Following an intense battle for the lead with ex-Ford driver and fellow Finn, Mikko Hirvonen in his new Citroën DS3, Ford World Rally Team driver Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila won Rally Sweden by jut 16.6sec on the second round of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship. The victory in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC was Ford’s sixth consecutive success on the only true winter rally of the season.
It was Latvala’s second win in Sweden, and it came despite his comfortable lead being slashed when he hit a rock and punctured a tire shortly before the end of the final day.
New Ford team-mates Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson finished fourth in another Fiesta RS WRC, losing a potential podium when they hit the same rock, with the same outcome! However, the Fiesta RS WRC filled four of the top five places on the event.
This win was also the 50th world rally win for the M-Sport partnership with Ford that started in 1997.
Although temperatures in Sweden were milder than normal, the snow- and ice-covered roads presented a tough challenge. the opening leg was based mainly in Norway but the rally returned to Sweden for the final two days of competition close to Hagfors. The drivers tackled 24 special stages covering 217 miles before the finish in the host city of Karlstad.
Latvala stamped his mark on the rally from the first moment, setting fastest time in Thursday’s qualifying. It enabled the 26 year-old to select a start position well down the running order, giving him better conditions after the loose snow was swept away by cars ahead of him.
He built a 16.8sec during Friday’s opening leg, then stretched his advantage over former teammate Mikko Hirvonen to 23sec on Saturday with careful management of the stud wear on his Michelin tires. He extended his lead to 35.6sec during sunday’s final leg, before hitting the exposed rock in the rutted snow and ice, puncturing the front right tire.
The lead was cut to just 8.4sec, but setting fastest time in the penultimate stage allowed him to pull clear again. It was Latvala’s ninth stage win of the rally.
“Four years ago I won my first world rally here and became the youngest driver to do so,” Latvala said. “To return and win for a second time is very special. After retiring from the first round last month, I was under pressure to do well. And after making a mistake by hitting a rock, I knew I had to summon some extra speed and attack hard through the penultimate stage.
“It feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’ve learned to stay calm when things go wrong and that has paid dividends today. I knew Mikko would attack hard this morning so I was wide-awake and ready for it. I had a comfortable lead before everything changed with just two stages to go, but I kept my cool,” he added.
Urged on by his home fans, new signing Petter Solberg held second place on the opening day in Norway before a spin cost him time. He ended the leg in third and remained there on saturday, despite pressure from countryman Mads Østberg. The duo were separated by just 4.9sec when Solberg clipped the same rock as Latvala and the 37 year-old had to settle for fourth. However, he claimed bonus points by finishing second on the final Power Stage.
“I was disappointed to lose third, but I’m now third in the championship and have closed on the leader, so it was a good weekend,” he said. “I hit the same rock as Jari-Matti when I wasn’t cutting the bend but it was in the middle of the ruts and I couldn’t avoid it. It’s my first rally in the Fiesta RS WRC on the loose and I’m really encouraged to have been so competitively so quickly.
For the Citroën Total World Rally Team, new signing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen ended their second rally with in the DS3 by securing second spot on the podium. Meanwhile reigning champion Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena maintained their overall lead in the Drivers' World Championship by finishing sixth and getting points for the best time in the Power Stage. Citroën also held onto its first position in the Manufacturers’ World Championship.
Lying second, 23sec behind Latvala on Sunday morning, Hirvonen had few illusions about his chances of making up the ground. During the first loop of the three stages, he lost about ten seconds to his rival: “I wasn’t comfortable on the first stage, we made some changes to the set-up but I found the car difficult to drive on the narrow sections.”
Sébastien Loeb, who wasn’t particularly looking forward to the Power Stage, pursued his lonely race in sixth: “I’ve rarely driven on stages as unpleasant as these. Obviously it’s very slippery but there are also large rocks everywhere, so it’s difficult to push hard without taking huge risks.”