Loeb extends winning run in Germany

Sebastien Loeb reclaimed the lead in the World Rally Championship after clinching his seventh consecutive Rally Germany crown today.

The Frenchman’s dominance on the tarmac roads around Trier was never threatened as he completed a wire-to-wire win to lead home Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo by 47.7 seconds.

Belgian Francois Duval rounded out the podium positions to claim his first points since the opening round of the season in Poland.

Loeb is gunning for a fifth WRC title on the spin and with five rounds remaining in the season he now leads Mikko Hirvonen, who could only finish fourth, by four points.

Loeb’s one-two result with Sordo also lifts Citroen into the lead in the manufacturers’ standings, eight points clear of Ford as the season heads into its final third in New Zealand in a fortnight’s time.

“I’m very happy to have won here. Germany is a special rally for me,” Loeb said.

“We had a good feeling in the car all weekend, and had no real problems to contend with. Everything worked out well and now I am in the best position to start the rest of the season.

“Maybe New Zealand will be a little more difficult now I will be first on the road, because there is a lot of loose gravel – especially if it’s dry – but at the moment I’m happy to take the lead of the championship, and pleased with the job Dani and I did for Citroen.”

Sordo’s second placing equalled his best performance at a rally, completed in round five in Jordan, and also lifts him above Subaru’s Chris Atkinson and into third in the driver’s classification.

“I’m pleased because second is a good result for both Championships; for me in the drivers’ and it’s helped Citroen to the lead of the manufacturers’,” he said.

“Of course I’m still trying to win a rally myself, but it wasn’t this event. I made a few mistakes, and lost a lot of time on the first day, but on the second I changed some suspension settings and the feeling was very good since then. For Citroen a one, two is very encouraging for the rest of the season.”

Hirvonen, who had led the driver’s championship by a point heading into the weekend, was expected to struggle to keep pace with Loeb on the asphalt roads in south west Germany.

And while he finished one-and-a-half minutes behind the Frenchman, Hirvonen saw room for optimism ahead of the tarmac rallies later in the season.

“I would have preferred third, but fourth for me is not so bad on tarmac,” he said.

“We’ve done some good stage times, and set some good splits, so if we can increase the consistency it’s not looking so bad for the tarmac rallies later in the season.”