Rally of Ireland: Citroen's Sebastien Loeb moved closer to a fourth consecutive world rally championship title today when he triumphed in the Rally Ireland, the penultimate race of the series.
Loeb finished 53.4 seconds ahead of Citroen team mate Dani Sordo
and goes into Rally GB in two weeks on 110 points, six ahead
of Marcus Gronholm, who crashed out of the race on Friday
after starting with a four-point lead.
Citroen's 1-2 could not prevent Ford from clinching a second
consecutive manufacturers' title, secured by Finn Mikko Hirvonen's
steadily-achieved fourth place.
Loeb, hit with a 10-second penalty for a late start on
Sunday, kept his composure on the treacherous course described by
many of the drivers as the toughest of the year.
"The rally was really, really difficult, but we managed to
finish it," Loeb told
www.autosport.com.
"Ten points more for the championship is really important. That
could change a lot of things for the championship.
"It was really great to win here, especially with Marcus
scoring no points. I knew after the crash of Marcus, it all
depended on me.
"This rally was one of the most difficult we've ever done,
because it was very muddy but the car was really good. I had a
really good feeling and I was not pushing so hard, just driving
through with no risks."
Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala in a Stobart Ford finished third
for his first WRC podium appearance.
There was good news for Dubliner Gareth MacHale as he finished eighth to secure championship points.
Result and driver standings after the final of the Ireland Rally
1. Sebastien Loeb (France)
Citroen 3 hrs 01 min 39.200 secs
2. Daniel Sordo
(Spain) Citroen +
00:53.400
3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland)
Ford 01:48.200
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland)
Ford 02:17.700
5. Petter Solberg
(Norway) Subaru
02:55.800
6. Guy Wilks
(Britain)
Subaru 05:57.900
7. Matthew Wilson (Britain)
Ford 10:04.900
8. Gareth Mac Hale (Ireland)
Ford 11:08.300
9. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway)
Ford 13:08.200
10. Niall McShea
(Britain)
Subaru 16:32.100
Driver standings
1. Sebastien Loeb
(France) 110 points
2. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) 104
3. Mikko Hirvonen
(Finland) 89
4. Daniel Sordo
(Spain)
61
5. Petter Solberg
(Norway) 42
6. Henning Solberg
(Norway) 34
7. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) 30
8. Chris Atkinson (Australia)
29
9. Francois Duval
(Belgium) 12
10. Manfred Stohl
(Austria) 12