Q: Win number 68 of your career and your sixth win on Rallye Monte-Carlo. How did it feel to be back competing there?
SL: “For sure it is a pleasure for me to be back in Monte Carlo, but for different reasons. First, this is the most specific rally of the year; it’s a rally which is in France and it’s the home rally of my co-driver. We won this rally a lot of times and one more time now. I’m really happy.”

Q: Taking maximum points on the Power Stage also means your season got off to the best possible start…
SL: “It couldn’t be better. Great start to take 28 points. There were nearly no mistakes, a little mistake with the tyre choice at the start, but there was some very good help from the team in the choices we made. [It was a] good drive and great atmosphere. Yes, it’s great to start the season like that.”

Q: What did you think of the five-day format?
SL: “I was not a fan, it’s not for me. I think it’s a bit long. I think it’s a bit long for everybody: for the journalists, the drivers and I’m not sure it brings more media for the two extra days. For the private drivers, it’s also more complicated, I’m not a fan of that.”

Loeb has competed in the WRC for 152 rallies, finished on the podium on 104 occasions and won a staggering 817 stage victories over that period. He is the sport’s most winning competitor ever, and his rivals will need to most certainly up their driving in order to eclipse this ace.

Q: There are three manufacturers on the podium here; do you expect a big fight from not only Ford, but MINI as well in 2012?
SL: “You should ask Dani [Sordo] if he will be fast everywhere, he will try for sure. But yes, it looks good to have three manufacturers on the podium, hopefully it continues like this.”

Q: At the start of another WRC season, are you feeling as passionate as you ever were about defending your title?
SL: “Yes. It’s for that that I’m here. For sure my goal is to try and get another title, but it was another possibility to stop with eight. I still have the record and I don’t take the risk to lose in my last season. But I enjoy what I do: driving and fighting. I’m really happy to start again and the motivation is the same.”

In 2009, Loeb was honoured by the French goverment when he was made a knight of the Legion d’honneur. He has also played a significant role for the Peace and Sport organisation (read more here: http://www.peace-sport.org/). Not just a WRC icon, he is also multiple winner of the Race of Champions!

Q: Finally, what can you say about the performance of your Citroën DS3 WRC?
SL: “The Citroën DS3 WRC worked like a dream. I felt comfortable from the start of the rally and I managed to get into a good rhythm. It’s a big gap to second, but I wouldn’t say that this was an easy win. We had to deal with all sorts of conditions and my lead was largely built on better tyre choices, which were mainly down to the work of Citroën Racing’s technical team and our tyre partner Michelin. For the first time in a long time in WRC we were able to choose between five types of tyres and we always managed to pick the right tyres for the circumstances.”

What are his chances for Championship victory in 2012? With the installation of Mikko Hirvonen as his team-mate in the Citroën Total World Rally Team, Loeb has been given the opportunity to win as often as possible to not only secure the Manufacturers’ title for the French marque but also his ninth WRC Drivers’ crown. This is most likely his last attempt at the title…

Speed in rallying is a must for success. Controlled speed is the secret: there are times to throw caution to the wind, and times to know when to lift off for that half a second longer. Ask Petter Solberg (Ford World Rally Team) about speeding, seeing as he collects speeding tickets. As on the opening round of the WRC in 2011 in Sweden, Solberg was pulled over by the traffic police for doing 106km/h in a 50km/h zone. The Gendarmes were quick to penalise the 2003 World Rally Champion, and the result is that the Norwegian was handed a suspended six-event ban and a €1,400 fine.

Of course, this did not deter the ace from sweeping to a strong podium position in Monte Carlo, nor will it slow him down in stages. Fans will need to assist Solberg in curbing his enthusiam between stages, however.

His counterpart in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC machine, Evgeny Novikov, also displayed the same speed and aggression at Round One of the 13-event series, but he was able to contain his speed for the timed sections…

Novikov finished the WRC event fifth overall, his first finish on this unique and iconic rally. To boot, he scored a bonus point for his Power Stage effort.

Little is known about the diminutive Russian, but his video clip from the 2009 WRC Rally Finland nearly flipping his car over a jump recorded hundreds of views.

Novikov had just turned 17 when he made his name in rallying, in a Subaru Impreza on the 2008 Russia Rally, competing against the Intercontinental Rally Challenge’s (IRC) stars.

Now at 21, he’s completed 24 WRC starts. With the experienced Frenchman Denis Giraudet his co-driver, Novikov seems to have turned a new leaf in his mature approach to the sport: “I learnt so much during the week. The stages were very varied and difficult to learn, but there were really fantastic. And the atmosphere in the Col du Turini and Lucéram tests was amazing!”

Welcome to issue 218 of HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS, your favourite free source of rally entertainment!

To download this week’s issue, please click here: http://handbrakeshairpins.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/hh-218.pdf

As always, please enjoy this week’s read!

Yours in Rallying,

Evan Rothman (Editor) and Eva Kovkova (Photojournalist)

The SKODA UK Motorsport star was embroiled in a tight battle for victory with factory SKODA driver Juho Hanninen until he was instructed to hold position in second place in order to secure a one-two finish for the Czech manufacturer.

“I’m really motivated to win this rally,” said Mikkelsen. “Of course it will be a great start to the year and great for SKODA UK if I do but after last year I would really like to win this special event. It’s one of my favourite rallies with a really good atmosphere and amazing stages.”

SATA Rallye Acores forms round one of the 13-event IRC season in 2012. It takes place from 23-25 February on the island of Sao Miguel.

Flodin, a 27-year-old from Sweden, has considerable international event experience and is highly rated, particularly on gravel-based rallies. Although he has yet to finalise his programme for the upcoming IRC campaign he said: “We are working hard to achieve a full IRC season, even if nothing is ready yet.”

If Flodin does progress his plans and finalise an IRC bid then he will be one to watch according to Andreas Mikkelsen, the defending IRC champion. “He’s a good driver and I’m sure he can do some really, really good results. The IRC is a fantastic series and I hope as many drivers as possible come to find that out.”

IRC stars will go head-to-head on the course in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter in front of thousands of fans gathered for the opening of the Titanic Festival on Friday 6 April. The stage is just over two kilometres in length and is set to form a thrilling spectacle.

At the rally’s official launch in Belfast today (Thursday), event director Bobby Willis said: “The Titanic Super Special Stage will be a feast for motorsport fans and families alike with some of the world’s biggest rallying stars, including current IRC series champion, Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen, thrilling crowds on a stage that will be built beneath grandstands yards from where the Titanic was launched.”

The Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland will be based in the historic city of Armagh and will consist of a total of 15 stages, including a test through the centre of Lisburn, which attracted 15,000 fans in 2011. More information on this story is available at www.rally-irc.com.

View his tweet with the image here, and engage with the WRC star directly: https://twitter.com/#!/MadsOstberg/status/162624899679133696/photo/1