WRC Rally Spain in English

A great rally, but not for Ogier, who seems to have lost his chance for the driver's championship.

By Roberto Motta

Photos courtesy of Citroën Communication, Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, Ford Motor Co., BMW AG and RallyRACC-Media.

By winning the penultimate round of the the WRC in Catalunya, Spain, Sebastien Loeb gave Citroen the coveted Manufacturer’s Championship. The French driver is now very close to obtaining his eighth consecutive driver’s championship. Mikko Hirvonen, right behind Loeb in the standings, placed second with the help of team mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who obeyed the orders of his team manager Malcolm Wilson.

The Rally of Spain started with pitting the best cars on the edge. The first leg was critical, since the rally will start with six of the special stages almost entirely on dirt roads. But at the end of the shakedown run, Petter Solberg in a Citroen was the fastest. Then came the Ford Fiesta of Federico Villagra and Ogier in the factory Citroen. Loeb, who placed seventh at the end of the shakedown, said: “The six trials of tomorrow will prove of great impact on the outcome of the event Iberia. To further complicate things we have the village of Les Garrigues, stage which will be dealt with at night. “

Special night stage had drivers worried. Here is the Mini of Kris Meeke.

The rally officially started on Friday morning with the first of three special stages between Salou and Tarragona taking place on tracks with road dirt and asphalt short distances.
Loeb triumphed at the once fast and the initial test, which takes place entirely on dirt, placing ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. There were difficulties for the Mini of Dani Sordo, who had to settle for the eighth position, behind the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Juho Hanninen, while the Kris Meeke Mini ended in fifth position. The fight went on through all the special stages but in the decisive last special of the day, the best time is made by Loeb; Latvala suffered a puncture of the right front tire and then a spin. At the end of the first day of competition, Loeb led the rally with 30.6 seconds ahead of Latvala and 54.2 of Hirvonen.

Sebastien Loeb planned his rally carefully and this time it went his way.

The second leg which took place on Saturday was dominated by Loeb and his Citroen DS3WRC, winning the first two DPs (PS7 and PS8) the stage of El Priorat and Riba-roja d’Ebre, both of which were on asphalt. During the morning, Latvala won the PS9 from Punta de les Torres. Meanwhile misfortune dogged Sebastien Ogier, who, in fact, was excluded from the fight for the podium. Ogier was the victim of a puncture in PS7. PS12 was won by local hero Dani Sordo with his Mini over the Citroen WRC of Loeb and Latvala in the Ford.
At the end of the day, Loeb maintained command of the rally with a lead of 27.6 seconds over Jari-Matti Latvala and his Ford Fiesta RS.

Hirvonen is still in the race for the Championship but Ford has lost the Manufacturer's title.

The last day of the race was the decisive one. Loeb started the day thinking about managing his lead over Hirvonen, while Ogier was to protect his teammate trying to keep the Fiestas in the background. Everything went as planned, and Loeb and Ogier preceded Latvia in PS13. Loeb continued finishing the race carefully, always ahead of Hirvonen. By managing the final day’s events, Loeb ended up winning the rally overall and ahead of Hirvonen by who placed second. Loeb’s victory in Spain allowed his to keep his lead in the world championship, with 222 points to Hirvonen’s 214 points, and only one more rally left, that of Great Britain. Ogier is still third in the standings but his shot at winning the championship this year are very slim.

The last meeting of the World Rally Championship will be the Wales Rally Great Britain, held November 10 to 13. The final challenge for the championship will take place between the muddy trails of the Welsh forests.

Sordo and the Mini again did well and next year will see a very competitive Mini team.

Rally de Espana – Results after Day 1
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
2. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
4. Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
5. Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio
6. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle
7. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
8. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor
9. Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet
10. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin

Results after Day 2
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
2. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
4. Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio
5. Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
6. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle
7. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
8. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor
9. Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet
10. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin

Final results (subject to final scrutineering)
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
4. Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio
5. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle
6. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
7. Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet
8. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor
9. Dennis Kuipers/Frederic Miclotte
10. Juho Hänninen/Mikko Markkula

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 12 of 13 rounds)
222 Sébastien Loeb (FRA)
214 Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)
193 Sébastien Ogier (FRA)
146 Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)
110 Petter Solberg (NOR)
70 Mads Østberg (NOR)
57 Dani Sordo (ESP)
53 Matthew Wilson (GBR)
44 Henning Solberg (NOR)
34 Kimi Räikkönen (FIN)

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
397 Citroën Total World Rally Team
351 Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally
145 M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally
98 Petter Solberg World Rally
44 Ferm Power Tools World Rally
42 Team Abu Dhabi
38 Munchi’s Ford World Rally
19 Monster World Rally
16 Van Merksteijn Motorsport
3 Brazil World Rally Team