The unbelievable drama that surrounded
the 2012 Vodafone Rallye de Portugal wasn't even finished after the
final car had left the final time control.
Mikko Hirvonen had won the rally on
stage times, well over a minute ahead of second placed Mads Ostberg.
However, as reported on Global Rally News' Facebook page, rumours
began to circulate that Hirvonen had been excluded from the final
standings due to an illegal clutch. These rumours were proved true,
and Mads Ostberg was declared winner.
Everything about this rally was
strange, a super consistent driver ending up down a ditch, an amazing
fight-back to points and small dips turning into rivers. We will talk
about these rather strange things now.
Thursday evening's four stages were the
start of a series of events that would shake up the order of the
rally something shocking. Petter Solberg won the opening Super
Special Stage again to lead into the dark of the next three stages.
Solberg extended his lead on the next stage over team-mate Jari-Matti
Latvala. Then, on the next stage, something not even Paul the Octopus
could have predicted.
Sebastian Loeb misheard a vital
pacenote from co-driver Daniel Elena, indicating a right-hand turn
immediately after a crest. Loeb didn't follow the note, according to
Citroen Racing Team Principal Yves Matton, and turned left, and
straight over a drop. The car rolled heavily, albeit at slow speed,
but neither Loeb now Elena were hurt. However, the car's roll cage
had been damaged, and under FIA Regulations, he couldn't continue.
Explaining the crash, Loeb said: “I
just didn’t hear well the note. I thought left it was right. It was
like that, I went on the wrong side so I was off the line. It was
just over the crest so I couldn’t see the corner. Finally when I
was off the line it was too late but luckily it happens not so often.
It was a completely blind corner in the dark so for sure it was more
difficult. It was a misunderstanding.”
Latvala took the lead after SS3, and
held it overnight with Solberg in second. Mikko Hirvonen held third
in the other Citroen. Ott Tanak managed to take his first stage win
too, winning SS4 by 1.4 secs over Hirvonen.
Ford may have wished the first two
stages of the day never ran, as both of their drivers crashed out of
the lead on successive stages. Latvala slid down a drop on the
opening stage, losing a potential Ford 1-2 and win. Solberg then
ruined any chance of a win when he did the same thing on the very
next stage, annulling a 25 sec lead over Hirvonen.
Loeb's co-driver Daniel Elena was
surprised by the Blue Oval's issues, saying: "It was
unbelievable what happened [with Ford] yesterday. Incredible,"
said Elena. "The drivers have just to drive to take points for
the championships - don't take the risk. And when Jari-Matti crashed
then there is less risk, but then Petter crashed as well!"
This let Hirvonen into a lead that he
would never lose. Evgney Novikov ended the day second, consistency
leaving the 'new' Evgney 36 secs off the lead. Mads Ostberg held
third overnight, 5 secs off the Russian.
Safety became a concern on Friday
afternoon, with the organisers deciding to cancel all of the
afternoon's competitive rain and fog-lashed stages. A river burst
it's banks near a liaison section, flooding a watersplash and leaving
half of the field stuck on the wrong side of it. After the
cancellations, everyone was ordered back to the Faro service area,
and fuel was rushed out to allow all crews to return to service.
Perhaps the shock of Friday was Dani
Sordo. Back after the Prodrive Team decided to miss Mexico to
concentrate on getting the new uprated MINI John Cooper Works WRC
ready, Sordo retired on Thursday with lighting problems. He returned
on Friday and taking advantage of his favourable starting position,
Sordo won all of Friday's three stages. Most amazingly, the Spaniard
took back 2 mins 7 secs with these stage times.
Petter Solberg must have done as his
team-mate did for the Qualifying Stage and “left his brain in the
service park” for the day's stages. Sordo won the day's opening
stage, but the Norwegian won the next four stages, and Sordo the
final test. Solberg rocketed up the order, going from 13th
to 5th in 6 stages. Getting as high a fourth, his power
steering failed on the final test, and dropped a minute. At the stage
end, physically exhausted, he downed a bottle of water faster than
his pace on the previous tests.
Heading into Sunday, Hirvonen had
almost doubled his lead to 1 min 11 secs. Ostberg still held second
and Novikov a career-best third. 57.54 kms of competition remained on
Sunday, with the longest stage of the rally still remaining, the
31kms of Santana de Serra.
Sunday was Ford's day in terms of stage
wins, with both Solberg and Latvala taking 5 wins between them. Dani
Sordo won the most crucial stage, winning the Power Stage. Latvala
took second for some much-needed championship points and Ott Tanak
took third, and his first Power Stage point.
Hirvonen crossed the finish ramp to win
the rally, but as mentioned above, his clutch was deemed illegal in
post-event scrutineering and he and his DS3 WRC were excluded,
handing Mads Ostberg his first World Rally win in six years of
trying.
A surprised Hayden Paddon took the
S-WRC spoils in his Skoda Fabia S2000, helped no end by Yazeed Al-
Rajhi's retirement. The Saudi Arabian driver had built a 9 min lead
in his RRC-spec Fiesta, but when the front cross-member snapped, as
his co-driver Michael Orr said, “not even a nine-minute lead is
enough.”. Maciej Oleksowicz took second and Pedro Meireles
completed the Top 3, and the S-WRC finishers. Championship leader
Craig Breen exited the rally after his engine was drowned in one of
the oversized watersplashes.
“We wanted to come here to win, but
we didn’t win it like we wanted to. We’re happy though and I’ve
always said to finish first, first you have to finish. There’s a
lot more to come from the car and from me. We’re looking forward to
New Zealand for the next round.” said Paddon.
Alastair Fisher took his second FIA WRC
Academy win in Portugal after 13 faultless and consistent stages.
After early leader Fredrik Ahlin ended up in a ditch on one on Friday
morning's soggy stages, Fisher put the boot down to take two stage
wins and take the lead. When Friday afternoon's stages were called
off, Fisher only had to consolidate the 59 sec lead he had accrued in
2 stages. By the end of the rally, he had won by 43.6 secs.
“We’ve worked very hard and it’s
paid off. We won the rally in the wet conditions yesterday and it
worked really well. It’s a very positive start but I’m under no
illusion: it’s going to be a very tough year. The quality of the
entrants is even higher than last season.” said the delighted
Fisher, nephew of legendary Irish driver Bertie Fisher.
Brendan Reeves took second, with Pontus
Tidemand in third. Tidemand also won the Rookie Award, a newly
introduced scheme.
