WRC WRC 2012

The 2012 World Rally Championship returns this week with the return of the Rallye Monte Carlo to the calendar after an absence of three years. Citroën's superstar Sébastien Loeb retains the familiar no. 1 plate on his DS3 WRC and will be aiming for an incredible ninth successive title. Whether or not you'll be able to see any of it on TV or online, though, is hard to say...

Calendar

After three seasons running in the rival Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the Monte returns to open the WRC calendar with an elongated five-day event. The Jordan Rally drops off the itinerary for 2012 as agreed, while attempts to run an event in Abu Dhabi foundered. The Italian event relocates from Sardinia to Sicily, while New Zealand replaces Rally Australia. Finally the British round moves earlier in the year to September - apparently because the Welsh tourist board are looking for better weather to promote their flagship event. Good luck with that...

Round	Rally	Dates	Surface
1	Monte Carlo	Jan 18-22	Ice/Asphalt
2	Sweden	Feb 9-12	Snow
3	Mexico	Mar 8-11	Gravel
4	Portugal	Mar 29-Apr 1	Gravel
5	Argentina	Apr 27-29	Gravel
6	Acropolis	May 25-27	Gravel
7	New Zealand	Jun 22-24	Gravel
8	Finland	Aug 2-5	Gravel
9	Deutschland	Aug 24-26	Asphalt
10	Great Britain	Sep 13-16	Mud/Gravel
11	France	Oct 4-7	Asphalt
12	Italia	Oct 18-21	Gravel
13	Catalunya	Nov 8-11	Asphalt

Major Teams and Drivers

The internal team dynamics at Citroën became increasingly acrimonious last season as Sébastiens Loeb and Ogier battled for control. Ultimately Loeb won both the fight for the team's focus, and for the championship, and Ogier left to join VW for their Polo WRC project, due to debut in 2013. Ogier therefore faces a potentially frustrating year in a Super 2000 Skoda this season as the VW mechanics learn the ropes on a proven vehicle.

Last year's runner-up, Mikko Hirvonen, moves to join Loeb at Citroën after seven years at Ford. The consistent Finn has been steady rather than spectacular in recent seasons, and it would be a surprise if he puts up a season-long challenge to his team-mate, despite the team insisting there are no team orders. The last man before Loeb to win the WRC, Petter Solberg, finally returns to a works drive, taking Hirvonen's seat at Ford. Hopes for the Blue Oval now rest on Jari-Matti Latvala, who will need to find consistency to match his undoubted speed.

Funding problems have been acute at Mini, forcing the team to take a succession of pay drivers in the second car alongside Dani Sordo. Last year's driver Kris Meeke therefore starts the season on the sidelines, albeit with assurances from David Richards that he remains in the team's long-term plans.

Team	Car	Drivers
Citroën Total World Rally Team	Citroën DS3 WRC	Sébastien Loeb (FRA)	Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)	Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)
Ford World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)	Petter Solberg (NOR)	-
Mini World Rally Team	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	Dani Sordo (ESP)	TBC	-
Citroën Junior World Rally Team	Citroën DS3 WRC	Thierry Neuville (BEL)	-	-
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	Ott Tanak (EST)	Evgeny Novikov (RUS)	TBC
Matthew Wilson (M-Sport)	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	Matthew Wilson (GBR)	-	-
Henning Solberg (M-Sport)	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	Henning Solberg (NOR)	-	-
Volkswagen Motorsport	Škoda Fabia S2000	Sébastien Ogier (FRA)	TBC	-

Rule changes

The traditional pre-event shakedown has been increased in importance for this season, as drivers' third runs through the stage will be timed and used to determine the running order on the opening leg - effectively a form of qualifying session. The fastest driver will choose their starting position, then the second-fastest and so on, in an attempt to stop drivers tactically slowing or incurring time penalties to get the best road conditions that has spoiled many gravel events in recent years. The rules determining running order on subsequent days have also been tweaked for the same reasons.

Coverage

Over the close season, long-term global promoter North One Sport lost their contract after the company's overall boss Vladimir Antonov was arrested as part of investigations into the collapse of Snoras Bank. Eurosport have agreed a contract to produce TV coverage for the Monte, but agreements for remaining rounds of the championship - as well as the online footage - remain to be confirmed. As for the UK, there is no confirmation on whether the deal agreed by North One to move the WRC from ESPN to ITV4 will go ahead in addition to the anticipated Eurosport programming.

I think Eurosport are showing the Monaco Powerstage live next weekend. For the rest of the season it's all still up in the air, presumably the same goes for the Dave coverage (I'm not sure if that was 2009/2010?).

I'm going to make an effort to watch it this year.

If Seb can pull off another win, that will surely cement him as the greatest of all time.

Am I the only one though who thinks the field and the cars are getting smaller every year?
Minis and Fiestas?

Nice to see Petter Solberg back in a works drive - have always like him.

I know - an original Quattro could drive over one of the current cars and not notice a thing. I blame Peugeot myself.

Unsurprisingly, it's Séb Loeb who has gone fastest in this morning's shakedown.

Looking forward to the start of the season to see where everyone is, relatively.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97063

Well annoyingly I turned Eurosport on only to discover the program wasn't showing - the snooker was still on.
Which is the case every single time I try to watch that channel.

The WRC really need to get a broadcast deal with a more reliable channel if they want to expand their exposure.

Sadly with the short notice it was effectively Eurosport or nothing. Hopefully a deal will be done with a more reliable broadcaster for the UK.

It's not looking exactly like a thriller at the moment anyway. Lots of incidents, but one man way out in front (guess who!)

So just to update, Latvala was in the lead by 30 seconds when he didn't hear a pace note correctly, slid wide, hit a wall and rolled over it. Loeb has now inherited the lead.

The tyre choice on the second stage was fascinating though:

I had no idea they mixed tyres like that!

According to this, it's tonight at 2300 on Eurosport: http://tv.sky.com/?DCMP=TV-search-sslc#/programme/detail/4004/440

I have zero faith in that channel though so doubt I'll bother tuning in.