Six-time World Rally Champion Loeb and compatriot co-driver Daniel Elena extended their championship lead to 25 points this weekend, as the Citroën World Rally Team played it safe to take the win in Jordan and keep the defending champions in command of the season early on.
By incurring a driver penalty to keep the French duo from sweeping the roads for the rest of the field by being the first car out, the Citroën team proved master tacticians as Loeb and Elena cruised to their second victory in three races.
“I’m delighted to have won such a tough rally. Our second victory in three events has helped us to open up a twenty-five point gap, the equivalent of a victory, over the second-paced driver. We can now tackle the next rally in a reasonably relaxed frame of mind,” said Loeb.
It was Citroën Junior team driver Sebastien Ogier who paved the way for Loeb in the early stages of day three, as his superb charge over the first two days put him in a position to be the first one out and sweep, allowing Loeb an easier task of obtaining a podium finish and defending his championship lead. Unfortunately the plan backfired for the young Spaniard as an ECU malfunction cost him five minutes.
“We asked Sebastien Ogier to check in early to sweep the road. We had a technical problem with his car in the service park, which dashed his hopes of a podium. We reckoned that this strategy would give Sebastien Loeb a better chance of defending his first place,” explained Olivier Quesnel, Citroën Racing team principal.
The mishap opened the door for BP-Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala to slot into second and Norwegian privateer Petter Solberg to take third in his ex-works C4 WRC. Latvala’s teammate Mikko Hirvonen suffered a crush, but used the SuperRally rule to finish 20th. Still, no points saw Hirvonen’s championship contention remain stagnant as he got leap-frogged by Latvala.
“It was a disappointing weekend. I made a silly mistake but that was going to happen at some point. I just wish it hadn’t happened here this weekend. It’s unlike me and I want the old Mikko back,” said a disappointed Hirvonen.