LOEB PIPS HIRVONEN FOR WRC CROWN

It was an emotional final day of Rally GB for Citroen and its lead driver Sebastian Loeb. In spite of having led from the outset, Loeb only saw the rally swing decisively in his favor on the penultimate stage at the final 2009 World Rally Championship (WRC) event in Cardiff, Wales.

The Frenchman’s 54th WRC victory ensured him his sixth consecutive WRC Championship in the very last event of the season. After fighting until the final minutes of the Rally GB, team mate Dani Sordo (above right) added icing to the cake when he finished just one second off the lead in third place overall.

Although he held a 30 second lead over Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen, Loeb knew he couldn't afford to relax during this decisive final leg. In Port Talbot 1 (SS13), the five-time WRC Champion lost eight tenths to his rival, after being diagnosed of a `fresh air' problem, a system that optimizes the performance of the turbocharger, with the C4. In SS14 (Rheola 1), he lost a further 11 seconds, but still had an 18.2 seconds lead to the finish line. 
 

The rally took another big swing in SS15 as luck fell to Loeb with Hirvonen losing  further grounds to his Championship rival, following a forced stop by the Finn to close his Focus’ bonnet during the stage. At the same time, Sordo had come within 0.9 seconds of second place, eventually had a task to assist Loeb’s Championship quest.  

On the very last stage, the Frenchman put in a controlled performance to secure victory and the sixth WRC title.

A jubilant Loeb said, "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 (Hirvonen) 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.”
 

"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," he added.

Hirvonen's dream of a maiden WRC title ended in disappointment after a stirring final day battle. The Ford driver missed the drivers' crown by just one point after finishing second in the Rally of Great Britain. A freak incident with the bonnet of his rally Car on the penultimate speed test ended the Finn’s challenge. 

The Finn started the final day 30.2sec behind Loeb in their head-to-head showdown. After several days of heavy rain, the gravel forest tracks in the Vale of Neath, near Cardiff, were treacherously muddy but Hirvonen threw caution to the wind in his attempt to overhaul the Frenchman and claim the title.
 

The Finn edged closer to Loeb by winning the opening Port Talbot special stage and then gave himself a real chance by slashing more than 11sec from Loeb's advantage in the classic Rheola test. With just a repeat pass through those two stages remaining, the deficit was down to only 18.2sec. Hirvonen was again quicker than his rival through the early sections of the 17.41km Port Talbot test, before his chances evaporated shortly before the midpoint.

"The car landed after a jump and the left pin holding the bonnet came loose. The bonnet began to flap in the wind but the hinge on the right stayed attached. I couldn't see a thing and stopped to rip off the bonnet. It was such bad luck," he explained.

 

Team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala finished seventh after losing time on the first day’s opening leg. The Finn started the final day in eighth with his sights on a points finish. However, Latvala slid off the road and down a bank at the finish of the second stage in Rheola. Having already crossed the timing beam, he lost no time but his car was stuck. Spectators manhandled it back onto the road, but the suspension was damaged and he limped through the final two stages. His perseverance was rewarded as he claimed seventh when fifth-placed Sebastien Ogier crashed out.

 

 

Stobart Team kept up their remarkable record of scoring Manufacturers’ points at every round of this season's WRC Championship as Henning Solberg (above left) and Matthew Wilson produced strong finishes in fifth and sixth respectively at the finale in Cardiff.
 

Solberg’s fifth was his best ever result in WRC, while Wilson’s sixth drew equal with his best performance of the season on his home event. The result also confirms Wilson's best ever finish to a WRC season as he claims seventh in the Drivers' Championship, one place behind Solberg.
 

Solberg, battling his brother Petter for position in the Drivers' Championship, had a difficult start to the rally as his Focus RS WRC developed a misfire on the very first stage causing the Norwegian to lose over a minute on the leaders. But as the 62 starters tackled 130kms of fast and slippery stages in mid-Wales, the Norwegian managed to improve his times, despite the recurring engine problem, climbing from ninth to sixth by the end of the day.

Wilson had a heart-stopping moment in the first stage as his car’s windscreen wipers stopped leaving him at the mercy of the heavy rain and muddy roads. Thankfully the problem was only temporary, but the Brit suffered throughout the day with handling problems as his car lacked traction, particularly in the slow corners.
 

On the second day, Solberg set out to chase down Ogier but he found it hard to stay on the pace of the Frenchman early on and was hit badly on the final stage as the car’s windscreen wipers struggled to cope with the constant barrage of rain. He maintained his sixth place at the end of the day.
 

While other crews suffered on the final day of the rally, slipping off the roads on the tests to the north-west of Cardiff, both Solberg and Wilson maintained their consistency and reaped the rewards as Ogier slid off the road on the penultimate stage of the rally, advancing Solberg to fifth and Wilson to sixth.

 

The WRC season ended on a high with Sebastian Loeb as the six-time Champion and Citroen as the Manufacturers’ Champion. The 2010 season will begin with the Swedish Rally from 12 - 14 February (see www.motorsportchannel.com 2010 Global Motorsports Events for complete listing) . 

 

 

Results

 

 

Drivers’ Standings

 

Manufacturers’