Sebastien Loeb Scores 50th WRC Win in Cyprus

Sebastien Loeb mastered the elements during Rally Cyprus this weekend and clinched his 50th win inside the World Rally Championship, ahead of Ford’s and main title rival Mikko Hirvonen. The Frenchman chose a more defensive approach on Day 3 of the rally, focusing solely on keeping a safe margin ahead of Hirvonen. The Finnish driver kept his hopes alive until the very last special stage – as he came less than 30 seconds behind the Citroen driver – but eventually had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Loeb began his demolition over the WRC pack from as early as Friday, when he closed the day more than a minute away from the other competitors. Tackling the asphalt stages on gravel tires proved to be a much tougher task than expected for Hirvonen, who found it very difficult to keep the pace with the Citroens on Day 1. He later admitted that his poor run on gravel-spec Pirellis on asphalt practically ruined the rally for him.

“I think we lost it on Friday. At least we managed to take some time back on these two days. If it had been dry, it might have been different. We are definitely a lot faster on gravel now so hopefully we can have a good fight in Portugal,” said Hirvonen at the end of the event.

In the meantime, “50” is the number everybody seems to be discussing at the Citroen base, although Loeb admits his thoughts go to the long-run battle with Hirvonen this season. While happy with his achievement, the Frenchman is already with one eye on the next WRC event, Rally Portugal.

“It's incredible. I remember when I beat the record of Carlos (Sainz) and Colin (McRae). Now 50 is a really a big number, a nice number. I'm really happy with what we are achieving at the moment, but it's not finished, we're not stopping yet,” said Loeb.

Third overall was Petter Solberg, who scored his first WRC podium as team owner. The Finnish driver performed consistent good runs on Day 3 of the rally and eventually caught up with Dani Sordo with 2 stages remaining. Citroen decided to take a more conservative approach on the last couple of stages, as Solberg’s Citroen Xsara was not running for manufacturer points anyway.

“I was so happy to win the first stage in Norway but this is just amazing. I'm really, really happy,” said an enthused Solberg at the end.

Fifth place should have belonged to Citroen Junior’s Sebastien Ogier, but the Frenchman unluckily crashed his Citroen C4 one kilometer from the finish line to gift Stobart’s Matthew Wilson the 4 points. Citroen’s satellite team did manage to get a driver into the Top 8 after all, as South African Conrad Rautenbach finished the event in 6th place. Their 3rd driver, Russian teenager Evgeny Novikov, crashed out in the opening stages on Sunday.

Munchi’s Ford Rally Team managed to make the scoreboard at their very first event this season, as Federico Villagra brought his team their first manufacturer points from 7th place overall. The Top 8 was completed by Ford’s Khalid Al Qassimi, scoring his second point ever in the WRC.