Sébastien Loeb scored his tenth win of the WRC season in Rally Catalunya on Sunday, and, thanks to a second-place finish by his team-mate Francois Duval, Citroën clinched the constructor’s championship.
Sébastien Loeb scored his tenth win of the WRC season in Rally Catalunya on Sunday, and, thanks to a second-place finish by his team-mate Francois Duval, Citroën clinched the constructor’s championship.
Loeb, who claimed his second drivers’ championship with a second place in Rally Japan and then won every stage of his home event, Tour de Corsica, last week, was in dominant form on the Spanish asphalt on Sunday.
“I always wanted to win here one day, and it’s great to have succeeded,” Loeb said at the finish. “But more important still for me is the fact that Citroen not only finished 1st and 2nd thanks to Francois (Duval), but also came close to monopolising the podium with the privately-run Xsara of (Xavier) Pons.”
Duval finished nearly a minute and a half behind Loeb, but the young Belgian made amends for his crash in the closing stages of the previous rally and collected eight points for Citroën. Duval, who split with his co-driver and was substituted by veteran Carlos Sainz after several erratic performances at the start of the year, had finally rewarded Citroën team boss Guy Frequelin for his patience.
Behind them, Finn Mikko Hirvonen put in the drive of the rally, urging his 2003-spec privateer Ford Focus to a well-deserved podium finish, 1:25 behind Duval, clinching the podium with a torrid drive on the final stage of the rally. Hirvonen, a former Subaru works diver and self-styled gravel specialist, took his career-best result in what was his first tarmac event of the year.
He started the decisive SS15 with a 6.5-second gap to Pons, and when he saw Pons stall his Xsara at the start, losing precious seconds, Hirvonen went all-out on the 28,33-km stage. After 23 km into the stage, he was tied with Pons, but a flying final sector saw him take third place from the young Spaniard by a 1,2 seconds.
“I’ve finally scored my first podium and I can’t believe it was on asphalt and not gravel,” Hirvonen added. “It was my first asphalt rally for a year and it proved I can be quick on both surfaces. When I saw Pons mess up his start on the final stage I decided to really attack and try to make my dreams come true. It was a great battle and I can’t believe I had such a good weekend considering how long it is since I drove on this surface.”
Hirvonen finished fourth on Saturday, and was running third when Marcus Gronholm’s Peugeot gave up the ghost en route to Saturday’s final service, only to lose the position to Pons when a lengthy oil pump belt replacement incurred a 20-second penalty.
It was also the final event for the current Focus WRC RS 04 as a works car, as the new-spec car will début at the season-ending Rally Australia. In the current car’s swan song, Czech Roman Kresta drove conservatively to take fifth place and six manufacturers’ points – Hirvonen and Pons earn no manufacturer points as privateer entries – 37 seconds behind Pons.
Nicolas Bernardi, who had substituted Markko Martin at Peugeot, took sixth place for the French team, scoring six manufacturers’ points – although it was not enough to prevent the PSA brand’s sister marque from clinching the manufacturers’ title.
“I have the experience of two good rallies behind me, and I am very pleased with the results we have achieved,” the Frenchman said. “I feel very proud that I was able to fight with and occasionally set times that were comparable with those of such an established star like Marcus Gronholm. Soon I will get back behind the wheel of my Peugeot 206 WRC in order to get ready for the next round of the French Championship, which I hope to win this year!”
Antony Warmbold took seventh, 51 seconds behind Bernardi, in another privateer Focus, making it three private entries in the top seven positions. Jan Kopecky was a further 22 seconds adrift in the top works Skoda Fabia WRC, having lost 15 seconds to Warmbold on the final leg. However, as the team had nominated Armin Schwarz and Alex Bengue as the points-scoring drivers, Skoda was denied manufacturers’ points for Kopecky’s efforts.
As things turned out, while Bengue’s rally ended with a gearbox failure, Schwartz, who suffered from handling problems, still succeeded in scoring three manufacturers’ points for the team.
The WRC tour now moves to Australia for the season finale, where the open gravel roads will present a sharp contrast to the hard surfaces of the Catalunyan mountain roads.
Ford will debut the Focus RS WRC 06, and Colin McRae will be guest starring for Skoda – but the big question will be whether Loeb can set a new record with an 11th win in a single season.