2012 Rally Sweden
The 60th Rally Sweden was held from 9 to 12 February 2012. A total of 24 special stages were driven on snow and ice.
- 2.1 final
- 2.2 stages
Reports
Day 1 ( Thursday, February 9 )
With a 1.9 -kilometer special stage the rally Sweden began in 2013 in Karlstad. Dani Sordo ( MINI) was before Mads Østberg (Ford) and Ott Tanak (Ford) the fastest. The distances moved in tenths of a second range.
Day 2 (Friday, 10 February),
Ford works driver Jari -Matti Latvala took over after the fourth special stage the lead ahead of Petter Solberg (Ford). Sébastien Loeb ( Citroën) got a ten second penalty because he had left the service park late in the morning. On the 20.17 km long WP3 Loeb drove the fastest. Mikko Hirvonen ( Citroën) went on WP 4 and 5, the best time and overtook Latvala. In the seventh special stage Loeb went off the road and stopped in a snow bank stuck. He lost about two minutes on the leaders. Up WP 10, Latvala continued to Hirvonen by ( 16.8 seconds ) and stayed as the leader. Hirvonen lost some time and came under pressure from Solberg, who was just 1.8 seconds behind him.
Day 3 ( Saturday, February 11 )
Latvala also ended Saturday as the leader of the general standings and holds Hirvonen at a distance. The comeback of Loeb went out with a spin, the further cost the world champion time. He was at the end of the day in sixth place with almost 3 minutes behind, as he had a puncture in the afternoon.
Day 4 ( Sunday, February 12 )
After the first stages on Sunday Latvala could lead to further expand on Hirvonen. Mads Østberg was constant faster than Solberg and he came in third place approaching. Loeb could not shorten the gap to the vehicle in Evgeny Novikov and remained in sixth place. Latvala and his team-mate Solberg had a puncture in the 22nd special stage. Latvala won the rally anyway, Solberg, however, slipped off the podium to fourth place from. Østberg was seen in third place, Loeb remained in sixth place.