The 2012 World Rally Championship was the 40th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of thirteen rallies, beginning with Monte Carlo Rally on 17 January, and ending on 11 November with Rally Catalunya.
Sébastien Loeb won the drivers' championship for the ninth time in his career, ahead of Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala. Citroën won the manufacturers' championship.
Calendar
The 2012 championship was contested over thirteen rounds in Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.
The 2012 calendar was announced at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Singapore on 26 September 2011.
Round Rally Name(Base) Surface Dates Support Categories 1 Monte Carlo Rally (Monte Carlo, Monaco) Mixed(Tarmac, snow) 18–22 January Super 2000 WRCProduction WRC 2 Rally Sweden (Karlstad, Värmland) Snow 9–12 February Super 2000 WRC 3 Rally Mexico (León, Guanajuato) Gravel 8–11 March Production WRC 4 Rally de Portugal (Faro, Algarve) Gravel 29 March – 1 April Super 2000 WRCWRC Academy 5 Rally Argentina (Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba) Gravel 26–29 April Production WRC 6 Acropolis Rally (Loutraki, Corinthia) Gravel 24–27 May Production WRCWRC Academy 7 Rally New Zealand (Auckland, Te Ika-a-Māui) Gravel 22–24 June Super 2000 WRCProduction WRC 8 Rally Finland (Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi) Gravel 2–4 August Super 2000 WRCWRC Academy 9 Rallye Deutschland (Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate) Tarmac 24–26 August Production WRCWRC Academy 10 Wales Rally GB (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) Gravel 14–16 September Super 2000 WRC 11 Rallye de France Alsace (Strasbourg, Alsace) Tarmac 4–7 October Super 2000 WRCWRC Academy 12 Rally Italia Sardegna (Olbia, Sardinia) Gravel 18–21 October Production WRC 13 Rally Catalunya (Salou, Tarragona) Mixed(Tarmac, gravel) 8–11 November Super 2000 WRCProduction WRCWRC Academy
Calendar changes Early plans to run the Rally Argentina over an "endurance" format with stages in neighbouring Uruguay and Chile were abandoned in favour of a new route which featured over of competitive stages and made it the longest rally in the modern era of the sport. The rally also featured the longest stage of the championship, the El Durzano–Ambul stage. The extended rally route has been promoted as a prototype of a format proposed by FIA President Jean Todt. The Jordan Rally was removed from the calendar. Rally Abu Dhabi was expected to be promoted in its place, but was omitted from the final calendar and given candidate status for future inclusion in the championship. The Wales Rally GB was brought forward from its traditional November date to September, making Rally of Spain the season finale. The route of the Rally Finland was revised from the 2011 event, and included the return of several famous stages, including Ouninpohja, Mokkipera and Palsankyla. The Rally Italia Sardegna was moved back from May to October. The Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo returned to the calendar after a three-year absence. The Rally New Zealand replaced Rally Australia, in keeping with their event-sharing arrangement.
Teams and drivers World Rally Championship entries Manufacturer teams Manufacturer Car Team Tyre No Driver Co-driver Rounds Citroën Citroën DS3 WRC Citroën Total World Rally Team 1 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena All 2 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen All Qatar World Rally Team 7 Nasser Al-Attiyah Giovanni Bernacchini 2–6, 9–11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul 7, 12 Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot 8 Hans Weijs Jr. Björn Degandt 13 Citroën Junior World Rally Team 8 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul 1–6, 8–11, 13 Ford Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford World Rally Team 3 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila 1–4, 6–13 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio 5 4 Petter Solberg Chris Patterson All M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 5 Ott Tänak Kuldar Sikk All 6 Evgeny Novikov Denis Giraudet 1–8 Nicolas Klinger 9 Ilka Minor 10–12 John Powell Michael Fennell 13 8 François Delecour Dominique Savignoni 1 Michał Sołowow Maciek Baran 2 15 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 10 16 Jannie Habig Robbie Durant 10 18 Dennis Kuipers Robin Buysmans 4 Brazil World Rally Team 9 Daniel Oliveira Carlos Magalhães 4–6, 9, 11, 13 Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor 7 Adapta World Rally Team 10 Mads Østberg Jonas Andersson 2–3, 5, 8–11, 13 64 Eyvind Brynildsen Cato Menkerud 2 Mini Mini John Cooper Works WRC Armindo Araújo World Rally Team 12 Armindo Araújo Miguel Ramalho 1 WRC Team Mini Portugal 2–8 Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot 9–10, 12 Glenn MacNeall 11, 13 14 Paulo Nobre Edu Paula 2–13 Palmeirinha Rally 1 Mini WRC Team 37 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio 1 52 Pierre Campana Sabrina de Castelli 1 World Rally Car entries ineligible to score manufacturer points Manufacturer Car Team Drivers Co-drivers Rounds Citroën Citroën DS3 WRC Van Merksteijn Motorsport Peter van Merksteijn Sr. Eddy Chevaillier 1 Peter van Merksteijn Jr. 2, 4, 9 Collectif Equipe de France Rallye Sébastien Chardonnet Thibault de la Haye 11 PH Sport Luca Pedersoli Matteo Romano 12 Ford Ford Fiesta RS WRC Czech Ford National Team Martin Prokop Zdeněk Hrůza 1–2, 4, 6, 8–11 12 Go Fast Energy World Rally Team Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 1 Henning Solberg Ilka Minor 1–4, 6, 8 Team Emap Yacco Julien Maurin Olivier Ural 1 Nicolas Klinger 11 Autotek Motorsport Jari Ketomaa Mika Stenberg 2, 4, 7–8 Martin Prokop Zdeněk Hrůza 5 Michal ErnstStart list for the qualifying stage 13 Evgeny Novikov Ilka Minor 13 Spyros Pavlides Nicolas Klinger 6 Monster World Rally Team Ken Block Alex Gelsomino 3, 7–8 Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot 3 M-Sport Ricardo Triviño Àlex Haro 3 Matti Rantanen Mikko Lukka 8 AT Rally Team Oleksiy Tamrazov Oleksandr Gorbyk 6 Sebastian Lindholm Timo Hantunen 8 Mini Mini John Cooper Works WRC Mini WRC Team Prodrive WRC Team Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13 Patrik Sandell Staffan Parmander 2 Maria Andersson 4 Yvan Muller Guy Leveneu 11 Jarkko Nikara Jarkko Kalliolepo 13 Prodrive Richard Göransson Anders Fredriksson 2 Eliseo Salazar Marc Martí 5 Seashore Qatar Rally Team Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Nicola Arena 6 Killian Duffy 13 Toksport Riku Tahko Markus Soininen 8 Dumas Rallye Team Romain Dumas Matthieu Baumel 11 Notes: – The Mini WRC Team lost Mini's support as a manufacturer team after the Monte Carlo Rally, making them ineligible to score points in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. The Mini WRC Team became known as the Prodrive WRC Team from the Rally de Portugal. – The Armindo Araújo World Rally Team and Palmeirinha Rally were merged to form WRC Team Mini Portugal with the support of Mini for the Rally of Sweden; however, the FIA ruled that they were not eligible to score points in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.
Team and driver changes
Chris Atkinson returned to the WRC to contest the Rally of Mexico with the Monster World Rally Team. He also drove at the Rally of Finland on behalf of the Qatar World Rally Team as Nasser Al-Attiyah was competing at the London Olympic Games, and later joined WRC Team Mini Portugal in the place of Armindo Araújo for the Rally of Germany. Atkinson's last appearance at the WRC level was a one-off drive with the Citroën Junior Team at the 2009 Rally Ireland. Ken Block will contest a reduced WRC program, appearing at Rally Mexico, Rally New Zealand and Rally Finland. The Citroën World Rally Team will expand to a three-car operation, entering a third Citroën DS3 WRC for 2011 Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah. Al-Attiyah was originally scheduled to contest every event with the exception of the Rallye Monte Carlo owing to a date clash with the 2012 Dakar Rally. However, Al-Attiyah was selected to represent his native Qatar at the London Olympics in skeet shooting and was forced to miss the Rally of New Zealand and the Rally of Finland. François Delecour returned to the WRC to compete in the 80ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo. Delecour drove a Ford Fiesta RS WRC in the rally, his last event at the WRC level since the 2002 Rally of Great Britain. The Rallye Monte Carlo is Delecour's only planned appearance in the 2012 season. 2011 championship runner-up Mikko Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen moved from the Ford World Rally Team to Citroën. Jari-Matti Latvala was injured in an accident during a training exercise two weeks before Rally Argentina, forcing him out of the event. He was replaced by Dani Sordo for the event. Lotus Cars planned to enter a Lotus Exige R-GT at all tarmac events on the 2012 calendar, pending the homologation of the car. The Lotus Exige R-GT was Lotus' first entry in the World Rally Championship since the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in 1983 Rally of Portugal, but the team later changed their plans and the team made its debut appearance at the Rali Vinho da Madeira, a round of the European Rally Championship instead of the WRC. Mini WRC Team will only enter one works driver in selected events of 2012, after the team was unable to find the budget for two full-time entries. Dani Sordo will enter in every event, with the second car driven by local competitors. The team has stated that Kris Meeke will not compete in every rally, but will remain a part of the team. On 6 February 2012, it was announced that the status of the Prodrive-operated team had been demoted to a works-supported private team, while the Motorsport Italia-run WRC Team Mini Portugal became the factory team of Mini. The team was renamed "Prodrive WRC Team" before the Rally de Portugal. Thierry Neuville, winner of the 2011 Tour de Corse in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, will compete in nine rallies at the WRC level – with a provision for two more – in a Citroën DS3 WRC prepared by Citroën Racing Technology and run by PH Sport, which was re-opened after being closed down for the 2011 season. He also drove for the Qatar World Rally Team at the Rally of New Zealand. Neuville had previously contested the Junior World Rally Championship in with a Citroën C2 S1600 in 2010. Evgeny Novikov and Ott Tänak will join the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. Sébastien Ogier was released from his three-year contract with Citroën after just one season. Ogier later joined Volkswagen to develop the Polo R WRC for their 2013 WRC entry, while contesting the full 2012 WRC schedule in a Škoda Fabia S2000 with regular co-driver Julien Ingrassia. Martin Prokop, who previously competed in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, will take part in ten rallies driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen returned to Formula One. The WRC arm of his Ice 1 Racing team was subsequently shut down. Former M-Sport drivers Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson joined the newly formed non-manufacturer Go Fast Energy World Rally Team with the intention of completing the season, but the team only appeared at the Rally Monte Carlo and the Rally of Sweden. Wilson later re-joined M-Sport for a one-off appearance at the Wales Rally GB. 2003 World Champion Petter Solberg secured a seat with the Ford World Rally Team. His privately entered team, with which he had competed with between 2009 and 2011, was closed down. Munchi's Ford World Rally Team left the WRC after the 2011 season.
SWRC entries