Rallye Deutschland: Loeb Wins Again

[Xosé Estrada]

The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena recorded their ninth Rallye Deutschland victory in Trier today. Leading from start to finish, the pair won by two minutes over Ford rivals Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila. Third position was taken by Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen.



In the FIA World Rally Championship, Loeb has once again extended his lead and holds a 54 point advantage over Hirvonen with four rounds remaining. Petter Solberg is third, just two points ahead of Mads Ostberg. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën continues to head Ford.

Today’s route took in just two stages, one repeated twice, before the crews rounded the event off with the Circus Maximus Power Stage in the centre of Trier. Here, Loeb, Hirvonen and Andreas Mikkelsen picked up the additional points on offer for the fastest times through this 4.37 kilometre street stage.

Such was Loeb’s advantage, the Frenchman merely had to drive safely to the finish, once again doing so in faultless style, despite a small turbo problem. Latvala notched up his best-ever result on Tarmac with second and Hirvonen too had little to gain by pushing hard. Behind them, Ostberg and Atkinson finished fourth and fifth and Sébastien Ogier claimed the best result for an S2000 car in the Skoda Fabia. His team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen finished behind him in seventh.

The FIA World Rally Championship crews now return to gravel and the forests of Wales for Rally GB (13-16 September).



1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
2. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
4. Mads Ostberg/Jonas Andersson
5. Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prévot
6. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
7. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene
8. Nasser Al-Attiyah/G Bernacchini
9. Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio
10. Mathieu Arzeno/Renauld Jamoul
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
MINI Cooper Works WRC
Skoda Fabia S2000
Skoda Fabia S2000
Citroën DS3 WRC
MINI Cooper Works WRC
Peugeot 207 S2000
3 hr 41 min 52.0sec
3 hr 43 min 52.0sec
3 hr 44 min 23.3sec
3 hr 45 min 16.3sec
3 hr 51 min 02.4sec
3 hr 51 min 42.5sec
3 hr 54 min 14.5sec
3 hr 54 min 42.1sec
3 hr 56 min 08.9sec
3 hr 57 min 12.1sec

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[Omer Said]

I believe there can be a nice title fight only after Loeb retires WRC. Seriously thinking that this guy must be a robot or something

 

[Andrew Koojo]

For sure. Loeb is making wrc boring. Its like he is fighting against lower opponents unfair fight. If he leaves then it will be intresting. I hope vw wont dominate

 

[Lee Ross]

Yeah it's become so predictable these days, a bit like the Schumi and more recently Vettels domination of F1. Props to the guy though he has been at the top for so long.

 

[Shawdad]

Wow What a surprise! Reminds me of the F1 Schumacher era....zzzZZZ