Mikko Hirvonen achieved a well-deserved victory and emerged as the leader of a Ford one-two finish, ahead of Marcus Gronholm… A one-two that’s insufficient to give the title to a Finn, as S\u00e9bastien Loeb – in third place – clinches his fourth consecutive title.<\/p>\n
On Citroen, the Frenchman had to secure his lead in the world championship and possibly match another record…<\/p>\n
\u00ab It’s incredible! When you think that we started from nothing ten years ago! It’s truly a great moment. This was the most difficult championship to win with only a four-point difference at the finish. It was a very tough battle with tight results all the time. I am very happy to match Tommi [Makkinen]’s record. \u00bb commented the Alsatian live.<\/p>\n
Arriving in Swansea with the aim of finishing in one of the top five positions, S\u00e9bastien Loeb (Citro\u00ebn Total) did not take any risks during this last event of the season. In extremely difficult conditions on the first day, the Alsatian placed third behind Mikko Hirvonen (Ford BP) and Marcus Gr\u00f6nholm (Ford BP).<\/p>\n
The fog lifted and the rain was less present, making the rest of the rally simpler but just as stressful. S\u00e9bastien Loeb recorded just one fastest time, shared with Marcus Gr\u00f6nholm, to finish third, far behind the two BP Ford drivers, and earned the points he was missing. The Citro\u00ebn driver wins his fourth consecutive title, like Tommi M\u00e4kinen, before Guy Fr\u00e9quelin’s retirement.<\/p>\n
Imperious on the first day, Mikko Hirvonen quickly built a solid lead that was never challenged. Even his teammate \u2013 with other objectives \u2013 Marcus Gr\u00f6nholm didn’t go after him. Second, the Finnish driver was in a good position to capitalize on a potential problem from S\u00e9bastien Loeb, which never happened. The double World Champion ends his career with a second position and a consecutive runner-up World Champion title.<\/p>\n
Hero of this rally, Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Stobart) finishes in a distant tenth place. Fourth after the fifth special stage, the Finn was caught in the storm of SS6. Forced to stop to clean his windshield, Latvala lost over sixteen minutes and took advantage of the Super-Rally to lose only ten minutes. On Saturday and Sunday, the world rally hopeful posted ten best times out of eleven possible and finished less than ten minutes behind the winner. Was victory possible?<\/p>\n
Far from the front of the race, Petter Solberg (Subaru) finishes fourth by holding off Dani Sordo (Citro\u00ebn Total) at the end of the race. To highlight the current difficulties of the Blues, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) was unable to fend off the attacks of Matthew Wilson (Ford Stobart). The Briton finishes sixth. Manfred Stohl (Citro\u00ebn OMV) clinches the eighth-place point.<\/p>\n
In the championship, Loeb thus retains his title by 4 points ahead of Gronholm, who is now retired. Hirvonen is on the podium. On the manufacturer side, Ford secures a second consecutive victory. The battle was tough between Subaru and Stobart, but with two cars in the points for Subaru this weekend, it’s the Japanese team that clinches third place.<\/p>\n
Stage 3 – Rally of Great Britain – The Top 10<\/b><\/p>\n According to the WRC<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mikko Hirvonen achieved a well-deserved victory and emerged as the leader of a Ford one-two finish, ahead of Marcus Gronholm… A one-two that’s insufficient to give the title to a Finn, as S\u00e9bastien Loeb – in third place – clinches his fourth consecutive title. On Citroen, the Frenchman had to secure his lead in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-27488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-autre-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\n <\/strong><\/td>\n Drivers<\/td>\n Teams<\/td>\n Time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/strong><\/td>\n Hirvonen<\/td>\n Ford Focus<\/td>\n 3h22’50″9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/strong><\/td>\n Gronholm<\/td>\n Ford Focus<\/td>\n + 00’15″2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/strong><\/td>\n Loeb<\/td>\n Citroen C4<\/td>\n + 01’33″0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4<\/strong><\/td>\n P.Solberg<\/td>\n Subaru Impreza<\/td>\n + 02’57″3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5<\/strong><\/td>\n Sordo<\/td>\n Citroen C4<\/td>\n + 03’14″3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 6<\/strong><\/td>\n Wilson<\/td>\n Ford Focus<\/td>\n + 07’32″9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7<\/strong><\/td>\n Atkinson<\/td>\n Subaru Impreza<\/td>\n + 08’29″5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8<\/strong><\/td>\n Stohl<\/td>\n Citroen Xsara<\/td>\n + 08’54″6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 9<\/strong><\/td>\n Pons<\/td>\n Subaru Impreza<\/td>\n + 09’48″8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 10<\/strong><\/td>\n Latvala<\/td>\n Ford Focus<\/td>\n + 10’42″4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n