Citroen Extends World Championship Lead In Finland

Citroen Extends World Championship Lead In Finland

A Finish double podium finish has extended Citroën’s lead in the World Rally Championship at the weekend (30-31 July 2010) but despite Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala taking the top step of the podium and Loeb taking the third step behind team mate Sébastien Ogier, Loeb remains more than 60 points ahead of the Finish driver in the battle for the drivers’ world title.

Compressed into two days rather than the normal three day format, the WRC’s trip to Finland turned into a sprint for the finish on what is already traditionally the WRC’s fastest event and this lead to mistakes by the front runners. After Citroën privateer Petter Solberg surrendered his early lead to Mikko Hirvonen there were signs that this was going to be a Ford/Scandinavian driver dominated event. But on stage four Hirvonen spectacularly went out of the event in a multiple barrel roll after a high speed jump. The crew were uninjured but the Ford Focus was well beyond repair.

Next to suffer was Loeb. A small off, which in any other event would not have caused a problem, became a critical issue in the high speed Finland event. The loss of a part of the bumper seriously disturbed the car’s aerodynamics, causing the car fly and land unevenly and unpredictably and was so damaging to the airflow over the car that it caused the car to understeer badly on high speed corners. Backing off until it could be repaired dropped Loeb down the running order and put Ogier in place to make the challenge on the remaining Ford.

After a short night, the crews left the Jyväskylä service park in pouring rain. Around 100 kms from there, the stages of the first of the three loops were also soaking wet. Sébastien Ogier was on the pace straight away in the rally setting the fastest time in Kolonkulma (SS12). In Väärinmaja, the longest stage of the event, it was Sébastien Loeb’s turn to stun the onlookers. By setting the second-best time, Ogier took second place from Petter Solberg and got to within 15s of the leader, Jari-Matti Latvala.

The latter fought back in the following stage, but the C4 WRC drivers were more than pleased at the end of the first three stages.

“I’m trying to keep up the pace while leaving myself a small safety margin. My aim’s not to go after Jari-Matti, but to see the finish in the best possible position,” underlined Ogier.

As for Loeb he had third place in his sights:

“The gaps between Sébastien, Jari-Matti and me are fairly small this morning On the other hand, Petter Solberg has lost time and I’m only a few seconds behind him. We’re going to continue to push to overtake him.”

The six-time world champion achieved his objective with two more fastest times in Leustu 1 and Himos 1 (SS15 and 16). Ogier was also setting a searing pace and he closed the gap to Latvala. After posting the fastest time in SS17 (Surkee 2), the Frenchman reduced the Finn’s lead to only 10 seconds.

The rally ended with a second passage through the Leustu and Himos stages. Ogier kept up the pressure on Latvala right till the end:

“Even if it’s difficult for me to be satisfied with second place, I have to say that this result is even better than I expected. For our second Rally Finland, we were able to up the pace without overdoing it. I’m very satisfied with the second day as we’ve finished only ten seconds behind the winner. I’d really like to thank the whole team, which helped to fight right up till the finish.”

Loeb, who came home third, was also satisfied:

“Bravo to Jari-Matti and Sébastien who drove great rallies. It’s good for the sport that the team didn’t give any orders at the end of the race. The fifteen points I scored today are a precious help in view of the championship. I’ve achieved my aim in this rally.”

Latvala may have won the event, but behind him was a veritable train of Citroens, with the C4 WRC filling second, third, fourth and fifth places, nearly six minutes ahead of the next Ford.

“With our crews finishing in second and third places, we’ve increased our lead of eight points in the Manufacturers’ Championship,” summed up Olivier Quesnel, the Citroën Racing Team Principal. “Citroën loves the sport and again we chose not to ask our drivers to reverse their positions. Bravo to the two Sebs as they knew how to drive very quickly without making any mistakes.”

THE RALLY IN FIGURES

Fastest times in the stages
Day 1:
SS1: Petter Solberg (Citroën C4)
SS2 and 3: Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus)
SS4: Sébastien Ogier (Citroën C4)
SS5: Dani Sordo (Citroën C4)
SS6 and 7: Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus)
SS8: Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4)
SS9: Latvala – SS10: Loeb
SS11: Solberg.

Day 2
SS12: Ogier
SS13: Loeb
SS14: Latvala
SS15 and 16: Loeb
SS17: Ogier
SS18:Latvala
SS19: Ogier.

Best performers:

Latvala and Loeb, 5 fastest times each
Ogier, 4 –
Hirvonen and Solberg, 2 each –
Sordo, 1.

Leaders:

SS1: Solberg
SS2 and 3: Hirvonen
SS4 to 6: Solberg
SS7 to 19: Latvala.

Provisional Final General Classification

1. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus 2h 31m 29.6s
2. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +10.1s
3. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 +26.0s
4. P. Solberg / Patterson Citroën C4 +30.7s
5. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +1m 45.0s
6. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +5m 43s
7. Ostberg / Andersson Subaru Impreza +5m 50.8s
8. Kankkunen / Repo Ford Focus +7m 49.0s
9. Hänninen / Markkula Skoda Fabia +9m 05.0s
10. Andersson / Fredriksson Skoda Fabia +10m15.7s

ENDS

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