The 2012 Rally de Portugal was the fourth round of the 2012 World Rally Championship season and was based in Faro, Portugal. It started with a street stage in Lisbon on 29 March and concluded on 1 April after twenty-two special stages, totalling 434 competitive kilometres.
Report
Before the rally The rally was preceded by the "Fafe Rally Sprint", a single-stage exhibition event run over the famous Fafe stages in the country's north which was won by Ford World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg.Petter Solberg beats Sebastien Loeb to Fafe Rally Sprint win – WRC news – AUTOSPORT.com Solberg's team-mate, Jari-Matti Latvala won the rally's qualifying stage on the Wednesday before the start of the rally.Ford dominates Rally Portugal qualifying as Latvala and Solberg finish fastest – WRC news – AUTOSPORT.com Latvala elected to run seventeenth on the road as a result; by contrast, Citroën Total World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Sébastien Loeb elected to run first and second respectively.Ford and Citroen choose opposite running order strategy for opening stages of Rally Portugal – WRC news – AUTOSPORT.com
Results
Event standings Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points Overall 1. Mads Østberg Jonas Andersson Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:21:16.1 0.0 25 2. Evgeny Novikov Denis Giraudet Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:22:49.3 1:33.2 18 3. Petter Solberg Chris Patterson Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:23:11.7 1:55.6 15 4. Nasser Al-Attiyah Giovanni Bernacchini Citroën DS3 WRC 4:27:21.9 6:05.8 12 5. Martin Prokop Zdeněk Hrůza Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:27:25.3 6:09.2 10 6. Dennis Kuipers Robin Buysmans Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:28:03.4 6:47.3 8 7. Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Škoda Fabia S2000 4:28:25.1 7:09.0 6 8. Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Citroën DS3 WRC 4:29:54.0 8:37.9 4 9. Jari Ketomaa Mika Stenberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:31:08.9 9:52.8 2 10. Peter van Merksteijn Jr. Eddy Chevaillier Citroën DS3 WRC 4:31:27.1 10:11.0 1 11. Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Mini John Cooper Works WRC 4:33:39.8 12:23.7 13. Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:38:18.7 17:02.6 14. Ott Tänak Kuldar Sikk Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4:38:31.2 17:15.1 SWRC 1. (16.) Hayden Paddon John Kennard Škoda Fabia S2000 4:49:41.2 0.0 25 2. (17.) Maciej Oleksowicz Andrzej Obrebowski Ford Fiesta S2000 4:54:43.5 5:02.3 18 3. (18.) Pedro Meireles Mário Castro Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X R4 4:58:31.5 8:50.3 15 WRC Academy 1. Alastair Fisher Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta R2 2:32:02.9 0.0 2. Brendan Reeves Rhianon Smyth Ford Fiesta R2 2:32:43.2 40.3 3. Pontus Tidemand Stig Rune Skjærmoen Ford Fiesta R2 2:34:08.6 2:05.7 4. Timo van der Marel Erwin Berkhof Ford Fiesta R2 2:37:07.9 5:05.0 12 5. Jose Antonio Suarez Candido Carrera Ford Fiesta R2 2:39:37.4 7:34.5 10 6. Fredrik Ahlin Morten Erik Abrahamsen Ford Fiesta R2 2:42:19.6 10:16.7 7. Elfyn Evans Andrew Edwards Ford Fiesta R2 2:47:58.2 15:55.3 6 8. João Silva José Janela Ford Fiesta R2 2:49:17.7 17:14.8 4 9. John MacCrone Stuart Loudon Ford Fiesta R2 2:52:01.9 19:59.0 2 – The WRC Academy features only the first 13 stages of the rally.
Special stages DayStageTime (UTC+1)NameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leader Leg 1(29 Mar) SS1 15:00 SSS Lisboa 3.27 km Petter Solberg 2:57.1 66.47 km/h Petter Solberg SS2 20:19 Gomes Aires 10.19 km Petter Solberg 6:38.1 92.15 km/h SS3 20:49 Santa Clara 14.29 km Jari-Matti Latvala 8:34.4 100.01 km/h Jari-Matti Latvala SS4 21:25 Ourique 11.10 km Ott Tänak 6:45.5 98.55 km/h Leg 2(30 Mar) SS5 12:01 Tavira 1 25.01 km Dani Sordo 17:55.3 83.73 km/h Petter Solberg SS6 12:36 Alcarias 1 25.15 km Dani Sordo 20:14.7 74.54 km/h Mikko Hirvonen SS7 13:28 S. Brás de Alportel 1 16.18 km Dani Sordo 13:11.7 73.57 km/h SS8 15:56 Tavira 2 25.01 km stages cancelled due to poor weather SS9 16:31 Alcarias 2 25.15 km SS10 17:23 S. Brás de Alportel 2 16.18 km Leg 3(31 Mar) SS11 09:49 Almodovar 1 26.22 km Dani Sordo 16:30.8 95.27 km/h SS12 10:43 Vascao 1 25.29 km Petter Solberg 17:03.5 88.95 km/h SS13 11:33 Loulé 1 22.57 km Petter Solberg 15:49.7 85.56 km/h SS14 14:39 Almodovar 2 26.22 km Petter Solberg 16:06.9 97.62 km/h SS15 15:33 Vascao 2 25.29 km Petter Solberg 16:16.5 93.24 km/h SS16 16:23 Loulé 2 22.57 km Dani Sordo 15:25.0 87.84 km/h Leg 4(1 Apr) SS17 07:59 Silves 1 21.42 km Jari-Matti Latvala 12:01.2 106.92 km/h SS18 08:52 Santana de Serra 1 31.04 km Jari-Matti Latvala 22:48.0 81.68 km/h SS19 09:42 Sambro 1 5.08 km Petter Solberg 3:09.2 96.66 km/h SS20 12:23 Silves 2 21.42 km Petter Solberg 12:05.2 106.33 km/h SS21 13:16 Santana de Serra 2 31.04 km Jari-Matti Latvala 22:54.1 81.32 km/h SS22 14:10 Sambro 2 (Power stage) 5.08 km Dani Sordo 3:10.4 96.05 km/h Notes: — Mikko Hirvonen won the rally, but was excluded when event scrutineers found that parts in his Citroën DS3 WRC did not match the parts listed by his team. Hirvonen's exclusion mean that Adapta World Rally Team driver Mads Østberg was declared the winner
Power Stage The "Power stage" was a stage at the end of the rally. PosDriverTimeDiff.Avg. speedPoints 1 Dani Sordo 3:10.473 0.000 96.1 km/h 3 2 Jari-Matti Latvala 3:10.747 +0.274 95.9 km/h 2 3 Ott Tänak 3:12.569 +2.096 95.0 km/h 1
Championship standings after the event
Drivers' championship Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
Pos Driver MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR FRA ITA ESP Pts 1 Sébastien Loeb 1 1 6 1 1 2 Ret66 2 Petter Solberg 3 4 2 3 1 362 3 Mads Østberg 3 4 3 153 4 Mikko Hirvonen 4 2 2 2 DSQ50 5 Evgeny Novikov 5 3 5 Ret 239 6 Jari-Matti Latvala Ret 1 3 Ret 13 228 7 Dani Sordo 2 Ret 11 121 8 Nasser Al-Attiyah 21 6 420 9 Ott Tänak 8 Ret 5 14 315 10 Martin Prokop 9 9 514 11 Sébastien Ogier Ret 11 8 710 12 François Delecour 68 13 Dennis Kuipers 68 14 Armindo Araújo 10 15 7 157 15 Henning Solberg 13 7 DNS DNS6 16 Pierre Campana 76 17 Thierry Neuville Ret 12 13 84 18 Patrik Sandell 8 Ret4 19 Jari Ketomaa Ret 92 20 Ken Block 92 21 Peter van Merksteijn Jr. 19 101 22 Ricardo Triviño 10 261 23 Eyvind Brynildsen 101 Pos Driver MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR FRA ITA ESP Pts
Notes: 1 2 3 refers to the classification of the drivers on the 'Power Stage', where bonus points are awarded 3–2–1 for the fastest three drivers on the stage.
Manufacturers' championship Pos Manufacturer MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR FRA ITA ESP Pts 1 Citroën Total World Rally Team 37 28 43 0 108 2 Ford World Rally Team 15 40 15 26 96 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 16 12 10 31 69 4 Qatar World Rally Team 8 8 15 31 5 Mini WRC Team† 26 26 6 Citroën Junior World Rally Team 6 12 18 7 Adapta World Rally Team 12 12 8 Brazil World Rally Team 10 10 – Armindo Araújo World Rally Team‡ 4 0 – Palmeirinha Rally‡ 2 0 Pos Manufacturer MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR FRA ITA ESP Pts Notes: † — The Mini WRC Team lost its manufacturer status in February when parent company BMW withdrew works support from the team, demoting them to customer team status. The team kept the points it scored on Rallye Monte Carlo although it was no longer classified as a manufacturer entrant. They were replaced by the WRC Team Mini Portugal as the official Mini works team. ‡ — Armindo Araújo World Rally Team and Palmeirinha Rally merged to form WRC Team Mini Portugal. The points they scored at the Rallye Monte Carlo were removed from the manufacturers' championship.
SWRC Drivers' championship Pos Driver MON SWE POR NZL FIN GBR FRA ESP Pts 1 Craig Breen 1 2 Ret 43 2 Hayden Paddon 4 1 37 3 Maciej Oleksowicz 6 2 26 4 Per-Gunnar Andersson Ret 1 25 5 Pontus Tidemand 3 15 6 Pedro Meireles 3 15 7 Yazeed Al-Rajhi 5 Ret 10 8 Alister McRae 7 6 – Giandomenico Basso Ret 0 Pos Driver MON SWE POR NZL FIN GBR FRA ESP Pts
WRC Academy Drivers' Championship Pos Driver POR GRE FIN GER FRA ESP Pts 1 Alastair Fisher 1 3 28 2 Brendan Reeves 2 2 20 3 Pontus Tidemand 3 1 16 4 Timo van der Marel 4 12 5 Fredrik Ahlin 6 3 11 6 Jose Antonio Suarez 5 10 7 Elfyn Evans 7 6 8 João Silva 8 4 9 John MacCrone 9 2 — Christopher Duplessis Ret 0 Pos Driver POR GRE FIN GER FRA ESP Pts
Notes: 1 refers to the number of stages won, where a bonus point is awarded per stage win.
References