Sebastien Loeb Wins Spanish WRC Round
Frenchman Takes Fourth WRC Victory in Rallye de Espana
Sebastien Loeb moved a step closer to securing his fifth World Rally Championship title with a dominant win in the Rallye de España. Loeb left Spain having extended his lead over Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen by four more points.
WRC Spain Day 1
There had been a five week gap since the last WRC event in New Zealand but Loeb was on the pace immediately as he claimed fastest times on all six of the opening stages. His Spanish team-mate Dani Sordo delighted his home fans by driving strongly all day to finish in second position, just 15.8 seconds behind Loeb.
It was clear event this early that the other teams and drivers would be fighting for third. The BP Ford Abu Dhabi team replaced Jari-Matta Latvala with tarmac specialist Francois Duval for this event. Latvala competed instead for the Stobart-VK Ford outfit.
Duval repaid Ford’s faith in him by ending the first day third overall, over two seconds ahead of team-mate Hirvonen. After an indifferent start Subaru’s Petter Solberg found some pace to end up fifth after day one, albeit nearly two minutes behind Loeb’s leading Citroen. The first casualty of the day was Per Gunnar Andersson, who crashed his Suzuki into a ditch on stage two.
WRC Spain Day 2
There were 128 km of stages to be negotiated on day two and, once again, Loeb was quickest from the off. He claimed fastest times on the first three stages, extending his lead over Sordo to 23.7 seconds.
Loeb’s monopoly was finally beaten on stage 10, where Hirvonen was 0.2 seconds faster than the Frenchman. Duval responded to Hirvonen’s performance by finishing second fastest on stage 11 and fastest on stage 12. At the end of the day Loeb led Sordo by 27.7 seconds. Duval was clear in third, 51.4 seconds behind Loeb.
WRC Spain Day 3
With only 94 km of stages on day three it was simply a matter of keeping out of trouble for Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena. Sordo had an impressive day and managed to close the gap to Loeb by the end of the rally to 24.9 seconds.
As expected, Ford instructed Duval to allow Hirvonen through, meaning that the Finn could gain a potentially crucial extra championship point. Urmo Aaava’s Citroen moved ahead of Solberg’s Subaru but it was to be short-lived. On the next stage the Estonian damaged his supension and eventually finished 34th.
Loeb had no such dramas and secured his fourth successive win in Spain. With Sordo second, Citroen strengthened their position in the constructor’s championship. Hirvonen had to settle for third with team-mate Duval just behind. Solberg managed to hang on to fifth place, ahead of Latvala who had a confidence boosting drive in the Stobart-VK Ford. Chris atkinson was seventh for Subaru with Norwegian youngster Andreas Mikkelsen an impressive eighth in his private Ford Focus.
With the next event in Corsica also being a tarmac rally it is looking increasing unlikely that Hirvonen and Ford will be able to deny Loeb and Citroen a fifth consecutive World Championship. The Ford works team will once again run tarmac specialist Duval in the Rallye de France.
Loeb was unbeatable in Spain
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