Solberg was warming his tyres and brakes and made a strong breaking - then Kimi hit his car. Kimi's car got so bad damage that he was out. Kimi had possibility to continue at super rally, but made his decision not to continue the rally. Solberg continued the rally normally.
Then at SS3 it was turn of the big champion Sebastien Loeb. Loeb had a problem on his engine and he was out of the race. Loeb made the same decision as Räikkönen and he also didn't continue at super rally. This gave possibility to Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Ogier to collect good points to catch Loeb on the World Championship fight.
During the SS3 also both Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala had problems - both were out of the road but were able to continue but lost too much time. Both were dropped about one minute behind the leader Ogier.
Later on SS7 Hirvonen made another mistake which helped Petter Solberg to get in front of him. Later Solberg was even able to take the lead, but on SS11 he had a puncture which dropped him down from the lead.
Then at SS13 Kris Meeke was on action - he crashed his car out again. He was in front of Hirvonen and Latvala so the Finns won positions by his crash. Other Mini driver Daniel Sordo was on second place very close to Ogier all the time.
At Saturday there was a big bomb dropped. There has been rumours about Ogier going to Ford and Hirvonen going to Citroen, also more rumours about who will drive Volkswagen at 2013 when the team makes it's debut to WRC. But Finnish MTV3 told they have heard from very trustable source that Ogier has made a three-year contract with Ford. That would actually mean Hirvonen would be out of the team, because Latvala already has a new contract with Ford. But also, Ogier has contract with Citroen until the end of 2013. But Ogier and his team mate Loeb cannot get along together. Ogier is tired to hear team orders and also the French team is behind Loeb who has been on the team for many many years already.
Latvala told to MTV3 that he knows for sure there's something going on driver roulette at the moment. He told he has been talking with Ogier and he gets along with Ogier - there's no problem with him. Also Latvala sees it positive if Ogier comes to the team, because Ogier has much knowledge from Citroen about asphlat, which has been the weak part of Ford for years already. It has been common that Citroen beats Ford at asphalt rallies.
But then the other way. Ford has been team for Finnish drivers for years. To be honest, I never thought Hirvonen would leave Ford. The relationship of Hirvonen and the team seems so deep. There has been Grönholm, Hirvonen, Latvala... Also, Citroen is so French team and everybody is behind Loeb. That pisses Ogier off. Couple years ago Daniel Sordo was the other driver of Citroen and he never won races - he was there just to make sure to be second at asphalt and try to take as much points away from Ford-drivers as possible. And now, Sordo drives for Mini, and feels like we can see a different Sordo now. Sordo was really fighting for victory this weekend with Ogier! It's sensational for Mini who came to the series just couple months ago and also for Sordo himself, who has now found the way up on his WRC career. So, the question is, does Hirvonen want to drive with Loeb? They have been rivals for years. Would be interesting to see but I guess that it would be very hard to go to Citroen.
Later during the rally the top remained close, but one SS before the last SS (Power Stage) it seemed like Sordo has no possibilities to challenge Ogier anymore.
Before going to Power Stage, Latvala was 4th and about 2 minutes in front of Hirvonen. It was not a surprise that Ford was going to play with tactics and do something to get Hirvonen in front of Latvala. And it did happen before Power Stage - Latvala arrived to the check before Power Stage two minutes too early, which gave him a two minute penalty. This dropped him to 5th place and Hirvonen in front of him.
Then on the Power Stage, Hirvonen was before Latvala on the starting list. On his turn, Hirvonen drove the fastest time. Power Stage is important stage, because fastest man of the stage gets 3 World Championship points, second gets 2 points and third gets one point. Then was Latvala's turn and he did not slow down - he keeped pedal on the metal and drove 2 seconds faster than Hirvonen. This made him to lead the Power Stage. I was watching the Power Stage from tv and Finnish commentarie went mad. He started to scream and called it as a big failure from Ford again. The way he saw it was like Latvala could have slow down to make sure that Hirvonen will be in front of him on the Power Stage results too and by this get as much points as possible to catch Loeb on the World Championship points. Well, that's true too, yes. But who actually wants drivers to slow down? In the end, Latvala won the Power Stage and took the 3 points. Sordo was second and Ogier third. Hirvonen was dropped from the Power Stage points.
If Latvala could have slowed down, he wouldn't be on Power Stage points and Hirvonen could have one point more now. Of course every point is important, but I think it was good that Latvala was able to race and drive as fast he can. And Latvala finally took his first Power Stage win of the year, so I have to congratulate him. In general I think there are too much tactics at WRC. It's not nice for fans. If Latvala could have slow down at Power Stage too after taking penalty of 2 minutes on purpose, I think that would make Ford and Latvala look ridiculous. But it didn't happen.
Sure Ford wants to play the champinoship for Hirvonen, and now, after rally France, Loeb is on the lead with 196 points. Then Ogier and Hirvonen are behind him, both with 193 points. Basicly during the season I was sure that Hirvonen is not able to fight for championship. He won the first rally of the season - Swedish rally. But after that, no victories for him. Citroen has been the clear leader, but inside the team there is so much action thanks to Ogier who doesn't want to be number 2. And because the gap to Loeb is so small, it's sure that Ogier is not going to listen any team orders. Hirvonen has Latvala who will play for him. So, Hirvonen is on the fight, but for some reason this year we haven't seen the real Mikko Hirvonen. There has been lot of bad luck too, but in general, something has been missing. But now, he is back on the championship fight really, thanks to what have happened on last two rallies.
And not to forget, big congratulations to Dani Sordo for finishing on 2nd place, which is highest position on Mini's short WRC history so far! Nice to notice that Mini is really in and WRC is not just domination of Citroen and Ford anymore. WRC really needs more factory teams, and it's very good Volkswagen will also join at 2013.
Two rallies left. Interesting to see what will happen. This weekend happened a lot. What if Ogier or Hirvonen can be champion this year? That would be a big surpirse.
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