Loeb Leads Citroen's 1-2-3-4 in Rally Bulgaria

Sebastian Loeb returned to his winning ways in the 2010 World Rally Championship with a perfect performance in Bulgaria. Tackling the asphalt roads of the south-east European country for the first time in career, the Frenchman cruised to a comfortable win ahead of Citroen teammate Dani Sordo. “It's been perfect - a very good first day, then the second day had difficult conditions, it was important to just keep the rhythm and not make any mistakes, not take any risks,” said Loeb, who led the Bulgarian rally from stage one to the very finish line. In the end, Sordo finished almost half of minute behind, but secured his second consecutive podium finish in 2010 and his first runner-up spot this year. At the end of the day, one could easily conclude that this was a Citroen rally all the way, as privateer Petter Solberg secured 3rd place on his C4, almost 7 seconds behind Sordo. The Norwegian started off the last day of action in Bulgaria with a great win in SS11, but Sordo reacted quickly to score the fastest time in SS12 and strengthen his second place. Nothing changed in the last two stages of the day, so Solberg had to settle for 3rd place. Behind him was Citroen Junior’s Sebastien Ogier who, hadn’t it been for that mistake he made in Day 1 when he missed a junction in SS3, could have finished inside the Top 3 once again. Ogier finished the rally with an SS14 win and had to settle for 4th place, some 1 minute and 55 seconds behind Loeb. However, he still got to conclude the rally ahead of Ford’s duo Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala, who were followed by another Ford driver (Stobart’s) Per-Gunnar Andersson. This is the first time in the last 17 years that a manufacturer manages to secure a 1-2-3-4 in a rally, following Toyota’s similar performance in the 1993 Safari Rally.