In Monte-Carlo the weather is cold with partly snow and mud over the stages. The black ice that was available during the first run is over.
In stage 3 the best time is for Sebastien Loeb who extend the overall lead to 22.1 seconds by Sebastien Ogier.
In SS 3 Le Moulinon - Antraigues 2 37.10 km third position is for Thierry Neuville followed by Novikov and Latvala on fifth position.
To set the fastest time Sebastien Loeb used combination slicks and winter tyres.
Mikko Hirvonen is with problems in SS 3. He said:  I have damaged front right, but I don't know what happened, everything was ok. It was really difficult, I don't like mixed tyres.
Sordo comments: I enjoy the car a lot. Conditions were more dry this time, I had better feeling with the car. But it is unbelievable to drive on this conditions and tyres.
Ogier:  It is ok, not so bad time. I don't care about Loeb. You have to put that out of your mind.
Loeb: We are here, that's the most important. It is the only thing we can do, it is the fastest choice.
Neuville: It was difficult to get right line, especially without studded tyres, there is lot of mud on the road.
The timekeepers send incorrect stage data as the trust of them is not 100%.
Results after SS3:
1. S. Loeb 1:17:54.4
2. S. Ogier +22.1
3. T. Neuville +1:20.4
4. D. Sorod +1:20.7
5. B. Bouffier +1:36.8
6. E. Novikov +1:37.6
 

The 9-times world champion Sebastien Loeb attack his former team-mate in the second stage of Rally Monte-Carlo. Loeb win the stage number 2 and move to first overall.
Loeb was 10.4 seconds faster than Ogier in SS 2 Burzet - St Martial 1 (30.60km). J. Hannien is third at +16.6 seconds as B. Bouffier is forth in the stage at 22.3 seconds.
Results after SS2:
1. S. Loeb 52:38.2
2. S. Ogier +6.7
3. D. Sordo +39.6
4. J. Hanninen +44.7
5. T. Neuville +53.3
6. M. Hirvonen +54.2
Two stages remain for Day 1.
 

The VW drivers Sebastien Ogier set the fastest time in the first stage of Rally Monte-Carlo. The second place is for Sebastien Loeb. Far behind them is Dani Sordo and Mikko Hirvonen.
Results after SS 1:
1. S. Ogier 27:31.8
2. S Loeb +3.7
3. D. Sordo +20.2
4. M. Hirvonen +20.7
5. E. Novikov +29.0
6. J. Hanninen +31.9
7. T. Neuville +33.3
8. J. Latvala +33.6
In the first day of the rally there are total 4 stages of all 18 stages for WRC Rally Monte-Carlo.
 

The Junior WRC calendar for 2013 and the new logo is ready, which replaces WRC Academy.

6-rounds (same as last year):

Apr 12-14 2013 - Vodafone Rally de Portugal
May 31- Jun 2 2013 - Acropolis Rally
Aug 2-4 2013 - Neste Oil Rally Finland
Aug 23-25 2013 - ADAC Rallye Deutschland
Oct 4-6 2013 - Rallye de France – Alsace
Oct 25-27 2013 - RallyRACC - Rally de Espana

Eligible drivers must be born on/or after 1st of January 1986.

Louise Cook, from Maidstone in Kent has forged a little history in motorsport by becoming the first female in the world to gain an FIA Rally Championship Title outside the FIA Ladies Cup. Louise gained the FIA Production car Cup for Drivers of 2WD and is in good company with her female idols. Michelle Mouton who gained individual FIA WRC rally wins in 1981 and 1982 in Italy, Portugal, Greece and Brazil and her British namesake and idol Louise Aitken-Walker who became FIA Ladies World Rally Champion in 1990.

"It is a nice small step towards the main goal to become the first female ever to become World Rally Champion. I feel the 2WD Cup is a good step towards the goal and shows how serious I am about this.”

"I would like to thank everyone that supported me to make this happen I would not have achieved anything without them. It was a huge step. The consequences for not gaining enough sponsors and getting to each round  was pretty scary. I knew if I did not get to any one of the rounds my career would end. I also knew that I had to be in the WRC to get closer to the overall goal of becoming the first female to be FIA World Rally Champion."

It was clear failure was never an option for Miss Cook. Louise narrowly raised the massive sponsorship support required to contest the season and to avoid the career ending consequences of massive fines and having her license revoked if she did not make a championship round.

Louise made her World Rally Championship debut in 2012 and an incredible debut it was. The 2012 season commenced under unforeseeable glory. Louise's goal for her first WRC round, Rallye Monte-Carlo, was gain experience and finish the rally. Louise keeping a clean rally saw her become the first female ever to gain a podium place in the Production World Rally Championship when she took second place in the PWRC in front of the 300,000 rally fans.

"It would be great to see more and more females take part in rallying and if what I am doing encourages even a few it will be fantastic. The car is a great leveler so it is a place where men and women can compete on an equal footing."

“It is a long road to where I want to be, though the financial barrier is the toughest to break through. It seems pretty normal for corporations to be involved with male rally drivers but not so much to be involved with females, I am not sure why. I hope my first season success in the World Rally Championship will help gain some support to achieve the next step of the plan and bring me closer to becoming the first female to become FIA World Rally Champion.”

Louise's leap into the sports highest level has been far from easy. Louise has made a number of sacrifices in her career, including selling her Ford Street Ka road car early on and famously selling her well earned trophy collection to ensure she could keep competing.

"It has been a massive challenge and when you step into the unknown you have to act quickly to keep things going to plan. To complete my first season in the World Rally Championship is an amazing feeling. The level you have to push to simply be on the starting line is immense."

"The rallies and the nature of the roads are nothing like anything in the UK. Mountain terrains are few and far between here, so the roads are pretty alien to us Brits. It is a massive task just to understand the technical lines and try to make pacenotes that resemble the road when you next hit them at speed.”

Louise now looks on to 2013 determined to push boundaries in the World Rally Championship even further.

"I made a 3 year plan to win the Production World Rally Championship outright and the 2WD Production car Cup was the first part of that plan, to gain some good experience before moving into 4WD for the year two and then win PWRC outright in year three."

"The WRC structure has now changed. The PWRC has now become WRC3. The 4WD machines are now replaced with 2WD. There are a lot of manufacturers making 2WD rally cars. It is also good for drivers to maximise 2WD techniques before moving on. I think this is the reasons for the change by the FIA."

The disadvantage for young drivers however is the financial one. The void between the championships seems to have grown. A PWRC Group N 4WD car was around £60,000 to purchase, a competitive WRC3 2WD car is around £80,000. The next step to 4WD however is now quite a jump. The new R5 cars will be the most economical step to WRC2 at a whopping £200,000 and the S2000 cars in the same class are £260,000, so the cost of the car for the next level is triple that of the class below. The main WRC cars to contest for outright World Rally Championship are around £360,000.

"I will never do this alone, it is going to take a lot of investment to make history in the WRC. I hope that people support however they can. All I can do is keep pushing at everything and never give up.”

PWRC Standings 2012
 

Pos	Driver										Total
1.		Benito Guerra		25	25	12		18	4	25	109
2.		Marcos Ligato			12	0	25	15	18	18	88
3.		Valeriy Gorban			15	25	12	6	15	12	85
4.		Michal Kosciuszko	25	15	0			25	8	8	81
5.		Subhan Aksa			6	18	18	8	12	15	77
6.		Nicolas Fuchs		18	18	0		10	25	2	73
7.		Ricardo Trivino			0	15	15	12	6	4	52
8.		Louise Cook	18			8	8	0	1		35
9.		Gianluca Linari		12	10	0	10		2	1	35
10.		Lorenzo Bertelli	0		4	10	0		0	10	24
11.		Rodrigo Salgado		10							10
12.		Oleksii Kikireshko			0	0	0	0	10	0	10
13.		Ramona Karlsson		8	0		0	0			8
14.		Ezequiel Campos			8						8
15.		Yeray Lemes								6	6

The 9 times world champion Sebastien Loeb will contest in all 4 round in WRC for 2013. These events are: Monte-Carlo, Sweden, Argentina and France.
In 2013 Sebastien Loeb will enter a GT championship to prepare the future.

The Team Citroën Total Abu Dhabi will be with the drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sorod plus Sebastien Loeb. The other team is Abu Dhabi Citroën Total World Rally Team with a driver Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi.
The co-drive for Al Qassimi is Scott Martin, previously Matthew Wilson's co-driver.

The Spanish Dani Sordo backs to Citroen Total World Rally Team in season 2013. Citroen choice Sordo instead Mads Ostberg who both compare for the last driving place after Sebastien Loeb retired. A partner to Dani Sordo will be Mikko Hirvonen. Dani Sordo was a part of Citroen Total World Rally Team from 2005 to 2010 in all 80 rallies.

Sordo comments: “Obviously, I’m very pleased to rejoin a team with which I share so many good memories. This was my No.1 choice for 2013.
The last few years have been good for me. In another team, I got to grips with different working methods and I took on more responsibility in the car development process. I see this return to Citroën as a great opportunity. I am still looking for my first win in WRC and I am determined to secure it next season! I can’t wait to see the people I know again and get back behind the wheel of the DS3 WRC, in which I did some testing at the end of 2010.”

Yves Matton comments (Citroen Total World Rally Team): We took our time in assessing the potential of the drivers available to line up alongside Mikko Hirvonen next season. Obviously, Dani was very high on our shortlist and his performances at the Rally de Espana proved that he can still perform at the very highest level.
Dani is very well liked in the team and it’s a pleasure for everyone to see him return to the ‘family’. His profile complement Mikko’s in many aspects and it was important for Citroën to have a Latin driver for the Southern Europe and Latin American markets.”