2012 FIA World Rally Championship is Go!

The 2012 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season kicks off this evening with the start of the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening round of the series. Making a welcome return to the WRC, this famous rally has attracted an entry of 85 crews, including the registered FIA Super 2000 and Production Car World Rally Championship contenders, and looks set to provide spectacular action over the coming five days.

Three manufacturers - Citroën, Ford and MINI - have registered this year and are currently joined by four other WRC Teams contesting the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. This year, the series takes in 13 events around the globe and will challenge all the contenders as they fight for glory on a variety of surfaces, including ice, snow, gravel and tarmac, in state-of-the-art World Rally Cars.

Reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb heads the entries. The Frenchman has broken all previous records and can claim to be the most successful driver in motorsport history in terms of FIA world titles won following his eighth victory with Citroën last season.

Loeb - who has won Rallye Monte-Carlo five times - said: “I am very excited to take the start of the Monte-Carlo, which is maybe the trickiest rally of the Championship, but also one of the nicest events for Daniel and myself. It’s great to see it back in the WRC calendar. Obviously we are targeting a win, or in any case scoring good points. On top of that we cannot start this new season with anything else in mind than competing for a ninth title, but it’s far from being easy and being done!”

This season, Loeb is also joined by a new team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen, and the Finn is relishing the prospect of the year ahead. He too has tasted victory on this rally, having won in 2010 when the event was outside the FIA World Rally Championship. “For us everything is new this season; new car, new team, new colours… I am very impatient to start the rally and set the first stage times! However, I will maybe have a conservative approach for the first events to make sure we learn how the Citroën is working. We have been very impressed and felt very welcome,” he commented.

At Ford, Jari-Matti Latvala heads the team’s assault and, after some stunning performances last year, the Finn is tipped to be one of Loeb’s greatest challengers. “It felt like 2011 became 2012 very quickly! In fact, for me, 2011 didn’t really seem to finish at all, but then I had a good holiday – two weeks completely away from it all, during which I didn’t even think about rallying – and I came back feeling refreshed, full of energy and ready to jump into a rally car again! We’ve got an exciting new season ahead now, with lots of interesting aspects – and I can’t wait to get going!

"A few years ago, my first factory WRC drive came on this rally in Monte-Carlo, and I remember feeling so excited and nervous. Now, I’m a lot more confident. For sure, it’s a difficult rally to start the season with, but at the same time it’s a classic, and one of those events you really want to get a good result on. Winning the Rallye du Var at the end of last year gave me another good confidence boost on asphalt, and I’ve done five days’ testing since, totalling about 1,700 kilometres. We’ve tested in every condition except for snow, and as a team, I feel we are well-prepared for this rally. We’re ready to go!"

Petter Solberg, the 2003 FIA World Rally Champion, returns to a factory drive this year and the flamboyant Norwegian is keen to make his mark in the Ford team.

"First of all, I’m very thankful to be working with Ford and Jari-Matti. Hopefully, we will really be able to kick-start this season and fight at the top for the Manufacturers’ Championship all year. I’m really pumped-up, hungrier than ever and I just want to go rallying again! Monte-Carlo is the trickiest rally to start the season with; Sébastien Loeb obviously has a very good record here, but Jari-Matti and I have been planning a strategy to knock him off his perch this time – so he’d better watch out!"

Spaniard Dani Sordo will be back behind the wheel of the #37 MINI John Cooper Works WRC and he, along with a host of other world rally stars look set to bring the World Rally Championship stages alight this year.

Rallye Monte-Carlo starts this evening in Valence at 18:00 hrs CET, before the real action begins in the French mountains tomorrow morning. The rally finishes on Sunday 22 January in Monte-Carlo after five days and 433.36 kilometres of competition