Monte Carlo Rally – SS12: Solberg, close to disaster, increases his lead!

Like true tightrope walkers, the drivers of the World Rally Championship could have welcomed the weather conditions of the second pass on the longest special stage of the rally, La Bréole / Bellaffaire. However, with temperatures having risen from -1°C this morning to 4°C this midday, the 29,93 kilometers have turned into a mixture of mud and ice, extremely treacherous.

Rally leader Oliver Solberg was caught out in the final part of the stage. The Swede went off into a field, from which he fortunately managed to extricate himself relatively quickly, damaging his front bumper in the process. This mishap, however, did not prevent him from setting the fastest time on the special stage! The driver of the Toyota Number 99 therefore increases his lead in the general classification over Elfyn Evans, but it could all have ended there with a simple mistake…

Solberg wasn't the only one to make a mistake on this stage; Sami Pajari also crashed into a tree after slightly straying off the racing line on a right-hand corner. Neither crew was injured, but their GR Yaris was out of the race. Moments later, Hayden Paddon went off into a field, but thanks to his perseverance (and a much-needed helping hand from the spectators), the New Zealander was able to get back on the road.

Grégoire Munster, Adrien fourmaux et Thierry Neuville Several other drivers were caught out, but simple spins allowed them to escape relatively unscathed. In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin was on track to take the rally lead with his Lancia, but a mistake sent him into a field, and the Bulgarian had no choice but to admit defeat, his car having sunk into the snow.

All to the benefit of Léo Rossel, who now leads the rally by 1 minute 28 seconds over Italian Roberto Daprà, who drove a superb stage. He finished with the fourth fastest time, behind the trio who have dominated since the start of the rally: Solberg, Evans, and OgierAll this after only sleeping an hour last night, because he's sick. Hats off to Mr. Daprà…

After this particularly difficult twelfth special stage, the Monte Carlo caravan heads south for the Monaco super special stage, which will take place from 18:35 pm.

Monte Carlo Rally
The classification of SS12

Monte Carlo Rally
The general after SS12

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