Stage 3 – Hirvonen winner… and Loeb world champion

Mikko Hirvonen achieved a well-deserved victory and emerged as the leader of a Ford one-two finish, ahead of Marcus Gronholm… A one-two that’s insufficient to give the title to a Finn, as Sébastien Loeb – in third place – clinches his fourth consecutive title.

On Citroen, the Frenchman had to secure his lead in the world championship and possibly match another record…

« It’s incredible! When you think that we started from nothing ten years ago! It’s truly a great moment. This was the most difficult championship to win with only a four-point difference at the finish. It was a very tough battle with tight results all the time. I am very happy to match Tommi [Makkinen]’s record. » commented the Alsatian live.

Arriving in Swansea with the aim of finishing in one of the top five positions, Sébastien Loeb (Citroën Total) did not take any risks during this last event of the season. In extremely difficult conditions on the first day, the Alsatian placed third behind Mikko Hirvonen (Ford BP) and Marcus Grönholm (Ford BP).

The fog lifted and the rain was less present, making the rest of the rally simpler but just as stressful. Sébastien Loeb recorded just one fastest time, shared with Marcus Grönholm, to finish third, far behind the two BP Ford drivers, and earned the points he was missing. The Citroën driver wins his fourth consecutive title, like Tommi Mäkinen, before Guy Fréquelin’s retirement.

Imperious on the first day, Mikko Hirvonen quickly built a solid lead that was never challenged. Even his teammate – with other objectives – Marcus Grönholm didn’t go after him. Second, the Finnish driver was in a good position to capitalize on a potential problem from Sébastien Loeb, which never happened. The double World Champion ends his career with a second position and a consecutive runner-up World Champion title.

Hero of this rally, Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Stobart) finishes in a distant tenth place. Fourth after the fifth special stage, the Finn was caught in the storm of SS6. Forced to stop to clean his windshield, Latvala lost over sixteen minutes and took advantage of the Super-Rally to lose only ten minutes. On Saturday and Sunday, the world rally hopeful posted ten best times out of eleven possible and finished less than ten minutes behind the winner. Was victory possible?

Far from the front of the race, Petter Solberg (Subaru) finishes fourth by holding off Dani Sordo (Citroën Total) at the end of the race. To highlight the current difficulties of the Blues, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) was unable to fend off the attacks of Matthew Wilson (Ford Stobart). The Briton finishes sixth. Manfred Stohl (Citroën OMV) clinches the eighth-place point.

In the championship, Loeb thus retains his title by 4 points ahead of Gronholm, who is now retired. Hirvonen is on the podium. On the manufacturer side, Ford secures a second consecutive victory. The battle was tough between Subaru and Stobart, but with two cars in the points for Subaru this weekend, it’s the Japanese team that clinches third place.

Stage 3 – Rally of Great Britain – The Top 10

According to the WRC