david
01-06-2009, 07:08 AM
Sebastien Loeb is now well on his way to breaking the next record in his sensational career, a fifth successive World rally title! Victory in Spain has put him 12 points ahead of Mikko Hirvonen in the 2008 season with three events still to run. The Frenchman went into the lead from the start with his ever faithful team-mate Dani Sordo right behind him, and three days later they finished just like that, with Sordo in second place for the tenth time in his career. Throughout the event Fords were lying third and fourth, this time with Francois Duval in a BP team car, and when the Citroens eased their speed at half distance, Mikko Hirvonen and Duval had the chance to show their pace. Duval was required to cede his third place to Hirvonen with two stages to run.
While Loeb's team started to calculate exactly how soon Sebastien would be unbeatable in the championship, Hirvonen analysed his failure. It had been a frustrating event. "For the first half of the event we were all at sea, nothing seemed to work with the car. The car seemed very easy to understeer. Then in the second half of the event I decided to slow down, not to push the car so much and it all started to go better. If only I had tried that earlier in the event." Behind them the new Subaru World Rally Cars were gradually improving, but embarrassingly they were being split by the privately run Citroen C4 of Urmo Aava, who had risen to fifth place. The Estonian was having a splendid drive before he damaged his steering with two stages to go and hobbled his way to the finish.
Subarus were in line to finish fifth and sixth when Latvala, on this occasion in a Stobart car, recovering after a low start, finally passed Atkinson, the Australian was suffering from the usual Subaru damper-related problems at the start of the event but w.as gradually able to speed up. Latvala came to Spain low in confidence after a run of three disastrous rallies and the humiliation of being demoted to the Stobart team, for the two remaining asphalt events. It was also difficult for him to get the best out of his Stobart car, but by the final day things were better and the usual laughing smile on his bespectacled face appeared. Both Suzukis finished the rally but neither were in the points. Toni Gardemeister had trouble fighting understeer while Per-Gunnar Andersson missed stages because he slipped off the road, albeit the car was undamaged on the first day but there were no spectators to help him.
502
Aava's performance had been a revelation but other private drivers also went well. Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen avenged his embarrassing national championship-losing mistake the weekend before by bringing his Ford home in eighth place, ahead of the official world championship team drivers Matthew Wilson, Henning Solberg and Federico Villagra and the two Suzukis. Brice Tirabassi drove his rented works Subaru into tenth, good experience for his challenge on home territory next weekend in Corsica. This was the first asphalt world championship event for Mads Ostberg and he finished 14th, ahead of the fellow Subaru driver Eamonn Boland. The charismatic Dutch father and son drivers van Merksteijn were fighting each other furiously. Less than a second separated them after two stages before Junior went off the road. Father eased his speed but suffered engine failure on the final day.
Catalunya was the first of the two late-season back-to-back asphalt events, events where Citroen World Rally Cars have proved unbeatable in recent years. Ford's devastating defeat in New Zealand five weeks ago provided the French manufacturer with great confidence that they would regain the Makes World title back from BP Ford well before the end of the year, while Loeb proved once again he was in a galaxy of his own. This is the smoothest and fastest of the asphalt rallies in the championship, this year with less of the traditional corner cutting driving characteristics which normally spreads gravel over the roads. There were punctures suffered, but usually as a result of impact damage rather than the gravel thrown on the roads. With the ice and snow of Monte Carlo and the broken roads in Germany, this was the first of the really clean road rallies this year. The required lines through the bends required racing not rally driving techniques. And notwithstanding the customary use of control single-sup¬plier Pirelli tyres, the winning speed was for the fourth year running a record for the rally. Only three of the event's nine stage venues were the same as before, and mostly speeds on these stages were slower this year, but the nature of the stage roads in general allowed higher speeds.
Another Sebastien thought he was on his way to glory but glory was to be delayed. Sebastien Ogier was handsomely leading the JWRC category when he had a high speed spin on loose gravel and impacted his Citroen C2 S1600 into a rock. His rally finished with water pouring out of the car at the end of the stage, the engine terminally cooked. Despite the disappointment at Ogier's retirement, Citroen went on to take three of the top four placings.
While Loeb's team started to calculate exactly how soon Sebastien would be unbeatable in the championship, Hirvonen analysed his failure. It had been a frustrating event. "For the first half of the event we were all at sea, nothing seemed to work with the car. The car seemed very easy to understeer. Then in the second half of the event I decided to slow down, not to push the car so much and it all started to go better. If only I had tried that earlier in the event." Behind them the new Subaru World Rally Cars were gradually improving, but embarrassingly they were being split by the privately run Citroen C4 of Urmo Aava, who had risen to fifth place. The Estonian was having a splendid drive before he damaged his steering with two stages to go and hobbled his way to the finish.
Subarus were in line to finish fifth and sixth when Latvala, on this occasion in a Stobart car, recovering after a low start, finally passed Atkinson, the Australian was suffering from the usual Subaru damper-related problems at the start of the event but w.as gradually able to speed up. Latvala came to Spain low in confidence after a run of three disastrous rallies and the humiliation of being demoted to the Stobart team, for the two remaining asphalt events. It was also difficult for him to get the best out of his Stobart car, but by the final day things were better and the usual laughing smile on his bespectacled face appeared. Both Suzukis finished the rally but neither were in the points. Toni Gardemeister had trouble fighting understeer while Per-Gunnar Andersson missed stages because he slipped off the road, albeit the car was undamaged on the first day but there were no spectators to help him.
502
Aava's performance had been a revelation but other private drivers also went well. Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen avenged his embarrassing national championship-losing mistake the weekend before by bringing his Ford home in eighth place, ahead of the official world championship team drivers Matthew Wilson, Henning Solberg and Federico Villagra and the two Suzukis. Brice Tirabassi drove his rented works Subaru into tenth, good experience for his challenge on home territory next weekend in Corsica. This was the first asphalt world championship event for Mads Ostberg and he finished 14th, ahead of the fellow Subaru driver Eamonn Boland. The charismatic Dutch father and son drivers van Merksteijn were fighting each other furiously. Less than a second separated them after two stages before Junior went off the road. Father eased his speed but suffered engine failure on the final day.
Catalunya was the first of the two late-season back-to-back asphalt events, events where Citroen World Rally Cars have proved unbeatable in recent years. Ford's devastating defeat in New Zealand five weeks ago provided the French manufacturer with great confidence that they would regain the Makes World title back from BP Ford well before the end of the year, while Loeb proved once again he was in a galaxy of his own. This is the smoothest and fastest of the asphalt rallies in the championship, this year with less of the traditional corner cutting driving characteristics which normally spreads gravel over the roads. There were punctures suffered, but usually as a result of impact damage rather than the gravel thrown on the roads. With the ice and snow of Monte Carlo and the broken roads in Germany, this was the first of the really clean road rallies this year. The required lines through the bends required racing not rally driving techniques. And notwithstanding the customary use of control single-sup¬plier Pirelli tyres, the winning speed was for the fourth year running a record for the rally. Only three of the event's nine stage venues were the same as before, and mostly speeds on these stages were slower this year, but the nature of the stage roads in general allowed higher speeds.
Another Sebastien thought he was on his way to glory but glory was to be delayed. Sebastien Ogier was handsomely leading the JWRC category when he had a high speed spin on loose gravel and impacted his Citroen C2 S1600 into a rock. His rally finished with water pouring out of the car at the end of the stage, the engine terminally cooked. Despite the disappointment at Ogier's retirement, Citroen went on to take three of the top four placings.