IRC: Monte Carlo

[Plex]

Hirvonen takes early Monte lead

Mikko Hirvonen has given the new Ford S2000 car a shock lead after the opening two stages of the Monte Carlo Rally.

The World Rally Championship runner-up was fastest on the first stage by 0.4 seconds over Skoda's Juho Hanninen, and although both lost time to their pursuers on SS2, Hirvonen was still quick enough to maintain the overall lead.

He currently holds the top spot by 4.3s over last year's winner Sebastien Ogier.

"It's been okay, but now we can see that it's the early stages with the car," said Hirvonen at the end of SS2. "It's very difficult to drive in places so it's a real fight to get through. But when everything works the car is very fast."

Peugeot duo Ogier and Stephane Sarrazin hold second and third at present, with Hanninen now back in fourth after two stages in the damp, foggy and sometimes snowy conditions.

"For this stage the tyre was not the best but I think I lost less than I expected," said the Finn. "But it's difficult even for us to select the best tyre every time."

Hanninen's team-mate Jan Kopecky's rally got off to a disastrous start when he lost nearly four minutes with a puncture on SS1, while Nicolas Vouilloz is running sixth in third Skoda.

Reigning Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Kris Meeke (Peugeot UK) has made a cautious start and currently holds fifth place.

"I'm happy, I drove okay, but when it's foggy in this rally you don't take any risks," said Meeke. "The tactic is when it gets dangerous we don't take any risks, and for me the fog in here is dangerous."

Fellow Briton Guy Wilks (Skoda UK) has struggled so far and is already 2m49s behind the leaders.

"I just don't feel comfortable with the set-up," Wilks admitted. "It's very tricky conditions with snow and ice, especially in the first stage. I'm just struggling with confidence but we need to work on that because we can't lose time like this."

Toni Gardemeister is a frustrated seventh in the Astra Abarth, having struggled to get grip on slick tyres and taken a quick trip off the road at a corner where he felt spectators had placed snow on the course.

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 47m05.5s
2. Sebastien Ogier Peugeot + 4.3s
3. Stephane Sarrazin Peugeot + 18.8s
4. Juho Hanninen Skoda + 32.5s
5. Kris Meeke Peugeot + 43.2s
6. Nicolas Vouilloz Skoda + 54.0s
7. Toni Gardemeister Abarth + 1m05.7s
8. Bruno Magalhaes Peugeot + 1m14.1s
9. Franz Wittmann Peugeot + 1m57.6s
10. Guy Wilks Skoda + 2m49.5s

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[Plex]

Hirvonen extends lead in Monte Carlo

Mikko Hirvonen finished day one of the Monte Carlo Rally with a lead of 42s after closest rival Stephane Sarrazin suffered a puncture.

Sarrazin had moved into second place, albeit 35s adrift of Hirvonen's flying Ford, when fellow Peugeot driver Sebastien Ogier went off the road on snow placed by spectators during SS3.

But Sarrazin then lost three minutes when he picked up a puncture on today's fourth and final stage, and dropped to eighth.

That moved Kris Meeke (Peugeot UK) up to second, after the reigning champion overhauled and pulled away from Skoda's Juho Hanninen this afternoon.

However it was the recovering Ogier who was fastest on SS4 - the 2009 rally winner completing the stage 17s quicker than second-fastest man Meeke.

"It was very good, less water on the road so the grip was better than this morning," said Ogier, who moved up from eighth to fifth thanks to the stage win. "We just had to be careful with some mud on some corners."

Leader Hirvonen was 20s down on Ogier's time on the stage, but was not concerned.

"That's Monte Carlo - it changes so much with tyre choices and I couldn't go any faster," said Hirvonen. "I had snow tyres on the rear and intermediates on the front, so considering that the time is pretty good. Overall it's been good today. Surprisingly good."

Meeke had driven carefully this morning, but increased his pace on the second loop and moved into second despite sustaining a left-front puncture one kilometre from the end of SS4.

"We had a much better run that time - we changed the car to a more tarmac set-up," he said.

Skoda holds third and fourth places with Hanninen and Nicolas Vouilloz, while Ogier is still 1m50s adrift of the lead in fifth position, ahead of Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot) and Toni Gardemeister (Abarth).

After a frustrating morning during which he struggled for confidence in his Skoda's set-up, Guy Wilks was closer to the pace this afternoon - although he dropped back again with a difficult fourth stage.

"We had to carry snow tyres on the rear without studs, the back was sliding around a lot," said Wilks. "Then I passed Stephane who was on slick tyres and had a puncture. He passed me again, then I spun and lost another 20 seconds."

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 1h34m01.8s
2. Kris Meeke Peugeot + 41.9s
3. Juho Hanninen Skoda + 1m04.4s
4. Nicolas Vouilloz Skoda + 1m20.3s
5. Sebastien Ogier Peugeot + 1m50.5s
6. Bruno Magalhaes Peugeot + 2m28.1s
7. Toni Gardemeister Abarth + 2m43.2s
8. Stephane Sarrazin Peugeot + 3m15.8s
9. Franz Wittmann Peugeot + 3m44.1s
10. Guy Wilks Skoda + 4m27.1s

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[Plex]

Meeke crashes out of Monte Carlo

Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Kris Meeke has gone off the road on the first stage of leg two in Monte Carlo.

The Peugeot driver hit a patch of ice, clipped a bridge and slid down a bank early in the Labatie D'Andaure-St Pierre sur Doux stage.

Although the car did not sustain substantial damage, Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle are unable to get it back up the bank and onto the road so are out of the rally.

Meeke had made a cautious start to the event, holding fifth initially, but then picked up his pace on yesterday's second loop and ended the day in second place, 42s behind leader Mikko Hirvonen's Ford.

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[Plex]

Ogier's charge sets up Monte finale

Sebastien Ogier is bringing himself back into contention for Monte Carlo Rally victory after a commanding win on the first stage of the final day.

Mikko Hirvonen continues to lead the rally for Ford, with Ogier's Peugeot in third place. But the Frenchman won SS11 by 18 seconds, bringing him to within 4s of second-placed Juho Hanninen (Skoda), and putting him 48s behind Hirvonen with four stages to go - leaving the leader concerned.

"I've tried. I think we lost most of the time on snow," said Hirvonen. "I just couldn't drive any faster. If there's lots of snow and ice [tonight] we're going to be struggling, but I'll try."

Hanninen was also frustrated to lose time to Ogier.

"Not such a good time for us on that stage," said the Skoda driver. "I was hoping for better. I don't know, that's not good."

But Ogier reckoned he could have gone faster still.

"I started the stage too slowly," he admitted. "But then after five kilometres I started to push."

Ogier's performance this morning ended his battle with Skoda's Nicolas Vouilloz, who is now over a minute behind in fourth.

"That was difficult," said Vouilloz. "We didn't drive so well, I'm still sleeping. I just tried to make no mistakes, but I wasn't fast."

Guy Wilks showed much improved form on SS11 as he settled into his Skoda UK car. Second fastest behind Ogier on the stage, he vaulted from seventh to fifth, ahead of the struggling Stephane Sarrazin (Peugeot).

"It is not going well, I can't feel the car," said Sarrazin. "I cannot push, I'm really stressed and I don't feel great, so I'm really slow."

Bruno Magalhaes also had a tough time on the snowy and icy stage and has fallen to ninth behind Jan Kopecky's Skoda - although just 50s covers fifth to ninth positions at present after three and a half hours of rallying.

Toni Gardemeister's eventful rally has come to an end, the Astra team asking him to park his Abarth before the stage start due to engine damage related to one of his incidents yesterday afternoon.

SS11 was the only one to be held this morning, with the competitors now setting off on a long liaison section to bring them back to Monte Carlo. The rally does not resume until 1915 local time tonight, when the deciding four stages take place in darkness, finishing just before midnight.

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 3h36m24.8s
2. Juho Hanninen Skoda + 44.1s
3. Sebastien Ogier Peugeot + 48.0s
4. Nicolas Vouilloz Skoda + 1m56.5s
5. Guy Wilks Skoda + 7m03.4s
6. Stephane Sarrazin Peugeot + 7m17.9s
7. Franz Wittmann Peugeot + 7m25.0s
8. Jan Kopecky Skoda + 7m30.6s
9. Bruno Magalhaes Peugeot + 7m53.3s
10. Jean-Sebastien Vigion Peugeot + 11m02.9s

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[Plex]

Hirvonen clinches Monte Carlo win

Mikko Hirvonen has given Ford's new S2000 Fiesta a superb victory on its competition debut in the Monte Carlo Rally.

The World Rally Championship runner-up led the event from the outset, resisting pressure from last year's winner Sebastien Ogier until the Peugeot's late retirement.

"This is definitely for the team," said Hirvonen as he celebrated a remarkable result for Ford. "The boys have been working so hard for the last few weeks."

Ogier's last-gasp drama elevated Juho Hanninen to second, the Skoda driver the best of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge regulars and scoring important points on an event that reigning champion Kris Meeke crashed out of.

Hirvonen was challenged by Peugeot duo Ogier and Stephane Sarrazin for the first few stages, until the former slid off on snow placed by spectators, and the latter suffered a puncture.

That left Hirvonen with an advantage of at least 40s for most of the rest of the event, but he could not relax as Ogier mounted an incredible comeback. Having lost two minutes and dropped to eighth with his Wednesday incident, Ogier reeled off a string of dominant stage wins in the ever-changing conditions and was within 40s of Hirvonen with three stages to go.

A tense showdown looked in prospect until Hirvonen increased his pace on SS13 this evening and built his lead back up to 46s again, halting Ogier's charge and taking the pressure off going into tonight's final loop. Ogier's victory hopes then disappeared completely when he suffered an alternator failure on the road section before SS14.

"It could have been amazing - it's a shame he had a technical problem," Hirvonen said. "But then again it was a big relief for me that I didn't have to push all the way through."

Second placed Hanninen gradually lost touch with Hirvonen, as did his temporary Skoda team-mate Nicolas Vouilloz, who had a consistent run to what became third.

Sarrazin recovered to fourth despite sliding into a snow bank on Thursday morning. Fifth placed Jan Kopecky (Skoda) also had to fight back through the field, a puncture on the opening stage having put him down to 26th place.

Guy Wilks took time to get comfortable with his Skoda's handling and was a distant 10th for the first half of the rally. He advanced to fifth by the final day, but an over-conservative tyre choice this evening meant he ended up sixth. Bruno Magalhaes ran as high as fifth on his Monte debut, and eventually came home seventh for Peugeot Portugal.

Like last year, Meeke did not reach the finish of the season opener, sliding out of second place when he hit ice on Thursday's opening stage. Toni Gardemeister had a variety of dramas before having to stop with engine damage this morning, while Franz Wittmann was on course to score in his first rally with his new Peugeot 207 until he crashed out three stages from the finish.

But all of those retirees lasted longer than Formula 1 star Robert Kubica, whose Renault had an engine failure on Tuesday night's pre-rally prologue stage.

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 4h32m58.5s
2. Juho Hanninen Skoda + 1m51.4s
3. Nicolas Vouilloz Skoda + 3m19.1s
4. Stephane Sarrazin Peugeot + 7m25.5s
5. Jan Kopecky Skoda + 8m48.7s
6. Guy Wilks Skoda + 9m24.5s
7. Bruno Magalhaes Peugeot + 9m45.4s
8. Jean-Sebastien Vigion Peugeot + 13m33.5s
9. Jaroslav Orsak Skoda + 21m16.6s
10. Andrej Jereb Peugeot + 25m26.1s

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