WRC: LATVALA DOES CONSISTENT FINISH FOR WIN IN NEW ZEALAND

2010-05-11 14:20:32 Author: admin Source:

At the latest World Rally Championship (WRC) round in Auckland, New Zealand, Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala scored his first victory of the season and held off two strong Citroen contenders, defending WRC champion Sebastian Loeb and newcomer Sebastien Ogier.  Latvala's victory was his third career success and his first since triumphing in Italy almost 12 months ago. He climbs to second in the drivers' standings behind Loeb and Hirvonen moves up to third. 

After remarkable drama in the final few kilometres of the final leg, the Finn won by just 2.4sec. ahead of a hard-charging Ogier  The victory means Ford becomes the most successful manufacturer in the history of the WRC with 75 wins.

Team-mate Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth to enable Ford to close to within five points of the lead in the manufacturers' championship standings with eight rounds remaining.

Latvala was one of four leaders during the opening day, which he ended in second.  The Finn was frustrated after losing time on the second leg and started the final day in third, 33.2sec from the lead but in a better start position than those ahead.  He climbed a place on the second of the four speed tests on the Tasman Sea coastline near Raglan and went into the final stage, the legendary 29.67km Whaanga Coast, just 6.2sec from the lead. 

Four drivers started with a chance of victory; Latvala, Loeb, Ogier and Petter Solberg. Solberg was the first to fall by the wayside when he crashed into a telegraph pole and then Loeb spun, for the second time in the test, less than 10km from the finish.  Remarkably the leader, Ogier, then went off the road just three corners from the finish.  Amid all the drama, the consistent Latvala kept calm to power to a fairytale victory.

"I didn't think it could happen, it's the most amazing and beautiful win," said Latvala.  "Whaanga Coast showed its teeth.  I neared the end of the stage and could see a car's bumper on the road but I didn't know which car it was from.  I didn't know we had won until three minutes after the finish of the stage.  It's my best win and makes up for my disappointments. I can't believe I'm second in the championship.  I wasn't the fastest here but I was the most consistent and that paid off when it mattered," he added.

Hirvonen struggled to find the pace he wanted during the opening two days, and the Finn began the final day in sixth, a minute from the lead.  He more than halved that deficit during the opening two stages as he climbed to fifth and then gained another position on the final stage when Solberg crashed out.

In the only other WRC manufacturer's camp,  Citroen's top rally pilot finished third overall while team mate Dani Sordo (above right) saw the flag in fifth place. Loeb has a comfortable lead in the drivers’ championship, and the Citroën World Rally Team is still in first place in the manufacturers’ championship.

After a heroic second day, Loeb tackled the final leg with a single aim, victory.  In addition to the 5.3s he had to pull back on Ogier, Loeb was a bit apprehensive about the stages making up the final loop. The Te Hutewai and Whaanga Coast stages, which had to be covered twice, encapsulate all the challenges of the gravel roads in the Southern Hemisphere. In SS18 (Te Hutewai 1), the six-time WRC winners' crew took the lead in the overall classification after Ogier spun.

First time through Whaanga Coast, Loeb was consolidating his first place when he got caught out. “We were in a very narrow, twisty section and there was a right-hander that I overestimated a bit. There were a lot of pebbles and the car understeered before hitting a tree. The bodywork suffered but there was no mechanical damage to the car, and we were able to continue after a few repairs in the service park. We were in fourth place around twenty seconds behind the leader so everything was still up for grabs.”

Sordo, fourth at the start of the final day, fell back to sixth after the first two stages. After a fifteen-minute service break, the crews set out to tackle the stages along the Tasmanian sea.
Loeb set the quickest time in Te Hutewai 2 (SS20) and was back in the hunt for victory before the final stage of the rally, Whaanga Coast 2! Split time after split time he closed the gap to the two leaders. But a few kilometers from the finish a spin ruined his efforts: “We tried everything and we were on the limit all the time. Once again, it didn’t work out! We’ve finished third and it’s not too bad a result after all the incidents of the last three days. This rally has enabled us to maintain a good lead in the championship, so I’m leaving in a fairly satisfied state of mind.”

Sordo set the fastest time in the final stage and finished the rally in fifth place, 4.5s behind Hirvonen.

The next round of the WRC is scheduled for the Rally de Portugal at the end of this month and is based in Faro on the Algarve coast. 

Results
1. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus 4:04’09’’8
2. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +2’’4
3. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 +15’’2
4. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +21’’3
5. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +25’’8
6. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +3’26’’0
7. H. Solberg / Minor Ford Focus +6’15’’3
8. Ketomaa / Stenberg Ford Fiesta +10’19’’3
9. Villagra / Perez Companc Ford Focus +10’49’’8
10. Pons / Haro Ford Fiesta +11’13’’4