Sébastien Loeb (Citroen C4) claimed maiden win in Rally of Turkey, and pulls away in the provisional championship standing. Kimi Raikkonen (Citroen C4) reached the Top-5.
Loeb, who unherited lead on Saturday afernoon when first place driver Sébastien Ogier (Citroen C4) lost three minutes on a puncture, prepared himself to a tough day in the Istanbul area on Sunday, as he had to fight against Petter Solberg (Citroen C4) and Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus). Starting the last day in first position only made it more difficult for the Frenchman.
Not only was he able to maintain his lead, he pulled an advantage of almost one minute on Solberg on Sunday evening. Hirvonen, who temporally lost his 3rd position when he had to change a wheel after a puncture, finally took back his rank when Sordo had to retire on a technical problem.
Behind the podium finishers, Ogier took P4 on what was a quite disappointing week-end for the young Frenchman that was on his way to his first WRC win before he lost every chance of victory with his puncture on Saturday.
Ogier finished just ahead of Citroen Junior teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who keeps making progress in his new job. The former F1 driver already finished his first WRC rallye in Jordania two weeks ago. This week-end, “Iceman” put a strong performance in Turkey, with a good 5th position at the finish, after a trouble-free rally.
Loeb proved to everybody that he did not need any tactics or someone’s help to win, two weeks after a controversial Rally of Jordania, where Citroen told Ogier to run ahead of Loeb to clean the track. Ford had also put Hirvonen in front of Latvala.
In Turkey, Citroen and Ford had an agreement not to use any tactics anymore; an agreement that seems to have been respected so far.
Rally of Turkey – Final classification:
1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroën C4) in 3h01’38’’7
2. Petter Solberg (Citroën C4) +54’’5
3. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) +1’43’’4
4. Sébastien Ogier (Citroën C4) +3’46’’0
5. Kimi Räikkönen (Citroën C4) +6’44’’3
6. Federico Villagra (Ford Focus) +7’56’’3
7. Matthew Wilson (Ford Focus) +8’29’’8
8. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) +19’44’’2
9. Denis Kuipers (Ford Focus) +23’22’’2
10. Aaron Burkart (Suzuki Swift) +27’04’’7
etc.
Championship:
1. Loeb 93 points, 2. P. Solberg 53, 3. Hirvonen 52, 4. Latvala 47, 5. Ogier 45, 6. Sordo 24, 7. Wilson 22, 8. Villagra 20, 9. H. Solberg 18, 10. Raikkonen 14, etc.
Loeb, who unherited lead on Saturday afernoon when first place driver Sébastien Ogier (Citroen C4) lost three minutes on a puncture, prepared himself to a tough day in the Istanbul area on Sunday, as he had to fight against Petter Solberg (Citroen C4) and Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus). Starting the last day in first position only made it more difficult for the Frenchman.
Not only was he able to maintain his lead, he pulled an advantage of almost one minute on Solberg on Sunday evening. Hirvonen, who temporally lost his 3rd position when he had to change a wheel after a puncture, finally took back his rank when Sordo had to retire on a technical problem.
Behind the podium finishers, Ogier took P4 on what was a quite disappointing week-end for the young Frenchman that was on his way to his first WRC win before he lost every chance of victory with his puncture on Saturday.
Ogier finished just ahead of Citroen Junior teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who keeps making progress in his new job. The former F1 driver already finished his first WRC rallye in Jordania two weeks ago. This week-end, “Iceman” put a strong performance in Turkey, with a good 5th position at the finish, after a trouble-free rally.
Loeb proved to everybody that he did not need any tactics or someone’s help to win, two weeks after a controversial Rally of Jordania, where Citroen told Ogier to run ahead of Loeb to clean the track. Ford had also put Hirvonen in front of Latvala.
In Turkey, Citroen and Ford had an agreement not to use any tactics anymore; an agreement that seems to have been respected so far.
Rally of Turkey – Final classification:
1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroën C4) in 3h01’38’’7
2. Petter Solberg (Citroën C4) +54’’5
3. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) +1’43’’4
4. Sébastien Ogier (Citroën C4) +3’46’’0
5. Kimi Räikkönen (Citroën C4) +6’44’’3
6. Federico Villagra (Ford Focus) +7’56’’3
7. Matthew Wilson (Ford Focus) +8’29’’8
8. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) +19’44’’2
9. Denis Kuipers (Ford Focus) +23’22’’2
10. Aaron Burkart (Suzuki Swift) +27’04’’7
etc.
Championship:
1. Loeb 93 points, 2. P. Solberg 53, 3. Hirvonen 52, 4. Latvala 47, 5. Ogier 45, 6. Sordo 24, 7. Wilson 22, 8. Villagra 20, 9. H. Solberg 18, 10. Raikkonen 14, etc.