WRC: Sébastien Loeb wins Rally de Espana and stays in title contention

From the World Rally Championship

Sebastien Loeb took victory in Spain in his Citroen C4 WRC and ensure his fight for a sixth World Rally Championship title will go to the final, decisive round in Great Britain later this month.

The result was Loeb's fifth consecutive win on the all-asphalt Spanish round of the series, the 53rd of his remarkable WRC career and his sixth this season.


Loeb's Spanish team-mate Dani Sordo was second, 12.0sec adrift, to complete a perfect one-two finish for the Citroen Total World Rally Team - enough to guarantee the French firm the 2009 FIA WRC title for Manufacturers with one round to go.

As they have for the last three years, Loeb and Sordo controlled the Spanish event from beginning to end. And while an excellent drive from Citroen's number two Sordo made life tough for Loeb on the opening two days, he moved aside before today's contest, giving the defending champion a reasonably straightforward task on the final six stages.

Loeb began this rally five points adrift of drivers' championship leader Mikko Hirvonen of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team, who brought his Focus RS WRC home third. Hirvonen still holds the lead of the series, but with only a one point advantage the scene is set for a thrilling winner-takes-all showdown on the final round which gets underway on 23 October.

Hirvonen ended the rally 54.1sec behind the Citroen pair, after a largely frustrating event where he remained stuck fast in third; unable to catch Loeb and Sordo ahead, but never seriously troubled by the Citroen C4 drivers Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier behind.

Rallye de Espana final classification:

1. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen C4) – 3h22’14’’7
2. Dani Sordo (Citroen C4) + 12’’
3. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) + 54’’1
4. Petter Solberg (Citroen C4) + 1’12’’4
5. Sébastien Ogier (Citroen C4) + 1’41’’6
6. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) + 2’49’’8
7. Matthew Wilson (Ford Focus) + 7’15’’5
8. Federico Villagra (Ford Focus) + 8’28’’1
etc.