Loeb wins in Wales to take title

Eurosport - Sun, 25 Oct 10:40:00 2009

Sebastien Loeb won the Rally Great Britain in Wales to collect his 54th rally victory and sixth consecutive world championship title.

LOEB GRAN BRETAÑA UK EFE 2009 - 0

The 35-year-old Citroen driver, who last year surpassed Finnish great Tommi Makinen's four championships in a row, made it six on the trot by winning the title-deciding British round in Cardiff.

Seconds after crossing the season's final finish line at Rally Great Britain in Wales, the Frenchman and co-driver Daniel Elena jumped onto the roof of their Citroen team C4 and pumped their fists into the air as the crowd cheered on the freshly-crowned 2009 champions.

"It has been a very difficult season," said an emotional Loeb, who had dominated the early part of the season before seeing Mikko Hirvonen overtake him in the WRC standings.

"We've done it but it was big, big pressure.

Ford driver Hirvonen led Loeb by a single point going into the race, but Loeb's superior number of wins meant he simply had to finish in the points and ahead of the Finn to claim the title. Citroen had already wrapped up the manufacturers' crown in Spain earlier in the month.

"I'm really happy for this one because Mikko is strong," Loeb said. "It was an incredible battle all season.

"A sixth title is awesome. Today was tough mentally as Mikko gave everything. It's been a season of highs and lows... and it's a huge moment. The battle was so intense."

Loeb led overnight to look on-course for the win but Hirvonen's WRC title bid picked up steam as he won the first two stages on the final day.

Those results saw him close the gap on Loeb to 18 seconds, but a freak accident ended his chances on the penultimate stage.

The Ford driver was flying fast down a straight when the wind picked up his bonnet and flipped it over onto the windscreen, leaving him no choice but to stop and remove the bonnet before continuing. The mishap saw him lose over a minute and ended any chance of his winning a first title.

Hirvonen still took second place in Wales and was immediately thinking of picking himself up for the 2010 drivers' championship fight: "I need to go back and find speed for next year."

Despite the disappointment of losing his title campaign, the Ford driver recognised that the now-concluded WRC season was a great experience for him in many regards. "This is definitely the best ever year I ever had," he said, but Loeb "was still just a little bit faster.

"I'll try again next year," promised Hirvonen, having ended the championship one point behind 2009 champion Sebastien Loeb.

Click the link beneath the picture to for full stage results from Wales.

Rally of Great Britain results:

1. Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen 3 hrs 16mins 25.400 seconds

2. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford +01:06.100

3. Daniel Sordo (Spain) Citroen 01:07.100

4. Petter Solberg (Norway) Citroen 01:28.100

5. Henning Solberg (Norway) Ford 06:28.000

6. Matthew Wilson (Britain) Ford 07:46.000

7. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Ford 12:11.900

8. Conrad Rautenbach (Zimbabwe) Citroen 14:27.800

2009 World Rally Championship final standings:

1. Sebastien Loeb (France) 93 points

2. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) 92

3. Daniel Sordo (Spain) 64

4. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) 41

5. Petter Solberg (Norway) 35

6. Henning Solberg (Norway) 33

7. Matthew Wilson (Britain) 28

WRC Great Britain at 10.30pm on Sunday on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Rally-live.com / Reuters / Eurosport

Comment 4 - 23 of 23

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  1. wrc v boring loeb only won by default thanks to the­ joke of a 1 min penalty due to a roll bar ford got a­ 5min penalty a couple of years ago because the side­ glass was 0.5mm to thin even though the car was over­ the min weight are citroen givibg out backhanders??? as­ they seem to be above the law if you want to see real­ cars go and watch the proper rac ie mk1 & mk2­ escorts

    From david, on Sun 29 Nov 3:33PM

  2. Great job Sebastien!
    Mikko will never be WRC champion­ until Seb is here!
    If he couldn't take it this year­ he will NEVER do it :p
    Peter maybe could spice up­ competition in competitive car.
    He is last champion­ before Seb step up :)

    From Anne-Co, on Mon 26 Oct 7:48PM

  3. St, it's not about British people being against­ winners, it boring having the same winner all the time.­ The combination of Loeb & Citroen are so far ahead­ you can predict the most likely outcome before the­ events start. I would love to see Petter Solberg have a­ competitive drive win another championship, I would­ like to see Gigi Galli back & winning events. I­ just get bored watching Loeb/Citroen win everything.
    At­ least Colin McRae was exciting to watch, even when he­ didn't win. For entertainment value he couldn't­ be beaten, and today there is nobody giving that sort­ of performance. Probably the closest is Henning­ Solberg. he gives visual value if not results.

    From the real adrian, on Mon 26 Oct 10:25AM

  4. Who cares about rallying now? I was a staunch rallying­ fan and someone who went out to watch it live but­ it's an absolute joke compared to the great days.­ Loeb is undoubtedly a very fine driver but the lack of­ competition both in terms of drivers and manufacturers­ is glaring.

    Loeb says that Mikko was strong...­ uh-huh. The field is weak.

    From nerdhan, on Mon 26 Oct 8:33AM

  5. When i read certain comments i am realising that Loeb­ is suffering from the same problem as Shumacher. People­ don't like winners in this country except if they­ are British of course. Colin Mc rae is dead and burried­ are you going to let him RIP. Time to move on, look­ ahead, this reminds me all the celebration of 66 world­ cup. Are you capable of producing new talents, stop the­ nostalgia. Sore losers.

    From St, on Mon 26 Oct 7:42AM

  6. Good point Ben Fr, how could we possibly overlook­ Loeb's co-driver lol! he's been fantastic­ navigating his pilot..bravo Daniel..

    From Dosh, on Mon 26 Oct 7:11AM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Makinen must be feeling voodooed or something. He seems­ to be doing everything right but lol he just can't­ beat Loeb! He was gutted yesterday and I feel his pain­ especially coz he lost by 2 points. Four times in a­ row! poor guy.. on the other hand I'm happy coz­ I'm a Loeb fan..

    From Dosh, on Mon 26 Oct 7:06AM

  8. I wish rally got more coverage in the US... we get­ NASCAR *gag* nothing like going really fast in a circle­ to get the blood pumping... what ever happened to VW in­ rally? I recall they used to do quite well back in the­ 80s with the Golf MkII...

    From Josh T, on Mon 26 Oct 2:25AM

  9. R.I.P WRC

    Badly missing Colin McRae :(

    From the-tourist, on Sun 25 Oct 8:33PM

  10. A start would maybe,to get bigger cars back on the­ scene instead of these small hatchbacks that look like­ a multi painted joke.

    From wizzo, on Sun 25 Oct 7:19PM

  11. Agree with some of the others that rallying is getting­ more detatched from people.Its too fast,too technical­ and a bargain basement manufacturer has a stranglehold­ on the championship year after year.Time for some­ drastic rule changes to get the fans and interest back.

    From wizzo, on Sun 25 Oct 7:07PM

  12. What have they done to rallying, saw about ten­ minutes of this rally on eurosport last night , yes­ it is fast but the speeds are too fast , with the­ cars driven almost on rails, the RAC is long gone and­ so am I, good bye.

    From William S, on Sun 25 Oct 6:31PM

  13. Rob #9. So nice to hear someone being so jingoistic!­ That's the same French ******** car that Loeb drove­ then! Grow up!

    From JOLYON, on Sun 25 Oct 6:09PM

  14. R.I.P WRC. Now turned into the Boring world rally­ championship. Its turned into F1 under Schumacher. You­ wil find next season that even more fan's stop­ watch. To think this once great sport had top billing­ on TV. Unless there a some great changes in the sport I­ will not be back next season. Before all you Arm chair­ fans start thinking I just a TV fan, Wrong. I­ Marshelled Rally events for 10 years & help to run­ stages on the Ulster Rally. I Sticking to my Local­ Rallys from now on. Much more chance of being­ entertained.

    From Andy, on Sun 25 Oct 5:01PM

  15. well done Seb. 6 in a row.
    Rallying is getting as­ boring as F1 in the Schumacher era; Loeb is so far­ ahead of the competition. We need something to spice it­ up.

    From the real adrian, on Sun 25 Oct 4:27PM

  16. Fanastic - no doubt about the worth title holder - good­ challenge from the kid, but no one can touch Loeb - he­ is the Ferrera of WRC - so damn said he is French and­ in a French car! Petter - you gave an excellent account­ of yourself - sad you had a gremlin in the wipers and­ demisting - (french fukin cars!) but that was an­ awesome effort

    From Rob, on Sun 25 Oct 3:46PM

  17. WELL DONE SEB, THATS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE.
    MIKKO WILL­ HAVE HIS DAY BUT PROB NOT IN A FORD PIECE OF @#$%­ HAHAHAHAHA
    LETS HOPE CITROEN SIGN SOLBERG FOR NEXT YEAR­ , WHAT A TEAM LOEB, SORDO & SOLBERG WOULD­ BE..................UNSTOPPABLE.

    From robert, on Sun 25 Oct 3:33PM

  18. Salut! Sebastian :-) Vive La Alsace ! :-)

    From art_tidesco, on Sun 25 Oct 2:39PM

  19. rossi, loeb, fantastico..., button not quite there yet.

    From sjhill96, on Sun 25 Oct 2:25PM

  20. Woohoo! Well done Seb! And well done Daniel - let's­ not forgt the co-pilot!!!

    From Ben FR, on Sun 25 Oct 1:44PM
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