Mikko Hirvonen wins 2012 Rally Portugal (or not)

Finnish driver pairing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen won the 2012 Rally Portugal on the weekend. It was their 15th career win and their first since joining the Citroën World Rally Team in the off-season.

It’s unusual, it seems, not be reporting on another Sebastien Loeb victory. It’s even more unusual due to the fact the eight-time world champion crashed out early on the first day.

“We came to a crest which started with a short left-hand turn followed by a longer right-hand turn. Daniel gave me the right pace note, but I continued to turn to the left,” Loeb explained. “I tried to correct, but my DS3 WRC skidded into a big ditch and we were thrown into a roll. The damage wasn‘t that too bad… except for the roll cage, which did its job and ended up bent.”

Hirvonen had a battle with the Ford Fiestas of Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg on day one and emerged on top with a 30 second lead. He wasn’t challenged from that point on and won the event by almost two minutes.

“I am very proud of this result, and it’s just rewards for the work done by the team in the last few months,” Hirvonen said after the rally. “This win means I now lead the Drivers’ Championship, but it also means that Citroën extends its lead in the Manufacturers’ standings.

“It was quite a strange rally, the way worked it out, because I haven’t had to push hard since Friday. We managed to control from the front pretty easily, and just kept increasing our lead.”

For some reason the official WRC championship leaderboard hasn’t updated with the Portugal results, but Hirvonen now sits atop the table with 75 points, ahead of Loeb (66) and Solberg (59). Citroën holds a comfortable 42 point lead over the Ford World Rally Team in the manufacturers’ title.

There’s more from Citroën after the break, including a brief highlights video. Rally Argentina is the next event on the WRC calendar and will take place at the end of the month.

UPDATE: Word has just come through that Hirvonen has had his win stripped due to homologation irregularities concerning the clutch and the turbocharger. Full statement to follow.

Hirvosen ensimmäinen voitto Citroenilla*

Citroen has won the fourth round of 2012 World Rally Championship, which took place over the weekend (29 March – 1 April 2012) in Portugal, but eight time world champion Sébastien Loeb was notably absent from the podium, with team mate Mikko Hirvonen taking the top step after Loeb crashed out on the first day, leaving the flying Finn to dominate the event in his Citroen DS3 WRC, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of the rest of the pack.

Hirvonen’s win, his career 15th win, lifts him to the lead in the 2012 WRC Drivers’ Championship ahead of Loeb and enhances Citroen’s lead in the manufacturers’ title chase

Starting in Portuguese capital, Lisbon, and ending in the Algarve, day one of Rally de Portugal witnessed plenty of drama and incident, the most significant of which was the crash that spelled the end of Sébastien Loeb’s rally. The Citroën Total World Rally Team’s chances of victory lay with Mikko Hirvonen, who ended the first day third overall, just five seconds behind the leader.

After disputing the qualifying stage on Wednesday morning, the Rally de Portugal competitors returned to action on Thursday evening in Lisbon for the first stage, with the Mosteiros dos Jeronimos serving as a fine backdrop. Once the crowds had been thrilled by the WRCs sliding around the cobbled streets of the Portuguese capital, the crews headed south to tackle the first of the rally’s gravel stages.

Run after nightfall, the three timed stages around Ourique had provided the teams with a real headache when it came to choosing starting positions. Fearful that the kicked-up dust wouldn’t settle, Mikko Hirvonen and Sébastien Loeb had decided it was preferable to start in the first two positions.

Before he even had a chance to find out what times his main rivals had posted on SS2, Sébastien Loeb found himself out of the rally after crashing on SS3.

“We came to a crest which started with a short left-hand turn followed by a longer right-hand turn. Daniel gave me the right pace note, but I continued to turn to the left,” described the eight time World Champion. “I tried to correct, but my DS3 WRC skidded into a big ditch and we were thrown into a roll. The damage wasn‘t that too bad… except for the roll cage, which did its job and ended up bent.”

The number one crew were therefore not be able to rejoin the rally on Day Two under Rally2 regulations:

“It’s a shame, because the small lead we had built at the top of the World Championship standings will probably disappear.”

Meanwhile, Mikko Hirvonen is engaged in a fine battle with Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg. The Finn ended day one in third position, just 5 seconds behind Latvala and 2.4s adrift of Solberg. “It’s almost funny that the differences are so small given that we chose such different strategies as regards the starting positions,” pointed out Mikko. “I don’t really know who chose the best option, but I am convinced we took fewer risks. If there had been more dust or if the rain had fallen earlier, we would have had a big advantage.”

Mikko carried the hopes of the Citroën Total World Rally Team alone: “I have been in similar situations many times in the past. Obviously, the ideal outcome would be to win the rally! In any case, I wouldn’t be happy if I finish the rally in third place. I am going to fight hard, but I am also very aware that I must make it to the finish to score points towards the World Championship.”

Despite being cut in half following the cancellation of the second loop, day two of Rally de Portugal was packed full of incident. After skilfully negotiating the incredibly muddy stages and the foggy conditions, Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen grabbed the lead in the overall standings at the end of SS6 to finish the dayt over half a minute clear of their closest challengers.

Rain began to fall on Thursday afternoon, and became heavier during the evening. Up to 40 millimetres of rain fell overnight on the roads featured in the stages on day two, which lie high up in the mountains overlooking the coast. The crews were therefore no longer worried about clouds of dust; instead, they would have to deal with another natural element: mud!

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen left the service park in their DS3 WRC fitted with soft Michelin Latitude Cross tyres, which are more effective in wet conditions. Although generally speaking, it is a disadvantage to be first on the road on gravel, it can become a huge advantage when the ground becomes sodden. First out on the road, Dani Sordo set the fastest times on all three of the morning’s stages, while the leading drivers – including Mikko – had to cope with a racing line covered with greasy mud.

In spite of setting times which seemed rather modest compared with the fastest time, Mikko Hirvonen produced a faultless performance. While his rivals went off the road, the Finn navigated the tricky conditions with aplomb to grab the lead at the end of SS6.

With a lead of over half a minute on Novikov and Østberg, the Citroën Total World Rally Team driver described what he had been through this morning:

“It’s not the first time we have had such difficult conditions, but what we were faced with this morning was fairly exceptional. Obviously, there was a lot of mud, but there was also a lot of fog. In some places, the visibility was so poor that you couldn’t even see the end of the corner! There were also many grip changes and so we had to drive slowly, sometimes in first or second gear. For the moment, we are in the lead. We need to keep going.”

Held up by a car stuck in a watersplash on a road section, the rally did not restart on schedule in the afternoon. All of the competitors still out on the course waited expectantly for news. After initially cancelling just SS10, Clerk of the Course finally announced that the entire second loop was cancelled for safety reasons.

“I would have preferred to continue with the rally to try and increase my lead, but I think this decision has been taken for the right reasons”, said Mikko Hirvonen. “I could have ended up making a mistake too, so the situation isn’t so bad for me.”

“This rally certainly is different,” commented Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal. “Yesterday evening, we thought we had lost out pretty badly after Sébastien Loeb’s crash. From then, our hopes only rested with Mikko, who has coped perfectly with the conditions today. We are now in a strong position to win the rally, but to do just that, we’ll have to contend with the elements. We still have two difficult days ahead of us.”

Breaking tentatively through the dark clouds, sunshine greeted the first drivers out on the road at 6.55am on day three. Once again, tyre choice dominated discussions during the service period. As the roads were still damp in many places, Mikko Hirvonen opted to fit his DS3 WRC with soft Michelin Latitude Cross tyres, and take two hard compound tyres with him as spares.

The day’s action featured two runs on a loop of three stages: Silves (21km), Santana da Serra 31km) and Sambro (5km), venue for the Power Stage at the end of the rally. The Finn, leader of the rally since SS6 on Friday morning, continued to produce the same level of consistency. Always slightly quicker than his closest challengers, the DS3 WRC no.2 driver just kept on increasing his lead.

“This morning’s first two stages were wet pretty much everywhere, with some mud patches. The Sambro stage, however, was almost totally dry,” noted Jarmo Lehtinen on his return to the
service park. “We are getting closer, but there is still a long way to go,” sighed Mikko after SS19. “I don’t really need to push, everything is working well and I feel that I am in control of the situation. But of course, we have to make it to the end. I don’t know yet if I will push in the Power Stage. I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks but I don’t want to let an opportunity to pick up some extra points slip by either.”

With the dark clouds still looking threatening, Mikko set off on the second loop with four hard tyres and two softs as spares. And indeed, the rain returned, as showers fell on parts of SS21 and on the Power Stage (SS22). As some of the drivers had enjoyed more favourable weather conditions, the Citroën Total World Rally Team driver was unable to go for one of the top three places, opting instead to make sure of his overall win.

After Jesus Puras, Philippe Bugalski, Sébastien Loeb, Carlos Sainz, François Duval and Sébastien Ogier, Mikko Hirvonen therefore becomes the seventh driver to win a round of the WRC in a Citroën.

“I am very proud of this result, and it’s just rewards for the work done by the team in the last few months,” said the Finn after having been cheered by a very enthusiastic crowd of ‘Red Army’ supporters. “This win means I now lead the Drivers’ Championship, but it also means that Citroën extends its lead in the Manufacturers’ standings. It was quite a strange rally, the way worked it out, because I haven’t had to push hard since Friday. We managed to control from the front pretty easily, and just kept increasing our lead.”

“We are thrilled that Mikko Hirvonen has grabbed his first win with Citroën,” added Frédéric Banzet, Citroën General Manager. “After Sébastien Loeb’s mistake, Mikko managed to pick up the gauntlet with verve. He drove in the same relaxed and composed manner which had impressed us when he was one of our rivals. We are pleased to see that he has made it onto the top of the podium already.”

*Hirvonen’s first win with Citroën