Rally GB and WRC go to Loeb in Welsh thriller


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

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