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Rally GB and WRC go to Loeb in Welsh thriller
publication date: Oct 26, 2009
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Sebastien Loeb has added another WRC crown to his
name along with the manufacturer’s title for Citroen this season after
a thrilling final day on the Rally of Great Britain.
Yesterday produced twists and turns all the way to the end with
France’s Sebastien Loeb taking a hard earned victory and a record sixth
successive World Rally Championship.
He entered the event one
point behind Finn Mikko Hirvonen in the championship standings and they
led the field right from the star. In fact, Loeb was never headed but
that belies the fact that the result was in doubt all the way to the
finish.
With only four stages on the final day, Hirvonen
realised it would be a tall order to overhaul his rival but he set
about the task in determined fashion, taking time off Loeb on both of
the first two stages.
A freak problem on the penultimate stage,
however, left Hirvonen well adrift of the leader and in danger of
conceding second place to Loeb’s team-mate Dani Sordo. As Hirvonen took
a jump at high speed, a pin securing the Ford Focus’s bonnet broke.
As
he continued down a long straight at over 100mph, air got under the
bonnet breaking both hinges. The bonnet, still secured by the one
remaining pin lifted, obscuring Hirvonen’s view, forcing him to stop
and rip off the bonnet.
That came as a relief for Loeb who was
by now suffering from falling turbo pressure on his Citroen. Hirvonen
pushed as hard as he could on the final stage and although he managed
to hang on to second place, one second ahead of Spaniard Sordo, he
could do nothing about Loeb ahead of him.
Sordo had battled
throughout the event with Petter Solberg, with the Norwegian and
co-driver Phil Mills of Newtown finally settling for fourth place.
A
roll on the penultimate stage by Spain ’s Sebastian Ogier cost him
fifth place, which was taken by Petter Solberg’s elder brother, Henning.
At
the end of the event, Loeb declared “For sure it has been an incredible
season. A very good start and then we lost everything in the middle of
the year. I arrived here under big, big pressure but now I am really
happy for this Championship. Mikko is really, really strong and I know
that next year he will be even stronger. It is really an incredible
feeling to win here.”
Meanwhile, a philosophical Hirvonen said,
“The bonnet pin was the last of our problems. To be honest I lost the
rally yesterday when I could not get the speed but that’s life. We had
the best performance ever up until then and I know Seb has been under
pressure from me all the way through. This was definitely the best year
I have had but it has been a disappointing end. All I can do is try
again next year.”
Loeb wasn’t the only one celebrating at the
end of the event. Carmarthen ’s Gareth Roberts co-drove Irishman Craig
Breen to the International Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy to add to the
British and Irish titles they had already claimed this season.
It
wasn’t such a successful event for Gareth’s brother, Dai. He and driver
Tom Haines of Pendoylan were unable to restart the event on Sunday
morning because of engine problems on their Subaru Impreza.
Nevertheless,
it had been an impressive performance particularly since 23 year old
Haines has only been rallying for four months. It prompted the team
manager of Nortech Motorsport, to say of the youngster “I think he
could have a great future if he is handled right.”
Another of
Welsh rallying’s young hopes couldn’t match the dominant class win that
he took on his debut event last year. 17 year old Tom Cave rolled his
Ford Fiesta twice on Friday and then suffered gearbox problems on
Saturday. Despite the setbacks he soldiered on, eventually finishing in
44th place.
The 2010 World Rally Championship gets underway in
Sweden in February with the Rally of Great Britain, the final round of
13, in Wales once again on Thursday 11 November.
| | © Images Gary Jones |
| Rally GB Final positions | | 1. S Loeb/D Elena
| Citroen C4
| | 3hr 16min 25.4sec | | 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS
| | 3hr 17min 31.5sec | | 3. D Sordo/M Marti | Citroen C4 | | 3hr 17min 32.5sec | | 4. P Solberg/P Mills | Citroen C4 | | 3hr 17min 53.5sec | | 5. H Solberg/C Menkerud | Ford Focus RS | | 3hr 22min 53.4sec | | 6. M Wilson/S Martin | Ford Focus RS | | 3hr 24min 11.4sec | | 7. J-M Latvala/M Anttila | Ford Focus RS | | 3hr 28min 37.3sec | 8. C Rautenbach/D Barritt
| Citroen C4 | | 3hr 30min 53.2sec | | 9. E Brynildsen/D Giraudet | Skoda Fabia | | 3hr 38min 48.1sec | | 10 A Araujo/M Ramalho | Mitsubishi Lancer
| | 3hr 40min 44.2sec
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| World Rally Championship 2009 | | Drivers | | | Manufacturers | | 1. S Loeb
| 93pts
| | 1. Citroen Total | 167pts | 2. M Hirvonen
| 92pts | | 2. BP Ford Abu Dhabi
| 140pts | 3. D Sordo
| 64pts
| | 3. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford
| 80pts | 4. J-M Latvala
| 41pts | | 4. Citroen Junior
| 47pts | 5. P Solberg
| 35pts
| | 5. Munchi's Ford
| 23pts |
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