Sebastien Loeb took his second consecutive win of the 2009 World Rally Championship season, by sealing his 49th victory and first-ever Rally Norway win this past weekend. The world champion also set another WRC record by winning 20 unique rallies at least once.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Loeb though, as BP-Ford arch-rival Mikko Hirvonen kept the pressure on the Frenchman’s C4 WRC for the majority of the weekend, culminating in a final stage where only eight seconds separated the two. Unfortunately, the Finn couldn’t make up any more time on Loeb and had to settle for second – just ten seconds behind Loeb.
“Mentally, this has been a very tough rally. It got very tense when I learnt that Mikko had narrowed the gap on this morning’s first stage, but we didn’t ease up, even if that did mean having one or two hairy moments! Going into the last stage, I knew that even a small mistake would ruin all the hard work we have put in this weekend. It’s been a fantastic rally and the conditions were perfect form start to finish. Our C4 WRC was a big ally, too, in terms of both its performance and its reliability,” said Loeb.
The conditions favoured Hirvonen early on Sunday, with Loeb up front “sweeping” the snow off most of the icy path, all the Finn had to do was follow the line set by the first driver – but Loeb’s pace marginally kept Hirvonen’s Focus WRC at bay.
“This was the best winter rally I’ve competed on – and I have driven many. It was fantastic to drive on the edge in snow and ice for three days, and to be involved in such a great battle. To be split by less than 10sec after more than 360km of competition says it all. The line between making a small mistake and being perfect at those speeds is so tiny and I couldn’t have done any more. I lost the rally yesterday because I couldn’t respond to Loeb’s speed then. It wasn’t the result I wanted but I’m glad that we went down fighting and it was a hugely enjoyable battle,” said Hirvonen.
Hirvonen’s team-mate and compatriot, Jari-Matti Latvala ensured the Ford team maximum points by scooping third. Latvala fettled with his settings all weekend, and had finally found a set-up and pace that would have kept him on par with the top two had the works team not slowed him down to spare the car on Sunday.
I’m happy to score a podium but at the same time disappointed not to be able to fight for victory. They are good points for myself and the team, but my chances really ended on Saturday morning. I should have softened the suspension settings earlier so I can look in the mirror and see the reason why I didn’t challenge the top two drivers. If I could start this weekend again, I would redo the mornings. The grip level was good then and I should have trusted that and taken greater advantage,” admitted Latvala.
Next on the WRC calendar is the Cyprus Rally, held from March 11-15, the first mixed event in WRC for a few years – with the first day on tarmac and the last two on gravel.
