Loeb leads home a Citroën train in Portugal
Half the top ten finishers in the weekend’s (30 March – 1 April 2007) Portuguese round of the World Rally Championship were Citroens, lead home by Sébastien Loeb in his Citroën C4 WRC and joined on the Podium by his team mate Dani Sordo, a result that puts reigning World Champion Loeb back in the lead for the 2007 World Rally Championship title.
For its return to the World Rally Championship scene after an absence of five years, the 2007 Rally de Portugal lived every bit up to its former legend, despite its switch to new territory at the southern tip of the country. The Algarve region's stages turned out to be extremely demanding and, although essentially smooth, featured numerous pitfalls of which both Citroën Sport drivers succeeded in steering clear. And as if the tests weren't challenging enough in the dry, the picture was complicated further still when rain moved in over the region on Saturday morning, although this change in the weather failed to catch Citroën Sport by surprise since it had been accurately predicted by Météo France, one of the team's technical partners this year.
This year's Rally de Portugal will be remembered as one of the most thrilling of the event's history thanks to the breathtaking clash between Sébastien Loeb and Marcus Grönholm that kept the large, perfectly-behaved crowds on their toes. The outcome of their duel was finally decided over the five stages of the third and final leg on Sunday morning which saw Seb base his pace on that of Marcus Grönholm to take his Citroën C4 WRC to its third win of the season. Like his teammate, Dani Sordo preferred not to take any risks on his way to 5th overall.
"I was one of the few drivers to have prior knowledge of the stages," observed Dani at the finish, "but I'm not sure it was that big an advantage. I drove better at times on the stages that were new to me and I was sometimes a little hesitant over the portions I knew. Once again, I have been able to see how much work I still need to do, especially over the slower sections. My knowledge of the C4 WRC is improving and I am using more of its potential, so that's positive. It was nice to see all the flags from my region on the stages. The noisy support from the Spanish spectators was much appreciated too."
For Loeb, visit to Portugal ran to plan.
"It was pretty much a perfect weekend for us," commented Sébastien after claiming the 31st world class win of his career, all of which have been obtained driving a Citroën WRC. "My set-up wasn't ideally suited to the terrain during Friday's first loop but we managed to fine-tune the balance and it was much more to my liking after that. The recent Rally of Mexico and the testing we have done since also helped us find a good set-up for the C4. Step by step, we are gradually exploiting more and more of its potential. It is as easy to drive as ever and our work, notably on the suspension, has enabled us to improve its traction. The change from dry to very wet conditions didn't pose a problem for us. We were well informed about the changes in the weather and that enabled us to anticipate and make two very good tyre choices. Today's result is also very positive in championship terms because it takes us two points closer to Ford."
Team director, Guy Fréquelin, pointed out that the result was as much decided in the planning stages of the event as on the dirt tracks themselves.
"Everyone at Citroën Sport did a remarkable job throughout the weekend," enthused Guy Fréquelin at the finish. "In addition to the very specific challenge of the stages, the picture was further complicated by rain on Saturday morning. However, we benefited from accurate weather forecasts and that enabled us to make two particularly good tyre choices. After selecting soft compound BFGoodrich tyres on Saturday morning, we switched to a harder compound for the afternoon's loop. It's rare to make such a big jump when contesting the same stages twice the same day. This rally was incontestably very positive for Citroën Sport: we succeeded in making even more of the C4's potential, Sébastien has closed the gap on Grönholm and Dani has gained more valuable experience."
Among the spectators was Citroën’s newly appointed MD.
"Six weeks after taking over at Citroën, I was keen to see a WRC event for myself," said Citroën's Managing Director Gilles Michel. "It's nice to be able to share the celebrations here in Portugal with everyone at Citroën Sport. My trip allowed me to see how popular rallying is and how close it is to the public. It's a discipline that reflects Citroën's dynamic image and brand values."
Completing Citroën’s domination of the Rally of Portugal, and demonstrating its still has plenty of pace at the highest level of the sport, no less than three Citroën Xsara WRC cars finished in the top ten, taking 6th, 7th and 9th positions in the event.
Rally facts
Stage Winners
Leg 1 : SS1 : Marcus Grönholm (Ford Focus) – SS2 : Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) – SS3 : M. Grönholm – SS4 : Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4) – SS5 : M. Grönholm – SS6 et SS7 : S.Loeb.
Leg 2 : SS8, SS9, SS10, SS11, SS12 and SS13: Loeb
Leg 3 : SS14 : M. Hirvonen – SS15 S. Loeb – SS16, SS17 : M. Grönholm – SS18 S.
Loeb.
Best performers
S. Loeb 11 fastest times – M. Grönholm 5 – M. Hirvonen 2.
Event Leaders
SS1 to SS6 : M. Grönholm – SS7 to SS18 : S. Loeb.
Results of the 2007 Rally of Portugal
- S. Loeb/D. Elena (Citroën C4)3 h 53 min 33,1 s
- P. Solberg/P. Mills (Subaru Impreza) 3 min 13,9 s
- D. Sordo/M. Martí (Citroën C4) 5 min 05,3 s
- M. Grönholm/T. Rautiainen (Ford Focus) 5 min 37,1 s
- M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus) 2 min 08,1 s
- D. Carlsson/D. Giraudet (Citroën Xsara) 8 min 13,2 s
- G. Galli/G. Bernacchini (Citroën Xsara) 9 min 39,6 s
- JM. Latvala/M. Antilla (Ford Focus) 10 min 44,9 s
- M. Stohl/I. Minor (Citroën Xsara) 12 min 46 s
- A. Mikkelsen/O. Floene (Ford Focus) 13 min 51,6 s
FIA World rally Championship’s rankings ‘Manufacturers’ (round 5/16)*
1. Ford, 67 points – 2. Citroën, 59 pts – 3. Subaru, 27 pts – 5. OMV Kronos Citroën, 21 pts – Stobart, 21 pts
FIA World rally Championship’s rankings ‘Drivers’ (round 5/16)*
1. S. Loeb, 38 pts – 2. M. Grönholm, 37 points – 3. M. Hirvonen, 30 pts – 4. D. Sordo, 19 pts – 5. P. Solberg, 16 pts – 6. H. Solberg, 11 pts – 7. C. Atkinson, 10 pts – 8. D. Carlsson, 9 pts – 9. JM. Latvala, 7 pts – 10. T. Gardemeister, 5 pts – 11. M. Stohl, 5 pts
– 12. G. Galli, 5 pts – 13. J. Kopecky, 2 pts – 14. M. Wilson, 1 pt.