Loeb adds Wales to his crown

Dec 8 2008 Robin Roberts

IN the closest ever finish of Wales Rally GB, Sebastien Loeb won the event for the first time and gave Citroen the manufacturer's title for the fourth time.

Loeb's victory was the icing on the cake to his fifth driver's championship in the World Rally series.

The win by under three seconds came as a result of a 'nothing-to-lose' charge through the Port Talbot stage just minutes after Loeb incurred a 10 second penalty for jumping the start of the penultimate Rheola section in the Neath Valley.

In his Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC car, Loeb had been steadily carving time from the leader for two days, 23-year-old Jari-Matti Latvala in the BP-Ford Forcus RS, who seemed to have the result in the bag as they went into the last stage.

But the most successful driver in WRC stormed through the sunlit stage and out into the history books of the event, the championship and rallying folklore.

While it always seemed probable that Citroen would win the maker's title, Loeb struggled to find a rhythm on Wales Rally GB with atrocious weather on day one which cut nearly 50 miles from the route and saw a series of accidents, including that of BP-Ford lead driver Mikko Hirvonen and Subaru's Chris Atkinson.

Prodrive boss David Richards has criticised the FIA rules which excluded more suitable tyres being used in the patchy ice and heavy rain.

Latvala had kept his head and nerves despite having Loeb chasing hard behind for most of the event and the Finn ended the 15th round of this year's championship with the record of scoring on every round in the season.

But arguably the next most impressive performance came from Welshmaan Tom Cave, the 17 year old from Aberdyfi only passed his road driving test the week before the event and brought his two-wheel drive Ford Fiesta home in 30th place without a scratch and won his class by a staggering 14 minutes against more experienced drivers.

Many heaped praise for his achievement on co-driver Gemma Price, from Wolverhampton, who has mentored him for two seasons on Latvian stage rallies where he was allowed to compete, providing she drove the road sections.

Patrik Flodin in a Subaru Impreza WRX won the production car category on WRGB while Andreas Aigner in another Subaru Impreza Evolution IX took this season's Group N World Rally title and Guy Wilks Mitsubishi Lancer Evo sealed first place in the British Championship.

Even before it started, Wales Rally GB set a record as the first ever motor sport event to be 'carbon neutral' with the organisers buying carbon credits and planting trees to match the carbon used by competitors, officials and spectators throughout the event.

When it got underway on Friday morning after the ceremonial start in the Welsh capital the night before, crews left Swansea and immediately hit ice and rain on the stages, completely upsetting the form book.

Atrocious weather conditions in Mid-Wales saw two special stages in the same forest cancelled before the crews arrived and another was shortened so that took about 48 miles out of the competitive route.

Competitors tackling the stages in the mountains east of Aberystwyth reported patchy ice, huge water splashes and muddy tracks and Welsh rallying legend Gwyndaf Evans quipped he could have done better in a boat than his Mitsubishi Evo.

Many complained about poor visibility and one section was held up after a marshal sustained facial injuries when hit by a flying stone from a competitor's car wheels.

Ford's lead driver Mikko Hirvonen will want to forget this year's event after rolling his car and sustaining problems with it as a result which put him well down the running order as the day dragged on for the crews and teams.

There was consolation for the BP-Ford team as colleague Jari-Matti Latvala put in a calculated run through the treacherous tracks in his Focus RS and finished the shortened day 11 seconds up on this year's WR champion Sebastien Loeb's Citroen Total WRT C4.

Turkish duo Koray Muratoglu and Caglar Suren in one of the Castrol Ford Team Turkiye Ford Fiesta ST were both taken to hospital following a collision with a Range Rover on a non-competitive liaison section from SS2 Sweet Lamb to SS3 Myherin. They have sustained multiple injuries and are likely to be in hospital for some time.

Luckiest driver was Australian Chris Atkinson, Subaru WRT driver, who crashed in Walters Arena spectator stage and sustained a severe blow to his crash helmet. He was been taken to Morriston Hospital in Swansea for a precautionary medical check but the car was unrecognisable afterwards.

The treacherous conditions further north that decimated Friday's schedule eased on Saturday.

Blue skies encouraged huge crowds, although ice was a constant danger after more freezing temperatures overnight.

On day two, BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila continued to lead Wales Rally GB, but they were almost sidelined by heavy traffic in Cardiff before the final stage of the day in the Millennium Stadium.

Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen recovered from Friday's roll to climb to ninth in another Focus RS.

Drivers tackled two identical loops of three special stages before a spectacular final test inside Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in front of an estimated 25,000 fans.

Next year's Wales Rally GB moves to October when the Millennium Stadium for a superspecial stage will not be available because of rugby matches.

Wales Rally GB Final results

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 2hours 43mins 19.6secs

2. Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Abu Dhabi FocusRS +00mins 02.7secs

3. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +01mins 10.6secs

4. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC +01mins 49.6secs

5. Per-Gunnar Andersson Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC +03mins 54.1secs

6. Francois Duval Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC +04mins 57.8secs

7. Toni Gardemeister Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC +05mins 15.0secs

8. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi FocusRS +05mins 28.8secs

9. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC +08mins 03.9secs

10. Barry Clark Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC +09mins 43.1secs

WRC Drivers 2008 WRC Manufacturers

Sebastien Loeb 122 points Citroen Total WRT 191 points

Mikko Hirvonen 103 points BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT 173 points

Daniel Sordo 65 points Subaru WRT 98 points

Jari-Matti Latvala 58 points Stobart VK M-Sport Ford RT 67 points

Chris Atkinson 50 points Suzuki WRT 34 points

Petter Solberg 46 points Munchi's Ford WRT 22 points