Victory and a sixth world title for Loeb/Elena

It was an emotional final day of Rally GB for the Citroën Total WRT. In spite of having led from the outset, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena only saw the rally swing decisively in their favour on the penultimate stage.

 

With their 54th world class win, the Franco-Monegasque pairing sealed their sixth consecutive World Championship. After fighting until the final minutes of the rally, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti finished just one second off second place.

 

Event Report

Day One:

The first day of Rally GB, the final round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, took crews to the infamous gravel stages of South Wales. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena won four of the six tests, which handed them a narrow lead in the overall standings in the Citroën World Rally.

Team's second C4 WRC, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti are fighting hard for the third step of the podium.

The teams pulled out of the Cardiff service park before dawn for the opening leg of the rally which took them north for two attempts at a loop of three special stages near Rhayader. At the halfway point, a so called 'remote' 15-minute service was organised at Builth Wells.

In spite of overnight rainfall, road conditions were still satisfactory for the early runners. Sébastien Loeb is chasing Mikko Hirvonen on this rally and it didn't take long for him to reveal his hand, since he was undefeated on the first three stages, which gave him an advantage of 8.9 seconds at the lunchtime break. "Everything went well this morning. I felt confident in the car and I was able to push flat out from the start. However, the conditions are tricky, with a lot of changes in grip levels," explained Sébastien at the Builth Wells stop. "Rather than concentrating on Mikko's lines, I'm making sure I get mine right…"

As for Dani Sordo, he was running third, nearly 30 seconds behind his team-mate. "I'm satisfied with the handling of my C4 WRC but I must admit that the top two are driving at a very fast pace. We're knuckling down and we're in a fight with Petter Solberg. Coping with the switches from the sections with a lot of grip to the muddier portions isn't easy, but it's pretty much the same for everybody."

By the time the entire field had completed the first loop, the conditions had deteriorated significantly for the second run. In Hafren 2 (SS4) and Myherin 2 (SS6), Sébastien Loeb lost a handful of seconds to Mikko Hirvonen. However, the five-time World Champion managed to set another fastest overall time on Sweet Lamb 2 (SS5) and, by the time he reached Cardiff, he was still leading his rival by 5.3 seconds. "As expected, Mikko and I are having a great battle. It was harder on the second run because the stages had deteriorated quite a lot and were very slippery. Be that as it may, I prefer having a five second lead to being five seconds behind. We'll find out tomorrow whether or not running first on the road is an advantage."

Dani Sordo continued his scrap with Petter Solberg throughout the afternoon. He was third at the end of SS4, but lost that position to the Norwegian on the following test and ended the day fourth overall,

1.1 seconds behind the Citroën Junior Team driver. "The last stage was difficult because it was raining, which made the road even more slippery. I'm really enjoying my battle with Petter, because we're driving without any pressure this weekend. I'll try to regain the advantage tomorrow!"

 

Day Two

Starting the day with a slender five-second advantage, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena handled Day 2 of the 2009 Rally GB with aplomb. They set four fastest stage times in six stages, and took their Citroën C4 WRC to a lead of over half a minute. The five-time World Champions seem to be ideally placed to claim a sixth consecutive title tomorrow. Dani Sordo and Marc Marti also performed strongly in the Welsh forests, recovering third place in the overall standings.

Although the teams enjoyed relatively good conditions on Friday, the weather worsened overnight. They left Cardiff in the small hours under heavy rain. After the first stage, Rhondda 1 (SS7), Sébastien Loeb had lost 2.4 seconds to his rival Mikko Hirvonen, who was just 2.9 seconds off the lead. "I had two or three aquaplaning moments in the opening kilometres and lost a bit of confidence. I was also slowed down by a branch that got stuck between the windscreen and the wiper," explained the Citroën driver.

Spurred into action, Seb decided to make an impression in Crychan 1 (SS8). Over 14.99km of very fast roads, the Frenchman took ten seconds out of his rival in one go. "It was on the edge but we made it!" said Daniel Elena calmly. Sensing that his rival was flagging, Seb continued in the same fashion on Halfway 1 (SS9/18.37 km). Fastest by 12 seconds, the number one Citroën C4 WRC pairing stretched their lead to 25 seconds by the time they reached the midday service park in Cardiff.

"Those two stages really suited my driving style," explained Sébastien. "The stage surface was hard and there was a lot of grip. I said to myself that I couldn’t afford to let Mikko close any more, and I pushed as hard as possible. I felt that I could make a real difference at that point. But I can't rest on my laurels: we need to continue pushing and taking risks."

In the afternoon, Hirvonen was once again very quick in Rhondda. But Seb responded on Crychan and Halfway, and finished the second day of the rally with a 30-second lead. "This situation suits me perfectly, but I still can’t afford to ease up. Tomorrow, we’ll be doing four long stages without any service parks. Anything can still happen on such a tough rally."

Having started fourth this morning, Dani Sordo moved ahead of Petter Solberg on SS7. After setting second-fastest times on Crychan 1 and Halfway 1, the Spaniard used the morning to build a gap to the Norwegian. "There was rain, fog, wind and mud, but I had a lot of fun," confirmed Dani. "We now have a small advantage, but I know Petter will be wanting to fight back. We need to carry on pushing."

During the afternoon, Dani lost several seconds to his rival, but he still held a 24-second lead at the end of the day: "It was really difficult, there were a lot of potholes and big puddles. I decided to be cautious at certain points, even if that cost me a bit of time. I hope I can maintain this third place tomorrow."

 

Day Three

The third day of Rally GB was shorter than the first two – but it still proved a real challenge. The competitors had to complete two runs through the Port Talbot and Rheola stages, which equated to nearly 80km without any breaks for service.

Although he held a 30 second lead over Mikko Hirvonen, Sébastien Loeb knew he couldn’t afford to relax during this decisive final leg. In Port Talbot 1 (SS13), the five-time World Champion lost eight tenths to his rival: “It’s not a bad time, but I felt a loss in power just after the start of the stage. I hope it’s not too serious…”

Several phone calls later, the Citroën Racing engineers had diagnosed a ‘fresh air’ problem, which is a system that optimises the performance of the turbocharger. In SS14 (Rheola 1), Seb lost 11 seconds in one go: “This stage was much twistier and our problem is quite a big handicap in those sections. We’ve still got a lead of 18.2 seconds, we’ll need to give everything.”

Dani Sordo’s morning wasn’t any more relaxing. After a good start on SS13, he lost seven seconds to Petter Solberg in SS14: “We swiped a big rock with the right rear, but the car isn’t too badly damaged. I don’t want to lose my place on the podium, so I need to keep on pushing to stay ahead of Petter.”

The rally took another big swing in SS15, when Mikko Hirvonen lost more than a minute after having to stop to close his bonnet! “It’s a great stroke of luck, but we’ve still got a tough stage to come,” emphasised Sébastien. At the same time, Dani Sordo had come within 0.9 seconds of second place!

Each member of the Citroën Total World Rally Team was holding their breath during the last stage. Sébastien and Daniel put in a controlled performance to secure their 54th victory and sixth world title. At the same time, Dani and Marc were attempting to snatch second place from Mikko Hirvonen, but the Finn was one tenth faster and retained the advantage.

After returning to Cardiff, the team and drivers celebrated together enthusiastically. “There were [sic] so much pressure right up to the end of the rally,” said Sébastien Loeb amidst a swarm of microphones. “We had a good start to the year, but then encountered a few problems. However, we got back on top of things just before this rally. Finally, we’ve managed to win the title again, on the penultimate stage. Mikko didn’t give up and I had to push right to the finish. It’s never easy to compare one title with another, but I think this is the best one in terms of the sporting battle we had. When you win a title with three rallies to go, the pressure isn’t the same because you’ve always got another opportunity to do it. This was the final rally and we couldn’t afford to get it wrong. Everybody expected us to win, but I can tell you that nothing was certain until we reached the finish. That’s why it means so much to us.”

As well as being delighted for his team-mate, Dani Sordo was pleased with his third place overall: “When we got to within nine tenths of Mikko in the penultimate stage, we told ourselves we had to give it a go and we pushed to the limit. We believed we could do it, but he managed to hold out. I’m satisfied with a third-place finish in the championship, and that I made a real contribution to Citroën’s success. We’ve had another very good season.”

“Three weeks after winning the Manufacturers’ title, we’ve rounded off this extraordinary season with the Drivers’ title, too,” concluded Frédéric Banzet, Director of Automobiles Citroën. “We’d got it back to five titles each, but now Seb’s slipped back ahead with his sixth! We’re pleased to have the best team, and best driver and co-driver, in the WRC. Rallying is fits perfectly with Citroën' strategy; it’s an integral part of the brand's DNA. Motor sport is important, and particularly when you win… and that’s what we’ve achieved again this year.”

 

THE RALLY BY NUMBERS

Provisional final classification

1. Loeb/Elena Citroën C4 3h16’25’’4

2. Hirvonen/Lehtinen Ford Focus +1’06’’1

3. Sordo/Marti Citroën C4 +1’07’’1

4. P. Solberg/Mills Citroën C4 +1’28’’1

5. H. Solberg/Menkerud Ford Focus +6’28’’0

6. Wilson/Martin Ford Focus +7’46’’0

7. Latvala/Anttila Ford Focus +12’11’’9

8. Rautenbach/Barritt Citroën C4 +14’27’’8

9. Brynildsen/Giraudet Skoda Fabia +22’22’’7

10. Araujo/Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer +24’18’’8...

13. Burkart/Kolbach Citroën C4 +24’56’’5...

 

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP OFFICIAL CLASSIFICATION:

1 Sébastien Loeb 93

2 Mikko Hirvonen 92

3 Dani Sordo 64

4 Jari-Matti Latvala 41

5 Petter Solberg 35

6 Henning Solberg 33

7 Matthew Wilson 28

8 Sébastien Ogier 24

9 Federico Villagra 16

10 Conrad Rautenbach 9

11 Mads Ostberg 7

12 Khalid Al Qassimi 6

13 Matti Rantanen 4

14 Evgeny Novikov 4

15 Chris Atkinson 4

16 Krzysztof Holowczyc 3

17 Jari Ketomaa 2

18 Urmo Aava 1

19 Nasser Al Attiyah 1

20 L. Athanassoulas 1



1 Citroën Total WRT 167

2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi 140

3 Stobart VK M-Sport 80

4 Citroën Junior Team 47

5 Munchi's Ford 23