The top 10 WRC drivers of 2012

1. Sebastien Loeb

Team: Citroen Total World Rally Team
Championship position: 1st
Rallies: 13
Wins: 9
Points: 270
Fastest times: 71
Stages leading: 151

Nine wins, 71 fastest stage times (that's 12 more than anybody else, if you're wondering), a crash and a bit of bent suspension. That's the story of Sebastien Loeb's season. His last season, his ninth consecutive title-winning season. He just doesn't know how to slow down that fella.

Brilliant season - especially Rally Finland, which he finally fell in love with after a dominant win. What else was good about Loeb this year? His fightback in Wales. He struggled like mad to get comfortable with the car on the Cardiff-based rally and eventually made do with settings somewhere near - and then dropped the hammer and passed Solberg for second.

A lesson to all young drivers in how to drive around issues with an imperfect car and further evidence of his mass ability. Would he win if he stayed next season? Of course he would.

2. Mads Ostberg

Team: Adapta World Rally Team
Championship position: 4th
Rallies: 11
Wins: 1
Points: 149
Fastest times: 10
Stages leading: 6

Started the season very much at the top of division two, but his Rally of Portugal win earned him promotion to the first. He then progressed upwards to sit just behind a Champion's League place by the end of the season. If football's your game, Ostberg was Newcastle United; Exeter if you're a rugby fan.

The Norwegian's speed improved all season, but he still needs to find that ability to stay engaged as the battle progresses through the weekend. By far his best season yet and fully deserving of a full-time Qatar M-Sport seat next season.

3. Mikko Hirvonen

Team: Citroen Total World Rally Team
Championship position: 2nd
Rallies: 13
Wins: 1
Points: 213
Fastest times: 31
Stages leading: 43

Tipped to tumble early doors as he departed his Ford-sourced comfort zone bound for civil war-torn Citroen team. But actually, made himself completely - and immediately - at home. Hirvonen's been a big hit in Versailles this season, that much was obvious from the team's reaction to his exclusion from Rally Portugal at post-event scrutineering.

Struggled to match Loeb on every round - and was particularly steady in Greece and Wales - but he was bang on the button in New Zealand and Argentina, where he achieved his personal objective and got the management to intervene in his scrap with the would-be world champ.

4. Sebastien Ogier

Team: Volkswagen Motorsport
Championship position: 10th
Rallies: 12
Wins: 0
Points: 41
Fastest times: 1
Stages leading: 0

For much of the year, Ogier had the look of a fox prowling a well-barricaded cage of chickens. Having been in the middle of a monster fight with Loeb all last year, he was itching to get back in there this time around.

But, the lack of a turbo aboard his Skoda Fabia S2000 meant there was no chance of him doing so. The reason Ogier's so high on the list is thanks to the way he developed as a driver this season; he matured hugely into a well-rounded driver and individual; he developed into a team leader this year.

Expect the competitive edge bordering on arrogance that comes with world champions in waiting to be back next year. His fastest stage time in Sardinia was a great achievement.

5. Jari-Matti Latvala

Team: Ford World Rally Team
Championship position: 3rd
Rallies: 12
Wins: 2
Points: 154
Fastest times: 59
Stages leading: 47

Was this his year? Has his chance gone? Who knows? Only time will tell. But the scene was set for Jari-Matti to master and monster 2012. And he failed. And failed quite miserably if we're honest. He made too many mistakes, took too much pressure and blew his chance in one of the most competitive rally cars he will drive across the spread of a season.

That said, when he was quick, man was he quick. His speed in Wales was scintillating and nobody - not even the great one that is Loeb - could match him. While he did take a couple of steps back this year, Latvala did also take another big step forward on asphalt and looked genuinely able to trouble Loeb from time to time on sealed-surface rallies.

Without a doubt, one of the most honest, deep-thinking and decent drivers in the sport. Can still be world champion if he learns from this season. And doesn't go skiing again.

6. Craig Breen

Team: Team CBR
Championship position: 17th (1st SWRC)
Rallies: 7
Wins: 0
Points: 8
Fastest times: 0
Stages leading: 0

Where do you start for the 22-year-old Irishman? He started this season still riding the crest of a wave, having taken a hugely unlikely - and therefore all-the-more impressive - win in the 2011 WRC Academy. He was still on the board when Monte Carlo came around and he won the SWRC opener as well.

His world fell apart in the middle of the year, though, when he lost his co-driver and best friend Gareth Roberts in a Targa Florio crash.

Such things are sent to test a human being and Breen showed his mettle; he came out fighting, overcame a big crash in Finland, and won a second consecutive world championship for himself, Gareth and Paul Nagle, who made a fantastic job of stepping into the Breen Fiesta under the most difficult circumstances.

7. Petter Solberg

Team: Ford World Rally Team
Championship position: 5th
Rallies: 13
Wins: 0
Points 124
Fastest times: 44
Stages leading: 9

Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong for Petter Solberg did go wrong this year. At the start of the year, the Norwegian was quietly confident he would finally (finally, finally) win a round of the world championship again and for the first time since September 2005.

But the harder he tried, the harder he pushed, the win just wouldn't come and the more things went awry. In the end, he was forcing a square peg into a round hole; the season was a shocker for a driver who clearly still has the pace and machinery to win at the highest level.

Solberg and Ford deserved more than this and it would be a crying shame if this really was the end.

8. Evgeny Novikov

Team: M-Sport World Rally Team
Championship position: 6th
Rallies: 13
Wins: 0
Points: 88
Fastest times: 4
Stages leading: 0

Evgeny Novikov developed and matured more than any other driver in the World Rally Championship this season. Granted, there were still some silly mistakes, but let's not forget how long it took to build the capital of Italy...

Novikov's maturity shone through in places like Portugal, when everybody else was falling off the road in shocking conditions and he kept his head - he also scored DMACK's first ever fastest time in the WRC while running on the Chinese rubber in Spain.

His skill and bravery remain his primary assets, take a look at Rally Finland onboards for evidence and keep watching that footage for evidence of his ability to still drop the ball. On the whole, a much more rounded individual and certainly a step closer to becoming Russia's first world champion.

9. Dani Sordo

Team: Prodrive WRC Team/Ford World Rally Team
Championship position: 11th
Rallies: 8
Wins: 0
Points: 35
Fastest times: 17
Stages leading: 1

Massive frustration for Sordo. He was quite brilliant at the start of the year, taking second place in Monte Carlo, but when the rug was pulled from under him and Prodrive following BMW's decision to support Motorsport Italia, he struggled to find the same momentum when he came out later in the year.

An off probably cost another second place in Germany, while an problem with a Bosch fuel injector in Spain saw him venting massive frustration. Probably his best display of the year came when he stepped in for Jari-Matti Latvala (injured in a skiing shunt) and looked well-set for a podium place on his debut with the Ford World Rally Team.

Unfortunately for Sordo, his borrowed Fiesta RS WRC was silenced on the final stage, which rather summed up his season.

10. Ott Tanak

Team: M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
Championship position: 8th
Rallies: 13
Wins: 0
Points: 52
Fastest times: 8
Stages leading: 1

Absolutely remains one of the most promising young drivers in the world. And was given a gilt-edged opportunity from Malcolm Wilson this season. To the collective - and massive - frustration of Wilson and his mentor Markko Martin, Tanak spent much of the year chucking that chance away.

His confidence was sapped by stupid mistakes which led to bigger and bigger mistakes, such as his off in New Zealand or Spain, but when the confidence came, when he forgot about everything except driving the car, he was as quick as any of the young guns.

It was a toss-up who got this 10th spot, Tanak or Thierry Neuville, and in many ways they should have tied for it. Both have massive potential, but both have a good deal of growing up to do - and probably not a great deal of time to do it in.