With Sebastien Loeb’s seventh world championship riding on a home win – this year Rally de France replaced the historical Tour de Corse – and a one-two for Citroën to bring the team a sixth world championship, the weekend couldn’t have ended sweeter for both parties.
Loeb’s dominance of the season was left in no doubt as the Frenchman went on the charge right out of the blocks on Friday to take a vast majority of the stages on day one – opening a lead of 20 seconds over his rivals, and almost doubling that on Saturday. Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena eased their pace on Sunday, finishing eighth on the final stage – in Loeb’s home town of Haguenau.
“It’s quite simply mind-blowing to cross the finishing line in my home town, and it’s incredible to see so many people. I don't think we’ve ever seen so many spectators at a rally,” the seven-time champion commented.
Through the efforts of Loeb and Elena’s Citroën teammates, Dani Sordo and Diego Vellejo, the manufacturer took a sixth title at the event, and Norwegian privateer Petter Solberg added to the celebration by claiming the final podium spot in his 2009 specification C4 WRC.
Loeb’s achievement in the sport is unprecedented. His 60 wins (double that of former world champion Marcus Gronholm, who is second on the all-time win list with 152 starts) out of only 136 starts is no mean feat and on the way to title number seven, Loeb and Elena have racked up 1005 championship points (behind Carlos Sainz’s 1 242 and Juha Kankkunen’s 1 140), 725 stage wins (behind Markku Alén’s 796 and Carlos Sainz’s 756). Add to those achievements that the duo haven’t lost on asphalt since Rally Catalunya in the first half of the 2006 WRC season, and Loeb’s contribution to rallying in just 11 years is put into perspective.
Even though both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles are already spoken for, the next two rounds in the championship are paramount to those in contention for second and third – with Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, Petter Solberg and Sordo the likely stars for the penultimate round in Spain and season finale in Wales.
