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Title Success With Ford

Mon 19 Nov, 10:43 AM


Fourth place for Mikko Hirvonen in Ireland was sufficient to hand BP-Ford and BFGoodrich tyres their second consecutive Manufacturers' crown, although this was perhaps the only silver lining on the Ford squad's otherwise grey horizon this weekend after its N°1 driver Marcus Grönholm crashed out on Friday morning.

The Finn's misfortune has enabled Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich) to regain the lead in the Drivers' standings with a cushion of six points and just one round remaining. The Frenchman collected his 36th world class win, overcoming the terrible conditions to beat his team-mate Dani Sordo and Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford/BFGoodrich) who claimed the first WRC podium finish of his career.

The outcome of the fight for the 2007 Drivers' title was perhaps decided on Friday morning, near Lough Gill, under a uniformly grey sky. As in Japan three weeks ago, Marcus Grönholm chose SS4 to crash out of the running, this time while braking for a particularly slippery corner which saw his car smash into a wall.

This mistake, his second in two outings, promises to play a decisive role in the Drivers' title chase since it has enabled Sébastien Loeb to move to the top of the points table with only one round - Wales Rally GB - to come.

That's not to say that the win of Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich) this weekend was a mere walkover. Indeed, the Rally Ireland, a newcomer to the WRC, is sure to be remembered as one of the toughest asphalt fixtures of the year. "I've rarely come across such slippery conditions," admitted Sébastien Loeb. "We had dirt, mud, running water, puddles… everything. You just couldn't afford to take your eye off the ball for a moment; a mistake would have been so easy."

The Citroën crew succeeded in not repeating the sort of error that eliminated them in Japan. En route to their eighth win of the season, and running on g-Force Profiler H rain tyres or 're-cut' extra-soft g-Force Profiler dry weather tyres, they were fastest on 9 of the 20 stages which visited both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Loeb now tops the Drivers' championship by six points prior to the trip to Cardiff for the year's finale in a fortnight's time. The Citroën driver has never tasted success on the British round but, should Grönholm win, he will only need to finish fifth to sew up his fourth consecutive Drivers' crown, a score that will take him level with the current record of Tommi Mäkinen.

Dani Sordo (Citroën/BFGoodrich) fulfilled his mission to the letter by finishing in his team-mate's immediate wake, securing a brilliant second place to secure Citroen's third one-two of 2007. Despite its maximum harvest of 18 points, Citroën was unable to prolong the suspense in the fight for the Manufacturers' crown, however. BP-Ford only needed three points to clinch the title and Mikko Hirvonen rose to the occasion by taking fourth place.

Fellow Finn Jari-Matti Latvala profited from the situation to finish on the podium of a WRC event for the first time, a just reward for a very promising season.

Petter Solberg, who turned 33 today, saved Subaru's weekend by finishing fifth overall. That said, Chris Atkinson - who was sidelined by engine trouble on Friday - was fastest on SS14, while the Norwegian posted third and fourth fastest times in the rain on BFGoodrich dry weather g-Force Profilers!

Partner teams

  • BP-Ford WRT: The Ford drivers managed their tyre stocks by using the g-Force Profiler (dry weather asphalt tyre) on Friday, despite the frequent mud, and the g-Force Profiler H rain tyre in Saturday's rain. Matthew Wilson was the only Ford driver to run rain tyres on Friday morning.

  • Citroën-Total WRT: Unlike the Ford drivers, Loeb and Sordo tackled the first stages of the rally on full rain g-Force Profiler H tyres before switching to the dry weather g-Force Profiler for Friday's final loop. They contested Saturday's stages on rain tyres but had to revert to dry weather g-Force Profilers because of their stocks.

  • Subaru WRT: Chris Atkinson used the g-Force Profiler H rain tyre throughout, sporting different degrees of 'cuts'. Despite the rain, his team-mate started Leg 2 on the extra-soft compound dry weather g-Force Profiler and didn't do too badly either, since he posted a third and a fourth fastest time. He also won the very last asphalt stage of the year (except the Millennium Stadium-Superstage).