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Loeb Closes Out Easy Win at WRC Rally De France
Citroen's Sebastien Loeb romped to an easy WRC win in the Rally de France.
Credit DPPI/Citroen
After a dramatic closing day of competition, the Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena claimed victory on the Rallye de France - Tour de Corse, their fourth consecutive win on the Mediterranean island. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen and François Duval/Patrick Pivato (BP Ford) finished second and third respectively.
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In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Loeb extends his advantage over Hirvonen and now leads by 14 points. Dani Sordo, who retired from the Tour de Corse, maintains third position, just three points ahead of Chris Atkinson. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën Total lost four points to BP Ford, but the French make still leads by 23 points.
Today’s route took in two loops of two stages covering 116.26 competitive kilometres. Loeb won three of the stages and was able to cruise to the finish. However, it was Hirvonen who provided the drama in the first stage when he picked up a puncture and lost over two and a half minutes, dropping him from second to fifth. In the following stage, Petter Solberg encountered the same problem, dropping him from fourth to fifth, allowing Hirvonen to move one place ahead again. With Ford drivers Duval and Jari-Matti Latvala now second and third respectively, team orders came into play and, for the sake of maintaining Championship hopes, the duo incurred penalties at the start of the final stage to allow Hirvonen to move into second position.
Behind the top four, Petter Solberg finished fifth for Subaru with team-mate Atkinson in sixth. Urmo Aava maintained seventh and Matthew Wilson (Stobart Ford) moved up the leaderboard to claim the final point.
The Rallye de France - Tour de Corse was also the final and decisive round of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship. Frenchmen Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia claimed the title in their first year contesting the series.
The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now head to Rally Japan (30 October – 2 November), the penultimate round of the series.
Rallye de France – Final Results (subject to final scrutineering)
1 Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 42 min 58.0sec
2 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 46 min 22.7sec
3 François Duval/Patrick Pivato Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 46 min 29.6sec
4 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 46 min 35.5sec
5 Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 3 hr 48 min 33.4sec
6 Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC 3 hr 49 min 08.4sec
7 Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 50 min 23.2sec
8 Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 52 min 00.2sec
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 13 of 15 rounds)
Sébastien Loeb (F) 106 points
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 92 points
Dani Sordo (E) 59 points
Chris Atkinson (AUS) 45 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 42 points
Petter Solberg (N) 40 points
Henning Solberg (N) 22 points
François Duval (B) 22 points
Gigi Galli (I) 17 points
Matthew Wilson (GB) 13 points
Urmo Aava (EE) 13 points
Federico Villagra (RA) 9 points
Conrad Rautenbach (ZW) 6 points
Toni Gardemeister (FIN) 5 points
Andreas Mikkelsen (N) 5 points
Per-Gunnar Andersson (S) 4 points
Matti Rantanen (FIN) 2 points
Jean Marie Cuoq (F) 2 points
Andreas Aigner (A) 1 point
Sébastien Ogier (F) 1 point
Juho Hanninen (FIN) 1 point
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 13 of 15 rounds)
Citroën Total World Rally Team 169 points
BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 146 points
Subaru World Rally Team 87 points
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team 62 points
Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team 22 points
Suzuki World Rally Team 21 points
PaddockTalk Perspective
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