Sebastien Loeb continued his successful run in WRC with his fifth consecutive win of 2009 and his fifth first-place finish at Rally Argentina this weekend, while team-mate Dani Sordo kept Citroën way up in the manufacturer rankings by completing the 1-2.
By Kyle Kock
Way back in 2004 was the last time Loeb didn’t take the overall victory during the South American event, when he placed second behind then-teammate Carlos Sainz. Loeb quickly fell behind pace on day one as he was first driver out, whilst championship rival Mikko Hirvonen of BP-Ford and Sordo battled for the lead.
Loeb quickly gathered himself to only lose 16 seconds to the pair by the end of the first day, and put pedal to the metal to reclaim the lead early during day two and clear dominance of the event further on. Hirvonen’s later retirement enabled Sordo to take second unchallenged, and Henning Solberg put in a good performance with his Stobart Ford Focus to take the final podium spot.
“It’s always nice to win this rally. This year’s event was difficult to begin with and we had to drive flat out until Saturday lunchtime. The situation then tipped in our favour when Mikko Hirvonen hit trouble and we were able to control from in front after that. I tried to keep up a quick pace all the way to the finish because it can be so easy to make a mistake over a jump, or by clouting one of the countless rocks that line the stages here. It’s been a dream start to the season for us,” said Loeb.
Loed and co-driver Daniel remain unbeaten by another team in Argentina, but their attention now turns to achieving six consecutive wins, which they accomplished when they first won in South America in 2005 – Loeb’s all time WRC win record now stands at 52.
Citroën must especially be proud of their performance thus far – as the manufacturer is now nearly 40 points ahead of closest rivals Ford. If Loeb and Sordo continue this kind of finish, the manufacturer’s title could be sealed up early in the second half of the season.
“I felt comfortable throughout the weekend. This is our second one-two finish of the year and it’s a great result for the whole team. My intention now is to defend my second place in the championship,” said Sordo, who is one point ahead of Hirvonen.
Unfortunately, Hirvonen’s younger teammate Jari-Matti Latvala wasn’t unable to take on the might of the Citroën duo when his Focus WRC lost power during day three.
“We came down a long straight and through a watersplash with two crests just afterwards. The rear of the car hit the crown of one of the crests, a warning light came on and the engine stopped. I tried lots of different things to restart it before eventually rebooting the whole system, after which the engine fired up,” explained Latvala.
On towards Rally Sardinia (20-24 May), the teams – especially Ford – have nearly a month to work out the kind of technical glitches and inconsistencies experienced thus far.
“This wasn’t a great weekend from a championship perspective but the season is still in its first half and we’ll regroup, we’ll keep fighting and continue to challenge,” assured Ford of Europe motorsport director Mark Deans.
