24 Oct 12

When the WRC
went crazy (for
24 hours)

It was drama all the way on Rally Italia Sardegna last week with one 24-hour period in particular possibly the craziest in recent FIA World Rally Championship history. Here's a reminder of just some of the things that went on in the Mediterranean.

Thursday 18 October

18:45hrs: Jari-Matti Latvala, chasing his second win on gravel in 2012, breaks a wheel and slips further back having already lost time by getting his starting position wrong opting to go at the head of the field.

18:52hrs: Mikko Hirvonen sets the pace on Terranova 2. It means he will start Friday’s opening stage 1.1s behind Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb.

19:12hrs: Not one PWRC title contender crashes but two! Sensational news from Terranova 2 as reports come through that Benito Guerra and Michal Kosciuszko are in trouble. It later transpires that both exit after damaging their Mitsubishi Lancers on the same tree branch. Their cars are stranded just metres apart.

22:07hrs: Citroen boss Yves Matton confirms his star drivers Hirvonen and Loeb are free to fight for first place.

Friday 19 October

09:08hrs: WRC Live’s Becs Williams announces Loeb has stopped on Monte Lerno 1 - even a nine-time world champion can get it wrong with reports he’s damaged his DS3 WRC’s steering on rocks.

09:14hrs: And it gets worse for Citroen with news that Thierry Neuville is in trouble with his Qatar World Rally Team entry stuck on its side. He will sustain second-degree burns to his fingers trying to get the car back on all four wheels.

11:47hrs: It’s Ford’s turn for frustration as Latvala goes off and out in his Fiesta, having been distracted by an earlier impact. “I aimed the car straight into a field but hit a gate post and the front right of the car was too badly damaged to continue,” he says afterwards. “I became distracted and lost concentration.”

13:03hrs: A sensational performance from Sebastien Ogier on Tergu-Osilio as the French ace becomes the first driver in a Super 2000 car to win a full-length special stage on gravel in the world championship.

15:58hrs: Mads Ostberg is going slowly - later a broken differential is found to be the culprit.

15:59hrs: It never rains but it pours. More bad news for Ford as Petter Solberg drops out of second place with damage to the front of his Fiesta. “The impact broke the cross-member and there was nothing more I could do,” Solberg reveals later.

18:45hrs: Paulo Nobre is fighting for a top-10 place when a heavy landing over Micky’s Jump on Monte Lerno 2 leaves his MINI John Cooper Works WRC with radiator damage. He’s left stranded at the stage finish and will rely on Rally 2 rules to keep going.

All timings are local and approximate.