Story: Evan Rothman
Picture: Citroen Racing
Win number 58 for Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena this weekend, another record-breaking performance for the six-times World Rally Champions and their mighty Citroen C4 WRC machine. In fact, it was a 1-2-3-4 performance for the Citroen badge in Borovets, Bulgaria, the first in the company’s history in WRC competition. Frenchman Sebastien Loeb is a whopping 51 points clear of his rivals as he now focuses his attention on the upcoming WRC Rally Finland.
“This overall result is the best proof of the qualities of our C4 WRCs, whether they’re works cars or entrusted to privateers,” said Citroen Racing Team Principal Olivier Quesnel. “Seb’s and Dani’s double has helped Citroën to open up a big lead in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, so the principal aim’s been achieved.”
“It’s all gone off like a dream, really,” said event winner Sebastien Loeb. “We began with a good first day and we consolidated our position on the next one. [Sunday] was a bit more relaxed! I like the first Rally Bulgaria! It’s got good stages that highlight the qualities of the drivers and the cars. Bravo to Dani who drove a great race.”
Cool temperatures, rain and foggy conditions added another dimension to the weekend’s rallying, as a number of crews were caught out by wrong tyre choices in the changeable weather conditions.
Thousands of spectators flocked to the rally stages to witness these impressive WRC cars in their ultra-low and ultra-fast guise with sticky rubber carve their way through the black ribbon to Sunday afternoon’s finish ramp. One stage was cancelled during the event, due to spectator safety, thereby reducing the stage number to 14 and competitive distance to 329.24km.
The factory Citroen Total World Rally Team recorded their first one-two result in 2010 on this the first sealed surface event of the season. Not only will this event be recorded as Loeb’s 58th win, but he will also have the honour of having his name written into history as the first driver to win at WRC Rally Bulgaria. From the outset of this rally, it was no surprise that Loeb would dominate proceedings: after Citroen Junior Team crew of Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassi went off the road on Day One to lose over 01min while in second place, Loeb’s win was all but sealed after the first day’s leg of stages.
All the rally world was hoping that Ford would pose a challenge to the Citroens, but the French marque once again illustrated their dominance on asphalt. Factory BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team crews Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen and Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Antilla settled for fifth and sixth places respectively, unable to make an impression on the leading four crews over the three days of competition.
Wrong tyre choice on Day Two of the rally saw Hirvonen and Latvala both drop over 01min to their rivals and this halted their charge for the podium positions as they concentrated on consolidating their current points-paying positions. With their positions assured and with no threat from chasing crews, the factory Ford duo used the remainder of the event to test various car settings for future asphalt events.
“I had a good feeling with the car and enjoyed the stages, which were extremely fast in places,” commented Mikko Hirvonen. “But the times weren’t as good as we hoped, so we have to keep working hard to improve. With no chance of moving up today, we tested a few things for future rallies. Today was better and I think we learned something that will help on the remaining asphalt rallies. Fifth brings good points for the team but I hoped for more. Now I’m looking forward to my home rally in Finland later this month where I want to fight for a win.”
“We completed intensive testing during the summer and after all the hard work we hoped for better from this rally,” said BP Ford World Rally Team Principal Malcolm Wilson. “However, I’m pleased to see that Jari-Matti has improved his pace on asphalt and that’s a positive to take away from here with three more asphalt rallies to come.”
Ford of Europe Motorsport chief Gerard Quinn said: “To finish with both cars in the points is always good, but it doesn’t hide the fact that this was a disappointing weekend. We’re not happy with the performance of the car here and we know we need to do some work with our rally partners M-Sport to improve the performance.”
Making a welcome return to top-flight rallying was P-G. Andersson and co-driver Jonas Andersson (Stobart M-Sport Ford World Rally Team), posting consistent stage times throughout his appearance for the Stobart M-Sport outfit in Bulgaria. This netted the driver a solid seventh position, and showed his great potential to rally bosses for future drives. His team-mates Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin placed ninth overall behind Hungarian crew F. Turan and G. Lsiros (Peugeot 307 WRC).
Rounding out the top ten were Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor in their debut in a Ford Fiesta S2000. With his usual all-smiles, Henning Solberg praised the Fiesta’s performance. It is likely that the Norwegian will contest a few more rounds of the WRC in a Fiesta S2000 as Stobart’s Team Principal will run P-G. Andersson in a Focus RS WRC alongside son Matthew to bolster Stobart’s line-up for selected upcoming gravel rallies.
It was the fight for second place overall that produced the most excitement in Borovets this weekend. Spaniard Dani Sordo and co-pilot Marc Marti were hassled to the very last kilometre by the ever-determined Petter Solberg. Despite having to adjust to new co-driver Chris Patterson, Solberg was right on the pace of the factory Citroen from the get-go.
In his bid to leapfrog Sordo, who is regarded as an asphalt ace, posted five scratch times. The privateer was unable to reel in the final few seconds that separated himself from second place, as Sordo responded with two crucial scratch times. Driving with commitment and confidence, Sordo kept Solberg at bay. The final margin between these two determined drivers was just 6,8sec.
This result notches up Solberg’s sixth podium position since he started his own rally team in 2009. Borovets proved to be a great host for the rally, providing close and exciting rally action. With it skipping the calendar in 2011, it will be eagerly anticipated in 2012.
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