WRC : Loeb Wins Classic Wales Rally Great Britain

Sebastien Loeb (F) / Daniel Elena - Citroen C4 WRC. Winners, 2008 Wales Rally GB

CARDIFF, Wales : Dec. 07, 2008 - An incredible battle raged between Loeb (Citroen) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) throughout the event, with the pair unable to back off for a moment despite the threat of the treacherous conditions.


In the end the fight came down to a final stage showdown that had the thousands of fans that lined the stage on their feet.

The pair entered the stage with Latvala leading Loeb by 2.2s. After the 20.09km test though the gap was 2.7s – with an ecstatic Loeb ahead.

The result marks Loeb’s record-breaking 11th win of the season.

“This one was really enjoyable – such a good fight with Jari-Matti. I tried everything I could in that last stage. Wow!”

Latvala said: “I couldn’t have driven better. The best man won.”

There was also a final twist when an earlier jump-start penalty given to Loeb was removed.

That added ten seconds to his winning margin – a gap that would have made the final stage far more relaxing had he known about it at the time.

The result also confirms Citroen as 2008 Manufacturers Champions in the WR, a result helped by Dani Sordo’s third place in Wales.

Overall Result : 2008 Wales Rally GB

Pos	No	Driver		Time	Diff Next	Diff 1st
1.	1	Sébastien LOEB	M	2:43:09.6	0.0	0.0
2.	4	Jari-Matti LATVALA	M	2:43:22.3	+12.7	+12.7
3.	2	Dani SORDO	M	2:44:30.2	+1:07.9	+1:20.6
4.	5	Petter SOLBERG		2:45:09.2	+39.0	+1:59.6
5.	12	Per-Gunnar ANDERSSON	M	2:47:13.7	+2:04.5	+4:04.1
6.	7	François DUVAL	M	2:48:17.4	+1:03.7	+5:07.8
7.	11	Toni GARDEMEISTER	M	2:48:34.6	+17.2	+5:25.0
8.	3	Mikko HIRVONEN	M	2:48:48.4	+13.8	+5:38.8
9.	8	Matthew WILSON		2:51:23.5	+2:35.1	+8:13.9
10.	20	Barry CLARK		2:53:02.7	+1:39.2	+9:53.1
11.	44	Patrik FLODIN	P	2:56:01.3	+2:58.6	+12:51.7

2008 Championship Standings

Position	Drivers - Car	Total
1.	Sebastien Loeb - Citroen	122
2.	Mikko Hirvonen - Ford	103
3.	Dani Sordo - Citroen	65
4.	Jari-Matti Latvala - Ford	58
5.	Chris Atkinson - Subaru	50
6.	Petter Solberg - Subaru	46
7.	Francois Duval - Ford	25
8.	Henning Solberg - Ford	22
9.	Gianluigi ‘Gigi’ Galli - Ford	17
10.	Matthew Wilson - Ford	15
11.	Urmo Aava - Citroen	13
12.	Federico Villagra - Ford	9
13.	Per-Gunnar Andersson - Suzuki	8
14.	Toni Gardemeister - Suzuki	8
15.	Conrad Rautenbach - Citroen	6

2008 Manufacturers' championship standings

Pos.	Team	Total
1.	CITROEN TOTAL WRT	191
2.	BP FORD ABU DHABI WORLD RALLY TEAM	173
3.	SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM	98
4.	STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM	67
5.	SUZUKI WORLD RALLY TEAM	34
6.	MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM	22

[Source : WRC, Citroen Sport]