Frenchman Sebastien Loeb once again made the record books as he tore his way to the front of the field and a 58th World Rally Championship win, in Bulgaria’s most prestigious rally over the weekend – the historic event’s first time on the WRC calendar.
The defending champion, and championship leader, left no doubt to his dominance of tarmac events, setting a pace that the competition simply could not keep with from early on day one.
“It’s all gone off like a dream, really… We began with a good first day and we consolidated our position on the next one. Today was a bit more relaxed. I like the first Rally Bulgaria. It’s got good stages that highlight the qualities of the drivers and the cars,” said Loeb.
His Citroën teammate, Spaniard Dani Sordo did a good job to eventually take second overall, having been involved in a battle with Norwegian privateer Petter Solberg all weekend. After swapping positions with Solberg throughout the event, Sordo held on to a seven second lead over the Norwegian’s C4 WRC.
“I’ve achieved my aim in this rally. Seb (Loeb) made a decisive break in the opening stages and once again he was the quickest this weekend. My role was to bag as many points as possible for Citroën for the Manufacturers’ World Championship title, and I also wanted to win my duel with Petter. My second podium on the trot has boosted my confidence for the rest of the season,” said Sordo.
Just before the end of the first half of the season, all eyes were on Citroën Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier as he fought his way to the front of the pack, eventually taking his maiden win in Portugal just before the Northern Hemisphere summer holidays. Ogier was running in second for a time on Friday, but lost more than a minute after a pace note error saw him go wide in a tight left-hander.
The Ford team, now 26 points down in the manufacturers’ standings, had a hard weekend. Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala (fifth and sixth place respectively) struggled for pace and after poor tyre choices, deciding to bring in maximum championship points instead of trying to chase down the leaders.
“I had a good feeling with the car and enjoyed the stages, which were extremely fast in places. But the times weren’t as good as we hoped, so we have to keep working hard to improve. With no chance of moving up today, we tested a few things for future rallies. Fifth brings good points for the team but I hoped for more. Now I’m looking forward to my home rally in Finland later this month where I want to fight for a win,” Hirvonen said.
The strategy at Ford team is to let their Finnish duo rip it up on their home event, with a one-two in mind. With Ogier proving his pace on loose surfaces, he’ll be promoted to the main Citroën team for the remainder of gravel races this season, while Sordo will return to that position for the tarmac events. With Loeb already 51 points up in the drivers’ championship, it’ll be hard to chase him down, but at least there’s still a tussle left for the manufacturers’ championship. Rally Finland happens on 29th to 31st July.
