The Frenchman grabbed the lead of Rally Portugal ever since Friday, setting up a 46 second lead from Loeb for the last two days of action. And, as hard as the reigning world champion tried to close the gap on Ogier on Saturday and Sunday, it was the Junior driver who managed to cross the finish line some 7.9 seconds ahead of Loeb.
“It's just perfect. It was an amazing weekend, I pushed from the first day until now - all weekend it was a big battle and very hard to keep Seb (Loeb) behind me. To win my first rally like this, after a big battle with Seb, is just perfect. In New Zealand I lost it but I said that when I did win, it would be even more happy - and I am very happy today,” said Ogier after the rally ended.
The best news for Citroen, apart from the fact that Ogier proved once more that he’s a man of the future for the French team, is that the manufacturer managed to secure a 1-2-3 finish in Portugal, as works driver Dani Sordo secured his first podium of the season more than a minute and 10 seconds behind.
It could have been a quad of aces for Citroen this weekend hadn’t it been for another unlucky performance from privateer Petter Solberg. The Norwegian was running in a secure 4th place before the final 2-km superspecial stage at Algarve Stadium, when he crashed into a barrier and lost one place to Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen.
Matthew Wilson of Stobart Ford had to settle for 6th place, ahead of Mads Ostberg, Federico Villagra and Khalid Al-Qassimi. The Top 10 was completed by Kimi Raikkonen, whose Citroen C4 suffered from tire problems in the last couple of stages, making the Finn lose 2 places in the process.
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