LOEB DOMINATES WRC'S RALLY JORDAN
2010-04-08 23:42:58 Author: admin Source:
Current World Rally (WRC) champion Sébastien Loeb dominated the third and last day of Round 3's Rally Jordan and went on to win his 56th victory to open up a significant gap in the Drivers’ standings. In the manufacturers' rankings, Citroen also arrested the lead from Ford in the order with team mate Dani Sordo’s fourth place finish.
The final leg of Rally Jordan was difficult for the competitors, but Loeb who led all runners with a 27s cushion, including second place Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, did not start first, instead the Citroen team decided to get their third driver Sébastien Ogier to sweep the road for an ensured victory. Loeb did not let the team down on his run as he banged in three quickest times in four stages and confirmed that he was the fastest driver in the rally.
When the 6-time WRC champion arrived back in the service park beside the Dead Sea, he was feeling pretty happy about the final stages: “For sure, the team’ strategy made things a bit easier for me, but I’m not sure I really needed it. Despite a position that was not as favourable as Jari-Matti (Latvala)’s, we were able to open up the gap a bit more. Now, we’ll just have to watch out and avoid the traps of the second part to win the rally.”
As the gaps were fairly wide, there was no final twist in the last 4 stages. Loeb crossed the timing beam for another win in the series. “I’m delighted to have won such a tough rally. Our second victory in three events has helped us to open up a twenty-five point gap, the equivalent of a victory, over the second-paced driver. We can now tackle the next rally in a reasonably relaxed frame of mind.”
Sordo, who was running fourth behind Loeb, Latvala and Solberg, knew exactly what was expected of him – hang on to his position to score points for the Manufacturers’ championship. The perfect day for Citroen was completed by ex-Ferrari F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen's(above) eighth position, scoring his first points in the WRC.
Latvala (above) who celebrated his 25th birthday last Sunday finished the Rally Jordan in second place, his best result for almost a year after conquering intense heat and rocky desert tracks in the Arabian kingdom. The runners-up position promoted the Finn into second in the Drivers' championship ahead of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen.
The Jordanian rally was a disastrous outing for Hirvonen who could only managed 20th, restarting under SupeRally rules after retiring from fifth in the second leg when he hit a bank and broke his car's front left suspension.
Latvala was unstoppable on the opening leg or the first day, picking his way skilfully through the rocky desert landscape to build a 30.2sec advantage. As a result he was first in the start order for the second leg, and lost time as he swept slippery loose gravel from the road surface to create a cleaner and faster line for those behind to follow. He ended the day in third, 27.7sec from the lead but with an ideal start position for the final leg.
On the final leg, due to a flurry of tactics to get an advantage in difficult conditions, teams' secondary drivers deliberately incurred time penalties to engineer a more favourable start position for their team-mates. Latvala was now fourth in the running order but, crucially, main rival Loeb was second rather than first and avoided the unwanted role as road opener.
Latvala attacked initially but, after two narrow escapes, soon called off his pursuit of the leader and settled for a worthy second place. Meanwhile, Hirvonen ended the opening leg in fifth but crashed out less than 3km into the second leg, breaking the car's suspension. Lying 20th and with no chance of regaining lost time, the Finn was happy to deliberately incur a time penalty by restarting early on the last stages to improve Latvala's road position. He paced himself through the final eight tests to finish 20th and score some valuable points.
Stobart's Matthew Wilson (above) scored his best finish in the WRC as he claimed fifth place at Jordan Rally. The Briton survived a tricky final day at the Middle Eastern event and took advantage of tactical changes in road position by other drivers to collect 10 points. Team-mate Henning Solberg completed the arduous Dead Sea-based event in ninth overall after fighting back into the top ten following a costly puncture on the first day (Friday).
The WRC crews now rest and move on to Round four's new-look Rally of Turkey on 15 - 18 April.
Results
1. S Loeb/D Elena Citroen C4 3hr 51min 35.9sec
2. J-M Latvala/M Anttila Ford Focus RS 3hr 52min 11.7sec
3. P Solberg/P Mills Citroen C4 3hr 52min 47.7sec
4 D Sordo/M Marti Citroen C4 3hr 53min 25.2sec
5. M Wilson/S Martin Ford Focus RS 4hr 00min 00.2sec
6. S Ogier/J Ingrassia Citroen C4 4hr 02min 02.3sec
7. F Villagra/J Perez Companc Ford Focus RS 4hr 03min 03.9sec
8. K Räikkönen/K Lindström Citroen C4 4hr 04min 06.9sec
9. H Solberg/I Minor Ford Focus RS 4hr 05min 44.5sec
10 X Pons/A Haro Ford Fiesta 4hr 10min 09.8sec
