Sebastien Loeb completed a hat-trick of wins on Wales Rally
GB as he yesterday took victory on the final World Rally Championship round of the year.
He had already secured his seventh successive title but with this being the
last Championship event for the current generation of World Rally Cars he was
keen to end the era on a high. | 
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Less than five seconds ahead of Norway's popular privateer Petter
Solberg overnight, the Citroen driver added more than six seconds to his
advantage on the first stage of the day.
He went on to record quicker times
than Solberg's similar C4 (above) on all four stages during the day. |
 | Second place for Solberg, whose team is managed by Cardiff
man Ken Rees, (left) means he takes third position in the World Championship.
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| Third
place on the event was enough for Ford Focus driver Jari-Matti Latvala to
secure the runner-up spot in the Championship. After the event, the Finn
acknowledged that team-mate Mikko Hirvonen had slowed down to allow him to move
ahead. |  |
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A late charge by Irish driver Craig Breen allowed him and
co-driver Gareth Roberts from Carmarthen to take 12th place overall
and 2nd in the highly competitive S2000 class (right).
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| Jason Prichard
from Builth Wells co-driven by Swansea born Robbie Durant (right) brought his Subaru
Impreza home in 20th place overall, 4th in the production
class. |  |
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| While Tom Cave from Aberdovey was forced out of the event on Saturday
with engine failure on his Proton Satria there was a class win for 17 year old
Aberangell driver Osian Pryce and co-driver Iestyn Williams (right) from Dolwyn as they
finished 35th overall in their Ford Fiesta. |  |
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Griffiths grabs National win with determined Sunday drive
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 | Victory on the two day Wales Rally GB National Rally, run in
tandem with the International event, went to Presteigne driver Nigel Griffiths.
After briefly conceding his overnight lead as the result of incurring road
penalties, the Impreza driver, with co-driver Jon Scott from Ludlow, put in an
impressive performance through Sunday's stages (left) to emerge victors by
nearly 20 seconds over
Scottish duo Barry Groundwater and Daniel Paterson in their Mitsubishi. After the final stage Nigel said "We
enjoyed that, although it was really slippy in there." |
The father and son team from Surrey, Wug and Max Utting
finished third while 21 year old Sara Williams from Brecon finished an
impressive fourth overall, recording stage times that would have put her in the
midst of the Pirelli Star Drivers in the International event. Star Driver is an
initiative to develop the careers of the world's top young drivers.Barry ‘Bach' Jones and Chris ‘Wil'
Williams, both from Llandysul took their Subaru Impreza to a top 10 finish,
coming home in 7th place.
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Finishing 9th overall in their Ford Escort,
Gareth Lloyd from Ceredigion and Boncath co-driver Llinos Davies (right) secured
victory in the historic category with runners up sport going to the similar car
of Llanddarog's Terry Brown co-driven by Tomos Whittle from Cross Hands,
who finished in 10th place overall.
There was a class win too for the Hyundai Coupe of Graham
Middleton from Llandrindod Wells and co-driver Ella Flynn as they finished 12th
overall. Meanwhile, 13 wasn't an unlucky number for Emyr Morgan from
Llanybydder and Emyr Hall from Cerigydrudion as they took their Impreza into
that final place. |  |
Abergavenny team Wayne Bonser and Richard Aston finished 16th
overall and fifth in class in their self prepared Ford Escort while Milford
Haven's Nicholas Cristofaro and co-driver Emma Morrison were 3rd
in class in their Ford Fiesta, finishing 18th overall.
Llandysul's Peter James co-drove the Mitsubishi of Phil Newson to 20th
place while one place behind but winning his class in the Mark 1 Ford Escort
previously driven by his late father, Wyndham, was Iwan Rees from Carmarthen with
co-driver Jason Davies.
Gareth Lewis from St Clears and Church Village's Yan
Griffiths claimed 24th place in their Ford Escort while there was a
class win for the Citroen C2 of Chepstow man Wyn Morgan and co-driver Elgan
Davies of Llandeilo as they finished 25th overall.
Blackwood duo Jonathan Brace and Den Golding took 29th
placed in their Mark II Ford Escort despite what they described as a
"disastrous" first day while the diminutive Toyota Starlet of
Layton Waters from Kilgetty, co-driven by Kevin Bawcott came home in 31st
place.
Neal James and Kevin Jones of Ammanford took 2nd
in class after finishing 34th overall while Port Talbot duo Thomas
Lloyd and Craig Maggs finished 4th in class and 39th
overall in their Peugeot 205.
Two Welsh crews failed to make it to the end of a demanding
event, Shon and Aled Rees from Carmarthen in their Impreza and Bridgend's
Steve Jones, driving a Ford Escort Cosworth, failing to make the Sunday morning
restart.
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© Images Gary Jones - For more unique pictures go to www.garyjonesrallypics.co.uk
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