2012 Rally Argentina Explained

2012 Rally Argentina
Native Name:	32º Philips Rally Argentina
Round:	5
Championship:	2012 World Rally Championship season
Previous Round:	2012 Rally de Portugal
Next Round:	2012 Acropolis Rally
Country:	Argentina
Rallybase:	Córdoba, Argentina
Startdate:	26
Enddate:	29 April 2012
Stages:	19
Stagekm:	502.73
Overallkm:	1770.92
Surface:	Gravel
Driver1:	Sébastien Loeb
Team1:	Citroën Total WRT
Teamsstart:	42
Teamsfinish:	27

The 32nd Philips Rally Argentina was the fifth round of 2012 FIA World Rally Championship. It is the longest rally of the year, covering total of 502.73 stage kilometres, with Ambul also being the longest stage of the year.^[1] The event took place between 26 and 29 April 2012.

Report

Ford World Rally Team driver Jari-Matti Latvala was forced out of the rally after his accident while training two weeks before the rally.^[2] He was replaced by Dani Sordo.

Results

Event standings

	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
Overall
1.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën DS3 WRC	5:34:38.8	0.0	25
2.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Citroën DS3 WRC	5:34:54.0	15.2
3.	Mads Østberg	Jonas Andersson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5:37:49.2	3:10.4	15
4.	Martin Prokop	Zdeněk Hrůza	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5:44:24.1	9:45.3	12
5.	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Citroën DS3 WRC	5:45:56.4	11:17.6	10
6.	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5:46:41.0	12:02.2
7.	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Škoda Fabia S2000	5:47:04.1	12:25.3	6
8.	Evgeny Novikov	Denis Giraudet	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5:55:49.0	21:10.2	4
9.	Nasser Al-Attiyah		Citroën DS3 WRC	6:03:01.4	28:22.6
10.	Ott Tänak		Ford Fiesta RS WRC	6:11:58.3	37:19.5	1
PWRC
1.(11.)	Benito Guerra	Borja Rozada	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	6:12:00.6	0.0	25
2.(13.)	Nicolás Fuchs	Fernando Mussano	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	6:16:19.7	4:19.1	18
3.(14.)	Valeriy Gorban	Andriy Nikolaiev	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	6:18:45.2	6:44.6	15
4.(15.)	Marcos Ligato	Rubén García	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	6:25:00.0	12:59.4	12
5.(16.)	Gianluca Linari	Nicola Arena	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	6:40:24.8	28:24.2	10
6.(17.)	Ezequiel Campos	Cristian Winkler	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	6:47:27.4	35:26.8	8
7.(18.)	Subhan Aksa	Hade Mboi	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	6:47:44.9	35:44.3	6
8.(23.)	Lorenzo Bertelli	Lorenzo Granai	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	7:35:06.4	1:23:05.8	4

Special stages

Day	Stage		Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
Leg 1 (26–27 Apr)	SS1	20:08	SSS Amarok 1	6.04 km	Petter Solberg	4:54.9	73.73 km/h	Petter Solberg
	SS2	7:28	La Pampa / La Pampa 1	37.51 km	Sébastien Loeb	23:12.5	96.97 km/h
	SS3	8:21	Ascochinga / Agua de Oro 1	51.88 km	Petter Solberg	37:50.7	82.25 km/h
	SS4	12:46	La Pampa / La Pampa 2	37.51 km	Sébastien Loeb	22:56.3	98.11 km/h	Mikko Hirvonen
	SS5	13:39	Ascochinga / Agua de Oro 2	51.88 km	Sébastien Loeb	37:21.8	83.31 km/h	Sébastien Loeb
	SS6	17:23	Cosquin / Villa Allende	19.18 km	Mikko Hirvonen	13:36.7	84.54 km/h
Leg 2 (28 Apr)	SS7	8:30	San Agustin / Santa Rosa 1	20.18 km	Sébastien Loeb	12:41.3	95.42 km/h
	SS8	9:18	Amboy / Santa Monica 1	20.33 km	Mikko Hirvonen	10:40.5	114.26 km/h
	SS9	10:31	Intiyaco / Golpe de Agua 1	39.74 km	Mikko Hirvonen	22:48.1	104.57 km/h
	SS10	14:44	San Agustin / Santa Rosa 2	20.18 km	Petter Solberg	12:32.3	96.57 km/h
	SS11	15:32	Amboy / Santa Monica 2	20.33 km	Petter Solberg	10:30.4	116.10 km/h
	SS12	16:45	Intiyaco / Golpe de Agua 2	39.74 km	Petter Solberg	22:36.2	105.49 km/h
	SS13	20:08	SSS Amarok 2	6.04 km	Thierry Neuville	4:49.4	75.13 km/h
Leg 3 (29 Apr)	SS14	8:00	Matadero / Ambul	65.74 km	Petter Solberg	38:16.0	103.08 km/h
	SS15	9:51	Mina Clavero / Giulio Cesare 1	17.41 km	Petter Solberg	15:38.1	66.81 km/h
	SS16	10:32	El Condor / Copina	16.32 km	Petter Solberg	13:17.5	73.67 km/h
	SS17	14:07	Mina Clavero / Giulio Cesare 2	17.41 km	Petter Solberg	15:29.3	67.44 km/h
	SS18	14:48	El Condor / Casilla Negra	11.16 km	Petter Solberg	9:37.6	69.56 km/h
	SS19	15:21	Copina (Power stage)	4.15 km	Petter Solberg	2:32.9	97.71 km/h

Power Stage

The "Power stage" was a 4.15km (02.58miles) stage at the end of the rally.^[3]

Pos	Driver	Time	Diff.	Avg. speed	Points
1	Petter Solberg	2:32.915	0.000	97.7 km/h	3
2		2:34.063	+1.148	97.0 km/h	2
3		2:34.470	+1.555	96.8 km/h	1

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Points are awarded to the top 10 classified finishers.

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	Ret	1									91
2	Petter Solberg	3	4 ²	3 ¹	3	6 ¹									73
3	Mikko Hirvonen	4 ²	2	2	DSQ	2 ²									70
4	Mads Østberg		3	4 ³	1	3									68
5	Evgeny Novikov	5 ³	5	Ret	2	8									43
6	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ret	1 ³	Ret	13 ²	Inj									28
7	Martin Prokop	9	9		5	4									26
8	Nasser Al-Attiyah		21	6	4	9 ³									23
9	Dani Sordo	2	Ret		11 ¹	Ret									21
10	Ott Tänak	8	Ret	5	14 ³	10									16
11	Sébastien Ogier	Ret	11	8	7	7									16
12	Thierry Neuville	Ret	12	13	8	5									14
13	François Delecour	6													8
14	Dennis Kuipers				6										8
15	Armindo Araújo	10	15	7	15	Ret									7
16	Henning Solberg	13	7	DNS	DNS										6
17	Pierre Campana	7													6
18	Patrik Sandell		8		Ret										4
19	Jari Ketomaa		Ret		9										2
20	Ken Block			9											2
21	Peter van Merksteijn Jr.		19		10										1
22	Ricardo Triviño			10	26	Ret									1
23	Eyvind Brynildsen		10												1
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	43									151
2	Ford World Rally Team	15	40	15	26	10									106
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	16	12	10	31	12									81
4	Qatar World Rally Team		8	8	15	6									37
5	Citroën Junior World Rally Team			6	12	12									30
6	Adapta World Rally Team			12		15									27
7	Mini WRC Team^†	26													26
8	Brazil World Rally Team				10	0									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.^[4] ^[5] 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.^[5] The points they scored at the Rallye Monte Carlo were removed from the manufacturers' championship.^[6]

PWRC Drivers' championship

Pos	Driver	MON	MEX	ARG	GRE	NZL	GER	ITA	ESP	Pts
1	Benito Guerra		1	1						50
2	Michał Kościuszko	1	3	Ret						40
3	Nicolás Fuchs	DNS	2	2						36
4	Gianluca Linari		4	5						22
5	Louise Cook	2								18
6	Valeriy Gorban			3						15
7	Marcos Ligato			4						12
8	Rodrigo Salgado		5							10
9	Ramona Karlsson		6	Ret						8
10	Ezequiel Campos			6						8
11	Subhan Aksa			7						6
12	Lorenzo Bertelli	Ret		8						4
Pos	Driver	MON	MEX	ARG	GRE	NZL	GER	ITA	ESP	Pts

Notes and References

Web site: Archived copy . 2012-04-26 . 2012-06-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120617020205/http://www.rallyargentina.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/01-anexos-A-Itinerario2.pdf . dead .
News: injury forces Latvala out of Argentina. WRC.com. WRC. 13 April 2012. 26 April 2012. 15 April 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120415180515/http://www.wrc.com/news/injury-forces-latvala-out-of-argentina/?fid=16502. dead.
Web site: RZ19 Copina. ewrc-results.com. 30 April 2012.
News: 2012 FIA World Rally Championship – Entrants. fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 8 February 2012. 9 February 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212043305/http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/wrc/2012/Pages/2012-wrc-entrants.aspx. 2012-02-12. dead.
News: Prodrive loses status as MINI's factory World Rally Team. David. Evans. Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 6 February 2012. 6 February 2012.
News: FIA confirms updated manufacturers'list. World Rally Championship. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 8 February 2012. 9 February 2012. 12 February 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212033425/http://www.wrc.com/news/fia-confirms-updated-manufacturers-list/?fid=16034. dead.