With his 7th WRC title already secured, Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb drove pressure-less towards another victory in Catalunya, increasing his win tally in the World Rally Championship to 59, while also clinching his 6th consecutive success on the roads of the Spanish region.
Practically, the 7-time world champ only had to resist some Day 1 pressure from gravel teammate Sebastien Ogier, as he had to open the roads throughout the Friday action. With the organizers deciding to mix up the surface of the rally, Day 1 was ran most of the times on gravel, which kept Loeb from distancing himself in the classification.
On Saturday morning however, after Ogier bumped his C4 WRC into a barrier and dropped to 17th overall, Loeb remained all alone on top of the standings, driving comfortably towards his 7th success of the season.
“A very good result in Spain again, there was nothing to play for in the championship here so we could drive without any added pressure and I started to push very hard from the opening day. Once we were leading, we could take the two days on asphalt easier,” said Loeb at the end of the rally, which he finished 35.3 seconds ahead of Citroen privateer Petter Solberg.
After a struggling day on gravel on Friday, Dani Sordo got into asphalt mode pretty fast and managed to recover more than 2 minutes from Loeb on Saturday and Sunday, yet he failed to overtake Solberg for the second spot. Despite his perfect run during Day 2 and 3, Sordo had to settle for the last step of the podium, only 5.8 seconds behind the Norwegian.
Fourth and fifth overall were the two Ford works drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen, while followed by Stobart’s Matthew Wilson, Ford’s Khalid Al Qassimi and Stobart’s Henning Solberg. Ken Block scored his first ever WRC points from 9th spot, just ahead of Sebastien Ogier.
Practically, the 7-time world champ only had to resist some Day 1 pressure from gravel teammate Sebastien Ogier, as he had to open the roads throughout the Friday action. With the organizers deciding to mix up the surface of the rally, Day 1 was ran most of the times on gravel, which kept Loeb from distancing himself in the classification.
On Saturday morning however, after Ogier bumped his C4 WRC into a barrier and dropped to 17th overall, Loeb remained all alone on top of the standings, driving comfortably towards his 7th success of the season.
“A very good result in Spain again, there was nothing to play for in the championship here so we could drive without any added pressure and I started to push very hard from the opening day. Once we were leading, we could take the two days on asphalt easier,” said Loeb at the end of the rally, which he finished 35.3 seconds ahead of Citroen privateer Petter Solberg.
After a struggling day on gravel on Friday, Dani Sordo got into asphalt mode pretty fast and managed to recover more than 2 minutes from Loeb on Saturday and Sunday, yet he failed to overtake Solberg for the second spot. Despite his perfect run during Day 2 and 3, Sordo had to settle for the last step of the podium, only 5.8 seconds behind the Norwegian.
Fourth and fifth overall were the two Ford works drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen, while followed by Stobart’s Matthew Wilson, Ford’s Khalid Al Qassimi and Stobart’s Henning Solberg. Ken Block scored his first ever WRC points from 9th spot, just ahead of Sebastien Ogier.
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