Written by Evan Rothman
Try as Petter Solberg (Citroen C4 WRC) might, reeling in the seven-times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb (Citroen Total C4 WRC) proved too great a challenge this afternoon.
Loeb claimed both stage wins this afternoon, stamping his authority on the rally and putting the rally lead (even though it was less than 20sec separating the two dueling Citroen C4 WRCs) out of Solberg’s reach. This handed Loeb his third WRC Wales Rally GB victory and the 62nd of his WRC career.
This weekend’s rally also marked the end of the line for the current crop of two-litre World Rally Cars, with the Citroen C4 WRC claiming its 36th victory.
The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen and Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Anttila pushed as hard as they could throughout the rally weekend, but were not able to close to within 1min of the leading Citroens. Latvala leapfrogged his team-mate this afternoon and opened an 18sec gap, to claim the runner-up spot in the World Rally Drivers’ Championship standings.
Dani Sordo (Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC) claimed fifth overall, 18sec behind Hirvonen. Henning Solberg (Ford Focus RS WRC) came home in sixth place overall, ahead of Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Stobart Ford M-Sport Rally Team Focus RS WRC) in seventh and Citroen’s Kimi Raikkonen in eighth.
The WRC Wales Rally GB delivered on its promises of exciting rally action this weekend, and even the unpredictable Welsh weather played along with the event’s organisers wishes.
Overall Classification:
01) S. Loeb – 3h 14m 54.0s
02) P. Solberg + 19.1s
03) J-M. Latvala + 1m 35.3s
04) M. Hirvonen + 1m 53.3s
05) D. Sordo + 2m 12.2s
06) H. Solberg + 6m 26.5s
07) M. Wilson + 8m 37.8s
08) K. Raikkonen + 10m 27.9s
09) M. Ostberg + 12m 13.7s
10) A. Mikkelsen + 14m 01.0s