Written by Evan Rothman
A dominant display from the opening stage of the WRC Rally Spain to the last this afternoon, Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen Total World Rally Team) clinched their record-breaking 61st victory in the WRC three weeks after winning their seventh World Rally Championship titles.
Loeb drove cautiously through the final day’s four stages, to round out a faultless weekend’s driving performance. His overnight lead of 44.4 seconds proved too great for his rivals, despite a concerted effort form Petter Solberg, Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala to reel him in.
Dani Sordo/Diego Vallejo (Citroen Total World Rally Team) claimed all four stage wins today in their efforts to snatch second place from Petter Solberg/Chirs Patterson (Petter Solberg World Rally Team), but Solberg had his right foot pinned to the floor of his Citroen C4 WRC to finish the event second overall and 7 seconds ahead of Sordo.
Sordo was the fastest driver on Day Two and Three, but his lacklustre performance on the opening leg of his home event meant he would not challenge for the overall victory. His drive to third place overall was aided by the unfortunate demise of Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroen Junior Team) who crashed on Day Two resulting in him losing 15 minutes in stage time. He drove for Championship points, and achieved this with a tenth overall result.
This mixed-surface event, the penultimate round of the WRC 2010 calendar is a trying event for the Ford crews. However, Ford factory driver Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Miika Anttila (BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) finished fourth, a respectable 38 seconds behind Sordo while teammates Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen rounded out the top five. Asphalt surfaces are the proverbial Achilles Heel for the Ford Focus RS WRC machines in 2010, but Latvala dragged his Ford to fourth overall and the possibility of picking up third. This last asphalt event for the current specification WRC cars, it was a fond farewell for the Citroens and a relief for the Fords in 2010.
The remainder of the top ten slots were filled with Fords (bar tenth with Ogier in his Citroen), with Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin bringing their Stobart Ford M-Sport Rally Team car in a strong sixth, followed by Khalid Al Qassimi (BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team), Henning Solberg (Stobart Ford M-Sport Rally Team Fiesta S2000) and Ken Block (Monster World Rally Team) in ninth.
Final positions
1. S. Loeb/D. Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) -3hr 32min 59.7sec
2. P. Solberg/C. Patterson (Citroen C4 WRC) – 3hr 33min 35.0sec
3. D. Sordo/D. Vallejo (Citroen C4 WRC) – 3hr 33min 40.8sec
4. J-M. Latvala/M. Anttila (Ford Focus RS WRC) – 3hr 34min 19.2sec
5. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS WRC) – 3hr 39min 32.6sec
6. M. Wilson/S. Martin (Ford Focus RS WRC) – 3hr 41min 17.3sec
7. K. Al Qassimi/M. Orr (Ford Focus RS WRC) – 3hr 46min 05.4sec
8. H. Solberg/S. Prévot (Ford Fiesta S2000) – 3hr 46min 10.9sec
9. K. Block/A. Gelsomino (Ford Focus RS WRC) – 3hr 49min 00.9sec
10. S. Ogier/J. Ingrassia (Citroen C4 WRC) – 3hr 50min 23.8sec