25/10/09

Sebastien Loeb takes his sixth World Rally Title!

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb cruised through the final stage of the Rally of Great Britain today to take victory in his Citroen Total team C4 WRC and wrap up a remarkable sixth World Rally Championship title.

The win, the seventh from the 12-round season for Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena, was the 54th of his record-breaking WRC career.

Loeb and Elena climbed onto the roof of their car at the end of the decisive 27km Rheola stage, and punched the air as they celebrated their victory in front of a crowd of fans and journalists.

Loeb clinched his sixth title by the closest of margins; his total of 93 points was just one ahead of his arch rival Mikko Hirvonen of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team.

"It's been an incredible season," said a delighted Loeb. "We made a good start then we lost everything and we came here one point behind Mikko. Finally we've done it and I'm really happy but Mikko has been extremely strong. I know it will be tough next year for sure.

"This has been one of my best title wins; the battle was so intense - going almost until the end of the last rally. It was incredible. We have had some highs and some lows this year but we finished with the victory. It’s an incredible feeling!" he added.

Ford Focus RS WRC driver Hirvonen, and his co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen, were next to reach the finish control, and were two of the first to congratulate Loeb and Elena. After his bonnet flew up on the penultimate test, Hirvonen did enough over the final 22.51km to secure second place in Wales, and get closer to Loeb in the Drivers' fight than anybody since Marcus Gronholm in 2006.

"Well, the bonnet pin was the last of our problems but I really lost the rally yesterday when I couldn't find the speed on those two stages, [SS8 and SS9]" said Hirvonen. "Now I need to go back to work and find more speed for next year. It was definitely the best year I've ever had, though. We're really close now to his speed and that feels good. It’s been a great year, but of course a big disappointment at the end."

Loeb's Citroen Total team-mate Dani Sordo finished third, just one second behind Hirvonen, to take the final step on the podium and secure third place in this year's Drivers' Championship standings on a total of 64 points. "This has been a great day and a great championship, I'm really happy," said the Spaniard. "I pushed hard on this rally but unfortunately the times of Mikko and Sebastien were too good. I tried hard to catch Mikko at the end, and I've really enjoyed my fight with Petter too, but of course big congratulations must go to Sebastien."

In fourth place, 21 seconds slower than Sordo, was four time Rally GB winner Petter Solberg. The Norwegian, running under the Citroen Junior Team banner this weekend, said he was delighted to round off his first season as an independent driver locked in a battle for the podium. "It’s been a long journey to get here, but I'm very pleased with this result," he said.

"The car was good - but I should have done a little more testing in the mud. But my improvement through the rally has been good and the whole year, actually, has been fantastic. By team has done a brilliant job and thanks again to Citroen for giving me this possibility. It could have been a better weekend, though, yesterday we were so unlucky, and I tried today to beat Sordo but I'm happy, very happy. Next year we want a proper car and full spec attack. I hope to battle for the championship."

After missing the opening round of the season in Ireland, Solberg ended the year ranked fifth in the series on a total of 35 points.

Five minutes behind the leading group, in fifth place, was Petter's elder brother Henning in the first of the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team cars. The Norwegian struggled on the opening day with a persistent engine misfire but ended the event with two top-five times. "I'm happy, we are here at the end, and I hope to start another new season next year," he said. Solberg finished sixth in the WRC Drivers' series on a total of 33 points - matching his career best finish in 2007.

Sixth overall was Henning's team-mate Matthew Wilson - the only full-time British driver in the WRC. After losing time on day one with a traction problem, Wilson was disappointed not to have had a fight on his hands on his home round of the series.

"It was a frustrating day on Friday, and very, very difficult to drive when the handling was so tricky," he said. "It's been okay from then on, yesterday especially was okay in the afternoon, but overall it's been a frustrating end to the season; we'd have liked to have been a bit more on the pace. Overall though the year has been quite good. Hopefully we'll get the chance to do this again next year, keep the momentum going and improve some more." Three points in Wales put Wilson seventh in the 2009 Drivers' standings on a total of 28 points - the best ranking of his career to date.

Seventh was Wilson's Ford stable-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. The Finn dropped out of winning contention on the opening day because of a driveshaft failure. He had another difficult day today, crashing off the road after the flying finish of SS12, and ended up nursing his battered Ford Focus RS WRC to the end of the event.

"It's been a very character building rally," said Latvala at the stage end. "After the problem on Friday we struggled with the driving a bit and then there was my mistake today. I'll be happy to get to the finish. It’s been a tough season for me. Now I want to forget rally for a while, think about something else and then refocus on 2010." Helped by his win this year in Sardegna, Latvala ended the season fourth in the Drivers' standings on a total of 41 points.

Eighth, and collecting the final Drivers' Championship point this weekend, was Conrad Rautenbach - the Zimbabwean wrapping up his second season with the Citroen Junior Team placed tenth in the series on a total of 10 points. "It’s been a really difficult rally, but we always knew it would be," he said. "We had a few problems, but I managed to get through without making any silly mistakes. It's good to end our year in the points like this."

Follow this link to see the complete list of stage times. To analyse the split times click here.