Even with this year’s WRC season drawing to a close and the driver’s and manufacturer’s championship already spoken for – the penultimate event on the calendar proved to be quite the squabble for those in contention for the final top spots. Regardless of the dogfight between Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg, Sebastien Loeb went on to his 61st WRC win.
This year’s Rally de Espana featured gravel on day 1, forcing tarmac specialists to up their game to save on chasing the early leaders on asphalt later on. Newly-crowned champion Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena went all out on Friday’s loose surface stages – opening a comfortable lead. Contrary to Loeb’s reputation as an asphalt specialist, the lead Citroën duo backed off for the next two days, taking it relatively easy but still finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of the second-place scuffle.
"It was another very good result for us in Spain and I'm very happy. We had no pressure for the championship on this event, so we were just able to drive as we wanted. We pushed hard on the gravel on Friday and from then it was a little bit easier to control the advantage,” Loeb said of his weekend.
Privateer and former champion Petter Solberg gave the second Citroën works driver Dani Sordo quite a lot to think about – showing the Spaniard a clean pair of heels in his 2009-spec C4, while Sordo tried desperately to catch up.
“I think I was trying a bit too much. But today has been a really nice day. I’m very grateful to all the spectators: I got a lot of support and so this third place is for everyone who came out to watch,” Sordo said.
The two Ford drivers seemed to be struggling to match the pace of the Citroëns, with young ace Jari-Matti Latvala finishing fourth, 38 seconds behind Sordo, and Mikko Hirvonen in fifth. The good news is that Latvala is now just 11 points clear of championship runner-up so far , Sebastien Ogier.
“It’s been another good weekend for me on asphalt. I had a good feeling with the car, I enjoyed it and I felt relaxed in my driving. I had good confidence and my speed on this surface continues to improve, but unfortunately I couldn’t match the guys ahead to reach the podium.
