“It’s been good so far,” said Antoine coming into service after nine stages. “We had a couple of spins this morning, but mostly it has been good, the new car is great.”

For Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell of Subaru Rally Team Canada, it’s been a harder day. On the second stage, hard landing after a jump damaged the intercooler, causing a boost leak. Not long after, the team lost a front brake line. The team hope they had it fixed heading out from the midday service, but returned on a tow strap, behind sweep.

“We were near the end of the second pass on Blue Sea, and the car just wasn’t working right. We couldn’t get power to the ground,” said Richard. “It’s a tough start to the season, but we were on pace despite having problems this morning, so I’m actually pretty happy how things went up until the end.”

Craig Henderson and Lyne Murphy got stuck in a snowbank, and despite being fifth on the road, had to watch nearly the whole field drive by without any help.

“Steeve Hobbs stopped and tried twice, but he had to get going,” said Henderson, clearly frustrated. “We weren’t off that far, but no one would stop. We ended up max late.”

Leo Urlichich is perhaps earning his “Crazy” moniker back after a high speed spin that ended with the car hitting a telephone pole while moving backwards. Amazingly, despite all of the cosmetic damage, the structure and safety of the car was ruled to be acceptable and the team was allowed to continue. However, time lost with a few spins, combined with six minutes in penalties for early check in have dropped Leo and co-driver Carl Williamson back to ninth.

The troubles at the front of the pack have made for an interesting top five. Bruno Carre and Yvan Joyal are second, in a great spot for the championship. They’re followed by Sylvain and Simon Vincent. Waiting to start the first pass of the Farley stage, Sylvain offered up his strategy.

“You have to pace yourself. If you go too hard at the start, you will be too tired. It’s almost 250km of stages, so you need to stay sharp. It’s a long day.”

Joel Levac and Stephanie Lewis, who finished fourth at Sno*Drift last weekend, are on pace to perhaps do the same here, sitting in fourth, with a small margin over fifth place Mathieu Dube and Eric Losier.

Peter Kochandrle and Angela Cosner are leading two wheel drive, with a margin of nearly six minutes over Thierry Menegoz and Guillaume Bechard. Kochandrle is in 15^th overall.

Teams are presently out running one of the longest legs of the rally, including the infamous Tortue stage. With no remote service this year, any problems that happen out on those stages could force a DNF if a team can’t manage the long transit back to town.

Check back again for more news from the 2012 Rallye Perce Neige, in Maniwaki, Quebec.

“I think it’s perfect to be first on the road, it’ll be less polished,” said Urlichich after the start order draw. “I have to be smooth, and not too wild. Drive smart like at Sno*Drift last weekend.”

Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell will be second on the road, followed by main rivals Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard.

“I think Pat has the perfect road position,” said L’Estage. “Sometimes you get too far back [in the order] and you can get pulled into the icy tracks. It’s not easy.”

Bruno Carre and Yvan Joyal will run fourth on the road, followed by Craig Henderson and Lyne Murphy.

Any one of these teams can challenge for the podium, and they aren’t the only ones. Ugo Desgreniers has finished on the podium here before, and Steeve Hobbs is also capable of a top three finish.

Also on hand to mix things up is Max Riddle, back after a heavy roll at the final rally of 2011. He’s excited for a good finish here, and has done well at the snowy Big White regional rally in Kelowna, BC.

Keith Townsend and Jen Horsey have reunited after running Targa Newfoundland together, and will be running in Leo’s back up car. While it’s been a while since the two have run a Canadian Rally Championship event, they could surprise a lot of people with a smooth and mature drive.

Two wheel drive also has an interesting field. Thierry Menegoz has entered, in his easily recognized Ford Fiesta, and Peter Kochandrle will be eyeing a two wheel drive win in his Group 2 VW Golf. You can also expect a strong performance from Martin Walter in his rear wheel drive Nissan 240SX.

With light snow falling, and expected to continue through the night, tomorrow’s stages will be coated with a light dusting of snow, though what is underneath varies from stage to stage. Some of the in town stages have decent grip, while the stages held deeper in the forest, to the west of Maniwaki are icy in spots, and deep snow in others. Tire strategy will be key, and changes to the schedule – no remote service and a new final stage run in town – will also mean drivers accustomed to how things have run in the past will need to be careful to rethink service and tire strategies.

As per Canadian Rally Championship rules, no studs are allowed, meaning cars can get sideways, and drivers will use snowbanks to stay on the road. One wrong move, and the snowbanks that could help can pull you right off the road, often forcing a team to retire from the rally.

Rallye Perce Neige starts first thing tomorrow morning, and as usual, we’ll be brining the news back to you at home.

Photo: Citroen Racing Media

Citroen factory drivers Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen charged through to a first and second place respectively in the Power Stage at the 2012 Monte Carlo Rally. Citroen privateer Evgeny Novikov was third fastest on the Power Stage, just 0:02.6 behind Loeb over the 5.16km stage.

Loeb won the Monte Carlo rally, scoring 28 points in the driver’s championship, followed by Dani Sordo in a factory backed MINI.

“We had to deal with all sorts of conditions and my lead was largely built on better tyre choices,” said Loeb of the rally as a whole. “I felt comfortable from the start of the rally and I managed to get into a good rhythm. It’s certainly a nice way to start the season…”

Third place went to Ford’s Petter Solberg.

“This is just fantastic,” said Petter. “I just love driving this car, it is unbelievably fast, and they say it is even faster on snow and gravel! It is so easy getting into rhythm with the car, and then the rest is just fun! Can’t wait to do Sweden next!”

Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth overall, opting to drive to the finish and earn Citroen valuable manufacturer’s points.

“It wasn’t the easiest rally for a first race in a new car, but I am pleased with the result,” confirmed the Finn. “The two days we had snow were particularly difficult. On tarmac, I was more comfortable and I was able to set some good times. I had to take it easy, avoid making mistakes and focus on getting to the finish.

Novikov finished the rally in fifth, two minutes behind Hirvonen. Francois Delacour finished sixth, with Ott Tanak in eighth. Craig Breen won the Super 2000 class.

The next round of the 2012 WRC calendar will see teams travel to the snowy forests of Sweden. Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena have been the only non-Scandanavian team to win in Sweden, but Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg have all won Rally Sweden in recent years.

Mikko Hirvonen (Photo: Citroen Racing Media)

Petter Solberg of the Ford WRC team drove very hard on the fourth day of the 2012 Monte Carlo Rally to hold off Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen, and hang on to third place.

“Today has been absolutely fantastic,” said Solberg. “The car is amazing and it is so easy to get the rhythm and the feeling with it. I so enjoy driving it and also enjoy the rally itself.”

Solberg had made a mistake on tire choice on day three, and was busy trying to recover from that error. Clear roads meant Solberg had the ultimate confidence and could push hard to hold off Citroen’s second driver.

“There was more dampness on SS15 and Petter pushed really hard,” confirmed Mikko. “It will be hard now to close the gap in normal conditions, but it doesn’t matter too much. I am pleased to complete a series of stages without making any mistakes.”

Solberg was able to end the day nearly a minute ahead of Hirvonen, with only one 5.16km stage on the final day.

MINI’s Dani Sordo stayed in a comfortable second place position while Citroen’s number one driver, Sebastien Loeb took advantage of conditions to widen his lead to 2:41.6.

“With a lead of 2:41 and only 5.16km left to go, I think we can be fairly relaxed,” acknowledged the eight-time World Champion. “However, we’ll need to adopt a good pace. Every point counts in a World Championship and I fully intend to score some points tomorrow in the Power Stage.”

The final stage of the Monte Carlo rally is also a Power Stage, where the fastest three drivers can earn additional points in the championship standings.

Photo: Citroen Racing Media

For the third day of the 2012 Monte Carlo rally, Sebastien Loeb concentrated on managing his lead, rather than taking big risks. His reward was the rally lead at the end of day three.

“We knew that the weather might be difficult today,” said Loeb. “That’s why I kept pushing yesterday to try and open a bit of a gap at the front.”

Behind the Citroen driver, Daniel Sordo and Petter Solberg started the day just a few seconds apart, but things wouldn’t finish that way.

Both Solberg and Sordo gambled on tire choice, and in the opening stage, it seemed Sordo had lost, dropping time to Solberg on the mostly dry and ice-free stage. The tables turned a stage later, when extensive ice and snow covered the road. Solberg dropped well over a minute, and would need to focus on staying ahead of fourth place Mikko Hirvonen, rather than trying to catch Sordo for second. Solberg referred to his drive today as a wild ride, and appeared happy simply to have stayed on the road.

Hirvonen found his pace and won a stage midday, edging closer to a podium position.

“It’s good to confirm my progress with a fastest time,” acknowledged Mikko. “I felt good in the car with the four studded tyres fitted. The handling was consistent and I was able to push the way I wanted. We have closed the gap to Petter, but I’m not going to take too many risks to catch him.”

Behind, Evgeny Novikov settled into fifth, while Francois Delacour ended the day in sixth.

On the final stage of the day, it looked as if Solberg would recover some of his lost ground, but a flat tire destroyed any hope of catching Sordo by day’s end, and the Ford driver finished in third, about 30 seconds ahead of Hirvonen, heading into day four.